For 2,000 years, the Jewish people feel like God hid His face from them, especially when it came to the Holocaust and God opened the door for all of you bacon eaters. He opened the door and He said, “Those who were not My people are now My people if you’d indeed repent.” And now after 2,000 years, He’s shifting back to Israel. He brings them back to the land. Jerusalem’s back in their land. The Hebrew language is back as a spoken language. The line is back alive. They prosper. We are the generation that shall not pass away because we see the fig tree blooming.
What an awesome, loving, and kind God we serve! He has done for us what we could never do for ourselves, and that is to reconcile ourselves to Him. He has, according to 2 Peter 1:3, by His divine power, given us all things pertaining to life and godliness. And, for one specific generation, He has told them of what life will be like at the time of the end.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-5 KJV – “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.”
Our amazing God has not left us in the dark about the last days and the time of sudden destruction. Light and dark are commonly used in scripture, and in life, for knowledge and ignorance. When someone is in the dark about something, it means they are ignorant or uninformed about the subject. We, as Christians, are not uninformed or ignorant of the signs preceding the day of the Lord. Hebrews 10:25 even tells us we can see the day approaching.
Another aspect of God’s goodness and kindness toward us is He didn’t make what we should look for unclear. Instead, He gave very detailed information about when the day of the Lord is near, which is preceded by His Son’s glorious appearing to meet His church in the air.
Jeremiah 23:7-8 KJV – “Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.”
Amos 9:14-15 KJV – “And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.”
Jeremiah and Amos, as well as Isaiah, Ezekiel, and others, were told to write of a coming day when the chosen people of God would return from being scattered among the nations to live once again in their national homeland of Israel. Amos said when that happens, they will never be uprooted from their land again.
Jesus also gave us a very important detail about this same timeframe and the nearness of the day of the Lord:
Matthew 24:32-34 KJV – “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. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.”
Jeremiah 8:13, Hosea 9:10, and Joel 1:7 all refer to Israel as a fig tree, and the content of the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24-25 is concerning events before and during the 70th week of Daniel – also referred to as the Great Tribulation. That means the fig tree Jesus is referring to is the nation of Israel, and when it puts forth leaves and the branch is tender (which indicates new growth) we can know that summer is near. From that example Jesus said that the generation that sees this will not pass away before all things in the Olivet Discourse take place.
What that means to you and me as Christians living at the end of the time of the Gentiles and the church age is that we have been given an entire generation’s notice about the coming of the Lord. He will come first for His church before the Tribulation, and then with His church to end the Tribulation. We were given this information by our gracious and loving Lord not so we would be ready for the Rapture – we should always be ready for that event – but so we would tell others not only that they also need to be ready, but, more importantly, why and how they can be.
No one knows the day or the hour of the Lord appearing in the air to meet the dead in Christ and the living saints. However, He did tell us to be ready in Matthew 24:
Matthew 24:44 KJV – “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”
The phrase “hour you do not expect” could also be translated as “a season never supposed”. That carries with it a couple of potential meanings. Either that Jesus is coming for us at a time when things are unimaginable, like now, or that Jesus is coming at a time when few think He will, also like now. Whichever meaning is the one that God intended, both make clear that the hour is late. The Jews are back in the land, the fig tree has put forth leaves, and the unknown day or hour is likely very near.
So what do we do? Sit and wait? No, we go and tell. Tell others about the one who died to save their souls. Tell others about the coming time of Tribulation and, even more importantly, the eternal destiny of those who are not ready through being born again.
Our good and gracious God has given us ample evidence, and He has provided time to tell others of His great love for mankind and the sacrifice of His own Son for the sins of the whole world. But, this time is running out.
Tell someone about Jesus today!
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus
