Jer.1:11-13 – – The word of the LORD came to me saying, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “I see a rod of an almond tree.” Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it.”
Sometimes you have to be in just the right season for prophetic words to be fully understood. Jeremiah had two visions that spoke about things in his own life, ministry, and generation as well as to us living at the end of the age. These two visions have become more significant to me as the time of the end draws closer. The first image is that of an almond branch which was a sign of God watching over His word to bring His kingdom plans. As you may know, the almond tree was called the watchman or the tree that hastens and gives us a prophetic glimpse of things to come. Here is how John Trappe describes this.
“It has its name in Hebrew from “watching”, because it watches, as it were, to bud and bear before other trees, even in the deep of winter, and when it is coldest. Hereby the prophet is animated, though young, and assured that he shall have the fruit of his so early labors.”
Apparently in conjunction with the harvest envisioned by the almond branch is a boiling pot portraying the judgement that will come upon the land. The deterioration of the morals of this generation cannot be ignored, they are crying out for judgement. Both the harvest and the judgement are imminent and hasten toward fulfillment. Her is how Johannes Oecolampadius describes this boiling pot.
“Jeremiah is not sent to the people right at the beginning, rather he is first prepared and strengthened, lest he perhaps fear that the Lord on account of his mercy might call off his sentence [of judgment] just as he did with Ninevites. Therefore, Jeremiah hears that the Lord will keep watch, and he says the same thing a second time and also that the prophecy had not been suspended, but he confirms it. He sees a pot come to boil. Jerusalem is compared to a pot or cauldron, a boiling pot in which carnal people are brought to a boil with fire, so that they are boiled up like foam through the heat.”
The deterioration of society in this last generation is calling out for both of these visions to be fulfilled. Th desperation of a generation is calling out for true satisfaction and justice found only in Christ. At the same time the rebellion and perversion of this generation is calling out for judgement. Both the vision of the almond branch and the vision of the boiling pot will definitely be fulfilled, the question you need to ask is which vision will you be involved in?
