Mk. 13:24-31, The Final Lesson from the Fig Tree

We have noted that the Olivet Discourse shows us the love of God as well as the faithfulness of God.  The latter conclusion is one Jesus Himself picks up on as, for the fourth and last time, He brings His disciples, and us, back to the fig tree.

Let’s review.  In Luke 13:6-9 Jesus saw that the fig tree was struggling.  The keeper of the vineyard wanted to cut it down but the owner wanted to give it one more year with tender, loving care.  This was a picture of the Jewish people; Jesus wanted to give them one more year of His ministry.  In Part 2 (Mark 11:12-14), at the end of that year, Jesus sought fruit on a fig tree, but there was none, and He cursed the tree.  In Part 3 (Mark 11:20-24), the next day, His disciples saw that the tree had already withered.  Jesus used the opportunity to call His disciples to “have faith in God.”  He seemed to think that the tree was not hopeless.  To this point, the nation was now under a curse, but the disciples should trust God in the matter.

Now, at the conclusion of the Discourse about Israel’s coming tribulation and great tribulation, and the bringing together of all things when Christ returns, Jesus returns to the fig tree.  The essence of His message is, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”  Again, the tree is Israel.  A time will come when leaves will begin to appear on the fig tree that had once been cursed.  The tree will start to look like a living tree again.  Jesus said when they start seeing the ”signs” of His coming, then they will know that the restoration and salvation of the nation will be “near – at the doors.”  He emphasizes by saying that the generation that sees these things happening will not pass away until the end comes.

This promise is, as we said, based in the fact that Jesus said it.  In our previous post we considered several passages that promise God’s faithfulness to Israel.  Let me lead you through a few more, given by the Lord at critical times in Israel’s history.

·       Deut. 32:23-27,43: Just before Israel crossed the Jordan to enter the land the first time, Moses, at God’s direction, gave them a song by which God told them where they would be going as a nation.  They would eventually turn to idols and God would punish them and remove them from the land.  But He would eventually, for the sake of His name and glory, bring them back.

·       Amos 9:8: Before the Assyrians carried away the northern tribes, the LORD said that destruction was coming, “Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob.”

·       Jer. 30:7,11: After the Assyrians, and before the Babylonians came to destroy Jerusalem and take Judah captive, the LORD promised to save Israel out of all their trouble.  Again, He said, “Yet I will not make a complete end of you.”

·       Rom. 11:1,11,26-27: After the crucifixion of Israel’s rejected Messiah, God again said that He had not cast them away, but that “all Israel will be saved.”  He confirmed this be reminding them: “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”  As Jesus said, “My words will by no means pass away.”

Lam. 3:22-33, God’s Faithfulness to Abraham and Israel

The Olivet Discourse speaks highly of God’s love.  But Jesus’ words also remind us that God is faithful!  God is the One who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty (Rev. 1:8).  He is the same; His years do not end (Ps. 102:25ff, cf. Hb. 1:10ff).  With God there is no variation or shadow of turning (Jas. 1:17).  We could provide these Biblical pronouncements of God’s faithfulness all day long.  But take a look at these:

For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob (Mal. 3:6).

Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for a light by day,
The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night,
Who disturbs the sea, And its waves roar (The Lord of hosts is His name):

³⁶ “If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the Lord,
Then the seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever.”

³⁷ Thus says the Lord: “If heaven above can be measured,
And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath,
I will also cast off all the seed of Israel
For all that they have done, says the Lord. (Jer. 31:35-37)

⁷ Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more?
⁸ Has His mercy ceased forever? Has His promise failed forevermore?
⁹ Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? Selah (Ps. 77:7-9)

For the Lord will not cast off His people, Nor will He forsake His inheritance. (Ps. 94:14)

³¹ For the LORD will not cast off forever.

 ³² Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. 

³³ For He does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. (Lam. 3:31ff) Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.  For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.  (Rom. 11:28-29)

We could also go on all day with this repeated message in the Scriptures.  God’s faithfulness is illustrated in His keeping His covenant with Abraham.  Israel, in the latter days, will be a shining illustration that He keeps His word. 

We have turned our attention to this because this is the direction our Lord Jesus takes in the Olivet Discourse.  He has prophesied of great tribulation, “the time of Jacob’s trouble.”  The disciples to whom He is speaking are men of Israel.  Perhaps to them it sounds as if God’s patience has worn thin, and that He will cast off His people forever.  Jesus returns for the fourth and last time to “the Parable of the Fig Tree” to assure them and us that God will keep His word!

