Judgment on the Fig Tree, Matthew 21:18-22
This is a passage that we might think is pretty simple and straightforward. We ought to know by now that that is not always the case, especially in the Gospel of Matthew. As we have seen in our study in the past, Matthew is not writing like a modern 20th century biographer would write. None of the Gospel writers do. They are not writing biographies in the modern sense, they are writing gospel tracts, they are writing an overview of the life of Jesus to demonstrate certain key points.
Each one has a different emphasis. Matthew's emphasis is that Jesus is the promised and prophesied Messiah from the Old Testament. He is writing to a Jewish audience, an audience that is made up of Jewish Christians. He is not writing to tell them how to become saved or how to trust in Christ as savior (which is the focal point of the Gospel of John), he is writing to this group of Jewish background believers in the context of the rising opposition and persecution that they are experiencing, both within the land of Israel and those outside of the land of Israel, and responding to a question that would be asked then as it is sometimes asked now: If Jesus is really the Messiah, why didn't the kingdom come in? Why aren't we experiencing the fulfilment of all of the prophecies and promises of the Old Testament?
There are probably 3-400 prophecies and specific promises related to what the Messiah would do. Some of them are related to a suffering Messiah; others are related to a glorious ruling Messiah. Jesus came to fulfil the suffering promises first because redemption had to be accomplished before there could be a kingdom. There had to be a payment for sin before man and the earth could be redeemed and experience all that God originally intended for Adam in the creation.
Man was originally created to rule over God's creation as His vice-gerent (representative of the King). Man is created as the representative image of God to rule over His creation. This is his role. That role was harmed (but not destroyed) by the fall of Adam.
A lot of what Matthew says is implied. He sometimes gives us A, E, J and M and we have to come through and connect the dots. If you are coming to Matthew from a background of being a Gentile, then you don't understand the implications of what he is saying in terms of the Old Testament. This is one of those abbreviated passages where there is a lot more going on than meets the eye.
The first thing to remember in terms of the passage is that the first episode that occurs in Matthew 21:1-10, Jesus enters into Jerusalem on the unbroken colt of a donkey. This is in fulfilment of the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, that the King is coming to them sitting on a donkey. The point here is important. It is that the King is coming. He is making a very specific intentional statement that He is the promised King, the promised Son of David. As a result of this the people respond to Him and they cry out in praise to Him from Psalm 118:25 NASB “O LORD, do save, we beseech You; O LORD, we beseech You, do send prosperity! [26] Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD; We have blessed you from the house of the LORD [the temple].”
How are we to understand this judgment on the fig tree? This is really important. And if we don't understand the context, we won't understand it.
The language, “the house of the Lord”, in Psalm 118 is important because when Jesus cleanses the temple He quotes from Isaiah and says, “My house shall be called a house of prayer”. We have to connect the dots. Remember that if you were writing to a Jewish audience at that time the audience knew the Old Testament. So if you were quoting the first verse of a psalm what comes to their mind isn't just this isolated verse that is taken out of context. Jesus and Matthew are not proof texting, which is what often happens today. They understand that by making this statement referring to a verse the whole context is going to come into the minds of their hearers because they know what the Old Testament says—unlike our audiences which look at you with a blank stare and say, That's from what psalm, is that in the Old Testament, how do I find it?
When they say, Hosannah in the highest”, the term “the highest” is not a geographical or spacial term relating to heaven. The word here is one that defines God. It is often used in the Scripture to refer to God. In the Old Testament this Greek word translates the Hebrew for “the Lord most high”. It is an exaltation, a praise. It goes back to Genesis 14 and Melchizedek who worshipped “the God most high”. So this is an ancient name for God, not talking about where He is but who He is.
Luke uses this the most of the Gospel writers. Gabriel announces
to Mary that the son she will have will be called “the son of the highest”—the
God most high. In Luke 1:35 the angel says, “The Holy
Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.” It is not
where He is; it is who He is. He is over everything: it emphasizes His
sovereign rule of history, just as Psalm 47 does. He is the great King over all
the earth.
Luke 1:76 NASB “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.” This is referring to John the Baptist, the prophet of the Highest”.
Luke 2:14, the announcement of the angels: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” Talking about who He is, not where He is.
In Matthew 21 it is Hosannah, and then EN plus the dative in the Greek, which almost always in my opinion emphasizes means, not location: “Save us by means of the highest, the most high God”. It is a request. Jesus will be the one who saves and it will be done according to the plan of God the Father.
Notice: “Hosanna to the Son of David”. This is a messianic title emphasizing His human descent from David the son of Jesse. In fulfilment of the Davidic covenant He will rule on the throne of David from Jerusalem.
What we see in the first eleven verses of Matthew chapter 21 is the clear identification of Jesus with the most high God, that He is the Messiah, and that He is more than just a man. When He rides in on the foal of a donkey He is demonstrating that He is the creator and has authority over all of the animals. The donkey will respond to Him immediately and He will be able to ride that animal.
