40. The Tale of Two Fig Trees (End-Times Series Part 21)

Parables of Dual-Functioning Comings

Welcome to the broadcast where we prod the sheep and beat the wolf. This is episode 40, the tale of two fig trees. Parables and dual-purpose comings. When it comes to the comings of Christ, the parables shed much light on why the Son of Man came.

Contrary to the prevailing evangelical notion, Jesus came for far more than to simply save sinners. He did come for that, but he came to a specific people, at a specific time, in a very specific context for a specific and dual-functioning purpose.

That purpose was to bring judgment upon his enemies and salvation to his people, which can be demonstrated throughout the parables of Christ. For instance, when Christ comes, he will identify two groups of people in his incarnation.

One that will be prepared for judgment, and the other who will be prepared for his blessings. And these two themes show up in the vast majority of the parables that Jesus gives, and it gives us insight into the kind of coming that Jesus conceived his incarnation to be.

For instance, in one parable, you have a righteous man who's building his house upon the rock, while the wicked man builds in hubris upon the sand, Luke 6, 46 -49. In that story, the righteous man survives the near-term calamity and experiences ongoing blessings while the wicked man undergoes sudden destruction when the storm appears.

Truth from parables like these can be applied in spiritual and universal ways, since all who build their life upon Jesus Christ will ultimately and eternally be spared. Whereas building your life on anything else, the sand, will warrant eternal calamities forever.

So we can apply this parable in a very generalized way, and you and I can get something out of it, but spiritualized interpretations often miss the poignant reality that would have been conveyed to the original audience.

Jesus is warning first-century people that a first-century storm is brewing, and that those who were with him would survive, and those who were not would be led to their devastation. Those events gain terrifying clarity in the events of AD 70.

This kind of dualism between imminent doom of the wicked and near-term blessing of the righteous is too overt in the parables to ignore. This idea that there's one group that's being prepared for blessing and another group that's being prepared for destruction is all over the place.

For instance, the sheep will be brought into blessing, whereas the goats will be set apart for destruction, Matthew 25, 31 through 36. The wheat is going to be stored in the heavenly barns of Christ, while the tares are going to be thrown into the flames, Matthew 13, 24 through 30.

The branches that bear fruit will be pruned for greater fruitfulness and blessing, whereas all of the fruitless branches are going to be burned because of their worthlessness, John 15, 1 through 11. We see a king who brings new guests into the joy of his wedding while sending armies against the ones who were found unworthy, Matthew 22, 1 through 14, and on and on and on we may go, clarifying parabolic time.

Now, some of the parables that we are going to mention helpfully add a clarifying element of time, which lets us know that more is going to be going on in the first century than a hyper-spiritual application can account for.

In the spiritual application, as we've already said, the parable was written for me. In my 21st century context, it's for my benefit. I am Jesus's target audience and not the disciples or the people that he was speaking to, and the parable concerns things that are going on in my world, whereas Jesus's parables, however, actually clearly address events that his contemporaries were going through and things that were happening in their world.

Even while we can still find comfort in these stories because they were written for us as well, their primary target audience is the first century people. For instance, Christ, the master, is going to go on a long journey.

When he returns, he will bless the slave who was found doing what he commanded, Luke 12, 35 -34, but the one who was lazy, wicked, and evil, he will bring violence, death, and destruction, Luke 12, 45 -48.

This also gets its perfect clarity in the events of AD 70. You see, the temptation is for us to read this parable multiple thousands of years later and read ourselves into the context, supposing that its contents apply to us or some future generation.

Beyond breaking the most basic rules of biblical hermeneutics, this is not how the story world of a parable works. In a parable, in this parable, a human master goes on a very human journey that seemed especially long to his human servants.

When he returned, those same servants were still alive. Some were rewarded for their faithfulness while the master was away, and yet others were punished and killed for their wickedness. Now, had the master in this story left on a 2 ,000-year journey, both he and his slaves would need to be near immortal in order to survive until he returned, which cannot be Jesus's point.

You see, a parable takes the real world rules and applies them in a story world format. Humans don't go on 2 ,000-year journeys because humans don't live that long. So Jesus cannot be talking about a multi-millennial gap in time.

But if Jesus was preparing his disciples for a 40-year gap, for instance, that existed between his ascension at 8030 and the judgment coming on Jerusalem in 8070, well, then the parable would make great sense.

That would be a very long journey, humanly speaking. Jesus's return would bring blessings to the ones who were committed to following him and who faithfully served him those 40 years. And then death and destruction would come upon those who remained in their rebellion or turned away from Jesus because his length of journey was too long for them to bear.

