THE PROPHETIC ALMOND TREE

Jer. 1:11-12 ¶ Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” ¶ And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.” ¶ Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word.”

I used to look forward to my New Years phone call from Dick Mills. He would call me often throughout the year, but that New Years call always had a prophetic edge to it. The one I received in January 2000 was probably the most incredible of all the calls. Brother Mills gave me today’s verses, Jeremiah 1:11, 12. He then asked me if I understood the significance of the almond tree in Jeremiah’s prophesy. I told him I did not know the significance of the almond tree vision. He then went on to explain to me what the almond tree meant. In Israel, the almond tree would be the first tree to harvest its crop its year. The significance was this, the harvest of the almond tree was an indication of the size of the harvest of the rest of the farmer’s crops. In that sense, the almond tree was a watchman or prophetic. When I heard that word explained I immediately understood the application for our ministry. Unknown to Brother Mills, we had just begun the production of Beyond the Grave on October 31, 1999. I was hearing The Lord say that Beyond the Grave was an almond tree. It was not the harvest but the prophetic sign of the supernatural harvest yet to come. Here is a quote from the Fire Bible about this powerful verse.

“BRANCH OF AN ALMOND TREE. In ancient Israel, the almond tree was the first tree to bud in the spring. This vision suggested two things: (1) The word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah would be fulfilled rapidly and (2) the people would recognize that God was alive and was guiding the course of history to fulfill his purposes (compare the reference to Aaron’s staff that produced almonds, Nu 17:1–10).”

Beyond the Grave has been performed continuously at our church in Metairie since October of 1999. We just had our first performance of this school year last week, the results were staggering. As we start the fifteenth season of BTG I have to remember this prophesy. The harvest we have seen (over 65,000 new convert books given out at the altars) has populated the churches of the Greater New Orleans area. This BTG harvest is just the almond tree harvest. It is the prophetic sign from The Lord of the coming harvest. This coming harvest is sure, it will be utterly supernatural. It can’t be planned, it can’t be organized, its arrival is sure. This prophesy is being guaranteed by The Lord, He says he will “watch over” (NASB) His word to perform it. The KJV says He will “hasten” His word. Not only is this prophesy guaranteed, it will come about suddenly.