The Fig Tree: End Times According to Jesus 17

[Music] [Music] good to see you this morning it's good to have those of you joining us online thank you so much i didn't really know what kind of crowd to expect we're down a little bit but whenever ou plays if they win normally our crowd's about what they should be if they lose it's not last night was kind of a tough game 16-13 so [Music] some of you still kind of depressed i didn't watch the game i'm a razorback fan so yes we're 4-0 let me just say that it's been a while since we could say that that's great well i'm sure most of you have assumed that we're finished with the olivet discourse after all we've spent 16 weeks on it that's four months so you're probably thinking surely by now we've covered it all but the truth is we haven't yes we've studied jesus response to the three questions his disciples asked him in fact how many of you remember what they asked jesus well if you don't mind let me kind of paraphrase it they asked number one how will we know that we're living in the end times in other words what's the sign that indicates that the countdown has become has begun and we're living in the last days question number two how will we know that the temple in jerusalem are about to be destroyed if you remember jesus said not one stone would be left on top of another and so they knew that the temple was going to be destroyed they wanted to know when is it going to happen what's the sign to let us know that it's about to happen and if we see the sign shall we get out of town and last but not least they asked when will you return and what will be the sign of your coming those are the three questions they ask jesus now that's not the order in which they ask those questions but that's the order in which jesus answered them and as you know we've taken our time studying jesus response to each one of those questions now you would think that when jesus finished answering the last question that would conclude the olivet discourse but jesus didn't stop after he finished answering the questions instead he took it a step further and he began explaining things and answering questions they didn't even ask he started explaining things about the end times that they needed to know so we're not finished yet now we're not going to look at everything that jesus said about the end times if we did that we wouldn't be finished for another three or four months but we are going to look at some of the more important things things that you need to know such as how do we know if we're the final generation in other words how will we know if we're the generation that will see the lord's return you see it's one thing to know that you're living in the last days we are but it's another thing to know that you're the generation that will get to see his return if of course you live a long full life so we're going to spend a few more weeks looking at some of the additional information that jesus gave us concerning the end times so if you would turn to matthew chapter 24 this records the olivet discourse and we're going to read verses 32 through 34. notice what it says now learn the parable of the fig tree you want to know about the end times learn the parable of the fig tree when its branch's bud and its leaves begin to sprout you know the summer is near in the same way when you see all these things you can know his return is very near right at the door i tell you the truth this generation will not pass away until all these things take place now i want you to know that this is a parable in fact this parable is known as the parable of the fig tree everyone knows what a parable is right a parable is a simple story that illustrates a spiritual principle or truth now the secret to interpreting any any parable correctly is knowing what each thing in the parable represents in this parable the fig tree represents israel and the budding and sprouting of leaves symbolizes the renewal of life after a period of dormancy so when the fig tree begins to butt and sprout leaves after being dormant all winter you know that summer is near even so when israel comes to life again as a nation or by budding as a nation so to speak after being dormant for almost 2 000 years you know that christ's return is near even at the door that's the interpretation of the parable in fact jesus takes it a step further he says that the generation that sees israel become a nation after being dormant for nearly two thousand years they will they will not pass away until they see all of these things including christ's return yeah now let's read this parable again in matthew chapter 24 verses 32-34 and knowing what the fig tree represents as well as the budding and sprouting of leaves the interpretation of the parable should be quite obvious to everyone you should be able to see it very clearly so let's read the parable now learn the parable of the victory when the fig tree's branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout after being dormant all winter that's implied you know that summer is near in the same way when you see all these things that is to say israel budding and sprouting leaves as a nation after 2 000 years of being dormant you can know that his return is very near right at the door i tell you the truth that this generation will not pass away until all these things take place do you see that it's pretty clear isn't it yeah the victory represents israel the budding and sprouting of leaves represents israel coming back to life as a nation after being dormant for nearly 2 000 years so just as you know the summer is near when the fig tree begins to bud and sprout leaves after being dormant all winter even so you know that christ's return is near when israel becomes a nation once again after being dormant for over 2000 years and just to make sure that we interpret the parable correctly jesus adds this i tell you the truth this generation will not pass away until all these things take place which generation this generation the generation that sees israel become a nation after two thousand years of being dormant now when did israel become a nation again does anyone know i've told you before israel became a nation again on may 14 1948 so according to jesus the generation