Tag Archives: fig tree

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – YOU MUST DIE!

Bible Study, ,

YOU MUST DIE!

11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it. Mark 11:12-14

The disciples must have felt relieved when Jesus left the temple peaceably and returned to Bethany. He seems to have made Martha and Mary’s home His headquarters for the moment. They knew that He was so focussed and self-assured that no amount of reasoning with Him would dissuade Him from what He was about to do. He had gone to the temple with the view to planning His strategy for the rest of the day.

What had He seen that made Him so determined to return there the following morning? He never discussed His plans with His disciples. He often tried to tell then what would happen but they were not inclined to listen to Him because they had their own agenda. Did He see the remnants of the days’ trading in the Court of the Gentiles? Did He see litter, dung, bird droppings and the odd coin lying on the floor? Did He see chairs and tables set up and ready for the next day?

Did anger rise up in Him that this was His Father’s appointed meeting place for spiritually hungry Gentiles, and there was nowhere else for them to go because they were banned from the rest of the temple? Those who were supposed to lead God’s people had sanctioned this part of the temple to be a market place for dishonest trade. They cared nothing for the despised Gentiles who also had a place in God’s heart.

He was up early the next morning, too early for breakfast. Spotting a fig tree in the distance He hoped for an early snack, only to find no fruit – only leaves. Just as the tree could not satisfy His hunger, so His people, Israel failed to satisfy His desire for a loving family. He spoke prophetic words to the tree, “Your time is up. Your potential to bear fruit is over. You are worthless and rejected. Now die.” And the tree died.

Did the disciples get the message?  At this point, only the tree died as a visual aid for them, but there was a warning in this action. What had happened to the tree would happen to the nation the tree symbolised – at God’s powerful word, and they would be speaking that word!

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – JESUS THE ETERNAL WORD

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JESUS THE ETERNAL WORD

“He told them a story. ‘Look at a fig tree. Any tree for that matter. When the leaves begin to show, one look tells you that summer is right around the corner. The same here – when you see these things happen, you know God’s kingdom is about here. Don’t brush this off. I’m not just saying this for some future generation, but for this one too – these things will happen. Sky and earth will wear out; my words won’t wear out.'” Luke 21:29-33.

“Words! Words!” sang Professor Higgins in the musical version of George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion”. We live in an era in which words are saturating the airwaves around the globe. People are constantly posting more and more words on the web, all claiming knowledge and clamouring for attention and belief. Whose words are the truth and whose words are we to believe?

There is something different about the words of Jesus. Is there another person on earth whose words have had the power to bring hope, give encouragement and change lives like Jesus’ words have done through 2000 years? There is something so compelling about His words that people all over the world and in every generation are drawn to believe and respond.

What is it that makes His words different from the words of any other authority? No one else has made the claims that Jesus makes about His words.

  1. He knows what He is talking about because he came from the other side. “‘I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen…No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven – the Son of Man ‘” John 3:11, 13 (NIV).
  2. He does not speak His own words or on His own authority. “The Jews were amazed. ’How did this man get such learning without having studied.’ Jesus answered. ‘My teaching is not my own. It comes from His who sent me.'” John 7:15-16 (NIV).
  3. He speaks more than mere words. His words are life-giving. “‘The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.'” John 7:63-64a (NIV).
  4. He teaches us the truth and the knowledge of the truth sets us free. “To the Jews who believed Him Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.'” John 8:31-32 (NIV).
  5. His words will be our judge when He returns. “‘As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him…There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my word; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.'” John 12:47a, 48 (NIV).

What did Jesus say that no one else has ever said? “‘ I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.'” John 5:24 (NIV)

“‘My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can snatch them out of my hand.'” John 10:27 (NIV).

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?'” John 11:25-26 (NIV).

All other great religious teachers have told their followers what to do but never called them to become one with them. Jesus not only spoke God’s word. He is God’s Word, the living embodiment of everything God has spoken so that those who believe in Him will know that He alone is the truth. He is His word and He is eternal. Therefore His words will never pass away and nor will those who believe Him.

Jesus Did Not Curse The Fig Tree Because He Was In A Bad Mood

Apologetics, , , ,

JESUS DID NOT CURSE THE FIG TREE BECAUSE HE WAS IN A BAD MOOD

The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to find out if it had any fruit. When He reached it, He found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for fruit. Then He said to the tree, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ And His disciples heard Him say it. (Mark 11:12-14)

Well, Jesus, I didn’t know that you were also given to bad moods! But wait a minute. Had He ever given evidence of being in a bad mood before? No-o-o-o. So what’s this all about, then? Surely He knew that a fig tree in leaf was an indication that it was not time for fruit. What a capricious action! Was it just an outburst of frustration because He did not get what He wanted or was there something deeper in His action?

