Why did Christ curse the Fig Tree?

A common interpretation of why Christ cursed the fig tree is that it represents the nation of Israel. In this presentation I demonstrate that idea is highly unlikely given the prophecies regarding the people of Israel, and there is an obvious explanation for cursing the fig tree that goes back to the roots of sin itself and how we found ourselves in this situation.

[@jackshadow325]

I've always thought, because the story of the fig tree is interwoven with Jesus inspecting the temple, the fig tree represents the old covenant temple system. Fig trees can have an early (not the main) harvest (called Breba figs), so it wasn't unreasonable for Jesus to expect something. Also, when the disciples point out the withered tree, Jesus says that if they have enough faith they can command the mountain to be taken up and thrown into the sea, which, I believe refers to the temple mount. But, this is a new and interesting explanation and is worth meditating on. I appreciate your videos very much.

[@robbkiker6861]

Thank you again for reengaging on this channel. Very much look forward to your videos and believe it is your calling.

[@JennyS161]

This is my understanding. Recently I was looking up the Hebrew meaning of the name Bethany. Turns out it means - House of figs and/or house of affliction. If figs and affliction are close to each other in Hebrew meaning, the fig represents affliction and affliction comes through the law of sin and death. That’s why they covered themselves in fig leaves, because they’d eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, hence the law!!! Jesus cursed the law when he cursed the fig tree.

[@daMillenialTrucker]

:O !!!!!!!!!

[@daMillenialTrucker]

thats so cool to read, ty for your comment my sister in christ :D

[@JennyS161]

@@daMillenialTrucker Thank you!!! I love it when daddy allows these little gems to surface.

[@bcburt2000]

Awesome teaching! Thank you! And I'm glad you posted this video in the late evening time as I was awake and needing some inspiration.

[@thetotalvictoryofchrist9838]

God bless you brother

[@PulseChristians]

My favorite KZbin channel. Thank you!

[@dalecampbell5617]

Thank you. That makes total sense. God bless.

[@CitadelPhotography]

This channel should have 100 million subs! I hope you get there. If not Im going to parrot all your ideas and make my own channel because people need to hear this. I have been on the line of hopeful inclusion and ultimate reconciliation for a while and your content is helping me see a little more clearly. So thank you! You are more concise than others. A lot of things have been clicking for me.

[@MrHCify]

That’s outstanding. Very interesting interpretation.

[@magepunk2376]

I think it would be neat if you were able to produce a series that offers the universalist interpretation of every bible verse used to teach infernalism and/or annihilationism. One video per verse or passage I think would make it more accessible.

[@jasonbell9975]

Excellent, once again🎉

[@Gazman67]

Excellent , yes he was to overcome sin .

[@denonamp]

I have heard of this and the fig tree representing works as man covered themselves rather then God being there covering indeed

[@gwilliams1001]

This also reminded me of the story of Babel. Men built the tower using brick, not stone it says. With stones being provided by God and bricks 'man made'. Religion to me is eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, religion is mans way of reaching God (tower of babel), religion is the fig tree. Jesus defeated the purpose of religion not to establish one. We are to relinquish our right to ourselves, to our free-wll. And since we didn't in the garden and couldnt under law, Christ in another garden did so, for us. Not my will, but your will Father. We must 'surrender' to the Grace poured out onto Gods creation and to stop finding ways to be able to take credit for it of our own.

[@jasonegeland1446]

Hi Michael. Excellent as always. I will try to show this video to my wife when the timing is right, as she is fundamentalist as I may have mentioned a good while back to you. I did have a question for you, and I realize you're a busy man, but it would mean a lot if you could suggest something. My wife doesn't understand or somehow can't see the bigger picture of the passages I try to show to her about how all knees will bend and swear allegiance to God or all confessing and joyfully praising God, or 1 Timothy 2:6 - how Christ has ransomed the whole world to be testified in due time, etc, 1 Tim. 2:4, etc and many others. She told me that it's a false doctrine. Is there something you'd suggest saying that may help her to understand without her throwing up the giant wall between us when I try to enlighten her. She did tell me once that "if you're going to enlighten me..." so I know it's possible to do so but she always goes back to the condemning verses from Scripture. I think I managed to make a brief point with her on one of your previous videos where I took a screenshot of the nature of your emphasis on punishment (correction) into life, etc. Sorry, it's late. I've probably said way too much as it is. I can't give up hope but time will tell.

