The Olivet Discourse: Part Five

Matthew 24:32-35 – “The Need for Hope” (part 2)

A sermon by Pastor Joe Haynes

Preached on September 22, 2024 at Beacon Church

A tree is able to withstand strong winds because of its roots. But what good are those roots when the ground gives way? You can tie a rope to a boat, but then you need to tie that rope to something that will hold. Just so, your faith is totally useless unless your faith is secured to what will hold; to what is strong; to what is trustworthy. Verse 35 tells you what will hold. What cannot be moved. What you need to believe in: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away,” (Matt. 24:35 ESV). Everything you see around you will eventually fail and fall apart. But the Word of the Lord is forever. Unmovable. This is the great truth that the prophecy of Matthew 24 proves.

Think about what a Christian puts faith in. Is it possible to sort of believe in Jesus? Can you believe He existed but not trust Him with your eternal soul and still be a Christian? Can you believe He made some mistakes—that not everything He said is actually true—and still be saved? No. There is no hope apart from genuine faith in Jesus Christ. A Christian is a person who believes Jesus Christ. You need to believe in Jesus and you need to believe Jesus. (Jn. 11:25-26 ESV) In John 5, Jesus said, “Whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life,” (Jo 5:24). In John 3:16 Jesus said, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” But then John writes: “Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him,” (Jn. 3:33-36 ESV).

Have you ever wondered why Christians are so focused on the Bible? Why Christian churches for 20 centuries have always been book-centred? Why proper Christian preachers preach the words of this book, why Christians gather together to study this book, why we translate this book into other languages and why we keep publishing this book? This is why. Prov 30:5 says, “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.” And 2 Tim 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God…” and 2 Pe 1:21 explains that the Scriptures were written by men who “spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” And Jesus Himself argued, in John 10:35 that “Scripture cannot be broken.” Every word in the Bible must be believed as true because God is true. Christians attach our faith to a book because the words in this book are the words of God. Coming then to our text, that’s what verse 35 is about: having total confidence in the truthfulness of everything Jesus says. In this long prophecy in Mat 24, our Lord makes a number of predictions you need to accept as true and gives a number of commands you must obey. But in these four verses, the Lord Jesus gives three commands that tether your faith to the truth of His words. These commands were meant to be obeyed. But obeying them strengthens faith. You need Matthew 24 for the sake of your faith in Jesus. This prophecy is practical. It is given to keep faith and hope alive until Jesus comes again.

Learn to hope (32)

The first command is “learn.” What  you need to learn here will give you hope. “"From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near,” (Matt. 24:32 ESV). Most of the trees in that part of the world are evergreens but when Jesus said this, He was probably looking at one of the very few kinds of trees in that place that lose their leaves in winter and grow them back in spring. Verse 3 says He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, just outside Jerusalem. It was named for its olive groves but there were also fig trees there. The village at the bottom of that mountain is named Bethphage for those fig trees.[i] And it was early Spring. Usually fig trees there begin showing leaves around March and the figs come in June.[ii] So for the second time that week, Jesus uses a fig tree as an illustration to teach His disciples something they must learn.

So there they are, the disciples sitting with Jesus on the Mount of Olives, across from the city of Jerusalem—the village of Bethphage below them—olive trees nearby. And Jesus teaches them. Notice that Jesus makes this a command in verse 32: “learn its lesson.” You should also know He is saying this to them: It could be translated, “you (pl) must learn the lesson from the fig tree.” One of the great implications of the truth that every word in the Bible is God’s Word, is that paying close attention to each and every word is key to understanding and interpreting Scripture. This was aimed at those disciples; this lesson was primarily intended for them, and it was a matter of eternal life and death. Primarily for them but also relevant 19 centuries later. So what’s the lesson they had to learn? When the branches start to produce buds and new leaves in the Spring, it means the Summer crop is coming. In other words, once you see leaves growing on a fig tree, you can start looking forward to figs. Jesus is talking about hope. Seeing the leaves gives you hope for the figs.

This was not a learning opportunity on a nature walk. Jesus had just made a number of predictions about death and destruction and the need for endurance. Now He’s talking about trees and leaves and fruit in order to give them hope. If they believed Jesus was telling the truth about all the bad things that were going to happen—even to them—they needed to learn this lesson from the fig tree. So that from that day forward, whenever they saw new leaves on a fig tree and know that the figs will come in summer, they would remember what Jesus told them on that mountain. They would remember to hope. I said that in these verses the Lord Jesus gives three commands that tether your faith to the truth of His words. The first is to learn that seeing new leaves and hoping for summer is a parable about the practical purpose of prophecy. You need to learn this too. Remember it. Every February, when every other city in Canada is still in winter, Victoria starts seeing flowers. Remember what Jesus commanded here. Spring growth means summer is coming. Signs of Spring can lift your mood but this is just a parable. An illustration about greater hope. Everlasting hope. Living hope in Jesus Christ. The next command, in verse 33, applies this parable to that hope.

