The Miracle of Destruction

Intro

Good morning! Welcome to Mountain Spring Calvary Chapel. My name is Conrad and I am one of the pastors here. And I am excited for the message God has for us this morning, one which I have entitled “The Miracle of Destruction”… ooh! Provocative!

Before we get too far into our message this morning, I want to make sure everyone in the room is equipped for our study. So if you need a Bible throw your hands up in the air and wave them like you just don’t care. One of our ushers will be happy to get you a Bible this morning.

Like I was saying, I am excited for the message God has for us this morning. And as a pastor I am always excited for the opportunity to teach. There is life in these pages. You know, last time I spoke a man came up to me after the Cochrane Service, probably in his late 60s and with tears in his eyes he thanked me for my message and said he felt convicted that he had lost sight of his first love, meaning Jesus. And I spent some time talking with this man and praying together and as we talked we came to realization that I knew his nephew. His nephew is a church pastor, in fact this man has several people in the ministry in his life. He said his family was full of pastors.

Funny, I thought, that he comes from a family of pastors and has lost sight of his first love. How could this be?

Well, this week I looked up that nephew and acquaintance of mine and watched one of his sermons online. He preached for an hour citing four different paraphrases of the biblical text, but never opening an actual Bible. He referred to these things as scripture. And He ended his message talking about prayers that God will never answer. My soul was grieved. I reached out to him to try and provide caution in the most direct, but loving way possible. He was playing a dangerous game and veering into uneven territory. And I thought to myself… I know how this visitor lost sight of Jesus even in a family full of pastors. If this was the kind of teaching and shepherding he had, it’s no wonder he felt lost.

Friends, we cannot do it better than God. Let’s put that thought in our pocket, and we’ll come back to it at the end. [1]

Passage

12 Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. 13 And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.”

And His disciples heard it.

15 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 16 And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. 17 Then He taught, 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 thieves.’ ”

18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching. 19 When evening had come, He went out of the city.

20 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. 21 And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”

Prayer

Study

Fig Tree Part 1 (12–14)

And His disciples heard it.

For the purposes of setting the context of this event; the “next day” is the day after Jesus’ so-called Triumphal Entry. This is the day when Jesus’ entourage announces His arrival in Jerusalem, but just a couple verses later they disappear from the story as Jesus stands in the temple alone, unassuming, with no fanfare, surveying the scene. Jesus wasn’t staying in the city, most likely because He had access to lodging nearby and the city would have been an absolute ZOO during the Passover festival as people came from far and wide to the Temple Mount.

Now, with that said, the cursing of the fig tree is actually an incredibly contested passage. What actually happened here? What is the truth of this situation.

Renown atheist Bertrand Russell wrote in his book Why I am not a Christian:

I cannot myself feel that either in the matter of wisdom or in the matter of virtue Christ stands quite as high as some other people known to history.

Professing Christian author and scholar T.W. Manson famously (or infamously) wrote:

This is a tale of miraculous power wasted in the service of ill temper

And Manson is not alone. Other students of the Scriptures including A.M. Hunter, J.B. Phillips, and William Barclay have expressed similar sentiments.

And as a result great many wonderful preachers, teachers, and scholars have attempted to soften the blow of this unprovoked assault on a poor, innocent tree! Perhaps these folks feel that God needs a defence. Perhaps they feel that they need to stand in the breech for God and justify His decisions to those who would scoff with indignity at this reprehensible Impetuousness on display by Jesus the Christ.

Perhaps you count yourself among God’s defenders… perhaps — if you are really honest with yourself — you number yourself among the scoffers…

Some, like W.R. Telford and J.R. Edwards insist that Jesus would have expected to see pre-ripe budding figs called “paggim” that could still be eaten. These buds would appear before the leaves, and so a tree in “full leaf” would obviously have these buds. And moreover, a tree without these buds would likely not produce for the rest of the year! So surely Jesus is justified in murdering this tree!

Others, like James Kelso and R.C. Sproul have posited that while the majority of fig trees were not in the season, “BUT!”, they say, “if a tree was seen to be in ‘full leaf’ as the text indicates, then this was a rare species of fig which would be expected to have fruit in the early spring.” And thus, you see, Jesus’ reputation as been saved!

Is it possible that one of these theories is correct? Certainly. But hardly necessary! We need not wrap speculation around ourselves like a security blanket and apology around Jesus like protective shroud.

The same Bertrand Russell-like atheist who would leap to defend the honour of this fig tree wouldn’t bat an eye at the more than 87,000 abortions that took place right here in Canada in 2021.

