32 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 34 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:32–35 ESV)
Today’s text reminds us of Jesus’ cursing of a fig tree (Matt. 21:18-19). The object lesson then regarded Israel’s spiritual fruitlessness and carnality, evidence by the perverse businesses conducted in the temple courts, in contrast to the magnificence of the temple’s appearance. The cursing of the fig tree foreshadowed the temple’s destruction.
In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus again used a fig tree as an object lesson concerning His soon return. The appearance of buds, leaves and the blossoms which follow indicate the summer growing season is imminent. The leaves and the blossoms will develop into nourishing fruit. Therefore, Jesus’ return would follow the fulfillment of His predictions. This is the first of seven future-kingdom parables Jesus taught His disciples.
“Unlike most Palestinian trees, fig trees lose their leaves in winter; they would have been in leaf by this time of year, however, predicting the fruit that should appear on them in the summer. Jesus had earlier used this tree as a parable for the temple’s destruction (see Mark 11:12–25). But the meaning is ultimately decided by the context: when the signs he had listed (including the temple’s destruction) were fulfilled, his coming would be imminent,” explains commentator Craig Keener.
Jesus taught the imminent destruction of Jerusalem and the temple therein would occur during the disciples’ lifetime. However, the phrase “this generation” may refer to a kind of people or race. In the context, this would be the Jews. In other words, Jesus meant that Israel, then and now, would not become extinct prior to both the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and the events throughout church history culminating with His glorious return. This is the most accurate interpretation of vs. 34.
“The temple was destroyed roughly forty years after Jesus spoke these words (which refer to the temple’s demise rather than to the Second Coming—see comment on 24:3). The Dead Sea Scrolls anticipated a final, forty-year generation of tribulation before the end; Jesus leaves the period between the final earthly sign (the temple’s demise) and his return indeterminate,” states Keener.
“There can be no question about that. Jesus now states that when “all this” (literally “all these things”) is seen, “it” is near, at the very gates. “All this” must refer to the fulfilment of the various predictions in so far as this fulfilment could be witnessed by the disciples; note “when you see all this.” It was with reference to Christ’s prediction that not one stone of the temple was going to be left upon another that the men had asked, “Tell us, when shall this happen?” (Matt. 24:3), explains Dr. William Hendriksen.
“With reference to the rise of false Christs, wars and rumors of wars, famines and earthquakes, etc., events which did indeed begin to happen already before and in connection with the fall of Jerusalem, Jesus had said, “But all these things are (only) the beginning of birth pains” (verse 8). It is natural, therefore, to interpret 33 as meaning that when the disciples see “all this,” for some of them including even the fulfilment of the prediction regarding the “desolating sacrilege” (verse 15) as far as that prediction was fulfilled in their own day, then “it,” namely, the fall of Jerusalem and its temple, must be considered as being near; in fact, at the very gates.”
Jesus affirmed all He said as absolute truth. He confirmed to His disciples’ of all generations that His words would come to pass. All of the events of this discourse occurred in some degree before every member of the twelve disciples died. What has not occurred is the second coming of Christ. This remains future.
“We still wait for Jesus to return and usher in the new heaven and the new earth. Still, we should not underestimate the significance of His judgment of Jerusalem through Rome in AD 70. No longer is there one place in only one country where we may gather for worship, and this confirms God’s intent to save people from all over the world. Let us be grateful that we may worship Him wherever we are and strive to make the praise of our Creator a part of our daily lives,” concludes Dr. R. C. Sproul.
Soli deo Gloria!
His Word Today 