Leaves but no Fruit

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"18 Now in the morning as He returned to the city, He was hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, 'Let no fruit grow on you ever again." Immediately the fig tree withered away." Matthew 21:18-19

There was a false illusion here and it displeased Jesus. The fig tree was displaying leaves which meant that there should have been figs on the tree. However, there wasn't. It had only the leaves. It was actually displaying that it was fruitful but it was false advertising - letting people believe it had something that it didn't. 

People can do this. Some people profess to have something but in the end it turns out to be untrue. False illusion. Basically, this parable shows God's disapproval of people who are all leaves and no fruit. These type of people display nothing but false hope and untruth and should be avoided wherever possible.

This tree was cursed by Jesus because it professed a lie. It had nothing but leaves. There was an outward form but nothing to back it up. God has immense displeasure when we claim to have fruit but don't. When we claim to have a prophecy but all it is is empty words. Such prophecies have ruined people's lives and in some cases, driven people away from a Godly walk God is not pleased by such behaviour and in a way, it shows that the person who gave the prophecy was displaying no good fruit whatsoever. They were just dried up and should never have attempted to prophesy in the first place. It was all leaves and no fruit.

God doesn't approve when there is a profession of fruit but no reality with it. To put it into the words of David Guzik, 'It is talk without walk.' Jesus commented on this in Matthew 7:15 - 20:

'Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears  good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit , nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire . 20 Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.'   NKJV

Now a word of warning here; not everyone who gives a prophecy that is wrong, is a false prophet. They just lack experience. They should however, be subject to leadership oversight and not be allowed to give a prophecy unless it goes through the leader beforehand. As time goes on, experience would kick in and less strict oversight be necessary. However, it is good practice to adopt this type of controlled ministry in order to avoid completely messing up someone's life with false prophecy.

If a person stays close to God on a daily basis; reading the Word, praying and learning from The Holy Spirit; before long, a level of good fruit will be recognised by the leadership and they will be raised up into their ministry. It is not really possible to expect to bear an overpowering level of fruit without spending time with God. On another note, be careful that you don'y sit on the fruit God has given you, afraid to administer it to whoever He leads you to. If you Bury it, it may shrivel up and die,

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard 


dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com