The Cursing of a Nation

Matthew 21 and the Fig Tree as a Warning to Nations

All right, let's turn to Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21, and we're gonna continue our verse by verse, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, study through Matthew's gospel. So today we're gonna be looking at the account of Jesus cursing the fig tree.

So Jesus cursing the fig tree, and the key to understanding this is that the fig tree represents the nation of Israel. So this was a demonstration by Jesus to show the spiritual consequences of a nation that rejects the Lord and his ways.

And obviously this has implications for us, for every nation that turns against God, there are consequences. So Jesus cursing the fig tree, and again, the fig tree represents the nation of Israel. But here's the point to remember, just because the nation is being cursed, that doesn't mean it's forever, number one.

And number two, it doesn't mean that the individuals of the nation are cursed. For example, Jesus himself is an Israelite. The apostles are all Israelites. The early church, the first church in Jerusalem, they were mostly, if not all Israelites.

So just because God is displeased with a nation, there can still be blessings upon the people of that nation. So let's begin reading Matthew 21, but either way, we're gonna see that God is still faithful, even to his covenant people, Israel.

Matthew 21, 18 through 22, says, now in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry, and seeing a fig tree by the road, he came to it and found nothing on it but leaves. And he 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? So Jesus answered and said to them, assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, be removed and cast into the sea, it will be done.

And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing you will receive them. So the connection to prayer is that the disciples, when they pray, and this is true for us, when we pray, we need to actually believe that God will answer the prayers.

And don't pray for something if you think, oh, well, you know, God, I'm just gonna pray, but I don't think God's gonna answer this. Like, if that's your attitude going in, no, you need to have prayers of faith.

And of course, God did work many miracles through his disciples, just read through the book of Acts. Many miracles were done through prayer. But let's look at the subject of Jesus cursing the fig tree.

Again, what did I say? The fig tree represents who or what?

Israel.

Yeah, the nation of Israel. There's really no dispute about that. I've never heard anyone question that interpretation, but someone might object or they might be confused because they thought, well, I thought God loved, I thought God chose the nation of Israel.

I thought he loved the children of Israel. They are his chosen people after all, and God supports them. So how is it that Jesus can curse the fig tree or curse Israel? Well, this is why we need to interpret scripture.

With scripture.

Israel, True Israel, and Faith from the Heart

So let's turn to Romans chapter two. There's something we need to understand just upfront going into this. But the first thing I would say is that just because there may be this general curse against Israel, 2000 years ago, that's when this is happening.

Again, it doesn't mean that the curse will last forever or that there's no future for the children of Israel. We know that's not true based on Romans 11 and many other passages. Remember, has God cast away his people?

What's the answer to that? Certainly not. So has God done with Israel? No, certainly not. So it doesn't mean it's forever. And again, it certainly doesn't mean that there is a curse against each individual.

So I think this should help us. I don't know, some of you are worried and anxious about events that are gonna happen this week. Some of you are done with the election and you don't wanna hear any more about it, pastor, I don't even wanna hear about it.

But others of you are concerned. I think we're all sort of concerned about where the nation's headed. And you think, well, maybe God's judgment is upon us or God's judgment is going to come upon us, even if that were true, that doesn't mean God's judgment is coming upon you or me, right?

God can still bless his people despite the bigger situation. That's the thing we need to remember here because God was going to bless those who believed in Jesus. Look at Romans 2, 28 and 29. This is a very important distinction to make because there is true Israel, like the true Israelites, and then there is Israel according to the flesh.

So look at Romans 2, starting in verse 28. Paul says, for he is not a Jew who is one outwardly nor a circumcision, that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, not in the letter whose praise is not from men, but from God.

So who were some true Israelites? Give me a few names.

Okay, Peter.

Peter is a true Israelite. The circumcision wasn't just in the flesh, it was of the heart. He really believed in the Lord and trusted in the Lord with all his heart. Okay, what's another true Israelite?

Simon, Peter, Andrew, James.

Yeah, Andrew, James, John, Mary, this other Mary, that other Mary there, right? So there's plenty of true Israelites. Who are the false Israelites? Okay, scribes, Pharisees. Remember they said, oh, we are children of Abraham.

What did Jesus say? No, you're of your father, the devil. Now, were they Israelites? Yes, according to the flesh, they had the bloodline, they had all the traditions, all of that. But did they love God?

