We have such a great privilege as we meet together on the Lord’s day in studying God’s Word. It’s easy for us to forget that privilege. We may take for granted the abundance of biblical teaching to which we’re exposed here at Grace Church. Whenever I’m away in another place, meeting other people who do not have the privilege that all of us enjoy here with so many God-given teachers, I’m reminded of how rich we are and how I ought to be thankful to God and never take ever for granted the wonder of His great and glorious Word. And I hope that as we come to God’s Word on each Lord’s day there is in your heart a sense of anticipation, a sense of joy, a sense of separation, if you will, from the world and the things around so that you can concentrate with all your heart on the things that the Spirit of God would say through the Word of God. This is a high and holy and sacred privilege for us and is no less the Word of God then if the Lord Himself were here to speak or if an Apostle or a prophet were here giving the message. This is God’s Word to us and we hear it with great joy and thankful hearts.
And God’s Word to us this morning is from Matthew chapter 24, verses 32 through 35. That’s the next passage in our on- going study in this great gospel of Matthew. I want to read the passage to you before we take a look at it in depth. Matthew 24 beginning in verse 32. “Now learn a parable of the fig tree, when its branch is yet tender and puteth forth leaves, you know that summer is near; so likewise ye 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. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.”
The hope of every Christian is the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says we are those who love His appearing. We are those who are looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are those who are eagerly waiting for, Paul says, the glory which shall be revealed in us. We are waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, the glorious liberation of the children of God. We are waiting for the redemption of the body. We are those, says the New Testament, who wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The day when the saints shall judge the world, when we shall all be changed, when death will forever be defeated along with sin. And we will enter in to the presence of Christ, as Paul says, like a chaste virgin presented to a bridegroom. We long for the day when we shall be absent from the body and present with the Lord. The day when He shall appear and we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
The theme of the Second Coming fills the New Testament. It is the great anticipatory reality of Christian living. We look back to the cross where our souls were redeemed. We look forward to the Second Coming where our bodies will be redeemed and we will enter into the fullness of our salvation. And we as Christians long for the day when Jesus comes because it is in that day that Satan will be defeated. It is in that day that the curse will be lifted. It is in that day that saints will be glorified, that Christ will be worshiped, that creation will be liberated, that sin and death will be eliminated. And so with great anticipation do we look for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. And we believe it is a real event that will happen as historically as did His first coming with just as far-reaching and glorious impact.
And when we think about the Second Coming, we could think about so many, many passages of Scripture. But we’re in one that is really without equal. Matthew 24 and 25 is Jesus’ own sermon on His Second Coming. So when our Savior Himself wanted to speak of His Second Coming, these are the terms in which he chose to speak of it. And so we are finding wonder after wonder as we hear the Savior as He speaks to His disciples on the Mount of Olives two days before His crucifixion and tells them that this is not the end but He will return in glory and power to establish His Kingdom.
Now the sermon itself is called the Olivet Discourse because it was given by our Lord right on the Mount of Olives. It is recorded by Matthew and Mark and Luke because of its tremendous importance. We’re looking at Matthew’s look which is the longest most detailed look at the sermon given by our Lord and we’re learning so many marvelous and exciting things.
Now today we come to this small portion in which our Lord gives the parable of the fig tree. And I think when we’re done you’re going to see the tremendous impact and import of this parable as its applied in His Second Coming. But in order to get a grasp on it, we have to back up a little bit and find out where we are. We can’t just jump in at verse 32. So go back to verse 3, if you will, of the chapter.
Jesus sits down with His disciples after climbing the Mount of Olives which would be a good climb. They’ve spent all day in the temple dialoguing with the religious leaders and the people. And Jesus has said in His final word to the Jewish people in verse 39, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” And He introduced His coming in glory. He introduced His coming in power. He introduced His coming in the Kingdom that was promised by the prophets of old. And that peaked the interest of the disciples.
And so, when they reached the top of the Mount of Olives, they said to Him privately in verse 3, “Tell us,” and they’re filled with anticipation, “when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the age?” They want further information about Him coming, further information about that great time when He reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. They want to know when and they want to know what are the signs. So they really ask two questions: when will it be and what will be the signs?
Now Jesus answers those questions in reverse order. The second question He answers from verse 4 through 35 and we’ve been looking at that second question: what are the signs? The first question–when will it be–He begins to answer in verse 36 when He says, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man.” And then goes on to talk about when it shall be.
But, we’re looking at the section where He answers their question: what are the signs? What is it we look for to indicate to us that You’re coming in glory? Now remember first of all He answered them beginning in verse 4 and down through verse 14 by describing some general signs that would occur immediately prior to His Second Coming. And those signs were called in verse 8 birth pains. They are rapid-fire signs that come at the end of man’s age, just like birth pains come at the end of a pregnancy and they result in the birth of the Kingdom. So He told them you ought to look for all these signs.
Then in verse 15, He said there is one thing that signals the beginning of the birth pains. There is one thing that triggers these general signs. And it is the abomination of desolation. You remember we looked at that and that is where the antichrist will establish an idol of himself in the temple in the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem and he will make the whole world worship him. That is the abomination of desolations and that begins what verse 21 calls the great tribulation in which the birth pains take place. So they said, “What is the sign of Your coming?” He says, “Look for the abomination of desolation and when you see it, run because what follows is going to be unlike anything the world has ever experienced.” And He described the birth pains, the rapid-fire intense things that are going to happen on the earth until finally the Kingdom comes.
So, He gave them general signs and He gave them an initiating sign that begins those general signs. Then He gave him these specific sign in verse 29…He gave them the specific sign in verse 29. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun is dark and the moon doesn’t give its light, the stars fall from heaven and the powers of the heaven are shaken.” It’s the disintegration of the universe. “And then appears the sign…” there’s the sign. They wanted a sign, it’s that sign. “When you see the Son of Man in heaven, then in all the tribes of the earth there will be mourning and you will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He’ll send out His angels and with a great sound of a trumpet, they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
So, He says to them, “You want a sign? Watch for the birth pains triggered by the abomination of desolation. And when they are over, then comes the sign. And the sign is the Son of Man in heaven. All the heavenly bodies have gone black. It is darkness in the universe and then appears the sign of the Son of Man in blazing glory in heaven come to defeat the wicked, to gather the elect and establish His Kingdom.” That’s what to look forward to.
Having given them those things as indicators, He knows in their mind they still have a question. When all those signs begin, how long will it be? How long does it last until the Kingdom is established? How long until the Son of God reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords? How long do the birth pains last? How long is it from the sign in heaven to the kingdom on earth? And so to summarize and act as a transition into the “when” question, He gives this parable and its explanation in verses 32 to 35. And I want you to look at it, it’s marvelous. And I want you to see four elements as it unfolds.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
