What is the Real Meaning of
Easter?

Click here for audio:
download

  

I have formed a non-profit organization to promote the ongoing fulfillment of Micah's “Vine & Fig Tree” vision. Distilled into a single proposition, Vine & Fig Tree stands for this:

Jesus is the Christ Today

The name “Vine & Fig Tree” comes from Micah 4, which we looked at yesterday. We're going to look at that passage in a little more detail today.

This website is sponsored by:

Vine & Fig Tree

The name "Vine & Fig Tree" comes from the fourth chapter of the prophet Micah, and is set forth below. You've probably heard Micah's words before -- we beat our "swords into plowshares" and everyone dwells safely under his own "Vine & Fig Tree." 
 

He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
M|i|c|a|h 6:8

America's Founding Fathers were familiar with this vision: "Vine & Fig Tree" is the worldview that made America "the greatest nation on God's green earth." This vision, combined with Christian morality, made America the most prosperous and admired nation on earth. The Federal Government subsequently repudiated the idea that America is a Christian nation, and the U.S. has gone from prosperity to bankruptcy, and from admiration to ridicule.
George Washington's Diaries are available online at the Library of Congress. The LOC.GOV website introduces Washington's writings with these words:
No theme appears more frequently in the writings of Washington than his love for his land. The diaries are a monument to that concern. In his letters he referred often, as an expression of this devotion and its resulting contentment, to an Old Testament passage. After the Revolution, when he had returned to Mount Vernon, he wrote the Marquis de Lafayette on Feb. 1, 1784:

"At length my Dear Marquis I am become a private citizen on the banks of the Potomac, & under the shadow of my own Vine & my own Fig-tree."

This phrase occurs at least 11 times in Washington's letters.

"And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree" (2 Kings 18:31).

"Under My Own Vine and Fig Tree, 1798" by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, Lora Robins Collection of Virginia Art, Virginia Historical Society
Under My Own Vine and Fig Tree, 1798
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris
Virginia Historical Society
Lora Robins Collection of Virginia Art
      Peter Lillback, author of a 1,000-page study of Washington's life and thought, has found more than 40 references to the  “Vine and Fig Tree” vision in Washington's Papers.
      Many other American Founders wrote of this ideal.
      "Vine & Fig Tree" is the original "American Dream."
 
The phrase occurs a number of times in Scripture. These references are visual reminders of the Hebrew word for salvation, which means
  • deliverance
  • victory
  • security
  • peace
  • wholeness
  • health
  • welfare, and
  • private property free from princes and pirates.
When today's Americans hear the word "salvation," they usually think about going to heaven when they die. When the writers of the Bible used the word "salvation," they wanted you to be thinking about dwelling safely under your own Vine & Fig Tree during this life -- much more often than they wanted you to be thinking about what you'll be doing in the afterlife.

The best place to see the Vine & Fig Tree ideal is in the book of Micah.
 Let's look at Micah's prophecy (on the left) and ask a few questions (on the right):
And it will come about in the last days
That the mountain of the House of the LORD
Will be established as the chief of the mountains
And it will be raised above the hills		   Are we in the "last days?"

When did this establishment take place?
And the peoples will stream to it.
And many nations will come and say,
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD
And to the House of the God of Jacob,		 Is Christianity doomed to minority status throughout history? Hasn't Christianity been growing since the first century?
That He may teach us about His ways
And that we may walk in His paths."
For from Zion will go forth the Law
Even the Word of the LORD from Jerusalem.		   What should be the Christian's attitude toward the Law? Isn't every Word of a "Lord" "Law?"
And He will judge between many peoples
And render decisions for mighty, distant nations.
Then they will hammer their
swords into plowshares
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation will not lift up sword against nation
And never again will they train for war.		 Are we commanded to beat our swords into plowshares today? Or do we wait for the Second Coming?

Are Christians "pacifists?"
And each of them will sit under his   What is a family?
What about private property?
Vine and under his  fig tree,
With no one to make them afraid.
For the LORD of hosts has spoken.		 What about technology? What about the military? What is it that really brings "security?"
Though all the peoples walk
Each in the name of his god,
As for us, we will walk
In the Name of the LORD our God
forever and ever.		   What if all the politicians, university professors, TV commentators, bloggers, newspaper editors, rock stars, scientists, CEO's, celebrities, athletes, authors, and think-tanks repudiate the Vine & Fig Tree vision and tell you not to believe it?
In that day, saith the LORD,
will I assemble her that halteth,
and I will gather her that is driven out,
and her that I have afflicted;
And I will make her that halted a remnant,
and her that was cast far off a strong nation:
and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion
from henceforth, even for ever.		 Should we strive to be on top, or to help those on the bottom? Is God on the side of those who have accomplished much by their own power and initiative, or is He on the side of those who are willing to be used by God to accomplish much to His Glory?