Rapture, Second Coming, Matthew 24:29-33
We are continuing our study in the Olivet discourse
which covers Matthew chapters 24 and this morning will look at a number of
things, but primarily were going to look at the distinction between the rapture
of the church and the second coming. This is not something that's new to many
of you but this is a problem for many people, and it's also part of some of the
discussion related to the interpretation of the latter part of Matthew chapter
24. So it's important for us to stop as we did in the previous lesson where we
talked about what is revealed about the day of the Lord and to talk about the
rapture and the distinction between the rapture and the second coming.
As we look at our passages morning I want to do
three things. First of all, we're going to review and take a look at what we've
learned so far in Matthew chapter 24. I keep doing this because this seems to
me to be foundational to the under truly understanding some of the debates,
discussions, the differences of opinion even among dispensational futurists.
And I remind you that dispensationalism is a theology that is based upon a
consistent literal interpretation of Scripture. It is that word consistent that
is so important because there are many people who follow the dictates of
Bertrand Russell who said consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
Consistency is important in Scripture. Literal interpretation doesn't mean what
those who disagree with us claim, which is some sort of wooden literalism; it
is to use language in its plain normal sense, recognizing that that language is
composed of numerous idioms, languages, composed of lots of figures of speech,
and all of these, though, have set stable meanings. So it's very important to
interpret those aspects of language the way they were used at the time the
Bible was written. So we believe in a consistent literal interpretation.
The second feature of dispensationalism is that
there is a distinction in God's plan: for His plan for Israel and His plan for
the church; that God made promises and covenants with Israel in the Old
Testament and God plans to fulfill each of those literally to the letter. He
has not replaced Israel with the church in the church age but the church is a
distinct separate body of believers who have a distinct future in God's plan
and purpose. God's plan for Israel will be fulfilled, the nation will be
redeemed as a nation, individuals will be redeemed; they will be given the
kingdom that was promised in the Old Testament.
As we have seen over and again in our study of
Matthew, Matthew is all about the coming kingdom and a focus on Jesus as that
promised and prophesied messianic King. When we understand that a lot of the
problems in Matthew fade away if it's interpreted in light of what Matthew is
emphasizing. This is very important in understanding some of the things in
Matthew chapter 24.
The third aspect of dispensationalism is that
dispensationalism believed that the organizing theme of Scripture and of God's
plan and history is God's glory. Many other systems, most of the systems, think
that the organizing principle is redemption. The problem with that is it is
terribly limited, doesn't include anything about the angels or God's plan and
purposes for the angelic creation, and yet that's part of God's revelation. We
have to have a broad enough overall principle. We have studied that many times
in our studies on God's plan for the ages.
That's a dispensationalist. Dispensationalists,
though, disagree in places over how they understand prophecy. We believe in
futurism. That's very important because there are a lot of people who hold to
what is called preterism, that is, that is that everything in Matthew 24 was
fulfilled in the past, it's all symbolic language used to talk about the coming
judgment in AD 70. And
so the Second Coming was fulfilled in AD 70 when
Jesus came in the clouds in judgment. That is their view, and that has gained a
resurgence in the last 30 or 40 years. There is the historicists view that
somehow we are somewhere along this timescale we can look at between Revelation
4 and Revelation 19 and somehow figure out where we are in there, because it's
all translated in some sort of symbolic code. That is very popular and very
common; unfortunately it's wrong. We believe that the Bible teaches that these
things are all in the future. Matthew 24 and 25 talk about future events that
come not only after the present church age but after those last seven years in
God's plan for Israel, known as the Tribulation. We are future as we believe
everything in Revelation 4, through the end of the book focuses on that which
is future, that which is subsequent to the present church age. These things are
important for understanding what Jesus is talking about here.
We will review this and will also look at the
difference between the Rapture and the Second Coming, because as we concluded
in our study of verses 29 through 31, the coming of the Son of Man in glory,
there's a lot of confusion. Those who believe in a post-tribulation Rapture go
there and identify that as the Rapture as well. We will see why that is a fallacious
interpretation and then we will briefly introduce the next two verses which
helped to focus on the next section of Matthew 24, and that's the parable of
the fig tree.
Matthew chapter 24 is not talking about the
church age. It is focusing on the end times of Israel. It is Jewish in context,
Jesus is talking to the disciples as Jewish believers answering a specific
question that is Jewish in nature. He has just announced judgment on the
religious leaders of Israel and the nation of Israel in Matthew chapter 23 that
will culminate in the destruction of the temple. So the disciples ask a very
important question, and that is, when will this take place? What are the signs
of your coming and the end of the age? These are very Jewish terms, and so we
must interpret this within that framework. It's not talking about the church
In the Jewish framework, in Daniel chapter
9:24-27 Daniel predicted there would be a period of 490 years decreed by God
for the Jewish people. What would begin that 490-year period was a decree for
the people to rebuild and re-fortify the city of Jerusalem. That occurred in
444 BC when
Artaxerxes gave a commission to Nehemiah to go back to Jerusalem and complete
the building of the walls and the fortifications. You can track this by days
and 173,880 days later completed that timeframe of the first 69 weeks that
ended with what we call Palm Sunday, the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. And
then there's a pause because Daniel is told that after that 69th
week then the Messiah is cut off, and then the people of the prince who is to
come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. So there's clearly a pause
between the 69th week and the 70th week, and the 70th week hasn't occurred yet.
It will occur in the future.
It begins when the prince who is to come signs a
peace treaty with Israel, a covenant with Israel, and this first period of this
last 70th week or seven-year period is called the time of Jacob's trouble in
Jeremiah 30:7. In Matthew 24, eight, we saw that Jesus said this would be the
beginning of the labor pains but the end is not yet. And then there will be the
midpoint of the tribulation when the Antichrist will desecrate the temple and
set up his idol in the temple. This is called the abomination of desolation.
Then the second half is when the end will then come, Matthew 24:14.
So these two questions. The disciples ask when
will these things be? And that really isn't addressed in Matthew's rendition of
the Olivet discourse. He doesn't focus on that. Luke does in 21:20-24, which
was fulfilled in AD 70. When
will these things be? When will the temple be destroyed? That's part of Luke's
focus. Jerusalem, he says, will be captured and the Jews will be led away
captive into all the nations, and Jerusalem will begin to be trampled by the
Gentiles until the end of the time of the Gentiles.
Those five verses focus on the beginning of the
times of the Gentiles. Now we are in the church age. The second part of this
question is really a two-part question. What will be the sign of your coming
and the end of the age? In Jewish rabbinical thought these were connected
together: they were in the present age, and then there was the age to come. The
present age in their thinking would end when the Messiah came and established
His kingdom. So the present age was now and then the kingdom come. Remember,
this is the main theme in Matthew, focusing on the coming of the kingdom. The
question is a kingdom related question and has is nothing at all to do with the
church or the church age. Their questions are related to God's plan for the
future of Israel and the temple, and that excludes a church age focus anywhere
in Matthew 24 and 25.
What will be the sign of your coming? That sign
is the first mention. There many things mentioned that are precursors, but the
sign is specific. We often hear people say, what are the signs? It is a singular word and the
sign is specific, according to Jesus. The sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven.
That is not a cross that is the brilliant flash of light, piercing this
incredible darkness that comes at the end of the day of the Lord, when the sun
is darkened and the moon won't give its light. Of course if the sun is dark,
the moon won't give its light because it reflects the sun. Into that darkness
will pierce the Shekinah glory of the second person of the Trinity, the
Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will then descend to the earth. They will's
then see the sign of the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power
and glory.
