And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.
On a hungry morning Jesus came to a single fig tree already full of leaves, which promised well-developed fruit because fruit normally appears before the leaves, and finding nothing but pretentious foliage He doomed it to lasting barrenness so that no one would ever eat from it again, and by next morning it was dried up from the roots. The sentence was an acted parable upon Israel, the leafy but barren tree picturing the Jewish nation in its outward flourishing of piety, ceremonies and temple worship while lacking righteousness, love and Christlike character. What He hungers for and searches for is not inviting leaves but fruit, namely love for God and others shown in piety, self-denial, compassion and merciful unselfish service to save others. The withering reveals the certainty of retribution in loss of place, privileges and ruin for those entrusted with truth who abuse mercy and withhold light, and it stands as a living warning to every Christian church and professor to the close of history whose formal, selfish profession blesses no one. Outward profession, knowledge and religious form are therefore worthless without inward grace, repentance and victory over sin, and all must be converted and reform while there is still time or the same curse will rest on them at the final accounting.
Words and Setting
It was morning and He was hungry after a night in prayer, going between Bethany and Jerusalem toward the temple past a fig orchard with His disciples present. He saw a single tree afar off in advance of the others and already covered with leaves, came to it hoping to find fruit, and searched it thoroughly from the topmost twig to the lowest bough. Though it was not the season for ripe figs on the highlands about Jerusalem, in the fig tree the growing fruit normally appears before the leaves open. A tree already full of leaves therefore gave promise of well-developed fruit and raised a reasonable expectation of finding some.
He found nothing but leaves, a mass of pretentious, flourishing foliage and deceptive appearance that concealed barrenness. It flaunted its flourishing branches in the very face of justice. He answered the tree by dooming it to lasting barrenness, that no one would ever eat fruit from it again hereafter forever. His disciples heard the words.
The next morning as they passed by, the tree was dried up from the roots, with blasted branches and drooping leaves. Peter pointed it out to Him. The destructive act stood alone and astonished the disciples and raised questioning. They had known Him only as Restorer and Healer whose works restored rather than destroyed, who came not to condemn the world or destroy lives but to save. They asked its meaning as a parable.
Judgment on Israel
The sentence upon the tree was an acted parable and a miracle, a significant object lesson revealing Israel's true condition. By making a dumb, unconscious tree a responsible agent, the lesson was fixed so the disciples would ever remember the terrible result of fruitlessness. Its curse testifies to disappointment that the Jewish nation bore no fruit and to the punishment that must come to them.
The barren, leafy tree represents the Jewish nation in its outward flourishing, displaying religion and exceptional piety and knowledge of God. It displayed sacred privileges and abundant ceremonies, traditions, temple worship, and priestly service. Yet it lacked good fruit such as righteousness, humility, love, devotion, goodness, truth, service, and Christlike character. Its leaves gave reason to expect fruit and therefore represented false profession, a beautiful, flourishing appearance concealing barrenness.
Those leaves without fruit picture empty profession concealing pride, worldliness, greed, oppression, hypocrisy, cruelty, and disobedience. They concealed also vanity, selfishness, apostasy and separation from God. Through pride and apostasy the nation lost power of discernment and failed to recognize its Redeemer. The people were corrupted by the false principles of their religious leaders, ignorant of God's requirements, and the tree's fate represented the punishment of those leaders.
Though entrusted with truth and greatly blessed, the people were brought by the mighty working of God's power from Egypt into a land where they were to become trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified. For more than a thousand years they did not profit by their blessings but abused mercy and invited judgments. In pride and self-sufficiency they withheld light from the world, refused to share blessings and serve others, and sought no response of love and service matching the grace and advantages received. Thus they determined their own destruction, in perfect harmony with the lament that Jerusalem did not know in its day the things belonging to its peace, now hidden from its eyes.