And on the other end of the spectrum a Godly man like R.C. Sproul — who I believe will have been judged as a “Good and Faithful Servant” — proudly and frequently proclaimed Romans 9:20–21 which reads:

20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honour and another for dishonour?

So what then do we make of this? Why did Jesus walk up to an out-of- season Fig tree expecting to find fruit?

He didn’t!

This is the key to understanding what is happening in today’s passage. Jesus was hungry and saw a tree that looked like one which would have fruit (had it been in season), but what He expected to see was nothing! He approached the tree with an expectation and give it a chance to surprise Him. The tree had no surprises. It was just as barren as Jesus expected it to be.

And so Jesus curses this fig tree and in so doing invokes this scathing rebuke of Judah from chapter 8 and verse 13 of the book of Jeremiah:

“I will surely consume them,” says the Lord. “No grapes shall be on the vine,
Nor figs on the fig tree,
And the leaf shall fade;

And the things I have given them shall pass away from them.”

The fact is that Jesus knew what would happen later that day in the temple and saw this as an opportunity to use this particular fig tree to give a powerful object lesson about what was coming for the Temple. That it

would never be fruitful again. So let’s drop that in our pockets[2] and come back for it later.

As a side note: perhaps we should be have eyes to see and ears to hear when God is trying to use the everyday things in our lives to show us some deeper spiritual truth. But I’ll let you ponder that. Let’s move on.

Temple (15–19)

First things first. Let’s set the scene here. When we think of the temple we equate it to the modern church. This is not accurate. Religious festivals were the centre of social life in those days. And this temple in Jerusalem – the third such temple. The first was built by Solomon. The second by Zerubbabel. And this third one was built — ironically enough — by Herod.

And in the midst of Passover, there would have been a massive influx of people visiting. And these people would have brought currencies from all over the world, which needed to be converted to the Sanctuary Shekel. And I’m sure the exchange rate was extremely “fair”. And it would have been more convenient to buy an animal for sacrifice rather than transport one with you. This included Doves, because they were cheaper than other options like Goats or Lambs. And I’ve no doubt these sacrifices were sold at break-even margins… right? No. Not at all! These transactions would have been BIG business and a source of huge financial gains for the Religious Ruling Class. So we have all this commerce taking place with a sea of humanity moving through this 35-acre Outer Court — the Court of

the Gentiles… Let’s put that in our other pocket [3] because it’ll be important later. So thousands of people with animals and commerce … this would have looked more like the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange than a place of worship.

To give you another sense of scale, Jewish Historian Josephus recorded in his work entitled “WAR” that in A.D. 66 some 255,600 lambs were sacrificed for Passover. That’s more than FIVE TIMES the capacity of McMahon Stadium!

So that the scene that Jesus walks into. And He comes in like a wrecking ball. Somehow along the line we got this idea that angry is bad. Jesus is always depicted as this sort of stone-faced stoic character. And if he ever does display any emotion it’s a sort of vague dispassionate happiness. Jesus had access to the same range of emotions that we do. We seem them all over the Gospels, so I’m not sure where exactly this flat-faced Jesus came from, but that’s just not an accurate picture of the man. Here he was fuelled by righteous anger. But even as Jesus is visiting his anger upon those who are perverting the Temple, notice the restraint we see employed.

We don’t see Mark telling us that Jesus was dropping elbows or throwing punches. The word used here for “cast out” is the same one Mark uses 10 times to describe the casting out of demons. And Jesus never “beat the devil” out of anyone. He just told them to leave. Expect for the really difficult ones… then he would also fast and pray. No, the only physical violence we are seeing is the overturning of the tables used by the money changers and the chairs of those selling sacrifices. He is sending the unambiguous signal that they are not welcome to return.

In verse 16 we read that Jesus would not allow people to carry wares through the temple. It’s not immediately clear what this means. What were these “wares” and why could they not be carried? Many have sought to explain this a few ways. Some (including the editors of the Amplified Bible) have speculated that the outer court was being used as a throughfare…

while plausible, this seems unlikely and also has no support in either Biblical or extrabiblical texts. Some have also suggested that Jesus is commandeering some sacred vessels has scriptural support in Zechariah, but hardly fits with flow of events we see here. The theory that I believe best fits what we see is that Temple worship had become an end in itself and in that way had turned into something rote or even cultic. We find support for this in how the Greek word for “wares” is used throughout the Greek translation of the Old Testament. And we also see Josephus use the term in a similar way in two of his works: “War” as well as “Antiquities”. So this theory has both Biblical and extra biblical support.