born after may 14 1948 won't pass away until they see the lord's return so if you were born after may 14th 1948 and you live a long full life you will see all these things take place including the return of jesus christ now there are many scholars who agree with my interpretation of this parable and there are many scholars who disagree with my interpretation of this parable those who disagree disagree do so because they do not believe that the fig tree represents israel therefore they believe that this is a generic parable rather than a specific parable about israel and as a generic parable all it's saying is this just as a blossoming fig tree means that summer is near in the same way when the events that jesus spoke of occur then you will know that his return is near however almost every scholar admits that if the fig tree symbolizes israel it's not a generic parable it's a specific parable about israel becoming a nation once again after being dormant for so long yeah and therefore it's a sign that signals that christ's return will be very soon in fact his return will happen before that generation passes away so it all comes down to this does the fig tree represent israel or not if it does then this is a specific parable concerning israel and my interpretation of the parable is correct if it doesn't then this is a generic parable and it doesn't really give us any specifics about the final generation in other words there is no starting point from which we can determine whether we're part of the final generation or not we'll just have to wait to find out so there's no countdown there's no date from which we can say christ will return or christ's return will occur within this generation using 100 prophetical years of 360 days as a generation so am i right or not am i correct or not does the fig tree represent israel or not well let's find out because if it does we know that we are the final generation we are the generation that if we live a long full life we will get to experience the rapture for ready if we're not ready we'll go through the tribulation hopefully you'll get to see the christ return at the end so let's start in the old testament and more specifically the prophets in the old testament because as you go through the prophetical books what you'll find is that israel is always likened to either figs from a fig tree or grapes from the vine and sometimes israel is likened to both look at the first part of hosea chapter 9 verse number 10. and i encourage you to write down all of these scriptures if you're online go grab a pen a piece of paper write down every one of these scriptures and after i finish preaching not during because you'll miss what i'm saying go back and study these scriptures for yourself notice what hosea chapter 9 verse 10 says the lord said o israel when i first found you it was like finding fresh grapes in the desert when i saw your ancestors it was like seeing the first right figs of the season now i want you to notice what this is saying when god delivered israel out of egypt and he formed them as a nation he likened them to fresh grapes from the vine and the ripe figs from a tree and from this time on the grapevine and the fig tree were used to represent israel and if you don't know this much of the old testament doesn't make sense that's why for many of you when you're reading through the old testament and god begins to use symbolism you're lost let me give an example to illustrate what i'm talking about look with me if you would in jeremiah chapter 24 verses 1-8 jeremiah is known as the crying prophet he's the prophet that the leaders refused to listen to and many times he was locked up and he was persecuted and he suffered because they didn't like what he was prophesying so notice what he prophesies chapter 24 verses 1 through 8 after king nebuchadnezzar of babylon exiled jehoiakim son of jehoiakim king of judah to babylon along with the officials of judah and all of the craftsmen and artisans the lord gave me this vision i saw two baskets of figs placed in front of the lord's temple in jerusalem one basket was filled with fresh ripe figs while the other was filled with bad figs that were too rotten to eat then the lord said to me what do you see jeremiah i replied figs some very good and some very bad too rotten to eat then the lord gave me this message this is what the lord the god of israel says the good figs represent do you see that they symbolize the good figs represent the exiles i sent from judah to the land of the babylonians why because god is the one who's punishing them through the babylonians he sent them into exile the good figs represent the exiles i sent from judah to the land of the babylonians i will watch over them and i will care for them i will bring them back here again i will build them up and not tear them down i will plant them and not uproot them i will give them hearts that recognize me as the lord they will be my people the good figs and i will be their god for they will return to me wholeheartedly but the bad fix the lord said they represent king zedekiah of judah his officials all the people left in jerusalem and those who live in egypt i will treat them like bad figs to rotten to eat now in jeremiah's vision the good figs represent jews who were who were exiled to babylon look at verse 5. the good figs represent the exiles i sent from judah the land of the babylonians and god said he would watch over them and care for them and he would bring them back to the land of israel one day the bad figs represent the jews who were left behind in jerusalem look at verse eight but the bad figs the lord said represents king zedekiah judah his officials all the people notice this left in jerusalem and god said he would treat them like bad figs to rot indeed in other words he would throw them away like garbage now the question is why did god consider the exiled jews to be good figs and those left behind to be bad figs does anyone know well here's the short answer judah was being punished for rebelling against god and serving other gods and god was using the babylonians to punish them so jeremiah and other true prophets of god told the children of israel you need to submit to babylon and after 70 years of captivity