Miles de Libros Cristianos Gratis. Accede a nuestra Biblioteca Virtual

Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 24:32

Para un estudio avanzado de: “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 24:32” utilice nuestra app.

Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer [is] nigh:

32 35. The Parable of the Fig Tree

Mar 13:28-31; Luk 21:29-33

32. learn a parable of the fig tree ] More accurately, learn from the fig-tree its parable, the lesson that the fig-tree teaches. The parable relates to the siege of Jerusalem and the ruin of the Jewish nationality, illustrating Mat 24:4-22.

It was spring time, and the fig tree was putting forth its leaf-buds; no more certainly does that natural sign foretell the coming harvest than the signs of Christ shall foretell the fall of the Holy City. The sequence of historical events is as certain as the sequence of natural events. And the first, at least to some extent, is within the range of the same human intelligence that discerns the promise of summer. Thus Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for not discerning the signs of the times as they discerned the face of the sky.

When his branch is yet tender ] Translate, as soon as its branch becomes tender, i. e. ready to sprout. Observe his for the modern its.

ye know ] Rather, recognise; as also in the following verse; in Mat 24:36 a different Greek word is rightly translated knoweth.

that summer is nigh ] Or, “that harvest time is nigh,” i. e. the cornharvest, not the fig-harvest (Meyer). This is a probable rendering, because the sprouting of the fig-tree would coincide with the barley harvest, rather than with the summer; it gives force to our Lord’s words, when it is remembered that the barley harvest was actually nigh; the omer, or first sheaf, being offered on the day following the Passover. Again, the siege of Jerusalem prefigured by this “parable” took place at the time of harvest (see note, Mat 24:21).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Now learn a parable – See the notes at Mat 13:3. The word here means, rather, an illustration make a comparison, or judge of this as you do respecting a fig-tree.

Fig-tree – This was spoken on the Mount of Olives, which produced not only olives, but figs. Possibly one was near when he spoke this.

When his branch … – When the juices return from the roots into the branches, and the buds swell and burst, as if tender, and too feeble to contain the pressing and expanding leaves when you see that, you judge that spring and summer are near.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 32. Learn a parable of the fig-tree] That is, These signs which I have given you will be as infallible a proof of the approaching ruin of the Jewish state as the budding of the trees is a proof of the coming summer.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Mark hath the very same, Mar 13:28-31. So hath Luke, Luk 21:29-33, only he saith, the fig tree, and all the trees, when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily, &c. By this similitude of the fig tree (called therefore by Luke a parable) our Saviour doth not only design to inform them that these things which he had told them should be as certain signs of the approaching of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the coming of his kingdom, as the fig trees and other trees putting forth of leaves is a sign of the approaching summer, as Son 2:13; but that as the frosts, and snow, and cold of the winter, doth not hinder the trees from bringing forth fruit in the summer, so these tribulations and troubles should be so far from hindering and destroying Christs kingdom, that they should prepare the world for it, and promote it: so that as they might know from these tribulations in Judea that the kingdom of grace was at hand, and began; so from the following tribulations upon the world they might know that his kingdom of glory was also hastening.

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. There are several notions men have of that term, this generation, some by it understanding mankind; others, the generation of Christians; others, the whole generation of the Jews: but doubtless our Saviour means the set of men that were at that time in the world: those who were at that time living should not all die until all these things shall be fulfilled, all that he had spoken with reference to the destruction of Jerusalem; and indeed the most of those signs which our Saviour gave, were signs common both to the destruction of Jerusalem and the last judgment, abating only Christs personal coming in the clouds with power and glory. So that, considering that the destruction of Jerusalem was within less than forty years after our Saviours speaking these words, so many as lived to the expiration of that number of years must see the far greater part of these things actually fulfilled, as signs of the destruction of Jerusalem; and fulfilling, as signs of the end of the world.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. By this expression our Saviour confirmeth the truth of what he had said, assuring those to whom he spake, that although there should be a change of the heavens and the earth, 2Pe 3:10,12,13, which then commonly look upon as the most stable and abiding things, yet the truth of what he had said should not fail.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

Now learn a parable of the fig tree,…. Take a similitude, or comparison from the fig tree, which was a tree well known in Judea; and the putting forth of its branches, leaves, and fruit, fell under the observation of everyone:

when its branch is yet tender; through the influence of the sun, and the motion of the sap, which was bound up, and congealed in the winter season:

and putteth forth leaves; from the tender branches, which swell, and open, and put forth buds, leaves, and fruit:

ye know the summer is nigh; spring being already come: the fig tree putting forth her green figs, is a sign that the winter is past, the spring is come, and summer is at hand; see So 2:11.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Parable of the Fig-Tree; Awful Predictions; The Duty of Watchfulness; The Good and Evil Steward.

32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. 45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. 48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; 49 And shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; 50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, 51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

We have here the practical application of the foregoing prediction; in general, we must expect and prepare for the events here foretold.

I. We must expect them; “Now learn a parable of the fig-tree,Mat 24:32; Mat 24:33. Now learn what use to make of the things you have heard; so observe and understand the signs of the times, and compare them with the predictions of the word, as from thence to foresee what is at the door, that you may provide accordingly.” The parable of the fig-tree is no more than this, that its budding and blossoming are a presage of summer; for as the stork in the heaven, so the trees of the field, know their appointed time. The beginning of the working of second causes assures us of the progress and perfection of it. Thus when God begins to fulfil prophecies, he will make an end. There is a certain series in the works of providence, as there is in the works of nature. The signs of the times are compared with the prognostics of the face of the sky (ch. xvi. 3), so here with those of the face of the earth; when that is renewed, we foresee that summer is coming, not immediately, but at some distance; after the branch grows tender, we expect the March winds, and the April showers, before the summer comes; however, we are sure it is coming; “so likewise ye, when the gospel day shall dawn, count upon it, that through this variety of events which I have told you of, the perfect day will come. The things revealed must shortly come to pass (Rev. i. 1); they must come in their own order, in the order appointed for them. Know that it is near.” He does not here say what, but it is that which the hearts of his disciples are upon, and which they are inquisitive after, and long for; the kingdom of God is near, so it is expressed in the parallel place, Luke xxi. 31. Note, When the trees of righteousness begin to bud and blossom, when God’s people promise faithfulness, it is a happy presage of good times. In them God begins his work, first prepares their heart, and then he will go on with it; for, as for God, his work is perfect; and he will revive it in the midst of their years.

Now touching the events foretold here, which we are to expect,

1. Christ here assures us of the certainty of them (v. 35); Heaven and earth shall pass away; they continue this day indeed, according to God’s ordinance, but they shall not continue for ever (Psa 102:25; Psa 102:26; 2Pe 3:10); but my words shall not pass away. Note, The word of Christ is more sure and lasting than heaven and earth. Hath he spoken? And shall he not do it? We may build with more assurance upon the word of Christ than we can upon the pillars of heaven, or the strong foundations of the earth; for, when they shall be made to tremble and totter, and shall be no more, the word of Christ shall remain, and be in full force, power, and virtue. See 1Pe 1:24; 1Pe 1:25. It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than the word of Christ; so it is expressed, Luke xvi. 17. Compare Isa. liv. 10. The accomplishment of these prophecies might seem to be delayed, and intervening events might seem to disagree with them, but do not think that therefore the word of Christ is fallen to the ground, for that shall never pass away: though it be not fulfilled, either in the time or in the way that we have prescribed; yet, in God’s time, which is the best time, and in God’s way, which is the best way, it shall certainly be fulfilled. Every word of Christ is very pure, and therefore very sure.

2. He here instructs us as to the time of them, Mat 24:34; Mat 24:36. As to this, it is well observed by the learned Grotius, that there is a manifest distinction made between the tauta (v. 34), and the ekeine (v. 36), these things, and that day and hour; which will help to clear this prophecy.

(1.) As to these things, the wars, seductions, and persecutions, here foretold, and especially the ruin of the Jewish nation; “This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be fulfilled (v. 34); there are those now alive, that shall see Jerusalem destroyed, and the Jewish church brought to an end.” Because it might seem strange, he backs it with a solemn asseveration; “Verily, I say unto you. You may take my word for it, these things are at the door.” Christ often speaks of the nearness of that desolation, the more to affect people, and quicken them to prepare for it. Note, There may be greater trials and troubles yet before us, in our own day, than we are aware of. They that are old, know not what sons of Anak may be reserved for their last encounters.

(2.) But as to that day and hour which will put a period to time, that knoweth no man, v. 36. Therefore take heed of confounding these two, as they did, who, from the words of Christ and the apostles; letters, inferred that the day of Christ was at hand, 2 Thess. ii. 2. No, it was not; this generation, and many another, shall pass, before that day and hour come. Note, [1.] There is a certain day and hour fixed for the judgment to come; it is called the day of the Lord, because so unalterably fixed. None of God’s judgments are adjourned sine die–without the appointment of a certain day. [2.] That day and hour are a great secret.

Prudens futuri temporis exitum

Caliginosa nocte premit Deus.

But Heaven has wisely hid from human sight

The dark decrees of future fate,

And sown their seeds in depth of nights.–HORACE.

No man knows it; not the wisest by their sagacity, not the best by any divine discovery. We all know that there shall be such a day; but none knows when it shall be, no, not the angels; though their capacities for knowledge are great, and their opportunities of knowing this advantageous (they dwell at the fountain-head of light), and though they are to be employed in the solemnity of that day, yet they are not told when it shall be: none knows but my Father only. This is one of those secret things which belong to the Lord our God. The uncertainty of the time of Christ’s coming, is, to those who are watchful, a savour of life unto life, and makes them more watchful; but to those who are careless, it is a savour of death unto death, and makes them more careless.

II. To this end we must expect these events, that we may prepare for them; and here we have a caution against security and sensuality, which will make it a dismal day indeed to us, v. 37-41. In these verses we have such an idea given us of the judgment day, as may serve to startle and awaken us, that we may not sleep as others do.

It will be a surprising day, and a separating day.

1. It will be a surprising day, as the deluge was to the old world, v. 37-39. That which he here intends to describe, is, the posture of the world at the coming of the Son of man; besides his first coming, to save, he has other comings to judge. He saith (John ix. 39), For judgment I am come; and for judgment he will come; for all judgment is committed to him, both that of the word, and that of the sword.

Now this here is applicable,

(1.) To temporal judgments, particularly that which was now hastening upon the nation and people of the Jews; though they had fair warning given them of it, and there were many prodigies that were presages of it, yet it found them secure, crying, Peace and safety, 1 Thess. v. 3. The siege was laid to Jerusalem by Titus Vespasian, when they were met at the passover in the midst of their mirth; like the men of Laish, they dwelt careless when the ruin arrested them, Jdg 18:7; Jdg 18:27. The destruction of Babylon, both that in the Old Testament and that in the New, comes when she saith, I shall be a lady for ever,Isa 47:7-9; Rev 18:7. Therefore the plagues come in a moment, in one day. Note, Men’s unbelief shall not make God’s threatenings of no effect.