One triad of parables that deal with this time frame issue makes this blessing and judgment especially clear. In Matthew chapters 21 and 22, Jesus tells three successive parables that give us a clue on the time frame that Jesus is talking about.

They come one right after the next in the text where one group is going to gain tremendous blessing and the other is going to gain awful judgment. In the first parable in Matthew 21, Jesus interprets it.

It's a parable of two sons, and he interprets it to the Pharisees saying that this parable means that the prostitutes and the tax collectors are going to get into heaven's kingdom before you, Matthew 21, 28 through 32.

And the second, he interprets the parable, which is a parable of a land over telling the Pharisees that God's kingdom is actually going to be taken away from them. And that's going to be given to a different kind of people who are going to bear that kingdom's fruit, Matthew 21, 33 through 46.

The third parable, which is in Matthew 22, is where Jesus reveals himself to be a great king who's throwing a great wedding feast, basically inaugurating his kingdom, and he's going to bring new guests to that kingdom because the former guests were found unworthy, Matthew 22, 1 through 14.

Now, when we add all of this up, we see that Jesus, the great king, is going to begin a new kingdom. He's going to take possession of it for himself. He's going to eliminate some of the old covenant citizens who were the Jews, and he's going to graft in some of the new covenant citizens, which are converted Jews that now believe in Jesus and Gentiles who believe in Jesus.

This kingdom is happening in their lifetime. The coming, the inauguration of the kingdom is happening in their lifetime. In each of these parables, the coming of the son of man is accomplishing that dualistic purpose.

For the elect, Jesus will usher them into all of the salvific blessings and eschatological joy that will be available in God's newly inaugurated kingdom, i .e., the church. For those who reject him, there's going to be suffering, weeping, gnashing of teeth, imminent destruction, and that is exactly what happened to the Jewish people during their lifetime.

When their city was set on fire, just like the parable says, when the armies came against them, when their temple was devoted to destruction, when the old covenant kingdom of types and shadows came to a sudden and cataclysmic end.

You see, the parables that Jesus was teaching them was showing them his apocalyptic outcome, the prophets and dual purpose comings. This same theme of salvation and judgment at the Messiah's coming shows up in the prophetic writings as well.

Joel, Malachi, and the Prophetic Pattern of Salvation and Judgment

For instance, we're not going to go over all of it, but just as a highlight, in Joel chapter 2, God promises to blow a trumpet of war, empowering a northern army to bring a swift and awful judgment against the Jews the first century, Joel 2, 1 through 11.

That happened when Rome invaded from the north, came down through Galilee, and decimated the Jewish people. But Joel also tells us that his coming is going to provide a way of salvation, a trumpet blown that's going to consecrate this people.

So there's two trumpet blowings in Joel 2. One is a trumpet of war, and one is a trumpet of blessing in Joel 2, 12 through 17. Now, in case we doubt the first century timing of Joel's prophecy, Joel tells us when this event is going to happen.

He says Pentecost, where the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is given by Joel as a sign that's going to identify when his prophecy is going to come to pass. So what you have in Joel chapter 2 is when the Holy Spirit comes upon the church, blessing and consecration will happen for the elect, devastation and destruction will happen to the Jews.

How much more clear could we want that to be? And yet so many still refuse to see it. Perhaps this theme is nowhere stated more clearly than the book of Malachi, who tells us that the coming of Christ will be an event that very few can endure, Malachi 3, 2.

His coming will be like a great fire that will purify some and will destroy others, Malachi 3, 3. Some will be accepted in his coming and others will be severely judged, Malachi 3, 4 through 5. The nations are going to call the church of the Messiah blessed, while the Jews who rejected him are going to be under a curse, Malachi 3, 8 through 12.

This bleeds over into Malachi chapter 4, which says it like this in verses 1 through 3, for behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace and all of the arrogant and evildoers will be like chaff. And the day that is coming will set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root or branch.

So it's a day of great destruction upon the enemies of God. But the passage also says, but for you who fear my name, the son of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings and he will go forth and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.

You will tread down the wicked for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day, which I am preparing, says the Lord of armies. Some are going to be destroyed, Malachi tells us, at the coming of Christ, at the first century coming of Christ.

Some who believe in him are going to be brought into his blessings. Both of those things happened in the first century. The elect were brought into salvation by the finished work of Jesus Christ alone, and they were adopted by his blood-bought sacrifice into the eschatological family called the church, who has continued to advance in every generation in obedience to Jesus Christ.

