Let us turn to the Book of Matthew, chapter 24, verse 32.
Now learn this parable from the fig tree:
When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves,
you know that summer is near.
So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors.
As you know very well, my responsibility this morning is to speak on the imminent return of our Lord. I cannot find a better verse than the one I have just read concerning the imminent return of our Lord, especially for those who were born after 1948. Some of us have seen those great events happen during that year.
According to our Lord, He is at the doors. We do not know which door He is at—perhaps the entrance, perhaps the second door, or perhaps the one very near to our living room. The Bible does not say that. The Lord did not spell that out, because He said, “Of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”
But even so, we know that the Lord is indeed coming back very soon. Yesterday we mentioned that the fig tree in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, refers to the nation of Israel.
On May 14, 1948, the rebirth of the nation of Israel was breaking news. It surprised the whole world. After nearly two thousand years of disappearance from this planet, the nation of Israel was finally reborn. This rebirth is considered a signal—almost like an alarm clock to wake us up.
Do not forget: these words were uttered by the greatest Prophet in the whole universe and in all history—our Lord, our Master Himself. You may have questions about prophecies uttered by Jonah or other prophets, but no one should have the slightest doubt concerning what our Lord Himself has said.
He tells us what is going to happen. When the Lord says, “Surely I come quickly,” He is not merely saying it without having already given us His own word. We are sure, based on the sure word of prophecy—especially prophecy given by our Lord—that He is coming back very soon.
But let us go a little deeper concerning the fig tree. If we study the Old Testament carefully and consider all the references to the fig tree, we find that it represents more than one thing.
Strictly speaking, the fig tree represents four things:
The Bible uses the fig tree to represent the nation of Israel, the land of Israel, the city of Israel, and the temple of Israel. Therefore, when we seek to understand this prophecy—when we see the branches of the fig tree becoming tender and putting forth leaves—it does not refer to one single event. It refers to a whole series of events.
The rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948 is a miracle, brothers and sisters. Some people consider it a political accident. Others believe it was political maneuvering by so-called Christian Zionists. But if you know history well, that is not true at all. It is impossible. It must be a miracle.
No superpower in this world could have produced such a miracle. Even the British Empire, which was regarded as the empire upon which the sun never set, could not have made this happen. Gather all the thought, all the energy, and all the power of this world together, and you could never produce such a miracle.
According to political science, no nation should be revived after disappearing from the earth for more than five hundred years. It is impossible. Therefore, no matter how you read history, we must remember that this is the Lord’s doing. According to the prophecy of our Lord, these things shall come to pass. When that day comes, we know that our Lord is at the door.
We have come to that period. We can begin the countdown. We know that the Lord is much, much nearer than He was fifty years ago. Brothers and sisters, we are definitely in the end of the end days. If you read the Bible well, you know that this sure word of prophecy strengthens our faith: the Lord is indeed coming back soon.
The fig tree also refers to the land of Israel. God promised His earthly people that, even during the time of their unbelief, because of His covenant with Abraham, He would bring them back to their own land.
That is why we see two major movements of homecoming: one in the 1950s and another in the 1990s. This is another fulfillment of the Word of God.
If it were only the rebirth of the nation of Israel, then perhaps that nation could have been born anywhere. In the minds of some of the founding fathers, there was even discussion about rebuilding the nation in Argentina. Later, the British government suggested Uganda. But according to the Word, it could not be Uganda or Argentina. They had to return to their homeland.
In the 1950s, many Jews returned from almost one hundred and six nations, as far away as New Zealand and China. If you visit a Chinese restaurant in Tel Aviv, you may find that the owners have Chinese names. Why? Because some of these Jewish people really came back from China.
When the fig tree’s branches become tender and put forth leaves, this is not fulfilled only by the rebirth of the nation of Israel. It is also fulfilled by their homecoming.
Especially in the 1990s, could political maneuvering or the power of Christian Zionists have brought Jews from Russia and Ethiopia back to their homeland? That is impossible. There were about one million Jews in Russia who wanted to return, but it was not possible. Then, to our surprise, one day it was as if God said to Gorbachev, “Give them up.” And Gorbachev had to give them up.
