Introduction

“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.” (Matthew 24:32-34)

In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus tells his hearers to learn the fig tree parable. We will work our way up to this parable, and what Jesus’ use of the fig tree specifically means in that passage. It’s pretty straightforward. But first we should take a step back and cultivate our minds with a Biblical view to these things. Fig trees are everywhere in Scripture, and especially in the ministry of Jesus. In this episode, I want to focus on the appearance of fig trees in the Old Testament, then in the next episode move on to fig trees in the New Testament. What I believe we will discover is that the fig tree often represents Old Covenant Israel, God’s covenant people, and paired with the rest of the Olivet Discourse, Jesus’ ministry, and the prophetic language of the Old Testament, it indicates Jesus’ coming in judgment in the last days of the Old Covenant age, and the inauguration of the Kingdom of God on earth among the Gentiles in the first century.

Fig Trees in Paradise

From the beginning of history, after the fall, Adam and Eve took leaves from a fig tree and sewed them together as a garment for their nakedness. “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.” (Genesis 3:7) By the end of history, and after the Garden-City of God has come we see a tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, every month, and that the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22:2) In the fallen Paradise, the fig leaves are used as an inadequate cover up of sin, a kind of pathetic man-made salvation. In the restored Paradise, tree leaves are given to the world for healing, for life, for salvation. I believe this is about Christ’s healing of the nations through the Church *now,* but I won’t develop this further. The point is there are two trees, one in Genesis, a fig tree, whose leaves are used to cover up sin, and another tree in Revelation, likely a fig tree, whose leaves are used to heal the brokenness caused by sin.

Fig Trees in Land Inheritance

In the book of Numbers, the spies bring back figs, and grapes, from the land of Canaan. (Numbers 13:23) The Land being the inheritance, a figure of salvation for the people of God, and a first-fruits that anticipates the reception of the entire earth given to the meek as their inheritance in Christ. In Deuteronomy, fig trees are counted among the many blessings of obedience and land inheritance. (Deuteronomy 8:8)

Fig Trees as Israelite Rulers

In Judges 9, Jotham, which means Yah is perfect, the youngest of Gideon’s sons, teaches the men of Shechem a parable about trees, where the trees represented the men of Shechem, and various kinds of trees represented the 70 sons of Gideon. Whenever you see 70, it likely has an eye to the nations. 70 nations listed in the table of nations in Genesis 10. And we see elder rule in Israel sometimes numbered as 70. This, I think, anticipates God’s rule through His people over all the nations of the earth.

But in this parable, the trees are the people who are looking for men to rule over them in an ungodly kind of way, and the trees are godly rulers who wouldn’t rule over them in the kind of ungodly manner they wanted. The 70 sons of Gideon have the same posture of Gideon who said, I will not rule over, but God will. (Judges 8:23) I think it’s likely that they wanted a rulers like the other nations, which manifests shortly after as king like the other nations.

The 70 sons of Gideon are symbolized in the parable as olive, fig, and vine trees who, as I understand it, all emulate their father by insisting that God rule over them. And so the trees decide to kill the good trees and have the bramble reign over them, Abimelech, who was their brother and son of Gideon’s concubine. Abimelech is bramble. Bramble is a thorny, thistly type of tree. It doesn’t bear any kind of fruit or oil, like the 70 sons of Gideon did. Thistles and bramble are part of the curse in Genesis 3. So bramble represents a curse, whereas the olive, fig, and vine trees give oil, fruit, and wine are all things of blessing, all things associated with prophets, priests, and kings, and all things associated with the Spirit of God. They were trees bearing good fruit.

The point here is that fig trees bearing good fruit, in this parable, are good rulers, who say I will not rule over you, but the Lord will rule over you. The good fig trees don’t elevate themselves to the rule of God, like Abimelech did.

Figs as Good Fruit for the Coming King

In 1 Samuel 25, David sends messengers and servants to Nabal, which means fool. Nabal does not receive the messengers and servants of David, and refuses to share his feast-day food with them. But Nabal’s wife, Abigail, remarkably intercedes on Nabal’s behalf, even saying let his iniquity be on her. As David is coming in judgment on the fool, Nabal, she brings David and his servants a bountiful feast, to include fig cakes. (1 Samuel 25:18) Abigail, in contrast to Nabal, rightly recognizes who David is, the true ruler of Israel, and bows down before him, She says, “For the Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord, and evil is not found in you throughout your days.” And David relents from his judgment. This passage is rich with typology, but I won’t develop it here. Though, to the avid reader of Scripture, it should be quite obvious. For now, we see that king David, coming in judgment, is assuaged from judgment as he finds fruit of the fig tree, and the good fruit of Abigail, who bows to him as the rightful lord and king of Israel.

