Alright, the Scripture is on the opposite page, so I encourage you to turn over there. And I’ll read for us Mark 11, verses 12-33. This is God’s Holy Word. Mark 11, verses 12-33. On the following day, when they came to 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 money changers 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 the 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. As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you cursed has withered.
And Jesus answered them, have faith in God. 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. 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 is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your father who is in heaven forgive your trespasses. and they came again to jerusalem and as he was walking in the temple the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him and they said to him by what authority are you doing these things or who gave you this authority to do them jesus said to them i will ask you one question answer me and i will tell you by what authority i do these things was the baptism of john from heaven or from man answer me And they discussed it with one another, saying, if we say from heaven, he will say, why then did you not believe him? But if we shall say from man, they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet. So they answered Jesus, we do not know. And Jesus said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
Thus far, God’s wholly inspired and infallible Word. God will be pleased to take His Word and by His Holy Spirit to transform it in our lives into service for Himself. Thanks be to God. Lord, help us now to understand Your Word, to live by it, share it with others. Bless our hearts with it today, Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Jesus twice angrily spoke to the profaning of the Jerusalem temple, once at the beginning of his ministry and once at the end, just before his arrest.
And that’s where we are today in our passage. Neither was a good experience, either for buyers or sellers. Of course, I’m thinking of those who had their tables turned over and their pigeons knocked over and so forth. Both Matthew and Mark tell the story of his cursing the fig tree that gave him no fruit. And all three of those that we call the synoptic gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, recount his run-in with the chief priests and other leaders as to who gave him what he called all authority in heaven and in earth.
Of course, that’s later in the scheme of things here, but that’s the issue that was there. Who gave you this authority? And he said, all authority in heaven and on earth is given unto me. Well, today we want to find an answer to the question, who gave you this authority?
So our three points are these this morning. First, we have the temple is preserved in the person of Jesus Christ. You’ll recall the temple was later torn down, but all that the temple meant was fulfilled and continued in the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, the fig tree withered because it was already dead. It had leaves, right? Well, maybe not quite dead from the biologist’s point of view, but it represented what was already dead, namely the Jewish nation that had rejected Messiah. Then the third thing, Jesus’ authority rests on the fact that He is the truth. Jesus is the truth. And we’ll see what that means as we come to the end of our study. Alright, the temple is preserved in the person of Jesus Christ.
In 1st Samuel 4.21, word comes that the Israelite army has been defeated, and Eli especially, who was the warden of the temple, the priest of God at that point, was very concerned about the the Ark of the Covenant that had been carried off to battle and so forth, and he was very nervous about that. And the word came that it had been captured, been taken away by the Philistines, and poor old Eli, who was overweight, keeled over backwards and broke his neck, and that was the end of Eli.
However, there was another person in the story. It was the daughter-in-law of Eli. And she gave birth just about this time. And she wanted to name her child Ichabod. Now, if you know Washington Irving’s story about Sleepy Hollow and all that, you’ve heard Ichabod Crane. But the first Ichabod is here in the scripture. And what that tells us is, that the glory had departed. Ichabod means the glory has departed from the temple.
And in a way, that fits right in with what Jesus is trying to get across as He talks to these folks here. The temple represents three things basically in scripture. It represents heaven because the blueprint by which the temple was constructed was the blueprint of heaven. It was made just according to everything that God said should be constructed. So it’s a representation of heaven. It’s a representation of the people of God. The Bible says that all the believers are like stones, living stones that are built together into a spiritual house. So the temple represents the church or the people of God. And then finally, and that’s what’s important for us today, it represented Jesus himself.
And maybe then we can understand why the Lord takes umbrage That means he was personally offended. He took umbrage at the lack of reverence shown by the merchants, the so-called worshippers and custodians there in the temple. He took it personally that they were lacking in reverence and real understanding of what was going on there.
So when he was in Jerusalem, almost always he taught on the steps of the temple and that is true here in just these days before he’s arrested and goes to the cross, he was teaching there at the temple. That was his regular spot for teaching the people and shows you how closely identified with the temple he himself was. Just prior to his own sacrifice, it was a violent sacrifice, a bloody sacrifice, he died, his blood was shed on the cross. But just prior to that, He took violent action himself.
Now, he didn’t kill anybody, as far as we know, but he drove the merchants and the buyers and the disinterested people out of the temple. A very violent incident, interestingly, and it kind of made everybody say, where does his authority come from for doing this? I think we could safely say that those that he did drive out were blasphemers.
That is to say that they were really not interested in God so much as in themselves and just using God for their own purposes. Above all, Jesus personally fulfilled everything the temple stood for in terms of God and redemption. Those animals that were sacrificed, those bloody sacrifices, had to do with forgiveness. They were simply an illustration of the fact that God Himself would come into the world and shed His blood that we might not perish but have everlasting life. God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son for that.
And of course, God himself is represented there in the temple, because where the Ark of the Covenant, the one that had been taken away, as I quoted earlier from Samuel, that was God’s throne. Now it was symbolic, of course. God doesn’t need a throne or a real chair or things like that. God is a spirit and has not a body like a man, but it represented that.