That is why, in one night, we saw the Berlin Wall come down. In a short time, we saw the collapse of the Moscow empire. How do you explain these things?
The prophecy in Isaiah 43:5-6 was wonderfully fulfilled:
Fear not, for I am with thee:
I will bring thy seed from the east,
and gather thee from the west;
I will say to the north, Give up;
and to the south, Keep not back:
bring My sons from far,
and My daughters from the ends of the earth.
In the first forty years, there was no great difficulty for Jewish people to return from the west or the east. But the problem was the north—the far north. How do we know? Because God said, “I will say to the north, Give up,” and, “Bring My sons from far.”
The south also speaks of the ends of the earth. The Queen of Sheba came from the south, which points to Ethiopia. If you take a map and locate Jerusalem, Ethiopia lies to the south. Then reverse the direction toward the far north, and it points toward Moscow.
This prophecy has been wonderfully fulfilled. God said to the north, “Give them up,” and to the south, “Keep them not back.” Ethiopian Jews were also brought back to their homeland. When rabbis saw their brothers arriving in the land, many of them wept, knowing that Messiah is coming.
This is the parable of the fig tree: not only the nation, but also the land.
More than that, to our surprise, in 1967 Jerusalem came back to her bosom. For nearly two thousand years, Jewish mothers taught their children to pray, “Next year in Jerusalem.” Suddenly, that prayer became reality in the famous Six-Day War.
This broke records in the history of war. Brothers and sisters, remember: it was not simply because of Israel’s superior power. Yes, there may have been some human element, but when God wants to do something, no one can resist Him. God wanted these prophecies to be fulfilled.
Thank God, His Word is sure. We know that the Lord is truly at the doors.
Of course, if you visit the Temple Mount today and see the mosques there, you may ask, “Is it possible that, before the Lord returns, the temple of God will be built again on the same spot?” According to Malachi and many other passages of Scripture, this question must be considered.
Before the rebirth of the nation of Israel, many people said it was impossible. Before Jerusalem returned to Israel’s bosom, everybody said it was impossible. Perhaps political maneuvering could account for some things; perhaps influential Christians in the British Empire might have helped. But what about the land? What about the homecoming? What about the city of Jerusalem?
If you believe the Word of God, you know that one day, perhaps to our surprise, the Messiah—our beloved Lord—will suddenly enter His temple, according to Malachi. Brothers and sisters, when you study this prophecy, remember that it was given by our Master Himself.
But that is not all. In Matthew’s Gospel, the principal audience is Jewish. Matthew speaks of the Son of Man and of the fig tree because his readers knew the Scriptures. But if we turn to another portion of the Bible, our Lord uttered the same truth with a further emphasis.
Let us turn to Luke 21, verse 29.
Then He spake to them a parable;
Behold the fig tree, and all the trees:
When they now shoot forth, ye see it and know of your own selves
that the summer is now nigh at hand.
Even so ye also, when ye see these things coming to pass,
know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
In Matthew, we read only of the fig tree. Therefore, we think of the Jews, the nation of Israel, the land of Israel, the city of Israel, and the temple of Israel. These things are wonderful, brothers and sisters.
But remember: our Lord is always balanced. He always maintains His equilibrium. Human nature tends toward favoritism. Some may ask whether God is concerned only for His chosen people. This is the argument of those who do not believe prophecy or who try to minimize it.
The spiritual battle concerning the Lord’s second coming is actually a battle over the Word of God. Prophecy either stands or falls with the Word of God. That is why the enemy is subtle. Some say that Christians who support the restoration of the Jews have somehow made these things happen. But, as I have already said, this can only be a miracle.
Do not forget that in Luke 21, our Lord speaks not only of the fig tree, but also of all the trees.
For the Gentile audience, Luke uses the phrase “the kingdom of God is near.” Matthew speaks of the Son of Man being at the door. It is the same truth: the imminent appearing of our Lord.
