“The Leaves are on the Trees.”
By
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
OPENING: - 2 Timothy 4:1-5 says, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ear; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of the evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry”.
My mission today is as always not for you to accept unconditionally the words that come out of my mouth, but to cause you to study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not be ashamed rightly dividing the Word of Truth 2 Timothy 2:15.
There are a lot of people that see the events of the world, the war in Israel, the atmospheric conditions, the earthquakes, famines, pestilences, etc. and are troubled. They are running around in a state of panic wondering if we are headed towards WWIII. However, we that are saved, we that have the Holy Ghost need not be troubled of these things. Matthew 24:6 says, “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye are NOT TROUBLED: for all these thing must come to pass, but the end is not yet”. That word Troubled Greek word meaning to wail, to clamor, to be frighten, to make noise, to be troubled in mind and alarmed. People of God don’t need to be troubled at what is going on for all these things must come to pass. Must means it is necessary, there is a need it is right and proper. So we don’t have to be troubled for the things that are happening is necessary.
My mother tells the story of when I was 4 years old, and she was pregnant with my brother Mark. My mother says when she was pregnant that I would always ask her when is the baby coming and she says she told me “When the leaves come on the trees that the baby would be here”. My brother Mark was born in June and the leaves came on the trees in April or May and she says I said, “Mommy the leaves are on the trees where is the baby, she said she would say the baby will be here any day now”.
Well Jesus said in Matthew 24:32 “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh”. Luke 21:29-30 says, “And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand”.
Today I want to deal with this subject: - “The Leaves are on the Trees”.
PRAYER: -
SCRIPTURE: - Matthew 24:32-34 “ Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled”.
Luke 21:29-32 “And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled”.
Let me start off by saying many preachers have interpreted Jesus words as a prophecy about Israel. As a matter of fact, many preachers, churches, denominations, and theological schools are dogmatic about the fact that fig tree represents Israel in all of scripture. If that is true then in Mark 11:12-24 after Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem as He and the disciples were leaving, they come upon a fig tree that is full of leaves and they expected to find fruit of figs on the tree. When Jesus finds no fruit, He curses the tree and says in verse 14 “And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever. And his disciples heard it”. Then in verses 20 it says, “And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots”. If the fig tree represents Israel in scripture, then here in Mark 11 Israel would be dried up from the roots forever.
You can turn on a lot of televangelists on today and many of the evangelical preachers and prophecy prognosticators will preach that the Nation of Israel becoming a nation in 1948 was the fig tree and it was miraculously brought back to life after it was cursed forever and that we need to look at Israel as a sign of the end times and the return of Jesus Christ. UNDERSTAND:- Jesus never cursed Israel, He punished them for disobedience and the punishments are the curses if you will but He never once said Israel is cursed, He turned to the Gentiles and grafted them into the True Vine, He is not forsaken Israel as a people, He has fulfilled all of the promises of God in Him, He is the remnant of Israel, He is the Israel of God, He is True Israel the True Vine and all that are grafted into the vine are Israel.
I stated on last week that the Nation of Israel, the Modern Day Israel has nothing to do Eschatologically with the End-Times and the plan of God or the return of Jesus Christ. In Luke’s text he writes “Behold the fig tree, and all the trees” with the words and all the trees the idea of this being Israel is abolished. It causes us to focus on the others words “When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand” it draws our attention not so much to the fig tree or the others tress but to expect that something is about to happen, just like that 4 yr. old that said mommy the leaves are on the tress where is the baby. There should be a spirit of expectation when we see the leaves on the trees.
Let’s Understand Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 The Olivet Discourse.
BACKGROUND: - To fully be able to understand this chapter we must go back as far as Matthew 16:21 which says, “From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day”. It is during this time that He takes Peter, James, John (Faith, Goodness, and Mercy) and they experience the Transfiguration Matthew 17:1-13. He tells the disciples about what was going to happen to Him in Jerusalem Matthew 20:17-19 “And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again”. Then we come to Matthew 21:1-11 the triumphal entry into Jerusalem which fulfilled the prophet Zechariah. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem filled the people with excitement cheering saying, “This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee”. John 12:13 they said, “Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord”. Once in the city Jesus enters the temple and overturns the money changers tables and the seats of them that sold doves and declares “It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves” Matthew 21:13 this declares His Messianic authority. Then in Matthew 21:43 Jesus tells the chief priest “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof”.