(2.) To the eternal judgment; so the judgment of the great day is called, Heb. vi. 2. Though notice has been given of it from Enoch, yet, when it comes, it will be unlooked for by the most of men; the latter days, which are nearest to that day, will produce scoffers, that say, Where is the promise of his coming?2Pe 3:3; 2Pe 3:4; Luk 18:8. Thus it will be when the world that now is shall be destroyed by fire; for thus it was when the old world, being overflowed by water, perished, 2Pe 3:6; 2Pe 3:7. Now Christ here shows what were the temper and posture of the old world when the deluge came.

[1.] They were sensual and worldly; they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. It is not said, They were killing and stealing, and whoring and swearing (these were indeed the horrid crimes of some of the worst of them; the earth was full of violence); but they were all of them, except Noah, over head and ears in the world, and regardless of the word of God, and this ruined them. Note, Universal neglect of religion is a more dangerous symptom to any people than particular instances here and there of daring irreligion. Eating and drinking are necessary to the preservation of man’s life; marrying and giving in marriage are necessary to the preservation of mankind; but, Licitus perimus omnes–These lawful things undo us, unlawfully managed. First, They were unreasonable in it, inordinate and entire in the pursuit of the delights of sense, and the gains of the world; they were wholly taken up with these things, esan trogontes—they were eating; they were in these things as in their element, as if they had their being for no other end than to eat and drink, Isa. lvi. 12. Secondly, They were unreasonable in it; they were entire and intent upon the world and the flesh, when the destruction was at the door, which they had had such fair warning of. They were eating and drinking, when they should have been repenting and praying; when God, by the ministry of Noah, called to weeping and mourning, then joy and gladness. This was to them, as it was to Israel afterwards, the unpardonable sin (Isa 22:12; Isa 22:14), especially, because it was in defiance of those warnings by which they should have been awakened. “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die; if it must be a short life, let it be a merry one.” The apostle James speaks of this as the general practice of the wealthy Jews before the destruction of Jerusalem; when they should have been weeping for the miseries that were coming upon them, they were living in pleasure, and nourishing their hearts as in a day of slaughter,Jas 5:1; Jas 5:5.

[2.] They were secure and careless; they knew not, until the flood came, v. 39. Knew not! Surely they could not but know. Did not God, by Noah, give them fair warning of it? Did he not call them to repentance, while his long-suffering waited? 1Pe 3:19; 1Pe 3:20. But they knew not, that is, they believed not; they might have known, but would not know. Note, What we know of the things that belong to our everlasting peace, if we do not mix faith with it, and improve it, is all one as if we did not know it at all. Their not knowing is joined with their eating, and drinking, and marrying; for, First, Therefore they were sensual, because they were secure. Note, the reason why people are so eager in the pursuit, and so entangled in the pleasures of this world, is, because they do not know, and believe, and consider, the eternity which they are upon the brink of. Did we know aright that all these things must shortly be dissolved, and we must certainly survive them, we should not set our eyes and hearts so much upon them as we do. Secondly, Therefore they were secure, because they were sensual; therefore they knew not that the flood was coming, because they were eating and drinking; were so taken up with things seen and present, that they had neither time nor heart to mind the things not seen as yet, which they were warned of. Note, As security bolsters men up in their brutal sensuality; so sensuality rocks them asleep in their carnal security. The knew not, until the flood came. 1. The flood did come, though they would not foresee it. Note, Those that will not know by faith, shall be made to know by feeling, the wrath of God revealed from heaven against their ungodliness and unrighteousness. The evil day is never the further off for men’s putting it far off from them. 2. They did not know it till it was too late to prevent it, as they might have done if they had known it in time, which made it so much the more grievous. Judgments are most terrible and amazing to the secure, and those that have made a jest of them.

The application of this, concerning the old world, we have in these words; So shall the coming of the Son of man be; that is, (1.) In such a posture shall he find people, eating and drinking, and not expecting him. Note, Security and sensuality are likely to be the epidemical diseases of the latter days. All slumber and sleep, and at midnight the bridegroom comes. All are off their watch, and at their ease. (2.) With such a power, and for such a purpose, will he come upon them. As the flood took away the sinners of the old world, irresistibly and irrecoverably; so shall secure sinners, that mocked at Christ and his coming, be taken away by the wrath of the Lamb, when the great day of his wrath comes, which will be like the coming of the deluge, a destruction which there is no fleeing from.

2. It will be a separating day (Mat 24:40; Mat 24:41); Then shall two be in the field. Two ways this may be applied.

(1.) We may apply it to the success of the gospel, especially at the first preaching of it; it divided the world; some believed the things which were spoken, and were taken to Christ; others believed not, and were left to perish in their unbelief. Those of the same age, place, capacity, employment, and condition, in the world, grinding in the same mill, those of the same family, nay, those that were joined in the same bond of marriage, were, one effectually called, the other passed by, and left in the gall of bitterness. This is that division, that separating fire, which Christ came to send,Luk 12:49; Luk 12:51. This renders free grace the more obliging, that it is distinguishing; to us, and not to the world (John xiv. 22), nay to us, and not to those in the same field, the same mill, the same house.

When ruin came upon Jerusalem, a distinction was made by Divine Providence, according to that which had been before made by divine grace; for all the Christians among them were saved from perishing in that calamity, by the special care of Heaven. If two were at work in the field together, and one of them was a Christian, he was taken into a place of shelter, and had his life given him for a prey, while the other was left to the sword of the enemy. Nay, if but two women were grinding at the mill, if one of them belonged to Christ, though but a woman, a poor woman, a servant, she was taken to a place of safety, and the other abandoned. Thus the meek of the earth are hid in the day of the Lord’s anger (Zeph. ii. 3), either in heaven, or under heaven. Note, Distinguishing preservations, in times of general destruction, are special tokens of God’s favour, and ought so to be acknowledged. If we are safe when thousands fall on our right hand and our left, are not consumed when others are consumed round about us, so that we are as brands plucked out of the fire, we have reason to say, It is of the Lord’s mercies, and it is a great mercy.

(2.) We may apply it to the second coming of Jesus Christ, and the separation which will be made in that day. He had said before (v. 31), that the elect will be gathered together. Here he tells us, that, in order to that, they will be distinguished from those who were nearest to them in this world; the choice and chosen ones taken to glory, the other left to perish eternally. Those who sleep in the dust of the earth, two in the same grave, their ashed mixed, shall yet arise, one to be taken to everlasting life, the other left to shame and everlasting contempt, Dan. xii. 2. Here it is applied to them who shall be found alive. Christ will come unlooked for, will find people busy at their usual occupations, in the field, at the mill; and then, according as they are vessels of mercy prepared for glory, or vessels of wrath prepared for ruin, accordingly it will be with them; the one taken to meet the Lord and his angels in the air, to be for ever with him and them; the other left to the devil and his angels, who, when Christ has gathered out his own, will sweep up the residue. This will aggravate the condemnation of sinners that others shall be taken from the midst of them to glory, and they left behind. And it speaks abundance of comfort to the Lord’s people. [1.] Are they mean and despised in the world, as the man-servant in the field, or the maid at the mill (Exod. xi. 5)? Yet they shall not be forgotten or overlooked in that day. The poor in the world, if rich in faith, are heirs of the kingdom. [2.] Are they dispersed in distant and unlikely places, where one would not expect to find the heirs of glory, in the field, at the mill? Yet the angels will find them there (hidden as Saul among the stuff, when they are to be enthroned), and fetch them thence; and well may they be said to be changed, for a very great change it will be to go to heaven from ploughing and grinding. [3.] Are they weak, and unable of themselves to move heavenward? They shall be taken, or laid hold of, as Lot was taken out of Sodom by a gracious violence, Gen. xix. 16. Those whom Christ has once apprehended and laid hold on, he will never lose his hold of. [4.] Are they intermixed with others, linked with them in the same habitations, societies, employments? Let not that discourage any true Christian; God knows how to separate between the precious and the vile, the gold and dross in the same lump, the wheat and chaff in the same floor.

III. Here is a general exhortation to us, to watch, and be ready against that day comes, enforced by divers weighty considerations, v. 42, c. Observe,

1. The duty required Watch, and be ready,Mat 24:42; Mat 24:44.

(1.) Watch therefore, v. 42. Note, It is the great duty and interest of all the disciples of Christ to watch, to be awake and keep awake, that they may mind their business. As a sinful state or way is compared to sleep, senseless and inactive (1 Thess. v. 6), so a gracious state or way is compared to watching and waking. We must watch for our Lord’s coming, to us in particular at our death, after which is the judgment, that is the great day with us, the end of our time; and his coming at the end of all time to judge the world, the great day with all mankind. To watch implies not only to believe that our Lord will come, but to desire that he would come, to be often thinking of his coming, and always looking for it as sure and near, and the time of it uncertain. To watch for Christ’s coming, is to maintain that gracious temper and disposition of mind which we should be willing that our Lord, when he comes, should find us in. To watch is to be aware of the first notices of his approach, that we may immediately attend his motions, and address ourselves to the duty of meeting him. Watching is supposed to be in the night, which is sleeping time; while we are in this world, it is night with us, and we must take pains to keep ourselves awake.

(2.) Be ye also ready. We wake in vain, if we do not get ready. It is not enough to look for such things; but we must therefore give diligence,2Pe 3:11; 2Pe 3:14. We have then our Lord to attend upon, and we must have our lamps ready trimmed; a cause to be tried, and we must have our plea ready drawn and signed by our Advocate; a reckoning to make up, and we must have our accounts ready stated and balanced; there is an inheritance which we then hope to enter upon, and we must have ourselves ready, made meet to partake of it, Col. i. 12.

2. The reasons to induce us to this watchfulness and diligent preparation for that day; which are two.

(1.) Because the time of our Lord’s coming is very uncertain. This is the reason immediately annexed to the double exhortation (Mat 24:42; Mat 24:44); and it is illustrated by a comparison, v. 43. Let us consider then,

[1.] That we know not what hour he will come, v. 42. We know not the day of our death, Gen. xxvii. 2. We may know that we have but a little time to live (The time of my departure is at hand, 2 Tim. iv. 6); but we cannot know that we have a long time to live, for our souls are continually in our hands; nor can we know how little a time we have to live, for it may prove less than we expect; much less do we know the time fixed for the general judgment. Concerning both we are kept at uncertainty, that we may, every day, expect that which may come any day; may never boast of a year’s continuance (James iv. 13), no, nor of tomorrow’s return, as if it were ours, Pro 27:1; Luk 12:20.

[2.] That he may come at such an hour as we think not, v. 44. Though there be such uncertainty in the time, there is none in the thing itself: though we know not when he will come, we are sure he will come. His parting word was, Surely I come quickly; his saying, “I come surely,” obliges us to expect him: his saying “I come quickly.” obliges us to be always expecting him; for it keeps us in a state of expectancy. In such an hour as you think not, that is, such an hour as they who are unready and unprepared, think not (v. 50); nay, such an hour as the most lively expectants perhaps thought least likely. The bridegroom came when the wise were slumbering. It is agreeable to our present state, that we should be under the influence of a constant and general expectation, rather than that of particular presages and prognostications, which we are sometimes tempted vainly to desire and wish for.

