Hey everybody! Thank you for joining me in daily Bible reading as we seek to glorify Jesus, know Him more, and interpret the truth of His Word.
If this is your first time going through the Bible, I am incredibly excited to have you here. If this is your 5000th time, I am humbled that you are here and hope you grow in your relationship with Jesus along with me. May we all seek to know Him more and apply what we learn to further our mission of spreading the gospel. If you missed a day and want to catch up, visit the archives page HERE! But there is no shame if you start today! Day 240, Matthew 21:22 — The Fig Tree Matthew 21:22 (NASB1995) “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” Review Yesterday, we read about Jesus’ acted parable about the withering fig tree. Jesus looked for food outside Jerusalem and saw a leafy fig tree in the distance. However, it was fruitless and had nothing but inedible leaves. Jesus then cursed it so that it would never produce fruit again and it withered away. This useless fig tree parallels with the lukewarm Laodicean church Jesus spits out in Revelation 3:15-18. It also represents God’s coming judgment against unbelieving Israel. This includes His judgment against the hypocritical religious leaders, who appear righteous but do not bear good fruit in keeping with repentance. The disciples then questioned how the tree withered. Jesus replied using a common ancient figure of speech to explain doing the impossible. He is encouraging the twelve to have faith that the LORD will answer when they declare judgment against the wicked. The religious leaders of Jesus’ time are as spiritually barren as the fig tree, showing signs of life yet destitute of life-giving, edible fruit. They have become fruitless instead of producing good fruit that leads people to God. Thus, just as Jesus overturned the tables in the temple, Jesus cursed the fig tree representing God’s judgment against Israel. Jesus uses this acted parable to show His disciples that they will have power from God to accomplish His will by also warning of coming judgment and leading the people of Israel to salvation in Christ. Discussion Today, we conclude Jesus’ reply to the disciples and discuss a verse commonly taken out of context. Jesus says, “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” Now that we understand the historical context of the fig tree representing judgment against Israel, this verse seems out of place. Why does Jesus mention removing mountains (v. 21) and reference faithfully trusting the LORD in our prayers? Notably, Jesus mentioned a similar concept earlier in Matthew 7:7 about asking, seeking, and knocking. In that passage, we learned it is in our desire to seek God and His glory that we will receive, find, and have opened the doors of His holy purposes. We need to know and trust God entirely and He will provide our needs just as He says. The question then becomes a matter of trust—do we faithfully trust Him? Likewise, Jesus is telling the twelve in this passage that when they faithfully trust and believe what they ask for in prayer, God will respond. However, this does not mean Jesus is giving the disciples the power or authority to ask for anything they want or desire or speak things into existence. But for whatever God wills concerning Jesus’ mission and the coming kingdom. There is no specific restriction on prayer here except the link to the fig tree parable, which aligns with God’s judgment.[1] Thus, Jesus is teaching the disciples to trust wholly in God in alignment with His will and He will answer them. For them to fulfill the great commission that Jesus has prepared for them, they must genuinely trust in God’s power to respond to this promise. A biblical example of the disciples applying this happens in Acts 5:1-11. This is the story about Ananias and Sapphira, a couple put in charge of managing the ministry finances. In short, they sold a piece of property to finance the ministry but kept back a sum of the profits for themselves (Acts 5:1-2). By the power of the Spirit, Peter discerned their treachery (v. 3) and called Ananias out (v. 4a) before finally announcing judgment upon Ananias (v. 4b), saying, "You have not lied to men but to God.” Ananias then dropped dead (v. 5). Later that day, Peter approached Sapphira and announced judgment upon her as well (vs. 6-9), saying, “Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well.” Sapphira then dropped dead just as her husband did. We never see the disciples make a miraculous spectacle during their ministry. Instead, they always seem to align with God’s will and trust Him to make things happen according to it. This gives them the confidence to boldly preach the message of repentance and truth about salvation being extended to the Gentiles. Ananias and Sapphira were stealing funds from God and lying about it, which provoked Peter to cast God's judgment upon them. Notably, this happened after Pentecost in our current age. Application I separated this verse and planned to teach how not to interpret this verse, but we already did that on Day 70 about Matthew 7:7. There is no difference from yesterday’s application since the verses go together, other than recognizing the reality that God responds to our faithful requests. However, we must acknowledge that this passage has a specific link to the barren fig tree parable about God’s judgment against sin. We cannot separate it and make it mean something unrelated to that theme. Since it reads nearly verbatim to Matthew 7:7, though, we can go to that passage to learn what Jesus means by the phrase. The point is Jesus wants His people to have genuine trust in God and faith that He answers us. This does not mean we can use Him like a genie to get what we want, but that He will respond to our faithful requests according to His will—and specifically in this passage, about having confidence to teach the truth about judgment against sin. I will admit that I do not know how to apply this passage. Do we have the authority to cast such judgments as Peter did? This is something I will need to meditate on much further. However, it is interesting that this judgment of Ananias and Sapphira happened in our current age, meaning God could still judge someone in this way today. May we praise, worship, honor, and glorify Jesus every day in all that we do while continually pursuing righteousness, holiness, and forgiveness as He forgave us. Looking Ahead Thank you for joining today’s daily Bible reading! Next, we read Matthew 21:23-27. I hope you join me! I have made commenting available, so please feel free to discuss the reading and ask questions. If you do not want to discuss publicly, you can reach out to me privately. We are on this journey together. References [1] Doug O’Donnell, “New International Greek Testament Commentary.”
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