Under The Fig Tree
One does not become righteous by being good and perfect but only by God making them pure. It’s God’s holiness that makes us righteous. Towards the end of that chapter, Zechariah wrote that a “Branch” would come to God’s people who would remove their iniquities. Then, “Every one of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and under his fig tree.”
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Under The Fig Tree
Fruit plays an important role in the Bible. So do trees. The fig tree is probably the most important of them. God’s Word uses the fig tree to illustrate some of the most important principles about God and His people.
There is an interesting appearance of the fig tree at the very beginning of the ministry of Jesus and then another fateful occurrence at the very end of His time on earth. They are very important bookends to Jesus’s ministry.
In John 1, people began coming to Jesus. Some of them just followed Him around but others became committed disciples. Among them was Nathanael. Jesus had seen Nathanael before they even met and He made this observation:
John 1:47-48
“Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael said to Him, ‘How do You know me?’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’
Nathanael’s response was startling. He was awestruck and called Jesus the Son of God. That seems oddly disproportionate, doesn’t it? Why was Nathanael so amazed by Jesus’s words? It helps to know what it means to be “under the fig tree.”
In Zechariah 3, God demonstrated exactly how someone becomes righteous. They are cleansed by God. One does not become righteous by being good and perfect but only by God making them pure. It’s God’s holiness that makes us righteous. Towards the end of that chapter, Zechariah wrote that a “Branch” would come to God’s people who would remove their iniquities. Then, “Every one of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and under his fig tree.”
Nathanael saw the connection. He was the first of the disciples to recognize what was happening. Jesus had come to remove the sins of the world. Knowing that, Nathanael left everything to follow Him and he would be there watching when another fig tree would appear three years later as Jesus came closer and closer to the cross. It would be an ominous sign.
More on that on Monday.