[3.] That the children of this world are thus wise in their generation, that, when they know of a danger approaching, they will keep awake, and stand on their guard against it. This he shows in a particular instance, v. 43. If the master of a house had notice that a thief would come such a night, and such a watch of the night (for they divided the night into four watches, allowing three hours to each), and would make an attempt upon his house, though it were the midnight-watch, when he was most sleepy, yet he would be up, and listen to every noise in every corner, and be ready to give him a warm reception. Now, though we know not just when our Lord will come, yet, knowing that he will come, and come quickly, and without any other warning than what he hath given in his word, it concerns us to watch always. Note, First, We have every one of us a house to keep, which lies exposed, in which all we are worth is laid up: that house is our own souls, which we must keep with all diligence. Secondly, The day of the Lord comes by surprise, as a thief in the night. Christ chooses to come when he is least expected, that the triumphs of his enemies may be turned into the greater shame, and the fears of his friends into the greater joy. Thirdly, If Christ, when he comes, finds us asleep and unready, our house will be broken up, and we shall lose all we are worth, not as by a thief unjustly, but as by a just and legal process; death and judgment will seize upon all we have, to our irreparable damage and utter undoing. Therefore be ready, be ye also ready; as ready at all times as the good man of the house would be at the hour when he expected the thief: we must put on the armour of God, that we may not only stand in that evil day, but, as more than conquerors, may divide the spoil.

(2.) Because the issue of our Lord’s coming will be very happy and comfortable to those that shall be found ready, but very dismal and dreadful to those that shall not, v. 45, c. This is represented by the different state of good and bad servants, when their lord comes to reckon with them. It is likely to be well or ill with us to eternity, according as we are found ready or unready at that day for Christ comes to render to every man according to his works. Now this parable, with which the chapter closes, is applicable to all Christians, who are in profession and obligation God’s servants; but it seems especially intended as a warning to ministers; for the servant spoken of is a steward. Now observe what Christ here saith,

[1.] Concerning the good servant; he shows here what he is–a ruler of the household; what, being so, he should be–faithful and wise; and what, if he be so, he shall be eternally-blessed. Here are good instructions and encouragements to the ministers of Christ.

First, We have here his place and office. He is one whom the Lord has made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season. Note, 1. The church of Christ is his household, or family, standing in relation to him as the Father and Master of it. It is the household of God, a family named from Christ, Eph. iii. 15. 2. Gospel ministers are appointed rulers in this household; not at princes (Christ has entered a caveat against that), but as stewards, or other subordinate officers; not as lords, but as guides; not to prescribe new ways, but to show and lead in the ways that Christ has appointed: that is the signification of the hegoumenoi, which we translate, having rule over you (Heb. xiii. 17); as overseers, not to cut out new work, but to direct in, and quicken to, the work which Christ has ordered; that is the signification of episkopoi—bishops. They are rulers by Christ; what power they have is derived from him, and none may take it from them, or abridge it to them; he is one whom the Lord has made ruler; Christ has the making of ministers. They are rulers under Christ, and act in subordination to him; and rulers for Christ, for the advancement of his kingdom. 3. The work of gospel ministers is to give to Christ’s household their meat in due season, as stewards, and therefore they have the keys delivered to them. (1.) Their work is to give, not take to themselves (Ezek. xxxiv. 8), but give to the family what the Master has bought, to dispense what Christ has purchased. And to ministers it is said, that it is more blessed to give than to receive, Acts xx. 35. (2.) It is to give meat; not to give law (that is Christ’s work), but to deliver those doctrines to the church which, if duly digested, will be nourishment to souls. They must give, not the poison of false doctrines, not the stones of hard and unprofitable doctrines, but the meat that is sound and wholesome. (3.) It must be given in due season, en kairo—while there is time for it; when eternity comes, it will be too late; we must work while it is day: or in time, that is, whenever any opportunity offers itself; or in the stated time, time after time, according as the duty of every day requires.

Secondly, His right discharge of this office. The good servant, if thus preferred, will be a good steward; for,

1. He is faithful; stewards must be so, 1 Cor. iv. 2. He that is trusted, must be trusty; and the greater the trust is, the more is expected from them. It is a great good thing that is committed to ministers (2 Tim. i. 14); and they must be faithful, as Moses was, Heb. iii. 2. Christ counts those ministers, and those only, that are faithful, 1 Tim. i. 12. A faithful minister of Jesus Christ is one that sincerely designs his master’s honour, not his own; delivers the whole counsel of God, not his own fancies and conceits; follows Christ’s institutions and adheres to them; regards the meanest, reproves the greatest, and doth not respect persons.

2. He is wise to understand his duty and the proper season of it; and in guiding of the flock there is need, not only of the integrity of the heart, but the skilfulness of the hands. Honesty may suffice for a good servant, but wisdom is necessary to a good steward; for it is profitable to direct.

3. He is doing; so doing as his office requires. The ministry is a good work, and they whose office it is, have always something to do; they must not indulge themselves in ease, nor leave the work undone, or carelessly turn it off to others, but be doing, and doing to the purpose–so doing, giving meat to the household, minding their own business, and not meddling with that which is foreign; so doing as the Master has appointed, as the office imports, and as the case of the family requires; not talking, but doing. It was the motto Mr. Perkins used, Minister verbi es–You are a minister of the word. Not only Age–Be doing; but Hoc age–Be so doing.

4. He is found doing when his Master comes; which intimates, (1.) Constancy at his work. At what hour soever his Master comes, he is found busy at the work of the day. Ministers should not leave empty spaces in their time, lest their Lord should come in one of those empty spaces. As with a good God the end of one mercy is the beginning of another, so with a good man, a good minister, the end of one duty is the beginning of another. When Calvin was persuaded to remit his ministerial labours, he answered, with some resentment, “What, would you have my Master find me idle?” (2.) Perseverance in his work till the Lord come. Hold fast till then, Rev. ii. 25. Continue in these things,1Ti 4:16; 1Ti 6:14. Endure to the end.

Thirdly, The recompence of reward intended him for this, in three things.

1. He shall be taken notice of. This is intimated in these words, Who then is that faithful and wise servant? Which supposes that there are but few who answer this character; such an interpreter is one of a thousand, such a faithful and wise steward. Those who thus distinguish themselves now by humility, diligence, and sincerity in their work, Christ will in the great day both dignify and distinguish by the glory conferred on them.

2. He shall be blessed? Blessed is that servant; and Christ’s pronouncing him blessed makes him so. All the dead that die n the Lord are blessed, Rev. xiv. 13. But there is a peculiar blessedness secured to them that approve themselves faithful stewards, and are found so doing. Next to the honour of those who die in the field of battle, suffering for Christ as the martyrs, is the honour of those that die in the field of service, ploughing, and sowing, and reaping, for Christ.

3. He shall be preferred (v. 47); He shall make him ruler over all his goods. The allusion is to the way of great men, who, if the stewards of their house conduct themselves well in that place, commonly prefer them to be the managers of their estates; thus Joseph was preferred in the house of Potiphar, Gen 29:4; Gen 29:6. But the greatest honour which the kindest master ever did to his most tried servants in this world, is nothing to that weight of glory which the Lord Jesus will confer upon his faithful watchful servants in the world to come. What is here said by a similitude, is the same that is said more plainly, John xi. 26, Him will my Father honour. And God’s servants, when thus preferred; shall be perfect in wisdom and holiness to bear that weight of glory, so that there is no danger from these servants when they reign.

[2.] Concerning the evil servant. Here we have,

First, His description given (Mat 24:48; Mat 24:49); where we have the wretch drawn in his own colours. The vilest of creatures is a wicked man, the vilest of men is a wicked Christian, and the vilest of them a wicked minister. Corruptio optimi est pessima–What is best, when corrupted, becomes the worst. Wickedness in the prophets of Jerusalem is a horrible thing indeed, Jer. xxiii. 14. Here is,

1. The cause of his wickedness; and that is, a practical disbelief of Christ’s second coming; He hath said in his heart, My Lord delays his coming; and therefore he begins to think he will never come, but has quite forsaken his church. Observe, (1.) Christ knows that they say in their hearts, who with their lips cry, Lord, Lord, as this servant here. (2.) The delay of Christ’s coming, though it is a gracious instance of his patience, is greatly abused by wicked people, whose hearts are thereby hardened in their wicked ways. When Christ’s coming is looked upon as doubtful, or a thing at an immense distance, the hearts of men are fully set to do evil, Eccl. viii. 11. See Ezek. xii. 27. They that walk by sense, are ready to say of the unseen Jesus, as the people did of Moses when he tarried in the mount upon their errand, We wot not what is become of him, and therefore up, make us gods, the world a god, the belly a god, any thing but him that should be.

2. The particulars of his wickedness; and they are sins of the first magnitude; he is a slave to his passions and his appetites.

(1.) Persecution is here charged upon him. He begins to smite his fellow servants. Note, [1.] Even the stewards of the house are to look upon all the servants of the house as their fellow servants, and therefore are forbidden to lord it over them. If the angel call himself fellow servant to John (Rev. xix. 10), no marvel if John have learned to call himself brother to the Christians of the churches of Asia, Rev. i. 9. [2.] It is no new thing to see evil servants smiting their fellow servants; both private Christians and faithful ministers. He smites them, either because they reprove him, or because they will not bow, and do him reverence; will not say as he saith, and do as he doeth, against their consciences: he smites them with the tongue, as they smote the prophet, Jer. xviii. 18. And if he get power into his hand, or can press those into his service that have, as the ten horns upon the head of the beast, it goes further. Pashur the priest smote Jeremiah, and put him in the stocks, Jer. xx. 2. The revolters have often been of all others most profound to make slaughter, Hos. v. 2. The steward, when he smites his fellow servants, does it under colour of his Master’s authority, and in his name; he says, Let the Lord be glorified (Isa. lxvi. 5); but he shall know that he could not put a greater affront upon his Master.

(2.) Profaneness and immorality; He begins to eat and drink with the drunken. [1.] He associates with the worst of sinners, has fellowship with them, is intimate with them; he walks in their counsel, stands in their way, sits in their seat, and sings their songs. The drunken are the merry and jovial company, and those he is for, and thus he hardens them in their wickedness. [2.] He does like them; eats, and drinks, and is drunken; so it is in Luke. This is an inlet to all manner of sin. Drunkenness is a leading wickedness; they who are slaves to that, are never masters of themselves in any thing else. The persecutors of God’s people have commonly been the most vicious and immoral men. Persecuting consciences, whatever the pretensions be, are commonly the most profligate and debauched consciences. What will not they be drunk with, that will be drunk with the blood of the saints? Well, this is the description of a wicked minister, who yet may have the common gifts of learning and utterance above others; and, as hath been said of some, may preach so well in the pulpit, that it is a pity he should ever come out, and yet live so ill out of the pulpit, that it is a pity he should ever come in.