The curse and withering show the certainty of retribution: loss of place as God's chosen people and removal of grace and privileges. Its withering portrayed the ruin that followed and represented God's righteous anger in Jerusalem's temporal ruin and destruction, beheld with tears showing rejected compassion and pleadings. The judgment fell especially on the generation that rejected Jesus, which remained outwardly alive for forty years afterward as a living, thinking people but was spiritually dead. By refusing to pass on blessing they would lose it and bring ruin on themselves. The bare trees by contrast represented the Gentiles, who made no claim to know God or to religious piety and were awaiting light, whose time to bear fruit had not yet come.
The event belongs to the time of the triumphal ride into Jerusalem, which was the dim foreshadowing of coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory amid the triumph of angels and the rejoicing of the saints. Then the words that they would not see Him till they welcomed Him coming in the name of the Lord will be fulfilled. Then Zechariah's prophetic vision of that day of final triumph and of those who pierced Him mourning as for an only son and as for a firstborn will be fulfilled. This scene was foreseen when beholding the city and weeping over it, seeing in the temporal ruin of Jerusalem the final destruction of that people guilty of the blood of the Son of God.
Fruit God Requires
What Christ hungers for and must have is fruit, not leaves alone however inviting. His hunger represents the people's unsatisfied need for spiritual fruit, which He had pledged His own life to supply through His grace and righteousness. His divine soul finds no satisfaction in show alone. The genuine fruit He hungers for from His people is lacking when ministers and church members may pray and teach Bible truth yet do not bear the fruits of righteousness that make service acceptable to God. That wanted fruit is borne when men and women as well as youth are trained to work in the Master's vineyard, with all possible work done by native help and hopeful evangelistic work carried on, as in the Southern field, so that much of the vineyard is worked.
God looks for fruit and searches critically for what is genuine, for outward appearance and profession alone have no value when they mask barrenness. The fruit He requires is love for Him and for others, shown in piety, self-denial, self-sacrifice, compassion, zeal for God, and a deep yearning of soul to save fellow men from unbelief and ruin. It is a life of merciful, unselfish service to others and work for their salvation.
Warning to Churches
The doom spoken to the fruitless tree stands as a living warning to every Christian church in every age to the close of earth's history. It reaches both individuals and churches that profess the truth yet bear no spiritual fruit, whose religion is only formal, selfish, boastful, hypocritical and worldly. Such profession blesses no one by good works and harms those around it, unless a thorough work is done within. The leaves promised devotion but concealed barrenness, and the test exposes the difference between pretended devotion and genuine faith, for true use of God-given opportunity and privilege is to imitate Christ in unselfish deeds and good works.
The fruitlessness condemned is worship without repentance, faith, obedience, and glory to God. Vain pretense of this kind is hateful in His eyes. A fruitless professor is in a worse condition before God and less excusable than an open sinner, and this empty profession is more blameworthy than open sin.
As in Christ's day, churches that bear no such fruit trample God's law and bring destruction upon themselves. They make God's memorial, the sign between Him and His commandment-keeping people, a despised thing of naught, while a rival spurious sabbath is exalted as the great golden image on the plain of Dura was exalted. Men claiming to be Christians call the world to worship the image they have made, which is the mystery of iniquity devised by satanic agencies and carried into effect by the man of sin, and all who will not observe the spurious sabbath are placed under oppressive laws, repeating the ceremony and formalism, vainglory and oppression of Nebuchadnezzar.
The warning presses especially where great light, privileges and institutions have been given, as at Battle Creek, where leaders yield to worldly influence instead of following the Spirit of God and lives contradict claims of loyalty. It exposes institutions whose workers lack the virtues that win souls, and false shepherds and churches displaying outward prosperity, beautiful music and splendid decorations while fast becoming converted to the world, not feeding the flock. Cherished impurity and disobedience make such flourishing appearance empty, picturing spiritual blindness, hardness of heart, and leaving first love. As Jesus unmasked the tree, He will unmask these pretentious hypocrites, yet with mournful reluctance He pronounces the doom under which they wither, a lesson to be applied by reforming while there is still time and walking in the light while it is had.