god will make sure that you're released so those who were exiled in the first two groups obey god and they submitted to his punishment those left behind listened to the false prophets and they rebelled against babylon and they refused to pay tribute and they even made an alliance with egypt so nebula keser came back he fought the egyptians in the battle and crushed them and then he marched against jerusalem jerusalem he totally destroyed jerusalem in the temple and the jews that were left there were treated like garbage by the babylonians because they disobey god and they refuse to submit to his punishment but here's my point god used figs from the fig tree to symbolize his chosen people the jews the fig tree represents the nation of israel and the figs from the fig tree represent the children of israel they're his people and he is their god and this representation of figs representing the children of israel and the fig tree rep representing israel itself it's common throughout the old testament you'll find it in joe chapter one verses four through seven micah chapter four verses three through four habit chapter three verses 18 and 19. psalms chapter 105 verse 33 amos chapter 4 verse number 9 isaiah chapter 36 verse number 16. zechariah chapter 3 verse number 10 i could go on and on and on but you get the point right so by the time of jesus every jew knew and understood that the fig tree represented the nation of israel and good figs represented the children of israel who obeyed god and submitted to his will they were his people and he was their god and bad figs represented the children of israel who disobey god and refuse to submit to his will and it's very important that you understand this in order to understand certain parables and events that are recorded in the new testament if you don't understand this when you get to the new testament and jesus starts speaking in parables or he does certain things you won't understand why he said that or what he did in fact let me give you a couple of ill or a couple of examples to illustrate what i'm talking about look at luke chapter 13 verses 6-9 this is a parable that most christians don't understand and most pastors don't yeah i'll be honest with you even a lot of professors in seminary don't understand this parable this morning you're going to understand it notice what it says and he began by telling this parable a certain man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard yeah figs and grapes both of them represent children of israel right so he had a fig tree and he planted it in his vineyard and he came looking for fruit on it but he didn't find any and he said to the vineyard keeper behold for three years i have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any i want you to cut it down why does it even use up the ground and the vineyard keeper answered and said to him let it alone sir for this year too until i dig around it and put it in fertilizer and if it bears fruit next year fine but if not then i'll cut it down now notice that the man had a fig tree planted his vineyard the fig tree represents israel but so does the vine remember hosea chapter 9 verse number 10 so both the fig tree and the vine represent israel grapes and figs represent the children of israel so it was very common for jews in jesus day to plant fig trees in their vineyard to remind god that they were his people and he was their god but also to remind themselves to produce good fruit for god no one wanted to be a bad fig a bad child of god you wanted to be a good fig because what happens to bat figs they're treated like garbage they're too rotten to eat but the fig tree in this parable didn't produce any fruit for how long three years that is a very very important detail because the owner of the vineyard in this parable is god and the vineyard keeper is who jesus and how long was jesus ministry on this earth three and a half years so after three years of ministry the nation of israel as a whole still had not accepted jesus christ as their messiah so the owner and who's the owner god wanted to cut it down but the vineyard keeper asked the owner not to cut it down but to give it one more chance one more season which would be about a half a year and then if it didn't produce he cut it down so again who does the fig tree represent in this parable israel and who is the vineyard keeper jesus yeah but people this parable makes no sense unless you know that the fig tree represents israel and the vineyard keeper is jesus in fact how many of you know what the sits and laban of this parable is sits in laban's simply a german theological phrase and it means the setting what's the what's the setting of this what's the context in which jesus told this parable it's in luke chapter 13. you can go back and read it verses one through five what happened is it is a bunch of people came to jesus and they said some galileans were offering their sacrifices in the temple and pilate killed them in fact you can read about this in extra biblical uh material what had taken place is some galileans were there and they were offering their sacrifices and there was a disturbance pilate sit in his roman soldiers and he just plowed them all down including these galileans who were perfectly innocent they weren't there protesting or doing anything of such and they were killed so these people came to jesus and said these galileans were killed by pilate while they were on the temple mount and the question is were they evil is that why this happened and jesus said do you think they were greater sinners than you and then he says something very important he says unless you repent you all will perish and then he goes further he says you know the power of siloam fell on 18 people and killed them were they great sinners they were just having to be in the wrong place at the wrong time then he turns to them and says but unless you repent i say you shall all perish and then he tells this parable so what was he telling them he said you guys are missing you're so concerned about these people if you don't receive me as the messiah god's going to cut you down you'll all perish and they did in 70 a.d those who didn't receive jesus christ when they saw the sign the city of