Secondly, His doom read, Mat 24:50; Mat 24:51. The coat and character of wicked ministers will not only not secure them from condemnation, but will greatly aggravate it. They can plead no exemption from Christ’s jurisdiction, whatever they pretend to, in the church of Rome, from that of the civil magistrate; there is no benefit of clergy at Christ’s bar. Observe,

1. The surprise that will accompany his doom (v. 50); The Lord of that servant will come. Note, (1.) Our putting off the thoughts of Christ’s coming will not put off his coming. Whatever fancy he deludes himself with, his Lord will come. The unbelief of man shall not make that great promise, or threatening (call it which you will), of no effect. (2.) The coming of Christ will be a most dreadful surprise to secure and careless sinners, especially to wicked ministers; He shall come in a day when he looketh not for him. Note, Those that have slighted the warnings of the word, and silenced those of their own consciences concerning the judgment to come, cannot expect any other warnings; these will be adjudged sufficient legal notice given, whether taken or no; and no unfairness can be charged on Christ, if he come suddenly, without giving other notice. Behold, he has told us before.

2. The severity of his doom, v. 51. It is not more severe than righteous, but it is a doom that carries in it utter ruin, wrapt up in two dreadful words, death and damnation.

(1.) Death. His Lord shall cut him asunder, dikotomesei auton, “he shall cut him off from the land of the living,” from the congregation of the righteous, shall separate him unto evil; which is the definition of a curse (Deut. xxix. 21), shall cut him down, as a tree that cumbers the ground; perhaps it alludes to the sentence often used in the law, That soul shall be cut off from his people; denoting an utter extirpation. Death cuts off a good man, as a choice imp is cut off to be grafted in a better stock; but it cuts off a wicked man, as a withered branch is cut off for the fire-cuts him off from this world, which he set his heart so much upon, and was, as it were, one with. Or, as we read it, shall cut him asunder, that is, part body and soul, send the body to the grave to be a prey for worms, and the soul to hell to be a prey for devils, and there is the sinner cut asunder. The soul and body of a godly man at death part fairly, the one cheerfully lifted up to God, the other left to the dust; but the soul and body of a wicked man at death are cut asunder, torn asunder, for to them death is the king of terrors, Job xviii. 14. The wicked servant divided himself between God and the world, Christ and Belial, his profession and his lusts, justly therefore will he thus be divided.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Putteth forth its leaves ( ). Present active subjunctive according to Westcott and Hort. If accented (last syllable), it is second aorist passive subjunctive (Erasmus).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

A parable [ ] . More strictly, the parable which she has to teach. Rightly, therefore, Rev., her parable.

Branch [] . From klaw, to break. Hence a young slip or shoot, such as is broken off for grafting. Such were the “branches” which were cut down and strewed in the Lord ‘s path by the multitudes (Mt 21:8).

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

Mat 24:32

. Now learn a similitude from the fig-tree. I do not suppose the meaning of this to be merely that, during the state of confusion which has been mentioned, there will be as evident a sign that the coming of Christ is nigh, as that by which we know with certainty that the summer is at hand, when the trees begin to grow green; but, in my opinion, Christ expresses something else. For as in winter the trees, contracted by the severity of the cold, show greater vigor, but in spring lose their toughness, and appear more feeble, and are even cleft asunder to open up passage for fresh twigs, so the afflictions by which, according to the perception of the flesh, the Church is softened, do not in any way impair its vigor. As the inward sap diffused through the whole tree, after having produced this softness, collects strength to throw itself out for renovating what was dead, so the Lord draws from the corruption of the outward man the perfect restoration of his people. The general instruction conveyed is, that the weak and frail condition of the Church ought not to lead us to conclude that it is dying, but rather to expect the immortal glory for which the Lord prepares his people by the cross and by afflictions; for what Paul maintains in reference to each of the members must be fulfilled in the whole body, that

if the outward man is decayed the inward man is renewed day by day, (2Co 4:16.)

What Matthew and Mark had stated more obscurely, know you that it is nigh at the door, is more fully explained by Luke, know you that the kingdom of God is at hand; and in this passage the kingdom of God is not represented—as in many other passages—at its commencement, but at its perfection, and that according to the views of those whom Christ was teaching. For they did not view the kingdom of God in the Gospel as consisting in the peace and joy of faith and in spiritual righteousness, (Rom 14:17,) but sought that blessed rest and glory which is concealed under hope till the last day.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL NOTES

Mat. 24:34. Be fulfilled.The words do not necessarily imply more than the commencement of a process, the first unrolling of the scroll of the coming ages (Plumptre).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mat. 24:32-35

The certainty of the end.The more wonderful the character of any announcement, the greater the demand it makes on our faith; and the greater the degree, therefore, to which our faith in it stands in need of support. Our Saviour seems to recognise this in the passage before us. Wonderful is that great consummation of change of which He had just spoken. All things are to become different from what they are now (Mat. 24:30-31). This is difficult to believethe more difficult because of the length of time in which they have gone on as they are (cf. 2Pe. 3:4). To meet this thought the Saviour speaks the parable now before usin which He will be found to draw our attention, after the manner of parables, first, to certain familiar natural facts; and, secondly, to certain important spiritual verities which are illustrated thereby.

I. The natural facts.These are found in the general region of vegetable life and development. Behold the fig-tree and all the trees (Luk. 21:29). See how things are among them. These are exemplified, next, in the region in question, in one particular instance. From the fig-tree learn her parable (Mat. 24:32, R.V.). Few trees are better known or more valued than this. In this, therefore, you may see, as well with ease as with especial significance, what I ask you to note. Also, in this example, see, next, the special phenomena which I ask you to notehow the fig-tree, as the seasons come round, changes in appearance and condition, and puts forth its leaves and its buds, and then produces its pleasant fruits. Also, how she begins to do thiswhen summer is neareven before we see other indications of summers approach, and so proves, to those who observe this, that the breath of summer is already stirring within her; and that summer itself, therefore, is on its way to us already, and will be fully amongst us before very long. And this we argue, be it observed yet further, because of what we know of the year and its seasons, and of the unvarying order and regularity with which God has long ago appointedand still brings aboutthe successions of day and night, and summer and winter, and seed-time and harvest (Gen. 8:22). On this same order, indeed, we rely with such certainty, that we speak with certainty of all it impliesof the speedy coming of summer; of its effects on the trees; of the sequence of these effects; of those to come first; of those to succeed; of the whole procession of events, in a word. Insomuch that when we see the first of them, we feel as sure of the rest of them as though we saw them as well. Also, sure of them, yet further and finally, within a very brief time. We know that summer is nigh.

II. The spiritual verities to which these familiar facts are applied. First of all, in the direction of sphere. The God of nature is the God of history too. As He does in the one case, so in the other as well. As He orders the fields and the gardens, so He administers nations and churches. As with the fig-tree, so with higher growths also. Next, in the direction of the causes at work. These are as secret to us in the one case as they are in the other. We cannot see the influences which are operating in the trees, in the spring-time, to alter their condition and look. Neither can we see the forces at work, in certain stages of the history of communities of mankind, to change their condition and look. We see the results only, not their origins; what is external only, not what is working within. At the same time, in these external consequences we see, in both cases, on this very account, what are tokens and signs. Such a change, for example, in the one case, as the appearance of buds on a fig-tree is a sign that forces are at work there which will bring about other like changes of greater magnitude before long. In other words, they are the results of the agitation of nature at the nearer approach of the sun. So with those changes in the appearance of human societies at certain critical seasons in their experience of those things of which the Saviour had spoken above (Mat. 24:29-30). That obscuring of the bright, and displacing of the high, and unsettling of what had long been stable, of which He there speaks, are things which, when they come to pass, mean much more than themselves. They are evidences of forces at work which will produce greater results in their turn. In one word, they are the unconscious agitations of society at the approach of its Maker. Consequently, as before, they are not only assurances of certainty, but of swiftness as well. The season that sees the bud sees also the fruit. The generation that sees the beginning sees also the end (Mat. 24:33-34). When the Son of man is thus at the doors, He will soon be inside them. When once inside them He will soon finish His work. Cf. Rom. 9:28; 1Sa. 3:12; Pro. 29:1, etc., etc.

We see from these things, in conclusion, and that in an eminently cogent and striking manner:

1. How to look on this world.The present condition of things around us is a mere interregnuma period of transitionhaving the seeds in it of its own passing awaysomething as mortal as we ourselves. That very feature in it which leads some to think otherwise is the strongest proof of this truth. All things for the present continue as they were (2Pe. 3:4), because the season for changing them has not arrived. As it were, it is winter with them at present; the Sun is away. There could not be a better proof that they will begin to be altered the moment the Sun begins to approach; and that they will be altered indeed then, and altered swiftly; and altered finally too.

2. How to look on Christs word.As the only stable thing we know of; stable indeed; stable for ever, immovable itself, and therefore moving everything else. See Isa. 40:6-8; 1Pe. 1:23-25. Hence also the derived stability of those who are conformed to that will (1Jn. 2:17).

HOMILIES ON THE VERSES

Mat. 24:32-33. Signs in the kingdoms of nature and grace.

I. One God who is King of both.

II. He sends signs of natural changes and of moral events.

III. At signs in nature men prepare; much more should they make spiritual preparation for the greater event.

IV. The natural sign speaks of the faithfulness of the God of nature; so the moral sign speaks of His faithfulness as God of grace and King of glory.J. C. Gray.

Mat. 24:35. The perpetuity of the words of Christ.

I. Here we have a fair and bold comparison of two things: one which seems the slightest and most evanescent you can think of; another which seems the very ideal of all that is substantial and durable. Here are on the one side a few words, and on the other side the great solid world. Yet the Saviour dares the comparison. He invites the comparison between the endurance of the words He utters and the endurance of the stars, the earth, and the ocean.

II. It is approaching towards two thousand years since the days of Christs three years ministry on earth.Though no magic was impressed on the syllables which flowed from the lips of the Redeemer to arrest their natural passing away, still it is true and certain that they have not passed away, and cannot pass away while the world stands. For one thing, they have not passed away, in this sensethat when they were spoken the simple narrative of the Evangelists took and perpetuated them; and in these four Gospels we have the words of Christ preserved.

III. But it is a little thing to say that Christs words were perpetuated on paper.We should not set much store by the fact that upon printed pages by millions and millions the words of our Redeemer have outlived the storms and the wear of ages; we should not mind much about that if it stood by itself; but take it with this, that these words are so marvellously adapted to the needs of our immortal nature that those who have once felt their power would feel it was parting with life to part with them. Earthquakes, deluges, might sweep this world, but you must unpeople it before the words of Christ could pass away from it.

IV. Though the last Bible perished, as perish it may in the wreck and ruin of this world, though the blessed words of Jesus were to do what they never canfade away utterly from the remembrance of the glorified souleven then these words would live on in the effects they had produced.A. Boyd, D.D.

CRITICAL NOTES

Mat. 24:36. But of that day and hour, etc.Neither the Son is introduced in the R.V. Dr. Morison says, that though not in the great body of the MSS., these words were probably in the autograph of Matthew. They are found in the three oldest MSS., the Sinaitic, the Vatican, and Cambridge, and in many copies of the Old Latin Version; as also in the Harclean Syriac, and the thiopic and Armenian Versions. The eternal Word in becoming flesh emptied Himself (Php. 2:7) of the infinity which belongs to the Divine attributes, and took upon Him the limitations necessarily incidental to mans nature, even when untainted by evil and in fullest fellowship, through the Eternal Spirit, with the Father (Plumptre).

Mat. 24:40. The one shall be taken, etc.See R.V. The day of judgment will be, as by an inevitable law, a day of separation, according to the diversity of character which may exist in the midst of the closest fellowship in outward life (Plumptre).

