Today I did a research on just what great Christians of the past had to say on the parable of the fig tree.  My search was most difficult because I realized that some of the great Christian orators and writers of their time had no clue that the U.N. would ever exist....nor that it would declare a national homeland for the Jews as was done in 1948.  So, what did this parable mean to them with what they understood from centuries past?  I wanted to know.

But....God does not change.  What was true back then should still be true for us today.  I found one that was written in 1688 by John Bunyan.  It is in old English and somewhat difficult to comprehend in the beginning.  But, as one goes on, it gets much easier.  He calls Christians "professors"...which at first was confusing.  However, what he had to say was quite an eye-opener.  It brought me back to the verse of Mark 8:24..."And he lo! oked up and said, 'I see men as trees walking.'  God speaks of His vineyard and planting crops and fruit.  But, He always refers to these trees and fruit as people.  And in understanding this, I now see what God means when He spoke of the "fig tree".

This sermon was preached 325 years ago:

http://acacia.pair.com/Acacia.John.Bunyan/Sermons.Allegories/Barren.Fig.Tree/To.the.Reader.html


Should John choose to post this one, I pray that it brings a deeper knowledge of spiritual truth to those who understand it.

Arlene