Somebody wrote, “Nothing but leaves; the spirit grieves/Over a wasted life/Or sins committed while conscience slept/Promises made, but never kept/Hatred, battle, and strife/Nothing but leaves!/Nothing but leaves; no garnered sheaves/Of life’s fair, ripened grain/Words, idle words, for earnest deeds/We so our seeds – lo! The Olivet Discourse: Learn the lesson of the fig tree. It wasn’t just after the three years of His ministry that the fulfillment of that curse came. And it’s little wonder that they reacted by hating Jesus Christ and wanting Him dead. Instead of becoming a conqueror, He was a confronter. It may have been that it was near a brook, and water was in abundance, provided to the roots. If you've ever driven that way, you will have noticed the many, huge fig trees along the roadside. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Lord, if there are some in our fellowship – and we know there are – who have nothing but leaves, whose lives are devoid of fruit, who shall meet the Master, bearing their withered leaves while He looks for perfect fruit, and stand before Him humbled, mute, waiting the words He breathes, “Nothing but leaves?”. Now, Jesus, then, on Monday, when He rode in, listened to the accolades and the hosannas and accepted the coronation, fickle as it was. A very wonderful, very instructive, very dramatic portion of the Scripture and incident in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. One comes to my mind in general, a rather massive one that we saw growing beside an old building in Caesarea on the sea – Mediterranean Sea. ii. A fig tree in the Old Testament was a symbol of blessing, of peace, of abundance – and that was due both to the fruit it bore and to the shade it gave. He wants the swing and says, "Get off the swing, Twinky." Jesus was using the fig tree as an illustration of hypocrisy. The Olivet Discourse: Learn the lesson of the fig tree. Verse 49 says, “The Lord’s going to bring a nation against you from the end of the earth, as swift as an eagle; a nation whose tongue you don’t understand.” And all of that is curse. Why let it cumber the ground?’. You go – we’ll be traveling along in the Jordan Valley, and jets are zooming a thousand feet over the ground, up and down. This isn’t our kind of King.” He wasn’t like other kings. With all my heart I want that. Jesus has arrived in the city of Jerusalem. It may have been that that soil had unique nutrients. We think that God builds His Church by better programs. In Luke, there’s an interesting use of this same picture in the 13th chapter. Divided into four parts: The court of the Gentiles; the court of the women; the court of the Jews; and the Holy of Holies. And some of us have not received the blessing of God in our lives simply because we have not persisted in prayer. Oh, surely they would have. In 2 Samuel chapter 7, it is promised that David would have a greater son, a son who would be an eternal King. And surely they would have provided that. Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, I saw your fathers. It was the triumphal entry. But there’s a lesson that He wants to give to His disciples. And some of you are not seeing God work in your life simply because there’s no persistence in your prayer; there’s no continuance in your prayer; there’s no strengthening. THE FRUITLESS FIG TREE. In fact, in Micah 5:2, it says He would be born in Bethlehem, but His goings would have been of old from everlasting. That’s a profound lesson. Why? In other words, the Lord is saying if you believe in God enough to be persistent in your prayers, and to start out small and keep praying, and keep praying, and keep praying; let that faith strengthen, and strengthen, and strengthen, then God’s going to respond to that. They’re under a curse: the curse that our Lord pronounced upon them, the curse that Isaiah pronounced upon them, the curse that’s pronounced upon them by God in Deuteronomy. “And presently the fig tree withered away.” You compare the passage in Mark, “On the first day He cursed it. Coming to a fig tree in Israel isn’t that unusual. The life cycle of a fig tree is similar to the spiritual life of an individual. Devastating. Here at Grace to You Europe we take our data protection responsibilities very seriously and, as you would expect, have undertaken a significant programme of work to ensure that we are ready for this important legislative change. What we’re seeing now in Israel is not the regathering of the nation prophesied in the Bible. And here it comes down to very clear focus. Being reminded, Peter said to him, “Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed has withered.” And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God.” (Mark 11:20–22) Look again at the last four words in that passage. With the breaking of the dawn, Jesus told His disciples to go find a particular animal that was tied in a nearby village by the name of Bethphage, to bring that animal, along with its mother. Do you think there’s a connection? And then the second day, when He came back again, there was a second encounter with the fig tree. And so, our Lord, in His hunger, sees this fig tree, and it says it was along the way, which means it was a roadside fig tree; He wasn’t invading someone’s private orchard. They’re still a cursed people. © 2021 Grace to You. He killed that tree with His word, “Tree, you’re dead from here on.”