"Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, 'No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.' And at once the fig tree withered. Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, 'How did the fig tree wither all at once?' And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, "Be taken up and cast into the sea," it will happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.'" Matt. 21:18-22
"On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, 'May no one ever eat fruit from you again!' And His disciples were listening." Mark 11:12-14
Some Christians have had a difficult time with this passage, unwilling to accept it and unable to reconcile how Jesus could do such a thing. These Christians fail to know who Jesus is, or even how just His actions were. On a grander scale, like Dispensationalists, they fail to grasp the significance of this passage. Jesus was about to enter the temple and cleanse it, overturning the tables of the money changers.
Mark records for us that "it was not the season for figs." This does not mean that it was not yet time for the fruit to start growing and ripen before being gathered, and thus Jesus was acting irrationally. At the end of March, smaller green figs, growing from the sprouts of the previous year, appeared simultaneously with the leaves. They are ripe in May or June. The larger figs that develop on the spring shoots, much like a plum, are gathered from August through October. In other words, there ought to have been something on this tree. From the outside, the tree presented itself as a fruitful tree, being full of foliage. But upon inspection, there was no evidence of fruit. This is important!
The reason Jesus cursed this tree is found much deeper. This pretentious but barren tree represented Israel. Jesus provides the interpretation for this event the next day: "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it" (Matt. 21:43). Jesus even tells a parable of a fruitless fig tree where fruit was sought but there was none (Luke 13:6-9). The disciples, however, did not have to wait until the next day for the interpretation. The counterpart for the fig tree would be found in the temple cleansing shortly thereafter.
From the outside, the temple presented itself as a place of worship, a place where even the Gentiles could go to get close to God. In fact, the largest part of the temple was the outer court, known as the Court of the Gentiles. Because the Jews hated Gentiles so much, they filled this court with so much stuff that they pushed the Gentiles out. Not only were they selling oxen and sheep and turtle doves for the Passover at atrociously marked up values, but they were also cheating people who brought their own animals by telling them that they were not acceptable, selling them one of their provided animals, and then turning around and selling the animals they took from these people to others. From the outside, the temple looked like a place of worship, but upon closer inspection of the inside, it was anything but.
The cursing of the fig tree was just one of the many times that Jesus would predict the downfall of unfruitful Israel. Not long after this, Jesus would predict the permanent destruction of the temple: "Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. And He said to them, 'Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down'" (Matt. 24:1-2). There will never be another temple because we, Christians, are the temple of God: "having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit" (Eph. 2:20-22). What is so difficult for Dispensationalists to understand about this?
Who are they who produce the fruit of the kingdom? Christians! Believing Jews and believing Gentiles, together, as one body of Christ, the Church. The fig tree was acting hypocritically. It was in full foliage, and was therefore expected to provide fruit. Those inside the temple were also acting hypocritically. Like whitewashed tombs, they appeared beautiful from the outside, but on the inside were full of dead men's bones. Outwardly they appeared righteous and religious to men, but inwardly they were full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Jesus hates hypocrisy, and His righteous anger is always justified, just as He will be justified when He casts people into Hell for all eternity for having broken God's laws. The fig tree symbolized God's judgment of Israel.