The response from the crowd and the whole city is that they are shaken. This is an earthquake of spiritual proportions.
Jesus cleanses the temple and when the scribes and the Pharisees challenge Him, He says to them: “My house shall be called a house of prayer”. What happens at His entry is a clear statement of His deity and that He is the Messiah. Matthew 21:13 is a quotation from Isaiah 56:7: “It is written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’” This is Yahweh speaking. In Jesus' quote He is applying that to Himself. He cleanses the temple because it is “My house”. He is quoting it as applying to Him, not you Yahweh; it is a clear statement that He is God. He is not just making a quotation here. He has the authority to cleanse the temple because it is His house.
So what we see here at the beginning is the emphasis on the deity of Jesus as the Messiah. It is not an overt statement, as in John 10:30 where He says, “I and the Father are one”. It is not an overt explicit statement, it is an implicit statement that comes out of the understanding of all of these different passages and what is going on in the text itself.
Another thing that comes to mind here when it talks about Him coming to my house, is the prophecy in Malachi 3:1. It talks about two individuals who are coming to Jerusalem. The first: “Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me.” That is John the Baptist. So the first person mentioned here is John the Baptist who prepares the way for the Messiah. This is where we need to be careful and observe what is going on in Matthew. There is an allusion here by the phrase “My house” back to Malachi 3:1, because the second person mentioned there is the Lord. “And the Lord, whom you seek...” This is identifying the Lord with the Messiah. So again, this is a subtle allusion to the fact that the Messiah is divine.
“... will suddenly come to His temple [My house]; and the messenger of the covenant [the Messiah] – the Messiah is going to come to His temple. That, again, implies that He must be God. “... in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the LORD of hosts.” This is a clear claim that the Messiah is going to be God.
We see this in other passages in the Old Testament: Isaiah 7:14 NASB “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel [God with us].”
Micah 5:2 NASB “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, {Too} little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.” He is eternal.
Isaiah 9:6 gives various titles to the child who is born. He is not only born but He is also a Son who is given. The term “Son” refers to His coming from God—eternal Son. NASB “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” The Hebrew construction indicates that this should be translated “Father of Eternity”. That means He is eternal.
The second thing that happens in terms of His quote here is that He is man. This, again, is a rather obscure understanding that comes from our understanding of Psalm eight, which focuses not only on the fact that he is God but also that He is man.
In Matthew chapter twenty-one the second event was the cleansing of the temple. He overturns the tables of the moneychangers who were charging a usurious interest rate in exchanging foreign money for shekels. They were making huge amounts of money, taking advantage of those who were coming to worship God. They were using the worship of God to line their pockets and to make themselves wealthy, and overcharging, taking advantage of the poor. Then Jesus said: “It is written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’; but you are making it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”
Matthew 21:15, 16 NASB “But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant and said to Him, 'Do You hear what these {children} are saying?' And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘OUT OF THE MOUTH OF INFANTS AND NURSING BABIES YOU HAVE PREPARED PRAISE FOR YOURSELF’?”
Jesus quotes from Psalm 8:2 here. The psalm itself is speaking of how God, the creator, silences His enemies by means of strength or praise. It is translated “praise” in some versions because the praise is for the power or the strength of God. Jesus is applying this explicitly to Himself. They are applying what is said of God the creator in Psalm 8:2 to Jesus, and Jesus is accepting that. That is an implicit identification of Himself with God.
All through here we see Jesus accepting the praise that belongs to God and accepting the application of passages and concepts from the Old Testament to Himself. If we stop there in Psalm 8:2 we miss the backdrop which is going to inform this next episode.
Matthew 21:18 NASB “Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry.” What is being emphasized here? His humanity. We shifted from the emphasis on His deity previously to now an emphasis on His humanity. And Jesus does something really strange here. He says He is hungry and then He goes to a fig tree.
Matthew 21:19 NASB “Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, 'No longer shall there ever be {any} fruit from you.' And at once the fig tree withered.”
This is the only time that Jesus performs a miracle that is a judgment in the Gospels, and it is a judgment that is on this inanimate object. Why does He do this? Mark tells us that it is not the time for figs, not the time of the year. This is early, around the beginning of April, and at that time there is no fruit on the trees. He is not doing this because He is upset that there is not any food there.
Clue number one to understand this passage is His hunger. We are shifting to His humanity.
Clue number two is going to come from understanding this judgment on the fig tree.
One of the things that we learn in the Old Testament is that the fig tree is often an example of Israel. It is a picture of Israel, and Israel is to be fruitful. There are passages such as Micah chapter seven and Jeremiah chapter seventeen where the fig tree is used as an example of Israel and the absence of fruit is a picture of her rebelliousness against God and her lack of fruitfulness.
