Luke 13:6 (ESV) And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.
In this parable, the owner of the vineyard represents God. The fig tree represents someone who claims to be a believer in Jesus. Every fig tree is expected to bear fruit and every believer is also expected to bear fruit. What is fruit? Simply put, fruit is the good works that God has planned for you to do in your life. The owner came to inspect his fig tree, expecting to find fruit, but found none.
Luke 13:7 (ESV) And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’
Now we find that God had looking for fruit from this fig tree for three years, but had found none. God is thinking about cutting down the fig tree, as it was using up ground in the vineyard. Surely, another fig three could be planted that would bear fruit.
Luke 13:8-9 (ESV) And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”
The vinedresser, representing God’ mercy, asks for patience, giving the fig tree a fourth chance in the fourth year to bear fruit. If it finally bears the fruit it should have in the fourth year, then God’s patience will be rewarded. If it bears no fruit after the fourth year, then it will be cut down. Cutting down the fig tree represents a person being cast into hell and perishing. Let’s talk some more about how this parable warns us against presuming on God’s patience.
The sin, as it were, of the fig tree is that it did not produce fruit, it did not do the good works that God had created it to do. Oftentimes, people think of sin as only things they are not to do. Yet, not doing the good things that God planned for you to do is just as wrong as doing bad things. God is very patient with people and their sins, either of commission or omission as in this story. God’s patience, waiting for people to repent, often causes people to think that judgement will never come. God is very patient, not wanting any to perish, but there will be a time when His patience runs out.
When God’s patience with sin runs out, one of two things will happen. The first possibility will be that His Spirit stops convicting the person of sin and the person will never repent. The second possibility which can precede or follow the first is that the person will die and pass into eternity without repenting and so perish. We must not presume on God’s patience, for it does not last forever. Today is the time to repent and choose to bear good fruit for the Lord in our lives.
Behind violence, disasters and failing to bear fruit is our enemy Satan. The next section will enlighten us to what demons can do to people and show us how …