His coming secured eternal and eschatological blessings for his bride. But for all those who rejected the Messiah, their portion was judgment and doom. Those first century Jewish people who rejected Christ were ejected from their homes and from their land.

They had their capital city reduced to ash by the Roman armies. They were carried off in chains and on ships to be mocked up and down the streets of Rome. They were scattered about under the curse of God into all the nations.

And if that weren't enough, God himself canceled their religion. He brought an end to their sacrificial system. He annulled the Aaronic line of priests. He repealed their unique status among the nations with all of its accompanying blessings, and he took away their temple.

You see, without the temple, there is no biblical Judaism. God canceled their false faith. It was a type in shadow that was always meant to be in full fulfillment through Christ Jesus. So when they rejected the full for the shadow, God took it away.

And it's been taken away from them for 2 ,000 years. As Malachi promised, the Jews were the chaff that were prepared for the fire, and everything they owned became the ash under the Son of God and under his church's feet.

They were the ones that were left without a root and without a branch, which brings us back to the Gospel of Matthew. And it really opens us up to understand how and why Jesus compares two fig trees in the Gospel of Matthew, in Matthew 21 and Matthew 24.

Jesus himself uses these two fig trees to tell the story of covenant curse and covenant blessing, and we would do well to pay attention. The Jerusalem fig tree of Matthew 21. Most of the fireworks in Matthew's Gospel occurs in Matthew 21.

If we were standing in the crowd on that day, we would have seen Jesus triumphantly riding as king into a withered city that only offered him leaves. No fruit. By afternoon, we would have witnessed him overthrowing tables outside of a rotten temple and chasing out the rebels with a hand-braided whip.

No fruit. The next day, he is pronouncing some of his sharpest parables that he's, and he's uttering denunciations upon them for bearing no fruit. And in the midst of all of that fruitlessness, he curses a local fig tree.

Why? Because it bore him no fruit. The text tells us this. Now, in the morning, when he was returning to the city, he became hungry, seeing a lone fig tree by the road. He came to it and he found nothing on it except leaves only.

And he said to it, no longer shall there ever be any fruit from you. And at once the fig tree withered. Seeing this, the disciples were amazed. And he asked, how did the fig tree wither all at once? And Jesus answered and said to them, truly, I say to you, if you have faith and you do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, be taken up and be cast into the sea, it will happen.

And all things you ask in prayer, believing you will receive. Matthew 21, 18 through 22. At that moment, early that morning, we could try to assume that maybe Jesus was hangry for not getting his breakfast fig bar.

Or we could simply remember what we had just seen the day before. Jesus pronounced a judgment on a city in a temple that offered him no fruit. They were fruitless. They were dead in their trespasses and sins.

They were withered and they were fruitless branches on God's vine that were destined for removal and fire, just like he said in John 15. Along with that, we would be right to remember how Jerusalem has often been compared to a fig tree in various Old Testament passages, such as Jeremiah 8, 1 through 13, 24, 1 through 11, 29, 16 through 18, and Hosea 9, 10.

As well as Malachi's prophecies that this same people would be left fruitless with neither root nor branch, Malachi 4, 3. Knowing these things as Jesus approached the fruitless city of Jerusalem that morning, and as he cursed a common symbol for Jerusalem, which was a fig tree, we would have understood the point.

Jerusalem was the fruitless tree that was about to be removed by God. Jesus' coming would not be good news for that people who sat on top of the mountain, thinking that they were secure, thinking that they have everything that they needed, but they, even they, would be cast into the sea.

Jesus was acting out a parable here that signaled the coming, necessary demise of Jerusalem as pictured by this fig tree. Now, if you'd like to learn more information about Jesus cursing the fig tree, I've actually written a couple additional articles on this.

You can find them on our blog that dive into this topic much deeper. But for now, let us move on to the second fig tree that Jesus alludes to, and that's in Matthew 24. And before we go there, you need to understand that this is what's called an inclusio.

When one thing happens in an earlier text, and then a similar thing happens in a later text, and it forms sort of a unit. This section is bookended by two fig trees. This section is on the front end and on the back end, have two fig trees that mean something.

One is being compared to Old Testament Judah, that is a fruitless fig tree that's withered, that's going to go into destruction. But the second fig tree that Jesus mentions is the new covenant church.

After a few chapters of the same theme where Jesus is cursing the city, all throughout Matthew 22, all throughout Matthew 23, now Matthew 24, he's giving this prophecy to the people. After a few chapters, Jesus uses this second fig tree to tell the tale of blessing.

