The Olivet Discourse - Matthew 24:32-35
8/29/2010
        

Matthew 24:32-35 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 I tell you the truth, 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.”

        We have in the last couple weeks been working our way through the 24th chapter of Matthew. Matthew chapters 24-25 we said are the longest uninterrupted teaching we have recorded from the mouth of Jesus, and these two chapters are devoted to answering the questions the disciples asked: what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age. We have spent a number of weeks looking at the signs Christ gave us. We looked at famines, wars, deception, earthquakes, persecution, the antichrist, and last week we looked at the most awesome and final sign, the sign of Christ Himself returning to the earth.
        Now Jesus, as He many times did, went a step further than what the disciples asked of Him. They asked what the sign would be, and He told them what to be looking for, but then He went a step further and began to teach. He didn’t just give them signs, but He taught them how they should live now that they had the signs to look for. He helped them to make applications to their lives. Isn’t that great? I mean isn’t that what you really want. You don’t just pick up the Bible and start reading just to read it. You don’t come here each week just too warm a pew, or at least I hope you don’t. You come to God’s word with expectations. You’re hoping to learn something that will help you in life. You hope to take something away from what you read. So today we are going to start making the applications.
        Jesus after giving the signs, in the rest of chapter 24 and 25 begins to teach the disciples, and therefore us as well, through a number of parables. In light of the fact that Jesus is returning and He has given us signs to keep us watchful for His return, this is how we should live.
        Today then we are going to look at the first of the parables, and we will call this parable: The Parable of the Fig Tree. Jesus begins His teaching by saying, “Now Learn this lesson from the fig tree.” Now there have been many preachers and commentators over the years that have tried to explain what the Fig Tree is. Some say it is the nation of Israel, or the church, or this or that. You know what I think the Fig Tree is? I think it’s a Fig Tree. We don’t have to try to spiritualize this. Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Olives with his disciples. There are fig trees all over the place. Jesus simple used his surroundings to help make a point.
        He points to a nearby fig tree and says. ‘Let me give you an illustration. Learn a lesson from this fig tree here. When this fig tree’s branches go from being stiff and brittle from being dormant all winter long, and instead get soft and pliable, and when you see buds forming and the leaves beginning to blossom, you know what? You know that it’s almost summer.’
        Then what does He say, “Even so, when you see all these things.” What things? The signs he has been telling us about. When we see these things, “you will know that it is near, right at the door.” What is near? His return is near.
        Now we move on to one of the most difficult, most debated, most controversial verses in the entire Bible. Jesus goes on to say, “34 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” Now let me quickly walk you through some of the thoughts on this verse. First, some liberal scholars like to use this verse to show that Jesus was wrong and made a mistake, and that His teaching and the Bible are not trustworthy or true. They say that its been two thousands years and that generation that was alive then has all long ago passed away, and so Jesus was wrong and spread a false teaching.
        Another thought that some have proposed is that we are translating the verse wrongly. The word that is translated generation can be, and sometimes is, translated as nation, instead of as generation. It would then read, “I tell you the truth, this nation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” They make it sound as if He was referring to Israel and the Jewish people, but that seems to me like a long shot in trying to explain this problem.
        Let’s look at one more possibility, and I think this is the best explanation. Let’s actually put this verse in the context of the surround teaching of Jesus, and then let’s ask the question, ‘What generation is Jesus referring to?’ When you read this verse in light of everything Jesus has been saying, it seems pretty clear that Jesus is referring to the generation that will see the signs. A generation in the Bible is anywhere from 30-100 years, but most scholars point to it being about 40 years. We are told that these signs will come in their fullness during the coming tribulation, which the bible says will last 7 years. Therefore, the generation that sees the signs, will be the generation that will see Christ return, that generation will not pass away before Christ returns, it’s only a period of 7 years.
        Now you are wondering, “Well, haven’t you been saying pastor that we are seeing signs now?” Yes. Remember, future events cast their shadows before them, so we can see the beginnings of what is to come. Remember Jesus compared the signs to labor pains, and we said that labor pains grow stronger and more frequent until the baby is born. 2 years ago Becky and I were going through childbirth classes. We learned about the stages of labor and delivery. Think of the time we are living in now as Early or Latent labor. This is the longest stage of the labor process, and during this stage the woman is described as being ‘relatively comfortable.’ Contractions are further apart, irregular, and may even stop for a time and then start again, but as the labor progresses the contractions become more and more regular and frequent, and the woman is less and less ‘relatively comfortable.’ Think of the tribulation period then as the time of active labor. This is when the real severe contractions take place as the cervix really begins to dilate, the baby drops down and the pushing begins. The woman is no longer ‘relatively comfortable’ but is in ‘great tribulation.’
