Doomed People
495
Christ’s act in cursing the fig tree had astonished the disciples. It
seemed to them unlike His ways and works. Often they had heard Him
declare that He came not to condemn the world, but that the world
through Him might be saved. They remembered His words, “The Son
of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”
Luke
9:56
. His wonderful works had been done to restore, never to destroy.
The disciples had known Him only as the Restorer, the Healer. This
act stood alone. What was its purpose? they questioned.
God “delighteth in mercy.” “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have
no pleasure in the death of the wicked.”
Micah 7:18
;
Ezekiel 33:11
.
To Him the work of destruction and the denunciation of judgment is a
“strange work.”
Isaiah 28:21
. But it is in mercy and love that He lifts
the veil from the future, and reveals to men the results of a course of
sin.
The cursing of the fig tree was an acted parable. That barren
tree, flaunting its pretentious foliage in the very face of Christ, was a
symbol of the Jewish nation. The Saviour desired to make plain to His
disciples the cause and the certainty of Israel’s doom. For this purpose
He invested the tree with moral qualities, and made it the expositor
of divine truth. The Jews stood forth distinct from all other nations,
professing allegiance to God. They had been specially favored by Him,
[583]
and they laid claim to righteousness above every other people. But they
were corrupted by the love of the world and the greed of gain. They
boasted of their knowledge, but they were ignorant of the requirements
of God, and were full of hypocrisy. Like the barren tree, they spread
their pretentious branches aloft, luxuriant in appearance, and beautiful
to the eye, but they yielded “nothing but leaves.” The Jewish religion,
with its magnificent temple, its sacred altars, its mitered priests and
impressive ceremonies, was indeed fair in outward appearance, but
humility, love, and benevolence were lacking.
All the trees in the fig orchard were destitute of fruit; but the
leafless trees raised no expectation, and caused no disappointment. By
these trees the Gentiles were represented. They were as destitute as
were the Jews of godliness; but they had not professed to serve God.
They made no boastful pretensions to goodness. They were blind to
the works and ways of God. With them the time of figs was not yet.
They were still waiting for a day which would bring them light and
hope. The Jews, who had received greater blessings from God, were