"Parable of knowing the Fig Tree: Knowing the Time of Christ Return"

by Pastor Ron Vandermey on 11/28/12
www.mybethanybible.org

Matthew 24:32-35: Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forh leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near--at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

The fig tree that was in my father's backyard was very messy. Large leaves were to be found continuously on the ground. While there were figs in the late 1950's, the only thing the fig tree produced was leaves that soon would fall, making a continual mess. Around 2003, I sentenced the fig tree to removal, and suddenly figs not seen for 40 years, suddenly began growing. The tree was still removed, and that decision was never regretted. Fig trees in Israel were so common that Jesus uses them as illustrations repeatedly. All knew that when a fig tree started to make new leaves, summer was near, and the figs would soon appear.

The fig tree is a well known symbol of Israel nationally. For many centuries the scattered Israelites, once owned by God as His own covenant people, have had no national existence. The Jews are returning to Israel in large numbers, and the fig tree is putting forth its green leaves. At present they are going back in unbelief, as the Scriptures indicated they would. From verse 33 we can assume that the Return of Christ is near when Israel becomes a nation again. Yet, when Christ says that the generation that sees the fig tree with its leaves will not pass till all these things are fulfilled.

I remember in college when the college president in 1973 gave a message on this verse, and concluded that Israel regathered in 1948, and thus the return would be 1988 (with the rapture in 1981). Then, some said that the beginning was the taking of Jerusalem in 1967. Then a generation would mean that Christ's return would be 2007 (and the Rapture in 2000). These dates have passed, and embarrassed people proved wrong.

Our only conclusion can be that there must be some final "birth pang" that will occur in Israel that will indicate that Christ's return is at hand. We are not told what that event is in this passage. We can only be certain that it has not yet taken place. Israel is in the news every week--sometimes every day--and so it is not exactly a leap of faith to come to the realization that what happens in Israel affects the world today, tomorrow, and right on until our Lord returns from the glories of heaven.

Verse 35 speaks of the finality of the words of Christ. Christ's words, indeed all of the Bible, cannot return void. They will be fulfilled.