Jesus presented to his disciples the true condition of the Jews in this striking figure of the barren fig tree; and, as the tree withered beneath the Saviour's blighting curse, and stood forth sear and blasted, dried up by the roots, so should all pretentious hypocrites be brought low.
The Jewish nation were outwardly religious, priding themselves upon their sacred temple, the pomp of priests and the imposing ceremonies of the morning and evening services, gorgeous synagogues and sacrificial offerings. Here were abundant leaves, beautiful and bright, to cover the hollow hypocrisy, malice, and oppression at the heart of all this vain display. The Jews were privileged with the presence of Christ manifested in the flesh. This inestimable blessing which God bestowed upon them should have called forth their devout acknowledgments. But in blind prejudice they refused the mercies offered them by Jesus. His love was lavished upon them in vain, and they regarded not his wondrous works. Sorrow fled at his approach; infirmity and deformity were healed; injustice and oppression shrunk ashamed from his rebuke; while death and the grave humbled themselves in his presence and obeyed his commands. Yet the people of his choice rejected him and his mighty miracles with scorn. The majesty of Heaven came unto his own, and his own received him not.
The judgment pronounced upon the barren fig tree not only symbolizes the sentence passed upon the Jews, but is also applicable to the professed Christians of our time, who have become formal, selfish, boasting and hypocritical.
The irrevocable sentence passed upon the Jewish nation, and its consequent downfall and ruin was symbolized by the doom of the barren fig tree. It is not always easy to detect the sincere, genuine Christian from the counterfeit. But when brought to the test like the barren fig tree they are found diverse in character although the external appearance may deceive the eye. False and true devotion bear so close a resemblance to each other that it may be difficult for human wisdom to distinguish the difference between them. But the eye of the Infinite looks beneath the external and discerns the pretenders from the real, unmasks the hypocrite and discovers the difference between the cumberers of the ground and the fruit bearers. Fruit bearing Christians who are making the most of their God-given opportunities and privileges, will imitate the example of Christ in good works and unselfish deeds.
The mass of professors are symbolized by the apparently flourishing fig tree making pretensions to godliness but blessing no one by their precious fruits. The pen of inspiration pictures before us this class. "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away."
Just such a state of things exists in our day. There are many who make proud boasts of godliness, answering the description of the apostle, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof in their fruitless lives. Christ's search for fruit in them reveals nothing but leaves. Pride, display, vain glory, selfishness and oppression are concealed beneath the green foliage. Everything has been done for them that the Majesty of heaven in his wisdom can do, but like the Jews they pervert and abuse their sacred privileges, and are satisfied to be fruitless cumberers of the ground, no better than worldlings as far as good works are concerned. But the worldlings are in a more favorable condition before God because they make no pretension to true godliness. They are not hypocritical pretenders. They do not put on the outer foliage to screen and mask their utter absence of the sanctifying grace of God. It is sad to acknowledge that the daily lives of many who profess to be followers of Christ deny in their unsanctified words and actions the very religion they profess. The jewel of truth and integrity is not in them; therefore, they have not Christ formed in them the hope of glory. They have no connection with God. We are not required to exclude ourselves from the active duties of life and sever all connection or intercourse with the world in order to be Christians; for in thus doing we shall not follow the example of Christ. He was in the world and yet not of the world. He was a worker for the good of those in the world. He left the glory that he had with his Father and clothed his divinity with humanity, and humbled himself to meet the necessities of man to become personally acquainted with the temptations and frailties of man, that he might know how to succor those who should be tempted.
In the doom of the fig trees, Christ demonstrated how hateful in his eyes are hypocrisy and hollow pretense. Ever pitiful to the truly penitent, ever ready to receive them and to heal their maladies, he thus evidenced that the open sinner is in a more favorable condition before God than professing Christians who bear no fruit to his glory.
