Matthew 24:32-35

D. Encouragement to Believe Jesus (24:32-35)

(Parallels: Mark 13:28-31; Luke 21:29-33)

32 Now from the fig tree learn her parable: when her branch is now become tender, and putteth forth its leaves, ye know that the summer is nigh; 33 even so ye also, when ye see all these things, know ye that he (footnote: it) is nigh, even at the doors. 34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished. 35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

a.

Some interpreters hold that the fig tree is a symbol of the Jewish people, and that the revising of their nation, as symbolized by the renewal of the fig tree, signals the near approach of Christ's Second Coming. Does the fact that Luke's version of this parable speaks not only of the fig tree, but also of all the trees, modify this view in any way?

b.

In what sense is it correct to affirm that all these things that Jesus had described earlier (Matthew 24:4-31) must be considered as signaling the near approach of the Kingdom of God within the lifetime of His contemporaries?

c.

Some people hold that Matthew 24:29-31 are referring to Christ's Second Coming. Now, however, Jesus asserts that all these things must be accomplished during the lifetime of His own generation. But He did not return in that generation. Who is mistaken: Jesus or His interpreters? How do you know?

d.

What kind of person is it who thinks that it would be easier for the inexorable natural laws of heaven and earth to fail than for his own affirmations to be proven wrong? What does this tell you about Jesus who made precisely this claim?

e.

How does Jesus-' assertion, that His words shall not pass away, furnish a good reason for believing Him? Do you believe Him?

f.

Do you believe that His generation lived to see the realization of all these things, just as He said? If so, why? If not, why not?

g.

Jesus expects that His disciples would see certain phenomena and be able to decide correctly that the kingdom of God is near. Further, He will teach that the Second Coming will not be heralded by any forewarning, but will come abruptly and unexpectedly for everyone. How do these facts clarify Jesus-' meaning about the phenomena and modify our understanding of it?

PARAPHRASE AND HARMONY

Then Jesus told them a story: Think of the fig treein fact, look at any tree and learn its lesson. As soon as its branches become tender and its leaves come out, you can see without being told that summer is not very far away. Similarly, when you see ALL THESE THINGS taking place, you can recognize that the Kingdom of God is near and ready to make its triumphal entry. I can tell you for sure that this present generation will live to see it all take place. Heaven and earth will come to an end, but what I have said. never!

SUMMARY

In the same way that leaves signal the approach of summer, clues already mentioned signal the arrival of God's Kingdom, an event which must occur during the lifetime of Jesus-' contemporaries. The universe could fall apart sooner than Jesus-' words fail to be fulfilled.

NOTES
1. Leaves are a signal of summer's approach (24:32)

Matthew 24:32 Learn from the fig tree her parable. Even as He spoke, Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives. Back of them, as they faced Jerusalem, lay a small village called Fig-Town, or Bethphage. (Cf. Matthew 21:1; Mark 11:1; Luke 19:29.) Not unlikely it drew its name from the abundance of its fig trees. Because Jesus pronounced these words just before Passover, the fig trees would even then be leafing out. (See notes on Matthew 21:19.) Because Jesus said, and all the trees (Luke 21:29), this parable is not essentially about fig trees exclusively, but, rather, about how trees in general function and about what this function tells the nature observer about the seasons. By showing His disciples something with which they were already familiar, something which also involved their ability to predict the approach of summer with reasonable certainty, Jesus facilitated their understanding of something less familiar.

When her branch is now become tender, and putteth forth its leaves, ye know that the summer is nigh. This shows His disciples that to predict the near approach of whatever phase of God's Kingdom Jesus has in mind would not be nearly so difficult or problematic as it might seem in theory. (This is the same approach Jesus had already used with others who could determine the short-term weather forecast from the appearance of the sky. Matthew 16:1-3)

No objective reading of this paragraph (Matthew 24:32-34) will justify the creation of an allegory of the rebirth of the Jewish state (Fig tree = Jewish people) without reading into Jesus-' words what is not there, to favor a preconceived theory of eschatology. To do so, one must forget that Jesus also said, and all the trees (Luke 21:29), since the supposed symbolism would extend to all other races, if each tree stood for a race, as the fig, in theory, stands for the Hebrews. So, the theory topples of its own weight, felled by solid information from Luke.

2. Similarly, the foregoing clues signal H-hour for God's Kingdom (24:33)

Matthew 24:33 Even so ye also, when ye see all these things, know ye that he is nigh, even at the doors. Just as surely as budding and leaves were a sure indication of the nearness of the warm season, so the disciple of Jesus could discern the approach of some great event by the clear signs just listed. The great controversy turns on what is intended by all these things, since the decision about WHAT is nigh depends largely upon these things that indicate its near approach. The problem began with the Greek used by Matthew and Mark, since neither indicated a subject for the verb, is nigh (engùs estin). This leaves translators torn between he and it, because grammatically both renderings are possible. Luke's specific statement, however, furnished the missing key by informing us that Jesus meant; the Kingdom of God is near. Because Jesus said it, therefore, this concept should be read into Matthew's narrative as the subject it, as found in the ASV margin and in other translations. But, even so, because Jesus-' Kingdom is a Messianic Kingdom on earth, wherever His Kingdom is, there is He in the midst of it (Matthew 18:20; Matthew 28:20; Luke 17:21). Now, the riddle becomes: to what phase of the Kingdom of God does Jesus refer?

1.

Some point to Matthew 24:4-28 and suppose He means just the fall of Jerusalem. It is assumed that He temporarily overlooks what appears to be the Second Coming in Matthew 24:29-31 and points back to the events mentioned earlier, i.e. Jerusalem's destruction. But this involves two exegetical weaknesses:

a.

This view must apply all these things to events in a more distant context while shutting an eye to the Second Coming supposedly mentioned in the nearer context.

b.

Consequently, this view must deny that Jesus-' allusions in Matthew 24:29-31 perfectly mirror the classic style of Old Testament prophets before Him, and contrary to these prophets-' own interpretations, consider their words literal when used by Jesus.

2.

Others suppose He means the state of affairs commencing at the Second Coming when Christ's rule shall be universally acknowledged. This view is supported by these suppositions:

a.

All these things is thought to refer only to the signs mentioned in Matthew 24:29-31, taken to mean Christ's coming in glory at the end of the world. However, see our notes on these verses which treat them as expressing the spiritual significance of the period immediately following Jerusalem's fall and directly resulting from it.

b.

Some suppose the fig tree parable is to be connected with Jesus-' cursing of the fruitless fig tree (Matthew 21:18 f.), bespeaking the punishment of the unfruitful Jewish race. Hence, they see its resurrection from national and spiritual dormancy just before the world's end, symbolized by the flowering of the fig tree. However, there is no evidence that Jesus created such a symbol as fig tree = Israel.

c.

This generation (Matthew 24:34) is supposed to embrace only the Jewish race. Hence, what is affirmed about this generation, becomes a prediction of Israel's continuance as a race until the Second Coming. However, see our objections at Matthew 24:34.

d.

Consequently, it is concluded that Jesus could not have included literally all these things, from the disciples-' question, Tell us when will these things be, down to when you see all these things (Matthew 24:3-33). Accordingly, He omitted all reference here to the overthrow of Jerusalem. Ironically, this view's proponents often take everything in Matthew 24:29-31 literally, but balk at treating all these things and this generation, with the same measure of literalness. Worse, because all these things are thought to be the signs that precede the Second Coming and signal its approach, these commentators make Jesus party to two errors:

(1)

He is pictured as predicting His return immediately after the fall of Jerusalem. (Cf. Matthew 24:29). To avoid this gaffe one must eviscerate immediately of its usual meaning, assigning it a modified sense, defended by reference to 2 Peter 3:4-9. However, Peter clearly refers to the parousìa of Christ, where Jesus does not use this word in our immediate text. (See on Matthew 24:29-31.)

(2)

Jesus is caused to contradict Himself, being made to speak of signs foreshadowing an event for which He specifically revealed there would be no advance warning.

e.