Personal Call to Fruitfulness
Outward profession, knowledge, and religious form cannot take the place of God's inward work, and like leaves concealing a barren tree they are worthless without repentance, faith, and corresponding fruit. The leaves are appearances that conceal spiritual barrenness, while the fruit is a life matching profession and bringing glory to God, with inward victory over sin and Christlike character in place of cherished impurity and disobedience. Ministers and church members may pray and teach Bible truth yet lack the fruits of righteousness that make service acceptable, showing spiritual blindness, hardness of heart, and leaving of first love. Those who claim great spiritual light and profess godliness but whose daily lives and unholy characters contradict that profession show only a flourishing appearance without love, devotion, goodness, righteousness, and Christlike character, and such outward religion without fruit is unacceptable and cannot endure God's proving.
Christ's daily invitations come through His agencies and must be heeded with conversion, for otherwise the tree's curse will rest on the person at the final accounting when the life is reviewed. With mournful reluctance doom was pronounced on the pretentious, fruitless tree and under the curse of an offended God it withered and died, a lesson to be applied by reforming while there is still time and walking in the light while possessing the light. A people given great light and abundant opportunity to bear fruit face judgment if selfishness replaces love and godliness, so repentance is needed while there is still time. Habits and character formed in youth shape whether the life that follows bears fruit to God's glory or is worthless bearing only leaves.
Those who walk in the way of God's commandments will be like a flourishing fig tree full of fruit, revealing to the world that they are under the rule of God and dependent upon Him for temporal and spiritual victories. They are safe with His presence and favor although they may suffer persecution for truth's sake, with His goodness and the riches of His grace as their protection and salvation. The barren tree with only pretentious leaves and no fruit stands as a parable everyone should heed for all times and for all nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples.
The tree pictures families that spend much of their time in dressing for display, full of outward show with no fruit, flaunting flourishing branches in the very face of justice while Christ comes hungering and searching from the topmost twig to the lowest boughs and finds nothing but leaves. What Christ hungers for and must have is fruit, not leaves alone however inviting. The barren tree also represents some who defraud the Lord, whereas from age to age God raises up human helpers and resources for His people from His inexhaustible fountain of wisdom and strength, and these God-given agencies will not prove fraudulent if they themselves do not defraud the Lord as those represented by the barren tree did.
On a hungry morning Jesus came to a single fig tree already full of leaves, which promised well-developed fruit because fruit normally appears before the leaves, and finding nothing but pretentious foliage He doomed it to lasting barrenness so that no one would ever eat from it again, and by next morning it was dried up from the roots. The sentence was an acted parable upon Israel, the leafy but barren tree picturing the Jewish nation in its outward flourishing of piety, ceremonies and temple worship while lacking righteousness, love and Christlike character. What He hungers for and searches for is not inviting leaves but fruit, namely love for God and others shown in piety, self-denial, compassion and merciful unselfish service to save others. The withering reveals the certainty of retribution in loss of place, privileges and ruin for those entrusted with truth who abuse mercy and withhold light, and it stands as a living warning to every Christian church and professor to the close of history whose formal, selfish profession blesses no one. Outward profession, knowledge and religious form are therefore worthless without inward grace, repentance and victory over sin, and all must be converted and reform while there is still time or the same curse will rest on them at the final accounting.
Words and Setting
It was morning and He was hungry after a night in prayer, going between Bethany and Jerusalem toward the temple past a fig orchard with His disciples present. He saw a single tree afar off in advance of the others and already covered with leaves, came to it hoping to find fruit, and searched it thoroughly from the topmost twig to the lowest bough. Though it was not the season for ripe figs on the highlands about Jerusalem, in the fig tree the growing fruit normally appears before the leaves open. A tree already full of leaves therefore gave promise of well-developed fruit and raised a reasonable expectation of finding some.
He found nothing but leaves, a mass of pretentious, flourishing foliage and deceptive appearance that concealed barrenness. It flaunted its flourishing branches in the very face of justice. He answered the tree by dooming it to lasting barrenness, that no one would ever eat fruit from it again hereafter forever. His disciples heard the words.
The next morning as they passed by, the tree was dried up from the roots, with blasted branches and drooping leaves. Peter pointed it out to Him. The destructive act stood alone and astonished the disciples and raised questioning. They had known Him only as Restorer and Healer whose works restored rather than destroyed, who came not to condemn the world or destroy lives but to save. They asked its meaning as a parable.