Know to wait (33)

The second command is “know.” What you need to know will help you wait. “So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates,” (Matt. 24:33 ESV). “So also,” shows that Jesus is now applying the lesson of the parable. Like new leaves on a fig tree, “When you see all these things,” you must know, and understand, what it all means. This command was primarily for those disciples sitting with Jesus on that mountain as He gave this prophecy. But it is written for you to know it too. The return of Jesus is near.

One of the most practical purposes of Bible prophecy is to equip Christians with a constant readiness for the return of Jesus Christ. One of the worst things that can happen to any Christian or to any church is to lose that readiness. It’s like the guy who pulls up to a red light on Blanshard Street and closes his eyes to have a little nap. It’s like a soldier keeping watch so his team can get some sleep who puts his earphones on and listens to music while playing a game on his phone. Or like a soldier’s wife back home who gets tired of waiting while he’s deployed, divorces him, and marries someone else. When the church stops waiting for Jesus she becomes unfaithful to Him. Do you know what you do when you stop waiting for Jesus? You sin. You stop doing what He wants you to be doing. You get impatient with resisting temptation. Your thinking becomes focused on the short term: what you can get out of life now; what you can get out of people now; how you can please yourself now. Christian, wake up. Jesus is near. At the very gates.

Standing at the gates is an idiom that just means it could happen at any time. But in Matthew 24 its more than just an idiom. Because right before this, at the end of Mat 23, Jesus announced to the people of Jerusalem, “I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” So when Jesus says His second coming is “at the very gates,” He means it’s almost time. That same Psalm Jesus quoted in Mat 23:39 also says, “Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD. This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it,” (Ps. 118:19-20). Are you waiting for the Kingdom of Heaven? Are you ready to enter in?

But how do we know it’s time? How do we know the second coming of Christ is soon? Nearly 2000 years have gone by since Jesus told all this to His disciples on that mountain. His purpose was not to give them a date to circle on their calendars, or a way to estimate the number of years until He comes. It was to give them proof that He really is coming, so that they will wait for Him. Because He could come at any moment. What proof? That’s what Jesus means by “all these things” in verse 33—and He says it again in verse 34: “all these things.” Some Christians think “all these things” covers everything from vv15-31—everything up to and including the second coming of Christ. But Jesus told those original disciples, “When you see all these things, you are to know that He is near.” Those disciples did not live to see the end of the great tribulation. They didn’t live to see the conversion of Israel. They didn’t live to see the second coming in verse 30 or the regathering of Israel in verse 31. But they did live to see everything in verses 4-28 start to happen, which was proof to them that verses 29-31 could happen soon.

In verse 30, quoting Zech 12:12 about “all the tribes of Israel,” Jesus says “they will see” Him coming. But in verse 33 He doesn’t say “they,” He says, “you.” And that little plural word, “you,” becomes important for making sure we interpret this prophecy correctly. He was speaking to those disciples who came to Him on the Mount of Olives and asked Him that question in verse 3. “Jesus answered them…” (v4), “See that no one leads you astray,” (5); “…You will hear of wars… See that you are not alarmed…” (6); “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake,” (9); “So when you see the abomination of desolation” (15); “Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath” (20); “Then if anyone says to you… do not believe it,” (23); “See I have told you beforehand,” (25); “So if they say to you… do not believe it,” (27). Jesus told His original disciples they would hear of wars; He told them they would be persecuted and killed; He told them they would see the abomination of desolation prophecy of Daniel being fulfilled; He told them they would have to flee Jerusalem when that day came; He told them He told them beforehand! (25) You are not allowed to make the Bible fit your beliefs about the endtimes. You must allow these words to tell you what to believe because these are God’s words.

