Good morning everybody. Thanks for having me here this morning. Before I get started, I just want to say I'm not normally nervous when I get up and preach. I'm feeling a bit nervous this morning. I don't think I've ever had to work so hard at a passage of scripture before. Ray sent me an invitation to come and speak back in January with the text and I've been looking at it and puzzling over it since then. I've been working this week with about a half a dozen commentaries, and every one of them really comes at this passage from a different perspective and interprets it differently. So before I start, I just want to say to you, my interpretation is not the authoritative word of God, but I'd really encourage you, after you've heard what I have to say, go away and do some more work on it. Get out some commentaries yourself, and one or two really isn't going to do it. Do some serious work on this. This is a really hard passage and there are some really hard things in it perhaps for us to hear as well. I just had a quick chat with John before I got up and told him where I was going and it's pretty clear that John himself wouldn't have gone in the same direction that I'm going to take this morning. So whatever heresies I preach now, John will sort out with you next week. How about we pray and then we'll come to God's Word. Loving Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You that it is life. And as we come to Your Word this morning with this particularly difficult passage, I pray that You would help me to speak clearly, to express my thoughts clearly, and that even if what I'm saying isn't what You intended when You inspired this text, that You might nevertheless, by Your Spirit, work through it and teach us something and encourage us in our faith. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. If you remember John's sermon from last week. Sermon audio is a wonderful thing. I had a chance to have a listen and hear what John had to say. You'll remember that Jesus has been encouraging his disciples to be ready. There's a growing sense of urgency as Jesus is approaching Jerusalem. And you would have picked up that a part of that urgency is connected with coming judgement. Last week you heard Jesus speaking to his disciples in chapter 12 after he tells them that parable about being dressed and ready for service. He tells them to keep their lamps burning and so on. The bridegroom could return from the wedding banquet at any moment and if he finds you unready, then you're going to be in trouble. Now having given that parable, Peter asked Jesus, Lord are you telling this parable to us or to everybody? And so we're in the middle now of a quiet, private conversation between Jesus and his own disciples. And Jesus, in response to this question from Peter, says, who then is the faithful and wise manager whom the Master puts in charge of his servants? As you go down to verse 45, There's this strong word which really seems to be against the leadership that's currently in Israel. But suppose the servant says to himself, my master is taking a long time in coming and then he begins to beat the men servants and maid servants and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and an hour he is not aware of, he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. If you've grown up with an image of Jesus as gentle Jesus, meek and mild, what we're hearing through chapter 12 and into chapter 13 is going to be a little disturbing for you. The language that Jesus is using here is quite strong, isn't it? Even offensive and frightening. At the heart of this teaching to Jesus' disciples is really this line, who then is the faithful and wise manager whom the Master puts in charge of his service to give them their food allowance at the proper time. It's really about feeding with the Word of God. The leadership up in Jerusalem are not doing it. And so you can almost imagine that as Jesus is teaching his own disciples and training them about how they are to go about their ministry, giving the servants their food at the proper time, you can imagine Jesus' eyes lifting towards Jerusalem and you can almost see a burning anger rising within him. As we come to our passage, you really get a sense of this. I have come to bring fire on the earth and how I wish it were already kindled. So much for gentle Jesus, meek and mild. I have come. There are a number of statements that Jesus makes that start with that phrase. They're really mission statements, aren't they? I wonder if you were walking down the street and met a friend who's not a Christian and they asked you, why did Jesus come, if this is where you would start. In John chapter 10, verse 10, Jesus says the one that I think we all know and love. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. What a wonderful and glorious thing. As far as I can tell, that's the only time Jesus starts a sentence with, I have come, that doesn't end with judgement. In John chapter 9 Jesus says, for judgment I have come into this world so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind. Then in chapter 12 verses 46 down to 48 he says, I have come into the world as a light so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. That's nice isn't it? But then he goes on, if anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person, for I do not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words. The very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. So Jesus comes in his teaching, he's effectively a sifting. Those who believe will not be condemned. Those who do not believe already stand condemned because they haven't believed in the name of the one that God has sent. Over in Matthew, there's another, I have come statement. Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. Jesus has come to bring judgement. He has come to save. Don't get that lost in your thinking either. I have come to bring fire on the earth and how I wish it were already kindled." Now some have tried to soften the sting of what Jesus is saying here by suggesting that the fire that he refers to is not the fire of judgement but the coming of the Holy Spirit. Certainly on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit appears as tongues of fire that rest on the apostles' heads. And perhaps another reason people like to suggest that that's what he's talking about here is really looking back into Luke in chapter 3 verses 16 and 17 where John is talking about Jesus' ministry. And there he says, I baptise you with water, but one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. And there I think sometimes we connect those two things as if the coming of the Holy Spirit is also the coming of fire. But as you go on into verse 17, I think it becomes clear that that's not really what he's saying there. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear the threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn. He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. So even there the fire clearly is connected with judgement. You know what a winnowing fork is? As the harvest was collected, large forks were used after the wheat had been given some time to dry to throw it up into the air and as it was, the grain would fall to the ground because it was heavier and you'd do it when there was a wind blowing and the wind would blow the chaff away. You can collect all of the chaff up and burn it. So again, really what's being spoken about here is division. I've come to cause division, to separate the wheat from the chaff. The image of fire is used as judgement again in Luke 9, verse 54 and 17, verse 29. So as you go through Luke and Acts, fire apart from perhaps Pentecost when the fire rests on their heads, fire is exclusively used for judgement. And Jesus says, how I wish it were already kindled. Jesus seems to be quite anxious for this judgement to take place. But then he says, that I have a baptism to undergo. And the version that was read to us this morning said, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished. The baptism Jesus is talking about is clearly his death on the cross. But one of the really key words in this sentence, and it really becomes pivotal in this passage, is that word that was translated as distressed. How great is my distress until it is accomplished. The Greek word being translated there is tsouneko, and it literally means to hold together. The word is used in one passage to describe the Pharisees who don't want to hear what Jesus has to say because they think that it's blasphemy and they hold together their ears. Hold together. It's used earlier in Luke's Gospel when Jesus comes to Peter's mother-in-law. Some translations there actually translate the word simply as ill, and I really don't think that's what it means. She was ill from a fever, but the word really means she was held together with a fever. You get that idea of being pressed and suppressed. If you've ever had a fever as a result of a sinus infection, that image really makes sense, doesn't it? This pressure being held down and suppressed. There's another passage where this word is applied to Jesus as he's pressed in by the crowd, suppressed, held in. The Old King James actually translates the word here as straightened and it's kind of the idea of being in a straight jacket, held in and contained. The word doesn't appear very much outside of Luke. You'll find it in Luke and in Acts. It's one of his words. Matthew only uses it once. Paul uses it twice. One of the places where Paul uses it is in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 14 where he says, The love of Christ constrains me because I'm convinced that one has died for all and therefore all have died. The word can mean arrested. The word can be used to describe the way a prison guard takes hold of a prisoner and forces him into a prison cell. Repressed, suppressed, taken hold of, pressed together. And so, the latest version of the NIV, it gets a little tricky. The new international version isn't new anymore. They really should have thought through the name a little bit better when they They gave it to them, so I'm not sure if this is today's New International Version or if it's another edition of the New International Version, but they've translated it this way and I think that this is probably what the verse is saying. But, I've come to bring fire on the earth and how I wish it were already kindled, but I have a baptism to undergo and what constraint I am under until it is completed. I think theologically this reading makes a lot more sense. Jesus has come to bring judgement, but he doesn't yet have the authority to do it because he hasn't yet undergone the baptism of the cross. Last week John spent some time looking at a little bit of Revelation with you, the letters to the churches. I want to go into Revelation now too. and show you in Chapter 5 where I think this really comes together. In Chapter 4 you have that glorious vision of God in heaven with the four living creatures and the elders gathered around him. And in Chapter 5 as John is watching he sees, there's a lot of Johns this morning, I think I've mentioned four already, I'm sorry if that's getting confused. There's the Gospel of John, John the Baptist, John who's sitting over there, and well here's John the Apostle who's written Revelation. Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. The number seven is a symbol of perfection or completeness. So to have seven seals means it's completely sealed. It can't be opened and you get that in the next line. Well, in verse 3 actually, I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll, but no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. So you can imagine the scroll, an ancient scroll, wasn't just a rolled up piece of paper, it had the ends on it. There's no way you can get into it. It's so perfectly sealed that no one can open it in order to see what's inside. John is distressed by this. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or to look inside. This scroll is connected with judgment. A lot of the imagery from the first few chapters of Revelation are borrowed from Daniel's vision in chapter 7 of that judgment scene. I'll just read chapter 7 verses 9 and 10 of Daniel. As I looked, thrones were set in place. Do you know what a throne is? A throne is not just the seat that the king sits in when he is having his dinner. A throne is a judgement seat. A throne is the seat that a king sits on when he is judging. Thrones were set in place. The Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow and the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire. So there is the image of fire again. And his wheels were all ablaze, a river of fire flowing, coming out from before him. So it's an image of judgement. So here again we have fire as an image of judgement. Thousands upon thousands attended him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The courts were seated and the books were opened. Why does a judge open books? Judges in our time and culture open books as well. After the court case has gone through all its proceedings, the judge retreats back into his chambers and he sits at his desk and he opens books. Books of law, both of prescriptive law but also of case law as he tries to work out how the laws have been applied in the past. They could also be records possibly, but somehow the opening of this scroll in Revelation is to do with judgement. John is weeping. He wept and he wept because there is no one worthy to open the scroll. Remember that Revelation is written to Christians who were being persecuted and even killed for their faith. So one of the things they longed for is justice. But there is nobody worthy to open the scroll and until that scroll can be opened, justice will not be done. Then one of the elders said to me, do not weep. See the lion of the tribe of Judah. The root of David has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals. Then I saw a lamb looking as if it had been slain, standing in the centre of the throne. And this lamb who has been slain is the one who is worthy to open the scroll. I think that's what's going on here in our passage. Until Jesus has undergone that baptism on the cross where he himself has taken the wrath of God onto himself and been raised from the dead and in his resurrection being proclaimed both Lord and Christ, he does not have the authority to open the scroll and to bring about the judgements of God, which you see happen as you go on through Revelation. The seals are opened, the bowls of wrath are poured out on the earth. There are a number of passages that talk about this same thing. Paul writes the letter to the Romans. He introduces himself and describes the gospel that he preaches regarding his son who was to his earthly Regarding his son who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David and who through the spirit of holiness was appointed the son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. Son of God there, there's not a problem with the doctrine of the Trinity here. To be appointed the son of God is really connected with the Davidic covenant. where God says to David and to all of his descendants, I will be your father and you will be my son. And it's at the resurrection where Christ is appointed the Christ. He is declared by God with power to be the Messiah. And only when he has that authority can he bring this judgement. It's taken a long time and we haven't got very far so far in this passage. I told you it was hard work. Do you think I came to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you but division." And our minds go back again to Luke 3, verses 16 and 17, where John the Baptist is talking about the winnowing fork, the separating, the judging, the separation of the wheat and the chaff. From now on, there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law. This isn't just talking about the normal inter-family disputes that go on. This is division caused by the Gospel. People will take a stand for or against Christ and so even in families, I don't think we get the full weight of this because in our culture family doesn't mean that much. I mean, I'm sure it means a lot to you, but in the ancient world family is everything and loyalty to family is everything. To stand against your father would be just the greatest offence. But here Jesus is saying, I am going to divide families as people pledge their allegiance to me or they oppose me, those who believe me, those who reject me. He said to the crowd, when you see a cloud, now get that, he's been speaking to his disciples, hasn't he? It's been an internal discussion up to this point, instructing them about how they have to go about their own ministry, caring for God's people, feeding God's servants at the appropriate time and so on, and we've been continuing that private conversation, but now, having just said this, Jesus turns to the crowds. When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say it's going to rain, and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say it's going to be hot, and it is. Hypocrites! Are you a little surprised when you see that? Jesus doesn't normally talk to the crowds like this. He usually reserves this kind of language for the Pharisees. or the Jewish leaders, the teachers of the law and so on. For Jesus to talk to the crowds like this is really quite unusual. We'll see as we go on here, and certainly as we go further into Luke, that when Jesus addresses the crowd here, he's really addressing them as representatives of the entire nation. And he's going to be calling on the whole nation to repent. You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time? Interpreting the times is a common pastime for false teachers and charlatans and nutcases all over the world. We love to speculate, don't we? Every generation up until this one has speculated about the return of Christ and got it wrong. This generation probably will get it wrong too. What are the signs of the times? What is it we're supposed to be interpreting? We quite often like to go into Revelation and start dabbling down there with all sorts of speculative interpretations or into Matthew 24 and 25, earthquakes and so on. You might have heard on the news this morning there was another earthquake in