This isn't talking about the church. The word
church is the Greek word EKKLESIA. It's
only used two times in Matthew, and it's not used at all in Mark, Luke, or
John. The focus of the Gospels is not on the church. The focus of the Gospels
is mostly on Israel and God's plan for Israel. The two uses of EKKLESIA and
Matthew are instructive. Only Matthew 16:18 uses it in the sense of church. The
basic meaning of the word EKKLESIA is an
assembly or gathering, and it becomes a technical use after its use in acts
5:11 for the church as we know it today. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus, after asking
Peter whom do men say that I am, and then praises Peter for what he is said,
says, "On this rock I will build my church."
Two things: Its future. There wasn't a church
then. He doesn't say I'm building my church, He said I will build my church;
it's future. That's the only time he used it in the technical sense that we
think of it. Do they not have any content to that word church at this point?
Absolutely not. They don't; they probably heard that in their thinking, in
their frame of reference, He's going to build a new kind of assembly is that
they haven't been given any content to this new church. The mystery doctrine of
the church, the unrevealed document church has not been revealed to Paul yet,
or any of the other apostles. So that's technical. Matthew 18:17 talking about
if another person offends you go to them personally, and then if you don't have
resolution then take somebody else, and then eventually there's no resolution
take tell it to the assembly. This isn't talking about the church. It's not
prophetic; it's not future it would have just been used in its generic sense.
Really, before Matthew 24 we only have one
technical use of the word church, but it really doesn't involve any teaching
whatsoever about what that is. So
to introduce the concept of the church suddenly into Matthew 24 doesn't make
sense. As a lawyer in a courtroom would say, there's no foundation. There's nothing given that would
indicate that. What we do have throughout Matthews is this emphasis on the
kingdom.
The third thing we should note is that Matthew
24 by its context is not talking about anything related to the church, the
church age, or the Rapture of the church. It is talking about this period that
will precede the coming.
What we've seen is that in Matthew 24:4-8 talks
about the first half of Daniel's 70th week called the beginning of labor pains.
In Matthew 24:9-14, we've seen that he's talking about the second half of the
Tribulation where there is an increased persecution of Israel and Jewish
believers. In the first half there is no persecution towards Jewish believers,
towards Jews, because they're under the peace treaty of the Antichrist. But he
violates that, stops the morning and evening sacrifices when he commits the
abomination of desolation. From the midpoint on all hell will literally break
loose towards Israel and that is why starting in Matthew 24:15-24 Jesus begins
to tell Jewish believers that when they see the abomination of desolation flee.
"You who are in Judea in Jerusalem". Not Houston, not Los Angeles,
not New York, London, Moscow or anywhere else. "Those of you who are in
Judea and Jerusalem flee to the mountains." We believe in the literal interpretation.
Jerusalem means Jerusalem, Judea means Judea, Rome means Rome, they are not
secret code words for something else.
And then when they flee they are not to be
deceived by false reports, big news about Jesus coming. Then in Matthew
24:25-29 we see the specific statement that that after the Tribulation of those
days the sign of the Son of Man will come. This is in verse 29, after the sun
after the Tribulation of those days the sign of the Son of Man will come and
appear in heaven.
Matthew 24:29 NASB
ÒBut immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS
LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be
shaken".
I looked at this last time, the previous lesson,
and parallel in Mark 13:24 states the same thing. It's after that Tribulation,
so this is talking about something that occurs at the end of the Tribulation,
not at the beginning. It is eek accompanied by certain signs in the heavens,
the sun darkened and the moon won't give its light. Other passages talk about
it looks like the moon is turned to blood. And that is not John Hagee's blood
moons. He was completely off on that whole thing; he didn't read the context of
any of the passages he was talking about.
This occurs at the end of the Tribulation and it
all happens at the same time. The sun is dark and the moon doesn't give its
light all at the same time, and this creates this hyper darkness on the planet
that the return of Christ will penetrate. This is all proceeded by the seal
judgments. That is covered in Revelation chapter 6, but that is outlined in
Matthew 24:4-7. It's also preceded by the abomination of desolation described
in Matthew 24:15. It's preceded by the most intense period of the Tribulation.