Psalm 89

Oh what a magnificent Psalm is this hymn exalting God for His mercies and faithfulness!  It gives such reassurance to the saint with application throughout for every moment of our lives.  It is lengthy but I plead with you, be not lazy!  Read it all.  Contemplate its truth.  Glory in the God at the center of it all!

Let us consider the movements in this Psalm.

·         The theme of the hymn is “the mercies of the Lord” and “His faithfulness to all generations (v1-2).  Mercy (Heb. chesed) and faithfulness (Heb. emunah) are prominent throughout.

·         The context of the hymn (the area where God’s mercy and faithfulness are highlighted) is God’s covenant with David in which God promised a throne forever (v3-4). 

·         Stanza 1 (v5-10): God is truly one of a kind.  None can compare to Him in heaven or on earth.  And what He is, He is constantly; His faithfulness also surrounds Him (v8).

·         Stanza 2 (v11-18): Israel is blessed to have such a God because He can do anything and everything He determines to do.  Israel’s shield (protection) and king are God’s provision.  How blessed!

·         Stanza 3 (v19-23): Nowhere is this blessing more evident than in God’s choice to establish and exalt His servant David as king. 

·         Stanza 4 (v24-29): The covenant God made with David promised an enduring throne, One to rule forever.  You cannot miss the obvious reference in this stanza to David’s greater Son, the Messiah.  He will be the Son of the heavenly Father (v26), the firstborn over all creation and over the new creation (v27), the King of kings and Lord of lords (v27).  David’s seed (descendants) will endure forever through the Messiah!

·         Stanza 5 (v30-37): Many stumble over the fact that many of the Davidic kings were so sinful.  They stumble in thinking that God would change His covenant with David and make it spiritual, not applying to his actual lineage.  But the mercies and faithfulness are quite evident here: God will not utterly take away His lovingkindness nor will He allow His faithfulness to fail (v33).  That is the clear answer!  It will be as established as the moon (v37), God’s faithful witness in the sky.

·         Stanza 6 (v38-45): Now we come to the issue.  Ethan the Ezrahite (cf. the title of the Psalm) writes in the context of the times of the Gentiles.  There is no Davidic king.  The nations have authority over God’s people and God’s land.  It is the nations that are exalted over David’s kingdom rather than David being exalted over the nations.

·         Stanza 7 (v46-51): Thus he asks the burning questions.  “How long?”  “Where are Your former lovingkindnesses?”  He asks questions of God.  But he does not question God!  To ask “how long” is to say, I know You will keep your word, but when?  To ask about former mercy is to acknowledge the reality of that mercy.  Behind this contemplation (again, cf. the title) is the constant struggle of the saints of the Old Testament to put together the suffering and glory of the Messiah (1 Peter 1:10-12).  The Davidic rule was to eventually move into the eternal reign of his greater Son (that’s Jesus, who will have the throne of His father David; who will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there will be no end, Luke 1:31-33).  But now, in Ethan’s time as in ours, there was no Davidic king on the throne of Israel!  The situation is reversed from what God promised.  He does not doubt God’s faithfulness or mercy; he has made that abundantly clear throughout the song.  But what he asks is, “how long?”  “The mercies are promised; so where are they?”

·         The song ends with a two-fold “Amen” affirming he does not doubt God.  The promise is forever; and the Lord is also blessed forevermore!  Ethan does not understand, but without question he believes in the sure mercies of David (Isa. 55:3; Acts 13:34). 

The application, as we have said, is moment by moment.  May God encourage you with this great Hymn.  Let us note:

1. God will establish the throne of David in the future.  Failure to do so is to deny Himself which He cannot do! (Psalm 2:6-9)

2. The sign of God’s faithfulness (the moon, God’s faithful witness in the sky, 89:37) is also called to testify to God’s faithfulness to keep the New Covenant (Jer. 31:35-36).  Let us trust our Lord who obtained eternal redemption, who promises an eternal inheritance and who lives forever to intercede on our behalf (Heb. 9:12,15; 7:25).

3. Every word of God is sure because He who said it is faithful.  Even our sin cannot keep Him from keeping His word because He is merciful and gracious.  As Ethan the Ezrahite rested on the promise that God made to David, so let us rest on every word of God!

We are writing this while in a part of the world (Ukraine) that keeps the "Eastern Calendar."  Today is Easter in Ukraine.  This Psalm about God's faithfulness and mercies is prime material when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ.   How merciful that God poured out His own life-blood for mankind.  And He will be faithful to give the gift of eternal life to all who believe because death could not hold our Lord.  The chains of death are broken.  He is alive!  "Blessed be the Lord forevermore!  Amen and Amen."

