Oh, come quickly, spring season as we watch for the branch of the almond tree to blossom! Thanking God for a fresh blanket of overnight snow, I looked out our kitchen window as my beloved husband scraped the powdery white deposit from the top of our backyard bird feeder. After all, our feathered, morning visitors were waiting for their breakfast! I glanced at our calendar to see that spring was only 19 days away.
Suddenly, I was reminded to go look through my annual prophetic journal. At 8:13 a.m. on February 15, 2023, I heard in the Spirit, “I [God] am watching over My word to perform it.”
The context for this scripture can be found when God called Jeremiah as a prophet to Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel.
This timeframe would have occurred from the thirteenth year of Josiah, King of Judah (626 BC), until after the siege, capture, and fall of the city of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, and the destruction of Solomon’s Temple in 587 BC.
Jeremiah’s prophetic ministry spanned the reigns of five kings of Judah: Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah.
We pick up the scriptural narrative in the first chapter of Jeremiah as we follow the dialogue between God and Jeremiah.
Our focus verses are Jeremiah 1:11-12 NIV,
“The word of the Lord came to me: ‘What do you see, Jeremiah?’
‘I see the branch of an almond tree,’ I replied.
The Lord said to me, ‘You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.’”
A Brief History of The Almond Tree in Israel.
It’s so wonderful that God would use something in Jeremiah’s natural setting to parallel what He was teaching and commanding him in the Spirit.
The almond trees, which are the first ones to blossom in Israel, usually do so during the late winter, which is the rainy season, and at the start of spring.
Almond plantations can be seen from the Galilean hills to those surrounding Jerusalem.
Jewish rabbis determined that the timing of the blossoming of the almond trees would be the marking of the new year for trees. The time frame for this was the fifteenth day of the eleventh Hebrew month of Shevat, which is late January or early February.
What I find interesting is that I received the prophetic spiritual reminder on February 15th which is Shevat 24 on this year’s Hebrew calendar. (Emphasis mine). It gives me much joy when I continue to look for God’s daily spiritual treasures.
Additional Almonds.
Genesis 43:11 ~~ During a time of severe famine, Jacob dispatched Benjamin, his youngest son, along with some of his other ones to Egypt. He instructed them to take a gift of almonds to their brother Joseph. This would have been before Joseph’s brothers realized that he was still alive after they attempted to sever ties with him earlier in the book of Genesis.
Exodus 37:19-20 ~~ When fashioning the gold lampstand for the tabernacle furnishings, Bezalel, an extremely talented and anointed craftsman, used almonds in his designs.
Numbers 17:2-8 ~~ While the Israelites were traveling in the desert, Aaron’s staff sprouted almond blossoms which was a sign that he was ultimately chosen by God to serve as High Priest over his fellow Jews.
Hebrews 9:3-4 ~~ Aaron’s budding rod was placed inside the ark of the covenant.
“And behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.”
A Double Watch.
Strong’s H8247, saqed, (pronounced shaw-kade’), is the Hebrew word for almond.1
The root word for saqed is saqad (pronounced shaw-kad’), Strong’s H8245, and means to wake, watch, be alert, to keep watch of, be wakeful over.2
Almonds prophetically symbolize watching, God is watching over His word to perform it; chosen, resurrection, and Jesus Christ.
God not only watched over His word during the time of Jeremiah’s life and his Old Testament assignment to the southern kingdom of Judah, but He’s doing the same for us today.
God watches over His logos (written) word, and, in turn, we watch over His words given to us. In essence, this is a double watch.
These can come in several equivalent forms such as:
- a dream
- a vision
- a Biblical verse strongly impressed upon us with repetition when we read it in the Bible, hear it during a sermon, or see it on a devotional calendar, etc.
- a spiritual song
- a personal prophetic word delivered to you from a trustworthy minister of God
“Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21)
- a supernatural event
- a spiritual stirring or prompting that you know did not originate from within your soul realm. In other words, there’s no way you would have thought of this on your own. Holy Spirit gave it to you.
