Mt. 24:3
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
- When will what happen? (The sign of your coming)
- Christ was with them-which coming? (Second)
- Why do we need to know when he’ll come? (If we don’t meet second coming Christ when he comes, we cannot receive His salvation)
- Let’s see what Jesus told the disciples
- MT.24:32
Mt.24:32
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. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it [a] is near, right at the door.
- How did He answer them? (In a parable)
- Learn this lesson..then IT is near–what is it? (footnote = HE = Christ)
- If we learn this lesson from the fig tree what can we know about (When Christ said He will come again)
- What’s the lesson of the fig tree? Let’s see
- LK.13:6
Lk.13:6
Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
- Then HE (Jesus) told a parable
- Since this is a parable do you think there’s a literal vineyard with a literal fig tree and he yelled at it and through this we know about his second coming? No..everything in the parable should mean something.
- So what does it mean? How will we know?
- When Christ spoke in parables, He also provided an answer through the Bible.
- So through the Bible, let’s see what a vineyard represents.
- IS.5:7
Is. 5:7
The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the nation of Israel.
- God said the vineyard is the nation of Israel, so what is the vineyard? The nation of Israel.
- So the man in the parable went to which country? Israel
- What did he want from Israel? Figs
- So then let’s see what a fig represents
- JER.24:3-5
Jer.24:3-5
Then the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
“Figs,” I answered. “The good ones are very good, but the bad ones are so bad they cannot be eaten.” Then the word of the Lord came to me: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians.
- “Like these good figs are the exiles from Judah”
- What kind of people live in Judah? Judah is in Israel-> Judeans=Israelites/Jewish people
- Jewish people = figs. Then what is a fig tree? You find figs in a fig tree and you find Jewish people where? In Israel.
- But God said, that in Israel there is no fruit–cut it down. What does that mean to have fruit? Let’s see.
- LK. 3:8
Lk.3:8
Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
- If you have fruit, then you have repentance
- No fruit=no repentance.
- So in the parable, the man went to Israel and looked for repentance from the Jewish people but found none.
- Who is the man that went to the Jewish people saying ‘Repent’? Jesus Christ.
- Christ went to the Jewish people as their
God, their messiah but they did not repent and crucified him–so what did the man say to the tree? CUT IT DOWN - What does that mean?
- MK.11:12
Mk.11:12-14
The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.
- Jesus went up to the fig tree–was he expecting to find fruit? It wasn’t even the season for figs
- Even though he knew he wouldn’t find fruit, he went up to it and said “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” Why? Who heard him say it? The disciples heard when he said it, so whose benefit was this for? The disciples
- Then after he yelled at the fig tree, what happened to it?
- MK.11:20
Mk.11:20
In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”
- Peter remembered what? Peter remembered what Christ said to the fig tree
- When they saw the fig tree again the next day after Jesus yelled at it it had withered
- Peter said–the fig tree you CURSED
- What does the fig tree represent? ISRAEL.
- Something really bad is going to happen to Israel.
- Christ described what was going to happen.
- LK.21:20
Lk.21:20
When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
- Jerusalem=Israel
- Christ said that Israel is cursed, armies will surround it, they will be punished.
- He said this in AD 27, but in history we can see this actually happened to Israel later.
EVIDENCE BOOK
Emp. Nero
- In 68 AD (timeline) Emperor Nero sent his general Vespasian to Israel–his armies surrounded which place? JERUSALEM. Why? Christ already said in 27 BC that this would happen.
- But in the verse he gave his people a warning–when you see this flee to the mountains.
- So the people who believed in Christ, what should they do? They should leave. But they can’t leave if theyre surrounded by armies, so what happened?
- Emperor Nero died and so all the armies left. Jerusalem is no longer surrounded.
- The people who believed in Christ saw this and LEFT. The people who didn’t believe said “See..nothing happened! Christ is wrong, lets stay.”
Emp. Nero dies, Vespasian becomes emperor
- After that, Vespasian became Emperor and sent his son Titus back to Jerusalem to conquer it just as he had started to before.
- The people who didn’t believe in Christ were stuck there, but the people who did believe had already left to the mountains and were safe.
- Titus cut off all of the food supplies, no food was coming in and no one could leave, so there was a famine. Christ described what would happen next:
- BACK TO VERSE LK. 21:22-23
How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
- It says this will be a dreadful time for pregnant women and nursing mothers–why? because in order to survive the famine, mothers would exchange their babies and eat them to survive.
- Then it says they will be taken as prisoners to all the nations–did that happen? (evidence book-yes)
- Jerusalem will be trampled on until the time of the gentiles is fulfilled–what does that mean? There is a time when this will end.
- JER.30:1
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you. The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restore them to the land I gave their ancestors to possess,’ says the Lord.”
These are the words the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah: “This is what the Lord says:
“‘Cries of fear are heard—
terror, not peace.
Ask and see:
Can a man bear children?
Then why do I see every strong man
with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor,
every face turned deathly pale?
How awful that day will be!
No other will be like it.
It will be a time of trouble for Jacob,
but he will be saved out of it.
- Before they had ever been put in captivity in AD 70, God said they would be restored–so far everything God said, did it happen? YES then what about this? Israel will be restored, but when will this take place?
- During the time Israel is being restored, cries of fear and terror are heard and there is no peace–this is war.
- Ask and see, can a man bear children? No! Then why do they look like they’re in labor? When do you see a persons stomach inflamed like that? When they’re starving.
- When did this happen? WW2
- WW2 lasted from 1939-1948. So then in 1948 what should happen? Israel should be restored.
- 2,000 years ago Israel was wiped out–NO ISRAEL. All the Israelites were scattered to different nations, their country no longer existed. Then, all of a sudden, May 14,1948 out of NOWHERE-Israel is restored.
- EVIDENCE BOOK
- BUT why is all this important? What does this all mean? Let’s go back to the parable of the fig tree
- MT.24:32
Mt.24:32
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. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it[a] is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
- When all these things happen you know summer is near.
- What season is before summer? Winter
- What’s the condition of a tree in winter? It’s withered and half dead but in the summer it’s reborn
- But this fig tree is Israel–when was Israel reborn? 1948.
- Then in 1948, who is right at the door? In 1948, Second Coming Christ is already here.
- What is he doing at the door?
- Rev.3:20
Rev. 3:20
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
- Revelations=2CC
- 2CC is at the door in 1948 and he’s knocking–he wants to eat with us.
- What are we going to eat with 2CC? What did Christ come to bring? The Passover
- In 1948, according to the lesson of the fig tree, Christ Ahnsahnghong began to preach by going door to door, establishing the Passover to give us salvation.
- God came in our generation to bring eternal life–are we living on this earth like people who don’t know God? No, we’re in the same exact church that Jesus Christ established, then re-established at this second coming.
