Hi Tapero,
Here is the meaning of the parable of the fig tree. Read these Scriptural passages closely, and the meaning will become apparent.
Luke 13:6 Then Jesus used this illustration: "A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard. He went to look for fruit on the tree but didn't find any.
13:7 He said to the gardener, 'For the last three years I've come to look for figs on this fig tree but haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up good soil?'
13:8 "The gardener replied, 'Sir, let it stand for one more year. I'll dig around it and fertilize it.
13:9 Maybe next year it'll have figs. But if not, then cut it down.'"
Here, the owner is the Father, the keeper is Christ, and tree is Israel. . Jesus' ministry has gone on for three years without any fruit and the Father is ready to set Israel aside, but the Son pleads for the nation, asking that it be cultivated another year and given another chance.
Jeremiah 24:1 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took Jehoiakin (son of King Jehoiakim of Judah), the princes of Judah, the skilled workers, and the builders from Jerusalem into captivity and brought them to Babylon. After this, the LORD showed me two baskets of figs set in front of the LORD'S temple.
24:2 One basket had very good figs, like figs that ripen first. The other basket had very bad figs. These figs were so bad that they couldn't be eaten.
24:3 Then the LORD asked me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I answered, "Figs. Figs that are very good. I also see figs that are very bad, so bad that they can't be eaten."
24:4 The LORD spoke his word to me,
24:5 "This is what the LORD God of Israel says: The captives of Judah, whom I sent away from here to Babylon, are like these good figs. I will look kindly on them.
24:6 I will watch over them for their own good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not uproot them.
24:7 I will give them the desire to know that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, because they will wholeheartedly come back to me.
24:8 "But this is what the LORD says about the bad figs that are so bad that they can't be eaten. The LORD says, 'Like these bad figs, I will abandon King Zedekiah of Judah, his princes, the remaining few in Jerusalem who stayed behind in this land, and those who are living in Egypt.
24:9 I will make them a horrifying sight to all the kingdoms of the earth. They will be a disgrace and an example. They will become something ridiculed and cursed wherever I scatter them.
24:10 I will send wars, famines, and plagues until they disappear from the land that I gave to them and their ancestors.'"
The prophet saw the people of Israel as two groups of figs, one good, the other bad. The Lord told him that the good figs, representing the godly portion of the nation, would someday be planted like a fig tree, never to be rooted up.
Mark 11:11 Jesus came into Jerusalem and went into the temple courtyard, where he looked around at everything. Since it was already late, he went out with the twelve apostles to Bethany.
11:12 The next day, when they left Bethany, Jesus became hungry.
11:13 In the distance he saw a fig tree with leaves. He went to see if he could find any figs on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves because it wasn't the season for figs.
11:14 Then he said to the tree, "No one will ever eat fruit from you again!" His disciples heard this.
11:15 When they came to Jerusalem, Jesus went into the temple courtyard and began to throw out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the moneychangers' tables and the chairs of those who sold pigeons.
11:16 He would not let anyone carry anything across the temple courtyard.
11:17 Then he taught them by saying, "Scripture says, 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations,' but you have turned it into a gathering place for thieves."
11:18 When the chief priests and scribes heard him, they looked for a way to kill him. They were afraid of him because he amazed all the crowds with his teaching.
11:19 (Every evening Jesus and his disciples would leave the city.)
11:20 While Jesus and his disciples were walking early in the morning, they saw that the fig tree had dried up.
11:21 Peter remembered what Jesus had said, so he said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered away."
Why did Jesus curse the fig treea mere tree whose only fault was that it had not yet borne fruit? The incident is obviously symbolic. The day before the cursing of the tree was Palm Sunday, the day of Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, when He presented Himself to the people and their leaders as the Messiah, in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9. The response of the nation was divided. Although some individuals accepted Him, the nation as a whole rejected Him. In particular, the elders of the people rejected and severely opposed Him (Matt. 21:15). Therefore, in His justice and holiness, God rejected the Israelite nation. Subsequently, less than forty years later, in A.D. 70, God judged it destroying their city and scattering them throughout the civilized world.
Now it should be perfectly clear why Jesus cursed the fig tree on the morning after His triumphal entry. The two incidents are linked together. The cursing of the tree was a picture of the judgment that would soon fall on Israel because Israel had rejected their Messiah.
Matthew 24:32 "Learn a parable of the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and it puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.
24:33 In the same way, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, even at the doors.
24:34 "Truly I say unto you: This generation will not pass until all these things are fulfilled.
24:35 The earth and the heavens will disappear, but my words will never disappear.
24:36 "No one knows when that day or hour will come. Even the angels in heaven and the Son don't know. Only the Father knows.
Here, He says four things.
1. An event will be signaled as imminent by the budding of the fig tree (v. 32-33).
2.A generation shall not pass before all these things are fulfilled (v. 34).
3.We can be sure that Jesus will return, as He promised (v. 35).
4.But no one can know exactly when Jesus will return (v. 36).
To make sense of these answers, we must understand that the disciples had, no doubt unwittingly, presented Christ with two distinct questions. The first question was, "When shall these things be?" The disciples meant, "When will the Temple be destroyed?" Their second question was, "What shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world?"
With reference to the first question, the expression "these things" (v. 34) refers to the destruction of the Temple, an event that the disciples also called "these things" (v. 3), and the fig tree is the actual fig tree that Jesus found and cursed on Monday of Passion Week. The disciples saw this tree putting forth leaves in A.D. 33, and the Temple was destroyed in A.D. 70, less than a generation later. Jesus' prediction that the Temple would be destroyed less than a generation after the disciples saw the budding of the fig tree was therefore fulfilled.
So, we see in the parable of the fig tree in Matthew 24 that the fig tree is putting forth leaves.
Now it should also be perfectly clear what the parable of the fig tree in the Olivet Discourse means. As the disciples were walking into the city on Tuesday morning after Palm Sunday, they noticed that the tree which Jesus had cursed the day before had withered and dried up. Later, on Tuesday evening, when the memory of the withered fig tree was still fresh in their minds, Jesus spoke the parable in question. He said that when the church sees the fig tree leafing out again, it will know that "it is . . . at the doors." The Greek for "it is" can also be translated "he is." In prophecy, "door" is often a symbol for the passageway between heaven and earth (Rev. 4:1).
What the parable means, therefore, is that when the nation of Israel revives after its coming disintegration and death in A.D. 70, the return of Christ will be imminent.
By the way, this happened on May 14th, 1948, when Israel was established again.