Mat. 24:41. Grinding at a mill.Two women sit at the mill facing each other; both having hold of the handle by which the upper is turned round on the nether millstone (Thomson).

Mat. 24:43. Broken up.Broken through (R.V.). The houses were built largely of mud.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

D. Encouragement to Believe Jesus (24:3235)

(Parallels: Mar. 13:28-31; Luk. 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

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 Christs Second Coming. Does the fact that Lukes version of this parable speaks not only of the fig tree, but also of all the trees, modify this view in any way?

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

Some people hold that Mat. 24:29-31 are referring to Christs 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?

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?

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

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?

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 Gods 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 summers approach (24:32)

Mat. 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. Mat. 21:1; Mar. 11:1; Luk. 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 Mat. 21:19.) Because Jesus said, and all the trees (Luk. 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 Gods 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. Mat. 16:1-3)

No objective reading of this paragraph (Mat. 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 (Luk. 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 Gods Kingdom (24:33)

Mat. 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 (engs estin). This leaves translators torn between he and it, because grammatically both renderings are possible. Lukes 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 Matthews 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 (Mat. 18:20; Mat. 28:20; Luk. 17:21). Now, the riddle becomes: to what phase of the Kingdom of God does Jesus refer?

Some point to Mat. 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 Mat. 24:29-31 and points back to the events mentioned earlier, i.e. Jerusalems destruction. But this involves two exegetical weaknesses:

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.

Consequently, this view must deny that Jesus allusions in Mat. 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.

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

All these things is thought to refer only to the signs mentioned in Mat. 24:29-31, taken to mean Christs 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 Jerusalems fall and directly resulting from it.

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

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

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 (Mat. 24:3-33). Accordingly, He omitted all reference here to the overthrow of Jerusalem. Ironically, this views proponents often take everything in Mat. 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. Mat. 24:29). To avoid this gaffe one must eviscerate immediately of its usual meaning, assigning it a modified sense, defended by reference to 2Pe. 3:4-9. However, Peter clearly refers to the parousa of Christ, where Jesus does not use this word in our immediate text. (See on Mat. 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.

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 Christs 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 Christs 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 (Mat. 24:14-28). Further, what was commonly mistaken for signs (Mat. 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 Mat. 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.

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

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

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

Jesus rightful claims to divine authority were completely vindicated (Dan. 7:13 f.; Eph. 1:20 ff.; see on Mat. 24:30 f.). He transferred the Kingdom from Israel to another people who would bring forth the fruits thereof (Mat. 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 (Mat. 21:42; Mat. 21:44; Luk. 20:18). It also crushed its opponents.

Gods elect were really gathered from the four winds by His messengers. (See on Mat. 23:34; Mat. 24:31.)

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)

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

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

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

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

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

Figuratively, a measurement of eternity (Eph. 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:

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 3070 A.D., is corroborative evidence that He spoke literally here. (See notes on Mat. 24:29-31.)

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 (Mat. 23:34; Luk. 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 (Mat. 24:33), would also be part of the generation that would witness the end (Mat. 24:34; cf. Mat. 16:28; Mar. 9:1 with Luk. 21:31 f.).

THE LINGUISTIC CONSIDERATION. Matthews own use of generation (gene) outside of Mat. 24:24 indicates how our author normally understood the word in question:

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

In Mat. 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.

In Mat. 12:39; Mat. 12:41-42; Mat. 12:45 and Mat. 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 Gods Spokesman.

In Mat. 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.

In Mat. 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.

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

THE NEAR CONTEXT. All these things that must occur in Jesus generation (Mat. 24:34) refer to all these things that indicate the arrival of Gods Kingdom (Mat. 24:33; Luk. 21:31). His reference, then, is broader, reaching back to sum up everything discussed earlier. He had threatened the desolation of Israels great house by divine retribution of His generation (Mat. 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 . . . (Mat. 24:2). His men questioned Him, Tell us, when will these things be? (Mat. 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 (Luk. 21:28). Summarizing with His fig tree parable, He uses this cumulative argument: When you see all these things (worldwide Gospel proclamation, Mat. 24:14; Mat. 24:31; Jerusalem surrounded by armies, Mat. 24:15; Luk. 21:20; the destruction of the Temple, Mat. 24:2; the devastation of the Jewish State and its institutions, Mat. 24:15-28; during an era troubled by trials, turbulence and tragedy, Mat. 24:4-13; Mat. 24:29; and the glorious vindication of the Son of man, Mat. 24:30 f.), then know that the Kingdom of God is near. So, all these things embraces everything in Mat. 24:2-34.

THE LARGER CONTEXT. According to Luk. 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.

THE QUESTION OF CONSISTENCY. Does Jesus contradict Himself? If He were promising His Second Coming during His contemporary generation, Mat. 24:34; Mat. 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 Mat. 23:39.)

JESUS GENERAL TIME-TABLE. That this generation corresponds to Jesus contemporaries is corroborated by Mat. 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 (Luk. 21:31-32; cf. Luk. 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, (Luk. 19:41-44; Luk. 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.

Lenskis contention (Matthew, 952) is substantially correct that generation depicts a certain kind of people whose characteristics are deducible from a given context. (Cf. Psa. 12:7 [LXX Mat. 11:8]; Psa. 78:8 [LXX Psa. 77:8]; but see Psa. 78:4; Psa. 78:6! Mat. 24:6 [LXX Mat. 23:6]; Psa. 73:15 [LXX Psa. 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 Lenskis argument.

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 springs 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!

Granted for sake of argument that gene 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 (Mat. 24:33).

Study other texts where generation (gene) is used in its usual literal sense: Mat. 1:17; Luk. 1:48; Luk. 1:50; Act. 13:36; Act. 14:16; Act. 15:21; Eph. 3:5; Eph. 3:21; Col. 1:26; Heb. 3:10 (= Psa. 95:7 ff.). While Luk. 16:8 certainly linked gene 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 Act. 2:40 and Php. 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 (Mat. 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 Jerusalems destruction and the worlds end. Because in the second section (Mat. 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 worlds end either. Because in the third section (Mat. 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 Gods 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)

Mat. 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 (Mat. 24:34) and the words of Jesus and durability of His words is more lasting than the universe itself! Earlier (Mat. 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 (Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3; Heb. 1:10 ff.; 2Pe. 3:5-7; 2Pe. 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 Judaisms solar system revolved, had seemed to Jesus followers as durable as heaven and earth, and so much an integral part of Gods 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 Mat. 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 (Mat. 24:36). However, Jesus well-established foreknowledge of the Jewish wars and Jerusalems fall have established beyond all doubt His claim to be Gods Son and to know what He is talking about when He reveals what He DOES know. (See on Mat. 24:36.) He knows about the future Judgment too. Let all who hear Christs sure word take it into account in shaping their lives!

FACT QUESTIONS

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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.

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?

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

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(32) Now learn a parable of the fig tree.As in so many other instances (comp. Notes on Joh. 8:12; Joh. 10:1), we may think of the words as illustrated by a living example. Both time and place make this probable. It was on the Mount of Olives, where then, as now, fig trees were found as well as olives (Mat. 21:19), and the season was that of early spring, when the flowers appear on the earth and the fig tree putteth forth her green figs (Song Son. 2:11-13). And what our Lord teaches is that as surely as the fresh green foliage of the fig tree is a sign of summer, so shall the signs of which He speaks portend the coming of the Son of Man.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

V. THE CALCULABILITY OF THE DESTRUCTION AND DOWNFALL CONTRASTED WITH THE INCALCULABLE SUDDENNESS OF THE END, Mat 24:32-41.

This paragraph is divisible into two halves, namely, 32-35 and 36-41, which lie in contrast against each other. The two subjects in antithesis are THESE THINGS, on one side, and THAT DAY AND HOUR, on the other. The matter of contrast is that the former is a slow and graduated process, in which one step presages the other to the close; the latter is a sudden, unwarned event, of which the subjects knew not until it came. The former is illustrated mainly by the fig-tree, slowly maturing into its summer ripeness; the latter by the flood instantly descending upon its unsuspecting victims.

The former half paragraph is historically true of the destruction of Jerusalem. It was forewarned and indicated at every step; and so gradual was the process that no particular day or hour can be assigned to it. The latter half paragraph is as distinctively in accordance with all prophecy of the judgment day. It hardly seems necessary for us to prove here that suddenness, like a thief in the night, is the uniform attribute ascribed to that event. We should suppose it equally unnecessary to show how opposite is the illustration drawn from the fig tree.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

32. A parable of the fig tree More literally, Learn the parable from the fig tree. The fig is a native product of the East, and grows in spontaneous plenty in Palestine. In a warm climate fruit forms a very large proportion of customary food, and hence the fruit tree is a favourite source for illustration. Our Lord spoke this upon the Mount of Olives, where fig trees were growing all round him. He was near to Bethphage, (or Fig-ville,) so called, probably, from the abundance of this product. It was now about the twenty-third day of March, and though the time of figs was not yet, the trees were doubtless beginning to verify the words by opening signs of the season. Dr. Thomson, on sight of a fig tree leafing forth March 21, explains its maturity from the fact that it was in a sheltered spot, where summer comes early. Branch is yet tender By the rising of the sap from the roots, rendering the branch succulent. Putteth forth leaves The fig tree puts forth no visible blossom; the fruit should accompany the mature leaf.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“Now from the fig tree learn her parable. When her branch is now become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you know that the summer is near,”

Jesus now illustrates the situation by means of a ‘parable’ based on the fig tree. When in the spring the branches again begin to flow with sap, they produce leaves. And those leaves are a sign of the coming of summer. But they are no guarantee when summer will come.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

They Must Take Note Of The Signs But The Date Of His Coming Is Unknown (24:32-36).

Jesus now makes clear to them the purpose of what He has been saying. The coming events that He has been describing which will lead up to His coming will be like the leaves on a fig tree which proclaim that the summer and the fruit is coming. They will point to the fact that ‘He is near, even at the doors’. Thus they will be able to continue forward through all that comes, confident in His nearness, and knowing that He is waiting, as it were, outside the doors ready to enter when the time is ripe. And they will be sure that in His own good time those doors will open. Indeed Rev 3:20 reveals that if any individual responds and opens the door, He will come into him and they will sup together. But for the world at large that door will remain closed until the time of God’s choosing.

Notice that ‘all these things’ refers specifically to the signs prior to His coming. This is made absolutely clear in Mat 24:33. We can compare also Mat 24:3 where ‘these things’ refers to the demolishing of the Temple, and what accompanies it. The words do not therefore include His actual coming. And ‘all these things’ will occur within the generation of the men to whom He is speaking, which as we know they did, at least in part. But He warns them that while they will indicate that He is ‘near, even at the doors’ so that they can be ever confident of His nearness (Mat 28:20) and His purposes, He does not Himself know the time of His coming (Mat 24:36). The leaves may grow, but the timing of summer is in His Father’s hands. He can tell them no more.

