Mark 11:12 And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:
13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.
Jesus Christ came to this earth as a man. As a man he became hungry just like any other man. In our text we see that He either did not have breakfast before He left whatever house He stayed at for the night, or He was just hungry as He was travelling. Either way, we read that He saw a fig tree and came to see if He might find some fruit on that tree. We read that all He found was leaves on this tree. We read as well that it was not the time of figs yet.
Trees have a season for leaves and a season for fruit. Jesus knew that. He created the trees. He set the time clock for the trees.
Jeremiah 24:1 The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
2 One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
3 Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
In Jeremiah 24 God used the figs and the fig tree as a picture of God’s dealings with Israel. He would punish them for their sins against Him. We learn as well that figs were used as a medicine in Old Testament times.
The nation of Israel was to be a medicine for the nations. Israel was to be the people of God. They were to show the nations the blessings of God. God raised up Israel from one man, Abram. God changed his name to Abraham. He commanded Abram to leave Ur of the Chaldees and go to a new land that He would show him. God began to train Abram for the important task he would have as the father of a new nation.
God blessed Abraham with a son, named Isaac. Isaac was given two sons, but only one of those sons was chosen as the descendant through whom He would continue to build His nation. As God built this new nation, He protected it from destruction. He also blessed this new nation with His laws. He gave them a land flowing with milk and honey. He blessed them with power so that no nation could stand against them. However, Israel grew fat and forgot Who had made them a great nation. They rejected God’s law. Their priesthood became corrupt and they corrupted the law of God.
God eventually sent both Israel, the north, and Judah, the south, into exile. In the days of Jesus, Israel was no longer divided north and south, but they were under Roman rule.
It was a rare thing to find any God-fearing individuals in Israel at that time. Thus, the picture we have in this fig tree is that of a nation that should have been producing fruit, but was not. There is no season for God’s people to produce fruit, and a time when they should not produce fruit. God created Israel to be a fruit-bearing nation. He expected them to be a light to the nations around them. For the most part that was true in the days of king David. It was also true in the early days of king Solomon. King Solomon soon forsook the true God and he chose to develop his reign on pagan principles. He married many strange women. Those women turned his heart away from God. The nation came apart due to his evil reign. God broke the nation into two parts after the death of king Solomon.
At the time that Jesus was on the earth, the Roman government did not look at Israel as a nation of great blessings. King Herod had spent 46 years rebuilding the temple. He was bribing Israel to submit to him and obey his rule. Israel was impressed with the acts of this pagan king. Two times, during Jesus’ earthly ministry, He had to cleanse the temple. It was supposed to be the house of God. The law of God was to be taught and upheld there. The priests were to be God-fearing men who taught the law of God. They were to perform the sacrifices in a God-fearing manner. However, the temple had been overrun by the Pharisees and their ilk. The priests were paid off by false teachers. The religion that God had established had become corrupted and it was now an oppressive religion. The Spirit of the law was removed and law-keeping had become the standard of ‘righteousness’. In reality it was the standard of unrighteousness. Jesus had exposed the hypocrisy of the Pharisaical religion, many times.
Jesus knew that a fig tree had a season of fruit. However, He also knew that Israel should have been producing fruit all the time. He had spent three plus years demonstrating to them that He was their Messiah. Yet, the majority of the people rejected Him as the Messiah. They had been fed a lie and they had accepted the lie they were fed. Thus there was no fruit being produced as a nation. The Roman government had no reason to respect or to fear the nation of Israel.
The people flocked to Jesus for healing. Many came to Him to be set free from possession of devils. There was a spiritual hunger, but due to the long standing corruption within the nation, few believed in Him as their Messiah and Saviour. There was discussion about this during His earthly ministry, but most were so confused and so fearful of the power of the Pharisees, that they just found it easier to cave in than to believe the truth.
In the early chapters of the book of Acts we see that many were saved. They had witnessed enough truth by that time, that many bowed the knee to the truth. However, at the time when Jesus was on the earth, few believed in Him.
In verse 14 of our text we read that Jesus cursed that tree. That tree would never have fruit on it again. This was not a curse against all fig trees, but against this particular tree. This particular tree was a symbol of the nation of Israel at that time and for centuries to come. In the book of Romans we are told that God cut off Israel at the root and graffed the Gentiles into that root. In the book of Acts we are told that the apostle Paul was called to be the apostle to the Gentiles.
In Matthew 16 Jesus declared that He would build His church upon Himself. At Jesus’ crucifixion, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. The way was open for all to come to God now, through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He took the position as the Great High Priest and He is the Saviour of mankind. All who would be saved, are saved through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The fig tree — the nation of Israel will be a fruit-bearing nation again in the time of the Millennium. They have been an unfruitful nation for many, many years now. There are still more years of this unfruitfulness ahead for them. Yes, they can build an iron dome. They can build laser technology for defence. They have sophisticated aircraft and other weapons. They have superior intelligence capabilities. However, they do not have that which is most important. They do not carry the voice of truth at this time. That has been given to true local churches.
We are living in a time of great spiritual decay within many local churches. There is still much activity in local churches. Some are getting quite big. They pull in a lot of money and they have fancy buildings. They can attract the attention of the world. However, they lack the power of God in what they are doing.
I listened to a podcast by an IFB preacher who talked of his work in the prison ministry. He talked of the few that ever become solid Christians within that camp. He gave some suggestions as to why that was. The bottom line is that the Word of God must be taught with power and conviction. There can be no room for pampering sin. Most of the prisons in this country are very restrictive as to who can go and “preach” in them. If a God fearing man was called of God to go and preach in the prison, the same God Who ruled in times past would be able to open a door for that person to go and preach the truth. The sad reality is that most men who think they are called to go into the prisons, are already compromised. They are not building their own lives on the truth. Thus their work in the prisons is ineffective.
We have been dealing with a man for some time now that has been deceived by easy believism in the past. He is a druggy and crippled by his sin. He gets straight answers from me and if he would humble himself before the Lord, he would be changed in a moment of time. He is presently still bound in his sin. There is a danger that he will play his deadly game too long and will perish in his sin. He will not get a rubber stamp of approval from me. He needs to know the truth and the same Jesus Who saved sinners while He was on this earth, is still able to save sinners today. When a person is truly saved, they will produce Biblically identifiable fruit.
The power of the Gospel is still there. The ears of many have grown dull of hearing. It is important to teach the truth. It is also important to receive the truth. Be careful what you are hearing today.
Pastor Bartel
