When Jesus Cursed the Fig Tree

Providence Baptist Church

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24. Mark chapter 11 verse 12 and we'll go in verse 24 now.

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Today is obviously it's Wednesday and Friday is Good Friday but this whole week is sort of celebrated as the

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Passion Week, you know, the week that Jesus is, has entered Jerusalem on Sunday and then these events that we pick up are on Monday.

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So in verse 12 when it says, on the following day, it's talking about Monday. Okay, so triumphal entry is before now in verse 12,

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Monday. On the following day when they came from Bethany he was hungry and seen in the distance a fig tree in leaf he went to see if he could find anything on it.

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When he came to it he found nothing but leaves for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again and his disciples heard it.

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And they came to Jerusalem and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple.

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He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seat of those who sold pigeons and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple and he was teaching them and saying to them, is it not written, written my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations but you have made it a den of robbers.

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The chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him for they feared him because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.

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And when evening came they went out of the city. As they passed by in the morning, so now which day are we at?

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Tuesday, so yesterday. As they passed by in the morning they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots and Peter remembered and said to him, rabbi look the fig tree that you cursed has withered.

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And Jesus answered them, have faith in God. Truly I say to you whoever says to this mountain be taken up and thrown into the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will come to pass it will be done for him.

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Therefore I tell you whatever you ask in prayer believe that you have received it and it will be yours.

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All right, tons of questions here, right? Tons of questions. You guys know what hangry is by the way?

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I saw that. You know what hangry is? Yeah, I know what hangry is. Jesus, does

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Jesus get hangry? Well no, because that would be unrighteous. But he does get hungry, that's interesting, isn't it?

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How does how does Jesus get hungry? The God in flesh gets hungry.

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How's that happen? Yeah, that's very good,

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Connell. I don't know if you could hear Connell from the back. He said he's a hundred percent man and a hundred percent God. So he really, when

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Jesus, when the Son of God took on human flesh, he went all out. He was fully and truly human without giving up any of his divine nature.

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So we have two 100 %s in there's distinct natures, two natures in the one person.

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So he's not on a whim here, right? Not on a whim, he's not just angry and curses the fig.

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There's something going on here. But it's interesting to me, notice in verse 13, it says at the end of verse 13, what's it say?

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For it was not the season for figs. So doesn't

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Jesus understand, like, go to the fig tree, it's not time for figs, yet there's no figs on it.

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Jesus is hungry, he curses the fig tree. So what is going on here?

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That's what we're going to investigate tonight. I think it's important and it just so happens to correlate with Passion Week.

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So one commentator notes this, during springtime Palestinian fig trees began to produce tasks,

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Arabic for immature edible figs. Ripe sweet figs are harvested in the summer, the season for figs to which

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Mark's gospel refers. Lush foliage signals that tasks are present, thus

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Jesus rightly expects fruit when he combs through the leaves, yet appearances are deceiving in this case.

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So in Mark 11 13, the tree has leaves, okay, see that?

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This is important. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves. So it has leaves and it's not unreasonable then to expect it have some of these early figs maybe to be on it.

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But when Jesus came to it, there was none. Is this too strong, right?

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Like, let me just ask you guys, y 'all ever done that? Right? You ever gone to an apple tree and it wasn't time for apples or whatever?

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Maybe you're like, but may no fruit ever come from you again. Have you ever done that?

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I mean, if you have done that, maybe keep it to yourself because I don't want to know, that's a little weird honestly.

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Well, what's Jesus doing though? A little strong language like, okay, honestly, look at verse 14.

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May no one ever eat fruit from you again. And then in verse 20, and they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.

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So what's going on here? Any thoughts? That's a good thought.

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So as disciples, yeah,

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I think that's a good, that's a good thought there, Connell, that it should be bearing fruit, but it's not.

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I think that's getting close. So as disciples believe it, I think that's right. Now, first of all,

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Mark takes care in his gospel here to understand the fig tree situation.

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He splits the fig tree situation with what? I think this is important with what Mark is doing. So in between Jesus cursing the fig tree and the fig tree withering, what event, and it's not a trick question, you can look, what event takes place?

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You probably have a heading in your Bible. What's it say? What's the heading in your Bible say above verse 15?

