In Matthew 24:32-34, the Lord Jesus
Christ is speaking to his disciples about the timing of events related to the
tribulation and he speaks about the budding of the fig tree in a parable. Do you believe that the fig tree represents
Israel’s religious life?
Could it shed any light on how close our
catching away to be with the Lord might be, because we can see religious life
in Israel starting to bud? For example: all the articles needed for temple worship
are being prepared; there is much talk about rebuilding the temple; there is a search
for men of the Levitical blood line to serve as temple priests; and the Sanhedrin
has been instituted.
In context the parable doesn’t seem to
represent Israel’s religious life as I have read, but that the Lord is showing
that the generation that sees all those things take place that he mentioned
will be the one that sees the end and the second coming. Can you comment on this?
You
are right; the Lord is dealing with the timing of things that will happen
during what we call the 70th week of Daniel…
Daniel
9:24-27
Seventy weeks are
determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the
transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision
and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the
commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall
be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again,
and the wall, even in troublous times. And
after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself:
and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the
sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the
war desolations are determined. And he
shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst
of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for
the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the
consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
…or
the time of Jacob’s trouble (which is commonly referred to as the Tribulation):
Jeremiah
30:7
Alas! for that day is
great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble,
but he shall be saved out of it.
The Lord talks about great
tribulation – particularly the second half of the 70th week.
Matthew
24:21
For then shall be great
tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time,
no, nor ever shall be.
The
fig tree does represent the religious life of Israel, particularly regarding
the issue of temple worship; but for the most part Israel’s religious life is
not manifest in the context of this passage, as you correctly observed.
Matthew
24:32-34
Now learn a parable of
the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye
know that summer is nigh:
He uses an actual fig tree as an example. Parable = go along side. This is an example of what will happen.
So
likewise ye [Jews],….
‘Ye’ refers to the Jews in his day; but now we know that the
prophetic program has been put on hold, so these verses will actually be
applied to the future after the end of this dispensation.
…when ye
shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation
shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Remember
that the dispensation of grace is not in view.
When the Lord says this, just as he says in this verse:
Matthew
16:28
Verily I say unto you,
There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see
the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
These are not only things relating to the
tribulation, but also to the actual setting up of his earthly kingdom which
would have happened in some of these men’s lifetimes had the dispensation of
grace not come in.
Ephesians
3:2
If ye have heard of the dispensation
of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
Had
it not been for the last 2,000 years of the dispensation of grace which only
God the Father knew about at that time, these passages would have been
fulfilled; they would have seen the coming of the Lord.
Acts 1:11
Which also said, Ye men
of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go
into heaven.
Notice
that earlier in the passage the Lord Jesus speaks of his coming.
Matthew
24:29
Immediately after the
tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give
her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens
shall be shaken:
This
is very similar to what Peter talks about in Acts 2 when he quotes Joel 2.
Acts 2:16,
19-20
But this is that which
was spoken by the prophet Joel; And I will shew wonders in heaven above,
and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and
the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come:
Matthew
24:30-31
And then shall appear the
sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth
mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with
power and great glory.
He is talking
about the end of the tribulation period future
from us.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a
trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one
end of heaven to the other.
This
will happen when he comes back; it is the Feast of Trumpets, the gathering of
the nation of Israel.
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Returning
to the parable of the fig tree…
Matthew
24:32-33
Now learn a parable of
the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye
know that summer is nigh: So
likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at
the doors.
In this passage the fig tree, unlike
the passage in which Christ curses the fig tree (Mark 11:21),
he is just telling them to look at the fig tree. He uses it as a picture of how they would
know the return of the Son of Man in power and great glory was near, even at
the doors. The focus is not so much on
the fig tree itself, but on seeing the signs. Here he is not really dealing with temple
worship even though in other passages we do see that. Here are the signs:
Matthew 24:1-12, 15
And Jesus went out, and
departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the
buildings of the temple. And Jesus said
unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not
be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the
disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things
be [the destruction of the temple]? and what shall be the sign of
thy coming [when are you going to come in your power and great
glory?], and of the end of
the [present] world?
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive
you.
The things beginning with verse 5 are the signs that these
events are at the doors:
For many shall come in
my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
The fig tree in the parable in this chapter is all about the
signs listed in the earlier passage. One
of the leaves of the fig tree is that many shall come in my name saying ‘I am
Christ’ and shall deceive many. Another
leaf is:
And ye shall hear of wars
and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must
come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Here are some more leaves continuing with verse 7:
For nation shall rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines,
and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall
kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray
one another, and shall hate one another.
And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love
of many shall wax cold. When ye therefore shall see the abomination
of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place
[religious worship in the temple], (whoso readeth, let him understand:) [this
is in the middle of Daniel’s 70th week]
So
he talks about all these things that point to his return. In context they are things that are happening
in prophecy, particularly future from us.
He uses the fig tree as a picture (in this context not so much of the
religious life of Israel even though it is in other passages) but here it
represents all the signs of his coming listed in Matthew 24:5-15.
The
fig tree was something that the nation could understand. It goes all the way back to the garden. In certain cases (Judges 9) it represents
Israel’s religious life. We will go into
the use of the fig tree in scripture in more depth in another installment.
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You
are also correct in saying that the generation that sees all these things take
place will be the one that sees the end and the second coming. Through right division we know that the last nearly
2,000 years since the prophetic program has been put on hold, God the Father
has been doing something different in this Pauline dispensation of grace. But had God himself not brought in the
dispensation of grace, the things that his Son the Lord Jesus Christ said to
the people of Israel in that day would have happened in a short period of time. In my thinking it might have been 10 or 11
years after his resurrection. Luke tells
us that Christ began his ministry at the age of 30.
Luke 3:23
And Jesus himself began
to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of
Joseph, which was the son of Heli,
His ministry includes Christ’s
function as Israel’s priest.
Hebrews
4:14
Seeing then that we have
a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession.
In
Israel a priest could begin his ministry at age 30 and serve for 20 years. There is one extra year that Christ gave
Israel in a parable.
Luke
13:6-9
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.
So
his priesthood would have lasted 21 years.
If the dispensation of grace hadn’t happened, there would have been 21
years from the time of his appearance to Israel to the second coming, at least
in my understanding. It will be a future
generation that will witness the signs of his coming (the leaves put forth by
the fig tree) and his return to earth to set up his kingdom.
Ephesians
2:13
But now [in this dispensation of grace] in Christ Jesus ye [gentiles] who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of
Christ.
Hopefully this
helps!
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