THE FIG TREE
THE FIG TREE
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
In Texas, we are in the season of the ripening of the fruit on our fig trees. This year’s figs have been extraordinarily large, flavorful and sweet. I am blessed with a wonderful fig tree in my garden. It is right outside the window of my sitting room. From the bounty of my harvest, Roxanne made fig cakes, and I have been giving offerings of figs to friends.
The fig tree is common in Israel. Throughout the Bible the fig tree is spoken of allegorically by the prophets and Jesus for God's covenantal people. The fig tree is metaphorical of Israel. It is also used figuratively of the end times in Isa. 34:4, Matthew 24:32 and Revelation 6:13.
Matthew 24:32: “Now learn a parable from the fig tree; when his branch is yet tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near; so likewise when you shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the door.”
The first mention of the fig tree is in Genesis 3 and the fall from innocence by Adam and Eve. They attempted to cover their nakedness before God with fig leaves. So, the fig tree was in the Garden of Eden.
The fig tree was one of the most important plants in the Biblical era and was widely cultivated for its delicious fruit and appreciated for its dark green and deeply lobed leaves which produced a welcome shade.
Mic. 4:4: “But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.”
These features of fruitfulness and shade make the fig tree a ready symbol for God in covenant relationship to his people.
As covenant beneficiary, Israel could enjoy God’s blessing, prosperity and security:
1 Kings 4:25: “And Judah and Israel dwelt safely every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and pomegranates; a land of oil, olive and honey.”
This is where Jesus found Nathaniel, a man in whom was no guile.
John 1:48-49: “Nathanael says unto him how did you know me? Jesus answered and said unto him, before Phillip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Nathaniel answered, Rabbi you are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel! Jesus answered, “Because I said unto you, I saw you under the fig tree, you believe? You shall see greater things than these. I say unto you, hereafter you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
This is the calling of the Apostle Nathaniel Bartholomew (Mark 3:18; Luke 6:14; Acts 1:13). He was of the tribe of Naphtili.
From the beginning of the Bible nearly to its end, we move in a predominantly rural world of field and vineyard, cattle and herds, sowing and reaping.
Even a king like Saul and a prophet like Elisha are summoned to their calling while plowing in the field. Elisha was plowing with a whopping twelve yoke of oxen.
The romance of farming is evident in the story of Ruth and the pastoral love lyrics of the Song of Songs. In the New Testament Jesus’ parables are saturated with references to farming---workers in a vineyard; lost sheep; a rich farmer who rebuilds his “barns”; seeds growing secretly; sowing and reaping; wheat and weeds.
God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendants included the promise of a land in Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Four main types of farming can be discerned in the Bible; grain farming, growing vineyards, cultivating olive orchards and raising livestock.
In Habakkuk, chapter 3, the prophet has a vision of the Glory of the Almighty advancing from the wilderness, marching in the greatness of his strength. His glory covered the heavens. His brightness was as the light. He is accompanied by the apocalyptic dogs of war: plague and pestilence. Thunderbolts and lightning flash. The mountains trembled. The rivers became raging torrents. He rode upon his horses in chariots of salvation. The sun and moon stood still…”
The prophet was left in a state of collapse. He then repents of his murmuring and surrenders all that he holds dear to the Lord:
Habakkuk 3:17: “Though the fig tree shall not blossom, nether shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength.
The prophet Amos, who identifies himself as a herdsman and a dresser of Sycamore trees, likewise covers the territory with references to sheep, cows, summer fruit, vineyard, grapes, gardens and sowing seed.
My grandfather’s name was Amos. He was a farmer. I am a farmer’s daughter and grand-daughter of a farmer.
In Hosea, God is portrayed as having seen in Israel prospects of productivity as one “seeing the early fruit on the fig tree”, which appearing in mid-April, gives promise of later fruitfulness.
Hos. 9:10: “I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at her first time; but they went to Baal-peor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.”
In Fulfillment of this prophecy, in Mark 11, Jesus uses a barren but leafy fig tree to illustrate how Israel, typified in its leadership, had a showy religion that was of no value and was worthy of judgment because it bore no fruit in their lives. Mark 11: 13-21: “Jesus seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came hoping he might find any thing thereon; and when he came to it he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.”
The leaves of the fig-tree appear in March, and are accompanied by a crop of small edible knobs called taksh which drop off before the true figs form, which ripen in June. An absence of taksh indicates that the tree in question will bear no figs. It was therefore, entirely reasonable for Jesus, shortly before Passover time in mid-April, to go up to a fig-tree to find out if it had any fruit, and then to condemn the tree on discovering on it nothing but leaves. This action of His was a piece of prophetic symbolism of a type with which the Jews had been made familiar through the Old Testament prophets.
Jesus was proclaiming that just as that fig-tree bore leaves but not fruit, the Jews, by means of their numerous ritual observances, made a fine show of religion, but had failed to produce those spiritual qualities which God most wanted from them, and for which indeed He had brought them into being. He was compelled, therefore, to pronounce over them, as over the fig-tree, a sentence of doom.
The following morning, the fig tree had completely withered away. Instead of Jesus impressing on His disciples the certainty of the doom which was to befall their nation, he used the incident as a practical demonstration of the power of faith (vs. 22) which could effect, not merely the withering of a tree, but the removal of a mountain. This is symbolism that God’s people can do what is inhumanly impossible. In prayer according to God’ will, and an attitude of faith in God, and forgiveness towards one’s fellow men, our petitions will assuredly be granted.