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Jesus cleanses the temple. So you have cursing the fig tree, cleansing the temple, and then

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Mark brings us back to the cursing of the fig tree. Now, how do you think maybe the cleansing of the temple might shed light on what's going on?

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What is the cleansing of the temple about? You can read it again if you want, just read it again to yourself if you'd like, but what is the main point, like why is

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Jesus cleansing the temple? What's the big picture of why he's cleansing the temple?

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It is the house of God. What are they, how are they, how are they treating the house of God? Rightly or wrongly?

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Wrongly. What word do we use for people who outwardly pretend to be religious, but inwardly they have, very good, inwardly their hearts are far from God.

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The word that Connell said from the back was hypocrite. So this is dealing with,

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I think it's clear, in the middle, in the temple, religious hypocrisy, okay, and the target of Jesus's rebuke is who?

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He says, and he was teaching them and saying to them, it's not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a den of robbers.

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He's, yeah, he's talking to the religious leadership and the, and specifically they're, they're what?

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What, what ethnicity are they? They're Jews, right? Okay, so how might the cursing of the fig tree relate to religious hypocrisy?

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I think the Bible gives us some, some clues on that. So I want you to turn to Jeremiah. These are just two passages we'll look at.

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Jeremiah, keep your place there because we're going to come back to Mark. So look at Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 8,

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Jeremiah 8, Jeremiah chapter 8.

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Now God's talking about His people here.

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In Jeremiah chapter 8, verse 13, He says this, when

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I would gather them, declares the Lord, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree.

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Even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them.

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Okay, keep that thought and turn over to Jeremiah 24, Jeremiah 24,

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Jeremiah chapter 24. I'm gonna, I'm gonna read the whole chapter, but don't be scared.

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It's only ten verses. After Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had taken into exile from Jerusalem, Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with the officials of Judah, the craftsmen, the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the

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Lord showed me this vision. Behold, two baskets of what? Two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the

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Lord. One basket had very good figs, like first ripe figs, but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten.

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The Lord said to me, what do you see, Jeremiah? I said, figs, the good figs, very good, the bad figs, very bad, so bad they cannot be eaten.

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Then the word of the Lord came to me. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah whom

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I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land.

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I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know that I am the

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Lord, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

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But thus says the Lord, like the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will

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I treat Zedekiah, the king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt.

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I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a reproach, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them.

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And I will send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.

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So these are not the only two places we could look at more, but there is several times in the

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Old Testament that Israel is likened to figs.

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Alright, so back to Mark 11, I want you to know something here. That what is happening in Mark 11 is not just about Jesus being hungry.

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It's not even only about religious hypocrisy, though I'll make a point about that later. It's also specifically about the nation of Israel.

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Listen very carefully, I think it's important, something we may miss. Israel was like a fig tree that had what?

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No fruit. They're like a fig tree with a bunch of leaves and no fruit.

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Leaves, leaves on a tree signify what? Life. You know, it's alive.

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So you got the, you got the leaves, you've got signs of life there, it appears anyway, outwardly signs of life, but when you get up to the tree and you try to examine the fruit, there is no fruit.

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So they had the ceremonies, right? They had the feasts, they had the rules, they had all the outward trappings, but there was no fruit, and thus they were phonies.

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We'll want to look in Deuteronomy. So Deuteronomy, I told you Mark, but we'll go to flip over to Deuteronomy 27.

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Deuteronomy 27, and I'm gonna just read verse 26.

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Deuteronomy 27, 26, says this, Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.

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And all the people said what? Amen. What does amen mean? Agreed, truly, verily, let it be so.

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In other words, Moses saying, curses anyone who does not do what the law says, and all the people of Israel said what?

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Amen. That's right. So this is in the context,

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Deuteronomy is in the context of what covenant? This is a little bit bigger maybe for some of you, but it shouldn't be too hard.

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What covenant is in Deuteronomy, specifically the main covenant being discussed?

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What did you say? Covenant, okay, that's good. Covenant of works. Specifically though, who's the man talking in Deuteronomy?

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Moses. So we're talking about which covenant? The most, yeah, how you say it is mosaic, right?

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The Mosaic Covenant. We're talking about this covenant that God had through Moses, okay?