Matthew 24:20, 21 talks about the fact that this is going to be a unique time
period. There will be a great tribulation, such as has not been since the
beginning of the world until this time know nor ever shall be, again. It is
immediately after that when this occurs.
This is related to what is described as the
great and awesome day of the Lord in Joel 2:31. Two observations: though some
uses of the term "day of the Lord" refer to God's judgments in
history, either against Israel or against some other nations, those are just
two or three of the uses; it generally refers to a time of divine judgment.
Although some future uses may include the entire seven-year period of the
Tribulation, from the numerous verses we looked at the last time, we saw that
the term "day of the Lord" refers to this period immediately
preceding the second coming of Christ, this event where you have these
cosmological events that take place and the sun being darkened and the moon not
giving its light, that kind of a thing.
But it's not to be confused with other similar
events that we see, like in Revelation 6:14, which is at the end of the seal
judgments. There's a series of judgments described in Revelation; first the
seal judgments, then the trumpet judgments, and then the bowl judgments. There
are seven seal judgments and when the seventh seal is open it reveals seven
trumpet judgments. These are consecutive. When the seventh trumpet judgment
blows it reveals seven bowl judgments. It's after the last bowl judgment that
we have the day of the Lord, the campaign of Armageddon, and Jesus returning to
the earth. They are similar things but as we will see in our study a key
principle in interpretation hermeneutics, which is constantly violated by many
scholars and preachers, is that similarities don't equal sameness. Just because
something is described in generally similar terms doesn't mean they're the same
thing.
Therefore, we go to the second question is what
are the differences between the Rapture and the Second Coming. There are too
many scholars who come along and talk about the various passages and say, well
because they include these cosmological disturbances, because they talk about
Jesus coming, they talk about clouds, they talk about angels, that they're
talking about the same thing, but they're not. Similarities do not mean that
things are the same. We all know that there is a difference between cars and
trucks, but there are a lot of similarities. They have two axles they have for
tires. They have an engine in the front. They have some carrying capacity. Some
can carry only two passengers. Some can carry four passengers, but the
difference between a car and a truck is that a truck has carrying capacity in
the back for a lot of different things that you can you can put back
there.
We are have been have a picnic next Saturday. We
need folks who have trucks who can help. We always have three or four or five
trucks to carry tables and different things out there. If everybody showed up
with a car we wouldn't be able to accomplish the mission, but we all
automatically understand that they have a lot of similarities but that's not
the point, the point is the differences. And that's the same thing with these various
passages in Scripture.
When Wayne House was here for the pastors'
conference and taught on interpretation he used the illustration of the
difference between a bush and a tree.
There are many similarities between bushes and trees, but bushes are not
trees and trees are not bushes. We could also use an illustration, the
difference between an F 35 jet fighter and a C130 transport. They both have
powerful engines. They are both airplanes. They both fly, both have
instrumentation, and they both have cockpits. You can go on with all the
similarities of it, but they're very, very different in what they can do what
they can accomplish and you would never confuse the two. There are a lot of
similarities between a daffodil and a daisy, but daffodils are not daisies;
there are differences. It's the differences that are important.
So, what about the Rapture? What exactly is the
Rapture you will hear from a lot of people. Scholars at times say well Bible
doesn't talk about the Rapture; I don't see that word anywhere in my Bible.
Well, you don't see the word Trinity anywhere in your Bible either. Trinity was
a word coined by Tertullian in the late second century to describe accurately
what the Bible teaches. So there are a lot of words that we use to describe
biblical doctrines and those words aren't actually found in the English, and
they may not be found in the Greek or the Hebrew. But in this case, the root
word for rapture is found in the Latin translation.
First of all, the definition the Rapture is the
translation of all living believers from the earth at the end of the church
age, immediately following the resurrection of all dead church age believers.
