This lesson discusses
the parable of the fig tree and how it applies to our day.
Luke 21:29-33
Luke 21:29-33
29 Then He spoke to them a parable: "Look
at the fig tree, and all the trees. 30
When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is
now near. 31 So you also, when you see
these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation
will by no means pass away till all things take place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My
words will by no means pass away.
(compare Matthew
24:32-35; Mark 13:28-31)
Throughout
Luke 21 we have been discussing the signs of various events that Jesus shared
while He taught in Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus has just finished
speaking about the signs of the destruction of Jerusalem and the (second)
coming of the Son of Man. Now Jesus tells His audience the Parable of the Fig
Tree, intended, I believe, to show believers something more about the signs
Jesus has been describing to them.
Jesus asks His audience to think about how they
know that summer is near. When the fig and other fruit trees begin to bud,
Jesus tells us, we “see and know for ourselves
that summer is now near.”
This statement probably had more meaning for the listeners in Jesus’ day than
it does for us. Today we generally know exactly what month and season it is,
although we might be unsure of the exact date. We are surrounded with
calendars, on our phone, computer, tablet, watch, and television.
But it was not so in Jesus’ day. Remember that the Jews
in Jesus’ day used an entirely different calendar from the Gregorian calendar
we use today. The Jewish calendar was what is called a lunisolar calendar,
which is a calendar
whose date is based on both the moon’s phase
and the time of the solar year. There are two main types of lunisolar calendars, those –
like the Jewish calendar, which use tropical years
(A tropical year (also known as a solar year), for general purposes, is the
length of time that the Sun takes to return to the same position in the cycle
of seasons, as seen from Earth; for example, the time from vernal equinox to
vernal equinox, or from summer solstice to summer solstice.), giving an
indication of the season,
and those which use sidereal years (A sidereal year is the time
taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun once with respect to the fixed stars.),
predicting the constellation near which the full moon
may occur.
The Jewish
calendar consisted of twelve regular months of 29 or 30 days based on the
cycles of the moon. Months began with
the new moon, when the Sun and Moon are aligned on the same side of the Earth.
We know from the rabbinical writings (the Mishnah and the Tosefta) that in the
time of Christ new months were determined by the appearance in the sky at
sunset of the new crescent moon. This practice is preserved in English
translations of OT passages such as Numbers 10:10 and 28:11, where the phrase
“new moon” is used to translate the Hebrew “Rosh Chodesh”, literally "head
of the month."
Two of the important functions of the calendar were to
determine the date of planting and harvesting and the dates of the religious
festivals. In the Old Testament a series of religious festivals are defined:
Pesach (Passover), Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), Sukkot (the Feast of
Booths or Tabernacles), Purim (the Feast of Lots), and Shauvot (Pentecost -
I.e., the 50th day after Passover.or the Feast of Weeks) are some of
the most familiar and important of these. There are other well-known festivals
that are not mentioned in the Old Testament, for example, Hanukah and Rosh
Hashanah. Several of the Old Testament festivals - e.g., Passover, Sukkot, and
Shauvot - are tied to specific seasons and agricultural events.
Passover occurs in the first month of the year,
called Abib (literally “young ear of barley or other grain”) in Exodus and
Deuteronomy, and Nisan in Esther and Nehemiah. Passover is clearly tied to the
start of the grain harvest in spring (esp. barley, which was the first grain to
ripen). Shauvot occurs fifty days after Passover and is called “the festival of
reaping” in Exodus 23:16 and “the festival of first fruits” in Numbers 28:26.
Shauvot is associated with the end of the grain harvest in mid-summer (esp.
wheat, loaves of wheat bread were one of the typical offerings at the Temple in
Jerusalem). Sukkot, called the “feast of the harvest” in Exodus 23:16 and
34:22, marks the end of the fruit harvest in fall.
