"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains....

...For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Behold, I have told you before.

Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

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: 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.

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.

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.

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.

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."

- Matthew 24 (15,16...21-39) : The Parable of the Fig Tree
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The parable of the fig tree (or the metaphor .. for this is not a "story" like parable that we are used to) is found in all three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke).

It is at the tail end of the talk our Lord gave His disciples hours before He was to be betrayed - the setting was the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem. The magnificence of the temple and the city had already been remarked on earlier by the apostles when Christ was in those areas - the disciples were simple fisher-folk from a remote village in Galilee. How amazing must have the city looked close up, and now at a distance from that vantage point!

The Olivet Discourse (as it is called), was a response by Christ to his disciples question about the destruction he had prophesied, when they brought the beauty of the temple to His attention as they were leaving the city. They ask Him when will this things be (destruction of Jerusalem), and what will the signs of His coming, and the time of the end? These are 3, THREE, separate questions - and are answered by our Lord completely.

They key to understanding the answer (and some nuances of this weeks text) is to appreciate that the destruction of Jerusalem ---DID--- indicate the -ending of an age-. This was to be the end of Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel for the foreseeable future! The story that began in Egypt, would end in the near-complete annhilation on of the Jewish nation as a people with a country. This was a 2000/1500 (depending on how you date) year long story that was to end IN THE DISCIPLES LIFETIME!

As one age (the covenant of the Law) was ending (the veil in the temple would be split apart 2 days later), the age of Grace was beginning - with the Gospel of the Resurrection!! Christ is going to talk about the end of this Age too!!!!!

The destruction of Jerusalem was not going to happen immediately (would take about 40 years from the time Christ spoke). Christ accurately recounts the trials and tribulations the early church had to go through to get the Gospel out - (False Christs, False Messiahs, Prison, Death etc.). He then tells them that when they see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, a desolation of the temple is imminent, and this desolation is to be a signal for them to get out of Dodge! Practical advice, and it is a historical fact, that most Christian Jews DID flee Jerusalem before the Roman invasion in 70 AD - in part, by heeding this text and warning! { BTW this is why - "This generation will not pass away till all these things are accomplished... " is a true statement! We will say more later}

Christ however is not done. His focus, and the prophecy itself, now shifts to the end of the age signaled by His Second coming. SIMILAR to warning His disciples about what they are going to endure after His ascension, He is warning His Church - with parables and explicit statements - what they are to expect, and how to best deal with the period just before His Coming!

The message is to the ELECT THAT ARE GOING THROUGH THIS PERIOD. Just as He is gave His disciples then, practical words of warning, these words are to those that are reading them as they are going through this difficult time, or are preparing to enter it.

Now, based on your eschatological (end-time) position, you may say that ELECT = Christians (Post-Trib), ELECT = Jews that become Christians when they realize the error of their ways during the reign of the antichrist/church is raptured(Pre-Trib Rapture of the Church), or ELECT = "Tribulation Saints" (Catch all for "people who go through this period but don't worship the anti-christ" - Mid? Post? Trib). But regardles of your position, we hope you will agree with us, that Christ is talking here TO SOMEBODY THAT IS SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE OF IT!!!! They are being bombarded with false messages...

What advice is He giving them?

1. He is warning them of people that will pretend to be Him and show signs and wonders. It is a historical fact, that for 400 years the Jewish people waited for their Messiah, and no one claimed to be Him, but after Christ, the number of false christs grew - and even the apostles had to deal with them. DO NOT BELIEVE IT!
2. He is warning them of people that say He has already come - elsewhere in the World, or we just missed it. He tells them quite clearly, His return WILL BE -UNMISTAKABLE!-
3. He tells them quite bluntly, this will be pain that the world has never seen before. All He offers is that it is a FINITE TIME - 3 1/2 years - THANK YOU LORD!!!!! We MUST Hang on and have hope!

And so, finally, to the parable. We have given you the context, what do you think is the key message?.......

KEY MESSAGE: The people of God are NOT to be taken by surprise! "I HAVE TOLD YOU BEFORE...."

The budding of the Fig Tree indicates summer is approaching. It's been a long time, but Israel is a country again. Our president may have kicked open a can of worms by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital. There is talk of the second temple, blood moons, red heifers, land swap deals. (The fig tree is also a symbol for Israel in the Word.)

The people of the world do not really care. Like those before the Flood, everybody is busy with getting on with life as usual. In the period of darkness about to ensue in the Tribulation, those that ignored the Bible, Christians, Religion, will have a very difficult time getting access to any of them. Devoid of hope and choices, they will opt for the mark of the beast. Even getting the gospel out is going to be next to impossible - if you see how bad it is in some countries now, that is just a precursor to what is going to happen world-wide!

The parable of the Fig tree lets us know that His coming is at the doors! Yeshua is at pains to point out that He does not know the day and hour of His coming as that is the counsel of the Father. Therefore, the statement "This generation shall not pass away till all these things are fulfilled" CANNOT be understood to apply to the end of THE AGE of Man, but only to the end of the age of the Covenant of the Law/ destruction of Jerusalem (which as we have pointed out, can also be understood as ending an age that began with Abraham/Egypt)

Another way of understanding the logical problem is that you would have to say that Christ both KNEW that He would return in His disciples lifetime AND Christ DID NOT KNOW the day or hour of His return - which is a contradiction.

(Yes you can argue that He may have known generation but not day or hour - that is not one which will get a response from us - for the simple fact of all the other material presented - heavenly signs, all tribes mourn, sign in heaven, trumpet, angels --- if all of this was going to happen before Peters 70th birthday, surely Christ would have said so - never mind the fact that it HASN'T happened, so we know we are right :-)).

The darker it gets, the more hopeful and joyous (NOT happy.. filled with joy.. different!) we get in looking and seeing things that the prophets have desired to look at. What do you see?

We see a one world government already... yes we still have separate nations, but a global digital and electronic link ties together financial trading, commerce, government business. Money has become more important than national principles... countries will (or let corporations in their countries) happily do business with sworn enemies today. Science has enabled us to look back in time (via the Hubble Space Telescope) to the beginning of time itself. We understand how galaxies are born and die, we even make attempts to get along with each other(United Nations, democracies) but somehow, somehow, mankind is intent on destroying itself. Are we really that dumb? Or is there an external agent at work, sowing discord, confusion, stirring up hatred and strife... you know there is! Nothing else explains why things are still so wrong after centuries of evolution! We are too smart to be that dumb!!!!!

Its ignorance. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to convince the world he didn't exist. Not to us. Not to those that are watching the fig tree, counting themselves blessed to live in these times, loving - yet simultaneously dreading the price required to say like Job "In my flesh, shall I see God." - Job 19:26. A whirlwind came for Job, and Christ is coming for us, at the end of our lives, or at the end of the Tribulation (our view) to gather His elect together from the four corners of the world - and we will be changed forever as we stand!

Hallelujah