Category: 4 Gospels + Good News of the NEW Testament
What are the Gospels?
FOUR Gospels:
GOOD NEWS! (That’s what Gospel means.)
Matthew, Mark, Luke & John begin the New Testament proclaiming the Good Newsof Israel’s long-awaited Messiah and talk of JESUS Christ.
The four Gospels are first hand witness + proclaiming GOOD NEWS
by two Jewish Apostles of the Messiah JESUS, Matthew & John
Two gentile(non-Jewish) followers of THE WAY of Jesus Christ, Mark & Luke, who proclaim the GOSPEL recorded from witness of Peter, Paul and other Apostles and disciples of JESUS in the first century.
READ the Good News of the Messiah and Savior Jesus from accounts of His twelve Apostles & others witnessing the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the four Gospels of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
SHARE the Gospel
with your Christian friends and those who do not yet believe in JESUS CHRIST.
Comment on a Talk of JESUS post and SHARE in your social media world.
1:3 Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation…
Generations recall what has been before.
Sin is always the downfall of the Lord’s chosen nation.
Surely scripture speaks contemporarily to those with ears to hear.
1:12 The vine dries up; the fig tree languishes. Pomegranate, palm, and apple, all the trees of the field are dried up, and gladness dries up from the children of man.
~A.D. 30
Yesterday they shouted, ‘Hosanna!’
Eight centuries after Joel and other prophets warned Judah to repent, Jesus of Nazareth entered Jerusalem triumphantly. Even the children shouted praises and the crowds witness miracles.
Jesus then returned to nearby Bethany for the night.
A connection of Bethany to figs
Bethany was home to Lazarus, where some in the Jerusalem crowds had known that Jesus had raised him from the dead! Much is expected for this day.
Bethany “place of unripe fig tree near to Jerusalem
Bethany “house, place of unripe figs” is a village located on the E slope of Mt. Olivet, about one and one-half miles from Jerusalem.
It was called also the house of misery on account of its lonely situation and the invalids who congregated there.’ Source
18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry.
'It lies on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, fully a mile beyond the summit. Bethany has been commonly explained "house of dates," but it more probably signifies "house of misery."
19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!”
and he said to them, “Place in your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to be careful to do, even all the words of this law.
6 So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills,
8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.
10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.”
Have we forgotten the lesson of the fig tree?
Just in case you have missed the Prologue and Scripture bringing us to this conclusion: GO BACK to the PROLOGUE HERE
Even as we have forgotten the Lord in our daily lives, Jesus the Messiah has found no fruit of repentance in Israel — in our nation
— perhaps rarely in our churches — and even in the landscapes and homes of this 21st century christian life.
The Lord found no desire of God’s chosen people to turn back to true worship of the Lord.
God our Father sent the Son to us in the flesh to become a Sacrifice for our sins.
Jesus neared the completion of His time with us on His created earth as Son of Man and then set his face toward Jerusalem and CURSED the fig tree.
‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”
20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying,
“How did the fig tree wither at once?”
21 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
What season is your faith?
+ Do you worship the Lord?
+ Would a King entering your town recognize your fruit?
Forgive me, Lord. Help me in my unbelief, for I have not asked you to take up the evil on this mountain of my mortal life and cast it into the sea.
Jesus IS Lord. He will return to reign forever and ever.
In the early preaching of Jesus (right after the golden rule) Jesus offers this warning.
A Tree and Its Fruit
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.16 You will recognize them by their fruits.
Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
Though the fig tree does not blossom
What shall we do?
“We live thistle-bound lives in lands of lost promise.”
“For the nations are led astray by men and women who seek not the will of the Lord.”
The garden of the Lord seems long lost to sin.
Leaders listening to the Lord’s command are no more.
Judges enact rules of unrighteousness.
Kings conquer, covet and divide.
Prophets no longer warn of God displeasure of even ‘christians‘ living this ‘life’ and the Lord’s silence disheartens the generations.
In the first century A.D. during Jesus’ ministry:
The head of John the Baptist has passed on a platter and crowds of Jerusalem under Rome look for a Messiah and King.
A prophet seven centuries earlier had cursed a fig tree on their behalf echoing the hearts of this Passover procession with Palms – our Palm Sunday multitude.
O Lord, how long shall I cry, And You will not hear?
Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, And hold Your tongue when the wicked devours A person more righteous than he?
O, faithless fig tree, dear dried up vine; do you believe that you alone have cried out to the Lord for mercy?
Habakkuk 3:
O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid; O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy.
A Hymn of Faith
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places.
A second look at a triumphal entry
17 Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— 18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Matthew 21: 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”
9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”
11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.
17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.
Consider the Creator of the garden approaching a fig tree before its season. Who will guard the Son of Man as He enters the Temple and fast-approaches the reproach of the Cross?
12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.13 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.14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
15 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 money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons…
A triumphal entry into Jerusalem, as an anointed King of Israel. Jesus stays in a nearby town (Bethany) for the night, then returns to Jerusalem. A fig tree is not an uncommon sight along the rural roads leading to the gates of Jerusalem. He curses the tree with no fruit, then enters the Holy City, clearing the Holy Temple of unrighteousness.
The authorities will have to plot against this powerful and righteous Son of Man, lest their comfortable authority would be overthrown.
19 And when evening came they went out of the city.
Jesus leaves town.
Another night away from Jerusalem (probably once again with disciples in Bethany).
The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree
20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.
21 And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”
22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.
Another miracle (kind of a scary one, though). Jesus had cursed a tree and it withered and died in a day.
(Have you ever thought that your life could pass just as quickly?)
Now, in typical rabbi fashion Jesus makes a teaching moment from fulfillment of His curse.
24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Mark 11:25
“Even a holy week spent in prayer is of no value to the unforgiving worshiper. You with ears to hear, forgive ,” learn the lesson of the fig tree.
Forgive, “… so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
Tend the tree of life and forgiveness.
Bear the fruit of love.
Guard the Lord, our Master and Savior.
He will curse the tree without fruit at the Judgment.
Roger@talkofJesus.com
Scripture has much more to say about the fig tree. Jesus does not choose such an important symbol of Israel to curse without cause.
To be continued
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