[@thetotalvictoryofchrist9838]

I recently had a conversation with a family member who is very closed to the idea that Christ will save the whole world. Interestingly I said, "How do you reconcile the fact the Paul said all Israel will be saved?" And that made her pause, she didn't have an answer and yet believes that is true. Maybe try that.

[@jasonegeland1446]

@@thetotalvictoryofchrist9838 I've quoted all of Israel being saved to her before but I will try phrasing it how you suggested. Part of the problem is how different our lives were growing up in church. I've sent her links to your vids in the past in addition to other similar messages on the subject but I don't think she ever watched any of them. It's like Scripture says maybe, that some are brought to belief now and some later. Thanks, Michael. It's a difficult thing not sharing the same belief (my wife and myself) but I never give up hope on it.

[@tarynswan326]

“And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.” Mark 8:24 Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We are trees, either the tree of good and evil or the tree of life. 1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth (tree of good and evil), earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven (tree of Life 🤴)

[@yqafree]

Here's a symbolic viewpoint additional to this. Imagine a completely whole tree, fruits unripe still on branches, all in all it is completely withered and dried. It even as it is has a mystique to it, but even as seductive as it may be it emanates a miasmic aura of duality, a sense that brings about separation is all it can fruit. But its greater purpose is not what it was and is at the mere view of it, no it has an ultimate telos. There's a false version of self that you've been, for you and I as individuals have identified falsely with being as sons of a false father. And we see this self being brought by that false father to a prison along with this tree, every rhizome of this tree is dragged intact to the prison beside you. The prison is a place where every word of you is recounted in front of this false father but also amidst a council that this false self of you cannot see, for a veil obscures most of the sight you'd like to have. And it feels confusing, jumbled, all these contrary thoughts. All that is clear is that this false you has been unclear. Your heart overall was inconsistent, the blight of transgressions has made the heart resemble two natures mixed. And then in a purifying fire you are burned with the tree, and consecutively each bit of the earthly life you lived is being clarified and made correct. From event to event a form of consciousness that was always there starts revealing itself to this false self, bit by bit, until everything that was once somewhat unclear is no longer unclear. Everything you thought you were and all the events you identified with are ashen and that false father like a gust of wind spirals away with that ash spreading down into a lower place, so far away that place is from you now and this clean environment is amidst you now, and no prison is in sight but not far away is a banquet that you're ready to join. But as ready as you may be, you think to yourself. "Wait! Who Am I after all?" And rather you know that all that remains of you is this graceful being that can define the meaning of your earthly life and every other earthly life at that, and looking into His face you know He had bore it all, always had and always will bear it, and every reflection of this reality is revealed to you in an instant. And you know that you're a part of Him and once you join the banquet you know that peace and proper identity is there without any ceasing. There you go. Peace at last. - Your Quality Apologist

[@Unknown-wb1bf]

I disagree, about your explanation about Jesus cursing the fig-tree, he was hungry, so he ate from it, nothing from genisis mentions about hunger that lead to the eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Also why was such a message to be hidden secretly, surly it is a better thing to do, that is, explain this in the bible directly, then to allow us to go scribes researching scriptures on it. You mention universlistic implications, I disagree, Jesus takes away sin, not destroys it, he redeems sin, by slowly cleaning the wound and restoring it with, he dosen't destroy, he fixes, redeems. This is what I currently believe in.

[@thetotalvictoryofchrist9838]

This isn't a critical understanding so I'm not going to try and take down every counterargument. But Adam and Eve were hungry when they ate from the tree, they saw it as "good for food", so I'm not sure what your point is there.