        I bet you didn’t expect to be learning about Lamaze classes at church, but you know it helps us to understand. Jesus, the master teacher, gave us something true to our lives and experiences to help us understand what it will be like.
        Now let’s go on and look at our final verse for today. Jesus said, “35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” If you have your Bible with you I want you to take them and open them up in front of you. It doesn’t matter what page you’re on. If you don’t have your Bible, then take a Bible out of the pew rack and open it up. Look at the words. Now I want you to think about something. Everything else in the world: the ground you’re standing on, the church we are in, the money in your pocket, the cars sitting outside, the trees, the mountains, even the book you are holding, will one day be gone. But those words you are looking at are indestructible; they will exist for all eternity.
        Those words have been hated by more people than any other words. Countless times through history peoples and governments have tried to destroy those words, but they live on. Emperors and entire empires have tried to extinguish these words, and yet here it is, you hold it in your hands; it remains year after year the number one best selling book in the world. The famous philosopher Voltaire said it 1776 “100 years from my time there will not be a Bible in the earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity seeker.” In other words there won’t be any Bibles in existence except for a few sitting in museums. 100 years later, Voltaire’s home was being used as a place to print thousands of Bibles and distribute them all over Europe. Two years later in 1778 he said “It took 12 men to start Christianity; one will destroy it” referring to himself. That same year he died.
        The famous American agnostic Robert Ingersoll said “In fifteen years I will have this book (referring to the bible) in the morgue.” 15 years later he was in the morgue, and a pastor bought his desk and spent the rest of his life writing his sermons on it. Every attempt to squelch the word of God has failed. Peter says, “1 Peter 1:24-25 24 For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord stands forever.””
        Now Jesus could have made this comment at any time during his ministry, why did he choose to make a comment like this hear, at this point. I mean this comment could be placed anywhere in the Bible. Paul tells us, “2 Timothy 3:16 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” So this comment is true no matter where it would be put, so why did Jesus say it here.
        I think he wanted to draw attention to what he was saying and his teaching here. You know I don’t know of any topic that draws more controversy within the church of God than that of the end times. Many pastors won’t touch it. In the church that I grew up in my parents attended Bible study. I bet they were in that Bible study over 20 years, but the pastor in all that time refused to lead a discussion on the book of Revelation. “We don’t know about that time or hour, so why study it?” He would say. Some of my fellow pastors here in our association don’t want to talk about the issue. One of them, who I truly respect, disappointed me a bit when he said. “You know, there are pre-tribulation people, and post-trib people, and mid-trib people, there are millenialists, and amillenialists, I like to think of myself as a panmillenialists. I just think it will all pan out in the end.”
        We have a congressional election coming up later this year. You know what one of the major tactics in political campaigns is? Try to lull the other guy’s voters to sleep while energizing your own. Convince them that there’s no point in going out to vote. The election is out of reach; the other guy doesn’t really offer you anything special. You want your opponent’s voters to stay home, while yours go out to vote.
        You know Satan tries to do the same thing. How does Satan paralyze Christians and make them lax and ineffective for life and ministry? He tries to convince us that this stuff doesn’t really matter. Why worry about it? Why talk about it? It will all pan out in the end… Why bother studying it? We can’t know the day or hour… and with that Christians are neutralized and made ineffective!
        How so you say? Let me ask you, as a Christian, what is our hope. Our hope is in Jesus Christ. Our hope is in His salvation. Our hope is in His return and the restoration of our bodies, which Paul says groan inwardly waiting for that day when we are made new. Our hope is in the fulfillment of the scriptures and the restoration of all things! When you don’t talk about the return of Christ, you take away our hope.
        The truth is that nothing energizes the people of God more than when they live expectantly watching for the return of Christ. One man wrote a letter to a prominent TV evangelist and said, “You know, I didn’t used to think to much about the end times and just kinda tried to go to church and live the best I could. Then I heard you preach on the end times and quite literally it scared the hell out of me! When I started thinking about the fact that Christ could return at any time it got me to clean my life up.” And you know that’s what God’s word does. When we live in light of the fact that Christ is coming back we live differently, it makes us more prone to avoid tempting situations, it makes us more aware of God and better prayers and students of His word. We find ourselves more open to taking the opportunity to share our faith with others and to tell them what Jesus has done for us. It changes the way we live.
        I think that is why Jesus says these words here, to draw attention to them. Heaven and earth will pass away, but these words (Jesus says) are true now and forever. They are important. They are relevant. And you know, if they were relevant to the disciples 2000 years ago, how much more relevant are they now. With each passing day we draw closer to Christ return. With each day Jesus words become more and more relevant to us as Christians and to a world in need of hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
        Learn this lesson from the fig tree, Jesus said. I hope that we will take Jesus words and learn from them and will apply them to our lives, and become people watching for His return, and diligently going about the work of ministry He has called us to in light of the fact the He is coming back.