This viewpoint ignores the main point of Jesus-' affirmation. The very appearance of all the signs He mentioned intend to forewarn of the nearing of the great event. If a sign is truly functional, it is to alert the observer for the near advent of that great event as surely as the budding of the trees announces the arrival of summer. But if these events which supposedly signal the nearness of Christ's return have come and gone century after century from the days of the disciples to our own, and yet the Second Coming has never occurred, then Christ's return is simply not the event heralded by the supposed signs in question. When Jesus gave true signs, He referred to something else, the fall of Jerusalem (Matthew 24:14-28). Further, what was commonly mistaken for signs (Matthew 4:4-13), He flatly ruled out as indicative of anything precisely because of their very ordinary commonness.

3. The more appropriate view is that which permits Jesus to say anything He wants to, regardless of what this does to our theories. On the surface, as all commentators who have struggled with the apparent incongruities in Jesus-' expression, admit, He seems to include in His phrase, all these things, everything He has been saying since He started answering the disciples-' question, i.e. in Matthew 24:4-33. So be it! To the question whether all these things really did occur within the time-span of one generation, may be given a hearty, positive answer.

a.

The Gospel of the Kingdom was preached in all the world (Colossians 1:6; Colossians 1:23; see on Matthew 24:14).

b.

Jerusalem was surrounded by armies, but the Christians fled anyway (Luke 21:20; see on Matthew 24:15).

c.

National Israel was demolished in a disastrous war that desolated the Temple, the priesthood and the royal Davidic house (Matthew 24:19-22). Israel could not but wail bitterly thereat.

d.

Jesus-' rightful claims to divine authority were completely vindicated (Daniel 7:13 f.; Ephesians 1:20 ff.; see on Matthew 24:30 f.). He transferred the Kingdom from Israel to another people who would bring forth the fruits thereof (Matthew 21:43). When the barren. Jewish institution was finally crushed, believers could discern in it that the mighty stone the builders rejected had now become the Capstone (Matthew 21:42; Matthew 21:44; Luke 20:18). It also crushed its opponents.

e.

God's elect were really gathered from the four winds by His messengers. (See on Matthew 23:34; Matthew 24:31.)

f.

All of this gives evidence that the Sovereign God who revealed Himself in Jesus of Nazareth rules supreme. This is the expression of the Kingdom of God alluded to here. (See the Special Study on the Coming of the Son of Man, my Vol. II, 430ff.; and on The Kingdom of God, my Vol. III, 160ff.)

3. All these events must occur in Jesus-' generation (24:34)

Matthew 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished. Generation, in Scripture, refers to:

1.

The successive elements in a genealogy (Matthew 1:17).

2.

The people living at the same time (Matthew 23:36; Matthew 24:34; Luke 17:25).

3.

A people or class distinguished by shared qualities, usually in a bad sense in the New Testament (Matthew 17:17; Mark 8:38).

4.

The average lifetime of a person, an age. (Cf. Colossians 1:26.)

5.

Figuratively, a measurement of eternity (Ephesians 3:21).

In these usages the shared root meaning is the concept of contemporaries of the people involved in a generation. Were it not for prior commitments to a particular eschatological view, the common reader would understand Jesus to mean that His own contemporaries would live to witness the great events He predicted. This is the correct view, because it is sustained by the following considerations:

1.

THE PROPHETIC FULFILLMENT ITSELF. A generation is usually considered to cover a period of roughly forty years. If the surest interpretation of a prophecy is to be sought in its undoubted fulfillment, then the fact that every event that Jesus predicted took place roughly forty years after He prophesied it, i.e. from 30-70 A.D., is corroborative evidence that He spoke literally here. (See notes on Matthew 24:29-31.)

2.

THE APOLOGETIC AIM. McGarvey (Matthew-Mark, 351) saw that this discourse, known and preached by Jewish Christians, had special, evidential importance for that generation, as it

contained in itself a challenge to that generation of Jews to watch the course of events in their own national history, and to say whether its predictions proved true or false. No generation has lived that was so competent to expose a failure had it occurred, or that would have done so more eagerly. But the events, as they transpired, turned the prophecy into history, and demonstrated the foreknowledge of Jesus.