My husband used to sing a corruption of an old song, “I talk to the trees, that’s why they put me away.” And here’s Jesus talking to a tree! Perhaps He needed to be put away. After all, He often did very strange things like spitting on the ground and making a mud ball to smear on a blind man’s eyes. Wasn’t he blind enough already without getting mud in his eyes?

But Jesus never said or did anything without a purpose. What could His purpose possibly by speaking to a tree?

One of the rules of interpreting the Bible is called “the law of first mention.” The meaning of something that is mentioned for the first time in Scripture governs its interpretation every other time it is mentioned thereafter. Where, in the Bible, are fig leaves first mentioned? Way back in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve tried to cover their nakedness with fig leaves. We often joke about it, but it was their puny attempt to cover up their disobedience. It did not work and God was not impressed. He had to sacrifice a lamb to provide His own covering for their nakedness.

The fig tree was often used in Scripture as a symbol for Israel. Was God saying that, like the leaves that offered no covering for the first pair, their puny efforts at trying to make right by their rules and rituals offered no solution to their sin. Just as God had provided a lamb for Adam and Eve’s nakedness, so He would provide His Lamb to cover the sin of His people.

Jesus used a perfectly natural situation to drive home the point for His disciples. They, of course, didn’t get the message at first. They were astonished when they saw the dead tree the next day. What on earth happened to it? It had shrivelled up and died for no other reason than that Jesus had spoken to it.

In the morning, as they went along, they found the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” ‘Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered. (Mark 11: 20-22).

The plot thickens, as they say. What had Jesus’ reply to do with a dead tree? What was the connection? The fig-leaf covering the first pair used to try to obliterate their sin did not work. They could not fool God with their self-effort. Union with God by faith was the only answer to their plight.

How did Jesus connect the response of the fig tree to His words about prayer? Adam and Eve had destroyed their union with God by their disobedience. They tried to cover it up and pretend it didn’t happen but they could not fool God. What would have happened had they confessed their sin and come clean with God? Instead they played the blame game and were driven from the presence of God to go it alone in the world. They made their own rules and thoroughly messed up their lives and the lives of their descendants.

Was Jesus implying that, once again God would provide a Lamb, Himself, as a covering for the sin of His people? This time His blood, not the skin of the lamb, would not only cover but remove their sin forever, reconnecting them with God and re-establishing their union with the Father. Out of this oneness with God they would be able to fulfil their mandate to rule over the earth. Whatever got in the way of God’s purposes would dry up and disappear as surely as the tree dried up in response to Jesus’ command.

This is the kind of “authority” Jesus intended His people to have – not the “name it and claim it” kind of faith so that we can get everything we want to make our lives cushy and comfortable, but the faith partnership with God which gets rid of the obstacles that hinder the doing of God’s will on earth.

Jesus’ instruction to “speak to the mountain” implies that our union and intimacy with Him will produce such confidence in Him that we allow nothing to interfere with the His desire to reveal His glory through us to the world, not even, or should I say, especially the notion that somehow our pathetic efforts to gain His approval will contribute to His purpose.

The “fig tree” approach to our lives as believers in Jesus will just not work. Self-effort must die just as the fig tree died and give way to the only way in which the life of Jesus in us will make any impression on a rebellious world – the “vine” image.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15: 5)

Only intimate union with Him will produce the kind of faith that can remove obstacles with a word. No, Jesus was not having a “bad hair day” when He cursed the fig tree. He was using a spur-of-the-moment opportunity to teach His disciples a profound lesson. Did you get it?

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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The Lesson Of The Fig Tree

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THE LESSON OF THE FIG TREE

Now learn this lesson from the fig tree. As soon as the twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation certainly will not pass away until all these things happen. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away (Mark 13: 28-31).

What is the fig tree and what is the lesson of the fig tree? When did the fig tree first feature in Scripture? Last question first.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they lost their God-awareness and became self-aware. They became conscious of their nakedness and tried to hide it with fig leaves. It was an attempt to put right what they had done wrong by their own unsuccessful efforts. God had to kill an animal to provide skins to cover their shame.

God often used the fig tree as a symbol of Israel, especially in the Minor Prophets. It was both a symbol of fruitfulness as well as the devastation their enemies would bring on them because of their disobedience to God’s teaching.  Was the symbolism also for the same reason as Adam and Eve’s – Israel’s attempts to cover their unrighteousness and gain favour with God by their self-effort?

The disciples would have quickly grasped Jesus’ allusion to their own nation. What He had just told them, would happen to Israel. Just as they recognised the imminent return of summer by the changes in the fig tree, so these “beginning of sorrows” would herald the destruction of Israel.

Jesus was dealing with two catastrophic events on earth – the overthrow of Israel as a nation, resulting in the scattering of His people for thousands of years – and the destruction of the old earth and the renewal of all things, heralded by His return. Once again, there is no timeline to place the events into a convenient progression of events, but signs that everything He predicted was about to happen. Not “when” but “that” these things would happen.

