There are some truths to be learned from the incident with the fig tree.  If the fig tree represents Judiasm, then it is full of leaves, but has no fruit.  The fig tree withered quickly.  Judiasm came quickly to an end.  They were given a chance to accept Jesus as the Messiah and bear much fruit for the kingdom.  They rejected Him and so figuratively speaking, Judiasm withered quickly.

Ponder this concerning the parable of the two sons.  The first son represents sinners who repent and accept Jesus as Savior, then go to work for the kingdom..  The second son represents "cradle Christians", those who grew up in the faith who practice "churchianity", but never do any real work for the kingdom. What if the man had three sons and the third son, said yes and then followed through with doing work for the kingdom?

The following verse leaped off the pages of the Bible for us when we read it. This is what could be referred to as a "rhema" word from the Lord.  That is when the Holy Spirit "quickens" a word or phrase or verse and gives new understanding.

Matt 22:2
"The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.

God is the King who is preparing a wedding banquet for His Son, Jesus and Jesus’ bride (that would be us!) This gives us a foretaste of the banquet that is to come, the heavenly banquet as we prepare to take up residence in our eternal home. Our temporary life here should be lived in anticipation of our eternal life to come. In light of the uncertainties and uneasiness of the political climate of today, the most important thing is to keep our eyes on eternity. For additional writing on how to live our lives as Christians in a fallen world email us for the writing Kingdom Living in a Foreign Land.

See the book These Last Days for other details on the heavenly banquet to come.


The religious leaders continue to prod Jesus with questions, hoping to trap Him into making a seditious statement against the Roman authorities.  Jesus continued to astound them with His answers.

When Jesus was asked by one of the teachers of the law about the commandments, He, in effect condensed all ten commandments into two.  The first four commandments concern our relationship with God.  Jesus condensed those four into "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."
The last six commandments concern our relationships with others.  Jesus condensed those six into "Love your neighbor as yourself."  
Keep in mind that Jesus has only a few more days before the crucifixion.  He's wrapping up the law.  Judiasm has only a few final days. Isn't it interesting that this particular teacher of the law answered by acknowledging that all the law really boils down to these two.  Jesus responded to that revelation by saying, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."  The teacher of the law is almost there but not quite.

Jesus had no problem condemning self-righteousness, false religion, legalism, injustice, hypocrisy, and persecution.  All those words sound sinful in nature, descriptions of non-believers...right???  Not so!   Jesus was speaking of the religious leaders of the day. Jesus said the religious leaders were like white-washed tombs.  They looked good on the outside but were full of dead men's bones.  The religious establishment was full of spiritually dead people. Any connections to today???