- a prophetic signpost – these can come in any manner, shape, or form. I’ve had them appear on a license plate on the back of a car that I’m following when I’m driving; a street sign; repetition of someone’s name which has happened to me three times now within the past year with a very unusual person’s first name in each instance; or a greeting card containing the exact same verse that had been running through my spirit for weeks. The person who sent me this had no clue I’d been hearing that song containing the very verses that appeared on the front of the card.
On June 7, 2022, my prophetic blog post titled, “The Angel, The Basket, & The Scrolls” delves into prophetic signposts. Here’s the link:
https://sheilaeismann.com/the-angel-the-basket-the-scrolls/
I continue to remind everyone to record each of the above-listed instances and experiences that he or she receives in their life. Every day is so full there’s no way we can recall everything, much less the all-important spiritual matters.
In addition, I deem it very important to be fully yielded to God and not adopt the attitude of, “Well, God doesn’t speak today, and He surely doesn’t speak to me!”
Jesus, Who is God in the flesh, clearly stated in John 10:27-28, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
An Instructive Tapestry Can Be Woven Together.
The closer we press into God, an instructive tapestry can be woven together.
For instance, during the past couple of weeks, I received what I deemed to be a very odd dream. The vernacular wasn’t anything with which I was familiar.
After doing some research, I included the pertinent points of the dream and waited upon God for the interpretation.
“And they (the butler and the baker to the king of Egypt) said to him (Joseph), ‘We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.’
So Joseph said to them, ‘Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please.’” (Genesis 40:8)
Within about a twenty-four-hour period after receiving this dream, I was awakened at 2:45 the next morning with an interpretation and corresponding Bible verse.
I definitely knew this to be the work of God in my life, because of all the verses in the Bible, there’s no way in the natural I could have woven all of this together.
Prophetic Insights For Daily Living.
#1. When the almond tree blossoms is a reminder that it’s time to revisit what God has imparted to you or impressed upon you to act upon or complete.
Carefully consider and review what and how God has spoken to you.
Some of the time, it will be what God alone will do in your life and other times there will be something that you need to act upon or complete.
This was true in the prophet Jeremiah’s life. God instructed Him to do specific things, and God fulfilled His prophecies through his trusted prophet.
#2. It took tremendous faith for God’s Old Testament Prophet Jeremiah to declare to Judah what God had given him for them.
It’s no different for us today. By faith, we declare what God has said to us, in words or substance.
Spiritual and physical atmospheric changes occur when we declare the promises of God and stand upon what He has spoken to us or imparted to us.
#3. What is God using in your natural surroundings to speak to you or instruct you such as the almond tree in Judah during Jeremiah’s life?
#4. Do you find it difficult to accept the supernatural? If so, I think it’s very important to give yourself grace in this regard. God is a supernatural God, and to better understand this aspect of His nature and character, it might be a very helpful exercise to read books in the Bible such as Ezekiel, Daniel, the minor prophets, or the book of Acts.
#5. As you contemplate the workings of God in your life, can you begin to see an instructive tapestry being woven together?
It’s paramount that we record these types of things in our prophetic journals, especially during times when there’s a lot of spiritual activity.
#6. Since this is a season of watching, do you sense God is calling you to watch over something else such as your neighborhood, family, school, church, geographic region, or state?
I attended a recent gathering in our neighborhood where presenters spoke of ways in which we could help watch out for our neighbors, our schools, and our city as well as ourselves. This meeting proved to be most informative and helpful. When the invitation first appeared in my email inbox, it conflicted with another already scheduled event on my calendar. I sensed Holy Spirit was stirring me to go to the meeting. I was thankful afterward that I was.
Whether we live in a region that does or does not have trees that blossom in the spring, we can most definitely be encouraged by God’s word spoken through Isaiah, another one of His Old Testament prophets,
“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)
Until the next message,
SFE (Sheila, Fellow Encourager)
Sheila F. Eismann, Prophetic Seer, Blogger, & Author, publishes her blog posts endeavoring to encourage others through God’s word. Her writings include instructions on how to apply prophetic insights for daily living.
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