Thursday, January 14,
2016, 6:00 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Our Eyes on Jesus.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Matthew 21:18-22 (NASB).
Only Leaves (vv.
18-19)
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 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.
The Lord Jesus used a real life situation here as a parable
to illustrate a biblical truth, i.e. a message from God. The tree represented
the nation of Israel, who were God’s chosen people at that time. The leaves
were a sign that fruit should have been present on the tree, but it was show
only; profession only of having genuine fruit for God and his eternal kingdom. They,
as a nation, gave lip service to God, but their hearts were far from him. Many
of their leaders were hypocrites who worked hard at looking righteous on the
outside, but inside they were full of wickedness and lacking in love and mercy
for their fellow humans. They were a people who were religious in practice, but
they were not followers of God. They, as a nation, were going to be judged by
God and would no longer be his people. The kingdom of God was taken away from
them and given to the Gentiles, i.e. to a people who would produce its fruit
(See: vv. 33-46). Yet, although they were cut off from the vine due to unbelief,
they can be grafted back into the kingdom of God if they believe in Jesus.
So, what can we learn from this parable to apply to the people
of God, i.e. to the church, the body of Christ today? Or, to our individual
lives?
For one, we can learn that God Almighty is longsuffering,
and is patient with us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. He endured Israel’s coldness toward him for many years
before he finally judged them for their unbelief. We can also learn that,
although God may judge our unbelief, idolatry and/or spiritual adultery in this
life through trials, tribulations, and hardships, even if we must suffer great
loss in this life, as long as we still have the breath of life, we can still be
saved if we turn from our sin, and we turn to have faith or renewed faith in
Jesus Christ. The people of the nation of Israel who still do not trust in
Jesus as their Messiah can still be grafted back into God’s kingdom if they
will just believe on Jesus to be their Lord and Savior (See: Ro. 11). Those who
survive God’s judgments on the people of this earth can still turn their hearts
to the Lord and be saved. And, those who know Jesus, but have wandered from
their pure devotion, can be brought back to the Lord and to unadulterated
fellowship with him (See: Rev. 2-3).
We can also learn that God is not pleased when his people,
or those who profess to be his, make a show of righteousness on the outside,
but inside are full of wickedness, or when their hearts have strayed from their
pure devotion to him to where they have, once again, adopted the ways of this
sinful world, and thus are not bearing fruit for God’s eternal kingdom (See:
Rev. 2-3, for example). He is a loving, forgiving and merciful God, but that
does not mean he is soft on sin. He is a loving Father who will discipline his
wayward children in order to get them back on the straight path (See: Heb.
12:3-11). A large majority of the church here in America has strayed from her
pure devotion to Jesus Christ and is following after the ways of humans,
instead. She has become worldly and there is not much distinction between the
church and the world anymore. She has turned the church into a marketplace and
is selling a diluted gospel in order to appeal to the flesh of humans. I
believe God is going to judge her, and that she will suffer loss in this world,
but that those who are truly the Lord’s will be revived, and that many will
come to faith in Jesus Christ.
If You Have Faith
(vv. 20-22)
Seeing
this, the disciples were amazed and 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 do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but
even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will
happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
In context, I believe Jesus’ words here entail much more
than just a lesson on faith and believing God for the impossible, or for the
seemingly impossible, i.e. on believing God for miracles. If we look at what
Jesus did, and what the real life application was to his words and actions, we
realize that what Jesus did was first of all to closely examine his people, his
nation, and to see that, although they had the appearance of being righteous
and of bearing fruit for God’s eternal kingdom, it was all show. There was no
genuine fruit present. So, following this close examination, he declared
judgment on his nation, his people. They would suffer loss. They would no
longer be his nation, his people, due to unbelief, but his kingdom would be
given to those who would believe and who would bear his fruit. Yet, there was
still hope if only they would believe in Jesus to be Lord and Savior of their
lives.
Then is the part about the mountain. A mountain is often a reference
to an obstacle or to a seemingly impossible situation in our lives. In the
Bible, it was often indicative of a place of worship, as well, and sometimes it
was an allusion to idolatry and the worship of foreign gods. When I did the
research on this several years ago, I learned that “this mountain” could have
been a reference to the Mount of Olives or to Mount Zion, which is a reference
to Zion, which is another name for God’s people, then the nation of Israel, and
now the church. Mount Zion was easily viewable from the Mount of Olives.