Because a lunar calendar is roughly 11 days
shorter than a solar calendar, corrections needed to be made to the calendar
over time to prevent the festivals from becoming unaligned with the seasons
which they were initially associated. Roughly every three years or so, the Jews
inserted a leap month to the calendar. The need for this “leap month” was
determined empirically; they looked at when Passover and the other festivals
were occurring relative to events of nature. The Tosefta put the matter like
this: “The year may be intercalated
on three grounds: 'aviv [i.e.the ripeness of barley], fruits of trees, and the
equinox. On two of these grounds it should be intercalated, but not on one of
them alone.” The
Jews looked the budding of the grains and the trees, as well as the length of
the days and nights, to determine if a “leap year” needed to be added to the
calendar. They were accustomed to looking at the trees and grains to determine
what season they were in…. When the barley began to ripen, they saw and knew
that the Passover was now near. When the fig and other fruit trees began to
bud, they saw and knew for themselves “that
summer is now near.”
The analogy Jesus uses in the Parable of the Fig Tree was one they were familiar
with.
Notice what Jesus says: when the trees are
already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is near. The Greek
verb translated “to know” is ginosko, which is the root through
Latin of our English verb “to recognize,” meaning to know someone or something
because of familiarity. The Jews recognized that summer was near because they
were familiar with the budding of the different fruit trees, because the
cultivation and harvesting of the fruits and grains were important to their
lives. There was no grocery store down the street at which they could buy their
food; they had to grow, raise, or make what they ate, or trade other goods and
services with people who did.
Similarly, Jesus tells us, when we see the
signs which He has described occurring, we should know (i.e., recognize) that
the kingdom of God is near. We need to be familiar with the signs to be able to
recognize them. And how do we become familiar with these signs? By reading the
scriptures that talk about the last days and the Second Coming and by
meditating on them.
And can I
suggest as well that what we need to do is to study these scriptures for
ourselves and ask God to reveal their meaning to us through His Holy Spirit?
While there is nothing inherently wrong with listening to what others – myself
included – have to say about the last days and Second Coming, at the end of the
day these are just the opinions of other men and women, hopefully speaking
under the influence of the Holy Spirit, but mere men and women nonetheless. God’s
words are always better than man’s words and who better to teach us spiritual
things than the Holy Spirit? I believe that when we allow the Spirit to teach
us, it may be the case that we will have a better understanding of them, and be
more familiar with them, than if we just listen to the opinions of other men
and women.
In our
passage Jesus now assures His listeners that “this generation will by no means pass away
until all things take place.”
The Greek word translated here as “assuredly” is amen, which carries the
sense of the Middle English verily or truly. How can He say this? What Jesus
has prophesied will happen because God’s word always accomplishes its purpose.
Isaiah 55:9 tells us:
11 So shall My word be that goes
forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish
what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
I take this
statement in Luke 21 as related to Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:18 during the
Sermon on the Mount: “For
assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle
will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” Accordingly I believe that what
Jesus tells us here in Luke 21 is that heaven and earth will pass away before
Jesus’ words pass away without accomplishing their purpose.
In light of what Jesus appears to be saying here,
verse 32 seems a bit puzzling. Notice that Jesus assures His listeners that “this generation will by no means pass away
until all things take place.”
Just looking at this verse in context, Jesus appears to be saying that telling
His listeners that your generation will not all die before all the things I
have been telling you take place. And most recently in verses 25-28 Jesus has
been telling them about the signs that will precede the Second Coming of the
Son of Man. Clearly all of the men and women in Jesus’ audience there in
Herod’s Temple are long dead and buried. Yet I believe that most of us do would
not claim that the Second Coming has already occurred, much less that it happened
almost 2000 years ago. So then what then was Jesus saying?
The first
thing to note about this passage in this light is that it is part of a parable.
We need to be mindful of the reason Jesus spoke in parables during the latter
half of His ministry. When Jesus’ disciples asked Him why He spoke in parables,
here is the fullest version of His reply, from Matthew 13:10-17:
10 And the disciples came and said
to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?"
