Good Figs

“The Lord showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.” Jeremiah 24:1

According to the Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary, “Baskets of figs used to be offered as first-fruits in the temple.” What do these two baskets of fruits have to do with the king, the princes, the craftsmen and the metal workers being carried away to Babylon? It seems that their capture was for Babylon’s benefit and for the Judah’s deprivation. Why figs?

“One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were so bad. Then the Lord said to me, ‘What do you see, Jeremiah?’ And I said, ‘Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad. Again the Word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans.’” Jeremiah 24:2-5

According to the Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary, the good figs represent Judah’s former King Jeconiah and the exiles in Babylon. The bad figs represent the current King Zedekiah and the people in Jerusalem. This prophecy was designed to encourage the despairing exiles, and to reprove the arrogant Jerusalemites who assumed themselves superior to those in Babylon. An approval to goers and a rebuke to stayers!

The removal “of the good figs” to Babylon saved them from the calamities which befell the rest of the nation and led them to repentance there. God bettered their condition. Daniel and Ezekiel were among these captives.

“For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.” Jeremiah 24:6-7

I see a trifold blessing in this Word. “I will give them a heart to “KNOW-ME, BE-MY-PEOPLE, WITH-THEIR-WHOLE-HEART.” “To know Me” speaks of their mindset. “Be My People” speaks of their identity. “With their whole heart” speaks of their affection. The combination of these three blessings will empower them to be faithful in their marriage to God, so that they will not succumb to idolatry again. Walking faithfully with God is a wonderful place to be.

By God’s grace, amidst hardships, their love for God was restored and they ceased worshipping idols. In Revelation 3:19, Jesus told the lukewarm Christians of Laodicea, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, so be zealous therefore and repent.”

I am grateful to God for loving me so much that He chastened me, rebuked me and brought me to repentance in regards to faith in Him. Before I was born again, I lacked power and authority to proclaim the Gospel, make disciples and baptize new believers, but after He brought me to repentance and filled me with His Spirit, doing His will yields for me exceedingly great joy.

Proverbs 22:15 says, “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. The rod of correction will drive it far from him.” In Psalm 119:67, David wrote, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey Your Word.” I needed disciplined. The Lord granted me grace to purge from my possessions books, movies, pictures, music, and promotional T-shirts that did not glorify Him. Anything that did not promote love for God! After that I met my wife, we married and left the USA to serve the Lord in Hong Kong and Guangzhou. I now, consider those overseas mission years as the best years of my life because of the fellowship I enjoyed with Jesus at that time.

“And as the bad figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad—surely thus says the Lord—so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt. I will deliver them to trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them. And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.” Jeremiah 24:8-10

In Revelation 6:8, Jesus revealed similar judgments in the last days. “I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.” These judgments reflect God’s desire to bring His people Israel back into relationship with Him. Then, in Revelation 7:3-8, Jesus reveals to us 144,000 elect servants from the twelve tribes of Israel. In Revelation 7:9, Jesus reveals “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” in heaven worshipping Him. This is the people of Israel turning to Jesus Messiah and leading multitudes of people to believe in Him.

So, as the Lord used the Babylonian captivity in Jeremiah’s days to bring His people back to Him so will He use tribulations in the last days to correct and renew their faith in Him.

In Matthew 8:12, 13:42, 50, 22:13, 24:51, 25:30, Luke 13:28, our Lord Jesus Christ described the final destiny of unsaved souls as a place of darkness. A fiery furnace full of people weeping and gnashing their teeth! Hell is a never-ending nightmare. So, for those He loves and wants to be with Him for eternity. He allows lesser tribulations to save them from greater and everlasting tribulations, namely hell.

Could it be that we are like those bad figs that have a bad flavor when we do not surrender ourselves to God’s will? When we stay home, playing games and feasting and fail to go forth into the world with the light of the Gospel?

When people are alienated from God, they do not realize the value of knowing Him. They eat, drink, enjoy entertainment and die clueless of what awaits them. Slumbering souls must be awakened by hearing the bad news that they are condemned sinners, and the good news that God loves them and sent His Son Jesus to be an atoning sacrifice for their sins to save them.

Have you ever bitten into a rotten apple? God compared those who refused to listen to His Word to rotten food. He said, “As the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.” They were distasteful to Him.

In 1 Samuel 15:22-23, the Lord said to King Saul, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the Lord’s voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected the Lord’s Word, He has also rejected you from being king.”

The choice figs of Jerusalem were the people obeyed Him. He promised to watch over them and to rebuild them. He promised to give them a heart to know Him.

The rotten figs were the people who disobeyed Him. Hebrews 10:26-27 says, “If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.”

We cannot by human self-determination transform ourselves. Unless God changes us, we will not change. It is better to cry out as the man did in Luke 18:13, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Like King David did in Psalm 51:10-12! After he committed murder and adultery, he humbled himself and prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit.”

“For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose Name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” (Isaiah 57:15)

Jesus indicated that the fruit God desires is produced in and through us as we simply abide in Him. (John 15:5) May it be forever so!