jerusalem surrounded they didn't leave the city and they all perished or were taken in captivity away from israel over a million jews in jerusalem were massacred what jesus said in the parable took place now let me give you another example that ties in with the parable of the victory in the olivet discourse most of you have probably read it you think why in the world did jesus do this because you don't understand what the fig tree represents so turn to matthew chapter 21 verses 18 through 20. and if you've been to every one of the sermons as we've gone through the olivet discourse you know the chapters 21 22-23 sets the stage for jesus oliver discourse it's what happened during the last week of his ministry after his triumphant entry which you get in the beginning of chapter 21 and then he comes to the temple mount and then he has this interaction and then later on he's going to give the olivet discourse and then two days later he's going to be crucified so all of this happens in the last week so here we are matthew chapter 21 verses 18 through 20. notice what it says in the morning as jesus was returning to jerusalem he was hungry and he noticed a fig tree beside the road he went over to see if there were any figs but there were only leaves then he said to it may you never bear fruit again and immediately the fig tree withered up it died the disciples were amazed when they saw this and they asked how did the fig tree wither so quickly now you really don't understand the significance of this event if you don't know where this took place and when it took place so let's start with where this took place the cursing of the fig tree occurred at bethesda jesus had just left bethany where he was staying at night on his way to jerusalem and bethage was on the way as you can see on the map can you see this here's a map that shows you where it's located on the city of bethesda in fact let me just highlight something if you don't mind all of this is jerusalem and this is the temple mount this is the kid drawn valley this is the tyropian valley if you ever go there and this is hinnom valley which is where gehenna is this is the dung gate down here below that you threw all your trash in jesus used that as an example of where the fire is it never goes out and it's kind of a picture of hell and they all knew that because that's where they all burned their trash but anyways this is the kidron valley this is the mount of olives jesus was staying at bethany and the way you got to jerusalem is you came down this road and then there was bethage and then if you've ever been to the mount of olives you know that there's a little thing that you walk down that's where jesus made his triumphal entry to enter into the temple down here at the bottom is the garden of gethsemane but i want you to notice that bethage is is uh on the way to jerusalem does everyone see that now how many of you are familiar with the city of bethesda because it's a very important city even though it's not mentioned very often in the bible now as you can see on the map bethage was a walled village just outside of jerusalem across the kidron valley in jesus day there was actually a bridge that went over it so that if there was a lot of rain it would wash down that valley but you could still walk over to jerusalem bethage was at the top of the mount of olives on the western side now believe it or not bethwich was considered to be a part of the city of of jerusalem but a very special part of jerusalem you see it was one of the two places where the sanhedrin met officially for certain situations they met on the temple mount at the chamber of the huge stones but at other times they met in a private chamber at bethesda the situation they were dealing with determined which chamber they met in bethage was also the village of priest many scholars believe that it was the ancient city of nob how many remember the ancient city of knob you guys are going to have to start reading your bible knob was the city of priest that david ran to when he was running from saul and he needed a sword and he was hungry and so the priests come out and they said well all we have is this he says well i'm on the lord's message i'm going to do this and so he gives him the bread but he also gives him the light sword saul finds out about it he considers them to be traitors he comes there and he commands his soldiers to kill them all but they're all priests why because it's a city a priest and no one will do it except doick who's an edomite and he slays all the priests well believe it or not noble eventually becomes bethesd all right so bethage was a village a priest you had certain priests who stayed there or lived there all year alone and they had special duties but you also had priests who stayed there when they traveled to jerusalem to serve in the temple during their scheduled time if you remember david had divided the priest into 24 different groups and so when it was your time to minister you would go to jerusalem to minister in the temple and you stayed at bethesda yeah because it was a city of priest it actually had dorms for you to be able to stay in so you could do or fulfill your duties in the temple now because it was a village a priest and the sanhedrin met there in certain situations the city represented the religious leaders of israel let me say that again because it was the city of priest and the sanhedrin met there the city represented the the religious leaders of israel it was the seat of their official government think of it like washington d.c washington dc represents our government our leaders who determine the course of our nation so in a sense bethage was israel's washington dc now it was the priests themselves who named the village bethesda you see bethesda means house of figs yeah it was no longer called knob it was called bethwich because bethage means house of figs and the reason they named it bethage is very interesting first of all as you know the fig tree represents the nation of israel and figs represent the children of israel so the name indicated that it was the house of israel and the official seat of government for their religious leaders secondly the jews believed that the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of