"And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had LOOKED AROUND AT ALL THINGS, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve. Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. In response Jesus said to it, 'Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.' And His disciples heard it."
(Read what Jesus did when He came to the temple after having seen what was ABSENT from the "house of prayer" in v.15-19.)
"Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, 'Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed HAS WITHERED AWAY'."
The fig tree is somehow a depiction of Israel. I'm sure a Jewish historian could explain the significance. It appears Jesus uses the fig tree, the fruitlessness of that particular tree at that time of year, as an example of Israel's spiritual state. It could be that the fig tree represents the way for spiritual growth of that people under the five books of the Law, of which Paul writes, "the curse of the Law is that it was weak through the flesh".
Weak, it was, relative to the new and living way!
Jesus said, "I am the true vine (not the fig tree), and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes, that it may bear more fruit". "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you BEAR MUCH FRUIT, so you will BE MY DISCIPLES."(John 15:1,2; 7,8)
The fig tree is not mentioned in this context from that point forward. The True Vine had come for fruitfulness!
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