Judgment on Israel
The sentence upon the tree was an acted parable and a miracle, a significant object lesson revealing Israel's true condition. By making a dumb, unconscious tree a responsible agent, the lesson was fixed so the disciples would ever remember the terrible result of fruitlessness. Its curse testifies to disappointment that the Jewish nation bore no fruit and to the punishment that must come to them.
The barren, leafy tree represents the Jewish nation in its outward flourishing, displaying religion and exceptional piety and knowledge of God. It displayed sacred privileges and abundant ceremonies, traditions, temple worship, and priestly service. Yet it lacked good fruit such as righteousness, humility, love, devotion, goodness, truth, service, and Christlike character. Its leaves gave reason to expect fruit and therefore represented false profession, a beautiful, flourishing appearance concealing barrenness.
Those leaves without fruit picture empty profession concealing pride, worldliness, greed, oppression, hypocrisy, cruelty, and disobedience. They concealed also vanity, selfishness, apostasy and separation from God. Through pride and apostasy the nation lost power of discernment and failed to recognize its Redeemer. The people were corrupted by the false principles of their religious leaders, ignorant of God's requirements, and the tree's fate represented the punishment of those leaders.
Though entrusted with truth and greatly blessed, the people were brought by the mighty working of God's power from Egypt into a land where they were to become trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified. For more than a thousand years they did not profit by their blessings but abused mercy and invited judgments. In pride and self-sufficiency they withheld light from the world, refused to share blessings and serve others, and sought no response of love and service matching the grace and advantages received. Thus they determined their own destruction, in perfect harmony with the lament that Jerusalem did not know in its day the things belonging to its peace, now hidden from its eyes.
The curse and withering show the certainty of retribution: loss of place as God's chosen people and removal of grace and privileges. Its withering portrayed the ruin that followed and represented God's righteous anger in Jerusalem's temporal ruin and destruction, beheld with tears showing rejected compassion and pleadings. The judgment fell especially on the generation that rejected Jesus, which remained outwardly alive for forty years afterward as a living, thinking people but was spiritually dead. By refusing to pass on blessing they would lose it and bring ruin on themselves. The bare trees by contrast represented the Gentiles, who made no claim to know God or to religious piety and were awaiting light, whose time to bear fruit had not yet come.
The event belongs to the time of the triumphal ride into Jerusalem, which was the dim foreshadowing of coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory amid the triumph of angels and the rejoicing of the saints. Then the words that they would not see Him till they welcomed Him coming in the name of the Lord will be fulfilled. Then Zechariah's prophetic vision of that day of final triumph and of those who pierced Him mourning as for an only son and as for a firstborn will be fulfilled. This scene was foreseen when beholding the city and weeping over it, seeing in the temporal ruin of Jerusalem the final destruction of that people guilty of the blood of the Son of God.
Fruit God Requires
What Christ hungers for and must have is fruit, not leaves alone however inviting. His hunger represents the people's unsatisfied need for spiritual fruit, which He had pledged His own life to supply through His grace and righteousness. His divine soul finds no satisfaction in show alone. The genuine fruit He hungers for from His people is lacking when ministers and church members may pray and teach Bible truth yet do not bear the fruits of righteousness that make service acceptable to God. That wanted fruit is borne when men and women as well as youth are trained to work in the Master's vineyard, with all possible work done by native help and hopeful evangelistic work carried on, as in the Southern field, so that much of the vineyard is worked.
God looks for fruit and searches critically for what is genuine, for outward appearance and profession alone have no value when they mask barrenness. The fruit He requires is love for Him and for others, shown in piety, self-denial, self-sacrifice, compassion, zeal for God, and a deep yearning of soul to save fellow men from unbelief and ruin. It is a life of merciful, unselfish service to others and work for their salvation.