11 He answered and said to them,
"Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of
heaven, but to them it has not been given.
12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have
abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from
him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in
parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do
they understand. 14 And in them the
prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:
'Hearing you will hear and shall not
understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; 15 For the hearts of this people have
grown dull. Their ears are hard
of hearing, And their eyes they
have closed, Lest they should
see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with
their hearts and turn, So that
I should heal them.'
16 But blessed are your eyes for
they see, and your ears for they hear;
17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired
to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not
hear it.
Jesus tells
His disciples that He speaks in parables so that those to whom it has been
given to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven will comprehend, and
those to whom it has not been given to do so will not.
As I examine
Jesus’ comments about parables, one of things that strikes me is how the
disciples needed Jesus to explain this passage to them. Similarly I believe we
all need the Holy Spirit to help us see and understand spiritual things in
scripture. It should not surprise us then that we are puzzled, at least
initially, by some of the parables Jesus speaks.
I also
believe that part of the confusion arises from our expectations about the words
Jesus uses. When we think of the word “generation,” one of the common meanings
that come to mind is the lifespan of a typical person. A generation in this
sense is roughly 60-70 years. But this is not the only meaning of the Greek
word genea
has in scripture. Genea can also mean an age or period of time, a nation, or a
group of people with similar attributes. If Jesus used the word in any of these
senses, then our difficulty with the meaning of generation goes away. Certainly
if by genea Jesus meant the current age, then this age will not end
until all the events Jesus described pertaining to the last days and the Second
Coming have occurred. The same is true if He meant by genea the Jewish nation
or the body of true believers, for of both of these the Lord has always
preserved a remnant.
The parable does not give us an infallible law but a
common sense rule of thumb. All things being equal, the ripening of the barley
and the budding of the fruit trees are reliable indicators that summer is at
hand. However, they are not a guarantee. Nor do they indicate exactly when
summer is coming. The barley might ripen and the tree might bud slightly sooner
or later from year to year, depending on the weather. I believe the signs of
the last days or the coming of the Son of Man that Jesus has given us operate
in the same way. Before the last days occur and Son of Man returns we will see
the signs that Jesus has described. But exactly how long after we see these
signs will these events happen I believe it is impossible to say. The Greek
adverb Jesus uses – eggus – means soon to come to pass but we need to remember that
soon for us and soon for God are different. As 2 Peter 3:8 reminds us “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing,
that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one
day.”
Finally, it could be the case that Jesus was
talking only about the signs of the destruction of Jerusalem. As we discussed
last week, Jerusalem was first besieged and destroyed in 70 A.D., within 37
years more or less from when Jesus spoke the parable of the Fig Tree. In one
sense, all that Jesus had said about the destruction of the Temple and the city
most likely occurred before the generation which heard Him passed away.
As I said
earlier, I believe this parable is calling us to become increasingly familiar
with the signs of the last days and the Second Coming, so that we can recognize
them when they occur. But it is not enough to hear His word and be familiar
with the signs; in addition we need to be watching for them. As James 1:22-25
puts it:
But be doers of the word, and not
hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word
and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for
he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he
was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it,
and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed
in what he does.
And it is to
this topic that Jesus devotes verses 34-36 of our passage tonight. Look at what
Jesus tells His listeners.
The first thing Jesus tells us is to take heed that
our hearts do not become weighed down with partying and the cares of our
earthly existence. Jesus does not want our focus to be on such things as
gluttony, drunkenness, or the cares and attractions of this life. The reason
for this is if our focus is on earthly things, we will not be looking for, and
will be less likely to perceive, the signs of the last days and the Second
Coming, which will come upon us unexpectedly. Earlier Jesus told His disciples:
Luke
12:35-40,
35 "Let your waist be girded
and your lamps burning; 36 and you
yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the
wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the
master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will
gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. 38 And if he should come in the second watch,
or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. 39 But know this, that if the master of the
house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not
allowed his house to be broken into. 40
Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not
expect."
