Season 4 Podcast 175 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 21:18-46, Pt 3, “The Withering Fig Tree."Final Straw.”

Season 4 Podcast 175 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 21:18-46, Pt 3, “The Withering Fig Tree.”Other than the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, two other trees stand out in the Holy Scriptures: The Olive Tree and the Fig Tree. They have also become Christian symbols. What is the significance of Christ withering the fig tree because it was barren?Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!First of all Christ, who created the fig tree when he created the earth and all things in it, shows that he has power over the elements of the earth. We must not forget, however, that Christ created the earth through laws that he organized. He never violates laws, temporal or spiritual. He cannot violate laws, or he would cease to be God. He would be fighting against himself. How he withered the fig tree is a mystery; therefore, we assign it to one of the miracles of Jesus. A miracle is nothing more than a law unexplained. In this case it is the miracle of faith. He taught his disciples.21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.It adds a dimension to the law of creation that we cannot fully understand in this life. The very voice of God is power. When God said, ‘Let there be light” there was light. When God said to the wind and the waves, ‘Peace be still’ the storm calmed. The power of faith is one of the great mysteries of the Bible. There are other miracles in which Christ appeared to govern the laws of nature: The feeding of the five thousand, turning the water to wine, restoring sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, the healing of the sick and so on.  We know he performed those miracles through faith, but we don’t know how he did it or what laws he used. But we do learn from the withered fig tree that faith in Christ is the greatest power on earth. Moses learned that when through faith he parted the Red Sea. Joshua learned it when he made it appear that the sun stood still, and so on. Christ further taught,22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.If Christ wanted us to have that kind of faith here, it follows that he wants us to have that same faith hereafter. He is doing nothing less than giving man the power of creation. None of the apostles wrote more on the subject of faith than did Paul.Hebrews 11: 1-3“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”The price of faith is to have the courage to act in the face of uncertainty until hope arrives and as Christ turned water to wine, hope turns uncertainty to certainty. But we learn other doctrines from the withered fig tree. The story, though true, has the elements of a parable. The leaves made the tree appear to have fruit when it was barren. It is a story of hypocrisy.