And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
In the morning on the way toward the city they saw the tree completely withered from its roots to its branches, with blasted branches and drooping leaves, and Peter called attention to it. Its full foliage had promised fruit because fruit appears before the leaves, but it had only leaves, so its barrenness stood exposed beneath its show of life. Unlike His other works, which were ever to restore and not to destroy, this was given as at once a parable and a miracle for the instruction of the disciples, opening to them the true condition of Israel and the retribution to fall on Jerusalem after its last appeal had been in vain. The leafy but fruitless tree symbolized the Jewish nation, favored above others with every spiritual advantage yet yielding pretension without humility, love and benevolence, and its withering dried up from the roots showed what the people would become in complete destruction when the grace of God was removed from them. Its doom warns professed Christians and churches who appear godly but bear no fruit, for God looks for piety, self-denial, compassion and yearning to save others, and outward form and deceptive leaves cannot hide barrenness from Him.
Morning Discovery and Meaning
In the morning after the curse, as they passed by on the way between Jerusalem and Bethany toward the city, they saw the tree completely withered from its roots to its branches. Its blasted branches and drooping leaves showed the withering in full, and Peter called attention to it, bidding Him behold that the tree He had cursed had withered away. A fig tree's fruit appears before its leaves, so its full foliage had promised fruit, but it had only leaves, and its barrenness was thus exposed beneath its show of life.
The withering was a singular act unlike all His other ways and works, which were ever to restore and not to destroy, as He scattered mercy in words of counsel and deeds of goodness, for He came not to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. So the disciples could not understand His punishing a tree for its barrenness and asked Him to declare to them the parable of the fig tree. It was given as at once a parable and a miracle for the instruction of the disciples shortly before He was to leave them, to be ever remembered. By this significant object-lesson He opened to them what they did not yet see: the hatred of the Jews to Christ and to what it would lead, the true condition of Israel, and the retribution that was to fall upon Jerusalem after the last appeal had been in vain and the priests and rulers had rejected Him.
The leafy but fruitless tree is an acted parable and symbol of the Jewish nation, professing allegiance to God and favored above others with every spiritual advantage. Brought from Egypt to become trees of righteousness for God's glory, it yielded pretension without humility, love and benevolence, and did not profit by its blessings. Beneath profession of piety and religious display, pride, oppression, hypocrisy, iniquity and sin ruled, while showy leaves without fruit concealed an unfruitful life. Through pride and apostasy the nation separated from God until it lost the ability to recognize its Redeemer. The other trees represent the Gentiles, who made no profession of knowing God and whose time to bear fruit had not yet come.
Judgment on Israel
The total withering of the tree, dried up from the roots, shows complete destruction and what the Jewish people would become when the grace of God was removed from them. In the barren tree could be read both their sin and its punishment, for by refusing to impart blessing in self-sacrifice and service they would no longer receive blessing and would bring ruin upon themselves. Its barrenness with pretentious appearance represented those professing to serve God but bearing no fruit in service to others.
Its withering pictures a doomed people under judgment, displaying God's righteous anger in sentence and downfall. It points to the coming destruction of Jerusalem and its temple after the people rejected Christ and the temple courts were desecrated for unlawful gain. The showy leaves without fruit, with impressive religious ceremonies and claims of piety, hid pride, oppression, apostasy and iniquity instead of good fruit, and the nation had separated from God until it could not recognize its Redeemer. Its sudden destruction from roots to branches, blighted and completely withered, was a sign of Jerusalem's coming doom.
The dumb, unconscious tree was made a responsible agent to show the terrible result of fruitlessness. Its withering testifies to Christ's disappointment because the nation bore no fruit and to the punishment that must come, in perfect harmony with His words over Jerusalem about the peace hid from its eyes in its day. That nation had been favored with every spiritual advantage and brought from Egypt to become trees of righteousness for God's glory, but did not profit by its blessings, and for more than a thousand years abused God's mercy and invited His judgments, thus determining its own destruction. The nation continued to live for forty years after the event, but was spiritually dead with leaves of religious profession and no fruit, and the judgment fell on the generation that rejected Jesus.