But, then I had to look at the context of the passage once
again. Jesus had just cleansed the temple of its “robbers” (merchants) and its
business dealings which were crooked, and which took the place of (or superseded)
prayer in the temple. Then, he judged the fig tree, which was symbolic of his
judgment on the nation of Israel for their unbelief. So far, the passage has
been about Jesus judging the nation of Israel, his people of that time, for how
they treated God’s holy temple, and for their religious hypocrisy. After this,
his authority was questioned by the religious leaders of the temple. Then, he
told some more parables.
The first one had to do with mouthing words of loyalty to
God, but following the profession with disobedience, in contrast to those who
had not yet made such a commitment, but then later changed their minds and who
did obey, i.e. a reference to the Gentiles’ belief in Jesus. The next parable
had to do with how the nation of Israel treated the prophets of old and with
how they were going to treat Jesus, i.e. that they would put him to death, and
thus the kingdom of God would be taken away from them because they rejected
their Lord and Messiah and killed the giver of life on a cross. Then, in
chapter 22, there was one about the wedding banquet, and again it was an
indictment against the nation of Israel, God’s kingdom people at that time, and
was a declaration of judgment against them and of eternal punishment in hell
for all those who did not put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
So, Jesus’ words to his disciples about the mountain and
about faith, when they asked him how the fig tree withered so quickly, were in
the context of all of these declarations of judgment against God’s people, now
the church, and for all the reasons mentioned. Also, grammatically speaking,
some translations suggest that the command to the mountain was for it to throw
itself into the sea, so with that comes even another possibility.
Yet, either way, the message is still one of examination of the
church, and of proclamation of judgment, and this is what the disciples were to
do (emulate) by faith, i.e. they were to, by faith, also closely examine the
church, i.e. those who called themselves followers of Christ, they were to
declare God’s judgments on the unbelieving, the hypocritical, and those who
gave lip service absent of obedience, as well as they were to tell Zion, the
church, to judge itself and to die to self (throw itself into the sea), i.e. to
turn from their sinful ways, their idolatry and their spiritual adultery
(repent), and to follow Jesus Christ with their lives in obedience. And, this is
what they did in obedience to their Lord, by faith, and it is what we are to
do, too.
I am speaking here, though, of God’s righteous judgments,
according to his word, not according to the will of man or personal prejudices.
This is not a license to get nitpicky about stuff we don’t like, but is a call
to examine our own hearts first, and then to judge the church rightly for its
adulterous ways, to call her to repentance, and to give her the hope of renewed
faith and restored fellowship with God when she repents of her sin and turns to
walk in the Spirit by faith in putting to death the deeds of the flesh. The
church of today, especially here in America, needs to be called to repentance
and to renewed faith in Jesus Christ, for the majority have fallen prey to
deception and to wolves in sheep’s clothing, so they need to have their eyes
opened to the truth and to turn from their sinful ways. We, the church, need to
get our eyes off the things of this world and on to Jesus Christ.
Our Eyes on Jesus
/ An Original Work / April 23, 2012
Based off Hebrews
12:2-13
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.
Our faith starts and grows in Him,
Who for the joy set before Him
Endured all our sin.
Scorning the shame of the cross,
He sat down beside God above.
He was willing to die for us,
To save us, in love.
Think about the opposition
He endured from sinful men,
So when you go through life’s trials,
You stay strong within.
Knowing all He went through for us
Helps us not grow weak of heart;
Not grow weary; don’t give up;
And not from Him depart.
In your struggle against sin’s ways,
Resist not to shed your blood.
Have you forgotten the words
God spoke to us in love?
“My child, don’t ignore it when
The Lord corrects you; do faint not,
Because the Lord disciplines those
That He loves, of God.”
God rebukes us all for our good;
Share with Him in holiness.
It produces a harvest of
God’s own righteousness.
Therefore, strengthen all within you
That is weak and might give way.
Stand firm in the faith God gives you;
Trust Him and obey.
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