The Fig Tree Generation
“The first way God uses Israel is this: Israel is God’s time clock to the nations. In other words, whether they know it or not, Israel is the means by which God declares to the nations exactly where we are in His program. There is no other way of knowing where we are in the program of God.”
Lance Lambert, 1988
Sometimes I just can’t help setting dates. Please note that both dates set here are actually “on or before.”
The parable of the fig tree appears in all three of the synoptic gospels--in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. I believe we’re all living now in what could be called the fig tree generation.
In Matthew, Jesus says:
Now from the fig tree learn this parable: When its branch has now become tender and produces its leaves, you know that the summer is near. Even so you also, when you see all these things, know that he is near, even at the doors. Most certainly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things are accomplished. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. (WMB Mt 24:32-36)
When will Jesus come again?
In Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32 Jesus tells us nobody knows the day and the hour of the Second Coming. However, I believe the parable of the fig tree does tell us the generation. In order to interpret this parable correctly, we need to know three things: 1. What is the fig tree? 2. How long is a generation? and 3. When did the fig tree put forth its leaves?
What Is the Fig Tree?
We know what the fig tree is. In Hosea 9:10, God said, “I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at its first season” (Hosea 9:10). God sees individual Jewish people as figs. Figs grow on fig trees. The fig tree is the place where God has chosen to plant His people. Today, that fig tree is planted once again in Israel.
How Long Is a Generation?
I don’t understand why so many people have gotten this so wrong, because the Bible actually tells us how long a generation is. In Genesis 15, God told Abram:
“Know for sure that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years. I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth; but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full. (WMB Genesis 15:13-16)
Do the math. If four generations are four hundred years, then one generation is one hundred years.
When did the fig tree put forth its leaves?
This one is a little trickier. In Matthew 24:34 Jesus said the generation that would see the fig tree’s branch become tender and produce its leaves would be the generation that would not pass away “until all these things are accomplished.”
We do know that we are now living in what I call the fig tree generation—the hundred year period in which Jesus will come again. We know this because the fig tree—Israel—has already put forth its leaves, and it is already bearing fruit. The only question in my mind is when the fig tree generation started. We do know Israel’s date of birth: Israel was born in a day on May 14, 1948. Since one generation is one hundred years, if we are counting from Israel’s date of birth then “all these things” will be accomplished on or before May 14, 2048, which will be a hundred years--one generation--from the day Israel was born.
On the other hand, if the fig tree was planted in 1948 but only put forth its leaves when the Temple Mount was captured and Jerusalem was reunited during the Six Day War, then the fig tree generation would have started on June 7, 1967 and “all these things” will be accomplished on or before June 6, 2067.
Please note that the dates above only apply to the last possible date for Jesus’ return (according to my calculations). But He could come at any time within the fig tree generation—the generation I believe we’re living in right now. So “Watch therefore, for you don’t know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming” (Mt 25:13 WMB).
Margot Armer
