THE FIG TREE PARABLE

First, a couple of photos so you'll grasp the size of what is being described:

FIG TREE ROOTS

Some fig trees are as much as 300 feet tall, and 200 feet wide.  It must have traumatized the disciples of Yahusha when they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots:

Mar 11:13, 14:   And seeing at a distance a fig tree having leaves, He went to see whether He would find any fruit on it.  And when He came to it, He found none but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.  And Yahusha,  responding, said to it, 

'Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.   And His taught ones heard it.

Mar 11:20, 21:  And in the morning, passing by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.  Then Kĕpha, remembering, said to Him, 

Rabbi, look!  The fig tree which You cursed has withered. (The Scriptures)

FRUIT IS OFFSPRING

   The cursing of the fig tree is a parable about the end-time harvest of Israel.

The fig tree is symbolic of all Israel (see YirmeYahu/Jer 24).  When it bears fruit, Israel increases.  If it does not bear fruit, it is simply using up the ground, and is therefore useless to Yahusha.  The seed (Torah, the Word of Yahuah) is in the fruit.  Israel is a nation of priests, established to teach Torah to the nations.  When this is not done, no fruit is produced.

   The 12 disciples of Yahusha are a miniature picture of the 12 tribes of Israel, His wife.  Yahusha attempts to teach Israel, His wife, obedience through His parables (examples), so understanding what the parables mean and who they are directed at allows for their proper interpretation. 

   What happened to the fig tree refers to what will happen to people of the Covenant who profess to be in the Covenant if they bear no fruit, meaning they fail to increase by bearing fruit - which contains seeds to make more.

The meaning of the parable is blocked from most people because they they've been taught there is no need to obey Torah, so teaching it to others seems pointless to them.  These remain lost because they are not in the Covenant.

They feel that LOVE is unconditional, that they are forgiven, and follow the guidance of leaders who are not in the Covenant.   According to men's teachings, love is unconditional to all; but according to Yahusha, and every example given in Scripture, APPROVAL is very conditional.  Our love is shown to Him through our obedience: 

Joh 14:15  If you love Me, you shall guard My commands.

   When we show our love for Yahuah through our obedience, we declare our faith through our works (Jas 2:18).  Disobedience is what is causing our problem and always has;  we will never receive the approval of Yahuah by disobeying His Torah.  Those in the Covenant need to work as laborers planting and watering for a greater harvest.  Increasing the number of those in the Covenant is what we invest our lives in:

Mat 28:19, 20:  Therefore, go and make taught ones of all the nations, immersing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Set-apart Spirit, teaching them to guard all that I have commanded you. And see, I am with you always, until the end of the age. Amein.

   In the above commission, Yahusha is speaking to Israelites, not members of any Christian sect.  MattithYahu chapter 21 and Mark 11 both discuss the withering of the fig tree and the impact it had upon Yahusha’s talmidim.  Luke chapters 13 and 21 expand on the relationship of the fig tree, the fruit, and the reign of Yahuah concerning the end times.

Yahusha cursed the fig tree to get their attention (Mark 11), then used it to teach them about the necessity of bearing fruit even when it may not seem so important at the time.  It’s always time for us to bear fruit;  by our example we may help another person enter the Covenant.

   Later in the memoir of Mark, we see Yahusha discusses the harvest in the end times, when the harvesters will go forth to appraise the inhabitants on the Earth, manifested by their fruits.

Yahusha says, Learn this parable from the fig tree:

Mar 13:27-37:  And then He shall send His messengers, and assemble His chosen ones from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven.

And learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that the summer is near.

So you also, when you see these taking place, know that it is near, at the door.

Truly, I say to you, this generation shall by no means pass away till all this takes place.

The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words shall by no means pass away.

But concerning that day and the hour no one knows, not even the messengers in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

Take heed, watch and pray, for you do not know when the time is –

as a man going abroad, having left his house and given authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch.

Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming – in the evening or at midnight, or at the crowing of the cock, or in the morning,

lest, coming suddenly, he should find you sleeping.

And what I say to you, I say to all:  Watch!

   For the fig tree Yahusha cursed, it was not the time for fruit to be seen.  This means at that time the people in the Covenant could not bear good fruit given the circumstances caused by their teachers and leaders.  Yahusha came in order that we bear fruit:

Joh 15:1-6   I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener.

Every branch in Me that bears no fruit He takes away. And every branch that bears fruit He prunes, so that it bears more fruit.

You are already clean because of the Word which I have spoken to you.

Stay in Me, and I stay in you. As the branch is unable to bear fruit of itself, unless it stays in the vine, so neither you, unless you stay in Me.

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who stays in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit. Because without Me you are able to do naught!

If anyone does not stay in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up. And they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.   Yahusha is the living Torah, and He wants us to remain (abide, live) in His teachings.

   Yahusha uses agricultural metaphors that relate to our obedience of Torah, contrasted with obeying false teachings. 

Who sows the seed makes all the difference.  The teachings of the Elders of Israel were mixed richly with men’s traditions.  Christianity, following the teachings of men and ignoring the Torah of Yahuah, is a great harvest of weeds after being fertilized to grow on lies for many centuries.  It promotes salvation through belief only, and programs (brain-washes) the adherents to accept teachings opposed to Torah.

The average person is controlled by strongholds (beliefs, false understanding) they have been taught, and we fight against those strongholds with weapons that overthrow them:  the teachings of Torah.  When we share the Truth with them, the strongholds (false reasonings) are shattered.  The Torah will reverse the brain-washing.  Yahusha brings His Covenant to us, writing it upon our hearts, and thereby we receive a love for the Truth.

The Covenant will change them, and Israel is thereby increased.  It changes "Gentiles" into "fellow citizens of Israel" (Eph. 2:8-13).

Our "weapons" are not carnal, but rather the Word of Yahuah, His Torah (teachings).  They overthrow the strongholds (teachings of error, false reasonings) of men's traditions.  We wrestle against spiritual matters of wickness, overcoming in the Name of Yahuah, the Maker of the Heavens and the Earth.

AN AWAKENING IS NEEDED  TO OVERCOME THE STRONGHOLDS

Goliath says:  I'm doing all sorts of Pagan stuff and can't stop!  Somebody explain things to me;  I need help to wake up!

David says:  Allow me to help do that for you!  Drop that pumpkin you Pagan Philistine!

Goliath was a VERY religious man, who cursed David by the names of his Pagan deities.  Like the ancient Greeks, the Philistines believed that FIRE was "sacred", being the presence of their deity.  The Olympic torch is an echo of this kind of belief, and it is used to light the fire of the ALTAR OF ZEUS where the games are held.  The Philistines (Latinized to "Palestinians") lit their hearths with a flame from their local Pagan temple, and carried the essence of their deity into battles using a torch.  This is the kind of idolatry Gentiles were told to refrain from at Acts 15.

Awaken to the strongholds, and become free of them.