What, then, do all the trees represent? If the budding fig tree means the rebirth of the nation of Israel, then all the trees speak of ancient nations recorded in the Bible that will rise again. They have passed into history, but one day they will come back.
When we consider the Lord’s first coming and His second coming, we find spiritual principles governing both. Before the first coming of our Lord, there was the controversy of Zion.
We find not only Israel, but also the Babylonian Empire, the Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, and the Roman Empire. We often view these merely as political entities and speak only of political history. But behind them is an important spiritual principle.
According to Isaiah, there is a phrase: the controversy of Zion. There is a spiritual principle behind history. God chose Israel because Jesus the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem and to come from the tribe of Judah. Israel had to be preserved so that, when Messiah came, it could be known from which tribe He descended.
We are often political creatures. We read history only from a political perspective. But if God is moving in history, we must interpret history according to the way the Word of God interprets it.
Before the Lord’s return, just as before His first coming, the nation of Israel had to be reborn. But, as we Chinese say, it takes two hands clapping to make a sound. With only one hand, there is no sound.
Why do the headlines speak continually of problems in the Middle East? Why are there so many noises? If the rebirth of Israel in 1948 had occurred without anything else, there would have been no such conflict. But when you have Zion, you also have controversy. That explains why we hear so much turmoil in the Middle East.
This is why we need to read Luke 21 from a different angle. It is the same truth, but now we see a little more.
Luke was a physician and the only Greek writer among the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. His Greek was beautiful, and his perspective was global.
In Matthew, the Lord sent out twelve disciples because there were twelve tribes in Israel. In Luke, the Lord sent out seventy disciples because Genesis 10 records seventy nations representing the whole world. In order for the gospel to be preached to the world, the Lord sent not only twelve disciples, but also seventy.
Therefore, Matthew 24 gives us the parable of the fig tree, while Luke 21 gives us the parable of the fig tree and all the trees.
If the fig tree represents Israel, is there another tree in the Bible like the fig tree? The fig tree was cursed and dried up from the roots, yet one day it would put forth leaves again by a miracle.
There is such a tree in Daniel 4. I will simplify this, because this is not a full Bible study. Let us consider the vision of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.
I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth,
and the height thereof was great.
The tree grew, and was strong,
and the height thereof reached unto heaven,
and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth.
Then, in Daniel 4:13-15, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven and cried:
Hew down the tree,
and cut off his branches,
shake off his leaves,
and scatter his fruit.
Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth.
The tree was chopped down, just as the fig tree was cursed and dried up from its roots. Yet the stump and roots were left in the earth. How long would this continue? Daniel 4:16 says, “Let seven times pass over him.”
The immediate interpretation applies to Nebuchadnezzar. Yet prophetic language often has a broader application. When Daniel said, “Thou art this head of gold,” it referred not only to Nebuchadnezzar, but also to the Babylonian Empire.
The tree therefore represents Nebuchadnezzar and his empire. The prophecy had a double fulfillment. It was fulfilled in Nebuchadnezzar’s life when he lost his mind and, after seven times, returned to his senses.
But it also has significance for the Babylonian Empire. In 539 BC, Babylon fell and entered history. The tree was chopped down; its branches were cut off, its leaves stripped, and its fruit scattered. Yet the stump and roots remained.
Today, when you study Iraq, it reminds you of ancient Babylon. When you study Iran, it reminds you of ancient Persia. The first encounter between Babylon and Persia was in 539 BC. Later, there was another encounter between these powers. If you calculate the years between these events, you find approximately 2,520 years.
I am only stating facts; I am not insisting upon an interpretation. But these facts should cause us to consider the prophetic Word carefully.
Isaiah 13 speaks of Babylon, and Revelation 18 speaks of Babylon. Either one must spiritualize Babylon, as many Bible scholars do, or one must acknowledge that the text points to something literal. If there is a Babylon at the end of the age, then one of the other trees, besides the fig tree, must bud again. Babylonian power will rise again.
The two Persian Gulf Wars gave us only a little glimpse. This is only the beginning. We have not yet seen the full picture.
