We might not be so familiar with figs as part of our daily diet, but for Jeremiah and the people of Judah they would have been a regular part of their diet.  Perhaps for us we could think of it in terms of apples!  It is interesting to note that it doesn’t state that this came to Jeremiah in a dream.  God could have shown this to him as part of his everyday life around town, at someone’s house or in the market.  A reminder that God can talk to us through the seemingly mundane.

It is easy to look at this in a very simplistic way.  There is a bowl of good figs, and a bowl of bad.  Those who follow God versus those who rebel.  Good versus evil, and they’re clearly physically separate.  This is actually the finished picture though.  The reality for Jeremiah and the people at the time was that they were mixed together.  God saw the exiles from Judah as good figs, and although they had turned from him, through his mercy he would call them back and build them up (24:5-6).  Further than that, he would change their hearts so that they would know him so that “they will be my people and I will be their God” (v.7).  After this he would deal with the rotten figs, the leaders and those who had led his people astray.

We can see several parallels with Jesus’ teaching and the New Testament writers.  In the parable of the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13) both are mixed together, but eventually will be separated.  Paul writes an explanation to the believers in Ephesus, words which are an eternal truth, “He (Christ) chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight” (Eph 1:4).  Also that “in Him (Christ) the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord” (Eph 2:21).  He also writes “But whenever anyone turns to the Lord the veil is taken away… and we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18). 

An encouragement then, of God’s great mercy, even if we feel surrounded by “bad figs”!

***

Thank you Lord that you have chosen us and for your great mercy for us.  Therefore let’s not be afraid or despondent, but live in joy and hope!