Through His own apostles and prophets (Matthew 23:34; Luke 11:49 f.), He addressed this crucial message, not just to any then-future generation, but to this generation. The Apostles themselves and those of their own generation who would see the beginning of these things (Matthew 24:33), would also be part of the generation that would witness the end (Matthew 24:34; cf. Matthew 16:28; Mark 9:1 with Luke 21:31 f.).

3.

THE LINGUISTIC CONSIDERATION. Matthew's own use of generation (geneà) outside of Matthew 24:24 indicates how our author normally understood the word in question:

a.

Four times in Jesus-' genealogy, he uses geneà to mean the people composing successive steps in a family lineage (Matthew 1:17).

b.

In Matthew 11:16 Jesus not only spoke of an obtuse attitude, but was addressing the fickle, unreasonable people living in His own time who showed it.

c.

In Matthew 12:39; Matthew 12:41-42; Matthew 12:45 and Matthew 16:4 Jesus reacted to His contemporaries-' unjust demands for further miraculous proof of His authority, despite the abundance of evidence already granted, terming them an evil, adulterous generation. But it was to this generation that He personally gave the crowning credential, the sign of Jonah. His contemporaries must answer in the Judgment for their rejection of Him who by His resurrection was fully authenticated as God's Spokesman.

d.

In Matthew 17:17 Jesus bemoaned the perversity of unbelief shown by the very people with whom He must continue to live, tolerating their bad attitude, i.e. His contemporaries.

e.

In Matthew 23:36 His context conclusively clarifies His reference. He points not merely to a wicked attitude, but primarily to THE PEOPLE THEN LIVING as opposed to all preceding generations. The sons, as distinguished from your fathers, are those to whom He would send His messengers and upon whom would come His threatened judgment. While this generation did not personally slay Zechariah, it does not follow that the whole Jewish race is alluded to. Rather, Jesus affirmed that His own contemporaries shared the spirit of those who murdered that prophet in their own era, but He was not hereby re-defining generation so as to include their predecessors.

f.

Nowhere does Matthew utilize generation (geneà) to refer exclusively to the entire Jewish race in a bloc, as a race.

4.

THE NEAR CONTEXT. All these things that must occur in Jesus-' generation (Matthew 24:34) refer to all these things that indicate the arrival of God's Kingdom (Matthew 24:33; Luke 21:31). His reference, then, is broader, reaching back to sum up everything discussed earlier. He had threatened the desolation of Israel's great house by divine retribution of His generation (Matthew 23:34-39). Pointing to the Temple, He reworded this menace, You see all these things ...? There will not be left one stone upon another. (Matthew 24:2). His men questioned Him, Tell us, when will these things be? (Matthew 24:3). Then, Jesus sketched a panorama of general world conditions and specific Church problems characteristic of that period. Expressing Himself both literally and figuratively, He listed salient features of the last days of the Jewish State, and concluded, Now when these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near (Luke 21:28). Summarizing with His fig tree parable, He uses this cumulative argument: When you see all these things (worldwide Gospel proclamation, Matthew 24:14; Matthew 24:31; Jerusalem surrounded by armies, Matthew 24:15; Luke 21:20; the destruction of the Temple, Matthew 24:2; the devastation of the Jewish State and its institutions, Matthew 24:15-28; during an era troubled by trials, turbulence and tragedy, Matthew 24:4-13; Matthew 24:29; and the glorious vindication of the Son of man, Matthew 24:30 f.), then know that the Kingdom of God is near. So, all these things embraces everything in Matthew 24:2-34.

5.

THE LARGER CONTEXT. According to Luke 17:25, the suffering and rejection of Jesus by this generation must precede the long-awaited unveiling of the Messiah in His true glory. This clearly refers to the Jewish nation then living whose leadership and majority following would finally repudiate Jesus as their Christ. That this generation must point to His era, but not to His race, is evident. Otherwise the rejection of Jesus would involve ALL JEWS down to His Coming and the hypothesis of any final conversion of all Israel must be abandoned by its proponents.

6.

