Israel’s Messiah Curses The Nation Of Israel. (The Deeper Meaning Behind The Parable Of The Fig Tree)

My objective in writing this blog is to explain to Gods people what the Fig tree represents in the bible and to unveil the real reason why Jesus cursed it.  Jesus gave this teaching and prophecy to His disciples on the Mount of Olives in what has famously been dubbed, The Olivet Discourse.

This discourse addresses questions from Jesus' disciples regarding the destruction of the temple and the signs of His return and the end of the age. The parable of the fig tree is told in Matthew 24 and Luke 13. What is a parable? It is a story with a hidden meaning. The secret to interpreting a parable correctly is knowing what each thing in the parable represents. In this parable, the fig tree represents Israel and the figs represent the children of Israel. The budding and spouting of leaves speaks of the renewal and revival of Israel after a period of dormancy of close to two thousand years. when the fig tree begins to sprout leaves you know summer is near. Likewise, when Israel comes to life again as a nation, you know that Christ's return is near.

During the Olivet Discourse, there were three questions that the disciples put to Jesus concerning the end times:

• How will we know that we are living in the end times? What will be the signs that indicate that the countdown has begun?

• How will we know that the temple is about to be destroyed? What will be the sign that it is about to happen?

• They asked Jesus when He would be returning to earth and what will be the signs that hint at His coming?

The Olivet Discourse

Although Jesus answered those questions, He didn’t answer them in that order. Other important questions around this area of inquiry are;

Are we the final generation to witness the return of Jesus Christ? If we are, what are the signs? Jesus said the generation that sees Israel become a nation again after being scattered all over the world for two thousand years, that generation will see the return of Christ. So, when did Israel become a nation again? It happened on May 14, 1948. But how do we know for sure that the fig tree symbolizes Israel? Look at the following verse;

Hosea 9 v 10 “I found Israel Like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers As the first fruits on the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal Peor, And ^[a]separated themselves to that shame; They became an abomination like the thing they loved.. 

In the period soon after being freed from slavery in Egypt, Israel was likened to grapes of the vine or fresh figs from a fig tree. And from this time on, the grape vine or the fig tree was used to symbolize Israel.

Jeremiah 24 v 4  Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁵ “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I ^[a]acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. 

Why did God consider the exiled Jews to be good figs while the ones left behind were considered bad figs? Judah was being punished for rebelling against God and serving other Gods. Thus, God was using the Babylonians to punish them. The good figs are the Jews who obeyed God and the bad figs are the Jews who disobeyed God and refused to come under His punishment by Babylon. For further references see the following verses, Micah 4 v 3-4;; Joel 1 v 4-7; Habakkuk 3 v 8-19.

The Parable of the barren fig tree

Luke13 v 6-9

He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. ⁷ Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it ^[a]use up the ground?’ ⁸ But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. ^9 [b]And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’”

AN IMAGE OF FIGS AND LEAVES

It is clear from the foregoing passages that the fig tree is Israel and the figs are the children of Israel. The owner of the vineyard is God and the keeper is Jesus. Jesus’s ministry lasted three and a half years. After three years of ministry, the nation of Israel still had not accepted Jesus as their Messiah. The owner, God wants the fig tree cut down after three years. The Keeper Jesus says let’s give it another season perhaps it will bear fruit. Therefore, they agree to give it another six months. Jesus came to Jerusalem looking for spiritual fruit. The temple incident proves the depravity and the corruption of the people of Israel. Jesus is inflamed, enraged by what He finds in the temple. The people were selling livestock, changing money and engaging in business in the Temple courts. The sacred house of prayer had been converted into a marketplace. Jesus had come to Israel looking for spiritual fruit, but He finds none. Why?  Because Israel is rebellious, corrupt, spoilt and rotten to the core. Jesus viewed the commercialization of the Temple as a form of corruption and worldliness that defiled a holy place. He drove the merchants, their animals, and the moneychangers out of the Temple courts.

Therefore, when He curses the fig tree, He was cursing Israel because of its stubborn leaders whose hearts were hardened and full of pride. The Pharisees were the custodians of and teachers of the Law and word of God. The Torah was filled with prophecies about the coming Messiah. The miracles, signs and wonders He performed in their midst were sufficient evidence that His claim to being the Son of God was true. So the rejection of Christ by the leaders of Israel had more to do with the fact that they were the beneficiaries of a corrupt and broken political system in which they colluded with Roman officials to exploit the rank and file than it was about Jesus’ credentials.  Let us look again at the verse when Jesus cursed the fig tree.

The Fig Tree Withered

Matthew 21 v 18-20  Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. ¹⁹ And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.  And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?”

After Jesus cursed the fig tree, the fate of Israel was sealed. The temple incident was a major factor leading to Jesus’ crucifixion as it solidified the Jewish authorities’ hostility towards Jesus, who they saw as a threat to their authority. While Roman authorities ultimately ordered the crucifixion, the temple clearing was a pivotal event that prompted the Chief Priests  and scribes to act against Jesus, leading to his arrest and trial during the Passover week. This incident was also very prophetic. Whatever happened in the temple would soon be done to the “temple” of Jesus’s body.  He used a whip of cords to disperse the crowds. A similar cord would be used on His back at the whipping post. He accused the Pharisees of turning the house of prayer into a den of thieves and not long after that, the same Pharisees would humiliate Him by arranging to have Him crucified sandwiched between two thieves. Jesus prophesied the total destruction of the temple of Herod in AD70  which fulfilled both the destruction of Jesus’ own body at the cross in AD33 and His prophecy spoken a few months earlier.

END OF PART ONE

In Part Two, I will lift the lid on what the fruit that Adam and Eve ate in the garden was. For centuries the church has taught that the fruit was an apple. This is false. I will also introduce an important city, Bethphage – which means House of figs. What Washington is to America, Bethphage was to Israel.  Since Washington is emblematic of the US government, Bethphage was emblematic of the Israeli government. Please make sure to read part two of this blog to grasp the significance of this city in the overall life of the nation of Israel.