After the Second World War, Germany and Japan were defeated. From that time, they did not have to spend their resources on developing weapons. They concentrated upon industry and economic growth. Today, everyone knows that these defeated nations became economic superpowers.
Japan and Germany have little natural resource, yet they became mighty economic powers. Think about Iraq, with its resources. If it concentrated upon developing those resources, especially its oil resources, one can understand how a great commercial Babylon might arise.
When you come to Revelation 18, you read of that great city of Babylon. If you want to imagine how such a city could appear, you do not need to wait. Buy a ticket and fly to Dubai. If you stay in one of its great hotels, you may gain a small glimpse of what Babylon could be like as described in Revelation 18.
Only at the end time will we see the full flesh of these things.
When you read Revelation 13, you find a beast coming up out of the sea. This represents Antichrist and his empire.
And he stood upon the sand of the sea.
And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea,
having seven heads and ten horns.
And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard,
and his feet were as the feet of a bear,
and his mouth as the mouth of a lion.
This continues the vision given in Daniel 7. The lion represents the Babylonian Empire; the bear, the Persian Empire; the leopard, the Greek Empire; and the fourth beast, the Roman Empire.
The beast in Revelation has ten horns, which reminds us of the fourth beast in Daniel. This points to a revival of the Roman Empire. When you go to Europe today, you find nations using the same currency. When else did Europe have such unity? Two thousand years ago, under the Roman Empire.
But this beast also bears the features of the other empires. Its mouth is like a lion, showing the shadow of Babylon. It is like a leopard, showing the Greek Empire. Its feet are like those of a bear, showing the Persian Empire.
In Daniel 7, the lion has one head, the bear has one head, the leopard has four heads, and the fourth beast has one head. Simple mathematics gives us seven heads. Therefore, when Antichrist and his empire appear, that empire will embrace the features of all the ancient nations represented by the trees of Scripture.
Antichrist will seek to unify the world politically. The world will become like a global village. More than that, there will be an attempt to unite religions. I do not want to go into all the details, but according to the prophecy of our Lord, it is not only the fig tree that will bud, but all the trees.
Let me mention one current event—not because it is fully current now, but as an illustration. Not long ago, Israel and Hezbollah went through a war. According to past records, such things might have been settled quickly, but that war continued for some time. Today we also know the story of Hamas.
This reminds us of Daniel 7. Nebuchadnezzar was not the founder of the Babylonian Empire; Babylon had a long history before him. Yet he brought Babylonian power to the Mediterranean Sea. Likewise, Cyrus brought Persian influence to the Mediterranean.
If behind Hezbollah and Hamas there is something connected with Iran, then might that influence eventually reach toward the Mediterranean Sea? Brothers and sisters, this is only the beginning.
We hope we will not have to wait and see the full development. Before that, we hope to be caught up. Before that, we hope to be raptured. We are waiting for Christ; we do not mean to wait for Antichrist.
This is our glorious hope. This is our blessed hope. We continue our ordinary work. We grind our meal, work in our fields, and sleep in our beds. We live our usual life.
Sometimes we imagine that when the Lord comes, perhaps He will find us praying, or standing at a pulpit, and then we will be raptured. That may be a wonderful thought. But brothers and sisters, we still live a very ordinary life while waiting for the Lord’s return.
May the Lord stir our hearts. We know that He can come back very, very soon.
Now I would like to come to a very important part of my message. We have two comings of our Lord: His first coming and His second coming. There are many prophecies surrounding the first coming and many prophecies related to the second coming. There are approximately eighteen hundred prophecies in the Bible.
There are spiritual laws that govern these prophecies. Have you noticed this?
After man’s fall, the first promise given by God was the promise of the woman’s seed. This gave Eve great hope. She expected that the seed of the woman would come and bring redemption. That is why she named Cain as she did. But finally, she was disappointed.
History went on, and there came the prophecy of Balaam and the prophecy of Jacob. All these referred to the coming of Messiah, the Anointed One, the Savior of mankind, and the seed of the woman.
