In the Case of the Cursed Fig Tree, It Was Not the Time of Figs So Why Did Jesus Curse It for No Fault of Its Own?
1) Direct Answer
Jesus did not act unjustly. The tree had leaves, and in that kind of fig, leaves advertise that early figs should be present. Though the general harvest “season” was not yet, that leafy tree promised fruit it did not have. He cursed it as a sign against empty profession—especially Israel’s—and as a lesson on faith and judgment.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- Mark 11:13 says He saw a fig tree “having leaves,” so He came “if haply he might find any thing thereon.” Leaves gave Him a right to expect something.
- The note “for the time of figs was not yet” speaks of the general season, but Scripture shows there are early figs before full harvest: “the first-ripe in the fig tree” (Hosea 9:10), “my soul desired the first ripe fruit” (Micah 7:1), and “the fig tree putteth forth her green figs” (Song of Solomon 2:13). So with leaves present, early fruit could rightly be sought.
- Matthew 21:19 shows immediate withering—swift judgment on fruitlessness.
- Luke 13:6–9: after repeated visits with no fruit, the barren fig tree is to be cut down—Jesus had come to Israel for years seeking fruit.
- Mark 11:15–17: right after cursing the tree, He cleansed the temple. A leafy tree with no figs and a busy temple with no prayer both show the same thing: show without substance.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- Now notice: leaves are a sign. If there are leaves, there should be something edible beginning—first figs. This tree raised an expectation it failed to meet. That’s the point.
- Jesus judged hypocrisy, not agriculture. He used His creation as a living parable: when God gives light and privilege, He looks for fruit. If there is only profession, judgment follows.
- You see, He then taught, “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22–24). The withered tree became a sermon on the authority of spoken faith and the certainty of God’s Word against barrenness.
4) Reinforcing Statement
God will not accept leaves without figs. Privilege brings responsibility; where there is profession without fruit, His Word exposes it and judges it.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
A Super Sense
59-1227E §67
Look, let me just say this again, just for a minute. Jesus passed by a tree one time, and it was a fig tree. And He looked at the fig tree. Now, please, don't miss this. He looked at the fig tree, and there was no figs on it. And He said... He cursed the tree and said, "No man eat from thee." The disciples looked around; tree looked like it always did. An hour from then, it still looked the same. God never opened up the earth and swallowed it up. God never sent a forked lightning out of the skies and burnt it to a...
Faith
57-1229 §25
Now, those people that Jesus has spoke to there about the tree. Now, notice just a moment now as we close. After He was coming out of the temple one day, He run down to a tree to find out if He could find something to eat on this tree. There was nothing there, because the time of figs wasn't yet. And He could find nothing. So, He said to the tree, "No man eateth from thee from henceforth; no one eateth." And the next day... They never seen any difference in the tree right then, it didn't show any results, any physi...
The End-time Sign Seed
62-0319 §56
How many in here is Christians? Now, raise your hands. All right, thank you. I guess a hundred percent. All right. Watch, close now, when we bring this end-time seed sign. Jesus said, "Learn a parable of the fig tree." Now when you see the fig... Now learn a parable of what? The fig tree. Now anyone knows, that reads the Bible, that the fig tree has always been the Jewish race of people. Joel said, "What the palmerworm left the caterpillar eat," and so forth. That was the stump, that the creeds and things eat the c...
The second coming of the Lord
57-0417 §22
Jesus also in His address to His people, He said, "Learn a parable of the fig tree. When it is tender and begins to put forth leaves, you say, 'Summer is nigh.' And when you see these things begin to come to pass, know that the time is at hand." Notice what the fig tree was. The fig tree has always been the Jewish nation. He said not only "the fig tree," but "the other trees." "When you see the fig tree and all the other trees putting forth their buds." Now, He spoke not only of the fig tree, but the other trees.
Palmerworm, locust, cankerworm and caterpillar
53-0612 §38
And while I was setting out this afternoon reading, I thought... I happened to turn over to Joel, and I thought... The Lord just spoke to me, something about Joel there and that palmerworm, cankerworm, caterpillar, and locust. And how it had stripped the tree. Now, that tree was represented again in Matthew 24, when Jesus spoke of the tree. The tree is always... The Jewish church has always been the fig tree. That's the tame tree and the wild tree. And we were the wild tree which was grafted into the tame tree. And...