China. About 120 people killed and thousands of others injured. one of the signs of the times. Not here, I don't think. Certainly in Matthew, those are the signs that we're supposed to look for, but I'm not sure that that's what's going on here. I'll leave you to do your own speculating about how you interpret the current signs. To be honest, I think the crowds that Jesus is talking to probably thought that they were probably pretty good at interpreting the times. and I suspect that they thought that they could see a storm coming. In their messianic and nationalistic zeal, they were anticipating a great storm to be coming against the Romans. And they were assuming that they would be the benefactors of this great storm that was to come. And I think that what Jesus is saying to them is really in effect, have you ever considered that the growing tensions between your nation and the might of Rome are a sign that God is about to bring judgement on you. There's been a lot of discussion in the media about gay marriage. I'm sure you haven't missed it. It seems to be everywhere at the moment. The church, Christians are becoming increasingly isolated in our community. And there are a lot of Christians out there who can see a storm brewing on the horizon. And we're expecting God to come and bring judgment on those evil people. I wonder if you've ever considered that the rising tide of hatred against the church might in fact be a sign that God is about to bring judgment on us. After all, doesn't God's judgment begin with his own household? Why would he bring judgment on us? I'm sure the crowd was asking that same question. It would be easy to say, child sexual abuse in the church, but we've got to be careful because then once again we've started pointing the finger and saying, well, it's those sinners over there. In the work that I do with university students, sometimes what happens is a student has gone to a church where they haven't had good teaching and they start to feed on God's Word and really get excited about what they're learning. They realise that what they're being fed is absolute garbage and so they pack up and they leave. They go and find another church where they're going to be well fed. That happened recently. A student who's not on my own campus, so I had to have a chat with him and say, look, just calm down, catch your breath, think about this before you make any rash decisions and certainly don't go, and if you do leave, don't leave on a bad note. Don't wander through the crowds of church telling everybody, look, this church's teaching is rubbish, you need to get out before it's too late. I'm going to sit down with him soon. We've been reading through Revelation at uni with students and it's a wonderful book to sit down and read. One of the things that struck me as I was reading through the letters to the seven churches is that amongst the churches there is only one church that Jesus comes to and threatens to remove the lampstand. It's the good one. the church in Ephesus, the church that has its doctrine correct, the church that tests false teachers when they come along, false apostles, the church that hates the Nicolaitans, the church that has it all right. But Jesus says to them, you've forgotten your first love. The remedy to this is repent and do the things you did at first. When we go through the Bible, we often connect faith and works. We have that discussion about how they fit together. In Revelation, it's love and works, love and deeds go hand in hand. Just compare the church in Ephesus with the church in Thyatira. The church in Thyatira is a mess. You tolerate that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I've given over her for a time and so on. Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, those who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called dark secrets, this church is a mess. Their doctrine is garbage. They're not testing the false apostles. They're not kicking this so-called prophetess out. They're not keeping an eye on their morality. It's all going to pieces. But he does say this, I know your deeds, your love and faith, service and perseverance, see their word matchings, love goes with service, faith goes with perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. As much as this church is in a mess, there is no threat to remove its lamp stand. That's not to say that doctrine doesn't matter, of course it does. Have a look through those letters and see what Jesus says to the churches. His teaching is wrong, but he doesn't threaten to remove their lampstand if they love one another. By this will all men know that you are my disciples, that you love one another. So we need to hear this, and instead of looking for sinners out there who might be bringing God's judgement on themselves, we really need to have a good look at ourselves, don't we, and see what's going on. This is a problem in my work with AFES, because we're so focused on true doctrine, but we don't spend a whole lot of time looking after each other. That's something that I'm talking to the students about at the moment. Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right? As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled on the way or your adversary may drag you off to the judge and the judge turn you over to the officer and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny. Now this is word for word out of Matthew chapter 5 verses 25 and 26. There, in that context, it's clearly about making peace with other people. about how to keep yourself out of jail. So it's being used there quite literally. If you have an adversary and he's taken to the magistrate, sort it out before you get to the judge or he might throw you into prison. Here, it's in a very different context and so the judge here, in what we've just been reading, the judge here is clearly God and there's a call to be reconciled to him before you're thrown into prison. Now, unfortunately, human beings are very egocentric creatures, so whenever we read the Bible, we tend to think that everything is about me. We need to read this carefully