[Note: These is the prepared text of a split sermon given to the Portland congregation of the United Church of God on the Sabbath of October 21, 2023.]

Good afternoon brethren. I hope that most of us have returned from the Feast of Tabernacles in spirit of renewed purpose and focus and in good health and spirits. In a previous split sermon, I discussed the importance of the first biblical appearance of the Hebrew word asher, which means both happy and blessed, in the life of Leah and her troubled family. Today I would like to examine the appearance of the biblical concept of every man being given his own vine and fig tree and examine the millennial blessings and political implications of this promise as it has appeared in the scriptures. We rightly associate the universal promise of everyone having their own vine and fig tree as being representative of the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, but vines and fig trees have also been reflective of the good life that has been promised with good government in this present world. Since it is immediately after the Feast of Tabernacles, it is worthwhile that we should explore the often repeated symbols of vines and fig trees and to examine their meaning and importance for us as believers. First, I will explore some of the twenty verses of the Bible that discuss the vine and fig tree and briefly discuss their context and meaning, and then I will make some overall comments about some of the implications of vines and fig trees that often go neglected when we think of them as a symbol of good life that has been promised by both God and by human governments.

There are twenty verses in the Bible that refer to vines and fig trees together, and about half of them or so deal with obscure prophecies about how God removed the prosperity of ancient Israel in order to try to prompt them to repent, though unsuccessfully. This is a highly relevant discussion, but I will save that material for part two of this message. For this message I will discuss the positive side, relatively speaking, of the biblical references to vines and fig trees. First, we will cover the available biblical material that consists of the blessings and biblical promises and expectations of vines and fig trees.

The first of these references sets the tone for how vines and fig trees are viewed in the Bible. As is often the case with biblical symbolism, we have the first reference in the law. Let us turn to Deuteronomy 8:5-11. Deuteronomy 8:5-11 is a small part of a larger passage that deals with both the promise of God’s blessings to Israel along with the warnings of judgment for disobedience, and it sets the tone for how the bible views the promises of vines and fig trees throughout the remainder of scripture. Deuteronomy 8:5-11 reads: “You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you. Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.  For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper.  When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today.”

This passage is reasonably straightforward. God begins Deuteronomy 8 by recounting the experience that the children of Israel had in the desert, with both God’s blessings and His correction and chastening. After that, God gives a promise that He is giving Israel a good land in which they will enjoy the good life, with enough to eat and enough resources, so long as they obey God and follow His commandments and show appreciation to God for His blessings. After this passage there is a lengthy warning of the certain misery that would follow–and did follow–because of Israel’s disobedience to God and rebellion against His laws and His ways, which we will not focus on at this time, but that is worth keeping in mind.

The next time we find a mention of vines and fig trees, we find it in an offhand reference to the blessings of the good life that Israel enjoyed during the golden era of King Solomon’s reign. We find this reference in 1 Kings 4:24-25. 1 Kings 4:24-25 reads: “For he had dominion over all the region on this side of the River from Tiphsah even to Gaza, namely over all the kings on this side of the River; and he had peace on every side all around him.  And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.” This verse gives us a succinct picture of the good life as it exists, rarely, under good government. Though Solomon was by no means a perfect king and his high taxation and exploitation of Israelite labor, and the turning of his heart to allowing the idolatry of his heathen wives, eventually led to the disunity of Israel in the days of his son Rehoboam, in retrospect and possibly at the time, Solomon’s reign could be recognized as an age of plenty and an age of peace and security that the people of Israel and Judah would seldom know in their history.

Interestingly enough, there is a reference to vines and fig trees that is contemporaneous to this in the Song of Solmon. This is a book we do not often go to, so let us turn to Song of Solomon 2:10-13. Here, in a passage filled with symbolism about the beauty of new life in spring comes this passage that refers to the vine and fig tree. Song of Solomon 2:10-13 reads: “My beloved spoke, and said to me: “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell. Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away!” Here, not for the first time and not for the last time, the blessings of figs and grapevines is connected to Israel, and with the coming of new life after a period of lying fallow, and the fact that it is connected here to Solomon is striking given what the Bible says about Israel enjoying their own vine and fig tree during the days of his reign.