THE QUESTION OF CONSISTENCY. Does Jesus contradict Himself? If He were promising His Second Coming during His contemporary generation, Matthew 24:34; Matthew 24:36 would be mutually contradictory. It does not follow that, because the early Christians could not possibly have continued to wait for Him, when Israel was not converted and Christ did not come, therefore they cannot have so understood the words in the sense merely of the generation then living (Biederwolf, 348). On the contrary, the trouble lies in wrongly assuming that Jesus was discussing His Return, when He really contemplated the earthly events that manifested His heavenly reign during the first century. So, those early disciples, because they were culturally prepared to interpret His words more accurately than most moderns, could have well understood His words in the sense of the generation then living. What is mistaken, rather, is the expectation that this generation must last until the Second Coming or that all Israel must be converted en masse,. (See on Matthew 23:39.)

7.

JESUS-' GENERAL TIME-TABLE. That this generation corresponds to Jesus-' contemporaries is corroborated by Matthew 16:28 where He promised the majestic manifestation of His Kingdom during the lifetime of His disciples. Similarly, Luke places that same appearance during the lifetime of this generation (Luke 21:31-32; cf. Luke 9:27). Jesus warned that the final crisis of Jerusalem would occur during the lifetime of men, women and children who even then inhabited that city, (Luke 19:41-44; Luke 23:27-31). Can it be seriously doubted that He had in mind the invasion and siege by the Romans in 70 A.D.?

CAN GENERATION MEAN RACE HERE?

Because Jesus often gave a negatively loaded flavor to the expression, this generation, it is thought to refer exclusively to that entire sector of the Jews that rejected Him. Ignoring the Jewish Christians, such interpreters extend the meaning potential of this phrase to embrace all unconverted Jews generally, then affirm that Jesus wanted to promise the non-extinction of the Jewish race until the Second Coming.

1.

Lenski's contention (Matthew, 952) is substantially correct that generation depicts a certain kind of people whose characteristics are deducible from a given context. (Cf. Psalms 12:7 [LXX Matthew 11:8]; Psalms 78:8 [LXX Psalms 77:8]; but see Psalms 78:4; Psalms 78:6! Matthew 24:6 [LXX Matthew 23:6]; Psalms 73:15 [LXX Psalms 72:15]; etc.) However, it is also true that such people can also be living at the same time as those who do not share those same characteristics at all and from whom they are distinguished. Thus, contemporaneity is not excluded by Lenski's argument.

2.

Hendriksen (Matthew, 869) astutely defends the need for a solemn declaration from Jesus that the Jewish race would continue on earth until the Lord comes. In fact, this people might be supposed to deserve extermination since it turned down and murdered its own Christ, despite its particular privileges. Contrary to all historical probability, the Jews would remain a distinct people. However, the context speaks of SIGNS which would point unmistakably to the near approach of a great event, SIGNS as easily recognizable as the greening of the trees that indicate spring's arrival, SIGNS that would not appear until the appointed time. The very continuance of the Jewish race down to the Judgment could never be a sign of its approach, because this supposed sign loses its value as a particular indication at the appropriate time, being the common experience of EVERY AGE!

3.

Granted for sake of argument that geneà could mean both generation and race, thus permitting the prophecy to have a potentially double fulfillment, first that the Jewish race would not pass away until the destruction of Jerusalem, and, second, that the Hebrews would not disappear from the earth until Judgment, on what basis could it be proven that Jesus intended BOTH MEANINGS AT ONCE IN THE SAME SENTENCE? But that the latter meaning is not in Jesus-' mind is indicated by the fact that the Apostles listening to Him would see all these things which must take place before that generation would pass away (Matthew 24:33).

4.

Study other texts where generation (geneà) is used in its usual literal sense: Matthew 1:17; Luke 1:48; Luke 1:50; Acts 13:36; Acts 14:16; Acts 15:21; Ephesians 3:5; Ephesians 3:21; Colossians 1:26; Hebrews 3:10 (= Psalms 95:7 ff.). While Luke 16:8 certainly linked geneà with both the sons of this age and the sons of light, it correctly places them in the same generation, not scattered over many centuries. While Acts 2:40 and Philippians 2:15 speak of a type of people, yet nothing contextually prohibits their being contemporaries of the very people who are exhorted to distinguish themselves from such a crooked, depraved generation.