Rev. 14:1-7; Mark 13:10, God Still Loves the World

One conclusion we should arrive at in our study of the Olivet Discourse is that God loves the elect.  Eschatology is about the love of God.  Note Hebrews 9:

²⁷ And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, ²⁸ so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

It is true, that eschatology tells us how the judgment of God is fulfilled.  But the entire story is about Christ: the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Rev. 19:10).  The salvation He provided through His first advent will get its full and final application in His second advent.  It will truly be a day full of “Hallelujahs!”

And, if you are wondering, in God’s prophetic plan we see that He also loves the world, with a John 3:16 love.  A major “timing” issue is that the end will not come until the gospel is preached to all the nations (Mk. 13:10).  God does not desire, nor does He rejoice in, the death of the wicked (Lam. 3:33; Ezek. 18:23; 2 Peter. 3:9).  In love He will make it a point for the gospel to be available to all!  Not only did Jesus say this.  Paul, by the Spirit, in the verse that precedes his prophecy that “all Israel will be saved,” said that the door to salvation for the nations would remain open “until the fullness of the Gentiles (Nations) has come in” (Rom. 11:25). 

Revelation 14:6-7 also speaks of this:

Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— ⁷ saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”

The “everlasting gospel” is the good news of redemption in Christ.  That was the good news in the OT when Abraham, for example, believed God with respect to a  Son from his own body (Gen. 15:4-6) as well as in the NT where the good news is that the Son of Abraham has come and given His life as the ransom.  The angel preaches this gospel to every nation, tribe, tongue and people, urging them to glorify God by believing in His Son.  In my view, this angelic preaching is in some way tied to the 144,000 standing on Mt. Zion with the Lamb (14:1-6).  Perhaps, having been sealed early in the Tribulation Period (Rev. 7:1-8), they were protected by the Lord until the message reached all the nations.  That would be consistent with God, who “so loved the world,” the world that He created and has sustained throughout the ages.

 

Ezek. 20:33-44, The Salvation of Israel

The love of God for His chosen nation of Israel means that He must, in some sense, save Israel from her sin.  God did not just burst into His creation and announce that He had chosen a few people to be His special treasure.  The “choosing” meant that all the other aspects of God’s character and word, such as His holiness and righteousness and His words that the sinning soul must die, must also be satisfied.  He could not forgive the sins of some without the penalty for those sins being paid.  Further, His word of “faith” must also be satisfied, that “whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”  Salvation must be “reachable.”  It cannot require an effort on the part of people since it will be found that none of those people is capable of the effort.  Again, Deuteronomy (30:11-14; quoted and commented on in Rom. 10:5-13) helps us understand:

¹¹ “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. ¹² It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ ¹³ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ ¹⁴ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

Thus, given God’s faithfulness and love, He will save Israel.  And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins” (Rom. 11:26-27, quoting Isaiah 59:20,21).  How will God bring this about?  To what extent will God go to bring about a saved nation?  While we don’t have all the details, here are some passages that give us some info on God’s plan.

·       Rev. 11:13: This passage speaks of a great earthquake in the great tribulation, after the ministry of the two great witnesses in Jerusalem mentioned earlier in Rev. 11.  Many die in the quake, “and the rest … gave glory to the God of heaven.”

·       Rev. 12:13-17: This passage speaks of the people of Israel, finding refuge in the wilderness, where God protects them from Satan’s attempt to destroy the nation.

·       Jer. 31:1-4: This passage also connects Israel’s salvation with the wilderness.  The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness—Israel, when I went to give him rest.”  If you read the entire chapter you see various aspects of God’s future for the nation, including the New Covenant (31:31-34).

·       Isa. 63:1-6: This passage speaks of the Messiah coming from Edom, the wilderness, with His robe stained with blood because He has fought for Israel when no one else would take a stand.  The context fits with the future salvation.

·       Other passages speak of this “wilderness” protection: Zech.9:14-17; Hosea 2:14-15 and Ezek. 20:33-44.  Israel’s salvation will, of course, involve faith in the crucified and risen Christ, as there is other way: Zech. 12:10.