The next time we find a reference to every man having his own vine and fig tree, we find it in a striking and surprising context. This context is so striking that it is mentioned twice in the Bible. For now, we will read the account in 2 Kings 18:31-33. These verses are part of a larger passage that contains the frightening siege of Jerusalem around 701BC during the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah. They also appear in the book of Isaiah, where we will turn when we discuss the political implications of vines and fig trees at the end of this message. 2 Kings 18:31-33 reads: “Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make peace with me by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern; until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive groves and honey, that you may live and not die. But do not listen to Hezekiah, lest he persuade you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.”” Here, the spokesman for the King of Assyria, the Rabshakeh, promises Judah that they will enjoy the good life and the blessings of plenty under the gentle and beneficent rule of the mild and kind King of Assyria. He tells the people of Jerusalem not to trust in God, but to trust in the human government of Assyria to provide them with land after they are removed into captivity from their own land. I will have more to say about this later, but for now I would like a show of hands to see which among us here believes that the King of Assyria could and would provide the good life to Judah and to the other nations under his rule. Anyone? [Waits for no hands.] I didn’t think so.

After this, we find a few references to the enjoyment of the good life of everyone having their own vine and fig tree in the minor prophets, so let us turn to some of these brief references and see how it was that for the prophets of God, the vine and fig tree became a shorthand symbol of the blessings of plenty and economic security that God would provide to His people in His millennial kingdom. We find, for example, a passage in Joel 2:21-23 that strikingly resembles the one in Song of Solomon 2 that we read earlier, pointing to the blessing of the vine and fig trees in a prophetic spring that follows God’s judgments and the blessings of the former and latter rains. Joel 2:21-23 reads: “Fear not, O land;
be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done marvelous things! Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field;
For the open pastures are springing up, and the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their strength. Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God; for He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you— the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.” Here we see Joel giving God’s blessings to a restored people who are able to enjoy the bountiful blessing of a restored world. Not only that, but the blessing extends beyond people to even the beasts of the field, who share in their enjoyment of God’s blessings.

We find the next reference to everyone enjoying their own vine and fig tree in a passage that immediately follows the familiar prophecy of Micah 4:1-4, which is also echoed in Isaiah 2. The promise of Micah 4, which was probably read, possibly multiple times, where you went to the Feast, was that people from all over the world could come to Jerusalem to learn the laws and ways of God, and that the blessings of the millennial rule of Jesus Christ would include peace and conversion of tools of war into agricultural implements, and the neglect of the study of war that has been so common in this present evil world. It is the next passage after this, though, that I would like to read today, in Micah 4:5-8. Micah 4:5-8 reads: “But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. For all people walk each in the name of his god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will assemble the lame, I will gather the outcast and those whom I have afflicted; I will make the lame a remnant, and the outcast a strong nation; so the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on, even forever. And you, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come, even the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.”” Here we see that the promise of the good life is about more than just vines and fig trees, it is more than the absence of war. It is the absence of fear and terror, the healing of the physical wounds of life in a fallen and evil world, but also the mental wounds of trauma and isolation. God will restore not only the lands of the survivors of His judgment, but also their bodies and their spirits. This too is part of the blessing of the good life that God promises to those who enter into His kingdom.

We find a third reference of vines and fig trees in the minor prophets in Zechariah 3:6-10. Here, the blessing of vines and fig trees comes at the end of an unsettling passage that discusses the sin and corruption of the high priest Joshua during the period after the Babylonian captivity. The restoration of the high priest after his repentance is then compared to the coming establishment of the messianic kingdom of Jesus Christ. Zechariah 3:6-10 reads: “Then the Angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘If you will walk in My ways, and if you will keep My command, then you shall also judge My house, and likewise have charge of My courts; I will give you places to walk among these who stand here. Hear, O Joshua, the high priest, you and your companions who sit before you, for they are a wondrous sign; for behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH. For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua: upon the stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave its inscription,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘Everyone will invite his neighbor under his vine and under his fig tree.’”” Here we see that with the repentance of the corrupt leaders of Judah and a turning of their hearts towards obedience to God’s ways, that God promised the rule of Jesus Christ to them, a removal of the sin of the land, and the blessings of the vine and fig tree that are to be shared with others with open hospitality.

The final two verses where the vine and fig tree are mentioned occur in the Gospels, where they form part of a warning message that Jesus Christ gave in the parable of the fig tree Luke 13:6-9. Luke 13:6-9 reads: “He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.  Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’  But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it.  And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ” Here we see a warning given to the people of Judea of Jesus’ own time that is something we too ought to take to heart. Not only has God promised people their own vine and fig tree as part of His blessings, both under obedient and good government in this world and in the millennial kingdom yet to come, but physical and spiritual Israel are His vine and fig tree and are expected to bear fruit. And woe be to those whom God has tended and cared for who do not bear fruit. Just as Jesus Christ gave instruction to a Jerusalem that, some four decades after His death and resurrection, had not repented of its rebellions and was consigned to destruction, so too God will not hesitate to replace those who waste space in His vineyard and do not bear fruits of His spirit. Let us take heed accordingly.

