The fig tree shows up very early in the Bible. It is from the leaves of this tree that Adam and Eve try to make clothing for themselves after the fall. Fig leaves represent self-righteousness in the Bible.
God has to take a lamb and kill it in front of Adam and Eve to create clothing for them to wear. This is the first picture that God shows to mankind that sin can only be covered or forgiven by blood.
When God decides to liken Israel to something tangible, one of the things He uses is the Fig tree.
Hosea 9:10- I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.
Why would God use something that pictures self-righteousness to represent Israel? Because they were a self-righteous and stubborn people!
John 9:41- Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.
All throughout history God has been making promises to the nation of Israel that a Messiah would come. There were promises made about this Messiah that the Jews took and ran with. They didn't understand that the Messiah was coming for two different reasons at two different times.
Isaiah 49:6- And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
The Jews were looking for a Messiah that would deliver them from their oppressors and that would make them the head of the Gentile nations. We know that by what they asked Jesus while He was on earth.
Acts 1:6- When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
But, Jesus wasn't come to conquer this first time; He was come to be sacrificed like that lamb so long ago in the Garden of Eden. He was to be the perfect Lamb of God which would take away the sin of the world through His blood.
But, that wasn't what the Jews wanted. They didn't seem to even see their sin and so the need for a Savior didn't concern them.
What they saw were the cruelty of the Roman, and before that the Greek, and the Persians, and the Babylonians, and the Chaldeans, and the Assyrians, and the Egyptians. The history of the Jews is filled with cruelty from a foreign dictator reigning over them, and all they cared about was their freedom from domination.
I always wondered how the religious leaders could get the people to shout for Barabbas release, instead of Jesus.
Matthew 27:17- Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?
John 18:40- Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.
Mark 15:7, 11- And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection. But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.
Barabbas was a thief and a murderer, but he was also an insurrectionist. Someone who stood up against and tried to overthrow the Roman government. The exact thing that they were looking for in a Messiah.
This makes me wonder if the religious leaders had accepted Christ as the Messiah through the preaching of the Apostles whether Barabbas would have been the Antichrist. He certainly would have fit the bill!
The people listened to their self righteous religious leaders and crucified the Lord God Almighty and then after He had risen they rejected Him again as their Messiah.
Jeremiah 7:28- But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
Because the Jews rejected Christ it opened the door for Salvation to the Gentile nations. All who would accept Christ and His sacrifice on Calvary can be saved from their sin and will get to spend eternity in Heaven.
Galatians 3:14- That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
But there is coming a day when the time of the Gentiles will end and God will once again deal with the nation of Israel. And that fig tree will have a chance to accept their Messiah once more.
Luke 13:6-9- He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.
God is going to dig about Jerusalem and send a 7 year Tribulation and at the end Israel will know who their Messiah is!
The fig tree will then have their holy Insurrectionist that they were hoping for so long ago!