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Now the Mosaic Covenant served a few purposes, but, but let me highlight two.

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One of those is, is it's not, it's not an end in and of itself, really it's a means to an end, and I'll put it this way.

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Caleb talked about it being a covenant of works, and I agree with that. It shows Israel, this is what you must do, right?

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You must do this. Essentially the, the Mosaic Covenant essentially says this, do this and live.

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That sounds very familiar, doesn't it? To the Garden of Eden, and it should, okay?

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We don't have to get into all that, but in essence though, the idea though wasn't that Israel could really do it, but rather it was to show them their unrighteousness, right?

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There was like 613 laws in the Mosaic Covenant. Those things should have broken

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Israel, showed them their need for the Messiah. Instead, for most of them, what did it do?

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It actually hardened them. They began to think that they could do all this and earn their own righteousness.

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But, but the feast, okay, Mosaic, Mosaic Covenant is a big kind of biblical theology here, but, but the feast and the, and the ceremonies, they all point forward to who?

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The Christ, okay? Some obviously in this covenant embrace the future promises of God, and so they are part of the, the covenant of grace, but others,

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I would even say most, rejected that and thought that they could keep the law themselves.

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So that's one of the purposes. Here's another purpose of the Mosaic Covenant. Another purpose of the

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Mosaic Covenant is it's like a fence, okay? That is, it's a fence to preserve the line of the, of the coming

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Messiah, okay? So the Mosaic Covenant served the purpose to keep the line of Abraham alive until Jesus arrived.

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So think about this. Think about all these laws. Sometimes, like, what are all these laws about? Purification laws, and you can't eat certain kind of food, you can't eat pork, or, or certain kind of clothing.

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Like, what are all these laws about? Intermarrying, all these things. In my opinion, they're designed to keep

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Israel from apostatizing and into continuing on from generation to generation.

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Now, until the Messiah comes. Now, back to Mark 11. Why in the world, Quatro, does all of this have to do with Mark 11?

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Several things. I think that Mark 11 teaches, of course, this, I didn't make this, I'm not the only one that thinks this, but I think it's important.

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I think that what happens in Mark 11, Jesus is cursing the fig tree, not just because he's hungry and he's on a whim, but it's part of a symbolic act that marks the end of what?

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Which covenant? The Mosaic Covenant. Okay, so as, why is it so important?

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Why is Jesus doing it now? Why doesn't He do it at the beginning? He does it now because this is on Monday, He curses the fig tree, and what is going to happen

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Friday? He's going to be crucified. Okay, so He's showing an end of the

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Mosaic Covenant. Remember that this covenant is enforced to show Israel her need for Jesus, to protect the line of the

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Messiah, but now neither of these are already, are not any, they're not, they're

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Jesus, right? So here's the end of the Mosaic Covenant, and you might say, well that's not official until the resurrection of Christ, but okay, but still, you're just a few days away from that, okay?

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We have to remember something in Mark 11. Jesus does not come to refine the temple, and He doesn't come to repair the fig tree, if you will.

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Jesus does not come to give Israel a revival in terms of strengthening or reinforcing or reestablishing the

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Mosaic Covenant. Rather, He comes to do what? Not abolish it, but to, very good, fulfill it, right?

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He brought an end to the new Mosaic Covenant and established what in His blood?

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The new covenant, okay? Now, this is not that, this is not, let me say this, 1689 puts it very well,

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I don't have it here, but you think, how did people in the Old Testament get saved? They got saved by virtue of the new covenant, but the new covenant is not ratified until the blood of Christ.

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That make sense? A Christian rapper said it this way, I thought, I think it's good.

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The Old Testament saints were saved on credit, the New Testament saints are saved on debit.

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Maybe next week I'll wrap it for you, but probably not. So, I think that's,

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I think that's good. So, this would probably be a good time, we've got time, turn to Hebrews 8 real quick.

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Hebrews 8. Hebrews 8.

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Hebrews 8. Do you ever find Hebrews, one of those books, maybe some newer

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Christians, they find it, well, this is complicated, hard, it's like, what is it? But, but it's a really beautiful, and listen to what the author of Hebrews is telling us.

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Now, the point in what we are saying is this, we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the

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Lord set up, not man. Okay, what other tent was set up? Moses set up the tabernacle.

