Lesson From Fig Tree
Matthew 24:32-33(AMP) From the fig tree learn this lesson: as soon as its young shoots become soft and tender and it puts out its leaves, you know of a surety that summer is near. So also when you see these signs, all taken together, coming to pass, you may know of a surety that He is near, at the very doors.
🙏 The Lord will keep us safe and more rooted in His words as Scriptures speak to us in Jesus name.
Introduction: Welcome to another refreshing time at His feet as we approach His coming.
🛑 At Mount Olives, Disciples of Christ privately asked vital question about signs of His coming and the end of the world.
Matthew 24:3 (NLT) Later, Jesus sat on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. His disciples came to him privately and asked, “When will all this take place? And will there be any sign ahead of time to signal your return and the end of the world?”
▶️ From our text, Jesus used fig tree parable as illustration for the signs, footsteps or nearness of His coming.
Matthew 24:32-33 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.
🛑 Any Christian or Disciple of Christ without conscious preparation for the coming of our Lord and Saviour while still living in this world will end up like the foolish virgins.
Matthew 25:1-2 (AMP) THEN THE kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish (thoughtless, without forethought) and five were wise (sensible, intelligent, and prudent).
⚠️ In order for us NOT to end up and be categorised with FOOLS that say there is NO God at the end of this life, we MUST follow and be acquainted with signs of His coming as we observe the Fig Tree.
❓What does Fig Tree represent? ISRAEL.
Hosea 9:10a I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time:
📖 Studying and observing historical facts about nation of ISRAEL, from when God called Abraham from his father’s land in Ur (present day Iraq), to making Abraham a great nation known as Israel at the land of promise today in the middle East, gives a wise Christian insight to God’s calendar as regards the coming of Jesus Christ and the end of the world.
Genesis 12:1-2 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
▶️ Through Isaac the child of promise to Abraham, the nation of Israel was established and given their present land in southwestern Asia on the Eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea.
Genesis 15:7 (AMP) And He said to him, I am the [same] Lord, Who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees to give you this land as an inheritance.
▶️ Abraham requested for title deed knowing that contention may arise concerning the ownership of the land as we see happening today with Palestinian conflict.
Genesis 15:8 (AMP) But he [Abram] said, Lord God, by what shall I know that I shall inherit it?
▶️ God confirmed His promises with Abraham through sacrifice.
Genesis 15:9 And He said to him, Bring to Me a heifer three years old, a she-goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
▶️ God thereafter told Abraham about 400 years of captivity in Egypt before relocation to the promised land.
Acts 7:6-7 (AMP) And this is [in effect] what God told him: That his descendants would be aliens (strangers) in a land belonging to other people, who would bring them into bondage and ill-treat them 400 years. But I will judge the nation to whom they will be slaves, said God, and after that they will escape and come forth and worship Me in this [very] place.
▶️ The nation of Israel was scattered from the Land of promise due to idolatry and iniquities. The Lord finally brought them back as a nation in 1948 after the 2nd World War according to His promises.
Jeremiah 3:18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
▶️ ISRAEL is the lesson from the Fig Tree that we are to learn from concerning the end of the world. We can observe God’s timetable from the Biblical prophecies concerning Israel from the Bible.
👉 Some prophecies have been fulfilled such as;
1️⃣ The birth of Jesus Christ for the Salvation of the world
2️⃣ The death of Jesus Christ for redemption from sins for those who believe
3️⃣ The destruction of Solomon’s Temple, displacement and scattering of Israel from the inherited land
4️⃣ The returns of Israel to their inherited land which took place in 1948 against all odds.
▶️ The 2nd World War that led to final occupation of Israel to their current land was part of God’s agenda. All Arab countries combined and made war against Israel in order to displace them from the promised land after the 2nd World War but failed till today.
🛑 There are yet to be fulfilled Biblical prophecies concerning Israel and consequently the entire world.
📢 This is why we MUST learn lesson from the parable of the fig tree (Israel) to know the times and seasons we live to avoid ill-preparedness for the 2nd coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
🤔 I have no doubt that current Israel-Hamas War is in God’s plan as in previous wars against Israel.
⚠️ There is still going to be a deadly war against Israel known as Jacob’s trouble.
Jeremiah 30:7(AMP) Alas! for that day will be great, so that none will be like it; it will be the time of Jacob’s [unequaled] trouble, but he will be saved out of it.
🛑 This will happen during the great tribulation as Jesus Christ told His Disciples at Mount Olives when He was asked about the end of the world.
Matthew 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
🛑 Israel will still face the greatest battle from the whole nations of the world to be led by the Antichrist in power towards the end of the great tribulation. Yet Israel will be saved by the coming of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 24:29-30 (AMP) Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and beat their breasts and lament in anguish, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory [in brilliancy and splendor].
Zechariah 14:3 Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle.
▶️ This is the battle of Armageddon that will Usher in the Millennial reign of Christ on Earth and the incarceration of Satan and his cohorts.
Revelation 16:16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
🔥 Answers of Jesus Christ to His Disciples about His 2nd coming and the end of the world at Mount Olives in chapter 24 of the book of Matthew is enough for wise Christians or virgins to know times and seasons. Exact delivery day and time for a pregnant woman is unknown, that’s why it is called EDD (Expected Delivery Date) but not knowing that a woman is pregnant is apathetic and foolishness.
✍ Finally brethren, there is going to be a sudden world event before Antichrist takes control of the world system for seven years.
2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 (AMP) For the mystery of lawlessness (that hidden principle of rebellion against constituted authority) is already at work in the world, [but it is] restrained only until he who restrains is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one (the antichrist) will be revealed and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of His mouth and bring him to an end by His appearing at His coming.
▶️ This event is the Rapture or catching away of Christians or wise virgins who are watchfully preparing for the 2nd coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. No one knows the day and time.
Matthew 24:36 But of that [exact] day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
👉 Apostles of old thought it will happen during their time but lo and behold, it’s over 2000 years and Rapture is yet to happen.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (AMP) For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud cry of summons, with the shout of an archangel, and with the blast of the trumpet of God. And those who have departed this life in Christ will rise first. Then we, the living ones who remain [on the earth], shall simultaneously be caught up along with [the resurrected dead] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so always (through the eternity of the eternities) we shall be with the Lord!
🛑 It is wise for us as Christians to be watchful and prepare at all times since no one knows the time of death and ONLY the dead in Christ shall rise first before the living righteous when Rapture takes place.
Numbers 23:10b ..Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!
🛑 At the same time, Rapture can take place anytime from now when we are alive ❗
⚠️ While we are alive, let us learn from the “Fig Tree” (Israel) be watchful and be at alert as we walk closer with God. Normal activities will be going on when the sudden event will occur.
Matthew 24:37-42 But as the days of Noe 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. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
⚠️ Chances of survival for careless, apathetic (indifferent) Christians or foolish virgins left behind to live under the rulership of Antichrist is very slim. Put on the WHOLE armour of God as a good soldier of Christ while still living.
1 Peter 4:18 And if the righteous are barely saved, what will become of the godless and wicked?
✋ Maranatha
