R.A. Torrey explores the significance of Jesus cursing the barren fig tree and cleansing the temple, emphasizing the themes of fruitlessness and the corruption of worship. He highlights that the fig tree, despite its leaves, bore no fruit, symbolizing Israel's unfulfilled potential and the danger of mere outward appearances in faith. The cleansing of the temple serves as a powerful rebuke against greed and the defilement of sacred spaces, urging believers to reflect on their own practices and priorities in worship. Torrey stresses the importance of genuine faith and the conditions for effective prayer, including forgiveness and a pure heart. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a deeper commitment to bearing fruit in our spiritual lives and maintaining the sanctity of our worship environments.

(Compare Matt. 21:12–22; Luke 19:45–48; 21:37, 38) DISCOVERY OF THE FACTS 1. Fruitlessness Punished, vv. 12–14 Where is the scene of this lesson laid? What was the time of day? (Matt. 21:17, 18.) Why was Jesus hungry? Were not the people of Bethany able and willing to give Him sufficient food? (John 12:1, 2; compare Mark 1:35). May it have been that Jesus was so eager to get to the work that called Him to Jerusalem that He would not wait for the preparation of the morning meal? How does this miracle differ from the other miracles of our Lord? Just after what was this miracle of judgment performed? (Mark 11:1–10.) Was its purpose simply to express Christ’s displeasure at the fig tree, or was there in it a lesson for those for whom that fig tree stood as a type? (Luke 13:6–9; Matt. 21:33–43; note the connection of this parable with the miracle in vv. 19–21; Is. 5:4–7.) What right had Jesus to suppose that this particular fig tree had figs upon it, though the time for the general fig harvest had not yet come? What right had Christ to expect fruit from Israel though the season for the world’s fruitage was yet remote? Is the lesson of the miracle then merely a warning against fruitlessness, or a warning against fruitlessness where there is an opportunity for early fruitage and the outward promise and profession of it? If the lesson of it in that day was especially for Israel with their peculiar privileges as contrasted with the nations at large, for whom is the lesson especially today? Did Jesus really expect to find figs on that tree (the incident thus being an illustration of the perfect humanity of Christ and the self-limitation of His divine omniscience), or does the 13th verse merely imply that Jesus went near to see if the tree bore out in fruit the promise of its profession in leaves, knowing from the first that it did not, and intending to teach the disciples the valuable lesson of this parabolic miracle? When Jesus came to the tree what did He find? For what do leaves stand in a fig tree? Is it only in Israel that Christ finds “nothing but leaves”? What did Jesus say? What will Jesus soon say of the professed Christian who has the outward show of fruitage but upon whom at His coming He finds “nothing but leaves”? (Matt. 3:10; 7:19; John 15:6; Heb. 6:7, 8.) Had Jesus any right to destroy some one’s else property in this way? (Ps. 24:1; 50:10, 12.) 2. Greed and the Defilement of God’s Temple Rebuked, vv. 15–19 Where do we see Jesus next exercising His kingly authority? What did Jesus find in the temple that displeased Him? Why was Jesus displeased? Does He ever find anything in the churches today to awaken a similar displeasure? Were the Jewish authorities probably sensible that in bringing their selfish and oppressive traffic in cattle, doves and coin, with its din and dirt, into “the court of the Gentiles,” they were guilty of any iniquity? What was it blinded them to that fact? Are “religious people” ever similarly blinded by self-interest today? How alone can we in our self-judgments escape the blinding influence of self-interest upon our consciences? (Ps. 139:23, 24; Jer. 17:9, 10.) What sort of things were they that these dealers were selling? (Compare John 2:14.) For what purposes were these things used? Was there more or less excuse for selling such things than the things often sold in the house of God today? How did Jesus manifest His displeasure? Had He the sympathy of the ecclesiastical authorities? Why then did not some one stop Him? In rebuking them of what did He make use? Of what expression did He make use? (Compare Luke 19:46; Matt. 21:13.) Is this expression used often in the New Testament? Did Jesus and the apostles use it as if it were a conclusive argument? Ought it to settle a question for us when we can say: “It is written”? Does it with all professing Christians? What did Jesus say was written? Where was it written? (Is: 56:7.) From what place did the remainder of the rebuke come? (Jer. 7:11.) What are we to learn from the fact that the one public display of Christ’s kingly authority