Warning to Professing Christians
The withered tree stands as a sentence upon all who profess godliness yet bear no fruit, warning professed Christians and churches alike that outward show will fail when tested. Formal, selfish, boastful and hypocritical professors are included in that warning, for God looks beneath appearance and discerns the difference between genuine devotion and hypocrisy. Pretentious hypocrites will be brought low, because hollow pretense and hypocrisy are hateful to Christ. Religious forms, ceremonies, claims and worship without repentance, faith, obedience and merciful, unselfish service to others are vain and bear nothing to God's glory. Genuine Christians use their God-given opportunities to imitate Christ by good works and unselfish deeds, while an open sinner is in a better condition before God and less guilty than one who professes godliness without fruit.
What God looks for is fruit, namely piety, self-denial, self-sacrifice, compassion, zeal for God and a deep yearning of soul to save fellow men from unbelief and ruin. Outward knowledge and religious form cannot take the place of His inward work of repentance and faith, and deceptive leaves cannot hide barrenness. With mournful reluctance the words of doom were pronounced, and the tree withered and died under the curse of an offended God. Its fate is a personal call to heed Christ and be converted, to reform while there is still time and to walk in the light while having the light. One who despises offered mercy and warnings, persists in disobedience, and has the heart desecrated by sin becomes like that blighted tree, withered to the roots under righteous judgment. Those who claim great spiritual light and display leaves of godliness while marked by sin and lacking Christlike character face the same doom.
The act stands as a living warning appeal to all Christian churches, to repeat its lesson in every age to the close of this earth's history. The present condition of the churches is like that in Christ's day, fruitless while trampling the law of Jehovah and making the memorial of God, the sign between Him and His commandment-keeping people, a thing of naught to be despised, while a rival spurious sabbath is exalted. The dead tree also represents some of God's appointed human helpers and resources for His people who defraud the Lord. From age to age God raises up such helpers out of His inexhaustible fountain of wisdom and strength, and these God-given agencies will not prove fraudulent if they themselves do not defraud Him as those represented by the barren tree have done.
In the morning on the way toward the city they saw the tree completely withered from its roots to its branches, with blasted branches and drooping leaves, and Peter called attention to it. Its full foliage had promised fruit because fruit appears before the leaves, but it had only leaves, so its barrenness stood exposed beneath its show of life. Unlike His other works, which were ever to restore and not to destroy, this was given as at once a parable and a miracle for the instruction of the disciples, opening to them the true condition of Israel and the retribution to fall on Jerusalem after its last appeal had been in vain. The leafy but fruitless tree symbolized the Jewish nation, favored above others with every spiritual advantage yet yielding pretension without humility, love and benevolence, and its withering dried up from the roots showed what the people would become in complete destruction when the grace of God was removed from them. Its doom warns professed Christians and churches who appear godly but bear no fruit, for God looks for piety, self-denial, compassion and yearning to save others, and outward form and deceptive leaves cannot hide barrenness from Him.
Morning Discovery and Meaning
In the morning after the curse, as they passed by on the way between Jerusalem and Bethany toward the city, they saw the tree completely withered from its roots to its branches. Its blasted branches and drooping leaves showed the withering in full, and Peter called attention to it, bidding Him behold that the tree He had cursed had withered away. A fig tree's fruit appears before its leaves, so its full foliage had promised fruit, but it had only leaves, and its barrenness was thus exposed beneath its show of life.
The withering was a singular act unlike all His other ways and works, which were ever to restore and not to destroy, as He scattered mercy in words of counsel and deeds of goodness, for He came not to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. So the disciples could not understand His punishing a tree for its barrenness and asked Him to declare to them the parable of the fig tree. It was given as at once a parable and a miracle for the instruction of the disciples shortly before He was to leave them, to be ever remembered. By this significant object-lesson He opened to them what they did not yet see: the hatred of the Jews to Christ and to what it would lead, the true condition of Israel, and the retribution that was to fall upon Jerusalem after the last appeal had been in vain and the priests and rulers had rejected Him.
