Bible Study Seattle

“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.”  Matthew 24:32

Jesus’ discourse on end times gives several hints, one of which is summer.  To get a sense of when ‘summer’ is, we first look at Moses’ Psalm 90:

“For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it passes by,
Or as a watch in the night.
You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep;
In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.
In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew;
Toward evening it fades and withers away.”  Psalm 90:4-6

There are several items of note here.  First is that a day is as a thousand years.  The Hebrew day starts at sundown.  Therefore, the first half of the day is evening or darkness.  The second half is morning or daylight.  Midnight is the darkest, and noon is the brightest.  If we were to compare a thousand years or a day to a year, when would the seasons fall?  Undoubtedly, summer would surround the noontime sun.  Winter would fall around midnight.  Roughly speaking, winter would be 9pm to 3am.  Summer would be 9am to 3pm.  Spring and fall being in between.  In a thousand years, winter would fall between the 125th and the 375th years, and summer would fall from the 625th to the 875th year.  This leads us to question using Israeli statehood as the final generation, since we are in the 142nd year since 1874.  Assuming Jesus returns on the Day of Atonement, which is slightly past half way through the year, this is roughly the 528th year out of 1,000.  Then ‘summer’ will be near relatively speaking.  Some ‘leaves’ will have come early in the springtime (375th to 528th years).  These will be the ancient Israelites such as Elijah, Moses, and David.  David’s battle prowess will come in handy.  When they see the Son of Man standing on the Mount of Olives to assist them, they will become fearless and unstoppable.  All their enemies’ hearts will melt.

“For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.  Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle.  In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.  You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!  In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle.  For it will be a unique day which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light.”  Zechariah 14:2-7

This is the day of Atonement!  God will fight for Israel as he did at the Red Sea.  Will he arrive at midnight?  “Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent.  For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps.  Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep.  But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’”  Matthew 25:1-6