Bible League: Living His Word ... Jesus said to the tree, "You will never again produce fruit!" The tree immediately dried up and died.— Matthew 21:19 ERV As Jesus was leaving the town of Bethany, He saw a fig tree with leaves. The fact that the tree had leaves was a sign that it should have had fruit. However, when Jesus came to the tree, He found that it had no fruit. That's when He cursed the tree with the words of our verse for today: "You will never again produce fruit!" Although the fig tree looked good from a distance, closer inspection revealed that it was defective. Why did Jesus curse the fig tree? The tree was symbolic. It represented the religious system of the Jewish people. It also represented the religious leaders of the Jews, the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Pharisees were the legalistic conservatives of their day and the Sadducees were the biblically aberrant liberals. Just as the fig tree promised something it could not deliver, so the religious system and leaders of the Jewish people promised something and could not deliver. They promised salvation, they promised life, but all they could deliver was spiritual death. On another occasion, Jesus used a similar analogy to describe the religious leaders. "It will be bad for you teachers of the law and you Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You are like tombs that are painted white. Outside they look fine, but inside they are full of dead people's bones and all kinds of filth. It is the same with you. People look at you and think you are godly. But on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and evil." (Matthew 23:27-28) Like the fig tree, like painted tombs, the religious leaders of the day were all show and no go. Jesus cursed the fig tree because it represented the old religious system and the hypocrisy of the religious leaders. Their rule was passing away at of the coming of the kingdom of God, but they held on to it anyway. They resisted Jesus and the kingdom at every turn, and ultimately, they conspired to kill Him. The kingdom of God is still growing in our own day. It is still breaking through old religious systems and hypocritical leaders. God will change His people inside and out. Let us remember and proclaim that Jesus is the only way, the truth, and the life. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingJoshua 19, 20 Joshua 19 -- Allotments for Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, Dan, Joshua NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Joshua 20 -- Six Cities of Refuge Designated NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Luke 5:17-39 Luke 5 -- Jesus Calls First Disciples, Heals the Leper and Paralytic, Calls Matthew, Questioned about Fasting NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion It is useless for you to work so hardfrom early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones. Insight God is not against human effort. Hard work honors God. But working to the exclusion of rest or to the neglect of family may be a cover-up for an inability to trust God to provide for our needs. We all need adequate rest and times of spiritual refreshment. On the other hand, this verse is not an excuse to be lazy. Challenge Be careful to maintain a balance: work while trusting God, and also rest while trusting him. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Matthew 15:27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.This woman gained comfort in her misery by thinking great thoughts of Christ . The Master had talked about the children's bread: "Now," argued she, "since thou art the Master of the table of grace, I know that thou art a generous housekeeper, and there is sure to be abundance of bread on thy table; there will be such an abundance for the children that there will be crumbs to throw on the floor for the dogs, and the children will fare none the worse because the dogs are fed." She thought him one who kept so good a table that all that she needed would only be a crumb in comparison; yet remember, what she wanted was to have the devil cast out of her daughter. It was a very great thing to her, but she had such a high esteem of Christ, that she said, "It is nothing to him, it is but a crumb for Christ to give." This is the royal road to comfort. Great thoughts of your sin alone will drive you to despair; but great thoughts of Christ will pilot you into the haven of peace. "My sins are many, but oh! it is nothing to Jesus to take them all away. The weight of my guilt presses me down as a giant's foot would crush a worm, but it is no more than a grain of dust to him, because he has already borne its curse in his own body on the tree. It will be but a small thing for him to give me full remission, although it will be an infinite blessing for me to receive it." The woman opens her soul's mouth very wide, expecting great things of Jesus, and he fills it with his love. Dear reader, do the same. She confessed what Christ laid at her door, but she laid fast hold upon him, and drew arguments even out of his hard words; she believed great things of him, and she thus overcame him. She won the victory by believing in Him . Her case is an instance of prevailing faith; and if we would conquer like her, we must imitate her tactics. Daily Light on the Daily Path 1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.Numbers 23:19 "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Hebrews 7:21 (for they indeed became priests without an oath, but He with an oath through the One who said to Him, "THE LORD HAS SWORN AND WILL NOT CHANGE HIS MIND, 'YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER '"); Hebrews 6:17,18 In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, • so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. 1 Peter 4:19 Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right. 2 Timothy 1:12 For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. 1 Thessalonians 5:24 Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. 2 Corinthians 1:20 For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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