Tuesday, December 04, 2012

"Look at the Fig Tree" Sermon: Luke 21:25-36


“Look at the Fig Tree”

[Luke 21:25-36]

December 2, 2012 Second Reformed Church

            After Jesus watched the poor widow put her offering in the offering box and explained to His disciples that she had given more than all the others combined, Jesus and the disciples walked outside of the Temple, and Jesus said that there would be a day when not one stone of the Temple would rest upon another. And the disciples asked when that day would be – and what the signs of Jesus' Second Coming would be.

            This morning's text comes in the midst of the answer that Jesus gave to them – an answer which many have speculated on given the specific item of the Temple being destroyed and then the general items of war, hatred, and cosmic upheaval described.

            The mistake many well-meaning Christians, heretics, and cult leaders have made in this is in forgetting that Jesus said that He would not – could not – give the date of His Return. Jesus said, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matthew 24:36, ESV).

            Jesus largely gave them generalities – there is no way that anyone can calculate Jesus' Return from the Bible – only that He will return. And so we wonder what the point of all of this is – why did Jesus say all these things if they would not be helpful in pointing to an exact date?

            “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

            The first thing that we see in this morning’s Scripture is that Jesus said that in the time before He returns, the Creation will react violently – the heavens will be shaken. And that is been happening since the Garden. When God meted out punishment on our first parents, God said to Adam,        “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field” (Genesis 3:17-18, ESV).

And Paul wrote, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (Romans 8:19-22, ESV).

Jesus’ point in reminding them of the instability of the Creation was to remind them of the reason for the Creation being unstable – that is: our sin. When Jesus talked about these generalities about the change and the destruction and the falling apart of the created order He was not talking about a single event, but something that will progress until the end. He was telling the disciples – and us – to open our eyes and look at the destruction our sin has and continues to cause throughout the Creation.

In the beginning, God gave humanity the charge of dominion over the Creation – He gave us the responsibility to steward – to care – for it. With the exception of, perhaps, major weather events, do we ever look at the Creation? Do we watch it? Do we ever notice that something is wrong? Have we ever looked at the trouble of Creation, and considered it, as one commentator put it, “a tribunal of judgment until the end “? Does it ever inspire us to point to the Creation and tell others it is wrong – broken – and to tell them the Only Way to be right?

During Hurricane Sandy, there were undoubtedly people who claimed that the hurricane hit us because of this person or that person's sin. There were undoubtedly people who said that this is an obvious sign of the near arrival of Christ. Did the hurricane make us think of the Gospel and the need to tell others?

Jesus does say something specific in our reading: when the suffering of the Creation is completed, Jesus – the Son of Man will come in the clouds with great power and glory – and the whole world will see Him at once. As Jesus said,For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:27, ESV).

Last week we saw that Daniel wrote: “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.  And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14, ESV).  When Jesus returns, everyone will know His Return, and everyone will know that everything is His.

He did not say that to scare those of us who do believe in Him – all we would do believe in the Gospel – in Jesus Alone for salvation – will be received by Him in the Kingdom and that is why Jesus tells them that when they see Him – when we believers see Him – coming through the clouds – our redemption will be drawing near.

Purification and the restoration of the Creation – which will terrify the rest of the world, as they see Jesus return – will be an assurance to us. It will be the true perfect complete redemption of the people of God – the elect that He has chosen.

And He tells them to look ready – to straighten up – to raise their heads –to stand proud for the sake of the Gospel when they begin to see these things happening in the world – as they recognize that these things are happening due to sin and the Only Hope is Jesus Christ – we must stand up and not only take notice but be noticed the sake of the Gospel.

            “And he told them a parable: ‘Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.’”

            Until that day, Jesus told them to watch – and He told them a parable – He told them to look at the fig tree – and to look at all the trees. When the trees have leaves on, you know that summer is near. Likewise, Jesus told them, when they see all the different things that He talked about – wars, rumors of wars, disturbances in the Creation – then they – and we will know that the Kingdom of God is near.

            How does that help?

            In this parable, Jesus is encouraging the Church. During the winter, trees are stiff – their sap has been sucked in, the leaves have fallen off, and their energy is being stored for the coming of summer. When spring arrives, the sap and the nutrients flow again into the tree branches and they become more flexible, and they produce leaves and grow. Jesus knew that great tribulation was coming upon the Church and that the Church was weak and frail, like a tree just beginning to bloom with leaves. But He wanted to encourage them – and all we who follow after them – that the weakness and frailty of the Church is not a sign of failure – because our strength is in Jesus Alone. We will endure through the tribulation, as Paul wrote:  So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16, ESV). Even though we are weak and subject to the ravages of tribulation, in the end our strength is in Christ Alone, and He is renewing us, day by day, and will raise us up indestructible.

            Since the great tribulation began under the Jews and the Romans – and as it continues today throughout the world – though not as visibly in the United States – the Church is brutalized and bloodied and even driven underground. But that is not a sign of the end of the Church– that is a sign that redemption is drawing near!