eden was a victory how many of you knew that the tree of knowledge of good and evil was a fig tree that's what jews believed and the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil were figs not apples and does anyone know why the jews believe that all right i'll tell you look at genesis chapter 3 verse number verses 6 and 7. the woman was convinced who's the woman in genesis chapter 3 eve eve was convinced she saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious and she wanted the wisdom it would give her so she took some of the fruit and she ate it then she gave some to her husband who with it who was with her and he ate it too at that moment excuse me their eyes were open and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness so they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves yeah so the jews reasoned that when their eyes were open and they were naked they wanted to cover themselves with whatever was at hand and what would be at hand the fig trees the fig leaves so they sewed these together and they covered their nakedness now priests and members of the sanhedrin were supposed to be guardians of the law they were supposed to keep the law they were to make sure that the people kept the law and they were to govern israel according to the law now here's what's interesting the jews also believed that the law served the same purpose as the knowledge the as the tree of knowledge of good and evil let me say that again because this is very important if you're taking notes write this down the jews believed at the time of jesus that the law saved that served the same purpose as the tree of knowledge of good and evil and you want to know why well first of all through the law comes the knowledge of sin look at romans chapter 3 verse 20. paul was writing this he said this for through the law comes the knowledge of sin yeah adam and eve didn't know what sin was until they aided the tree of knowledge of good and evil yeah so romans 3 20 says for through the law comes knowledge in other words you wouldn't know what sin was without the law the same holds true for the tree of knowledge adam and eve would have known what sin was without eating from the tree of knowledge yeah secondly the law reveals our sin that's what makes us conscious of our sin in other words it opens our eyes to what's right and wrong good and evil yeah notice what paul said about the law and he was a pharisee he's writing in the book of romans and in romans chapter 7 verse number 7 he says this nay i had not known sin but by the law for i had not known lust except the law had said thou shalt not covet and because the law said thou shalt not covet one day i realized i'm coveting why am i coveting because i lust for what that person has i wouldn't have known it had the law not said so do you see that when adam and eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil they became conscious of their sin and the law does the very same thing through the law we become conscious of our sin so guess what the priest named their city bethage which means house of figs and they planted a fig tree at the gate of the city right outside of the walls to symbolize the purpose of bethage we are the house of israel the house of figs we are the children of god but the reason they did that was because of the symbolism the fig tree represented israel but it also represented the law for just as the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil made adam and eve conscious of their sin and able to know the difference between right and wrong the law also makes a person conscious of their sin and able to know the difference between right and wrong i'll just give you an example how do we know that sex outside of marriage is wrong some of you think i harp on it all the time because the bible tells us it's wrong how do we know that homosexuality is wrong because the bible tells us it's wrong it doesn't matter what you think it doesn't matter what you believe the law tells us and without the law i wouldn't know what was right and wrong but god's told us now yeah so the priest named the city bethich and they planted fig trees to symbolize their position authority and responsibility as the leaders of israel and they were so proud of that just as the fig tree represented israel they represented israel as their leaders the fig tree also represented the law and they were guardians of the law so they were proud of the fig tree and what it stood for and then jesus comes along on his way to jerusalem from bethany and he curses the fig tree at bethage wow look back at matthew chapter 21 verses 18 through 20 and now that you know that let's read this event again in the morning where's jesus staying at night bethany where does he want to go this is his final week of ministry he's going to be crucified on a thursday not a wednesday or friday some of you can't count three days and three nights that's why you always have problems with the gospels so on sunday he has his triumphal entry has a little run in with them because they're they're chanting blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord a messianic psalm and the leaders religious leaders want him to make the people stop that and then on monday yeah he goes back and really gets into it with them and guess what this is monday in the morning he's walking to jerusalem as jesus was returning to jerusalem he's hungry and where do you go through when you're going to jerusalem if you're from bethany bethwich and he noticed a fig tree beside the road in other words at the gate outside the walls of bethesda the official tree that symbolizes bethesda meth beach the religious leaders the sanhedrin and the priest yeah now he went over to see if there's any figs has it produced fruit but there were only leaves and people if there's leaves there should be fruit it buds the leaves come out would have been a little bit tart at that time because it's not full season as luke tells us when it tells us parable it was in season of harvest you usually harvest them right after passover they're getting near passover because jesus is sacrificed on passover so it's going to be after passover they do the full harvest but some of them are still ripe to eat