Two Fig Trees

by Jason Joines

Now in the morning as he returned to the city (Jerusalem), he hungered. And seeing a fig tree by the way side, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only; and he said unto it, Let there be no fruit from you henceforward forever. And immediately the fig tree withered away.  (Mat 21:18-19)

And he spoke this parable; a certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit thereon, and found none. And he said unto the vinedresser, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why does it also cumber the ground? And he answering saith unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: and if it bears fruit thenceforth, well; but if not, you shall cut it down.  (Luke 13:6-9)

Two fig trees; one is wilted, and the other is shown mercy. These trees are a representation of Israel’s fall from grace. The revelation in the two fig trees are Justice and His divine mercy through faith.  Throughout the Old Testament Gods chosen people rejected Him for every occasion you can think of, and He brought judgment to them every time.  Jesus did wilt the fig tree because He was hungry and it did not have any fruit for Him to eat, but that was not the only reason. Jesus was entering into Jerusalem in His final rejection by his chosen people.  This rejection was not due to the lack of demonstrations by Jesus that He was indeed God in the flesh, but to their lack of faith.  So Jesus wilts this fig tree to show us a parable that without faith in Him, He will also say to us “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.”(Mat 21:18b)  Jesus did not destroy the tree, He only wilted it.  In Plant Pathology, wilt means: the drying out, drooping, and withering of the leaves of a plant due to inadequate water supply, excessive transpiration, or vascular disease (www.dictionary.com).  Jesus did not kill the tree or kill Israel completely, the tree wilted, and thus the representation of Israel wilting and will no longer bear fruit, as a witness to His chosen people and to us about our faith. No faith, no fruit. 

As long as we connect our branches into the true Vine (Jesus) our Father (Father God in Jesus) the Vinedresser will tend us and prune us to grow much more fruitful for his Son Jesus. "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit (John 15:1-2).  Judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy.  Mercy triumphs over judgment as according to Jas 2:13.  Our Father in heaven has from the beginning of time shown his judgment and we were rightly judged. God says to Moses, "I will have mercy on who I have mercy, and I will have compassion on who I have compassion." So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy (Rom 9:15-16).

The Matthew 21 fig tree is what we deserve but when we put our faith in Jesus we receive His mercy. The Luke 13 fig tree, Our Father in heaven is patient and full of mercy and will help us to have fruit through our faith in Jesus.  For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.  Just how irrevocable are our gifts, when Satan had pride in his heart to usurp the throne of God, did God take any gift away from Satan when he was cast down from Heaven?  For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy (Rom 11:29-31).  Let us not reject our Lord but accept Him in Faith because: The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1Timothy 1:15).  Father God has shown his faithfulness through the ages as His corner stone that was rejected, but through our faith in that Stone Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful (Heb 10:23).  Faith does know, not just believing it will happen.  To use a saying my wife likes to say, “You can believe a truck is going to run right through that wall, but unless you move out of the way. 

Do you really have faith that the truck is going to come through that wall?”  Do you have faith in Jesus?  We have faith that the Bible is infallible, why is it so hard to give all our life to Jesus who is Faithfull: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1John 1:9).