People were waiting for the Savior, for Messiah to come. But the question was: when would Messiah come? No one could answer that question until Daniel 9.
Daniel 9 speaks of seventy sevens. These sevens are prophetic years. Seventy sevens equal 2,520 prophetic years in God’s program concerning His people and His city.
From the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there is a measurable period. Messiah would be cut off, but not for Himself. His being cut off refers to Jesus the Messiah dying on the cross.
From the command to rebuild Jerusalem until the crucifixion, there are sixty-nine sevens, or 483 prophetic years. I will not go into all the details, but I have checked the calculation carefully.
Some have questioned the calculation because Sir Robert Anderson placed the crucifixion in AD 32, while many today place it in AD 30. But Scripture does not require us to calculate from a particular day to another particular day; it speaks from year to year. I have calculated it again and again. If you do not arrive at the answer, you may come to me and I will give you the details.
One thing is certain: after 483 prophetic years, Jesus died for us on the cross.
Through this, we know that the first coming of the Lord was near. Why do I say “near”? Because the prophecy does not measure from the rebuilding of Jerusalem to the birth of Jesus. It measures to His death. Therefore, even if we knew the year of His crucifixion, we would not know the exact year of His birth.
This is the principle: of that day and hour, no one knows. The prophecy enabled people to count down, but it did not reveal the exact moment.
The same principle applies to the second coming. How do we know that the Lord is at the doors? Only after we see the rebirth of the nation of Israel, the rebuilding and restoration of Jerusalem, and the developments concerning the land do we know that the countdown has begun.
The days and years may be numbered at any moment. Therefore, we should watch and pray.
If we study the Bible carefully, we find spiritual principles governing prophecy. Why is this so? What is the meaning of knowing that He is coming soon, both in relation to His first coming and His second coming?
Let us consider the first coming.
When the city of Jerusalem was rebuilt, what did that mean? It meant that the people of Israel had been carried captive to Babylon. After seventy years, they returned.
When they were scattered and carried to Babylon, many of them established prosperous lives there. Before captivity, the people of Israel had been among the best farmers in the world. After captivity, they became among the best merchants in the world. They learned techniques from Babylon and spread to New York, London, and many other places.
Though scattered, they built what might be called an invisible empire. In terms of prosperity, captivity appeared to create a golden opportunity. Who would want to return to an empty city and a desolate land?
Those who had been taken captive when young might have had some reason to return. But think of Ezra and Nehemiah. They belonged to later generations. They had never seen Jerusalem. Emotionally speaking, Jerusalem might have meant nothing to them.
What stirred their hearts to return? Unless they were stirred by the Spirit of God, they would appear foolish. They gave up prosperous opportunities and returned to Jerusalem. They came back to an empty city and a difficult land.
But without knowing the full significance of what they were doing, they returned for one great purpose: the coming of Messiah.
Jesus, our Savior, had to be born in Bethlehem according to the Word. He had to enter the temple. If the people had remained in Babylon, how could Jesus have been born in Bethlehem? How could He have entered the temple if there were no temple? How could the prophecies have been fulfilled?
God works in history. God has an eternal program, and He works toward His purpose until that purpose is fulfilled.
Only a handful—about fifty thousand people—returned to Jerusalem. Perhaps they returned because they loved the Word of God and loved their homeland. But behind it all, God was working.
They returned for the coming of Messiah and for the birth of their Savior. A remnant was prepared as a welcoming party to receive Messiah. That is why, when our Lord entered His temple, He met Simeon and Anna, who welcomed Him.
Now we understand why, after the rebuilding of Jerusalem, it could be said that Messiah’s coming was near. A remnant had been prepared to welcome Him. In this sense, the remnant hastened the coming of Messiah.
The same principle applies to the second coming. There is much to say concerning God’s earthly people. But after the Lord’s first coming, especially after His ascension, the Holy Spirit came down and baptized believers into one body.
The Head draws the Body, and the Body is drawn to the Head. God has not only earthly people, but also heavenly people.
