HG139pt7 Matthew 24:32-35, Mark 13:28-31, Luke 21:29-33

32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. 36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. 42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

We have been making our way through the Olivet Discourse that Jesus gave in a Sermon on the Mount of Olives. The same place that Jesus ascended from and to where He will return.

Much of what we have heard and learned has not been easy but these things are for our benefit as Christians in holy living, in getting us to realise the need of reaching the lost, and in raising our expectation of Jesus’ return. Our journey has taken us into the Book of Daniel, Zechariah, Revelation and others. Jesus preached on this subject and despite the difficulties of grasping and understanding these things many preachers avoid Matthew 24-25 on purpose because it can cause controversy or they simply cannot understand it themselves. After all, the disciples did not understand it all either.

Someone said to me this week that until I preached from Revelation they had never heard a sermon on it in all their years on a Sunday. Well, that is entirely unacceptable, for it was written for our understanding, written to warn the lost, written to warn the leaders of the world, written against Antisemitism, written so we know what is going to happen and for those who live those days what the future holds for the lost as well as for the saved and what to do. Not only that, but 8.5% of our New Testament is the Book of Revelation and to avoid it is to do what it warns not to do:

Revelation 22:19 NKJV

19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

To not preach on this book is to surely take away the words of this book. It raises questions about whether I should avoid the 578 prophecies in the New Testament, and 1239 prophecies from the Old Testament? Instead of 8.5% we are now talking about 26.8% of our bibles which are prophecies; over a quarter! Let’s tear out that much from our bibles for a Sunday. Of course, we will not do that - these things are put there by God in His Word for us to know and understand. Let’s remind ourselves about what the bible says of itself:

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NKJV

16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

It would be amiss of me, just because it is difficult, just because others would not preach it, for me to acquiesce, for me to spurn the calling that is upon every preacher including me:

2 Timothy 4:1–4 NKJV

1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

Rebuke and correct are part of the charge to me. And I. along with all ministers, will stand before Jesus to give an account to Him for what I preach and teach in a severe judgement. I’m worried but not for me. Are we so weak as a Church that we cannot cope with teaching like this on a Sunday? Perhaps this subject scares us half to death - then I implore you, turn to the living God who will abundantly pardon you and ensure you do not partake of the judgement that is to come upon this world. Or, perhaps, it is that it is a lot to take in especially since no one has dealt with this subject before.

I started this whole series on this sermon of Jesus with saying it is teaching but it is teaching that Jesus gave and we would do well to study for ourselves these things and I am glad to hear that at least one person went home and studied the subject for themselves. I really should expect this of you all. Well, I have been preaching on easy things, that’s right, what I have told you is easy. It is easy if we know the Word of God. It is only difficult if we have not read the 260 chapters of the New Testament for ourselves. I may well come to the meatier parts on some Wednesdays so we have a grasp on these things properly but I have only covered general points here on Sundays. I am here to preach the Word of God! I will not stop preaching from all of the Scripture on Sundays, Wednesdays, or any day of the week should I have opportunity.

So, this evening, when we hear of Noah and his preaching of the judgement that was then to come he was ridiculed and disbelieved and no doubt told to avoid such a subject for the people will not accept such a message, well, I for one am glad he kept on going for 120 years. He is my example today in such a godless world who cannot handle difficult messages. And, of course, it did not sound like good news to be told about the impending doom that was coming and, indeed, he did not get one convert.

Some think that if we tell people the Good News that suddenly the churches will be full, or if it preaches from God’s Word that it will be full. Are we promised this by God? It seems to me the churches that are growing are those with big personalities and little doctrine, all music and entertainment than worship, all fluff and psycho-babble and feeling good. That’s not what we are supposed to be about. We should know, understand and make the message of Scripture known.

For those in Noah’s day it would have been good news to them had they heeded the warnings. And I will preach hell and damnation if necessary for Jesus preached it. It’s not a popular message for the world or, for that matter, for today’s wishy-washy church which can’t even face preaching on future things. Noah preached future things and so will we and maybe there will be no church growth as a result - well, we will be in the good company of Noah, if so. Our message is repent and believe!

But before we get to Noah we need to look at what Jesus taught before that and what does it say in verse 32? This is a parable, about a fig tree. What is a parable? It is a simple comparison to illustrate a simple truth. Parables unexplained hid the truth. Parables explained made the truth clear. And Jesus says: learn from it. So let us learn!

I have heard lots of things about this parable of the fig tree. One of the biggest ones is that the fig tree is Israel, for in the Old Testament, a fig tree is often representative of Israel. And when Israel became a nation again in 1948 they said - hey, look! The fig tree is sprouting! It must mean that this generation will not pass away before all these things happen and Jesus is coming. And, to be honest, I thought this for a while too. And the nation of Israel did need to happen for the Jews to return to their homeland and for laws to be passed that would say no working on the Sabbath, and for a Temple to be built. So, yes, Israel had to happen but it is not necessarily the 1948 generation that will see Jesus come back. It’s getting obvious that it can’t be. That is reading a lot into these short verses.

