“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door.” Mark 13:28–29
Jesus was the master storyteller, but He didn’t tell stories to entertain or to fill time. He told them to make a point.
In Mark’s gospel the fig tree story is the only story from the Olivet Discourse that Mark reported. He wrote what has been called the Reader’s Digest gospel. It has fewer words and chapters than the other three gospels. Thus, it’s not surprising that only one story is related from Jesus’ discourse on the future.
Matthew’s fuller account tells us that Jesus told four additional stories to illustrate the various aspects of the course of the age and His return to earth: The Wise and Faithful Servants (24:45–51); The Wise and Foolish Virgins (25:1–13); The Talents (25:14–30); and The Sheep and The Goats (25:31–46).
Altogether, in the Olivet Discourse, Jesus told us the five ways we are to live in the course of our age: (1) act responsibly (the wise servant); (2) be prepared for Him at any moment (the wise virgins); (3) be prepared to live a normal lifetime (the talents); (4) act compassionately (treating those in need as if they were Jesus Himself); and (5) be prepared to suffer (Mark 13:9–13).
Jesus’ use of stories plants firmly in our memories the lesson He taught about the future. In particular, Mark’s account of the fig tree as a metaphor for the close of the age tells us that human history is coming to a point of culmination.
The blooming fig tree represents the flowering of the four “things” Jesus referred to that mark the course of the age following His ascension into heaven until He returns: trouble in religion (deception and false Christs); trouble in society (ethnic and political conflicts); trouble in nature (earthquakes, famines, pestilences); and trouble for disciples (persecution from government, religion, family, and society).
In Mark 13:8, Jesus identified these four “things” or “markers” as “the beginning of birth pains.” Drawing from His analogy of birth pains, we know that as a mother’s labor continues the contractions come more rapidly and the pain becomes more intense. As Mark’s account of the Olivet Discourse draws to a close, the analogy switches from birth pains to the fig tree blossoming—in other words, the discourse shifts from the beginning of the end time to the close of the end time.
How do we apply this to our own lives, here and now?
First, Jesus is essentially telling every generation—because every generation lives with these “markers” or “things”—that we are to consider ourselves as living at the end. We are always “right at the door.” Eternity could come to us in a moment of time.
As Christians, we are to live with our bags always packed for the journey home!
Second, there is coming a last generation. We could be that generation. Certainly, in our time, the birth pangs of human history are becoming far more intense and more closely compacted together. The flowering fig tree story puts us on alert as we see the signs intensify that Jesus told us would herald the end of the age.
The good news is that Jesus is the Lord and has the times in His hand!
A Prayer: Lord Jesus, if today is the day, I know You will welcome me home. Thank You for the gift of life eternal!
Excerpted from Dr. Wood’s forthcoming book, Fearless: How Jesus Changes Everything, available in September from Vital Resources.
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