Brother Hal does not connect the "day and hour" of Matthew 24:36 with the "lesson of the fig tree" of verse 32. Instead he says "everyone recognized that the general time of summer had arrived. Jesus then applied this to what He had predicted about the signs of His return and the end of the age."
What did Jesus say?
As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know....
During winter you do not know what day or hour the fig tree will put out its leaves in the spring. But when spring comes..and you observe that twigs get tender (Gr. apalos - of a branch of a tree that is full of sap )...you know the day and hour it will put forth its leaves. Israel's winter was her dispersion (Luke 21:24), her spring began on May 1948, and her summer...the seventieth seven (Daniel 9:27) is yet future.
The fig tree was a common fruit tree in Israel. It is mentioned many times in the Old Testament, especially as a description of the abundance of the land. Sometimes figs or fig trees are also used as symbols or pictures. In passages like Jeremiah 24:1-10 and Hosea 9:10, figs or fig trees are used as an representation of Israel. It seems that Jesus' reference here is not so much on the "figness" of the fig tree, but on the way that the fig tree follows reliable growth cycles related to the seasons. This is especially evident compared when this passage is compared with Luke 21:29-31. -- David Guzik
When the juices return from the roots into the branches, and the buds swell and burst, as if tender, and too feeble to-contain the pressing and expanding leaves. When you see that, you judge that spring and summer are near. -- Albert Barnes
What is the lesson to be learned from the parable of the fig tree? That lesson is that when a fig tree reaches a certain stage in the seasonal cycle (in this case puts on leaves) then one knows that they have reached a certain time of the year (in this case, that summer is near). A parable is a lesson of comparisons, moving from the known in order to explain the unknown. In this instance the leaves before summer would refer to the events of the tribulation as outlined by Christ in verses 4- 31. Thus, when one sees these events then they are to know that Christ' s return is near, " right at the door" (24:33). --Thomas Ice
The point of all of this is that what is unknown about the budding of the fig tree (24:36)...Israel's revival as a nation....becomes known...YOU KNOW...when "As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out.." We KNOW summer is near...Israel's seventieth seven...because Israel is back in the land (Ezekiel 38:12) then "this generation (that which has been begotten, men of the same stock--i.e. Jews born and live in Israel since 1948 until Jesus returns) will certainly not pass away until all these things (from Israel's revival in 1948 to her rescue at the end of the seventy-sevens) have happened."
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