No doubt the disciples wondered was Jesus going to announce His messiahship, was He ready to put and end to Roman authority, was He about to bring the Kingdom of God, would He declare war. Then we come to Matthew 22:15 says, “Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk”. Then in verses 17 – 21 it says, “Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's”. Jesus soiled their plans by answering their question only the way Jesus could. The same day in verses 23-32 the Sadducees try to entrap Jesus with the question of a woman who had seven brothers as husband and they ask Him in the resurrection whose wife would she be. Jesus told them they didn’t understand scripture because there is no marriage in the Kingdom verse 30 says, “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven”.
Then the Pharisees and the Sadducees try Him by questioning Him on the greatest commandment in 22:36. We come to the 23rd chapter and Jesus criticizes the teachers of the law and the Pharisees and towards the end of chapter 23 Jesus lays the responsibility of the slain prophets on their shoulders. No doubt the disciples were wondering if Jesus was about to take control and set up his Kingdom. Then in verses 38-39 Jesus says “Behold your house is left desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord”.
After this they leave the Temple and as they are walking out the disciples came to Him to shew him the buildings of the temple 24:1says, “And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple; and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple”. Luke 21:5 says, “And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts”.
Jesus says in Matthew 24:2 “See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down”. This prompted the disciples to come to Jesus privately and ask 3 questions. 1). When would this happen. 2). What is the sign of His coming. 3). When would the end of the age be. Jesus answers their questions, but He also taught 3 very important things and it is these things that we also must learn as well. 1). Jesus taught that what they were asking was more complicated than they thought. They were looking for a simple answer, so often we look for the simplest answer but that is not just possible sometimes 2). He taught them that they could not know when His coming would be. No man knows the day nor the hour – Matthew 24:36 “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” 3). They (We) should not be so concerned about world events but make sure that your relationship with God is correct.
Jesus began by giving warning to His disciples and to us as well not to be deceived by events that will take place as though it is the end - Matthew 24:4-8 “And Jesus answered and said unto them Take heed that no man deceive you For many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows”. We are seeing this today with Israel, Ukraine, Russia, Nagorno Karabakh which is between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Yemen, Ethiopia, Haiti, Pakistan. We have abnormal weather events happening, earthquakes in places unheard of before, topical hurricanes in California and listen to this number so far in 2023 there have been 11,651 earthquakes measuring 4.0 in magnitude or great worldwide. He goes on and talks about the abomination of desolation verses 15-16 then He continues and says in verse 21 “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be”.
No doubt confused the disciples thought that the destruction of the temple, Jerusalem, and Judea was the sign of His coming the end they were expecting. Jesus corrected their misconception in verse 23 “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not”. In verse 26 Jesus continues to drive the point “Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth; behold, he is in the secret chambers believe it not”. In other word we must make sure that we are not deceived by so-called prophecy prognosticators that are nothing more than false prophets. We must make sure we don’t follow after people proclaiming to be Christ or can present us to Christ by any other means than what the Word of God says, repeat after me and your are saved.
In verse 30 Jesus gives the sign of His coming it says, “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory”. The sign of His coming is His coming, there is no advance sign that will suggest His coming, when He comes, He comes and those that are here will know when it happens. Israel is not the sign of His coming, wars and rumors of wars is not the sign of His coming, earthquakes, weather, or anything else is a sign of His coming other than His coming.
Then we come to our text verse 32-34 “Now learn the parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled”. As I stated in the beginning there is a lot of misconception and misinterpretation about the fig tree representing Israel and that we need to keep our eyes on Israel as an eschatological time clock that is bringing in the end times. That is not true Jesus never told us to watch Israel. He told the disciples that destruction was going to come, that the temple would be destroyed but He never said watch Israel for that is the time clock.
Jesus said “when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors”. What are all these things that we shall see.
Yes, He said there would be wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes in divers places, and atmospheric happens, but He never says for us to watch world events as the key to the end times.
Sure, false prophets will rise and He warns us not to be deceived by them but they are the leaves of the trees not the sign of His coming.
There will be famine and pestilence, disease and epidemic’s but these are the beginning of sorrows.
So, if Jesus never meant for us to watch Israel has many preachers teach and He never meant for us to watch the world events as a time piece to the end times what does Jesus mean when He says, “Learn the parable of the fig tree and all the other trees”, What are we to watch then.
