6 Nov 2015
Matthew 24:32-34
Matthew 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:
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.”
People go on and on about how Israel is the fig tree, and how wars and persecution and earthquakes in our time mean that the Rapture is near. That is not what this is talking about. The disciples’ question was, how will we know when Your return is near? What Jesus is telling them is that when they see the things He just described take place – the abomination of desolation, etc. – they will know that Jesus is about to come back. This is talking about the Second Coming (which takes place at the end of the Tribulation), not the Rapture (which takes place before the Tribulation begins).
There are many signs that indicates the Second Coming is near. There are no signs that indicate the Rapture is near. The two are completely different events.
Matthew 24:34: “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.”
“This generation” is a reference to the generation that sees the Tribulation. Since the Tribulation only lasts 7 years, and since Jesus returns immediately after the Tribulation, we can see that it is plainly true that the generation that sees the events of the Tribulation will still be alive when the Second Coming comes to pass. That is all this is saying.
“This generation” is not the generation that saw Israel reborn in 1948, nor the one that saw Jerusalem retaken in 1967. It is the one that sees the Tribulation.