The Rapture occurs before the Tribulation begins. The indisputable verse for
the Rapture is in first Thessalonians chapter 4, the broad context is verses 13
through 18, but the central passages in verses 15 through 18 where Paul says,
"For this we say to you by the word of the Lord." What he is
addressing is the fact that the Thessalonian believers had become somewhat
confused about what happens when a believer dies, because Paul had taught them
about this, he taught them about prophecy. Some people say we don't need to
study prophecy, that's going to happen hundreds of years from now, we need
practical things on how to live today. Well, the Bible teaches us about
everything, and we are to learn about everything that God has revealed to us,
not just what we in our limited finite knowledge think might be applicable to
our lives. And when somebody dies we immediately want to know what happened to
them after Paul had spent maybe two, possibly three months with the
Thessalonian believers.
They asked Him a question. They thought Jesus
would come back at any moment because Paul believed in the imminent or at-any-moment
return of Jesus. And then when the first believer died they were: What happens
when we do? That's when Paul says that we grieve but not like those who have no
hope. And he goes on to say. "For this we say to you by the word of the
Lord". This is what Jesus taught. I wonder how many here can tell me where
Jesus taught about the Rapture. John 14:1-3. In fact, there are a number of
different words that are seen in both passages, but that's another topic,
another message, another lesson. That's where Jesus taught about it: "I go
to prepare a place for you, that where I am, you may be also". That's
going to indicate that Jesus is in some heavenly area not on the earth. In John
14:1-3 he's going somewhere where he's creating living spaces for us so that we
can be with him in heaven, not on the earth. If the Rapture occurs at the end
of the Tribulation would end up on the earth, not in heaven.
So Paul says this: "For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who
are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who
have fallen asleep."
In other words, those of us are still alive,
something will happen to us, but it won't happen before something happens to
those who have already died. The word asleep is just a euphemism. It doesn't mean
soul sleep, it just is a euphemism only applied in the New Testament to those
who are Christian believers who have died, and it emphasize that they will be
waking up, that is the resurrection. "For the Lord himself will descend
from heaven É" Three things happen. There's going to be a shout, there's
going to be the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God. So what we see
here is phrases like "coming of the Lord", "Angel", there's
an angel accompanying this. There is a trumpet of God, and then there's
resurrection, the dead in Christ will rise first.
There are those who come along say see that's
similar to the passages over here in Matthew 24, so they must be talking about
the same thing. This is just at the end of the Tribulation. Now similarity
doesn't mean they're identical. First Thessalonians 4:17 then tells us what
happens immediately after: "the dead in Christ rise first. Then we who are
alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet
the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord."
Some people stop there. But Paul is very
practical. After he's talked about what some people think is an esoteric
doctrine, about prophecy, and why do we need to know about in times and all
that stuff anyway? I need to solve problems with the way I spend money and with
my personal problems with Stan etc. etc. Paul shows us how practical it is the
last verse: "Therefore comfort one another with these words".
Now, I would suggest that many of us have been
in circumstances and situations where we have been with people who have had a
close friend or spouse or family member die. How many times does the Bible talk
about comforting people at the time of death? Maybe one or two other times
generally, but this is the specific passage. And what does God say we are to
do? How are we to comfort people? Give them a hug? Well that's nice. Send them
a card? That's nice. I'm not saying you shouldn't do any of those things, but
what Paul says is to comfort them with the doctrine of the Rapture. We are to
teach them about what is going to happen to believers who have died, that Jesus
will return and there will be a physical bodily resurrection in the air, and
then if were still alive, "we who are alive and remain will be caught up
together with them in the clouds" and we'll be reunited, and we will all
be spending eternity in heaven, and this will just be a vague boggy
memory.
The word "caught up together" was
translated into the Latin Vulgate with the Latin word raphia, which is where we get our
English word rapture. So when people say what you can't find the rapture
anywhere in the Bible they're just not looking in the right language. Most of
them have probably aren't even looking in Greek either. The word that is used here
is HARPAZO. In the
Greek it means to be caught up, or to seize something.