The leafy but fruitless tree is an acted parable and symbol of the Jewish nation, professing allegiance to God and favored above others with every spiritual advantage. Brought from Egypt to become trees of righteousness for God's glory, it yielded pretension without humility, love and benevolence, and did not profit by its blessings. Beneath profession of piety and religious display, pride, oppression, hypocrisy, iniquity and sin ruled, while showy leaves without fruit concealed an unfruitful life. Through pride and apostasy the nation separated from God until it lost the ability to recognize its Redeemer. The other trees represent the Gentiles, who made no profession of knowing God and whose time to bear fruit had not yet come.
Judgment on Israel
The total withering of the tree, dried up from the roots, shows complete destruction and what the Jewish people would become when the grace of God was removed from them. In the barren tree could be read both their sin and its punishment, for by refusing to impart blessing in self-sacrifice and service they would no longer receive blessing and would bring ruin upon themselves. Its barrenness with pretentious appearance represented those professing to serve God but bearing no fruit in service to others.
Its withering pictures a doomed people under judgment, displaying God's righteous anger in sentence and downfall. It points to the coming destruction of Jerusalem and its temple after the people rejected Christ and the temple courts were desecrated for unlawful gain. The showy leaves without fruit, with impressive religious ceremonies and claims of piety, hid pride, oppression, apostasy and iniquity instead of good fruit, and the nation had separated from God until it could not recognize its Redeemer. Its sudden destruction from roots to branches, blighted and completely withered, was a sign of Jerusalem's coming doom.
The dumb, unconscious tree was made a responsible agent to show the terrible result of fruitlessness. Its withering testifies to Christ's disappointment because the nation bore no fruit and to the punishment that must come, in perfect harmony with His words over Jerusalem about the peace hid from its eyes in its day. That nation had been favored with every spiritual advantage and brought from Egypt to become trees of righteousness for God's glory, but did not profit by its blessings, and for more than a thousand years abused God's mercy and invited His judgments, thus determining its own destruction. The nation continued to live for forty years after the event, but was spiritually dead with leaves of religious profession and no fruit, and the judgment fell on the generation that rejected Jesus.
Warning to Professing Christians
The withered tree stands as a sentence upon all who profess godliness yet bear no fruit, warning professed Christians and churches alike that outward show will fail when tested. Formal, selfish, boastful and hypocritical professors are included in that warning, for God looks beneath appearance and discerns the difference between genuine devotion and hypocrisy. Pretentious hypocrites will be brought low, because hollow pretense and hypocrisy are hateful to Christ. Religious forms, ceremonies, claims and worship without repentance, faith, obedience and merciful, unselfish service to others are vain and bear nothing to God's glory. Genuine Christians use their God-given opportunities to imitate Christ by good works and unselfish deeds, while an open sinner is in a better condition before God and less guilty than one who professes godliness without fruit.
What God looks for is fruit, namely piety, self-denial, self-sacrifice, compassion, zeal for God and a deep yearning of soul to save fellow men from unbelief and ruin. Outward knowledge and religious form cannot take the place of His inward work of repentance and faith, and deceptive leaves cannot hide barrenness. With mournful reluctance the words of doom were pronounced, and the tree withered and died under the curse of an offended God. Its fate is a personal call to heed Christ and be converted, to reform while there is still time and to walk in the light while having the light. One who despises offered mercy and warnings, persists in disobedience, and has the heart desecrated by sin becomes like that blighted tree, withered to the roots under righteous judgment. Those who claim great spiritual light and display leaves of godliness while marked by sin and lacking Christlike character face the same doom.
The act stands as a living warning appeal to all Christian churches, to repeat its lesson in every age to the close of this earth's history. The present condition of the churches is like that in Christ's day, fruitless while trampling the law of Jehovah and making the memorial of God, the sign between Him and His commandment-keeping people, a thing of naught to be despised, while a rival spurious sabbath is exalted. The dead tree also represents some of God's appointed human helpers and resources for His people who defraud the Lord. From age to age God raises up such helpers out of His inexhaustible fountain of wisdom and strength, and these God-given agencies will not prove fraudulent if they themselves do not defraud Him as those represented by the barren tree have done.