No, because when God shows up in the flesh, they want to kill him and they actually do. And Jesus is within a few days of his crucifixion. That's the event that really seals the fate for the nation. We know what happened just 40 years later, the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and the people were scattered.

So the point being, the true Israelites are the ones who love God from the heart. So it's more about your faith, more about believing than it is your bloodline. Okay, let's go back to Matthew chapter 21.

And that's still true for us as Christians, because there's a lot of people that the same thing with Israel is true for Christianity today. There are people who say, well, I'm a Christian. You know, I was brought up in a home where they had me baptized as a baby, or there's people who say that they're Christians, but do they really have a heart towards God?

Well, no, they don't. It's just in name only, just like with many of the Israelites, it was in name only. So a true believer is the one who has the spirit of God. They actually love God and that will come through in obedience as we're gonna see in the parables that Jesus tells in just a moment.

We'll look at Matthew 21, 18. We'll just go through some of these verses. Now in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry and seeing a fig tree by the road, he came to it and found nothing on it but leaves.

Now, some commentators will point out that this event is right before the Passover. So that means we're talking what? March or April, okay. Fig trees in that region, apparently they don't start producing figs until at least May.

So really there wouldn't be figs on the fig tree at this point. So here's what's not happening. I mean, it does say Jesus is hungry and he does point out there are no figs, but it's not that Jesus just was hoping there were figs.

Okay, there's not figs. And then he just kind of loses his temper and uses his powers for evil, you know, and he's mad and he's just gonna curse the fig tree just because, because he's upset. That's not what's happening.

He's doing this to make a spiritual point. So when he says, let no fruit grow on you ever again, like this really isn't about a fig tree, is it? He's talking about the nation of Israel.

Why?

Because the nation of Israel was planted by God. I mean, sometimes they are compared to a fig tree. We're gonna see later they're compared to an olive tree. So Israel was planted by God, so to speak. They are God's fig tree.

And the purpose of the tree is, the purpose of the nation is to produce fruit, right? When God saves us, he could just take us right to heaven, but he leaves us here so that we actually do something, that we actually accomplish something.

So the purpose for Israel was that they produce fruit. That is the fruit of righteousness, the fruit of holiness, the fruit of obedience, the purpose of calling the nation of Israel, to call them out as a set apart people, is that they would be a testimony to the world.

They were supposed to be that city set on a hill. So all the people of the world, all the other nations would see Israel and how close they were to their God and how their God blessed them. And ideally the whole world would say, we want that.

We want that blessing. We want to come to know this God. And again, same thing with us. We are left in this world so that we would produce fruit so that people would see us and they would ask about our God.

So it's all connected to New Testament as well. And by the way, that did happen in Israel's history. For the most part, they fail. I mean, that's true. If you read, you know, Moses dealing with the children of Israel in the wilderness, they're failing.

You read the book of Judges, they're failing. The divided kingdom stage, Israel to the North, all the kings were wicked. So big picture, they failed. But there were times where, remember, King David and King Solomon, this was like a golden age.

And in particular, when King Solomon was on the throne, people did come from far and wide to see this great nation and their great God. Remember with the Queen of Sheba, she wanted to see how great this nation was.

So it was all about being a testimony and producing that fruit. But of course, Israel at this point, are they producing fruit? No, then they have their Messiah right in front of them and they are days away from crucifying him.

So throughout the ages, throughout the centuries, the Lord would send prophets to warn them, to call them back to repentance. The prophets were what? Despised, persecuted, killed. And even before Jesus, who was sent before Jesus to warn the people, to tell them to change.

And we know they're not listening to Jesus because they're about to kill him. Who came before Jesus? Right, John the Baptist. And speaking of John the Baptist, look at verse 23. Jesus is going to use John the Baptist to sort of catch them in a trap.

He says, or it says, now, when he came to the temple, the chief priests and elders of the people confronted him as he was teaching and said, by what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?

And I like how Jesus responds. Like, have you ever been in a situation where someone's asking you a question and you know they're trying to trap you in your words? Like, you don't actually have to go along with it.

Jesus didn't. Here's what he said. Of course, Jesus wasn't guilty, but verse 24. So Jesus answered and said to them, I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things.