was to cleanse the temple? Had Jesus ever before this driven the money makers out of God’s house? (John 2:13–16.) Why had the reformation proved so short-lived? Does the fact that a reformation is short-lived prove that it is not from God? What was Christ’s purpose in driving the money makers out at the beginning and close of His ministry? In the first instance when He drove them out what did He say they had made of His Father’s house? (John 2:16.) In the second instance what did He say they had made of it? Why the stronger language in the second place? Whose house did He call it in the first instance? Whose house did He call it in the second instance? What is taught by that? What was the effect of Jesus’ action upon the ecclesiastical authorities? Why were they so enraged? To what extent were they willing to go in their hatred? What held them back from their murderous designs? (Compare Luke 19:41, 48.) Did Christ’s popularity with the people last? Is popular favor a safe thing to rely upon? Were all these people who were “astonished at His doctrine” and “were very attentive to hear Him” (Luke) saved? What did some of them afterwards become? How many of those who “were very attentive to hear Him” were saved? (John 5:24.) Was Jesus anything daunted by the fierce hatred of the scribes and chief priests? (Luke 19:47.) Why did Jesus leave the city each day at evening? (Mark 1:35; John 18:2.) 3. The Power of Faith, vv. 20–26 What was the effect of Christ’s words upon the fig tree? What did the disciples think of that when they saw it? (Matt. 21:20.) What was the first thing Jesus said in answer to their astonishment? Does it pay to “have faith in God”? (2 Chron: 20:20; Is. 7:9; John 14:1; Heb. 11.) How can we get faith in God? (Ro. 10:17.) What reason did Jesus give them in this connection for having faith in God? What did Jesus say faith could do? Has faith ever moved mountains? Is there anything better than a faith that can move mountains? (1 Cor. 13:2.) How much is possible to faith? (Mark 9:23.) Why has faith such power? (Matt. 19:26.) How firm must one’s faith be to remove mountains (v. 23)? Why is it then that oftentimes we do not accomplish what we attempt? (Matt. 17:19, 20.) What must we do if we really desire to have the things we pray for? What change does the Revised Version make in the statement of this condition? How can we believe that we “have received” the things we pray for? (1 John 5:14, 15.) How many things that we pray for in this way shall we get? How firm must our faith be? (James 1:5–7.) Why is it then we fail to get many of the things we ask for? What other conditions of prevailing prayer are mentioned elsewhere? (John 14:13; 15:7; 1 John 3:22; Luke 18:1–8; 1 John 5:14, 15.) Can these conditions be separated from one another or does each really involve the rest? Does it pay to have faith in God? What hindrance to prayer does Jesus expose in v. 25? Why will not our heavenly Father answer our prayers if we cherish any ill-will in our heart toward those who have trespassed against us? CLASSIFICATION OF TEACHINGS 1. Jesus His divinity: “My house,” 17; humanity: seen in His hunger, 12; seen in the self-limitation of His omniscience, 13; consuming zeal for His work; hurried away without His needed breakfast at the call of work or prayer, 12; unrelenting sternness; toward those who polluted God’s house with their greed, 15; toward fruitless profession, 13, 14; unvarnished plainness of speech, 17; unceasing prayerfulness, 19; compare John 18:2; irresistible authority, 15, 16; undaunted courage, 15–18; constant appeal to the written word, 17; tender regard for God’s house, 15, 16; compare John 2:13–17. 2. The Fig Tree It had leaves, 13; had “nothing but leaves,” 13; Jesus saw, investigated and found empty its promise of fruitfulness, 13; was cursed, 21; was doomed to perpetual fruitlessness, 14; withered away at the roots, 20. 3. Faith The object of faith: God, 22. The reason of faith: Christ commands it, 22. The power of faith: Can accomplish anything it attempts, 23; can get whatever it asks, 24. The measure of faith: “Shall not doubt,” 23. The time for faith: Now, 22. 4. Prayer (1). To whom to pray: The Father, 24, 25. (2). Who can pray so as to get what they ask: Those who obey God, 24, 25; who have faith and do not doubt in their hearts, 23, 24; who forgive those who trespass against them, 25, 26; who bear fruit, 20, 23; compare John 15:16. (3). How to pray: In faith, believing that ye have received the things that ye ask, 24; with a forgiving spirit, 25, 26. 5. The Chief Priests and the Scribes The transientness of their reformation, 15; compare John 2:15, 16; their increasing wickedness–first time they made God’s house “a house of merchandise,” John 2:16; second time they “made it a den of robbers,” 17; their stinging rebuke from Jesus, 15–18; feared Jesus, 18; hated Jesus even unto death, 18.