Figs for Gentiles

A few chapters later, David and his men turn around and give fig cakes, raisin clusters, and water to a Gentile man who hadn’t eaten or drank in three days and three nights. This Egyptian man is then saved by David from his master, and instrumental in the destruction of the rest of the Amalekites. So after three days and three nights, David and his men strengthen this Gentile with figs and saves him from his former master. (1 Samuel 30:11-12)

The King’s Growing Army Celebrates the Coming Coronation

David’s army and the rest of Israel have a giant party at Hebron, for three days, in preparation for making David king over Israel. Among the joy and feasting were figs, or fig cakes. (1 Chronicles 12)

Figs for God’s People

In the reign of Solomon we see figs associated with a blessed and prosperous people. Every man is able to eat from his own fig tree. “Judah and Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.” (1 Kings 4:25) We see similar statements in Micah, prophetically anticipating the blessing of Christ’s rule with language of every man under his own fig tree. (Micah 4:4) Similar language is used by Zechariah.

“I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.
In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts,
‘Everyone will invite his neighbor
Under his vine and under his fig tree.’ ” (Zechariah 3:9-10)

Figs for Healing

King Hezekiah is healed by going up to the house of the Lord on the third day, and by Isaiah laying figs on his boil. (2 Kings 20:5-7, Isaiah 38:21) This is similar to the tree of life in Revelation, which bears fruit and gives its leaves for the healing of the nations.

“Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the main street of the city. On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop for each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:1-2)

Ripe Fig Trees Signaling The Union of Bride and Bride-Groom

In the Song of Songs, Solomon comes together with his wife in the time of spring or summer, when the fig tree is putting forth green leaves, in a similar way Jesus uses the fig tree to indicate the time of summer in the Olivet Discourse. In both cases, the king is coming to unite with his bride.

“The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes
Leaping upon the mountains,
Skipping upon the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Behold, he stands behind our wall;
He is looking through the windows,
Gazing through the lattice.

My beloved spoke, and said to me:
“Rise up, my love, my fair one,
And come away.
For lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of singing has come,
And the voice of the turtledove
Is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth her green figs,
And the vines with the tender grapes
Give a good smell.
Rise up, my love, my fair one,
And come away!” (Song of Solomon 2:8-13)

Fig Tree Guardians and Their Masters

In Proverbs, there is a comparison of tending to a fig tree, eating its fruit, and waiting on one’s master. “Whoever keeps the fig tree will eat its fruit;
So he who waits on his master will be honored.” (Proverbs 27:18) Other translations say whoever protects, or guards, or cares for his master will be honored. This is the same word used in Genesis 2:15 of Adam. Adam was to guard the garden.

The Restoration of God’s People and Their Fig Trees

In the restoration of God’s people, Joel says, “The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.” (Joel 2:22)

Similarly, in the restoration of God’s people, Haggai contrasts previous barrenness, with coming fruitfulness. “Is the seed still in the barn? As yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yielded fruit. But from this day I will bless you.’ ” (Haggai 2:19)

Fig Trees in the Judgment of Gentiles

Fig trees are destroyed when God sends plagues on Egypt.

“He gave them hail for rain,
And flaming fire in their land.
He struck their vines also, and their fig trees,
And splintered the trees of their territory.” (Psalm 105:32-33)

In Isaiah we see the judgment of the nations associated with fruit falling from a fig tree, in conjunction with cosmic deconstruction.

“All the host of heaven shall be dissolved,
And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll;
All their host shall fall down
As the leaf falls from the vine,
And as fruit falling from a fig tree.” (Isaiah 34:4)

This is recapitulated in the sixth seal of Revelation. “I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.” (Revelation 6:12-13)

Similar language that Jesus uses in the Olivet Discourse, which he said would happen within that generation. Same language used in Revelation. The same shape of cosmic destruction followed by a fig tree.

Fig Trees in the Judgment of Israel

Jeremiah says that God is going to send a nation against Israel to destroy them and eat up their fig trees.

“Behold, I will bring a nation against you from afar,
O house of Israel,” says the Lord…And they shall eat up your harvest and your bread,
Which your sons and daughters should eat.
They shall eat up your flocks and your herds;
They shall eat up your vines and your fig trees;
They shall destroy your fortified cities,
In which you trust, with the sword.” (Jeremiah 5:15,17)

This anticipated the destruction of Israel by the Babylonians. When God’s people were unfaithful, they were consumed by the nations. When God’s people are faithful, they consume the nations. That’s what the Church is doing now. We consume the nations, which is why God’s people eat bacon now, but I won’t get into that here.

“Nevertheless in those days,” says the Lord, “I will not make a complete end of you. And it will be when you say, ‘Why does the Lord our God do all these things to us?’ then you shall answer them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve aliens in a land that is not yours.’(Jeremiah 5:18-19) While this is about the Jews in Babylonian captivity, it is also similar to the destruction that happens to the Jews by the Romans, who are ultimately expelled from the Land, sold into slavery in many cases, as Josephus records, and didn’t return in a significant way until 1948.

