Luke 21:28–31

As though to rule out any chance of reading all this as the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, our Lord says, "when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draws near." He clearly distinguishes between "these things," which mark the close of the days of vengeance, and the other things which were to mark their beginning. The destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans was surely no sign of approaching redemption!

God will know how to trouble men's dreams and to break up Satan's ease. Their horror will reach its peak at the sight of the rejected Lord, the Son of man, coming in a cloud with power and glory. But there will be others on earth then, disciples tried by the evils of that day. For them, even the beginning of these troubles and the signs of change for the world will be the sure herald of deliverance.

We are to "look up," for the next movement that really counts is to come from the right hand of God, where He sits. We are to "lift up our heads," the opposite of hanging them down in depression or fear. The very things that frighten the world are to fill the believer with the confidence of holy expectation.

Much can make the head droop and the heart wither a little now: the power of temptation, sorrow of various kinds, seeing sin all around. But once the head is lifted up at the day of redemption, it is lifted up for ever.

It is nothing but the work of the Lamb of God that can lead to any joy or deliverance among us. The precious blood is all our title. And so the jubilee and redemption are connected. When the Lord here says, "Your redemption draws near," He was looking out to this jubilee of Israel and the earth. The jubilee was God's redemption of His land and people. Suppose no kinsman could be found who was able or willing to do this beforehand. Then God Himself, in the fiftieth year, would use both His rights and His resources on behalf of His oppressed land and enslaved people.

The earth's destruction is not what is meant here. What is meant is the blessing that comes after the end of the age, when God ends the time of man's wickedness and misery and trouble and suffering. The coming of the Son of man is never linked with the end of the world in that sense. It is linked with the close of Satan's misrule and the shining out of the kingdom of God.

Verse 28 can have its application both to the believing remnant of Israel in the time of the tribulation and to ourselves now. For the first application, their redemption will be the freeing power of the Son of Man. He will set Israel free from her ages of bondage. In the second case (taking place earlier) our redemption will be of our bodies at the Rapture (Rom. 8:23).

When you see these things, do not be disturbed, look up, do not look down, for your redemption draws near. I do not deny that dark times are coming. But may this only make us look up like Stephen, and see the glory that is also coming! This would separate us from all that is contrary to the purity, holiness, and love of the Lord Jesus.

Sweetness and good fruit are what marked the fig tree in Jotham's parable. God chose Israel as a nation, out of all the nations, to bear fruit for Him. Luke 21:29 shows it: "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees." The fig tree is set apart from the rest. We see Israel's failure to answer all God's goodness when our Lord cursed the barren fig tree. This was the only miracle our Lord performed that did not bring blessing. It tells us that while grace and blessing are what God delights in, judgment must still find its place, for God is righteous and must uphold His name.

He gives a parable, but not of the fig tree only: that would not suit the largeness of Luke's scope. "Look at the fig tree and all the trees." Here is the difference between Luke and the others. It is not that his Gospel lacks the Jewish part. It is that he brings in all the Gentiles as well. How perfect it all is! Luke writes for the Gentiles, so he gives not only the fig tree found in Matthew, but the Gentile trees found nowhere else. That one tree clearly applies to the Jews as a nation; the other figure, "all the trees," adds the rest, so as to be universal.

At the same time as Israel reappears in world politics, many of the powers Israel dealt with in the past will appear again... If the fig tree is Israel, "all the trees" stand for the powers that have to do with her. All must take up their positions to play the part assigned to them in the last scenes.

The Jew was God's fig tree, set on earth to bear fruit and to be a witness. He withered because he was barren. One day he will be broken in heart and will turn to the Lord. The branch becomes tender and puts out leaves in the power of a renewed life. Then the summer, the harvest, the end is near — at the doors.

They were scattered, as Luke told us they would be, and now they are gathering in the land again. The fig tree is shooting... The trees do seem to be putting out their leaves. The summer surely is already near; and there is no summer apart from the Kingdom of God.

The mark of the fig tree is that fruit and leaves are there together. As soon as the branch becomes tender, the fruit is found. It is a rapid development. This is the lesson here. Israel's blessing, new life, fruit and glory will quickly be realised in those end days... There is another application: that we now see Israel like a budding fig tree, with signs of new national life. Taken as a sign of the times, this is certainly not wrong. It tells us of the nearness of the end.