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A minister in the holy place, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. Sorry, verse 3. For every high priest is appointed, high priest appointed in what?

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The Mosaic Covenant. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.

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Now, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.

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They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, see that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.

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But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is much more excellent than the old, as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

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For if that first covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

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For he finds fault with them when he says, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when

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I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the

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Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, declares the Lord, I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts, and I will be their

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God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying,

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Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.

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And speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one, what word do you have there? And speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete.

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And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. Now back in Mark 11, and he said to it in verse 14,

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May no one ever eat fruit from you again. Okay, Jesus has the right and the power and the authority over this fig tree, and he has the right and power and authority over the nation of Israel.

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They should have borne what? They should have borne fruit. Was it God's fault they didn't bear fruit?

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No. Was it the law's fault they didn't bear fruit? No, it was their own stubborn and rebellious hearts.

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They had the law, they had the promises, they had the Messiah, but instead they only had the appearance of true religion, and ultimately, if they did not repent and believe the gospel, they would perish like the fig tree.

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R .C. Sproul says this, The lesson of the tree applies to Israel, symbolizing the

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Old Testament as God's fig tree. Just like the barren fig tree Jesus cursed, Israel had proven unfruitful with respect to God's purpose for her.

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Her worship had become an exercise in hypocrisy. As the fig tree was cursed, so was the nation of Israel fit only to be cast into the fire.

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Now let me mention a few things that come up from time to time, and then we'll close.

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First, I do not believe the church replaces Israel. Okay, so listen to this very carefully.

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I think this language is important I'm about to say. Jesus is not saying here that he tried Israel and it didn't work, so now he's moving on to the church.

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Rather, listen to this, the true people of God have always been those who bear what?

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Paul says in Romans 9, Not all Israel is what? Israel.

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So you have the physical people of Israel in the Old Testament that certainly in one sense are the people of God, but within those physical people of Israel you have what?

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Those who are truly saved. Were they born again? Yes. You can't be saved without being born again, even in the

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Old Testament, but these things are made clear to us in the New Testament, right? So the church doesn't replace

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Israel. Rather, the church is the true Israel, the true fulfillment of Israel.

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Paul says in Galatians 3, Who are the true sons and daughters of Abraham? Those of what?

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Believers, but those starts with an F. Those of faith. That's what he says. Like if you're a

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Christian, listen to me, if you're a Christian, you're not a second class citizen, right? Sometimes in an extreme sort of dispensational theology you have the

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Jews that are here and then you know Christians or you know stepchildren or whatever, but it's not true, right?

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The true sons, this is what Paul says, the true sons and daughters of Abraham are those of faith. Let me say this, we can have different opinions on this, but I'm just going to tell you my opinion.

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I don't, because of this fig tree, cursing, all that, I don't interpret the prophecies in the

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Scriptures as meaning to watch the news all the time about what's happening in national Israel, okay?

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Do I think that Jews will be converted absolutely, okay? But in terms of restoring a national

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Israel that's going to run for a thousand years or whatever, I don't think that's, I don't think the Scriptures actually teach that.

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You can disagree with me on that, but I'm just giving you what I think the Scriptures are teaching regarding this, but there are some lessons that we do need to apply here, okay?

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One is this, regardless what you think about your eschatology in time, let me ask you this, what does

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God think about religious hypocrisy? What is God's stance on religious hypocrisy?

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He hates it. Yeah, yeah, to say he doesn't like it, that's really not strong enough.

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Really, we need to use the word hate, despises it. He says even to the church of Laodicea, and it's

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Laodicea, isn't it? Revelation 3. He says to the church of Laodicea that I will vomit you out of my mouth.

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Now, my dog, I better not bring this up. Stephanie, close your ears. My dog threw up today.

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I wasn't there for it, but I know that my dog throwing up also caused someone else in my home,

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I will not name their name, but she's pregnant, someone else in my home to also throw up.

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Vomit is disgusting, okay? What a great lesson tonight. That's what

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Jesus says. He'll, the church, he'll vomit them out of his mouth at Laodicea because, why?

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They're lukewarm, all right? Here's another lesson. True religion, by the way, if you say

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I'm for a relationship, not religion, I understand what you're saying, but the Bible really doesn't make that distinction.

