The vineyard Owner asked the vinedresser to cut down the tree that had failed to bear fruit for three years. The vinedresser pleaded for one more year to add manure to the fig tree and promised to cut it down if it didn’t bear fruit.
The fig tree was Israel, with Jesus as the Vinedresser and God as the Owner. In this Parable, the Lord was drawing attention to a life of fruitfulness that God requires of every person and His justification for cutting down any life that does not bear fruit. Of course, His audience Israel rejected His intervention to make them fruitful by killing Him in the fourth year of His ministry; thus, setting them up for judgment that came in AD 70, when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. God has given a good number of people several years to turn their lives over to Him and begin to bear fruit or repent, but they have failed to do so.
“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved!” (Jer 8:20). Some of us have our time already spent and live in injury time but still refuse to change. Through the intercession of Christ, Heaven still beckons us to take life by accepting Him or face perishing forever. God is compassionate and wants everyone to live. Just as He once saw Israel as a helpless baby thrown into the open field with no chance of survival and told her, “Live!”, He is saying to some unrepentant sinner today, “Live!” Whosoever God says, “Live!” shall begin to live, for only His Word carries life. Today, may you heed the intercession of Jesus through His Spirit and the Word of God, and yield your life to Him and be saved. Without Him, a bitter end awaits everybody, and it could be as close as today. God says, “Live!” So, let everyone receive life from Jesus and live. Why should anyone die when they can live?