            And then Jesus told them that this generation will not pass away until all these things take place and He guarantees this promise by saying that heaven and earth will pass away but His Words will never pass away – because He is God – so He cannot lie – and He cannot change.

How are we to understand the phrase, “this generation”?  Was Jesus promising this to the people that He was standing with – that they would not die until they saw all these things? Was Jesus talking about the Jews – that the Jews would not disappear from the earth until all these things came to pass? Or did He mean that humanity would not pass from the face of the earth until all these things came to pass? Or did He mean something else?

One option that we can put aside is that the first century disciples of Jesus lived to see His Second Coming: Jesus has not returned yet, and there is no reason to believe that these several hundred disciples – now over 2000 years old – are living somewhere in the world.

We do know, also, that some of the things that Jesus prophesied did come to pass in the first century: in 70 A.D. Jerusalem was destroyed – the Temple was destroyed – and Israel became a virtual desert. That much of the signs were seen by that first generation – perhaps by all of those to whom Jesus was speaking.

But consider the parable He told – look at the fig tree – when the leaves appear summer is near. In the context of the parable, it seems that Jesus is saying that this generation will not pass away until the signs of the nearness of the coming of the Kingdom came to pass. If we look at the phrase in the context of the parable, then we can interpret it as being about those very people to whom Jesus spoke, because they did see Jesus put to death, physically rise from the dead, and initiate His Kingdom on earth – not to mention the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and even all of Israel.

Of course, the fullness of the promise – of Jesus’ coming again – and the Kingdom coming in all its fullness has not come to pass. And so we are called today – to watch – to look for the signs – not to guess the date, but to recognize the signs of the progression of the Kingdom and to be ready whenever Jesus returns.

How do we do that?

            “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

            Jesus told them – and He tells us – not to be satisfied by being numbed with the narcotics of the world – by overloading our senses. Whatever it is that you or I choose to use to escape will never work – Augur wrote, “The leech has two daughters:  Give and Give.  Three things are never satisfied; four never say, ‘Enough’:  Sheol, the barren womb, the land never satisfied with water, and the fire that never says, ‘Enough’” (Proverbs 30:15-16, ESV). We cannot be fully satisfied with the things of this world because all of them are affected by sin – they are all corrupted – they will all weigh us down.

            Instead Jesus tells us to look – to watch – to meditate – that is to think intensely and try to understand what the heavenly life is. We are to spend our time fixated on the Kingdom that is coming – if we would only take time to look and see the leaves blooming. We ought to be spending time in prayer asking that God's Kingdom would come – that He would return – that we would find comfort in seeing the corruption of the world knowing that it will not always be this way – not merely that we would escape from the trials and tribulations around us but that we would see our God and Savior and that He would be glorified in fulfilling His Will for humanity.

We don't have time to sit back and ignore the signs before us – neither do we have time to point to signs that aren't there…

            As we begin this Advent, let us remember what Jesus told the disciples:

            This world has been corrupted by sin – the whole Creation has been corrupted by sin – and it's only when we understand the bad news – truly understand the bad news – that we can understand and perceive – by the Grace of God – the Good News that the little Baby that came that first Christmas was God Himself in the flesh.

            Sin has been conquered by God in the person of Jesus by His living a righteous life and by dying for all of the sins of everyone who would ever believe, physically rising from the dead, and – one day – returning in great power and glory – bringing the fullness of the Kingdom with Him in the fullness of our redemption – the restoration of Creation and the resurrection of our bodies.

            While we are living on this Earth, we need to recognize the signs, and we must be able to show them to others that they would be able to understand the Gospel – the Only Hope for any human. Corruption is among us – but so is the breaking in of the Kingdom – and we can point to it by telling others the Gospel.

            And we need to take courage – especially in the difficult days – knowing that our salvation is assured, the Kingdom is coming, Jesus is returning – we have every reason to hope and not give up.

            And lastly, we need to be on guard – we need to be alert – we need to watch out. It is so easy to give up – to give in – to think that what we do and what we believe doesn't matter. But our God and Savior has called us – as His sons and daughters – to know what He has said, to believe what He has said, to obey what He has said, and to be ready to stand – because the Son of Man is coming – just look at the fig tree.

            Let us pray:

            Almighty God, we are so easily caught up in controversies about signs and symbols and how to interpret prophecy, but we neglect the clear Word of Your Scripture. We try to complicate Your Word into some secret code, when You have told us to just open our eyes – to see what is real – to see sin, to repent of it, to hate it, to run from temptation, to stay focused on Your Kingdom, on Your Word, and on Your Second Coming. Lord, open our eyes that we would see as You see – that we would see the inbreaking of Your Kingdom amidst this fallen world and long for it. Keep us from being bogged down with things that lead us into sin and with things that do not matter. Make our mouths open – filled with the Gospel – to Your Glory. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray.  Amen.

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