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THE CURSING OF THE BARREN FIG TREE
LORD’S DAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 29
Mark 11:12-14, 20-26; Matthew 21:18-22

Hebrews 11:1-6

 

Miracles are God’s doings.

 

THE CURSING OF THE BARREN FIG TREE
 
This whole transaction was an emblem of spiritual things. The withered fig tree spoke to the Jewish church. Rich in the leaves of formal religion, but barren of all fruits of the Spirit, that church was in fearful danger at the very time this withering took place. Well would it have been for the Jewish church if it had eyes to see its peril!
 
The withered fig tree speaks to all the branches of Christ’s visible church in every age and in every part of the world. There is a warning against an empty profession of Christianity unaccompanied by sound doctrine and holy living which some of those branches would have done well to lay to heart.
 
Above all, the withered fig tree speaks to all carnal, hypocritical, falsehearted Christians. Well would it be for all who have a name that lives, while in reality they are dead, if they would only see their own faces in the glass of this passage. Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, church membership and all the outward means of Christianity will not save our souls. They are leaves, nothing but leaves. Without fruit they add to our condemnation. Like the fig leaves of Adam and Eve, they will not hide the nakedness of our souls from the eye of an all-seeing God. We must bear fruit or be lost for ever.
 
The Lord teaches the immense importance of faith by His sayings (Mark 11:22-24). His promise (Mark 11:24) must of course be taken with a reasonable qualification: that the believer will ask things which are not sinful and which are in accordance with the will of God.
 
Confidence in God’s power and will to help every believer in Christ and in the truth of every word that God has spoken is the grand secret of success and prosperity in our religion. It is the very root of saving Christianity. Do we wish to grow in grace and make progress in religion? Let us pray daily for more faith.
 
THOUGHT: However beautiful things outward maybe, it is always the heart that matters most.

PRAYER: Father, may my heart be pleasing to Thee.

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