Not only will the Son of Man come at an
unexpected hour, indeed His Coming will impact everyone. The second thing that
Jesus tells His audience is that the Day when Christ comes again will be “as a snare on all those who dwell on the face
of the whole earth.”
When Jesus comes the second time He will not be here to save mankind as a whole
but ultimately to bring judgment upon it. No one will be able to escape His
judgment. Eventually all living and dead alike will have to stand before the throne
of Jesus and be judged by Him. On that Day, for those who were not in
relationship with Him, it will truly be a fearful thing to fall into the hands
of the Living God. As Hebrew 10:28-31 puts the matter:
Anyone who has rejected Moses' law
dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much
worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled
the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was
sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him
who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. And
again, "The Lord will judge His people." 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the
hands of the living God.
It is for this reason that Jesus tells us thirdly: “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may
be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to
stand before the Son of Man."
Jesus tells not only to watch for the signs so we know the times we are living
in but also to pray that we may be counted worthy to escape all these things
which will come to pass, and stand before the Son of Man. It is not enough to
be familiar with the signs; it is not enough to watch out for the signs; in
addition we need to be in prayer that we will be counted worthy.
Verse 36 can
also in my opinion be a somewhat controversial verse. Jesus does not tell
exactly what things we are to pray that we might escape. Many people believe He
is referring here to the Rapture of the Church and events of the Great
Tribulation and that may be so. Or it may be the case that Jesus is referring
to our being judged worthy to obtain eternal life at the Day of Judgment. I
believe that both of these interpretations have their merits. However I also
believe that there is a sense in this verse where Jesus is reminding us that
salvation and eternal life are not easy or light things.
Without a doubt salvation is by grace through faith (Ephesians
2:8-10) in what Jesus did upon the cross.
Nevertheless, as Jesus tells His audience during
the Sermon on the Mount,
Matthew
7:13-14
13 "Enter by the narrow gate;
for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there
are many who go in by it. 14 Because
narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are
few who find it.”
And it was I
believe for this same reason that the apostle Paul urged the believers at
Corinth to examine themselves to see if they are in the faith (2 Corinthians
13:5). Remember that this is intended to be food for thought, something to
stimulate you to search the scriptures and seek the Lord in prayer. But in any
event, as our passage tonight makes clear, our prayers will be instrumental to
our being counted worthy. I know what kind of a man I am and I know that I need
all the help I can get to be counted worthy. I praise God that as Romans 8:34
tells us, Jesus even now is there at the right hand of God, interceding for His
people night and day (Rom 8:34). And as the Apostle Paul goes on to tell us in
just a few verses later:
38 For I am persuaded that neither
death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present
nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Possessing
eternal life is more than knowing what the scriptures say. It is more than
doing what the scriptures tell us to do. It is, I believe, even more than
simply having faith in the saving work of Jesus upon the cross. It is having a
relationship with Jesus. Jesus Himself tells us in John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they may know
You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
My prayer for all of us tonight is that we
would not only know the signs of the last days and the Second Coming, that we
would not only watch and pray that we will be counted worthy, but in the end
also that we would fall in love with Jesus, that we would seek Him in prayer
and in His Word daily, that we would model our lives on His, and that we would
pick up His cross and follow Him. If we do these things, I believe that it will
be said of us that we may be counted worthy to escape the things that will come
to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man in heaven!
The Importance of Watching
Luke 21:34-38
34 "But take heed to
yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and
cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. 35 For it will come as a snare on all those
who dwell on the face of the whole earth.
36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to
escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of
Man."
37 And in the daytime He was
teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain
called Olivet. 38 Then early in the morning all the people came to Him in the
temple to hear Him.
(compare Matthew
24:36-44; Mark 13:32-37)
Note: the last
five verses in Luke 21 are not discussed in detail.
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