Failure to keep covenantal standards and to be fruitful would mean the loss of safety and God’s judgment, a theme often repeated in prophecy.
Jesus warned of the danger of spiritual fruitlessness in Luke 13: 6-9: Jesus spoke this parable: A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none; cut it down; why allow it to take up the ground? And he answered and said, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it; and if it bear fruit well; and if not, then after that you shall cut it down.”
Here Jesus takes two items of topical interest to point the moral of the urgent need for repentance. News is brought to Him of a group of Galilean pilgrims in Jerusalem for one of the feasts, who had run foul of the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate. He ordered their execution and their blood flowed with that of their sacrificial beasts. His hearers seem to have regarded this as evidence of the exceptional wickedness of men on whom God allowed such a catastrophe to fall, as did Job’s friends and even Jesus’ disciples (Jn. 9:2). But Jesus does not subscribe to this view. He does not even condemn Pilate’s action, but warns His audience of their own need for repentance, “Unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
A second catastrophe is mentioned, the collapse of the Siloam tower, unknown, like the previous incident, except in this passage. Eighteen persons lost their lives in an accident during building operations undertaken probably to strengthen Jerusalem’s water-supply. Jesus draws the same lesson again.
At its most basic level, the fig tree is viewed as a wonderful part of settled life. It is symbolic of the good life, and to live under one’s fig tree stood for a life of settledness, joy, peace and prosperity. (Fig trees took several years of difficult labor to establish).
This is also a metaphor for establishing fruitful, effectual Kingdom work.
The King of Assyria taunted the Israelites using the fig tree as part of his picture of the life he claimed that he wanted to extend to Israel: “Do not listen to Hezekia. This is what the king of Assyria says, make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern.” (Isa. 36:16).
We can apply the arrogance of the King of Assyria here to the political promises of the ungodly politicians in the U.S.A. and the nations of the world who blatantly challenge the Lord, His Holy Word, and the nation of Israel.
The whole scenario in Isa. 36-37 pictures Satan’s king of darkness who works through the carnal mind assaulting the integrity of the Word of the King (Jesus) and the City (Church) of God, telling the Church that she will die of famine and thirst (no jobs), promising a better life under the dominion of his kingdom. His invitation is a counterfeit of the “good life” as promised by the Lord throughout scripture using the metaphor of the fig tree. His real intent was slavery. The Lord did not take too kindly to this.
The overthrow of the Assyrian army here in Isa. 36-37 is one of the most astounding miracles of the Old Testament. In one night, the Assyrian army was destroyed by a direct stroke from heaven (37:36).
In such a time of testing, only the real prophet sent from God (the indwelling Christ of Col. 1:27) can speak the Word of Life which will bring the demise of such accusation and assault.
Jesus Christ, the Tree of life and the true Vine, is the fruitful fig tree from Heaven.
John 15: 1-8: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit; for without me, you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples.”
Jesus was the lump of figs laid on Hezekiah “for a plaster”. By faith, he has laid his life upon mankind’s boil, bringing healing from the sickness of sin (Isa. 38:21).
Our King is the well beloved who has a vineyard (His Church) in the very fruitful hill of Zion. Jesus chose and ordained the Church to bring forth fruit that remains.
Canaan, a type of the heavenly places of Ephesians, was a “land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey”. (Deut 8:8).
Under the peaceful reign of Christ, every member of His body is to be fruitful, each living under his own fig tree (1 Kings. 4:25). Paul prayed that God’s people “might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work…” (Col. 1:10).
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Scripture from K.J.V.; Dictionary of Biblical Imagery
The Old Fig Tree
Psalm given to Denee Nicole Ibert
During the Sunday Morning Service
July 8, 2012, The Year of Our Lord
We know of truth from the first days until the near end
For He alone is responsible for all of creation
We are made to love our Lord first and foremost
Live and walk by the spirit, doesn’t envy doesn’t boast
Redemption it was the only way
Our debt so large we could never repay
Repentance to Him who has redeemed
So we may eat of the fruits of the old fig tree
We are to never put our faith in any one person
For they will let you down nine times out of ten
The only One we can trust was, is, and will be then
Accountable for every promise He has ever given
Deliverance so we all can be saved
He lived and died and rose again from the grave
Forgiveness was His final decree
So we may enjoy the shade of the old fig tree
Yet beware of the one who gives so he can steal
His promises are lies so your spirit he can kill
His false gods he gives your rebellion he enjoys
Leading you astray your eternity destroyed
Hosanna, Hosanna we do cry
To the Lord of Hosts, our God Most High
Salvation to our Savior we do plea
So we will see more than leaves on that old fig tree
There is more power in faith than that of a thousand men
The parting of the seas and one boy against a giant
Is it so hard to know our God is more than we can see?
When you are filled by His Spirit then you surely shall believe
Propitiation is so much more than we deserve
We are not worthy of You Lord still You will we serve
Foreknowledge let us know in prophecy
Bring forth the fruit and the shade of the old fig tree
Father, Son, and Spirit three in one
We praise You forever for all that You have done
Blessing, honor, power, and glory
For the harvest You bring from the old fig tree
Denee Nicole Ibert