[@Unknown-wb1bf]

@@thetotalvictoryofchrist9838 I understand they saw it as edible, good for eating, ripe and ready to be eaten, see how that is different from that fig tree juxtaposition u did? Jesus saw the tree wasn't ready for fruit, while the tree in Genesis was. Thus, I disagree with u. I think your just taking scripture from random parts of the bible and stitching them together to fit your theoretical meaning of what the scripture is saying. Again, why couldn't jesus of restored the tree to produce figs and say, "See? Even the most ugly and retched of tree's can be fixed by the Father's love" that would be a way better message to give, if he was gonna randomly tell this tree to die and wither away anyway.

[@TheIronMaiden222]

Interesting

[@stephengorman1025]

How is this Gnostic? God's original covenant with himself is to make Mankind in his image. He will achieve this through Christ his Son through the Faith of Christ. John proclaimed "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World (destroys the fig tree of man made religion). Believers both Jew and Gentile are the first fruits of the full harvest to come in, when every knee shall bow and confess Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. This, I believe is the Gospel and is Good News for All people so we do not need to be afraid. God bless you richly

[@atarahchomah1463]

I agree that the fig tree could be the tree of Knowledge. The rabbis believe that as well. I believe Yeshua cursed that tree because He was going to be crucified on that very tree which represents that sin in the garden. Wouldn’t that be just like the L-RD if that was the very tree! It alll came together in that moment in time. All pre planned. Grateful to be grafted in!

[@roypage]

So why did Jesus hope to eat from it?

[@thetotalvictoryofchrist9838]

Let me guess. Because the tree represents Israel, and Israel should produce fruit out of season or God will annihilate them forever? Or perhaps, the tree was just a symbol of temptation, the very temptation that destroyed Israel, but Jesus is tempted and overcomes on their behalf. Jesus didn't kill the tree because it had no fruit, but so nobody will be tempted by it again. I think that interpretation makes more sense. Just illustrating a point. The traditional interpretation of that passage doesn't work. Christ wept over Jerusalem, I believe that is why he was angry about the tree, the destruction that results from sin the tree represents. Your question is reasonable, and I do think the interpretation given in this video, which isn't original to me, makes a lot more sense.

[@markderksen4130]

Symbolic interpretation is the only thing that makes sense

[@trevorwelz7290]

What If You Teach Why You Shouldn't Be Afraid Of Death.

[@freespiritpearl89]

I'm telling my biological earth father is evil. He want me to tortured for no reason. He has demons in him. Let God deal with him. I want to know why is he so evil towards me. I went through trauma and never treated other with strong hate.

[@susannablessings5773]

In 70 AD was the culmination of the old covenant Old Testament Jewish religion. Period. God did that. Now every beliver in our Savior Jesus Christ makes up THE ISRAEL OF GOD, the ONE NEW MAN, the New Covenant fulfilled. The bride of Christ is his beloved and the apple of his eye. The children of God who have been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ are his chosen people.

[@geordiewishart1683]

Jew is not the same as Israelite. Please learn the distinction. And the promises God made to Israel as a twelve tribed people still are valid

[@bessiejones5432]

So Israel was cursed some of the people were problematic, okay I am truly confused

[@thetotalvictoryofchrist9838]

I was saying the tree does not represent a curse on Israel.

[@whitebeardInn]

Do you belong to, or agree with the viewpoints of, the Christian Universalist Association? I just saw a video on them and they make some outlandish claims! One of them is, "...nothing Jesus said, did or taught in his lifetime means anything because his death is all that matters for our salvation." And, "Saintly souls who are identified with religions other than Christianity but who actually walk the path of Christ in the way they live their life are far more truly Christian than fundamentalists who focus on converting everyone to their narrow church creed to avoid being tortured forever in the fires of hell." And "The Bible is a great repository of truth that remains relevant today, but it is not the only source of truth." I've watch quite a few of you videos lately and agree with a lot of what you are saying (but not all). But, if you are a part of the CUA, or agree with them in any way, then you are a heretic just like they are and I'll never watch you again.

