Lessons from the Fig Tree

There are several places in the scriptures that refer to fig trees, and I see at least three major themes that the tree is used in connection with.  The first is that of the destruction that will take place in the last days.  Isaiah wrote of the time of the Second Coming when the wicked will be punished: “The indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them.”  He then used the fig tree as part of this simile: “All their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree” (Isaiah 34:2, 4).  The Lord then used this kind of language again in the Olive Leaf revelation.  Speaking about the time directly before the Lord would come, He said, “For not many days hence and the earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man; and the sun shall hide his face, and shall refuse to give light; and the moon shall be bathed in blood; and the stars shall become exceedingly angry, and shall cast themselves down as a fig that falleth from off a fig tree” (D&C 88:87).  This time the falling of the stars is likened to the falling figs from a fig tree, but both scriptures give a sense of the inevitable: just as the figs will without a doubt fall from the tree eventually, so too will this destruction before the Second Coming take place. 

                 The fig tree is used in connection with a similar message in a parable that the Savior taught and which only Luke recorded: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down” (Luke 13:6-9).  It seems most logical that the man is Christ, the fig tree is the House of Israel, and the three years refers to the time that Christ spent trying to teach—with little success—the people of Israel.  It may be that the actual cursing of the fig tree that came at the very end of His ministry was meant to be connected with this parable: “And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!” (Matt. 21:19-20)  The time was up for Israel and His ministry was coming to an end.  Those who had leaves but no fruit—i.e. those who held fast to the Law of Moses and yet rejected its very Giver—would likewise be withered away.  They had been given three years to produce fruit but to no avail, and ultimately they would be cursed with the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem itself.

                The Savior told another parable using fig trees, but this one seems to have been more for the righteous who would need guidance in the last days.  He said this: “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors” (Matt. 24:32-33).  In other words, just as one could discern that summer was about to arrive based upon the condition of the leaves of a fig tree, so would the elect be able to see when the Savior was soon to appear based on the signs of the times.  The Lord used this same analogy twice in modern revelation.  Speaking of how His coming was “nigh at hand” He said, “And they shall learn the parable of the fig tree, for even now already summer is nigh” (D&C 35:15-16).  In another revelation He warned of the great tribulations of the last days –including “a desolation sickness” to “cover the land”—and then told the righteous: “Ye look and behold the fig trees, and ye see them with your eyes, and ye say when they begin to shoot forth, and their leaves are yet tender, that summer is now nigh at hand;  Even so it shall be in that day when they shall see all these things, then shall they know that the hour is nigh” (D&C 45:37-38).  Again the message is the same: though the signs may be frightening, when we see them we will know that the time of the coming of the return of the Savior is nigh just as we can predict the summer from the condition of the fig leaves.