Jeremiah also puts the fig tree and cosmic imagery in conjunction with each other in the judgment of Israel and their destruction by the Babylonians.

“At that time,” says the Lord, “they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. They shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served and after which they have walked, which they have sought and which they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered nor buried; they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. Then death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them,” says the Lord of hosts.” (Jeremiah 8:1-3)

“I will surely consume them,” says the Lord.
“No grapes shall be on the vine,
Nor figs on the fig tree,
And the leaf shall fade;
And the things I have given them shall pass away from them.” (Jeremiah 8:13)

Speaking elsewhere of the judgment on Jerusalem, Jeremiah says,

“Her sun has gone down
While it was yet day;” (Jeremiah 15:9)

This gives a little more insight into cosmic deconstruction. That the Israelites worshiped these created things, and their judgment is put in terms of the things they worshiped being put out. Similar to the Jews who were also idolators. We have no king but Caesar, they said. So, the Jews and ultimately the Caesars were taken down, just as the sun and figs were taken down here.

Jeremiah 24 gives us one of the most explicit symbols of figs as Israel. The Lord shows Jeremiah two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord. One is filled with good figs, and the other is filled with bad figs. We are explicitly told that the good figs are the Jews who were taken into captivity by the Babylonians. After all, Jeremiah tells the Jews to submit Babylon, in opposition to all the other prophets of his day. “Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city be laid waste?” (Jeremiah 27:17) In other words, you deserve this. Take your punishment like men. God says he will keep those taken into captivity in his sight. He will look after them, and ultimately restore them. But the basket of bad figs are those who stayed back to fight against Nebuchadnezzar. They were the unfaithful conservative faction, the unfaithful traditionalists, who stayed behind to fight against Babylon. They were Bible Christians. They were conservative reformed evangelicals. They were traditionalist Roman Catholics. They were God’s people who believed they had a right to worship in the Lord’s Temple even though they were unfaithful, even though they were defended and practiced widespread adultery through unlawful remarriage. They were fighting against the judgments of God, much like our own time. Demonstrating how futile it is to resist the justice of God when you are unfaithful. God makes it explicit that these bad figs will be destroyed. And they were.

So, again, here figs are figurative of the people of God. Good fruit and bad fruit. (Jeremiah 24) And if we could look into Jeremiah’s vision a bit further, we see that God’s people are compared to sacrifices. They are baskets of figs set before the Temple of the Lord. Well, what happens at the Temple of the Lord? Sacrifices to God are made. These figs are acceptable sacrifices and unacceptable sacrifices. Paul says our bodies are to be presented to God as living sacrifices, holy, and acceptable. (Romans 12) This, he says, is our spiritual act of worship. Our λογικὴν λατρείαν, our rational service, our word worship. This theme will come up again in the next episode.

“The Lord showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were so bad. Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.” Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. Then I will give them a 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 to Me with their whole heart. ‘And as the bad figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad’—surely thus says the Lord—‘so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt. I will deliver them to trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them. And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’ ” (Jeremiah 24)

This is repeated again similarly later in Jeremiah 29. Of the same rebels in Judah, God says, “thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.” (Jeremiah 29:17)

So, again a figure of God’s people as figs. In Hosea, God’s initial encounter with Israel after the Exodus also describes God’s people as the fruit of a fig tree.

“I found Israel
Like grapes in the wilderness;
I saw your fathers
As the firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season.” (Hosea 9:10)

Hosea also says God will punish his unfaithful people by destroying their fig trees.

“And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees,
Of which she has said,
‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me.’
So I will make them a forest,
And the beasts of the field shall eat them. I will punish her.” (Hosea 2:12-13)

We see similar language in Joel, Amos, and Nahum. All relating to God’s people in judgment.

“He has laid waste My vine,
And ruined My fig tree;
He has stripped it bare and thrown it away;
Its branches are made white.” (Joel 1:7)

“Be ashamed, you farmers,
Wail, you vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field has perished.
The vine has dried up,
And the fig tree has withered;” (Joel 1:11-12)

“I blasted you with blight and mildew.
When your gardens increased,
Your vineyards,
Your fig trees,
And your olive trees,
The locust devoured them;
Yet you have not returned to Me,”
Says the Lord.” (Amos 4:9)

Shaken Fig Trees

Nahum is of particular interest because the fortifications of Ninevah are likened to ripe fig trees. If you shake them, the fruit falls off.

“All your strongholds are fig trees with ripened figs:
If they are shaken,
They fall into the mouth of the eater.
Surely, your people in your midst are women!
The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies;
Fire shall devour the bars of your gates.” (Nahum 3:12-13)

This is similar to the description of the sixth seal in Revelation, which I believe is about the destruction of Jerusalem, the end of the Old Covenant era, and the inauguration of the New Covenant era. This cataclysmic 1st century event that shook the earth and the heavens.

