The Timing of the Second Coming of Christ: Its Practical Implications: Matthew 24:32–51
The Parable of the Fig Tree (vv. 32–36) After Christ foretold events of the Tribulation period and His Second Coming in His Matthew 24 discourse, He taught the parable of the fig tree: Now learn a parable of the fig tree: When its branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near; So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at theGet More Articles—Subscribe Today!
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There are at least two problems with this understanding of the parable. First, in the expanded version, recorded in Luke 21:29–32, Jesus talked about the fig tree “and all the trees” and the time when “they” shoot forth leaves. If Christ were using the fig tree to represent Israel, what do all the other trees represent? Also, if the time of the fig tree putting forth its leaves referred to Israel’s restoration as a nation in 1948, to what did the shooting forth of leaves by all the other trees refer? Other trees refer to other nations that were got independence like so many african and asian nations got independence .
Dr. Showers was a great Bible teacher but his conclusion that Matthew 24:4- is talking about the people in the field and at the mill being taken from the earth in judgment is incorrect. The typical pattern of the prophets’ messages in the Old Testament was to begin with the gloom and doom message of condemnation and judgment. They would bring their message to a conclusion sharing hope, encouragement and a remedy. Jesus followed the same pattern. In examining this passage one has to look at all the facts. For instance, one has to ask and answer these two questions: why are the Jews in this passage so suicidal and why are they working for free. A third question is how did they even come by these jobs? If it’s the time Dr. Showers indicates it would have to be after the mid-pt. of the Tribulation when it becomes the Great Tribulation. What is the sign of that event? Revelation 12:17 reads, “Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus…It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.” Revelation 13:7 Those are Jews and those Gentile believers who are saved after the rapture. What else happens? “Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.” Revelation 13:16, 17 Anyone who refuses the mark who escapes immediate death will be forced to go on the run, to be on the lam, and will have to steal and forage for food to sustain them. They won’t have access to cash or even to a bank account or use credit. They certainly won’t be out in public working and they certainly wouldn’t do so for free. No, without the mark they wouldn’t even be able to get a job let alone maintain one and people with the mark would be turning them in left and right for reward. No, while the church wasn’t yet established and just as Jesus offered the kingdom first to Israel He gives the Jews hope for a means of escaping the Tribulation. This is the rapture presented to Israel; the context plainly shows that and it fits in with the pattern of the historical prophets. Most people just plain miss this, many because they don’t study for themselves and just blindly listen to man’s opinion.
Furthermore, while Yeshua’s primary role wasn’t as a prophet, He was the Prophet Moses foretold of in Deuteronomy 18:18. The Old Testament prophets, especially Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea and Zechariah, those who had writings long enough to be divided into sections, began their messages with gloom, doom and discipline. They concluded theirt messages wih hope, restoration, reconciliation, comfort and consolation. The other prophets did the same but in a shorter account. As such, YUeshua delivered ther Olivet discourse in the same manner. He began with judgment, gloom and doom, then concluded with the message of hope for Israel via the rapture. Because Israel nationally rejected Him, upon the creation of the church, the promise of the rapture became inclusive to ALL who would come to faith in Him in the church age. That Matthew 24:36-44 is the rapture is the only reasonable and correct conclusion one can go into. I’m only aware of one other error Dr. Showers is in and that’s his incorrect assertion that there are two gospels. The idea that Yeshua taught another gospel places an anathema on Yeshua, naturally an impossibility.