So what we see between Matthew 24 passage and
First Thessalonians 4 is the similarities—clouds, air the Lord, the word
coming, and also resurrection. But it's not the similarities; it's the
differences that matter.
Let's review some of the distinctions between
the Rapture and the second coming. At the Rapture there will be a translation
of all believers. Instantly all believers are translated, and we receive our
resurrection body; but that's not what happens at the second coming at all.
When you read Revelation 19 Jesus is coming with the angels and with the saints
to the earth and there is no resurrection or a Rapture/translation associated
with that at all. At the Rapture the translated saints go to heaven, John
14—where I am, you may be also. But at the second coming you have
translated saints that are coming with the Lord to the earth. He is coming from
heaven. At the Rapture when you look at Rapture passages, the earth is not
judged. But what happens subsequent to Jesus' return to the earth is the earth
is judged. There are various judgments that take place immediately following
His return. There's a judgment, as we'll see in Matthew 25, on the Gentiles,
based on how they treated Jews during and it's called the sheep and the goat
judgment. There is a judgment of surviving Jewish believers—first part of
Matthew 25; there is a judgment of the nations.
All of this takes place at when Jesus returns at
the Second Coming. The Rapture is an imminent event, it can happen at any
moment. There's nothing that must take place before the Rapture occurs, it can
be at any moment. It's a doctrine of immanency. Immanency he means it's
unexpected. We are not looking for anything to precede the Rapture. Now that
doesn't mean that some things that are going to happen after the Rapture can't
have some preparation taking place before the Rapture, but that's not a
fulfillment that is necessary for the Rapture to occur. It doesn't tell us it
is any sooner, doesn't mean it's any quicker; it could happen at any moment; it
can happen now, tomorrow, or can happen a hundred years from now. Stage setting
doesn't mean it's closer; progression of time means it's closer. It is closer
for us than it was for the apostle Paul. That's just basic logic. But it
doesn't mean that just because we see things that seem to be setting up the
Tribulation period more and more that it's going to happen very soon. We have a
lot of wonderful Bible scholars and prophecy teachers who were convinced that
the Rapture would occur in their life, especially after the resurrection of the
Jewish state, but been happen.
The Rapture is not predicted at all in the Old
Testament. Why not? There is no mention of the church in the Old Testament. If
God had told Israel in the Old Testament that there's going to be in a future
body, a future spiritual organism called the church that would raise the
question of why. And the answer that is because you are going to fail. That
sort of predetermines your outcome. So the church was never mentioned in the
Old Testament. That is why calls it a mystery doctrine. Mystery in the New
Testament means something that has never before been revealed. So it's not
predicted it all in the Old Testament, but the Second Coming, the coming of the
Messiah to establish his kingdom, is mentioned again and again throughout all
of the prophets in the Old Testament.
The Rapture is for believers only, those who are
dead in Christ and those who are living believers. Now some people think that
there are a lot of people in Christian churches who were dead in Christ. Some
of them are asleep in Jesus also. They come to church on Sunday morning or
during the weekend and they're asleep in Jesus after five minutes of the
message! But this is talking about those who have physically died and they are
in Christ. So the Rapture is for believers only, but the second coming affects
everyone because Jesus is going to come back, He is going to rescue Israel,
destroy the armies of the Antichrist and the false prophet, and He judges the
Antichrist and the false prophet. The Antichrist is killed, according to Isaiah
chapter 14; he will be resurrected. Probably the false prophet, also, (though
is not mentioned) and they're sent to the lake of fire.
So here are these various judgments that affect
the whole world, and Jesus establishes his kingdom, the curse is rolled back,
and it is a very different environment than what we have today.
