THE FIG TREE

There is great reassurance for the nation of Israel in the words ‘after the tribulation’. There is greater comfort for us in the church that are said to be ‘delivered … (away) from the wrath to come’, 1 Thess. 1. 10. However desperate the nation becomes during the time of Jacob’s trouble, they will be able to look for­ward to alleviation of their sufferings with the ‘Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory’. The Lord guarantees them that ‘this generation (or race of people) shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled’.

The signs that are the precursor to the Lord’s coming back to the earth are likened to a budding fig tree in relation to summer. Fruit alone cannot be relied upon as an indication of the approach of this season of the year. Tom Ratcliffe, in his book Bible Plants, Fruits and Products states, ‘In the Mediterranean region the fig tree carries fruit all year round … no matter what time of year one may go to the fig tree, there should always be fruit or the promise of fruit’. The appearance of foliage, how­ever, is a sure indication that more pleasurable conditions are nearing. What will be catastrophic phenomena to the unintelli­gent world in the tribulation, will, for the spiritually perceptive, be the cause of heightened expectation of the Lord’s advent to the earth.

It is interesting to note that the Revised Version renders verse 33 as, ‘when ye see all these things, know ye that he is nigh’. The summer of millennial blessing for this earth is dependent upon the Saviour returning. What sweet relief there will be for those who endure the tribulation to hear Him crying, ‘Rise up … and come away. For, lo, the winter is past’, S. of S. 2. 10, 11.

The figure of the Lord being ‘near, even at the doors’ would cast our minds back to the commands of Psalm 24, that the doors and gates should be swung open to receive the ‘King of glory … the Lord of hosts’. In that day of His triumphal return to com­mence His reign, He will not ‘stand at the door and knock’, awaiting a response in order to enter, as He does in this present church era.