In any case; Jesus, of course, would want to halt that sort of behaviour in the Temple.

So then, verses 15 and 16 show Jesus bringing all non-worship practices to an end. Then what? Does he make a mess and leave? Of course not! Jesus never missed a chance to share the Gospel.

Now, don’t miss this: where does Jesus do this teaching? The Court of the

Gentiles. Let’s pull that back out of our pocket [4]. The Outer Court, or the Court of the Gentiles had no sacred significance to the Jewish people. There was nothing terribly important that was happening out there. In fact, it went deeper than that! The Jewish people expected the coming Messiah to PURGE the temple of the Gentile scourge! We can see that clearly in the extrabiblical book Psalms of Solomon in 17:22–30.

Well, Jesus would have been a very disappointing Messiah to these people. God’s not doing it the way I would have!

… the nerve …

Rather than expel the Gentiles, Jesus taught them, while at no point did he enter the Temple proper to interact with the Jewish people within. And to the Gentiles he had two things to say. And both of them are Scriptural quotes.

1. Non-Jews are welcomed here. Isaiah 56:6–7
2. This corruption of the temple is not reflective of who God is. Jeremiah 7:11

#1 Non-Jews are welcomed here. I couldn’t say it better than Isaiah did, so I won’t try. Here are his words directly:

6 “Also the sons of the foreigner
Who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him,
And to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants— Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And holds fast My covenant—
7 Even them I will 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 nations.”

God cared just as much about bringing all nations under his grace in the Old Testament as He does today. We see both Rahab the Canaanite and Ruth the Moabite appear in the lineage of Jesus.

#2 This corruption of the temple is not reflective of who God is. Again, I can’t say it better than Jeremiah did:

9 “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? 11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord.

And this teaching astonished the people. The Greek word here basically says he blew their minds. He acted with authority, and spoke with passion, and taught with compassion, and He won their hearts. He won the hearts of the Gentiles but drew the ire and hatred of the Chief Priests and Scribes. Why? Because they feared Jesus. And why did they fear Jesus? Because He won the hearts of the people so quickly. This Jesus had to be dealt with. He could not simply disappear! No! He had to be destroyed. Crushed as an example to anyone else to dared rock the boat. They were desperately worried about losing their position and their power to this… this… revolutionary!

But Jesus was no revolutionary. He said explicitly that He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. He was not a revolutionary, but a reformer. He wanted to show the people the truth that had been there all along. But the Jewish establishment, the Jewish Religious Machine was… broken. It had been corrupted and it turned the temple from a house of worship into a ‘den of robbers’. And not just financial robbery… by distracting people from the worship of the God of Israel they were also committing spiritual robbery.

Which brings us along nicely to verses 20 and 21.

Fig Tree Part 2 (20–21)

20 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. 21 And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”

The next morning they find the fig tree dead. From the roots up. As dead as every dead thing that has ever died. The natural question that comes from this is… what are we meant to learn from this? How does the cursing of this fig tree help us to understand Jesus’ actions in the temple court?

Let’s reach into our pockets and grab that second thing we put in there[5]. That Jesus found exactly what He expected to find. We’re going to line-up some parallels between the fig tree and the temple and I think it will really help to illuminate this passage for us.

Parallels

The Fig tree was in full bloom. It looked great. Leafy and green. And in the same way Herod’s Temple was by any measure impressive and majestic and expansive. Made with remarkable precision using highly-polished limestone, encompassing some 40 acres and rising more than 15 stories from the bedrock it was built upon. From the pinnacle of the Temple, the whole of the city of Jerusalem could be seen.

And yet, both the tree and the temple were deceptive. They both looked impressive, but both failed to produce anything of substance. Jesus knew as He visited both locations that there would be nothing nourishing, but nonetheless he checked. He performed His due diligence. Alas, the temple, like the tree, was full of pomp and promise, but was simply unable to deliver.

And so Jesus cursed the tree that did not bear any fruit. And it withered, not only did it wither, but it withered from the roots! I was dead. All the way dead. It was no longer drawing life from its source. It was no longer drawing life from its source. One more time, in case you forgot to write this part down. The fig tree died because it was no longer drawing life from its source.

In the same way, the night before these recorded events, Jesus arrived in Jerusalem and stood in the temple courts. A temple built FOR THE PURPOSE OF WORSHIPPING HIM with no crowds, no fanfare, and no attention. The people were too busy going about the cult of temple business that they could not recognize the object of their worship standing right in their midst!