So, let us grasp this very simple parable and not complicate it. It is using the fig tree to tell us that summer is near when it starts sprouting. If you can tell that about a fig tree then you can work out that when you see all the things I have spoken about happen you know it is near. What is the ‘it’ here?

Well, Luke has kindly filled in the gap:

Luke 21:31 NKJV

31 So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.

Ah! The kingdom of God is a-coming when you see all the things we have spoken of in the last few weeks. What have we spoken of? The 7 year tribulation when this world will go through an unprecedented time of trouble and the Antichrist will arise and convince the world to worship him. When the birth pangs of earthquakes, war, disease and famine are a constant and persecution against Jew and Christian reaches a crescendo and then when the sun, moon and stars and everything is darkened. Then, know! The kingdom of God is near, the sprouting fig tree giving fruit reveals Summer, all these things in Matthew 24 then, therefore reveal Jesus is coming back to reign.

Despite all this some people are just going to be caught surprised at the Second Coming of Christ. They will not realise it is about to happen even though all these prophecies state it. They missed the first coming of Christ even though the prophecies clearly told of that too. All these prophecies were literally fulfilled. Literally. When Herod called in the chief priests and Scribes in Matthew 2:4-6 to ask where the Messiah, the King of the Jews was going to be born - they knew exactly where - Bethlehem. How? ‘Cos the Scriptures told them in Micah 5:2. Yet, they still did not recognise Jesus when He came. And, today, we are few who declare that these prophecies of the future are literal, and as I have already said, they won’t even preach on them, so, again, they and those they preached to on Sundays will miss the signs and Jesus, for them, will come back unexpectedly.

But we are looking forward to the day of His return.

2 Timothy 4:8 NKJV

8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

John MacArthur Sermon Archive Could Jesus Come Today?

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.

I don’t want to be ashamed on that day!

Verse 34 is clear that this generation will not pass away until all these take place. All these things. When Jesus was speaking which generation was He talking to? Some thought those whom He was speaking to and the disciples for a while thought this. But the things that Jesus spoke of did not happen in their lifetimes. Indeed, some have thought that Jesus is speaking in this chapter about what happened in Jerusalem in AD70 when the Romans came. But when did the sun go dark? Or when were the heavens shaken? Was that time the worst trouble in history? Why, then, did the disciple present on that day, the one called John, write Revelation twenty years after the attack of the Romans and put the same warnings in that book as we have seen in Revelation 6, 8 and 16? It is all, then, still to come. This is still future. It has not yet happened in our lifetimes but it could; it really could. Listen to what Daniel has in his book at the end:

Daniel 12:4 NKJV

4 “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

Has it not been the last 100 years, more than at any time in history, that people have travelled? Most people had never been out of their immediate area unless forced by war or slavery, even up to recent times. Now, people hop on a plane and travel thousands of miles without a thought of how impossible this was not so long ago. And what of knowledge? Surely since the internet knowledge has exploded and if you do not know something you have google or Alexa or Siri! And then you know, right? Daniel is talking of the time of the end. Is he not speaking of our time? All this to-ing and fro-ing and the amazing things kids know today. This is proof that it could well be this generation that will see Jesus return.

We’ve gone through so much already in our look at this sermon and then in verse 35 it matter of fact says: Heaven and earth will pass away.

That’s all, folks! Just like that, a fullstop. It won’t, of course, be the end. There will be a new heaven and earth. But there is something that is utterly faithful and unchanging and that is the Words of Jesus. His Word stands forever. He has the final say, what He says He will do, what He says will happen. John 10:35 says that the Scripture cannot be broken.

We are waiting for His return. It will happen. It could happen in our lifetimes. Indeed, we can see the world is heading towards this. And He could come today for us, for it must be a day soon. Let us take heed of Scripture:

Hebrews 10:24–25 NKJV

24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Benediction

Hebrews 10:24–25 NKJV

Bibliography

Carr, A. (2015). The Sermon Notebook: New Testament. Lenoir, NC: Alan Carr.

Davies, W. D., & Allison, D. C., Jr. (2004). A critical and exegetical commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew (Vol. 3). London; New York: T&T Clark International.

Elwell, W. A. (1995). Evangelical Commentary on the Bible (Vol. 3). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

Geisler, N. L. (2005). Systematic theology, volume four: church, last things. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers.

Grudem, W. A. (2004). Systematic theology: an introduction to biblical doctrine. Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014). John MacArthur Sermon Archive. Panorama City, CA: Grace to You.

McCune, R. (2010). A Systematic Theology of Biblical Christianity: The Doctrines of Salvation, the Church, and Last Things (Vol. 3). Allen Park, MI: Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary.

O’Donnell, D. S. (2013). Matthew: All Authority in Heaven and on Earth. (R. K. Hughes, Ed.). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

Rogers, A. (2017). Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive. Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust.