Intro to Matthew 24:32-35

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/20/2024 8:55 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus:  Intro to Matthew 24:32-35

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 24:32-35

 

            Message of the verses:  “32 "Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; 33 so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. 34 “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”

 

            I looked up the words “fig tree” and found out it is seen a total of 32 times in the Bible with 15 in the New Testament and 17 in the Old Testament, so I can determine from that that “fig tree” has more of a meaning than just a tree with fruit on it. 

 

            Now remember that Jesus says that what He is saying about the “fig tree” in this section is a parable and when we studied the 13^th chapter of Matthew it was seen there that Jesus began to use parables in His teaching in order to pretty much hide the truth from the Jewish leaders.  Why did He do this?  Well something happened there that caused the change in Jesus’ teaching method, from just telling stories that all could understand to telling parables which only His disciples could understand.  What happened was that the Pharisees said that the miracles that He was doing were in the power of Satan, when the truth was that the miracles that He did was in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Here in chapter 13 we see what is called “the unpardonable sin.”  They attributed the power of the Holy Spirit to the power of Satan; they went too far and would not be forgiven for that sin.

 

            Now I have told the story of my coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ in many of my Spiritual Diaries and one of the things that drew me to Christ was a fear of the end times, as what was going to happen.  One thing that is surely going to happen is the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to planet earth, as this event is what every true Christian is looking forward to.  Paul writes the following to Timothy in 2 Tim. 4:8 “in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”   I remember my first Pastor that I sat under after I became a believer who said that this verse was not talking about knowing the time table of when the Lord would return, but loving the Lord’s return in order to be with Him.  MacArthur writes “God’s Word instructs believes not only ‘to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age’ but also to be ‘looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus (Titus 2:12-13).  Nothing in this world, Paul says, can compare ‘with the glory that is to be revealed to us’ (Rom. 8:18), ‘the freedom of the glory of the children of God’ (v-21), ‘the redemption of our body’ (v-23), and ‘the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Cor. 1:7).

 

            It looks like that I will have to finish this introduction to this parable in my next SD.  My wife and I are on a vacation, something that we have not done for a fairly long time, and so things are different that what they would be if I were back home in Ohio, for one thing if we were there I probably would be shoveling snow instead of walking on a beach in Maui.

 

            1/20/2024 9:30 AM