at this time he goes over there there's only leaves then he said to it may you never bear fruit again and immediately the fig tree weathered up and died [Applause] this is the fig tree that symbolizes the house of israel the official government the religious leaders the disciples were amazed when they saw this and probably a little bit scared just get out of here jesus before they get out of here and realize you did it and they asked how did the fig tree wither so quickly so why did jesus curse the fig tree once it's obvious he cursed it because it didn't produce fruit but more importantly he cursed it because it symbolized israel and its religious leaders who were guardians of the law they determined the course of the nation just as our leaders do today in washington dc and they had rejected jesus as the messiah this is a wonderful object lesson and the perfect object lesson yeah because this fig tree represents the leaders of israel so he cursed it israel and the religious leaders had rejected the messiah therefore by cursing at the object lesson is israel as a nation will wither and die they were cursed for not producing fruit jesus is at the end of his uh is at the end of his ministry remember we just got through looking at the other parable god wanted to cut it down at the end of three years jesus said wait let me fertilize it let's go to the next season which would have been passover he goes another six months they still haven't received him and guess what they're cursed for not producing fruit now listen to me and this makes perfect sense jesus said in john chapter 6 verse 29 this is the only work god wants from you believe in the one he has sent what fruit does god want from you god what do you want me to do jesus said this is the only work god wants from you believe in the he ascent the fruit that god required of the israelis leaders was to believe in jesus believing the messiah who was sent from god wow and he gets to his three and a half years of his ministry against the last final week god wanted to cut him off at three years and jesus the vineyard keeper said let's give them one more season but if they don't then and he's already done his triumphant entry and they're already mad at him they've rejected him he's coming back monday he knows they've rejected him he knows he's going to have it out with them he gets to bethesda symbolizes israel and israel and the religious leaders and he curses it so this brings us to when jesus cursed it does anyone know when this event took place when did jesus curse the fig tree at bethesda i already told you it's the final week but do you know when he cursed it the day before he gave the olivet discourse that's right the day before so people that was fresh on the disciples minds they had seen with their own eyes the fig tree which represented is israel at bethage which was the seat of government for israel and the symbol of israel's religious leaders being cursed by jesus for not producing fruit and it withered and it died and they knew it was an object lesson for them and the meaning was crystal clear as a result of rejecting jesus as the messiah israel was cursed and would wither away and die and they would be dead as a nation for nearly 2 000 years so dormant for 2000 years well back to the original question does the fig tree represent israel well people you have to be a fool to not see that the fig tree represents israel and figs represent the children of israel which means that the parable of the fig tree is a specific parable about israel as a nation and basically what the parable of victory is saying is this for almost 2 000 years the nation of israel has been dormant because it was cursed for rejecting jesus as the messiah and it withered away and it died but when you see the fig tree this is the lesson when you see the fig tree israel bud and sprout leaves in other words when you see israel become a nation once more after being dormant for nearly 2 000 years you will know that christ's return is near even at the door in fact this generation that sees this will not pass away until they see all these things take place including the return of christ i will see the rapture take place if i live a long full life now i'm going to make a disclaimer if i live to be in my 90s it doesn't take place there is one possible explanation jesus said that when you see the olive tree bud and sprout leaves there are some scholars that say the budding is when they became a nation in 1948. but they didn't sprout leaves until the six day war in june of 1967. on june the 7th 1967 they took jerusalem that could be the budding is israel becoming a nation the sprouting of lisa's taking jerusalem in 1967. that will be the only thing i don't i don't believe that because when you see it budding it's me it's been dormant for so long this generation that sees that i believe i'm the generation if i live a long full life and i'll be honest if your pre-trib rapture we don't have that many years and i know god usually waits until the very end before he does things but he doesn't have to the rapture is imminent he can come at any time there's no prophetical event that has to take place remember the rapture takes place before the seven year peace treaty before the 70th week begins why do i say all this because some of you are living like you're not the final generation like you don't expect the rapture to occur in your lifetime for jesus to come back and let me say this we are the final generation we've studied the whole olivet discourse to get to this one place okay we know we're living in the last days for nation has risen against nation and kingdom against kingdom world war but just because you're in the last days my parents lived in the last days but they weren't the final generation if you were born after may 14th 1948 you're part of the final generation

Channel: Cornerstone Fellowship

Views: 6,013

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: end times according to jesus, last days according to jesus, allen nolan, eschatology, matthew 24, end times prophecy, end times 2021, parable of the fig tree, bible, end times, prophecy

Id: d2PV76CDcuY

Length: 48min 7sec (2887 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 26 2021