So, okay, you're asking me. I will not answer you unless you first answer my question. So verse 25, the baptism of John. This is the question Jesus is asking. Where was it from? Was it from heaven or from men?

And it says they reasoned among themselves saying, well, if we say from heaven, he'll say to us, then why did you not believe him? But if we say from men, like John the Baptist was not really of God. Well, they feared the multitude for all count John as the prophet.

So they're trapped. They know whatever answer they give, they're stuck. They're gonna be in trouble. So verse 27, they answered Jesus and said,.

We do not know.

Now, how did they respond to John? They thought he was of men, right? They thought he was not of God, but they're not gonna say that. They're not going to admit that. So Jesus responds and he says, neither will I tell you, okay, you won't answer me.

Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. So no matter how they respond, they're looking bad. They're not playing along. So they had their chance to either accept the message of John the Baptist or reject it, they rejected it.

Now they have the message of Jesus, accept or reject. We know what they did. And now because of their rejection, the judgment of God is going to fall upon the nation. And we see now Jesus tells a parable to illustrate this in verse 28.

He says, but what do you think? A man had two sons and he came to the first and said, son, go work today in my vineyard. And he answered and said, I will not. But afterward he regretted it and he went.

Then he came to the second and said, likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir, but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of the father? And they said to him, the first. And Jesus said to them, assuredly I say to you that tax collect, this really must have got under their skin, he said, tax collectors and harlots will enter the kingdom of God before you.

Wow, that's like going over, let's say they go over to the Vatican or some religious headquarters. You know, the people that run the religion and say, you know, those prostitutes that I saw down on the street corner, they're gonna get to heaven before you.

Like, wow, you realize how controversial this statement was. Now, do people just get in because they're lowly or just get in because they're sinful? No, what's it about? It's all about, do you reject or accept Jesus?

So the leaders of Israel were not accepting him because of that, they and the nation they represent are going to come under judgment. So we see that everything comes back to faith in Christ. Because of this, Israel will be cut off as a nation.

But if any Israelite, any person turns to Christ in faith, what happens? Are they accepted? Right, so this parable, you have people who maybe they were brought up in a home, it's a Christian home. They said yes to God, but they really didn't obey God.

So they're Christian in name only, right? So this is like many of the Jews, they were Jews in name only. They're brought up in it, they're saying the right things, but they're not doing the right things.

Okay, same thing, there's other people who grow up and maybe for the first 20, 30 years of their life, they're just living life on their own terms. They're saying no to God. I don't want anything to do with God, it's my life, I'll do what I want.

At age 20, at age 30, if they change their mind, no matter what they've done before, no matter what it is, can anyone have that change of mind and get into heaven by serving God? Yes, what matters is do you believe on Jesus?

Do you say and do the right thing? Okay, that's the key. So Jesus tells another parable. He says, look at verse 33. He's just kind of continuing to illustrate the same point. Here, another parable. There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge about it and dug a wine press in it and built a tower and he leased it to vine dressers and went into a far country.

Now, who is this owner of the vineyard? Who does that represent? Right, verse 34. Now, when vintage time came, he drew near, he sent his servants to the vine dressers. These would be the prophets that they might receive its fruit.

And the vine dressers took his servants, beat one and killed and stoned the other. Now, who are these vine dressers? They're the ones in charge of the vineyard. So they represent the religious leaders of Israel.

Okay, the landowner is God. The vine dressers are scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees. And these servants are the prophets. Look at verse 36. Again, he sent other servants more than the first and they did likewise to them.

And that would be someone like John the Baptist. And what happened to John?

Beat, beheaded, killed.

Right, verse 37. Then last of all, he, the owner of the vineyard, God sent his son to them saying, they will respect my son. Now, this is a parable, right? This is just helping to understand the story.

God knew what was gonna happen. He knew they weren't gonna respect him. So don't read into it too much. But verse 38, but when the vine dressers saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir.

Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance. So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine dressers?

Well, this is them responding and they're really signaling their own condemnation here or predicting it. Verse 41, they said to him, he will destroy those wicked men miserably and lease his vineyard to other vine dressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.

Now, who are these other vine dressers? Okay, so the vineyard belonged to the nation of Israel, scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, the leaders. Well, he's giving it to someone else. Who's he giving it to?

Well, it's gonna be the Gentiles and it's gonna be the New Testament church. So Jesus, verse 42, Jesus said to them, have you never read the scriptures? Like this was predicted all along. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

This was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And of course, Jesus is referring to the spiritual nation that we know as the New Testament church.

So again, all of this is consistent with how the story began, the cursing of the fig tree. Because of Israel's disobedience, the nation would be destroyed. The kingdom of God would be taken from the nation of Israel and given to a different nation that is the church.

The Olive Tree, the Gentiles, and the Mystery of Israel’s Restoration

So in Old Testament times, if you wanted to be in covenant with God, you had to become an Israelite. You had to become Jewish and convert and go through circumcision and become part of the nation of Israel.

And anyone could do that. Remember Ruth and Rahab, to name a couple. They were not Jews, but they converted and they were in covenant with God. And did God bless them? Yes, he did. So anyone could convert in the Old Testament, but you had to be part of Israel.

Well, how is God now working in this new dispensation, this new age? Well, to be in covenant with God today, what do you have to do? You have to become part of what? The body of Christ. You have to become part of the church.

So this has often been, as Paul described it in Ephesians 3, 2, he refers to this age as the dispensation of the grace of God. Now we do need to be careful. That does not mean that we have replaced Israel.

Okay, now let's go to Romans chapter 11. And I just want to show you that because this is one thing that is taught without question in this age. I mean, most Christians will agree with this, that yes, you need to be part of the body of Christ.

That's how you enter into covenant with God. You need to be saved, born again. But there's this argument about whether or not the church has permanently replaced Israel. I will grant that some of the language does sound permanent.

I mean, that's true. And that's why some people believe that. But we see in Romans chapter 11, remember, what are they compared to? What kind of a tree in Matthew? Fig tree. Well, in Romans 11, we see another tree.

This is the olive tree. So Romans chapter 11, starting in verse one, Paul says, I say then, has God cast away his people, referring to the Jewish people? What's the answer? God forbid, certainly not. For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

Then he says, just in case you missed it, God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew. So starting 33 AD up until now, if a Jewish person wants to be in covenant with God, they convert and become Christian.

That's the way it is. But there does come a point where this age ends, and we see that the nation of Israel, where are they now? Well, we could talk about 1948 and the restoration of the modern nation, but for the past 2000 years, the Jewish people, the Israelites have been scattered.

There really hasn't been a nation. But let's read what God says about it. Look at verse 11. Paul says again, I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? In other words, is it permanent? Certainly not.

But through their fall to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. So we're gonna look at this. We see in verse 16 that they are described as the natural branches that have been cut off.

Verse 16, Romans 11, 16. For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy. If the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, these branches represent Israel as a nation.

They've been broken off, okay? And you, speaking to the Gentile church, being a wild olive tree, we are grafted in among them and with them, become a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree.

Paul is telling Romans, he's telling Christians in Rome, he's saying, do not boast against the branches. Now, who are the branches that were broken off? Israelites. So as a New Testament Christian, we are told don't boast against the branches.

What does that mean? One commentator says this. Do not boast against the branches means there's no place in the church for spiritual pride. And there is certainly no place in the church for antisemitism.

Amen.

I don't know if you follow things on the internet and you hear statistics, but, and I actually think some of this is true. I don't always believe things I hear in the news, but, and I've, cause I've heard it, I've seen it.

There is, there are some circles of Christianity where there is antisemitism or people just, they dislike people simply because they're of a Jewish heritage or ethnicity. Paul say, you don't want to do that.

Remember a few weeks ago, we talked about the election and examining the issues. And one of the things that evangelicals are known for, evangelical Bible believing Christians are known for their support for the Jewish people.

Why is that? Well, we're going to read that they are actually going to be grafted back in. So right now, yes, they've been broken off. They've been set on the shelf. I think that's the best way to describe it.

Okay. They are in unbelief, generally speaking as, as a people, but they're going to be grafted back in. Skip ahead to verse 23. This is why it's important to reject antisemitism and to support the Jewish people.

Verse 23, and they also, referring to the children of Israel, if they do not continue in unbelief, what? Will be grafted in. That's grafted in again. For God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are natural branches be grafted in to their own olive tree?

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

So, you know, we talk about God being sovereign and in control, and this is the most amazing part of it. God used the rejection of Jesus Christ to take the gospel, which originally it was brought to this one nation.