Deut. 7:1-11; Mark 13:20-27, God Loves the Elect

The doctrine of “election” and “predestination” is hard for many people.  It is hard because of the deep thinking required to understand God’s choice and man’s faith.  But also hard because it is often accompanied by a strong dose of God’s sovereignty.  By “sovereignty” I am not referring to the Biblical doctrine but the doctrine of the one who wants to inform us at to God’s “sovereign choice in election.”  I suppose I better explain what I mean as I might be offending many people.

What do you mean when you say, “God is sovereign”?  Often it seems it is like the Islamic view.  In Islam a person can be quite faith in keeping the five pillars of Islam and being a way above-average Muslim.  And yet, according to the doctrine, it is Allah’s choice to receive them after they die.  They can never be sure in this life of what will come to them in the next life.  That is not the Sovereign God of the Bible. 

For Christians, trusting God is not like playing the slots in Vegas (so I have been told).  God is sovereign in that He will do all that He has said He will do.  He will be totally faithful to His word, and to the sum-total of all His attributes or perfections. 

As we study the Olivet Discourse, there are several reverences to the elect: v20 (He will shorten the day for the sake of His elect), v22 (the times are so deceptive that the elect would even be deceived if that were possible), and v27 (when Christ returns He will gather His elect from the four corners of the earth).  The question to ask is: what does the doctrine of election tell us about our God?  For many the first answer is, “He is sovereign.”  But in Mark 13 I would say the answer is, “He loves His chosen ones!”

Why did God choose Israel in the first place?  Deut. 7:6-8 makes clear God’s motives.  First, He says it was because of His love: The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; ⁸ but because the Lord loves you.  Then He follows this up, not with an essay on sovereignty but on faithfulness: and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.  His summation is this: Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments. 

The Bible regularly connects the elect with God’s love, grace and mercy.  Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies (Rom. 8:33).  In Col. 3:12 the “elect” are also called “holy” and “beloved.” 

For me, this is one of the things about our God that can be learned from His plan for the future.  He has loved us at the cross; His love will continue into eternity.

Mark 13:14-23, Verse-by-Verse (3)

We are at the mid-point of Daniel’s 70^th week, the final 7 years that are filled with tribulation and then, “great tribulation.”  Remember what Jesus is talking about in v14: “the abomination of desolation” spoken of by Daniel the prophet.  Keep in mind that Jesus indicates that this is an event that is still future as He is speaking about it.  We have explained this in a previous post (called “Olivet Discourse Timing Keys, 2”).  Now let us continue through 13:27.  As we work through this, keep in mind the question in Mark 13:4: what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled? 

·       13:14-18: The command to flee.  Jesus says the people of Judea should flee when this event of “desolation” takes place.  In Luke 21 (v20-23) Jesus says Judea should flee with they see Jerusalem surrounded by armies.  As we have noted, those who interpret these things with the “Preterist” view see this as referring to 70AD when, certainly, Jerusalem was surrounded by the armies of Rome.  We have responded to this, that it fits the Scriptures that there could be two such events, one in 70AD and one, as Luke also says (v24), in the “times of the Gentiles” that leads up to the return of Christ (21:25-28).  The Biblical record is also quite comfortable with the thought that both Mark and Luke’s versions speak of the future time.  It does not make any sense at all to deny a still-future time of desolation as both Mk. 13:24-27 and Luke 21:25-28 describe the return of Christ.  The abomination involves the full take-over of Jerusalem and the temple by the nations, and particularly the future “son of perdition” (antichrist).  One thing that must be fulfilled is that Jesus’ enemies are placed under His feet.  The abomination is a step in that direction, as it is part of gathering the nations to a war against Christ in the last days.

·       13:19: The reason to flee is because there is coming a time of unprecedented tribulation on the earth.  Some of this revolves around the actions of two great witnesses in Jerusalem who are empowered by God to bring great plagues on earth (Rev. 11:1-6).  Another aspect to this are the three series of judgments in Revelation as the opening of the 6^th seal bring about the time of the “wrath of the Lamb” (Rev. 6:12-17).  Jesus does not give us these reasons; He simply indicates something will be happening in Jerusalem that are a reason to flee the area.

·       13:20-23: Jesus does give a pointed description of the difficulties of this time.  It will involve exceptional items of deception.  It will be nearly impossible to choose the right during this time, even for those who are chosen by God.  The time is so burdensome that God, for the sake of His chosen ones, will shorten the time.  The “elect” certainly include the people of Israel, chosen by God to be His people.  But in addition, Rev. 17:14 speaks of the “called, chosen and faithful” of Christ that seems to be worldwide.  More in the next post to come concerning God’s elect.