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Christianity is a what? A religion. It's a relationship and a religion. True religion does what, though?

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Bears fruit. It bears fruit, always bears fruit.

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Matthew Henry says this, the fruit of the fig trees may justly be expected from those who have the leaves.

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Christ looks for the power of religion from those who make profession of it. In other words, listen to me, on Sunday morning, there's a lot of leaves going on, right?

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We're preaching, we're singing, we're giving, we're praying, or we're fellowshipping, you know, we're greeting, all that.

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A lot of leaves happening, right? But if we, if you are coming and you're just going through these motions, right?

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You're just checking this off the box, God, I got you, okay, fine, I'm gonna have to do this, I got you off my back for another week, right?

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If that's what you're doing, then your life is an appearance of religiosity, but there is no fruit.

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You've got the leaves, but you don't got the figs. Is that what Jesus wants? No. He doesn't, now this is where people get messed up on this, he doesn't only want your outward actions, he wants your heart.

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Now when some people hear that, they think he doesn't care about your outward actions. Is that true?

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No, of course not, it's just the order, okay? So some people are like, as long as I'm doing outwardly, as long as I'm outwardly doing what

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I'm supposed to be doing, God's pleased. Not true. God wants your heart, and if God has your heart, you're gonna be doing what?

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Your outward actions are gonna match. This is why, and I was reading, I was reading a book about this today, one of the greatest revivals in the history of the world, really, was the

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Great Awakening, and one of the doctrines that they recovered in the Great Awakening is the doctrine of regeneration.

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That is, you must be what? Born. You must be born again.

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Let me, let me make one more note, or maybe at least one more note. In Cursing the

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Fig Tree, Jesus reminds us that there are two kingdoms. There's the kingdom of this world, and there's the kingdom of Christ, and these two kingdoms will coincide until his return.

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What does that mean? It means, in part, that looking for a great political victory in Christianity over the world is not the point of Christ's coming, right?

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Not until he returns anyway, so there's a big argument, big dust -up today in the evangelical world, and that is the idea of whether or not, whether or not we should, how politically involved we should be.

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My position is that we should not look for a Christendom. By Christendom, I mean, what?

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Where, where America is, how do I say it, outlaws everything besides Christianity, right?

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That's, that's not what we're looking, we're not looking to win a political victory. I mean, we will win a political victory.

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Christ is King, right? But the reality is, Mark 11 plays into Wednesday of the

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Passion Week. You know what Wednesday of the Passion Week is called? What is today called of the, so Friday's Good Friday, tomorrow's

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Maundy Thursday, what's Wednesday called? Do you remember? Wednesday is called

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Spy Wednesday. And why is that? Because tradition has it that Matthew 26, in fact, turn there real quick,

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Matthew, just a few chapters, Matthew 26, 14 through 16 happens on a, on Wednesday, just a couple verses.

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Matthew 26, 14 through 16 says, Then one of the twelve, whose name was

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Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priest and said, What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?

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And they paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.

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So that is believed to happen on Wednesday. Why does Judas betray Jesus?

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This is why I think Mark 11 can play a role. Jesus is distancing himself from national

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Israel. He's distancing himself, encursing the fig tree, from the, from the theocracy of Israel.

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Jesus didn't come to overthrow the Romans politically, right? He's not going to establish a physical throne in Jerusalem over the world to some.

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He doesn't come to make Judas's enemies bow right now, or give Judas a means to worldly riches or political victory.

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And so Judas says, after three years of Judas giving his life to this, he says, I don't want this anymore, right?

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Satan will enter Judas tomorrow, Maundy Thursday, and he'll complete this betrayal. So, so we could even say in this lesson tonight that Judas himself is an example of religious hypocrisy.

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He's the Messiah. He doesn't want Christ for Christ, though. He wants, he wants Christ as a means to another end.

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All right, let me, let me just close by saying this. We must have Christ for Christ.

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We must see the Lord Jesus as our only suitable and all -sufficient Savior. He's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

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He takes away our sin through faith in his name, by his crucifixion, and now we're marching.

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Christ is King right now, right? And we're marching under his kingship, and we're taking this message that you must be born again to the nations, and those who put their faith in Christ will ultimately bear fruit for the kingdom.