Warning to Churches
The doom spoken to the fruitless tree stands as a living warning to every Christian church in every age to the close of earth's history. It reaches both individuals and churches that profess the truth yet bear no spiritual fruit, whose religion is only formal, selfish, boastful, hypocritical and worldly. Such profession blesses no one by good works and harms those around it, unless a thorough work is done within. The leaves promised devotion but concealed barrenness, and the test exposes the difference between pretended devotion and genuine faith, for true use of God-given opportunity and privilege is to imitate Christ in unselfish deeds and good works.
The fruitlessness condemned is worship without repentance, faith, obedience, and glory to God. Vain pretense of this kind is hateful in His eyes. A fruitless professor is in a worse condition before God and less excusable than an open sinner, and this empty profession is more blameworthy than open sin.
As in Christ's day, churches that bear no such fruit trample God's law and bring destruction upon themselves. They make God's memorial, the sign between Him and His commandment-keeping people, a despised thing of naught, while a rival spurious sabbath is exalted as the great golden image on the plain of Dura was exalted. Men claiming to be Christians call the world to worship the image they have made, which is the mystery of iniquity devised by satanic agencies and carried into effect by the man of sin, and all who will not observe the spurious sabbath are placed under oppressive laws, repeating the ceremony and formalism, vainglory and oppression of Nebuchadnezzar.
The warning presses especially where great light, privileges and institutions have been given, as at Battle Creek, where leaders yield to worldly influence instead of following the Spirit of God and lives contradict claims of loyalty. It exposes institutions whose workers lack the virtues that win souls, and false shepherds and churches displaying outward prosperity, beautiful music and splendid decorations while fast becoming converted to the world, not feeding the flock. Cherished impurity and disobedience make such flourishing appearance empty, picturing spiritual blindness, hardness of heart, and leaving first love. As Jesus unmasked the tree, He will unmask these pretentious hypocrites, yet with mournful reluctance He pronounces the doom under which they wither, a lesson to be applied by reforming while there is still time and walking in the light while it is had.
Personal Call to Fruitfulness
Outward profession, knowledge, and religious form cannot take the place of God's inward work, and like leaves concealing a barren tree they are worthless without repentance, faith, and corresponding fruit. The leaves are appearances that conceal spiritual barrenness, while the fruit is a life matching profession and bringing glory to God, with inward victory over sin and Christlike character in place of cherished impurity and disobedience. Ministers and church members may pray and teach Bible truth yet lack the fruits of righteousness that make service acceptable, showing spiritual blindness, hardness of heart, and leaving of first love. Those who claim great spiritual light and profess godliness but whose daily lives and unholy characters contradict that profession show only a flourishing appearance without love, devotion, goodness, righteousness, and Christlike character, and such outward religion without fruit is unacceptable and cannot endure God's proving.
Christ's daily invitations come through His agencies and must be heeded with conversion, for otherwise the tree's curse will rest on the person at the final accounting when the life is reviewed. With mournful reluctance doom was pronounced on the pretentious, fruitless tree and under the curse of an offended God it withered and died, a lesson to be applied by reforming while there is still time and walking in the light while possessing the light. A people given great light and abundant opportunity to bear fruit face judgment if selfishness replaces love and godliness, so repentance is needed while there is still time. Habits and character formed in youth shape whether the life that follows bears fruit to God's glory or is worthless bearing only leaves.
Those who walk in the way of God's commandments will be like a flourishing fig tree full of fruit, revealing to the world that they are under the rule of God and dependent upon Him for temporal and spiritual victories. They are safe with His presence and favor although they may suffer persecution for truth's sake, with His goodness and the riches of His grace as their protection and salvation. The barren tree with only pretentious leaves and no fruit stands as a parable everyone should heed for all times and for all nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples.
The tree pictures families that spend much of their time in dressing for display, full of outward show with no fruit, flaunting flourishing branches in the very face of justice while Christ comes hungering and searching from the topmost twig to the lowest boughs and finds nothing but leaves. What Christ hungers for and must have is fruit, not leaves alone however inviting. The barren tree also represents some who defraud the Lord, whereas from age to age God raises up human helpers and resources for His people from His inexhaustible fountain of wisdom and strength, and these God-given agencies will not prove fraudulent if they themselves do not defraud the Lord as those represented by the barren tree did.