Thus, as the Gospels will clearly attest, Jesus often shared
simple moral-containing stories, into which He would inject
familiar elements from their surroundings. Today, we refer
to these stories as Parables. Exactly what kind of Parable
Jesus shared, depended a lot upon whom He was speaking with.
In the case of His followers, He would often share stories
where the meaning was rather clear. After all, what would be
the purpose of sharing a story with them, if they were left
scratching their heads, and wondering what He had said? They
would learn nothing from such an experience. But in spite of
the Lord's best efforts to be clear, sometimes His Disciples
weren't able to immediately grasp the meaning of His words.
In such cases, the Lord would often later more fully explain
to them what it was that He meant.

At the same time, there were other occasions where the Lord
was purposely ambiguous, such as when He was challenged or
provoked by His unbelieving Jewish enemies. Jesus even told
His close followers that He purposely did this, so that, in
His words, "seeing they might not see, and hearing they might
not understand". Consider the full context of what the Lord
said to His Disciples in Luke chapter eight, after sharing
the Parable of the Sower with them:

"And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this
parable be? And he said, Unto you it is given to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables;
that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not
understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word
of God . . ."
Luke 8:9-11, KJV

In Matthew chapter eight, we find another account concerning
the very same event. Consider again what happened, as well as
how Jesus responded:

"And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest
thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them,
Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For
whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have
more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be
taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in
parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear
not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled
the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall
hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and
shall not perceive: For this peopleŐs heart is waxed gross,
and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have
closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and should understand with their
heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But
blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they
hear."
Matthew 13:10-16, KJV

As you can see, Jesus was eager to share the spiritual riches
of His Father's Kingdom with His sincere followers; yet, as I
noted before, when it came to His obvious enemies such as the
Jewish spiritual hierarchy, or other people who rejected Him,
it was an entirely different matter. Consider the following
Scriptural example:

"Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest
thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus
answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in
three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and
six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it
up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.
When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples
remembered that he had said this unto them; and they
believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said."
John 2:18-22, KJV

You see, Jesus obviously realized that the Jewish Elders did
not understand Him, but it didn't matter to Him, because He
knew that they would never believe Him, or accept Him, even
if He did reveal to them the truth behind His words. In fact,
as you may recall, in the final chapter of Matthew's Gospel,
the Jewish religious leaders were so desperate to discredit
Jesus' Resurrection from the dead, that they even bribed the
soldiers into spreading the lie that Jesus' body had merely
been stolen by His followers, as we see here:

"Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came
into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the
things that were done. And when they were assembled with the
elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto
the soldiers, Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night,
and stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the
governorŐs ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. So
they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this
saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day."
Matthew 28:11-15, KJV

Having now shared these different points and examples with
you, let's take a closer look at what Jesus said in Matthew
chapter twenty-four. In verses thirty-two and thirty-three
the Lord says:

"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."
Matthew 24:32-33, KJV

As far as I can tell, there is no mystery or secret meaning
encrypted in those verses. Jesus is doing exactly as He was
accustomed to doing. He is taking something with which He
knew His Disciples would be quite familiar, and using it to
emphasize a point. Year after year, when the weather would
begin to warm, and the fig trees would begin to sprout their
leaves, the Jews would know that summer was approaching. It
was something which they knew by heart; it was an absolute
certainty that they'd learned by watching the natural world
around them. Summer was something which they could expect,
and anticipate, occurring every single year, without fail;
and they knew that it was drawing close when the fig trees
began to sprout their leaves.

So the Lord is using this normal occurrence in their lives
to help them to better understand the astounding things that
He has just told them; and not only to understand them, but
to emphasize the fact that they will most certainly occur as
He has prophesied. Jesus is telling them that just as they
know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Summer is just around
the corner when they see the fig tree begin to sprout its
leaves, the generation that observes the events that He has
just described to them, should "know that it is near, even
at the doors". It is evident to me, that the primary reason
why Jesus uses the Parable of the Fig Tree in this chapter,
is to emphasize the certainty and surety of God's Word. You
may recall that in part one, I shared the following verse
with you:

"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there
is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring
the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the
things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall
stand, and I will do all my pleasure:"
Isaiah 46:9-10, KJV

The Apostle Peter shares a very similar thought in his
second Epistle when he writes the following concerning
Divine Prophecy:

"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do
well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a
dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in
your hearts:"
2 Peter 1:19, KJV

The word "sure" is translated from the Greek word "bebaios".
The Greek lexicon states that it means stedfast, sure, firm,
stable, fast, firm and trusty. In other words, God's Word is
steadfast, firm and trustworthy. We can place our full faith
in it, and we won't be disappointed. Jesus is conveying the
very same thought by using the Parable of the Fig Tree as He
describes Endtime events to His followers.

The next question that we need to ask ourselves is this:
Exactly what is this "it" that Jesus is referring to? Again,
He stated "know that it is near, even at the doors". All we
have to do is go back to the beginning of this same chapter
in order to find the answer. In the opening verses we read:

"And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his
disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the
temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these
things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here
one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And
as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto
him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be?
and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of
the world?"
Matthew 24:1-3, KJV

So the bulk of this chapter is about answering three main
questions posed to Jesus by His Disciples:

1. When will the temple be destroyed?
2. How will we know when you are returning?
3. How will we know when the end of the world is coming?

Jesus then very directly proceeds to answer their questions,
thus resulting in the twenty-fourth chapter of the Gospel of
Matthew. If you have an interest in learning more about the
specifics regarding the above questions, I encourage you to
read such articles and series as "The Triumphant Touchdown
Of Jesus Christ", "The Great Tribulation And The Rapture",
"Who Is Hindering The Antichrist?", "From Armageddon To The
New Earth", and related articles; all of which can be found
on our Endtime Prophecy Net website.


Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS  Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23
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