He gives a parable, but not of the fig tree only: that would not suit the largeness of Luke's scope. "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees." Here is the difference between Luke and the others. His Gospel does not drop the Jewish portion; in addition, he brings in all the Gentiles. This evangelist for the Gentiles gives not only the fig tree which is in Matthew, but also the Gentile trees, which no other Gospel mentions. That one tree plainly applies to the Jews as a nation; the other figure ("all the trees") adds the rest, so that it becomes universal.

The leaves on the fig tree, the Lord tells us in Matthew 24:32, give notice that summer is near; and so, He says, the things which He had been describing would give notice, when they came to pass, that the kingdom was near.

The fig tree is no longer barren; for the Son of Man received, and the new covenant with Him, will change everything. These are early days; and we hear of no more than the branch becoming tender and putting out leaves. The time of fruit will come; but as yet they only know that summer is near.

The parable of the fig tree applies to the Jewish remnant of returned captives in the land. They were scattered, as Luke told us they would be. Now they are gathering there again; the fig tree is shooting. But Luke adds "and all the trees": in which we are apparently to see, in keeping with Luke's character, the revival of the nations making up Daniel's empires... Certainly the trees seem to be putting out their leaves. The summer surely is already near; and there is no summer apart from the Kingdom of God. Again we see, as in Matthew, how fast it will at last come on. The generation that sees the beginning will see the end. And here the Lord solemnly affirms that His word cannot change: though heaven and earth pass away, this will not.

Even before the Rapture we see the beginning of the signs of the Lord's coming in glory, which will be later than the Rapture. For Israel has once again become a nation possessing her own land. The nations around her were for years almost unheard of and of little account. Now they have become militant and are pressing to the front for recognition. This great resurgence of national ambition tells us that the kingdom of God is near. If the millennial kingdom is near, the coming of the Lord for the Church (the Rapture) is at least seven years nearer.

The first prominent sign is the one given in the "parable of the fig tree." This tree is an emblem of Israel, and the putting out of leaves may well point to a national revival of that people... Before Israel's false king appears, while the branch is still tender, there is a putting out of leaves, and this is a sign to the remnant. The movement called "Zionism," already begun among the Jews, feeble, undefined and tentative as it is, may be the start of what, after the church is gone, will become the putting out of the leaves of the fig tree.

Here is an instance of how exact Scripture is, even in its figures. Who but God could have thought of giving only the fig tree in Matthew, which speaks of Israel? In Luke we get the fig tree and all the trees, for there the Gentiles get mixed up in the troubles of Israel.

So we have every right to expect signs of life in Israel, and in the nations she has special dealings with. These signs come before the Saviour comes to earth to set up the visible kingdom of God. That great event is near, for no one can deny that remarkable movements are going on among these peoples.

Now in what sense could the kingdom of God be near when Jerusalem fell? In its mysterious state, the state it exists in now, the kingdom of God had already come long before Jerusalem was destroyed. In that sense no one could call it near at hand then. But once these signs of Christ's second coming begin, the kingdom in its open display of millennial glory will be near at hand.

Is it not clear, then, that the kingdom of God is coming in a sense different from what people look for and talk about? Its approach is real now to faith, but we do not see it. Then it will be manifest, and it will put down everything that sets itself against God. The yoke of evil will be broken then, which it is not now.

So the Holy Spirit records here an expression which may apply to both: "you know that the kingdom of God is near." I have no doubt this had a certain accomplishment in the complete suppression of the Jewish order, but not its fulfilment. The coming of the Son of Man, after the signs of verses 25 and 26, will establish the kingdom of God.

When they see these things happening, they are to conclude that the kingdom of God is near. He had spoken of the final, worldwide trouble for the whole inhabited earth, not just of what has happened to the Jews. The things seen here were signs, like the budding of the trees. So the kingdom of God plainly comes at the coming of the King, when the Lord God Almighty takes His great power and reigns.

For Israel has once again become a nation possessing her own land. Other nations around her, for years almost unheard of and of little importance, have become militant and are pressing forward for recognition. This great resurgence of national ambition tells us that the kingdom of God is near. If the millennial kingdom is near, the coming of the Lord for the Church is at least seven years nearer.