The Rapture occurs before the day of wrath. Paul
talks in the First Thessalonians about the fact that we are not destined for
the wrath to come. Wrath is not used of an eschatological punishment, it's not
used of the lake of fire, it is used of the wrath of God that is revealed and
poured out on man during history. Wrath of God always refers to God's judgment
on man during history. So when you have the day of wrath mentioned, the Rapture
occurs before that; we are not destined for that. But the Second Coming of
Christ ends the day of wrath. The day of wrath is another term for the
Tribulation. In the Rapture passages there's no reference to Satan, but at the
Second Coming, were told that Satan is bound for a thousand years. He is
removed from here so people can no longer say the devil made me do it. We don't
have that scapegoat anymore, we can only say it's me; it's my own sin nature.
And that's a lesson that will be taught in the millennial kingdom. It is
perfect environment, no Satan, no fallen angels, none of that to influence man.
But people with sin natures will grow and mature and reject Jesus reject God,
so that when Satan is released at the end of the thousand years he will lead a
multitude in rebellion against Christ and his kingdom and God, and God will
destroy them with fire and brimstone.
At the Rapture Jesus Christ comes for His own;
at the Second Coming Christ comes with his own. Clouds are mentioned both times.
In the Rapture the clouds are in the air. Christ comes in the clouds and we
meet him in the clouds, but at the Second Coming Christ comes from the clouds
to the earth and at that time He will establish his kingdom. At the Rapture,
Christ will claim his bride, the church, and there will be a wedding feast that
occurs after that. The wedding feast, the banquet is analogous to the whole
millennial kingdom, that thousand-year period. At the Second Coming, the
wedding has taken place, and Christ comes with His bride, the church, to
establish the kingdom. At the Rapture only His own see him. The only ones who
see Him are those who are called to Him, and those who are dead in Christ and
alive and remain shall be caught up with him in the clouds. At the second
coming every eye will see him, and they will mourn him. This occurs at the Second Coming after
the rapture.
After the Rapture, the Tribulation begins, not
immediately. You'll hear some people say the Rapture begins the Tribulation,
but according to Daniel chapter 9 the 70th week begins when the Antichrist, the
prince who is to come, signs this contract or covenant peace treaty with
Israel. That kicks off that period. So the Rapture occurs and after that the
Tribulation begins. After the Second Coming, then the messianic kingdom begins,
and it doesn't begin immediately. There is a transition period of time of
judgments that take place between the Second Coming and the actual inauguration
of the kingdom.
What is the meaning and significance of the
parable of the fig tree? This is given in Matthew 24:32 and 33. Jesus says,
"Now". And what He is doing is taking a step back and he's doing sort
of what I've done today. We've gone verse by verse through Matthew 24. I did an
excursus on the day of the Lord in the last lesson; today it's been side trip
to the contrast between the Second Coming in the Rapture. And that's what Jesus
does. He steps back from the chronological flow of events and now He's going to
give a parable to make a point. ." "Learn
this parable from the fig tree". A parable is a story of focusing on a
real life situation that is used to illustrate an abstract or spiritual principle.
This is crucial for what's coming.
Matthew 24:32 NASB ÒNow
learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender
and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near."
The word "parable" comes from the
Greek word PARABOLE, which
has a broad meaning. It can be anything from allegory to a poem or a proverb,
but the way Jesus uses it, it is more technical. I believe all the parables
relate to the kingdom and relate to Israel in the kingdom, but a parable is
used to illustrate is a real-life illustration used to instruct about some
abstract or spiritual principle of truth. People do one of two commit one of
two errors with parables. One is they read too little into it; one is they read
too much into it. We don't listen to Jesus tell us what it means and He always
tells us what it means in the context. Sometimes people want to make every
detail in the parable walk on all fours, and that's not the point of a parable.
And sometimes they don't want to stick with what Jesus says He is talking about
and they reduce it and make hardly any significance out of it all.
So He uses this real-life illustration, that
when the branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that
summer is near. And that happens year after year like clockwork. Every spring
the fig tree sprouts. Once you saw those leads coming out and the and the
blooms and everything you would know that summer was near and that it wasn't
long before there be fruit on the tree and so it worked like clock clockwork.
That's the analogy. Jesus is saying that when you see these things take place.