and see it in its context. That attitude, that egocentric way of reading, has turned this passage into the Roman Catholics' justification for the doctrine of purgatory. There were two prison systems in the ancient world. One was the criminal prisons, the other were the debt prisons. One of the things they used to do in these debt prisons was occasionally drag the prisoner out and beat them up to encourage their family to pay off their debts a little bit more quickly. So when you understand that, well there's the doctrine of purgatory for you. I'd like to tell you that this isn't written to individuals about eternal judgement, but as I've already said, God is speaking to the nation of Israel. When he says, as you are going with your adversary, you is plural. We don't pick that up in the English unfortunately, but as you's are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled. I think as we go on, and we won't even get to all of it today, but towards the end of Luke, Chapter 13, what we'll see is Jesus lamenting over the city of Jerusalem, and when you get into Chapter 21, clearly talking about the destruction of Jerusalem, the nation here is on trial, being dragged before God, and the judgment being spoken about is really what comes to pass in A.D. 70. This judgment isn't permanent. Paul talks in Romans 11 about the nation of Israel and how they're going to be set aside for a time for the sake of the Gentiles, and then they're going to be brought back in. So if you understand it in that context, the passage makes sense. If you try to apply this to yourself individually, thinking about eternal judgement, you're also going to end up with the doctrine of purgatory, which just doesn't work. We've already pointed out that Jesus is addressing the crowd as representatives of the nation, so that's what's going on here. Now we move into chapter 13, and hopefully this idea that Jesus is addressing the crowd as the nation is going to help us to make sense of this. I know that I've gone for a long time already, but I warned you it was hard work. We're getting close to the end. Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered, do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way? We don't have a record of this event outside of the Bible, but Josephus, the Jewish historian, does tell us about a number of other atrocities that did take place around this time. In Jerusalem, Alexander Janais, who I think was the high priest, at one time butchered 6,000 Pharisees. Can you imagine? Slaughtered 6,000 Pharisees because they objected to his offering of sacrifices. There's another story about Herod Archelaus, who during the Passover slaughtered 3,000 protesters in Jerusalem. 3,000 protesters. It makes the stuff that's going on in America at the moment just look insignificant, doesn't it? There's another story about Pilate who's particularly significant to us. There's a story in Josephus about Samaritans. whose armed guard had gathered at the temple for a ritual and somehow word got back to Pilate that they were gathering arms, which they weren't really doing, it was just for a ceremony. But because they were all gathered there with their weapons in hand, he sent his army in and he massacred them. All of these events took place because there's some threat to the Roman Empire. This is the uprising, or at least perceived uprising of the people against the authorities and so this is what the Romans did. Everywhere. There's any sign of an uprising, they come in and they wipe them out. Now Josephus describes the whole of Galilee like this. The Galileans are ever craving for revolution. By temperaments they are addicted to change and delight in sedition. So probably the background of this story is something to do with this. These Galileans have been slaughtered by Pilate, Because of some kind of uprising they're either involved in or are plotting, and Pilate does something that's absolutely atrocious. He takes their blood and he mixes it with the offerings that they were taking to the temple. That of course means that those offerings can't be offered, or if they were even worse, it would desecrate the entire temple. Now I suspect what's going on is here. Jesus has just been speaking about recognising the signs of the times. And so someone from the crowd stands up and he's really saying, in effect, oh, here's one of the signs. Look what Pilate did to these Galileans, these heroes of the nation who are rising up to overthrow our oppressors. I think they're expecting Jesus to say, yes, the storm is coming against Pilate, that wretched dog. But instead, he seems to turn it on his head. Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? Hang on, that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about Pilate and his sins. These guys aren't the sinners, they're the revolutionary heroes. And all of Galilee? I tell you, unless you repent, you too will perish. Now, here's a sense that we get of an imminent coming judgement, because everybody's going to perish. So, it's not so much the penalty of sin is death, but he's talking about the coming of judgement. Unless you repent, the same thing is going to happen to all of you. Or what about those 18 who died in the Tower of Siloam, which fell on them? Do you think that they were more guilty than the others living in Jerusalem? This is just a natural disaster. The Tower fell over and killed people. Do you think it was because of their sin or do you think they were worse sinners than everyone else in Jerusalem? Can you imagine the shock and the offence of the crowd standing there? Are you seriously telling me that the entire nation is so guilty of sin that God's judgement is going to come upon us? Do you recognise the signs? Well, here's the most obvious sign of all. A sign of God's wrath has been staring us in the face ever since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden. It's a sign of death. You know, there's an AFES staff worker who for the last 20 years has had more success converting Australians to Christianity than any other staff worker in the country. He works in Canberra. Guess