So back to verse 33. Jesus commands His disciples at that time, that when they see “all these things” He had been predicting in verses 1-28, they must then know that He is near. When those first disciples see verses 4-28 coming true, then they needed to know verses 29-31 are coming soon. Verse 29 predicts a day when the wrath of God would turn away from Israel to the Gentile powers that trampled Israel; verse 30 predicts a day when Israel will repent and come to believe Jesus is the Messiah, and see Him coming; verse 31 predicts a day when the Lord Jesus will fulfill God’s many promises to the ethnic people of Israel to gather them back to the Promised Land—He will send His angles to gather His elect! There’s a quote there from the Greek version of Deut 30:4, that God who scattered Israel around the world will gather Israel back “from one end of heaven to the other.” So here’s the thing you need to know: Verses 4-28 have all come true. Those disciples lived to see the beginning of the great tribulation of the Jews. The 20th century saw the end of the great tribulation of the Jews—as Luke 21:24 predicts, Jerusalem no longer ruled by the Gentiles, not since the Six Day War in 1967. Which means that the second coming of Christ in verses 30-31 is imminent. Very near. But it means so much more than that.

I said that in these verses the Lord gives three commands that tether your faith to the truth of His words. The first command is to learn, so that you hope. The second is to know, so that you wait. Thirdly…

Hear to believe (34-35)

The third command is not explicit but implicit. Jesus says “truly I say to you,” and He wants you to hear what He says—so that you believe Him. “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,” (Matt. 24:34-35 ESV). It all comes down to His words. Can you trust every word that comes from His mouth? If anything Jesus predicted in Mat 24 failed to happen, then you can dismiss Jesus as a fraud. But since everything Jesus predicted in Mat 24 has happened—except for the final events of His second coming—then you must hear the words that Jesus says and you must believe Him.

Because, you see, if you believe Jesus, and you believe everything He said, even if believing in Him costs you your life, your hope is guaranteed. I imagine the leaves rustling in the breeze while those disciples sat on that hillside with the Lord. And as He talked about wars and news of wars, and famines and earthquakes, and persecution and death, and fleeing Jerusalem before its destruction, and great tribulation and the near genocide of the Jews, I imagine it all sounded frightening but distant. Far away. But it didn’t stay that way for long. The persecutions came first. Stephen was stoned to death first just a couple of years after this. John’s brother James was put to death by King Herod around 10 years later. There was a severe famine shortly after that. Serious earthquakes in 37 and 52. Paul was arrested and taken to Rome. Serious persecution broke out. Peter and Paul were executed. The Jews were plagued with false prophets and fake messiahs. The Jews rebelled against Rome and the country was ravaged by war. Christians fled Jerusalem just before the Romans came and laid siege to the city. Over a million people were trapped inside. All these things occurred within 40 years, within one generation, from when Jesus said this—as verse 34 predicts.

“Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place,” (Matt. 24:34 ESV). All these horrible things seemed far away and unreal sitting on that hillside looking at the fig trees. But when you live through horrible things hope seems far away and unreal. When you suffer and it goes on and on, God can seem far away and unreal. That’s why you need His Word. The words Jesus spoke in this prophecy foretold the things His disciples would suffer, but they also give assurance of real hope in the end. “All these things” Jesus said would happen within a generation, happened. And the Jewish people were plunged into great tribulation from then until at least the middle of the 20th century. A Christian is a person who not only believes in Jesus, but who also believes Jesus Christ. He gave His disciples things to watch for so that when they saw them happening, they would be able to know He is returning soon. Like Spring leaves prove Summer figs are coming.

“All these things” Jesus prophesied occurred. Up to verse 28 within the lifetime of that generation, by the year 70 AD. And those things continued for 19 centuries. In Luke’s account of that conversation on the Mount of Olives, Jesus said the Jews would be scattered among the nations and “Jerusalem would be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled,” (Lk 21:24b). Which means after the tribulation of those days, the Gentiles will no longer be able to trample down Jerusalem. Then Jesus says that just before His return, before the coming of the Son of Man, “the nations on earth will be distressed” and “perplexed,” and “people fainting with fear and foreboding of what is coming on the world,” (Lk 21:25, 26). Those original disciples did not live to see what verses 29-31 predict. But we see it. We see Jerusalem today free of Gentile rule. We see the nations distressed and people all over the world filled with foreboding of what is coming. But every word He said is true. And you know what that proves? That you can believe the Lord Jesus Christ. You can trust what He says and depend on His promises. Stronger than deep roots in the ground, more secure than a rope tied to any anchor, is faith tethered to the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ. So now more than ever you too need to obey what Jesus told His disciples: “See that no one leads you astray,” (4); “See that you are not alarmed,” (6); “See, I have told you beforehand,” (25), and, “So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates,” (Matt. 24:33 ESV). See how every word Jesus says has proven true. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away,” (Matt. 24:35 ESV). The Sun would more easily freeze and the moon fall to earth before any one of Jesus’ words will fail; before His promise could ever be broken. Believe Him. And lift up your head, O Christian, for your Lord is very near and coming soon. Wait for Him. Be ready. Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.