When were they to flee Jerusalem? When the Romans entered the city and desecrated the temple. That was the signal that they would unleash a terrible slaughter on the city. That was the time to get out – and fast. No time to go home and gather up their belongings. The history books tell us that, because of Jesus’ warning, believers were alerted and were able to escape the city with their lives.

Why did Jesus give them signs and not a date? It was always His intention for them to live ready every day – to be watchful and alert so that their lives would give off the fragrance of Jesus all the time. Had He given them a date, the temptation would have been to live irresponsibly until the date arrived. That is the nature of the human being – to sail as close to the wind as possible.

If they understood that He was coming but did not know when, they would have made sure that they were ready to face Him without guilt no matter when He came. His allusion to “this generation must have referred to the destruction of Jerusalem. No need to create fanciful interpretations. It was almost as if He superimposed one even on top of the other – the devastation of Jerusalem and the devastation of the earth. One event would mirror the other.

 

When the Romans attacked Jerusalem and devastated Israel, it was the unbelieving Jews who were destroyed. When Jesus returns to destroy the old order of things and set up His kingdom on a renewed earth, it will be the unbelievers who will be destroyed. Prophecy teachers have led us to believe that God’s people will be taken to heaven and the ungodly left behind. But that contradicts Jesus’ reference to Noah and the flood. Noah and his family were “left behind” while the unrighteous perished in the deluge. God refashioned the earth for those who were protected in the ark.

It will be the same when Jesus returns. He will destroy the old order and all those who belong to it. His people will be safe “in Him” and will reign with Him on a restored and renewed earth forever. There is no such thing in Scripture as a “secret rapture” and a second chance. Jesus’ return will be noisy and visible to everyone – heralded by the blowing of the last trumpet – and accompanied by a myriad angels and all those who have gone before us.

I’m sure you would hate to miss out on this greatest event in history. Jesus’ message to us all is, “Be alert, be on guard, be ready.” The desecration of the temple signalled the coming of the Romans, and His people were ready. When will He return as He promised? “No man knows the day or the hour” but it does not matter, if we are ready.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

 

A Fruitless Fig Tree

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A FRUITLESS FIG TREE

Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, He went to Bethany with the Twelve.

The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to find out if it had any fruit. When He reached it, He found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then He said to the tree, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ And His disciples heard Him say it. (Mark 11:11-14)

Really Jesus! Why were you so peeved about a fig tree that had no fruit because it was out of season? Were you having a bad hair day? Did you have the sulks?

If He did have the sulks, it would have been the first time in His life. No, Jesus did not have the sulks. He cashed in on a golden opportunity to give His disciples another valuable lesson. But the story is still incomplete. This was much more than simply another example of His power over nature. Read on!

In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig true you cursed has withered!’ Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered. ‘Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, “Go, throw yourself into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.’ (Mark 11:20-25).

There are two valuable lessons hidden in this story. Firstly, fig trees had symbolic meaning for a Jew. God often referred to Israel as a “fig tree”. Where was the fig tree first mentioned in the Bible? Way back in Genesis, it was the first tree mentioned by name in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve realised they were naked, they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. It was man’s first attempt to deal with his sin in his own way. Was this why God called Israel a fig tree? Israel’s greatest sin against God was their idolatry. They did not trust God for His solution for sin. They worshipped and served false gods and lived fruitless lives as a result.

In a wordless lesson to His disciples, Jesus demonstrated to them how useless it was to attempt to approach God their own way. Just as fig leaves could not cover the sin in their hearts, so their self-effort was useless to deal with sin. Would the disciples have got the message? Yes, if they understood the imagery. The fig tree was full of leaves but no fruit. God’s people were full of “good works”, but they were useless to deal with sin. The real fruit was repentance – returning to the way of the Lord and coming under His authority. Only Jesus’s sacrifice could bring them back into fellowship with Him.

The second lesson was far more visible to them. Jesus was not showing off by speaking death to the fig tree. He was showing them by a clear visual aid how powerful faith was. Faith is expressed in ad declaration. Why did the tree die? Jesus spoke to it. He declared His intention. The tree must die in order to teach His disciples a life lesson they would never forget.

Paul used this same principle when he wrote to the Roman church about experiencing the reality of salvation.

If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom. 10:9).

Did you notice the sequence? Declare and believe.

Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, “Go, throw yourself into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

This does not mean, of course, that you can get God to do anything you want by simply speaking it out. Faith’s foundation is not what we want but what God has promised. His promises are a declaration of His intent, but we must activate them through faith.

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God (2 Cor. 1:20).

We activate faith by our declaration – like turning on a light by flicking the switch.

Is Jesus tying these two ideas together? Our sin is covered, not by the “fig leaves” of self-righteousness, but by the forgiveness God offers us through Jesus. However, it must be received by the declaration of faith. From then on our walk with the Lord is a journey of faith, steadfastly speaking out God’s promises rather than our doubts and fears.

Let us not be like fruitless fig trees.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com