What are these things what he's just talked about? When you see those events in
the first half of the Tribulation, when you see the abomination of desolation,
when you see the events in the second half of the Tribulation, when you see the
sun darkened and the moon not giving its light, you're going to know as a
result of that that something's coming. Jesus is coming. That's what's near.
You will know when you watch those events in the 70th week, not the church age.
But within the 70th week you will know you will be able to tell that the end is
near, and then He says assuredly, "I say to you, this generation will by
no means pass away until all these things take place."
There have been a lot of misrepresentations of
this verse. First time I read anything about this was in a blue book called
Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. Now in almost and almost every
congregation, including this one, I've had people who got saved by reading how
Lindsey's book Late Great planet Earth. There are some things in there disagree
with; broadly I agree with most of it. I remember some years ago Pastor Thieme
was having lunch with Earl Radmacher and he asked Earl what he thought of Hal Lindsay's
book. Radmacher said, "Well I really didn't think much about it, but
apparently God does." There are truly tens of thousands of people who have
come to understand the gospel through reading that book. Prophecy is a great
study as a prelude to people being saved, but Hal was it bit historicists
instead of a futurist at this point.
He said the most important sign in Matthew has
to be the restoration of the Jews to the land in the rebirth of Israel. He was
interpreting the fig tree to be the nation Israel. The fig tree often stands
for the nation Israel in Scripture and I think that even though that's not the
point of this parable, it is not talking about Israel per se. There's an implication
there by using the fig tree as the illustration Jesus is making it clear that
what he's talking about is related to Israel, it is not related to the church.
I think that's important.
But Lindsey says what this means is the rebirth
of Israel. "Even the figure of speech fig tree has been a historic symbol
of national Israel and the Jewish people after nearly 2000 years of exile under
relentless persecution became a nation again on 14 May 1948 the fig tree put
forth its first leaves. See how he is saying this is the
fulfillment of prophecy? Well that violates the principle of imminency, it
violates futurism; he has violated his own hermeneutic at this point. He goes
on to say: "Jesus said that this would indicate that He was at the door
ready to return." Then he said, "Truly I say to you, this generation
will not pass away until all these things take place". And what he did
with that is he said: "What generation?" Obviously in context the
generation that was see the signs. But he puts the signs in the church age, and
he said, chief among them is the rebirth of Israel. A generation in the Bible
is something like 40 years. If this is a correct deduction, and it's not, then
within 40 years or so of 1948 all these things could take place, many scholars who
study Bible prophecy all their lives believe this is so.
That's not exactly true, but if you took 40 and
added it to 48 you'd come out to 88, subtract seven years of the Tribulation
you would end up with 1981. When I first read that I said the Rapture is going
to occur can occur for 1981. He is date-setting. He is not any different from
the person who wrote the little book "88 Reasons why Jesus will Return in
88". And he wrote another book called "89 reasons why Jesus will
return in 89". You can't date-set. That's were going to get to next time
when Jesus talks about no one knows the day or the hour.
But this sets the stage for Tribulation
believers. When you see the signs you know that his coming is near, so you need
to be ready. That's going to be the thrust of all the parables that follow
this. We are not talking about the church age, we are talking about the failure
of some to be ready, and they're unbelievers—the failure of some to be
ready for the Second Coming. But there's application for the church age
believer because Jesus can come in the Rapture for us at any moment and we need
to be ready. We need to be living our lives today in light of eternity because
what immediately follows the Rapture of the church is the judgment seat of
Christ, the bema seat where we will be evaluated. Some will receive rewards;
some will not. All will be saved otherwise they wouldn't be there. All will
spend eternity in the kingdom and then heaven but some will be rewarded and
have positions of responsibility and ruling in the kingdom; others will not.
What makes the difference is how we use our time. As Paul said we are to redeem
the time. We are to grow and mature spiritually because that prepares us and
builds the capacity for us to be able to serve and reign in the coming kingdom
with the Lord Jesus Christ.