Through their rejection of the gospel, God used that to bring the gospel to what? The whole world. And now because of their rejection of Christ, which was bad, but God can take bad things and use them for good, right?

God used all of that to bring the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth, so that now today, no matter what a person has done, even if they've lived a life as a prostitute or whatever you think is the lowest of the low in society, all a person has to do, even though they've been saying no to God for decades, their whole life, all they have to do is say, you know what?

I was wrong. Now I'm saying yes to God. I'm gonna be part of the church. All of the blessings, including the blessings that were promised to God's people in the Old Testament, you know what? Now they apply to us.

We get to share in the blessing. But remember, God is faithful, and because God is faithful, all his promises made to Israel, he's gonna keep those promises. So the church has not replaced Israel. We are sharing in the blessings, but Israel, you read it, didn't you?

We'll be grafted in again. Did you read that?

Yes.

So go back to verse 25. We're almost done. For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part, I mean, there are believing Jews, praise the Lord for that, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until what?

The fullness of the Gentiles has come in. So we are now living in whatever you wanna call it, the church age, dispensation of the grace of God. We're living in a time period right now that's called here the times of the Gentiles.

This time period will end, I believe, at the rapture of the church. Some people can debate that if they want, but I believe when the church is caught up to meet the Lord in the air, that is when God turns back to dealing with his people, Israel, that happens during the end of days.

And we see this great statement in verse 26. When that happens, when this age is over, what? And so all Israel will be saved. As it is written, the deliverer will come out of Zion and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant with them.

Remember the new covenant, if you read it in the book of Jeremiah, like we're in the new covenant right now, who is it first promised to? It was promised to the nation of Israel. So they will be grafted in again, for this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.

The Faithfulness of God and the Call to Repentance

So what's the takeaway for us? Number one, it is a warning, Jesus cursing the fig tree is a warning to any nation that knows God and yet they turn their backs on God. And that's why I realized people don't like preaching about the nation and politics.

And I get it, I'm tired of hearing it sometimes too, but pastors have to preach about these things, about the nation and the nation's unfaithfulness, have to do it. But yes, this is a warning, number one.

Number two, it's a reason to reject antisemitism, and to support the nation of Israel. I'm not saying that everything they do is right. I'm not even saying the modern day state of Israel is the same Israel as in the Bible.

I'm saying God is setting the stage and he will use that because he's made a promise to his covenant people, he's gonna keep it. And number three, this shows us the faithfulness of God. Look at verses 28 and 29 and we'll close.

Paul speaks about unbelieving Israel. He says to Christians in Rome, concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. Again, their rejection caused the gospel to go to Rome. Praise God for that.

So yes, and they are the main opponents of the gospel at that time period, that's true. But Paul says, concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election, because they were chosen by God, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.

Were the scribes and Pharisees who hated Christ and crucified Christ, were they beloved? You know, not so much, but God loves his covenant people. And there is a future for any single one of them, there's a future for any single person on earth if they are willing to repent and come to saving faith in Christ.

Why?

Because verse 29, the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. God is not going to change his mind. When God makes a promise, he keeps that promise. And why is it so, last thing I'm gonna say, why is it so important that God keep his promise to the nation of Israel?

Because if, and again, there are churches that teach this and I don't see how they do it, but if God were to break his promise to them, maybe he would break his promise to us. I mean, if God breaks his promises, then who knows?

But God is absolutely 100 faithful, even to the nation that crucified God's own son. If he would be faithful to that nation, he will be faithful to this nation, the New Testament nation of the church.

And I don't know about you, in a day and age where people break promises like it's going out of style, it's good to know that God is faithful. Let's pray. And Father, I thank you that you are a faithful God.

You keep your word, every promise that you make, you keep. And Father, we know we live in a world where this really nothing new, nothing new under the sun. People make promises to us, they break them.

Lord, we don't know who's telling us the truth, who's lying to us, but when that might tempt us to feel down and discouraged, we can trust and be thankful that you are always, always faithful. And Lord, if there's someone here today who has lived a life saying no to you, maybe for 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, they've said no to you, I pray today, they would say yes, that they would become a New Testament member, a new covenant member in God's family.

And I ask it all in Jesus' name, amen.