Posted on 08/27/2022 12:35:20 AM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured” (Proverbs 27:18).
“Whoso keepeth the fig tree,” now, this is a husbandman here, or a farmer. “Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof.” In other words, he keeps it fertilized, and keeps it cut back, and keep it properly he will eat the fruit thereof. “So, he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.”
“Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof.” Now, God's got a fig tree—it’s Israel.
“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh” (Matthew 24:32).
All you really have to know is that God's fig tree, that he wants fruit from, is Israel. Remember when He came to the fig tree and couldn't find any fruit thereon?
“He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down” (Luke 13:6-9).
Jesus said that if they didn't find any fruit on the tree, destroy it and the guy said, “Well, let me dung it.” And he came after three years; that’s plenty of time for a fig tree to bear fruit. If it isn’t bearing fruit in that time, probably you don’t have a very good tree. And this pictures Israel.
Jesus Christ tried everything He could try with Israel at His first coming, and they wouldn’t respond—so He tore it down. He sent Titus and his armies in there and they razed it to the ground. That was it. They tore the fig tree down, and it is just since 1948 that the fig tree has grown back. It is now putting forth it’s untimely figs now. You have the fig tree back there, but it is only bearing leaves.
What is the fig tree’s leaves connected with?
The self-righteous covering for sin. In Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve sinned, they covered their nakedness with fig leaves. They made aprons of fig leaves. You see, they used the leaf for a covering for their sin. So now, Israel is back in the land, and the tree is growing, but it is only producing leaves. There is no fruit on it yet. They still have that old self-righteous attitude.
Israel is likened to the fig in Jeremiah 24:2, “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.”
“Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof.” God is looking to get fruit from Israel. One day He will get praise, honor, and glory, and worship from them in the Millennium.
“. . . so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured,” when you are serving God, God will honor you. Notice, “waiting on,” is exactly what a servant does. In Acts 6:2, they were serving tables, waiting on the people. Paul wrote: “Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?” (I Corinthians 9:13).
Sometimes we want to thing about waiting as not doing anything, just biding our time waiting on something to happen, but to wait on tables is to work. Now, that gives a new interpretation to a familiar passage in Isaiah.
“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
Isn’t that interesting? Many Christians have always thought that that can only mean not to do anything until God does something. Doing something is the only way to get refreshed.
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