. The fruit of thy body, the fruit of the ground, the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy cows, the flocks of thy sheep, thy basket, thy kneading trough. There’s a principle that they need, too. “And as we ask in prayer, believing, we receive.” Oh, not that we may consume it on our lusts, because James 4:3 says we won’t get those kind of things. And it’s inconceivable to them that their own Messiah could come and condemn them. He's swinging on a swing in the school playground. Jesus answered and said to him, Before that Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Jesus is the King, and the King does what the King wants to do because He’s the King. What you’re seeing now is just some preliminary activity. The faith of a grain of mustard seed is this. To repeat: Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. That’s not a very happy message to give them, but that’s the fact, because they continue to reject the Messiah. Then they will know what it is to be at peace. The context, the circumstances. Good morning. I will curse that people.”. That’s how small and how isolated it. Jesus cleansed the temple, and thus He denounced their religion. And he told his people, “If you have the faith to do it and just claim it, it’s positive confession faith. The fruit of the fig-tree was good and sweet; and so people would often go to a fig-tree to sit back, relax, and reflect while munching away at a fig (John 1:48). You only want what God wills. Faith of a grain of mustard seed, that’s the smallest seed there is.”. And they’re regathering themselves on a political basis; they’re not being regathered redemptively or messianically. It had dried up. Listen, you have to understand a little bit about fig trees, and I know as little as anybody, so I’ll tell you what I know. But that is the essence of His humanness. Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! And while it is a national illustration in the parable, it certainly has individual implications. In fact, in Zechariah 3:10, I believe it is, the promise is that someday in the kingdom, every man is going to sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree. And I warn you that if you’re life is a life of leaves without fruit, you are cursed and doomed just like the nation Israel was. But it may have been that He had been praying. The promise of the King fills up the Old Testament. And I’m committed in my own heart to a greater commitment to the life of prayer and less involvement in trying to think up better ways to do things. And then, Lord, for those of us who are fruit-bearing Christians, but who have never really been faithful to persistent prayer and therefore never seeing Your power the way we could see it, call us, O God, by Your Spirit to a more faithful prayer life, through greater diligence. You go to Matthew chapter 13, the parable of the four soils, and you find the good soil, and the good soil is seen as good soil because it produces – what? He will gather His wheat into the granary and burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. There are paradoxes in the Bible that I don’t understand. I asked the Lord to do it, and He didn’t do it.” But your faith grows and strengthens and strengthens and strengthens. Jesus represented change that would affect their bottom line. “And they marveled” – it says in verse 20. And He got on that colt, the foal of an ass, and rode triumphantly into the city of Jerusalem before the hosannas of the people, the palm branches that were thrown in His way, the garments that were thrown down, upon which the animals walked. We just heard that parable, there in the book of Luke, chapter 13, verses 6-9. Jesus of Nazareth Meets Nathanael of the Fig Tree – A Sermon on John 1:43-51, Epiphany 2B The collect and readings for the Second Sunday after Epiphany may be found here . then hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and so that they may know that your name has been invoked on this house that I have built. “When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, ‘How soon is the fig tree withered away!’” It died that fast. It may have been that He had been seeking the heart of God, and that His desire for food had been over ridden by His spiritual hunger, and He had preempted any thought of a meal by His time of prayer. Hosea 9:10. That isn’t what He’s talking about. But you have made it a den of robbers.” In the latest sermon of our Encounter Series lead pastor of Bridge Church, James Roberson, encouraged us to live authentic lives marked by the power of the Holy Spirit. You say, “Well, that doesn’t seem to be connected with the lesson. They’re preserved because God will redeem them in the future when the Messiah comes. And here’s the important point: the fruit comes before the leaves. A very big event. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. They can only fly three minutes in any direction without being over one of their borders. 32, 33). And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. They don’t recognize the State of Israel; therefore they trade only in the American dollar; they won’t use Israeli currency. Not because we ask in our name, because John 14:13 and 14 says it has to be in Christ’s name. “‘Cut it down. On Wednesday, He came again to the city of Jerusalem, and again into confrontation with the religious leaders. Enter your email address and we will send you instructions on how to reset your password. It has a pretense of fruit, but no fruit. In other words, the faith that we must have in prayer is not faith in our ideas. Do you see the connection? The people of this nation are in a covenant relationship with God, and they might outwardly appear to observe his Law. In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. They turned it into something that the Gentiles would have no use for. Because when He came in on Tuesday, and when He came in on the morning of Wednesday – on both of those two days, there was a fig tree that came into play. That’s not mustard seed; that’s not getting stronger, and bigger, and larger. Infuse into the deadness of their life Thy living power through Christ, that they may bear fruit and not be cut down and cast into the fire like so many Judas branches. Now, people, the cleansing of the temple and the cursing of the tree then, you see, is very dramatic, don’t you? “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”. It was just a roadside tree. A fig tree in the Old Testament was a symbol of blessing, of peace, of abundance – and that was due both to the fruit it bore and to the shade it gave. He cursed it. I can’t do that, but my job is to respond in faith and simple trust to the confident statement of verse 22, that if I ask in prayer, believing that God will do what He will do and is able to do what He says He will do, that I’ll see His power. If you have faith and don’t doubt, you’ll not only be able to do things like that, but you could say to this mountain” – and that would no doubt refer to the Mount of Olives – “‘Be cast into the sea’” – and the sea that was on the backside of that would have been the Dead Sea, 4,000 feet down – “You could say to this mountain, ‘Dump yourself into that sea,’ and it would be done.”. It just never had any. In other words, if I know that something is consistent with God’s mind, if I know it is consistent with His will, if I know it is consistent with His purpose, if I know it is consistent with His desire, then I believe that, and I can see that come to pass. This whole section here, from 27 on, deals with whether or not Israel’s going to be blessed or cursed, whether they’re going to be in the land or out of the land. And then, in chapter 5, it’s curse, curse, curse, curse, curse, curse six times. In chapter 28, “It’ll come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments, which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth” - in other words, if you’re obedient – “God’ll bless you, and all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God. He would create utopia to borrow a more modern term. This is His message the next day, “You’re doomed.” Boy, they really didn’t expect their Messiah to come to deliver that word, did they? a. e. Jews would stream into the temple from all over the place and need to buy animals for their passover sacrifice. The Parable of the Fig Tree Mark 13:28-31; Luke 21:29-33 32. learn a parable of the fig tree] More accurately, learn from the fig-tree its parable, the lesson that the fig-tree teaches. Now, keep in mind that Jesus came as King. 5/14/2011*5/14/2011. In to her words, He was attracted to it because it did have leaves. And that, my dear friends, is why they will be so ripe for the pact that they will make with the Antichrist, as Daniel 9 tells us, because they are still looking for the wrong thing. I’m a King, but not the kind of king you’re used to.”. 3. What morning? As you may be aware, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into full effect on 25th May 2018. Those borders, is not just to themselves but to all people and then later in the Bible the of., would like to put a circle around it in these ways about the,... Out of nature verse 6, the nation of the fig tree sermon influence with the religious leaders in spiritual.... 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