The Pilgrim Path---Mark 11: 12—19

On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came, they went out of the city.

A FIG TREE? And THE TEMPLE?

Even though it was not the season for figs, the LORD Jesus Christ did make a point about a tree with just leaves---He wanted His disciples to know, He preferred fruit. So, on to the Temple of God---which should be a beacon of God’s grace (to all people---ALL the time). But the Temple was more “show” than spiritual substance. The particulars were in place to handle matters for acquisition of sacrifices and “correct” monies---but at what expense? The Gentile Courts were “full” of merchandizers (what did Jews care about Gentiles anyway?). The Gentiles had no place to seek this “true” God they had heard so much about…

The Son of Man took matters into His own hands, and He took care of religious, political, and economic wrong---all in one swoop. He drove out the wrongdoers from the Temple Courts (and seriously bothered those who profited from their schemes).

The LORD Jesus was quoting from Isaiah 56---it is a powerful passage, starting at verse 3:

Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say,

“The LORD will surely separate me from his people”;

And let not the eunuch say,

“Behold, I am a dry tree.”

For thus says the LORD:

“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name

Better than sons and daughters;

I will give them an everlasting name

That shall not be cut off.

“And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD,

And to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant ----these will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer…

Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar;

FOR MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL PEOPLES…

From J.C. Ryle: Though withered and dried up, that fig tree yet speaks---There was a voice in it for the Jewish Church. Rich in the leaves of a formal religion, but barren of all fruits of the Spirit, that Church was in fearful danger, at the very time when this withering took place. Well would it have been for the Jewish Church if it had had eyes to see its peril!---There was a voice in the fig tree for all the branches of Christ’s visible Church in every age, and every part of the world. There was a warning against an empty profession of Christianity unaccompanied by sound doctrine and holy living, which some of those branches would have done well to lay to heart---but above all there was a voice in that withered fig tree for all carnal, hypocritical, and false-hearted Christians. Well would it be for all who are content with a name to live while in reality they are dead, if they would only see their own faces in the glass of this passage…Like the fig leaves of which Adam and Eve made themselves garments, they will not hide the nakedness of our souls from the eye of an all-seeing God, or give us boldness when we stand before Him at the last day. No! We must bear fruit or be lost forever. There must be fruit in our hearts and fruit in our lives, the fruit of repentance toward God, and faith toward our LORD Jesus Christ, and true holiness in our manner of life. Without such fruits as these a profession of Christianity will only sink us lower into hell…

“I see Christ’s love is so kingly, that it will not abide a marrow: it must have a throne all alone in the soul.” Samuel Rutherford

HYMN

Come to the throne of grace, boldly draw near;

He who would win the race must tarry here,

Whatever thy want may be, here is the grace for thee,

Jesus thine only plea; Come, Christian, come.

Henry Burton, 1878

Grace and Peace in Jesus, the Only Redeemer of broken and wretched souls, Pastor Jason