How can we hasten the coming of our Lord? The same principle applies. The Lord has waited through two thousand years. He knows how to do His work. At times, it appears that He encounters hindrance or failure on our part, but He waits patiently.
When a clay vessel is broken, He makes it again. This is His patience.
The church has passed through two thousand years. Especially during the dark ages, it seemed as if everything had been lost and God’s eternal purpose could never be realized. But thank God, in the sixteenth century we saw the dawn and the light.
Through Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Zwingli, a wonderful work of recovery was brought forth. By the grace of the Lord, believers began to return spiritually to Jerusalem.
In church history, there have been two recoveries, just as there were two returns of the Jews. Martin Luther and Calvin brought people back from Babylon. That was a very important recovery.
But in the nineteenth century, there was another recovery that brought scattered saints together in a fuller way. There was a renewed vision of the Body of Christ.
When we see the spiritual building of Jerusalem being built, and when we see overcomers returning to the Lord’s testimony, we know that the Lord is at the doors.
Especially in the nineteenth century, some significant things happened in Scotland and Ireland. This was part of what the Lord was doing.
In 1822, some young believers in Scotland had their eyes opened by the Lord. They had been trained in Presbyterian and Reformed theology, but the Lord revealed to them the truth of Christ’s imminent return.
They were students at the University of Edinburgh and were influenced by Thomas Chalmers. They loved the Lord, and the truth of the imminent appearing of Christ became real to them—just as justification by faith had been revealed to Martin Luther.
Among them were the Bonar brothers, Andrew Bonar and Horatius Bonar. Andrew Bonar said:
I wake, and I hear the birds twittering, twittering, twittering,
and I expect to hear the trumpet break in upon their song.
That shows how they waited for the Lord’s return.
Another well-known saint was Robert Murray M‘Cheyne, who lived only twenty-nine years. He was a poet, preacher, and saint. He wrote to his brother:
The time is short. Eternity is near.
Yea, the coming of Christ the second time is at hand.
Make sure of being one with the Lord Jesus,
that you may be glad when you see Him.
At the foot of his bed was the text:
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away.
He lived only twenty-nine years, but he lived so saintly and so heavenly that the Lord took him early.
Horatius Bonar gave this encouragement to saints who are waiting for the Lord:
He that loves Christ will long to see Him,
and will not be content with the interviews which faith gives.
The lover seeks the absent loved one—the wife, the husband,
the child, the mother—so do you seek your Lord.
It is not enough that you can communicate with Him daily
by the epistles which faith brings in a carriage.
You must see Him face to face.
Otherwise, there is a blank in your life,
a void in your existence,
a cloud over your love,
a feebleness in your soul.
The saved one desires to meet his Savior
and feels that his joy must be imperfect till then.
It is the mark of a disciple
that he waits for the Son of God from heaven.
Another saint wrote:
Let our eye, like his, be fixed on that coming gladness,
that sunrise of eternity for which the church is waiting
and creation groans.
That whole world-cheer will nerve, will liberate,
will heal, will animate, will purify,
will do miracles for us.
As yet the joy has not arrived;
but the promise of its possession,
and the assurance that when it does arrive
it will be great enough and long enough
to make up for all trial and all delay,
are sufficient to keep us ever looking, waiting.
Resurrection is coming with all its light and joy.
Then comes the world’s second dawn,
the church’s long-expected dayspring,
the cessation of creation’s groans,
the time of restitution of all things,
the new heavens and the new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Brothers and sisters, now we understand why, after this remnant—or these overcomers—has been prepared, it seems as though that day can be shortened and hastened. This is how we watch and wait for His coming.
May the Lord draw our hearts to Him. We know that He is really coming back very soon.
Lord, we commit this word into Your hands. If You see fit, use this word to touch every heart among us, that we may be like the Shulamite and say, “Make haste, my Beloved.”
We want to see You, and we want to see You return as soon as possible. Lord, we thank You for this wonderful conference. May Your Word, especially the sure word of prophecy, sink deeply into our hearts.
We thank You, Lord. In the name of our Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.