Analysis.

a “Now from the fig tree learn her parable. When her branch is now become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you know that the summer is near” (Mat 24:32).

b “Even so you also, when you see all these things, know you that He is near, even at the doors” (Mat 24:33).

c “Truly I say to you, This generation will not pass away, until all these things be accomplished” (Mat 24:34).

b “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mat 24:35).

a “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Mat 24:36).

Note that in ‘a’ the leaves show that summer is near, but in the parallel no one but that Father knows when that Summer will come. In ‘b’ all the things that He has described will reveal that He is near, even at the doors, and in the parallel this is more certain than the continued existence of Heaven and earth. Centrally in ‘c’ is the promise that all the necessary introductory signs will occur within that generation.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Parable of the Fig Tree ( Mar 13:28-31 , Luk 21:29-33 ) In Mat 24:32-35 Jesus gives His disciples the illustration of the seasonal budding of the fig tree as a figurative way to know when the time of His Second Coming is drawing near. As the budding of the fig tree indicates the nearness of a change of seasons, so do the preceding events described up to this point in the Eschatological Discourse indicate the approaching of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

The Symbolic Meaning of the Fig Tree as the Rebirth of the Nation of Israel Some scholars suggest that the fig tree is symbolic of the nation of Israel, and its budding symbolic of the rebirth of this nation in 1948. This symbolic application could be interpreted to mean that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ would take place during the same generation of people who witness the rebirth of the nation of Israel.

The Scriptures use symbolic language to describe Israel as a fig tree (Hos 9:10) or other fruitful trees and plants, such as the olive tree and grape vine (Eze 36:8, Hos 14:6-8).

Hos 9:10, “I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.”

Eze 36:8, “But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.”

Hos 14:6-8, “His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.”

Mat 24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

Mat 24:32 Comments The Jews in Palestine were very familiar with their environment. They knew the behavior and characteristics of the animals and plants around them. Growing up in the panhandle of Florida, I understood that the wild Common Blue Violet ( viola sororia) puts forth its flower in February as a sign that the mild Florida winter would soon be over. If Jesus were speaking to me, He might have use the wild violet to make the same point as the fig tree with the Jews of Palestine.

Mat 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

Mat 24:33 “So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things” Comments – Not only will we hear of these events, but we will “see” these things taking place. With the recent invention of televisions and satellite coverage across the world, giving mankind a visual access to end-time events, we will be able to not only read and hear about these events; but we will be able to see them taking place as well.

The phrase “all these (things)” means that when we see all of these taking place on the earth during a single period of time. These events will occur throughout the history of mankind, but this period immediately preceeding the Second Coming will be characterized by all of these events taking place during a short period of time.

Mat 24:33 “know that it is near, even at the doors” – Comments – The Lord does not want His children to be taken unawares when these times come and His Second Coming is at hand. It will come as a thief in the night for the world, but for His children, they will be looking up, knowing that their redemption is drawing near. Note:

1Th 5:4, “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.”

Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Mat 24:34 Comments – Many scholars suggest that when Jesus said, “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” (Mat 24:34), He was saying that all of the events that Jesus predicted as signs of His Second Coming will take place within a man’s lifetime. It is possible that, just as Noah preached 120 years before the Flood, God will again work within a 120-year time frame with His Second Coming. We know from Gen 6:3 that a man’s lifetime was reduced to one hundred twenty (120) years at the time of the Flood.

Gen 6:3, “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”

It is also possible that the events prophesied in the Eschatological Discourse that God will use as signs leading up to Jesus’ Second Coming will take place within a period of one hundred twenty (120) years, which Jesus refers to as “this generation.”

Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The lesson of the fig-tree:
v. 32. Now learn a parable of the fig-tree: When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
v. 33. so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
v. 34. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.
v. 35. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.
Even as the person with ordinary common sense and powers of observation needs no further evidence for the fact that summer is near when he sees the fig-tree’s branches become soft with the swelling sap and the young leaves pushing forth from the buds, so the disciple of Christ who sees the signs of which Christ speaks in the whole chapter, including the destruction of Jerusalem, understands and knows that the final judgment is upon him, at his very door. And here is another sign, a further proof for the truth of His saying, for the soundness of His prophecy: This generation will not pass away till all this will come to pass. He means to say, either: The Jewish nation will remain on earth as a race, with all the racial characteristics, till the Day of Judgment; or: The generation of children which I have chosen, My Church, will not pass away, it will stand against all attempts to overthrow it, to all eternity. Amid the crash of worlds, when heaven and earth turn back into chaos and are destroyed, the Word of the Lord abideth forever.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Mat 24:32-33. Now learn a parable of the fig-tree Our Lord, having answered the latter part of the question proposed Mat 24:3 proceeds in these verses to answer the former part, as to the time of his coming, and the destruction of Jerusalem. And he begins by observing, that the signs which he had given would be as certain an indication of the time of his coming, as the fig-tree’s putting forth its leaves is of the approach of summer.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Mat 24:32 f. Cheering prospect for the disciples in the midst of those final convulsions a prospect depicted by means of a pleasing scene taken from nature. The understanding of this passage depends on the correct interpretation (1) of , (2) of , and also (3) on our taking care not to supply anything we choose as the subject of .
is simply .
] the article is generic ; for , comp. on Mat 11:29 . From the fig-tree, i.e . in the case of the fig-tree, see the parable ( .) that is intended for your instruction in the circumstances referred to. For the article conveys the idea of your similitude; here, however, means simply a comparison , . Comp. on Mat 13:3 .
] and puts forth the leaves (the subject being ). Matthaei, Fritzsche, Lachmann, Bleek, on the authority of E F G H K M V , Vulg. It., write , taking it as an aorist, i.e. et folia edita fuerint (see, in general, Khner, I. p. 930 f.). But in that case what would be the meaning of the allusion to the branches recovering their sap? Further, it is only by taking . . . as present that the strictly definite element is brought out, namely: when the is in the act of budding .
] is usually taken in the sense of aestas , after the Vulgate. But, according to the correct interpretation of , summer would be too late in the present instance, and too indefinite; nor would it be sufficiently near to accord with . Hence it is better to understand the harvest (equivalent to , Photius, p. 86, 18) as referred to, as in Pro 26:1 ; Dem. 1253. 15, and frequently in classical writers; Jacobs, ad Anthol . VIII. p. 357. Comp. also Ebrard, Keim. It is not, however, the fig-harvest (which does not occur till August) that is meant, but the fruit -harvest, the formal commencement of which took place as early as the second day of the Passover season.
. ] so understand ye also . For the preceding indicative , , expressed what was matter of common observation, and so, in a way corresponding to the observation referred to, should ( . imperative) the disciples also on their part understand, etc.
] when ye will have seen all this . It is usual to seek for the reference of in the part of the passage before Mat 24:29 , namely, in what Jesus has just foretold as to all the things that were to precede the second coming. But arbitrary as this is, it is outdone by those who go the length of merely picking out a few from the phenomena in question, in order to restrict the reference of to them; as, for example, the incrementa malignitatis (Ebrard), or the cooling of love among believers, the preaching to the Gentiles , and the overthrow of Jerusalem (Gess). If we are to take the words in their plain and obvious meaning (Mat 24:8 ), can only be understood to refer to what immediately precedes , therefore to what has been predicted, from that epoch-making Mat 24:29 on to Mat 24:31 , respecting the of the Son of man, and the phenomena that were to accompany the second coming itself . When they shall have seen all that has been announced, Mat 24:29-31 , they are to understand from it, etc.
] To supply a subject here is purely arbitrary; the Son of man has been supposed by some to be understood (Fritzsche, de Wette, Hofmann, Bleek, Weiss, Gess); whereas the subject is , which, there being no reason to the contrary, may also be extended to Mat 24:33 . This is neither the second coming (Cremer), nor the judgment (Ebrard), nor the kingdom of God generally (Olshausen, Auberlen), nor even the diffusion of Christianity (Schott), but simply the harvest , understanding it, however, in the higher Messianic sense symbolized by the natural harvest (Gal 6:9 ; 2Co 9:6 ), namely, the reception in the Messianic kingdom of that eternal reward which awaits all true workers and patient sufferers. That is the joyful (Isa 9:2 ) and blessed consummation which the Lord encourages His disciples to expect immediately after the phenomena and convulsions that are to accompany His second advent.
On without the article, see Bornemann, ad Xen. Cyr . i. 3. 2; and for the plural, see Khner, II. 1, p. 17.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

Ver. 32. Ye know that summer is nigh ] Which is so much the sweeter, because brought in and let out by winter: so will eternal life be to the saints, here tossed and turmoiled with variety of sufferings. Many sharp showers they must here pass through; “Light is sown for the righteous,” &c., sown only; and seedtime we know is usually wet and showery. Howbeit, it is fair weather often times with God’s children when it is foulest with the wicked; as the sun rose upon Zoar when the fire fell upon Sodom. But if they should have never a good day in this world, yet heaven will make amends for all. And what is it for one to have a rainy day, who is going to take possession of a kingdom?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