Just as the little 4 yr. old me that said with expectation “Mommy the leaves are on the trees when is the baby coming”. When we see all these things taking place, we need to be expecting the return of Jesus at anytime and we need to watch our relationship with Him ensuring we are lined up, walking according to His word.
Watch our relationship not Israel or worldly events.
In verses 45-51 Jesus tells the disciple to avoid being caught up in worldly lust and being overcome with the desire to sin because it seems as though He will not return. Matthew 24:45-51 says, “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. This is a warning for us today not to be as some have become so comfortable and accommodating of sin that we allow ourselves to be caught up in being like the world because Jesus hasn’t come yet. Don’t be like the people mentioned in 2 Peter 3:4 “And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation”. It is impossible to tell the difference from the apostate church and the world. They do not deny the truth outright, but they will twist it to fit their own ideologies and agendas. They are morally perverted, ignorant about the Word of God, defile the flesh, are rebellious, proclaim false visions, faultfinders, self-satisfying, arrogant, mockers of God, cause divisions, worldly minded and devoid of the spirit – Jude. There are a lot of churched that have adopted this worldliness that say the are worshipping God but are in fact apostate and on their way to hell because their relationship is not lined up. Watch your relationship.
If you were to finish the Olivet Discourse which is chapter 25 as well, you will see that Jesus repeated the theme of making sure your spiritual relationship is in order. In verses 1-13 Jesus tells of the ten virgins 5 were wise and 5 were foolish the 5 wise made sure they had enough oil for their lamps and the 5 foolish didn’t. While they were waiting for the bridegroom to come, then at midnight the bridegroom came the 5 wise were ready but the 5 foolish didn’t have enough oil and had to go and buy some and in the process they missed out on the wedding feast, verse 13 of chapter 25 says, “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh”. We must make sure that we are ready to go with Jesus when He comes, we must make sure we have everything in order and not trying to get ready or else we will miss out and hear these words Matthew 25:12 says, “But he answered and said, Veril I say unto you, I know you not”. As we see the leaves coming on the trees, we must expect that Jesus can come any day and we need to make sure we are ready, we need to make sure our relationship with Him is in line. There will not be time when He appears to be getting ready, but we must be ready. EXAMPLE: - Have you ever gone to pick somebody up and you get to their house, and they sit down I will be just a few more minutes I am not quite ready yet. Well, when Jesus come the will not be a chance to get ready, there will not be the opportunity to say just a minute I will be ready in 5 minutes it will be too late.
In Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus tells of a man traveling into a far country and he called his servants and gave one 5 talents, one 2 talents, and one 1 talent, the 1 with the 5 was faithful and got 5 more, the one with the 2 was faithful and got 2 more but the one with 1 was unfaithful and did not try to get more and when the man showed up he tried to give excuse. This parable deals with our need to make sure we are good stewards of what God has given us and just as the man rewarded his servants Jesus will reward us if we are faithful with what He has entrusted to us. So as we see the leaves on the tree we must make sure that we are faithful stewards of Jesus Christ, we must do the work of an evangelist, endure afflictions, make full proof of our ministry because we know not the day nor the hour when He will return and we don’t want to end up like the servant that had 1 talent – verse 30 says, “And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth”.
Verses 31-46 we find the parable of the sheep and the goats Jesus causes the disciples and us to look at the consequences of the return of Jesus if we fail to do what He says. He tells us that our lives must be full of compassion, caring, understanding, verse 40 says, “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me”. His coming and the resurrection would be judgment day.
Verse 45-46 says “Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal”.
That ends the discourse in which Jesus answered the 3 questions of the disciples. He let them know that things were going to come to pass, troubles were going to happen, there would be wars and rumors of war, but don’t concentrate on those things, don’t get so wrapped up in those things that you fail in your spiritual relationship.
Luke 21:28 says, “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh”.
The only sign of Jesus’ coming is His coming and then it will be too late so as we see the leaves coming on the tree, we need to have the spirit of expectation and make sure that our spiritual relationship is where it needs to be, we can’t be deficient in the things God has entrusted to us, we cannot be slack in doing His will. No world event is an indication of Jesus return, Israel is not an indication of Jesus return, earthquakes or atmospheric phenomena are not an indication of Christ return but are leaves on the tress and as we see these things, we should expect His return and say as John says in Revelation 22:20 “Even so, come Lord Jesus”.
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