Unlike the fig tree that was representing Jerusalem, which is destined for curse and devastation, Jesus uses this fig tree and a parable in Matthew 24 to describe the blessing that he's going to bring to his new covenant people.

This is what Jesus says. Now learn the parable from the fig tree. When its branch has already become tender and put forth its leaves, you know that the summer is near. So you too, when you see all these things, recognize that he is near, right at the door.

Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away, Matthew 24, 32 through 35. Now, we have to remember at first who Jesus is speaking to.

We are not his primary audience here. Now, by general application, these texts apply to us, but we are not the primary person, the focal point that Jesus was speaking to. He's speaking to his disciples.

These are the men that Jesus warned not to follow after false Christ and counterfeit messiahs, Matthew 24, 3. These are the men who are going to see and experience wars during an era of unparalleled peace, Matthew 24, 6.

They were going to experience increased famines and earthquakes as signs that Jerusalem's fate was nearing, verse 7 and 8. They were the men who would be delivered over to the Jews, who would terrorize them, persecute them, and kill them for following Jesus, verse 9.

They're the ones who would lead churches during this era where many people would abandon their faith because of the fires of persecution were burning far too hotly for them to stand, verse 10. They're the one who would see Judah descending into lawlessness, disorders, factions, chaos, and tyranny, verse 12.

They're the ones who are going to fill the world full of the gospel message before the end of the Jewish age would come, verse 14. Some of them were going to see the abomination of desolation, which Luke describes as Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, Matthew 24, 15 and Luke 21, 20.

Some of them are going to be among the group that's fleeing to the mountains for safety because Jesus had already warned them how and when to flee, verse 16. Perhaps some were going to remain in the city and they were going to see the multiple signs that Josephus records, like the sign in the sky, the wall tumbling to the ground, the poverty in the streets, the depravity in their hearts, cannibalism of mothers, the tribalism of the fleeting Jewish leaders, the idolatrous sacrifice of the Romans right there in the temple courtyard where the bodies were piled up high.

That's Matthew 24, 21 through 28. These men are the ones who saw these things unfolding over a 40-year period, and they're the ones who very clearly understood Jesus's sign in the heaven. From Daniel chapter 7, they're the ones that saw him raised, they're the ones who saw him ascending from the earth on the clouds of heaven to sit down at the right hand of God to rule over his blood-bought bride, and these are the men who wrote that Christ is going to put all his enemies under his feet, 1 Corinthians 15, 25, Ephesians 1, 22, Hebrews 2, 8, and they knew that that began with Jerusalem and with Judah, James 5, 1 through 8.

These are the men that Jesus promised one of those fig trees was going to wither, it was going to decay, and would be no more. It would be like chaff in the wind. It would be like a tree with neither root nor branch.

And yet to them and to the church, Jesus promised a different outcome. They would not be the cursed fig tree. The church would be blessed and they would be a blessing to the world. The Jews had borne no fruit for their God, but yet the church would be like the fig tree in the summer with tender branches, ready at any moment to burst forth with the most luxurious blooms and fruit to feed the nations.

The Jews of that first century are the ones who rejected Christ, they would be thrown into the fires, and yet the church in that very generation would see the purifying fire strengthen them and make them hard for battle, and make them ready to advance the kingdoms and lay the foundation that would now exist for 2 ,000 years of subsequent generations.

Today, we are not a part of the cursed fig tree that is dying, we are a part of a faithful and fruitful and multiplying and growing church. Now, the Lord is still pruning us, that is for sure. He is still shaping us and He is sharing our fruit with the nations.

But over the last 2 ,000 years, we have not been dying, we have been multiplying. The church has continued to grow every century and it will continue to grow so long as the world keeps spinning. And the world will continue to be feasting on the manifold and increasing blessings of Christ so long as the church exists.

Jesus uses two fig trees to tell a very poignant and powerful truth. His coming was gonna bring one fig tree to an end and one fig tree to life. In Christ, God is gonna bring His blessings to the earth through Christ's militant, advancing, fruitful, and multiplying church.

Until next time, my prayer is that you would find a faithful, gospel-preaching, Bible-believing, militant, culture-destroying church. My prayer is that you would have a church that's unafraid to live out the gospel faithfully in culture.

My prayer is that you would have a church that has a vision for seeing Christ's kingdom advance wherever it is located. And if you find that church, then be not easily separated from it. Until next time, God bless you.