Greetings Robert,
You ask an important question that is important to millions of Christians today. Is the fig tree a symbol of modern Judaism, and if so, then how does it fit with Jesus' Words in Mark 13:28-30 about the symbol of the leafing of the fig tree.
Before answering let us read the Scriptures bearing on this question once more.
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Chapter: Jer.24
1: The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
2: One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
3: Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
4: Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
5: Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.
6: For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
7: And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
8: And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this
land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:
9: And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
10: And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.
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Also notice:
Jeremiah 25
11. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years
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These verses are refering to the Babylonian Captivity which was to last seventy years, and then God was to turn the heart of the remanant of Judah, the good figs, back to God and then return them to the land of Judah. These were the Jews with the faith of Abraham--the true Jews. This was accomplised after 70 years as foretold in Jeremiah 25:11. This remanant of Jews with the faith of Abraham were to live in the promised land until they were redeemed by the promised Messiah, our Lord Jesus the Chirst.
Mixed with the good figs were the bad figs who were also returned to the land of Judah and lived side by side with the good figs until the coming of the Messiah--Jesus. The bad figs did not have the faith of Abraham and they were the ones who rejected Jesus.
Notice Jeremiah 24:2,
"And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
This is refering to the establishment of the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31: "Behold the days come saith the Lord, that I will make anew
covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah;
33.But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days siath the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
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After the seventy years were up, the captivity of Judah was ended and Judah was restored to the promised land. The details of this restoration are given in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
After 500 years of living in the promised land, God fuffilled His promise and established the New Covenant in Jesus' Blood.
The good figs were the Jews who accepted Jesus and established the Christian Church--the New Israel of God. The bad figs were the Jews lacking the faith of Abraham who rejected the Messiah Jesus and were were scattered and utterely destroyed.(Jer. 24:10)
All of these Scriptures have been fulfilled and we have been living in the New covenant age in Jesus' Blood for the last 2000 years. This new interpreatation of the Scritures--that Jeremiah has not been fulfilled and will be fulfilled in those who call themselves Jews today of a forgery of satan and his followers. Modern Judaism is the Synagogue of Satan--"those who say they are Jews but are not" Rev.2:9 and 3:9. It is the great deception of the masses at the end of the age. Satan is attempting to turn the hearts of the people of God--the Christian people--away from Jesus and His holy Body the Christian Church towards the "Synagogue of Satan".
These are words of truth and not the innovations of men. Let the children of God take note and not be deceived.
The fig tree has never a symbol of Israel or Judah established in Scriptures. The symbol was fabircated in the imagination of false teachers and false prophets and falsely repeated a million times, but still not Scriptural.
The good and the bad figs were simply used as a symbol in that instance in Jeremiah.
When Jesus refered to the leafing of the fig tree in Mark, He was simply using the symbol of the renewal of the season to illustrate His point and not establishing the Jews who rejected Jesus as a symbol for the Church two thousand years in the future. There is no where in the Scriptures where God indicated that the fig tree would be a symbol for Judah or Israel.
Mark 13: 28,29.
28. Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and puttety forth leaves, ye know that summer is near:
29. so ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh even at the doors.
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One further point;
If these fasle teachers that push the fig tree as a symbol of the Jews were sincere and consisitent, then they would also have to apply the symbol to Mark 11: 13,14 and show that Jesus utterly destroyed the Jews for not bringing forth the fruit. These false teachers apply their false symbols here and there as it suits their false doctrines.
13: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
14: And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it. |