[@thetotalvictoryofchrist9838]

I have no association with the Christian Universalist Association. What I teach at this channel is an ancient Christian understanding known as "Universal Restoration". Calling it "Universal Salvation" is imprecise because it's the view that those who were not saved will eventually be restored in the course of the age of ages.

[@Unknown-wb1bf]

Also, I have a favour to ask of you, plz make a video about this problem I have found in the book of mark, mark 1 to be exact, also put this video into you Q&A playlist. 23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, 24 saying, `Away! what -- to us and to thee, Jesus the Nazarene? thou didst come to destroy us; I have known thee who thou art -- the Holy One of God.' 25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, `Be silenced, and come forth out of him,' 26 and the unclean spirit having torn him, and having cried with a great voice, came forth out of him... My question to you is why does the unclean spirit think that Jesus is the son of Yahweh? And does Yaweh torment demons as well? Also, dosen't the holy one of god refer to Yaweh as God? Prove that he's not real quick by juxtaposing scriptures that prove he's not. Used from previous video's, maybe even adding more scriptures, you recently found. Also, this serves as proof that Jesus dosen't harm anyone, not even demons, juxtapose this with the scripture of Jesus refusing to rain fire from the heavens upon a village, and any other scriptures of him rebuking people, for thinking he does these things. --------------------------------------------------------------- EDIT: Bobby, I got annother idea for a video. I asked AI (chat GPT) a question and this was it's answer "John 8:58: "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was born, I am." (ASV) In this verse, Jesus uses the phrase "I am," which echoes the divine name revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14, indicating His eternal existence and deity." As you know, that is wrong, Jesus is not saying there that he is the God of the old testament, I believe it would be good to make a video on this because it proves God the Father's innocence of being evil. I also this video should be put into your questions and answers playlist.

[@thetotalvictoryofchrist9838]

If you are asking if I believe Christ is YHWH, the God of the OT, the answer is YES! And I can defend that vigorously. But as far as the demon believing Christ was going to destroy him, Christ in fact didn't destroy him but merely made him leave.

[@Unknown-wb1bf]

@@thetotalvictoryofchrist9838 I'm confused, you made a playlist based on the evil OT god, and how he's satan (Yes i know that's an incorrect use of the term of that word, but u get who I'm talking about, and that's the point.) and now your saying their the same being? What unclean spirit are u mixing with? And go ahead and prove their the same being as well.

[@jackshadow325]

⁠@@Unknown-wb1bfFor future reference: you are = you’re - they are = they’re

[@warriorshedge6772]

@@thetotalvictoryofchrist9838 you probably should answer the guy below for an explanation

[@a-sheepof-christ9027]

That is some pseudo-Christian nonsense right there at 3:20. Why dont you use scripture to interpret scripture? Paul explains why God rejected Israel: In Matthew, Christ curses the fig tree BEFORE ITS TIME purposefully, according to the prophecy in Hosea 3:1-4. The meaning is already established by the literal text itself: That for a time; YHWH's first and formerly divorced wife is "locked away" and cannot "see another" as punishment for her adultery. This mirrors Davids rejection of his (symbolically Samarian) concubines in 2 Samuel 20:3. This means that currently; Israel is spiritually like Arabia(Ishmael)/Egypt(Hagar)/Samaria: they are Abrahamic/Israelites by blood, but rejected spiritually [for a time]. (Romans 11:25+Galatians 4:24). This would include both distinct groups of the Sadducees (Samarian Philosophers/Priests) and the Pharisees (Actual Literalist Jews: acts 23) Paul gives us this whole answer [clearly] in Romans 9:16-25 which proves that the curse in Mark 11:12-25 is a fullfillment of the Old Testament prophecy of Hosea 3:4. No need for gnostic ideas like in 3:20 onward. This guy is dangerous.

[@ALL2BWell]

I agree with your "gnostic ideas" but would need to take time to ponder some of what you wrote. I hope you are wrong about "this guy is dangerous" The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth and we must take care to heed. God Bless.