So, anything to do with the temple had to do with God Himself and with redemption of sinners such as we are. Now, as the people were inattentive and blasphemous and so forth, we find that Satan is lingering nearby. Satan rejoiced at the profaning of the temple. The less people thought about redemption, the less they thought about God, the happier Satan was and is.
But Jesus says, I’m going to do something here. I’m going to reveal the wrath of God. And that will lead us on. That’s a transition point on into the matter of the fig tree and so forth. But just to bring Satan back into the picture, for a moment, when Jesus went into the wilderness and He was tempted there in the wilderness, where did Satan take Him? Well, he took Him to a high mountain, but that’s not the main thing. He took Him to the pinnacle of the temple, the highest point on the temple and said, throw yourself down. And Jesus answered him, of course, and said that you’re not to tempt the Lord your God like that.
But I just point all this out to show you that Satan is lingering nearby and is very happy when people get the wrong view of God and have no true understanding of redemption and how Jesus fits in to all that. The sign that people kept looking for, show us a sign, show us a sign, is fulfilled, not so much in anything else, although there are things that touch upon it, but in his resurrection.
It talks about the sign of Jonah. Jonah was brought up out of death in the whale and went on to minister and serve God. Of course, Jesus himself, he said, was to be delivered from death. He was going to be raised. That’s the sign. that should draw people to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me just close this part by reading from John chapter 2 verse 18. So the Jews said to him, that is to Jesus, what sign do you show us for doing these things? And Jesus answered them, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. And then this explanatory note, the Jews were talking about physical bricks and mortar, but Jesus was talking about his own body, the Bible says.
Well, the temple, the main point here, the temple is preserved in the Lord Jesus Christ. There are people today who say, is there going to be another temple someday? Are the Jews going to go back to Israel and build a temple someday? Of course, there is that wailing wall that’s supposedly a part of Solomon’s temple, but the fact is that the temple that we need to be concerned with is the Lord Jesus Christ.
You need to go to Him. Your religion needs to center on Him. Even if the temple is taken away, and it was taken away, and even if somebody tries to build another one, it’s still Jesus that you need to go to and worship and find who God is and how you can be saved. And that’s our first emphasis today. The temple is preserved in the person. of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now secondly, we come to the fig tree, and we said that there was something about Jesus and his dealing with people by which Jesus needed to make the point of the wrath of God, that God was going to punish sinners. And so he picks a fig tree that has leaves but no fruit. The nation of Israel appeared like a tree in leaf, that is, they had all the trappings and look, but it was useless. Why? Well, maybe somebody thought it was a place to get some shade, and maybe somebody thought it made a pretty picture, but the main thing was it didn’t have any fruit, it didn’t have any figs on it, and therefore it was fruitless and useless for the intended purpose that God had there.
In Jude, in the book of Jude, he talks about clouds that have no rain. Now, we’ve had a lot of drought around here, and we’ve had a lot of clouds around here, but not much rain. And maybe we’ll have some more rain. I don’t know, but that’s just another illustration that you can have something that’s impressive And you can stand and look at clouds all day, but if it doesn’t rain, the clouds are not really fulfilling that purpose to bring water to the earth. And the tree that has no fruit is not fulfilling its purpose either.
You see, as far as Israel is concerned, the sentence of death was pending. But what about all those sacrifices and all those years? But the sentence of death was pending. because Christ had not come to die. Now, I say pending, because yes, God still was saving people who looked for that Savior to come. But now, Jesus says He’s on His way to the cross actually, is saying, this nation, because it will not look to Me and be saved, that nation really is only dealing with what is useless and fruitless.
Anyone who thought that righteousness came by means of the Old Covenant, all those commandments and things like that, they were wrong. Anyone who thought that righteousness came by the Old Covenant saw leaves, but no fruit. You see Jesus’ point now? He says, I’m the temple and I represent all these things that God is and things that you need, and you’re looking at leaves. but no fruit. That tree can’t save you. All the Old Testament things can’t save you unless it can make you right with God.
Jesus was a tree of life and is a tree of life for anyone who would feed on Him in faith. I like this thought. Jesus is never out of season. Now it says there was no fruit on the tree because it wasn’t the season for fruit. Okay, that’s the biological explanation.
But Israel needed to look to Jesus who’s never out of season. There’s never a time when He’s not ready to save those who come to Him. He said, whoever comes, I’ll never cast them out. Jesus is never out of season and He only gives life, but unleashes mighty power through prayer. Through prayer. And that’s where the prayer part figures in all this.
Jesus could have made the tree to bear fruit. You remember again when Jesus was tempted and the devil said, turn these stones into bread. And Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Jesus could have made the tree bear fruit. He could have gone to that fruitless tree and said, bear! And all the fruit would have come right out if that’s what was necessary. Jesus says that’s not what’s necessary. What’s necessary is that you feed on Me. That you eat of Me. For I am the bread of life. I’m the food that gives life.
