While the Lord was entering Jerusalem, He discovered a fig tree. This fig tree spent the winter as a thin branch and finally produced leaves. It could not bear seasonal figs after summer, but when green leaves were seen, it could have produced springtime figs. But the Lord discovered that it had no fruit. So He said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!”
This incident was a preview of what He would do when He entered the temple of Jerusalem that day. The Lord entered the temple and arrived at a place called ‘the Court of the Gentiles’. Among several places which form the temple, this was provided so that gentiles could come and pray to God. As the prophet Isaiah prophesied, “For my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations”, the gentiles could come to this place of grace and call on God.
However, the Lord could not discover that the gentiles were giving praise or thanks for God’s grace. It was packed with sheep and goats, cows moaned endlessly, people made a racket while buying and selling, and people exchanged money that should have been given as tribute to the temple. This loud clattering blended together, and it looked like a marketplace.
Everything happening in this place was packaged like an act of faith, but this place plainly showed the corrupt state of Israel. They even stopped the chance for gentiles to meet with God for the sake of their own profit. The One who the gentiles needed to meet was Jesus Christ. But when He finally entered the temple and the Court of the Gentiles - instead of accepting gentiles - it was packed with people seeking their own interests like thieves. There was now one and a half months left for the Gospel to be preached to the world, yet these things were happening at Israel’s center of faith.
The Lord threw out those who were buying and selling, and overturned the tables of the money changers and those who sold doves. He said, “My house should be where the gentiles meet with God, but you have made it a den of robbers. You decorate yourselves with every act of faith, like a fig tree filled only with leaves. But I cannot find from you the fruit that God wants.” Just as the Lord cursed the fig tree in the morning, He declared that He no longer expected any faith from Israel.
This is also a warning to us. The church should help unbelievers meet with the Lord, but does the church have the fruit which the Lord wants? Are we trying to build our own righteousness and get absorbed in outer religious deeds while we are at church? If we only occupy our attention on our accomplishments and try only to enlarge our merit, the Lord’s grace will be concealed and the Gospel cannot be preached to the gentiles. The church should have optimal conditions to preach the Gospel. It should be where people come to confess that they are sinners and become blessed. Do not be obsessed with the outer deed of faith, but possess a spirit worthy of repentance. Let’s build up a church where the Lord’s love will not be blocked but delivered to people who need God’s grace.
(Lord’s Day Service on October 24, 2021)
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