where he works? Duntree Military Academy. Every day they're going for training, they're confronted with immortality. Officer training. This is how you keep your troops alive in a battle. Confronted with death every day, is it really surprising? The sign is there in front of you. This is the most obvious sign of all. Now, Jesus moves from here into his parable. A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, for three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down. Why should it use up the soil? Sir, the man replied, leave it alone for one more year and dig around it and fertilize it. The word there is really manure. It shouldn't surprise us that's what fertilizer is. If it bears fruit next year, fine. If not, then cut it down. You might be surprised that there's a fig tree in the vineyard. Apparently it was quite common. Fig trees don't take a whole lot of work to look after them. So if you plant it in the vineyard, as you look after the vines, you'll just be looking after the fig tree at the same time. The fig tree, through the Old Testament, is a very common symbol for Jerusalem or sometimes even for the temple. And the vine is a symbol for the whole nation. So this image of a fig tree in a vineyard is a very handy double metaphor. The city of Jerusalem sits in the middle of the vineyard, the nation. This fig tree is useless. For three years it hasn't produced any fruit. Some people see here three years as a reference to Jesus' ministry, but I don't think that's necessary. I suspect he's really just talking about a long period of time that has been unfruitful. Worse than being unfruitful, fig trees take a lot of nutrients out of the soil. So the fig tree is sucking the life out of the vines as well. It's a great description of what's going on, isn't it? Jerusalem, the political and religious leaders are not feeding the servants at the appropriate time. Worse than that, they're sucking the life out of the nation, using up the soil. There's a question about how this parable works out. Who are the characters in it? A man had a fig tree and there's a man who takes care of the vineyard. The man who owns the fig tree wants to cut it down. From everything we've read, there's the parable in John 15 about God is the farmer and I am the vine, you are the branches. The farmer comes and prunes it and so on. We don't want to mix up our parables. The farmer, the one looking after this fig tree, I don't think is Jesus. And the reason is, in the context that we've been looking at, the one who wants to bring judgement on the earth is Jesus. So earlier, John the Baptist is talking about Jesus coming and he says, the axe is already at the root of the tree and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I've come to bring fire on the earth and how I wish that it were already kindled. So if Jesus is the one who wants to cut down the tree, who is the worker who asks for more time? And what's the significance of this fertiliser? Well, if I'm right in saying that what Jesus is talking about here is the coming judgement on the city of Jerusalem in AD 70, then the period of time here must surely be the time between the resurrection of Christ and that event in AD 70. And so the worker must be Jesus' disciple and the fertiliser must be the Gospel. You wouldn't normally apply fertiliser to a fig tree. To make a fig tree fruitful, all you need to do is trim it and water it. This is intensive treatment, giving it nutrients beyond what you would ever give it. And for that period of time after the resurrection of Christ, the Gospel goes out and the city of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel are being fertilised with this Word of God, His grace and His goodness, His love and His mercy and His forgiveness, all displayed to us at the cross. Give me some more time. Don't bring your judgment on them just yet. I read an article during the week that said there's some research being done in the United States that shows that people who believe in an angry God are prone to all kinds of anxiety disorders. So for the sake of your mental health, I'd like to take you back to what really lies at the heart of Jesus himself and of what's going on here. I've come to bring fire on the earth and how I wish it were already kindled, but I have a baptism to undergo. The cross is at the centre of Jesus' thought. The cross is at the centre of his work. The cross is the ultimate sign, isn't it? You think this power that fell on the people of the Tower of Siloam that fell and killed those people was a sign? Well, look at the cross. Here, the whole wrath of God is poured out on the sin of humanity for all to see. But more than that, isn't it? At the cross, the fullness of the love of God, of His mercy and His forgiveness is demonstrated to all the world. A God of great love, and yes, a God of great wrath too. But His wrath is necessary. The winnowing of the wheat and the chaff, The wrath of God is the means of our salvation. Let's pray. Loving, gracious, merciful, just and wrathful God, thank you that you demonstrate your love for us in this while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Father, those of us who are called to the ministry of feeding your servants at the appropriate time, I just ask that you would help us to hear these words and to see that for those who know your word and don't do it, there will be many beatings. We have a very serious responsibility. Father, as we look at our nation and see the rising anger against the Church The increasing isolation of Christians everywhere, we pray that instead of pointing the finger and wanting your judgement to come on those wicked people, we might start to examine ourselves. And Father, like this person who attends the fig tree, we just ask that you give us more time. We pray that you would send us out to fertilise the vine, to turn your people back to you, to be repentant, to understand the mercy that's been shown to them, so that instead of wanting judgement to fall on others, they might go out sharing the great gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.