If you look to Me, you’ll be saved. If you look anywhere else, you’ll just be disappointed. Now, the new covenant nation that doesn’t depend just on the commandments and those things, but depends only on Jesus, the new nation is a forgiven nation and offers forgiveness to people of faith, to people who believe. And that’s the real lesson to be learned here. that you people, and He’s saying to anyone who’s listening, you people are just looking at the leaves, but you have no fruit, and therefore you’re going to die. But if you look unto Me, in fact, look unto Me, all the nations, and be saved, God says. Feed upon Me, Jesus said. From Revelation chapter 22, verse 2, and this will close this part of it.
On either side of the river was the tree of life. Now, who’s the tree of life? The Lord Jesus Christ. On either side of the river was the tree of life bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Jesus says you want a real tree. You want a fruit-bearing tree. You want a tree with leaves that are not just pretty to look at, but that can heal. I’m that tree. And if you don’t look to Me, you’ll be as barren and dead as this illustration that I’ve got for you here. But if you look to Me, you’ll be fulfilled and saved, and for all eternity, you’ll have real purpose and meaning in your life. Going on then to the third of these points, and that is that Jesus’ authority rests on the fact that he is the truth. He had authority over the temple. He had authority over the tree. He just has authority.
There was a boxer a few years ago named Carl Williams, but nobody knew him as Carl Williams. His nickname was The Truth. Carl the Truth Williams. I think the idea was you get in the ring with him, you’re going to find out what you maybe didn’t know before and that is that he was a tough boxer and he could knock you out.
You always have authority when you have the truth. Now there’s something to remember. Where does this authority come from? It rests on the truth because the truth will inevitably prevail. You can tell yourself that you’re never going to grow old. But that’s not the truth. You’re going to get old. You can tell yourself a lot of things that you would like to believe, but it isn’t the truth. The truth will always prevail.
That’s why Jesus’ authority is based on the truth. The soul that sins, it’s going to die. Those who turn away from God will receive the wrath of God. Those who turn to God in repentance and faith We’ll be forgiven and have everlasting life. Oh, that’s the truth. And that was Jesus’ message. That was the gospel.
Now, we may sometimes struggle to get at the truth, but we will never miss it by following Jesus. I just want to give you that bit of advice today. You want the truth, you’ll never get it unless you do follow Jesus. But if you do follow Him, then you have the truth, and that’s where His authority comes from. Jesus spoke only the truth, which is why He taught with authority. What was said of the scribes and Pharisees? They didn’t teach with authority. But Jesus was unique. He did teach with authority. And what did He teach? He taught the truth. The scribes and Pharisees gave their controversial opinions about passages of Scripture and so forth. And I suppose many of them came close to getting it just right. But in the end, they had to say what these fellows said to Jesus just to get out of the bind that they were in. They said, we don’t know. We don’t know.
If you’re here today and you don’t know, I’m telling you, believe the Bible. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s the truth. You don’t have to say, I don’t know anymore. At least when it comes to your salvation and where you stand before God. In confronting people, Jesus spoke the truth regarding sin and righteousness and judgment. Now the Scripture says the Holy Spirit comes to impress those things, sin, righteousness, and judgment, but they all come down to what Jesus had to say. And you don’t have to say, I don’t know about righteousness, I don’t know about sin, I don’t know about judgment, because you can know, you will know, if you believe the Bible, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Nicodemus came to Jesus, and he said something rather different. He said, we know, we know. These scribes and Pharisees said, we don’t know. But Nicodemus came and said, we know that you are a teacher come from God. And he linked all the miracles and all the teaching to that fact, to the truth, that Jesus came from God. Later when he’s talking to them, especially to the scribes and Pharisees, and they’re deciding about what John the Baptist taught and so forth, if we say from heaven, we’re obligated to believe on him. In other words, if Jesus brings you the truth, it may have come through John the Baptist in this case, but if the truth comes to you, you’re obligated to believe it, and if you don’t, you’ll perish.
It’s that simple. Only fools and enemies refuse the truth. And they make themselves the authority. Who gives you this authority? Well, I give it to myself. Fooling you says, I’m your authority. Jesus says, no, I’m the only authority. In John 8.32, He said, you shall know the truth. And what? The truth will make you free. Exactly right. Jesus’ authority rests on the fact that He is the truth. Not Carl Williams. But Jesus, the truth of Nazareth. Jesus Christ, the truth. That’s what God sends you today. Authoritatively. You don’t have to say, I don’t know. I can’t make up my mind. It’s all there for you. It’s not hard. It’s not difficult. It just may not appeal to you. But if the Spirit of God straightens you out in your thinking and changes your heart, you will say, This is the truth.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. I’ll never get to the Father any other way than through Him. And that’s His message to you today. Let us pray. Father, we ask to know the truth and be set free. We ask, Lord, that we may be a part of the living tree as we feed upon Christ. And we pray, Lord, that all that is taught to us concerning the lordship of Jesus over everything and the way of salvation, that that may come home to our hearts and thrill our hearts today. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.