These guys needed some time in the wilderness. Amirite? Can I get an amen?

So the next day, Jesus comes in and casts out the distractions and replaces it with teaching the word of God. These gentiles, these outsiders, these visitors were getting the wrong idea about what the worship of Yahweh was supposed to be! This could not stand! Jesus had to bring correction.

And so what happened to the fig tree when it stopped drawing life from its source? It withered from the roots up. It was utterly destroyed.

And what happened to the temple when it stopped drawing life from its source? It was destroyed. Both physically and spiritually. I think you know what’s coming… we’re going to pop both of these in our pockets for just a

second. Spiritual Destruction of the Temple[6] and Physical Destruction of the Temple[7].

See, the temple had become a series of gates separating the people from God. The Exodus tabernacle had an outer court and two inner chambers; One for Priests and one for God himself.

By the time of the Herodian Temple there was an outer court for Gentiles. An inner court for women. A more-inner-er court for men. The Holy Place for the priests and the Holy and Holies for God Himself.

But When Jesus came, did he go to the inner-most places in the Temple to be with the most righteous, pious, holy men? No. He went to the Court of the Outsider and welcomed them in.

As I said earlier, the temple with all its rites and rituals had become an end in itself, a cult that allowed people to demonstrate their own holiness. It was utterly corrupted by the people tasked with its stewardship — take note fellow pastors and teachers!

And so the temple came to ruin. To destruction. To Physical[8] and Spiritual [9] destruction.

The temple came to physical ruin in AD 70, when Titus sacked Jerusalem. Josephus records it this way:

Now as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury (for they would not have spared any, had there remained any other work to be done), [Titus] Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and Temple, …. it was so thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came [to see it] believe it had ever been inhabited. This was the end which Jerusalem came to by the madness of those that were for innovations; a city otherwise of great magnificence, and of mighty fame among all mankind.[47]

And truly, the very view itself was a melancholy thing; for those places which were adorned with trees and pleasant gardens, were now become desolate country every way, and its trees were all cut down. Nor could any foreigner that had formerly seen Judaea and the most beautiful suburbs of the city, [who] now saw it as a desert, [do anything] but lament and mourn sadly at so great a change.

But before the temple could be destroyed Physically by Titus Caesar, it would be destroyed Spiritually by Christ Jesus. Amen? Why?

Because Jesus took on satan, sin, death, demons, hell, and the grave when He went to the cross. He was viciously mocked, mercilessly beaten, and callously hung on a tree to suffocate to death for all to see.

But Satan was vexed, perplexed, frustrated, and foiled. Sin was rendered ineffective.
Death was made temporary.
Demons were forced to bow the knee.

Hell was denied its plunder.
And the grave was robbed, unable to hold Him.
He bore our iniquities!
By His stripes we are healed!
And through His resurrection we may live forevermore!

When He said “it is finished” that 3-inch thick, 60-foot tall curtain that sequestered God within the Holy of Holies in the heart of the Temple was ripped in two from top to bottom and Jesus provided unfettered access to God for every man, woman, and child on this earth.

Just like Jesus cut off the source for the Fig tree, he cut off the source for the Temple. And just like the Fig tree was destroyed physically shortly after, so too would the temple be destroyed physically shortly after.

Application

But Conrad, you capable orator, I hear you ask… how does the destruction of the Temple apply to me today?

Good question. I’m glad you asked.
This is where we finally come back to the very first thing we put in our

pockets. We can’t do it better than God[10].

The Jewish people tried to out-holy God. And instead they ended up making a mockery of Him. They perverted and corrupted His temple. They hid Him from the world and obscured God from those who sought Him.

And a similar warning can be issued to people like my friend I talked about at the beginning. By preaching something other than God’s inspired Word we are telling people that we can communicate truth better than God can. Our words should be heeded over His words. We are telling people that they don’t need Jesus… they need us. We are, essentially… subtly… communicating to people that we are the source.

And what happens when we stop drawing life from the source of life? We dry up. We wither. We die. We are destroyed.

So how do we stay connected to the source of life? Through God’s Word preserved for us; the source of truth. And through prayer; intentionally making time and room for God to work in and through us.

And that is what the Book of Hebrews calls the Priesthood of All Believers. And this Priesthood of All Believers was made possible when the curtain guarding the Holy of Holies was ripped in two. No longer does anything

separate each of us from direct access to God. And that is a miracle. The Miracle of Destruction.

Let’s pray.