CONCLUSION

This verse, then, is truly what Kik (Matthew XXIV) styled it, the pivotal time text. It reveals Jesus-' true prophetic perspective in that it furnishes the first, clearest SIGN of the time limitation within all the aforementioned events were to occur. Because in the first section (Matthew 24:4-14) Jesus denied that world-shaking tragedies were a sign of the end, He cannot now be stirring together events connected with both Jerusalem's destruction and the world's end. Because in the second section (Matthew 24:15-28) He prospected events geographically slated for Palestine and ethnically restricted to the Jewish people, these are not to be mistaken for the world's end either. Because in the third section (Matthew 24:29-31) He adopted apocalyptic language to envision the immediate theological results of His victory and vindication, it is unnecessary that any of its images refer to Judgment Day either. So, when Jesus formed the time-frame that confined His prophetic perspective to the era of His own contemporaries, that settles the question as to His subject. Up to this verse He predicted God's sentence only upon the unbelieving of Judaism. From this point on He will proceed to describe a universal judgment that involves not one but all nations.

4. The certainty of the predicted events (24:35)

Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. In this context there are two things that will not pass away: this generation (Matthew 24:34) and the words of Jesus and durability of His words is more lasting than the universe itself! Earlier (Matthew 5:18), Jesus had affirmed the permanent validity of the Mosaic Law until its complete fulfillment. Now He places His own word on that same level! How dare this thirty-year-old Galilean invite comparison between His own words with the apparently permanent forces of the universe? Yet, if heaven and earth are upheld by the word of God and by that same means shall pass away (Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 1:10 ff.; 2 Peter 3:5-7; 2 Peter 3:10-13), this bold assertion of Jesus demands that we admit that His own statements possess all the omnipotence and eternity of God. Because this declaration concludes Jesus-' prophecy, it constitutes His personal signature to the certainty of its fulfillment. For His words to pass away, the prophetic predictions filling this chapter must fail to be fulfilled as foretold.

While we are right to recognize that my words mean anything Jesus says, here He points specifically to everything He had just predicted. The Jerusalem Temple, that sun around which Judaism's solar system revolved, had seemed to Jesus-' followers as durable as heaven and earth, and so much an integral part of God's program that it could never perish. Now they must learn that only what Jesus says is truly imperishable and more dependable than any spiritual or material universe they had known before (See notes on Matthew 24:29.)

His claim, My words shall not pass away, is the more striking in light of His subsequent confession not to know the date of His Second Coming (Matthew 24:36). However, Jesus-' well-established foreknowledge of the Jewish wars and Jerusalem's fall have established beyond all doubt His claim to be God's Son and to know what He is talking about when He reveals what He DOES know. (See on Matthew 24:36.) He knows about the future Judgment too. Let all who hear Christ's sure word take it into account in shaping their lives!

FACT QUESTIONS

1.

What, according to Jesus, is the point of the comparison in the fig tree parable?

2.

What information does Luke alone furnish that assists our interpretation of the fig tree story?

3.

What is the thing which Jesus compares the appearance of leaves on the trees? How do you know?

4.

What does the expression at the very gates (or: doors) mean?

5.

What are some of the Biblical definitions of the word generation as these may be ascertained from the uses the Bible makes of the word?

6.

Which of these definitions is appropriate here in Matthew 24:32-35? How do you know?

7.

What does Jesus include in the expression: all these things in the sentence, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished? Defend your answer, explaining how you decide this.

8.

Jesus, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Explain how the first expression serves to clarify the second. In what sense shall heaven and earth pass away: literally? figuratively? Or is this only a relative comparison? In what sense will Jesus-' word not pass away?

9.

Luke quotes Jesus as affirming that the Kingdom of God is what is approaching. To what phase of God's rule does Jesus allude, if all of the foregoing detailed prophecies are to be considered harbingers of it?