Pilate had killed some Galileans, and a tower in Siloam fell and killed 18 others. People probably thought they must have been great sinners to die such terrible deaths. But the Lord told those around Him that they would likewise perish, except they repented of their sins.
If you had carefully planted a garden or a fruit tree and all that grew were weeds, never fruit, what would you do? The parable the Lord told was of a man who came seeking fruit for three years. How patient he was! Yet God had been faithfully laboring with His vineyard (Israel) for many years and they yielded only wild grapes. See Isaiah 5:22And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. (Isaiah 5:2). If Israel as a nation did not bear fruit, they would be cut down.
The poor woman, who was bowed together, could only look down. When the Lord healed her, she could look straight into His face and glorify God! How angry this made those who thought more of their animals than of this poor woman.
A grain of mustard seed is very small. The number of those who followed the Lord at first was small, but over the years, a great number of people said they were Christians. Many were not real believers and are compared to the fowls of the air that lodged in the branches of the great tree of profession. God knows those who are false and those who are real. Be sure that you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior.
The Lord wanted to bless Israel and Jerusalem, the capital, but they refused to walk in His ways or listen to His prophets. What could He do? He will send an enemy with armies that would desolate them. Then they will repent and say in truth, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
1. How many years did the owner come looking for fruit on his fig tree? __________ Luke 13:___
2. For how many years was a woman bowed together with a spirit of infirmity and could not lift herself up? __________ Luke 13:___
3. When the Lord laid His hands on her and healed her, she was made straight. Then what did she do? __________ Luke 13:___
4. What kind of seed became a great tree after a man cast it into his garden? __________ Luke 13:___
5. The house of Israel will be left desolate and will not see Jesus until they are able to say, “__________ is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Luke 13:___