“I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.” (Revelation 6:12-13)

Cosmic deconstruction. Same language Jesus uses in the Olivet Discourse, which we are told is about the Temple and Jerusalem, and which Jesus said would take place within the generation of his hearers. And which is also paired with language about a fig tree, like the Olivet Discourse. Furthermore, we are told several times in Revelation that the thing contained therein would soon take place.

“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place.” (Revelation 1:1)

Jesus says, “Behold, I am coming quickly.” (Revelation 22:12) And, “Surely, I am coming quickly.” (Revelation 22:20) “

“Then he said to me, ‘These words are faithful and true.’ And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place. ‘Behold, I am coming quickly!'” (Revelation 22:6-7) Jesus says he is coming quickly three times in the last chapter. How many times does he have to say it? How many times are we going to ignore it and make it about thing in our future? Nah, these things are about the new heavens and the new earth that Jesus brought with him in His coming in judgment in the first century. Jesus shook the fig tree of Israel, and the fig trees of the nations. He shook earth and the heavens.

In all three Olivet Dicourse passages, Jesus says the powers of heaven would be shaken within that generation. (Matthew 24:29, Mark 13:25, Luke 21:26).

When Jesus spoke from earth, he shook the earth. But later he spoke from heaven, and was shaking the earth and the heavens. The writer of Hebrews tells his listeners to listen to Jesus’ cosmic shaking voice speaking from heaven.

“See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.’ Now this, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:25-29)

Paul alludes to the prophecy of Haggai here as a promise of Christ.

“For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts.” (Haggai 2:6-7)

Paul is taking a prophecy that seems to be about the second Temple, and applies it to the time of the first century, to the true Temple of the Lord, the Church. The shape of the story is the same. There is a destroyed Temple and a restored Temple filled with glory. That temple is Christ, is the body of Christ, the Church, the New Covenant body of believers.

Furthermore, just prior to Paul’s citation of Haggai, he spiritualizes Mount Zion as being the congregation of the church, in heaven and on earth, and he says, “You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God.” (Hebrews 12:22) You have come. Not you are waiting for it to arrive. The Mount Zion of the Old Covenant has become the Church of the New Covenant. The true and spiritual Mount Zion has arrived in the person and work of Jesus Christ, and his body, the Church, who are Mount Zion, who are the Temple of the Lord.

And so I think this is significant in our understanding of the prophecies in the Old Covenant regarding Mount Zion. Postmillennialists and Amillennialists are accused of allegorizing Old Covenant prophecy as if that’s automatically wrong, but when I read the New Testament, the Old Covenant prophecies are allegorized all over the place. And it isn’t mere abstract allegory. It’s transformation, death and resurrection, to a new and fulfilled Zion, priesthood, temple, etc. To the people of Christ, who have dirt under their fingernails and flesh on their bones. In this sense, it isn’t allegory. It is only rightly understanding the shadows and types of the Old Covenant era, which become incarnate in the New Covenant era.

If we read further in Haggai, we see a more explicit prophecy of this first century event.

“‘I will shake heaven and earth.
I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms;
I will destroy the strength of the Gentile kingdoms.
I will overthrow the chariots
And those who ride in them;
The horses and their riders shall come down,
Every one by the sword of his brother.” (Haggai 2:22)

The writer of Hebrews is applying this prophecy to the first century.

Conclusions

There’s a lot to consider here. And I don’t want to suggest weird, esoteric, interpretations of Scripture. I want to use the language of the prophets to interpret The Prophet. These prophetic metaphors and similes are sometimes weird and more symbolic than we would prefer. And so with some of these things, I am giving tentative suggestions, and with others I am more confident as to their meaning. And as a net total, I believe the clarity of the Scriptures when considered as a whole, and cultivated with a mind that has thoroughly assimilated the language of prophets, will land on a preterist interpretation somewhere in the Postmil/optimistic Amil camp. This survey will help us better understand what Jesus is up to when we get to the Gospels and He starts cursing these poor fig trees.

To summarize: The fig tree of Israel was shaken along with the Gentile powers in heaven and on earth in the first century with the vindication of Jesus Christ in his ascension to the throne of God, His coming in judgment on Jerusalem, and rapid expansion of the kingdom to all the nations on the earth at the time and afterward. He has overthrown, is overthrowing, and will overthrow every nation on earth. He will put all of His enemies under His feet and is in the midst of doing so. We are part of this war, this invasion of heaven on the earth. There is ample evidence in the Old Testament prophets of the fig tree being associated with God’s people and their blessing or cursing. If we continue on to Jesus’ ministry we see the comparison to Israel is made even more clear.