32, 33, 34. ] ., not as E. V., ‘ a parable ,’ but the (not, its : the fig-tree may teach many lessons besides this; cf. reff. Matt. Luke) parable, the natural phnomenon which may serve as a key to the meaning.
This coming of the Lord shall be as sure a sign that the Kingdom of Heaven is nigh, as the putting forth of the tender leaves of the fig-tree is a sign that summer is nigh. Observe , every one of these things, this coming of the Son of Man included , which will introduce the millennial Kingdom.
As regards the parable, there is a reference to the withered fig-tree which the Lord cursed : and as that, in its judicial unfruitfulness, emblematized the Jewish people, so here the putting forth of the fig-tree from its state of winter dryness, symbolizes the future reviviscence of that race, which the Lord ( Mat 24:34 ) declares shall not pass away till all be fulfilled. That this is the true meaning of that verse, must appear when we recollect that it forms the conclusion of this parable, and is itself joined by to the verse following. We cannot, in seeking for its ultimate fulfilment, go back to the taking of Jerusalem and make the words apply to it.
As this is one of the points on which the rationalizing interpreters (De Wette, &c.) lay most stress to shew that the prophecy has failed , it may be well to shew that has in Hellenistic Greek the meaning of a race or family of people . See Jer 8:3 LXX; compare ch. Mat 23:36 with ib. Mat 23:35 , but this generation did not slay Zacharias so that the whole people are addressed: see also ch. Mat 12:45 , in which the meaning absolutely requires this sense (see note there): see also Luk 17:25 ; Mat 17:17 ; Luk 16:8 (where is predicated both of the and the ): Act 2:40 ; Phi 2:15 . In all these places is = , or nearly so; having it is true a more pregnant meaning, implying that the character of one generation stamps itself upon the race , as here in this verse also.
This meaning of is fully conceded by Dorner; ‘omnes reor concessuros, vocem . si eam vertas tas , multas easque plane insuperabiles ciere difficultates, contextum vero et orationis progressum flagitare significationem gentis , nempe Judorum.’ (Stier, ii. 502.) The continued use of in Mat 24:34-35 , should have saved the Commentators from the blunder of imagining that the then living generation was meant, seeing that the prophecy is by the next verse carried on to the end of all things: and that, as matter of fact, the Apostles and ancient Christians did continue to expect the Lord’s coming, after that generation had part away . But, as Stier well remarks, “there are men foolish enough now to say, heaven and earth will never pass away, but the words of Christ pass away in course of time ; of this, however, we wait the proof.” ii. 505.
] all the signs hitherto recounted so that both these words, and , have their partial , and their full meanings.
] viz. . On Mat 24:35 see Psa 119:89 ; Isa 40:8 ; Isa 51:6 ; Psa 102:26 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mat 24:32-36 . Parabolic close (Mar 13:28-32 , Luk 21:29-33 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Mat 24:32 . , etc., from the fig tree learn its parable, rapid condensed speech befitting the tense state of mind; learn from that kind of tree (article generic) the lesson it can teach with regard to the moral order: Tender branch, young leaf = summer nigh. Schott, Comm. Ex. Dog ., p. 125, renders . . ope ficus = ficum contemplando. On the form vide notes on Mk.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 24:32-35
32Now learn the parable of the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; 33So, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. 34Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 35Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
Mat 24:32 “the fig tree” This parable is paralleled in Mar 13:28-32 and Luk 21:29-33. The fig tree in this proverbial passage was apparently not a symbol of Israel as in Mat 21:18-20 and Mar 11:12-14, but a way of assuring believers that although they cannot know the specific eschatological times, they can know the general time. The fig tree put out its leaves early and everyone knew spring was close.
Mat 24:32-33 “you know” When the last generation comes, the Bible’s prophetic passages will fit exactly the history of that day. This knowledge will strengthen the believers’trust in God amidst end time persecution. The problem with every generation of believers is that they force the Bible into the history of their own day! All attempts have so far have been wrong!
Mat 24:33 “He” This masculine pronoun is not in the Greek text. It should be “it” (cf. Mat 24:14).
“when you see all these things” This could refer to (1) the destruction of Jerusalem; (2) the transfiguration (cf. Mar 9:1; Mat 16:27); or (3) one of these specific signs of the Second Coming.
Mat 24:34 This verse referred to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 by the Roman legion under Titus. Jesus was merging the questions of Mat 24:3 : (1) the destruction of the temple, (2) the sign of His return at the end of the age, and (3) the end of the age.
It is also possible to link Mat 10:23; Mat 16:28; Mat 24:34 and conclude that Jesus expected to return quickly, but Matthew, writing decades later, realized the ” delayed return” theme in Jesus’ teachings.
Mat 24:25 What a strong statement of Jesus’ self understanding. It surely relates to Mat 5:17-19 or Isa 40:8; Isa 55:11. Jesus is the full revelation of the invisible God (i.e., Col 1:15).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

32, 33, 34.] ., not as E. V., a parable, but the (not, its: the fig-tree may teach many lessons besides this; cf. reff. Matt. Luke) parable,-the natural phnomenon which may serve as a key to the meaning.
This coming of the Lord shall be as sure a sign that the Kingdom of Heaven is nigh, as the putting forth of the tender leaves of the fig-tree is a sign that summer is nigh. Observe , every one of these things,-this coming of the Son of Man included, which will introduce the millennial Kingdom.
As regards the parable,-there is a reference to the withered fig-tree which the Lord cursed: and as that, in its judicial unfruitfulness, emblematized the Jewish people, so here the putting forth of the fig-tree from its state of winter dryness, symbolizes the future reviviscence of that race, which the Lord (Mat 24:34) declares shall not pass away till all be fulfilled. That this is the true meaning of that verse, must appear when we recollect that it forms the conclusion of this parable, and is itself joined by to the verse following. We cannot, in seeking for its ultimate fulfilment, go back to the taking of Jerusalem and make the words apply to it.
As this is one of the points on which the rationalizing interpreters (De Wette, &c.) lay most stress to shew that the prophecy has failed, it may be well to shew that has in Hellenistic Greek the meaning of a race or family of people. See Jer 8:3 LXX; compare ch. Mat 23:36 with ib. Mat 23:35, but this generation did not slay Zacharias-so that the whole people are addressed: see also ch. Mat 12:45, in which the meaning absolutely requires this sense (see note there): see also Luk 17:25; Mat 17:17; Luk 16:8 (where is predicated both of the and the ): Act 2:40; Php 2:15. In all these places is = , or nearly so; having it is true a more pregnant meaning, implying that the character of one generation stamps itself upon the race, as here in this verse also.
This meaning of is fully conceded by Dorner; omnes reor concessuros, vocem . si eam vertas tas, multas easque plane insuperabiles ciere difficultates, contextum vero et orationis progressum flagitare significationem gentis, nempe Judorum. (Stier, ii. 502.) The continued use of in Mat 24:34-35, should have saved the Commentators from the blunder of imagining that the then living generation was meant, seeing that the prophecy is by the next verse carried on to the end of all things: and that, as matter of fact, the Apostles and ancient Christians did continue to expect the Lords coming, after that generation had part away. But, as Stier well remarks, there are men foolish enough now to say, heaven and earth will never pass away, but the words of Christ pass away in course of time-; of this, however, we wait the proof. ii. 505.
] all the signs hitherto recounted-so that both these words, and , have their partial, and their full meanings.
] viz. . On Mat 24:35 see Psa 119:89; Isa 40:8; Isa 51:6; Psa 102:26.
Fuente: The Greek Testament

Mat 24:32. , but from the fig-tree) An obvious matter.-, the) sc. following.-, parable) a most beautiful one.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Mat 24:32-51
8. LESSON FROM THE FIG TREE;
FAITHFUL AND UNFAITHFUL SERVANTS
Mat 24:32-51
32-35 Now from the fig tree learn her parable.-There is an analogy which Jesus teaches from the fig tree; the disciples were to learn a truth from the fig tree which would help them understand his teaching. The fig tree is a native product of Palestine , in a warm climate fruit forms a very large portion of the customary food, and hence the fruit tree is a favorite source of illustrations. Jesus spoke this on the Mount of Olives where fig trees were growing all around him; he was near Bethphage, which means house of figs. They knew that summer was nigh by the putting forth of the leaves of the fig tree, as we say that “robins are the harbingers of spring.” “Even so ye also, when ye see all these things, know ye that he is nigh, even at the doors.” As the swelling buds and leaves of the fig tree indicate the near approach of summer, so when Jerusalem is destroyed you may know ‘that God’s judgment is sure and swift and will be as certain in the last day. This destruction would come upon Jerusalem during the lifetime of some who were present before that generation passes away. This means that there would be some people living who would see the awful destruction pronounced against Jerusalem; this destruction is a type of the destruction of the final incorrigible wicked. Often prophetic language has a double significance. Jehovah told Adam that he would die in the day that he ate the forbidden fruit (Gen 2:7); yet Adam lived 930 years. There was a primary fulfillment of this when Adam was separated from the Garden of Eden, and a secondary fulfillment of it in his death (Rom 5:12), Isaiah foretold the birth of Jesus from a virgin, yet added a prophecy which confines it to his own generation. (Isa 7:14-17.) The prophet combined type and antitype in the same words. David spoke of the Messiah under the type of Solomon. Words and events, new kingdoms and dynasties, are the prophetic alphabet for spelling out the divine plan; so the destruction of Jerusalem becomes the type of the final judgment and destruction. Sometimes it is difficult to take the language of Jesus and apply it to both the type and antitype. God’s word is sure and those ‘things which seem to be changeless and eternal will fail, but not one word of what Jesus told would fail of accomplishment.
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no one.-Mar 13:32 denies the knowledge of that day and hour to any man-to the angels in heaven, and to the Son; he restricts a knowledge of it to the Father. It seems clear that Jesus here speaks of his second coming. Of the exact season and year of this, it is not a part of the divine plan that any man should be informed; certainty as to the date would nullify the whole effect of the prophecy, since the great lesson drawn from it was “watch and pray.” If Jesus had told them that forty years from that time on such a day he would come, they would have been inclined to be indolent and unfaithful and unwatchful. The uncertainty of the time leads us to watch and pray. All schemes which attempt to fix the exact date of the coming of Christ are foolish and deceptive. (2Th 2:2.) Jesus did not want his disciples to misunderstand him, hence he has stated that no one knows of the time when he will return, hence no one has any right to fix a time for his coming. It is certain that he will return, but no one can go further with respect to his coming than to declare that he will return.
37-41 And as were the days of Noah.-Jesus here gives another caution; the world would go on in all its business, sins, pleasures, even as in the days of Noah. Noah warned the people before the flood, but they continued in all of the commerces of their civilization-socially, morally, and economically; they gave no heed to his warnings they were eating and drinking and marrying up to the very time “that Noah entered into the ark” and the destruction of the flood came upon them “and took them all away” while they were still engaged in the common affairs of their wicked lives. Jesus makes his own comparison; he says “so shall be the coming of the Son of man.” The people of Noah’s day ridiculed the idea of a flood; those of Jerusalem ridiculed the idea of the destruction of their holy city; in like manner sinful people will be filled with cares and pleasures of the world at the time that Jesus comes. The archangels’ trump strangely in the revelry of the bridal feast, the crash and conflict of the battle in war, the hum and whir of the factory, the confusing noises of the city life, and the ceaseless roar of the restless seas will sound strange to the unbeliever.
Then shall two men be in the field; one is taken, and one is left.-Companions in the field and in the affairs of life will be separated; the angels that gather the redeemed will take one and leave the other. Here Jesus emphasizes the unexpected and sudden return to earth; this comparison enforces the one about Noah. Again “two women shall be grinding at the mill; one is taken, and one is left.” The grinding was done then by hand mills, and was usually done by women as they prepared the food or baked the bread. It is not very laborious to grind the meal and was an indoor work. The mills were made of two circular stones which turn on a fixed center; the lower one is stationary, the upper revolves upon it, crushing the grain between the rough surfaces. Two. women at one mill are very near to each other, and grasp the handle of the millstone together. The closest ties and occupations of two friends walking together, two of a family preparing the daily meal, shall be broken suddenly and forever. Again Jesus emphasizes the suddenness of the destruction of Jerusalem and of his second coming and the judgment.
42-44 Watch therefore.-Here Jesus gives his own conclusion; these words are the moral or practical inference of the entire discourse. The disciple who would be saved, in view of all these facts which must come to pass, must “watch”; Christians must act the part of sentinels in a night guard, or be stewards who get all things ready for the Master’s coming; or must be as the bride who desires not to be be made ashamed at the coming of the bridegroom. Christians must not be like the world in the time of the flood, slumbering and revelling; they must watch, for they know not the hour when Jesus will return. Jesus gives the illustration of the master of the house. “If the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched” and would have been ready for the thief and saved his household affairs. The thief comes without warning, in the dead hours of the night, silently, fearful, and dangerous; the Christ will come in an instant, to wake the soul to the tremendous truths of an eternal world. This figure is used frequently in the New Testament. (1Th 5:2; 2Pe 3:10; Rev. 3:3; 16 15.) Only those who take the same care of their souls, which a master of a family would take for his household goods, will be prepared for the coming of Christ. “In what watch” means in what division of the night; the night was divided into four quarters. Oftentimes thieves would dig through the walls of the house and carry away their loot. Again Jesus draws his own conclusion and makes application to his disciples; they are to be ready when he comes, and since they do not know when he is coming, they are to live in a state of readiness or watchfulness. The comparison between the coming of Christ and that of a thief is the more impressive from the dissimilarity between the two characters.
45-51 Who then is the faithful and wise servant?-Again Jesus uses another illustration or parable. The master of a household and servants are frequently used by Jesus. In this instance Jesus changes the image from a householder watching for a thief to a servant waiting for his master. Servants had specific duties assigned to them; it was the duty of certain servants to provide the food and have it ready at meal-time or “in due season.” The servant that is faithful and has all things ready for the master when he comes receives the commendation and blessings of his master. The Bible speaks of a number of faithful servants. There was Eliezer, Abraham’s faithful slave (Gen 15:2; Gen 24:2);also Joseph in Potiphar’s house as a slave; Daniel in Babylonian captivity; and Onesimus. The faithful servant is honored and blessed by his master. In like manner he will be rewarded for his faithfulness when the master comes, but the unfaithful and evil servant will be punished. The wicked servant seeks to take advantage of the absence of his master. He not only neglected the tasks assigned to him in the absence of his master, but he abused his fellow servants and lived a riotous drunken life. Such a one deserves the severest punishment of the master. His master will come at a time that he is least expecting him and will know of his wickedness. He will “cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites.” “Cut asunder” is a common mode of punishment in that country. (1Sa 15:33; 2Sa 12:31; Dan 2:5; Dan 3:28; Heb 11:37.) His portion will be among the hypocrites and there shall be “weeping and the gnashing of teeth.” His portion belongs with the hypocrites as he belongs to that class. The entire description throughout these verses applies most fitly to the suddenness and to all the results that follow the destruction of Jerusalem and the coming of Christ. “Weeping and the gnashing of teeth” is a phrase often used to denote the bitterest agony and convulsions of pain and rage;the bitterest sting of the punishment is that he brought it upon himself.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