Having seen the scope of passages that deal with the promise of everyone having their own vine and fig tree in the world to come, and some people having enjoyed it under good governments in this present world as part of God’s people, we can make some comments on how the symbolism of the vine and fig tree connect with larger biblical concerns. The vine and the fig tree are symbols of the good life. When God promises the good life, He does not promise everyone their own wheatfield or cornfield or barley field, nor their own potato patch, nor their own rice paddy. These five grains are basic for human survival, but the vine and fig tree are, like the olive tree, the strawberry field, the orange grove, and the beehive, symbols of the enjoyment of God’s blessings that go above and beyond mere survival. There are some people who hear about the blessings of the vine and fig tree and worry that God wants everyone to be farmers, when they would rather be city people, but as we saw from the example of God having given these blessings to Israel in the days of King Solomon, the blessings were about the universal enjoyment of the good life, not forcing everyone to work on the land.

And it is that universal enjoyment of the good life that God promises in the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ that leads us to where I will close today, and that is talking about the political implications of God’s promises of the vine and fig tree. Some of these political implications ought to have been clear from the message of the Bible in the passages that we have previously read. In case they are not clear, though, I would like to spell them out, so that we may better understand the better importance of righteous living and good government to the enjoyment of the good life, both now and under the rule of Jesus Christ. Let us therefore turn to Isaiah 36:13-20 and read once again the arrogant words of the Assyrian spokesman that we read earlier in 2 Kings. Isaiah 36:13-20 reads: “Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in Hebrew, and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you; nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make peace with me by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern; until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.  Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria?  Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand?  Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ””

The Rebshakeh is symbolic of the many lying human politicians and authorities who have promised the good life to the ordinary people of the world if they would submit to their corrupt rule. The same tones of false promises of the enjoyment of prosperity can be heard in the populist politicians who promised people of the Great Depression that there would be a chicken in every pot. The same false promises seduced those who had been freed from slavery during the American Civil War with a promise of 40 acres and a mule confiscated from those who had rebelled against the federal government. Throughout human history, leaders have understood the power of the dream of universal prosperity and have promised what they could not deliver to desperate and suffering people in order to gain their support. We regularly see these false promises of universal prosperity in election campaigns both in our own country and, if we turn our attention to them, all around the world. It is not hard for leaders to know what people want–they want peace, security, the enjoyment of their own personal property, enough or more than enough to eat. People want the good life, and for thousands of years governments have been making people false promises that if they support some human benefactor that they will enjoy the good life. Only rarely, in limited places and times, has any sizable segment of humanity actually enjoyed the good life under regimes that honored God, sought to obey His laws, and restrained themselves from corruption and oppression of the people. Living the good life requires living God’s way and having good government made of those who serve the best interests of others and not abused their power to oppress and exploit those under their authority.

We live in a world that has for thousands of years yearned for the good life. All around the world, people suffer under abusive and tyrannical governments. People are governed by wicked rulers who make bad laws and do not make themselves subject to the laws they enforce on others. People all around the world seek to escape from their intolerable existence to find places where they may be free to be themselves and to enjoy the fruits of their labors to experience the good life. For most times and places in human history, the vast majority of people have suffered terror and abuse at the hands of rulers who instead of being loving and self-sacrificial shepherds thought of themselves as divinely guided lords and masters fit to dominate and control others. Most of mankind has never experienced the blessings of obedience to God’s ways, and has never been ruled over by the just and merciful application of God’s commandments, statutes, laws, and judgments. Most of mankind has never experienced the good life, but has hungered for it, longed for it, even been willing to travel to the ends of the earth and leave their homelands and families to enjoy a small taste of it. In the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ, it will be our job to give it to them. It will be our responsibility to set an example of loving care for those under our authority. It will be our responsibility to enforce God’s laws with justice and mercy, binding the wounds of a world that has been broken by thousands of years of sin, of violence, of and of abuse. Let us therefore use what time remains for us to prepare ourselves for the task, to learn God’s ways so that we may teach them to others, and to grow in our character so that we may be fit to serve others as kings and priests in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, so that all people everywhere who enter into that kingdom may enjoy the good life that has been promised to us by His word. God willing, let us be among those who will allow all people everywhere to enjoy their own vine and their own fig tree, where no one will be made afraid by the evils we suffer here and now.