The lack of fruitfulness isn't a lack of good works; it is a lack of fulfilling her role as God's chosen people. What this pictures in Matthew 21 is that Israel as the fig tree has rejected the Messiah, and so is rejecting her role to welcome the King and bring in the kingdom. And because this generation lacks that production it is going to be judged. This was announced in Matthew chapter twelve and it is restated here.
Some have used this as a foundation for replacement theology and say that Israel has been totally set aside. But this is just picturing a judgment on this generation. We will see many other passages, such as Romans chapter eleven that clearly picture a future for Israel. For the remnant, regenerate Israel, God has not permanently set aside them aside.
Matthew 21:20 NASB “Seeing {this,} the disciples were amazed and asked, 'How did the fig tree wither {all} at once?'” They had been walking this way the previous day. If they weren't with Jesus when He pronounced judgment on the fig tree they were there shortly thereafter. They understand that this happened very quickly.
Jesus answers them in the next verse. Above is my explanation of the fig tree and it seems to fit. But then Jesus gives this statement: Matthew 21:21 NASB “And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. [22] And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive'.” Are you confused yet?
How does this fit? What is the connection here? Matthew is assuming that his readers can connect dots, and you don't even know where the dots are. So let me help you connect some of these dots. Remember that the context for all of this has to do with the promise of the kingdom and the rejection of the offer of the kingdom by the rejection of the religious leaders. That results in judgment upon them because they have rejected the kingdom and so the kingdom is going to be postponed.
What is going to happen in the kingdom? Man is going to fulfil his God-given destiny which was lost by Adam at the fall. How do we know that?
What we see here is a backdrop that would have been brought to a Jewish mind by the quote from Psalm 8:2. They would have thought of the whole of Psalm 8. Where does Psalm 8 go after Psalm 8:2, where the children are praising God because He has destroyed His enemies. The result is, man fulfils his destiny because God destroys His enemies.
Psalm 8:4 NASB “What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?” Why is the human race important?
Psalm 8:5 NASB “Yet You have made him a little lower than God ...” Mankind is created at a lower level than the angels. “... And You crown him with glory and majesty!” Picturing a future time when even though the original creation of man was below that of the angels, he is going to be above the angels. This is emphasized also in Hebrews chapter one.
Psalm 8:6 NASB “You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.” That is Genesis 1:26, 27, but that gets lost in Genesis chapter three. How is that fulfilled? Who is the man who fulfils what Adam lost? It is Jesus. How do we know that?
Matthew knew that, Jesus knew that, where do we get it? We get it from Hebrews chapter two. Hebrews 2:5 NASB “For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking.” What is he talking about? The world to come. What is the world to come? It is the kingdom.
Hebrews 2:6 NASB “But one has testified somewhere [Referring to David in Ps. 8], saying, 'WHAT IS MAN, THAT YOU REMEMBER HIM? OR THE SON OF MAN, THAT YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT HIM?' [7] YOU HAVE MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS; YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR, AND HAVE APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;
[8] YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET'.” Then he says, “For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him”.
The kingdom is not here. We haven't seen all things put under Him, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Hebrew 2:9 NASB “But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, {namely,} Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.”
The argument in Hebrews is that He is going to come back, and as the King He fulfils and puts everything under His subjection; and He fulfils as the Son of Man the original mission of man from Genesis chapter one. This is the backdrop for all of this. Matthew has left out the intermediate steps because he assumes that the Jewish audience, having alluded to Psalm 8 already, is going to get this.
What is Jesus doing when He brings judgment on the fig tree? He is showing that the kingdom is being postponed. He is showing that He as God has authority over the creation and that he is going to ultimately demonstrate His power over creation as the Son of Man when He comes back.
That is why when He is talking to the disciples and talking about faith and the promise of prayer He is talking of not what will take place in their lifetime and in the church age, but He is exhibiting that this will be the power you will have over creation in the kingdom, because you will come into the fulness of what God intended them to do.
This is not a verse that many claim, that you can just name it and claim it and have this kind of authority and do this now. That's hogwash! It is a verse talking about kingdom authority, but we are not in the kingdom or any form of the kingdom. The kingdom is what is going to come.
The backdrop to this section in Matthew is that Jesus is doing certain things to demonstrate that He is the messianic King. He brings condemnation on the fig tree to bring out the point that the kingdom is being postponed because of Israel's unfruitfulness. Then He moves from that statement to the implication, which is that at some time in the future you are going to be able to pray and moves mountains and do things like this, when the kingdom comes. But it is not coming yet.
We have to think about this and connect the dots, and the dots are connected by understanding the role of Psalm eight: that Jesus is the Son of Man, and when He comes in His kingdom man is going to be in a position where they fulfil that initial destiny that God had for the human race, to rule over creation and to exercise this kind of authority over creation.
So this isn't a prayer promise for today, it is a prediction of
what they will be able to do when they are with Jesus in the kingdom.