The King Speaks of the Time of HIS Coming
Mat 24:32-35. Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Our Lord here evidently returns to the subject of the destruction of Jerusalem, and in these words gives his apostles warning concerning the signs of the times. He had recently used the barren fig tree as an object-lesson; he now bids his disciples “learn a parable of the fig tree “and all the trees (Luk 21:31). God’s great book of nature is full of illustrations for those who have eyes to perceive them; and the Lord Jesus, the great Creator, often made use of its illuminated pages in conveying instruction to the minds of his hearers. On this occasion, he used a simple simile from the parable of the fig-tree: “When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh.” They could not mistake so plain a token of the near return of summer; and Jesus would have them read quite as quickly the signs that were to herald the coming judgment on Jerusalem: “So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” The Revised Version has the words, “Know ye that he is nigh,” the Son of man, the King. His own nation rejected him when he came in mercy; so his next coming would be a time of terrible judgment and retribution to his guilty capital. Oh, that Jews and Gentiles today were wise enough to learn the lesson of that fiery trial, and to seek his face, whose wrath they cannot bear!
The King left his followers in no doubt as to when these things should happen: “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” It was just about the ordinary limit of a generation when the Roman armies compassed Jerusalem, whose measure of iniquity was then full, and overflowed in misery, agony, distress, and bloodshed such as the world never saw before or since. Jesus was a true Prophet; everything that he foretold was literally fulfilled. He confirmed what he had already said, and what he was about to say, by a solemn affirmation: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” ” The Word of the Lord endureth for ever,” and though that Lord appeared in fashion as a man, and was shortly to be crucified as a malefactor, his words would endure when heaven and earth would have fulfilled the purpose for which he had created them, and passed away.
Christ’s promises of pardon are as sure of fulfilment as his prophecies of punishment; no word of his shall ever “pass away.”
Mat 24:36. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
There is a manifest change in our Lord’s words here, which clearly indicates that they refer to his last great coming to judgment: “But of that day and hour knoweth no man.” Some would-be prophets have wrested this verse from its evident meaning by saying, “Though we do not know the day and the hour of Christ’s coming, we may know the year, the month, and even the week.” If this method of treating the words of Jesus is not blasphemous, it is certainly foolish, and betrays disloyalty to the King. He added that, not only does no man know of that day and hour, but it is hidden from angelic beings also: “No, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” We need not therefore be troubled by idle prophecies of hair-brained fanatics, even if they claim to interpret the Scriptures; for what the angels do not know has not been revealed to them. Even Christ, in his human nature, so voluntarily limited his own capacities that he knew not the time of his Second Advent (Mar 13:32). It is enough for us to know that he will surely come; our great concern should be to be ready for his appearing whenever he shall return.
Mat 24:37-39. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Though the King did not reveal the time of “the coming of the Son of man “, he declared plainly that history would repeat itself, and that “that day “would be “as the days of Noe were” When he comes, he will find many unprepared, even as the antediluvians were when “the flood came, and took them all away.” Yet in both cases, sinners will have had ample warning Noah was “a preacher of righteousness “to the men of his day; “and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Mat 24:14). Christ’s coming, like the flood, will be sudden, unexpected, universal in its effects, and terrible to the ungodly, although they will be utterly unconcerned: “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day.” That which is lawful and right, under other circumstances, becomes a positive evil when it takes the place of preparation for the coming of the Son of man. “Woe unto those whose eating and drinking do not include the bread and the water of life; and who marry or are given in marriage, but not to the heavenly Bridegroom! That Dies Ir will be a dreadful day for sinners.
“Day of judgment, day of wonders!
Hark, the trumpet’s awful sound,
Louder than a thousand thunders,
Shakes the vast creation round!
How the summons
Will the sinner’s heart confound!”
Mat 24:40-41. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
The division between the godly and the ungodly, at the coming of Christ, will be very precise. Companions in labour will be separated for ever in “that day”: “Then shall two be in the field; “ploughing, sowing, reaping, or resting; “the one shall be taken, and the other left.” The believing labourer shall be taken by the angels to join the hosts of the redeemed, while his unbelieving fellow-workman shall be left to the judgment that will swiftly be poured out upon him. “Two women shall be grinding at the mill;” they may be fellowservants in a rich man’s mansion, or they may be mother and daughter or two sisters in a poor man’s home; but however closely they may have been attached to one another, if one is saved by grace, and the other is still under the sentence of condemnation, “the one shall be taken, and the other left.” This separation will be eternal; there is no hint of any future reunion.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s The Gospel of the Kingdom

Mar 13:28, Mar 13:29, Luk 21:29, Luk 21:30
Reciprocal: Jer 44:29 – a sign Mat 13:3 – in Mat 24:3 – the sign Luk 12:56 – ye can
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

4:32
This and the following verse are some of the “exceptions” mentioned at verse 3. They are thrown in to suggest to the disciples the use that should be made of the “signs of the times.” He referred to the common fig tree that was so prevalent in Palestine. The preliminary appearance of leaves was observed and from the fact a conclusion was formed that a change of seasons was near.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Mat 24:32. Now from the fig tree learn the parable, namely, what follows.
Putteth forth leaves, or its leaves. The blossoms precede the leaves, and when the leaves come, the fruit season is near. Comp. chap. Mat 21:19. The cursing of the barren fig tree may be in mind even here. Alford: As that, in its judicial unfruitfulness, emblematized the Jewish people, so here the putting forth of the fig tree from its state of winter dryness, symbolizes the future reviviscence of that race.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Here our blessed Saviour declares two things with reference to his coming.
1. The certainty of the thing itself. 2. The uncertainty of the time.
The certainty of his coming he sets forth by the similitude of the fig-tree, whose beginning to bud declares the summer at hand. Thus when they should see the fore-mentioned signs, they might conclude the destruction of their city and temple to be nigh at hand, and that some then living should see all these predictions certainly fulfilled. What Christ foretells, shall certainly be fulfilled, his word being more firm than the fabric of heaven and earth.
Observe, 2. The uncertainty, as to the precise time, when this judgment should come. No angel in heaven nor creature on earth could determine the time, only the glorious persons in the Godhead; the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Learn, 1. That all things are not revealed to the angels themselves, but such things only as it concerns them to know, and the wisdom of God thinks fit to reveal.
2. That the precise time of the day of judgment is kept by God as a secret ot himself. He will not have us know that hour, to the intent that we may be upon our watch every hour.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Mat 24:32-35. Now learn a parable of the fig-tree Our Lord proceeds to declare that the signs which he had given would be as certain an indication of the time of his coming, as the fig-trees putting forth its leaves is of the approach of summer; and that the time of his coming was at no great distance. For he adds, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled, Hereby evidently showing that he had been speaking all this while only of the calamities coming on the Jews, and the destruction of Jerusalem. It is to me a wonder, says Bishop Newton, how any man can refer part of the foregoing discourse to the destruction of Jerusalem, and part to the end of the world, or any other distant event, when it is said so positively here in the conclusion, All these things shall be fulfilled in this generation. And it seems as if our Lord had been aware of some such misapplication of his words, by adding yet greater force and emphasis to his affirmation, Mat 24:35, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away That is, heaven and earth shall sooner, or more easily pass away than my words; the frame of the universe shall sooner, or more easily pass away than my words shall not be fulfilled. In another place, (Mat 16:28,) he says, There are some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see, the Son of man coming in his kingdom, intimating that the event would not take place immediately, and yet not at such a distance of time but that some then living would be spectators of the calamities coming upon the nation. In like manner, he says to the women who bewailed him as he was going to be crucified, Luk 23:28, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children; which words sufficiently implied that the days of distress and misery were coming, and would fall on them and their children. But at that time there was not any appearance of such an immediate ruin. The wisest politician could not have inferred any such thing from the then present state of affairs. Nothing less than divine prescience could have foreseen and foretold it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

24:32 {7} Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet {s} tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer [is] nigh:
(7) If God has prescribed a certain order to nature, much more has he done so to his eternal judgments; but the wicked do not understand it, or rather they mock it: but the godly make note of it, and wait for it.
(s) When its tenderness shows that the sap which is the life of the tree has come from the roots into the bark.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The importance of vigilance 24:32-44
Jesus told His disciples four parables advocating vigilance in view of the time of His return. These stories were illustrations of His main points in the Olivet Discourse.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The parable of the fig tree 24:32-36 (cf. Mar 13:28-32; Luk 21:29-33)
This parable stresses the importance of the signs signifying Jesus’ return.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The lesson (Gr. parabole, lit. parable) of the fig tree is quite simple. As the appearance of tender twigs and leaves on a fig tree indicate the nearness of summer, so the appearance of the signs Jesus explained would indicate that His coming is near.
A popular interpretation of this parable equates modern Israel’s presence in the Promised Land with the budding of the fig tree. [Note: Gaebelien, 2:213-14; Kelly, p. 451.] This view may be placing too much emphasis on the identification of the fig tree with the modern State of Israel (cf. Jer 24:1-8; Jer 29:17). On the other hand this could be at least part of what Jesus intended. Many commentators take this parable as describing the destruction of Jerusalem. [Note: E.g., Morgan, p. 286; Allen, p. 259; and Tasker, p. 227.] As mentioned before, this is probably not correct.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

6. The responsibilities of the disciples 24:32-25:30
Next Jesus exhorted His disciples on the basis of this revelation concerning the future. He taught them using seven parables.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Disfruta de miles de canciones cristianas en exclusiva sólo en Bibles