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6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ 8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’” ~ Luke 13:6-9
We come to the last paragraph in a long sermon that the Lord Jesus gave in the months toward the end of His ministry. In v.6 we read, "Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any."
In that day, fig trees were very common and very valuable. Fig trees grew to a height of twenty-five feet and sometimes their width was as much as twenty feet.
In this parable, this man had a fig tree in his vineyard. It had been there quite a while. And, he came looking for fruit on it and didn't find any. This fig tree was expected to produce fruit because it was planted in vineyard soil. That was the best place it could have been planted.
According to Leviticus 19:23–25, fruit from newly planted trees was not eaten the first three years, and the fourth year the crops belonged to the Lord. A farmer would not get any figs for himself until the fifth year, but this man had now been waiting for seven years! No wonder he wanted to cut down the fruitless tree!
In v.7 we read, "So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?" Since the tree had been provided all that it needed to produce fruit, when it did not, the owner wanted to cut it down.
In v.8 we read, "Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it." Understood here is the many opportunities we all have to place our faith in the Lord Jesus. God pursued me for almost eighteen years. It was on the heels of my dad dying, when I was a month away from being eighteen, that I cried out for His presence in my life. And, since my mother died when I was five years old, I was desperate for some help from somewhere. I've often wondered where I would be had I not cried out to Him that October day in 1981.
And then in v.9 we read, "If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down." The word “fine” is in italics which means it is not in the original Greek text. The word "fine" is like a shrug of the shoulders. The literal translation of "If it bears fruit next year, fine! " is “in the coming time.” I don't know how long that time would be. It's open-ended.
In the Greek, this first “if” in v.9 is a third-class conditional sentence, which is best translated, "If, and it probably won't happen." The structure of this verse explains why there's no fruitfulness because it's an unlikely reality that the tree will bear fruit, and so it leaves us with nothing but a sort of shrug of the shoulders. The people who had heard the message of the Lord Jesus and had seen His miracles should have believed but they didn't.
The primary application of our text is for anyone who has heard the truth for so long and had to date rejected it. The hope of them believing was getting dim, but the heart of God is always willing to respond to any plea of help. And yet, these Jews had some time before His death and departure. They would get more opportunities to believe.
This tree reminds us of God’s special goodness to Israel. God waited three years during the Lord’s earthly ministry, but the nation, at large, did not produce fruit. He then waited about forty years more before He allowed the Roman armies to destroy Jerusalem and the temple, and during those years, the church gave to the nation a powerful witness of the gospel message. Finally, the tree was cut down.
In the end, according to Romans 11, the ax cut them down. Those who bear no spiritual fruit through a relationship with God by means of Jesus Christ will be cut down and they will suffer torment forever.
The judgment is near. The sand of the hourglass is running out fast. The events of our day are lining up with the days God refers to in His word as the end days. You, my friend, need to come while you have the time, while you have the opportunity.
God is gracious and long suffering toward people and does more than enough to encourage us to repent from our way of making it and believing, and thus, bear fruit. God has every right to cut us down, but in His mercy, He has spared us. Yet we must not presume upon the kindness and patience of the Lord, for the day of judgment will come.
It is significant that the parable was left “open-ended,” so that the listeners had to supply the conclusion. Did the tree bear fruit? Did the special care accomplish anything? Was the tree spared or cut down? We have no way to know the answers to these questions, but we can answer as far as our own lives are concerned! Again, the question is not “What happened to the tree?” but “What will happen to me?”
God is seeking fruit, the evidence of His presence in our lives. He will accept no substitutes, and the time to repent is now. The next time you hear about a tragedy that claims many lives, ask yourself, “Am I just taking up space, or am I bearing fruit to God’s glory?”
The only way for you and me to bear fruit is due to the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He actually produces the fruit. And, the Bible instructs us that if we will believe in the Lord Jesus and receive His free gift of forgiveness, the Holy Spirit will make our spirit alive to Him. I trust you have done this, my friend.
