“He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, “Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?

“And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: and if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.”-Luke 13:6-9.

John (the Baptist) points out to his Jewish hearers that the time of judgment had come upon their nation. The axe was laid at the root of the tree; every Israelite who was not an Israelite indeed was to be overthrown, and to be cast into the “fire” of trouble with which that age and national polity terminated. The three and a half years of our Lord’s ministry to the Jewish nation, and their final rejection by him, are represented by the barren fig tree parable, in harmony with the statement of John foregoing.

John evidently struck the chord of fear to some extent, but he struck it properly. There is a proper presentation of the truth, and a proper fear of God and his retribution which may properly be kept before the mind of the transgressor; however, this is wholly different from the terrorizing fear of eternal torment, which plays so important a part in all the theological teaching, directly and indirectly today, and which has driven some to insanity, some to skepticism and infidelity, and has hindered the great majority even of saints from appreciating the true character and plan of our God. Let us present the wrath to come truthfully, not misrepresenting the character of our God for assuredly He will not hold them guiltless who blaspheme His holy name.

Under John’s preaching the people began to inquire what course they should pursue, and summing the matter up John’s instruction was that they should practice justice, mercy, love, generosity; they should avoid violence, extortion, etc.; and should seek to be content with such things as they had. This was excellent advice, and undoubtedly those who followed it would be in just the right condition of heart and mind to welcome the Lord Jesus, and his good tidings of remission of sins through his blood and thus to become reconciled with the Father. Similarly if any now inquire respecting the coming trouble, the wrath that is to come in the end of this age upon “Christendom,”-what must we do? We answer them: Practice righteousness, truth, godliness, kindness, benevolence, justice, trust in the Lord, and seek to walk in his ways. Or we may quote them the words of the prophet, specially bearing upon this time, viz., “Seek meekness, seek righteousness, it may be that ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.”­ Zephaniah 2:3. Furthermore, we may rely upon it that those who thus seek righteousness, etc., will be the ones most ready to welcome our King and his kingdom, and we may be sure that when in this harvest time some fail to make their calling and election sure, and prove themselves unworthy of the crowns apportioned to them, the Lord will be pleased to accept from among such penitent seekers of righteousness, some as substitutes to complete his elect church.

So powerful was John’s presentation of the truth, that the people began to wonder whether or not he might be the Coming One, the Messiah, but he set the thought at rest speedily, assuring them that he was so inferior to the Messiah that he would be unworthy the honor of doing toward him the most menial service of removing his sandals. Then having given them a little glimpse of the character of Messiah, he proceeded to tell them respecting his work, that it would be higher than his own, and that those who received him would receive a higher baptism also: “He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire” -some of them (the few) with the Holy Spirit, the remainder (the mass) with the fire-judgments, the great time of trouble which destroyed their national life and many individual lives.

He gave them an illustration of the matter, showing them that they had reached the harvest­ time of their age, and that now a separating was to be expected-the separating of the true wheat from the chaff; and he represented our Lord’s work with Israel as being that of a reaper winnowing the “wheat,” freeing it from the “chaff” element. How forceful was the figure! How true the facts! Our Lord indeed gathered from that nation all the true “wheat;” we may be sure that not a solitary grain was lost. All that wheat was gathered into his barn, into a place of safety, into a higher dispensation-they constituted the beginning  or first members  of the Gospel church. It was upon this wheat class that the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, and it has abode with this true church since. After the separating (winnowing) of the “wheat,” and the gathering into the barn, and its baptism of the Holy Spirit, in due time, the “chaff” of that nation was burned up with unquenchable fire-a time of trouble which nothing could stop or hinder.

It will be remembered that various steps were taken to hinder the destruction of the nation of Israel, but all failed: even the Roman Emperor was desirous of preserving the nation, and of establishing order there, and the Roman army went not to destroy them but to establish peace in their midst; but the Lord had declared that the fire of trouble which he enkindled should not be quenched by any power, that it should do its work to the full, and it did.

Likewise it will be with the great “fire” of trouble with which this Gospel age will end, and into which the “tare” class of Christendom will be cast, it will not be an utter destruction of life (although many lives will perish in the great trouble of this Day of Wrath), but it will completely consume earthly governments and Churchianity in a fire of anarchy. Nothing shall quench that fire, or hinder that utter destruction of present systems.  But praise God that when this fire  shall have consumed the stubble and the falsities and deceptions of present institutions, it will have but prepared the way for the great blessing which he has designed and provided for in his coming kingdom. This “fire” and the blessing to follow it are particularly referred to in Zephaniah 3:8, 9. R 2564:4 (1900)