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Signs of Christ’s Return—Part 6: The Final Generation
(Luke 21:29–33)

Then He told them a parable: “Behold the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they put forth leaves, you see it and know for yourselves that summer is now near. So you also, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. (21:29–33)

All who love the Lord and are concerned about His glory, desire His return. They wait eagerly for “[God’s] Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus” (1 Thess. 1:10) and are “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Titus 2:13). Paul referred to Christians as those “who have loved [Christ’s] appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8). At the close of the book of Revelation the apostle John responded to Christ’s promise, “Yes, I am coming quickly,” by saying, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20). Believers also anticipate the glory that will be revealed in them; the glorious manifestation of the sons of God that will take place at Christ’s return with the redemption of the body (Rom. 8:18–23).

The second coming is the most important of all subjects, because all other biblical truths find their culmination in it. The return of Jesus Christ marks the consummation of redemptive history; it brings to conclusion God’s glorious purpose in His eternal plan of salvation. Indifference to it or ignorance of its revealed features is inexcusable and robs the Lord of due honor.

Not surprisingly, then, the truth of Christ’s return is a major theme in the New Testament, including Jesus’ own teaching. His most complete and comprehensive exposition of the event took place on Wednesday of Passion Week, in response to the disciples’ questions about the signs of His coming, the end of the present age, and the establishment of His earthly kingdom. This treatment of His return has been traditionally known as the Olivet Discourse, because the Lord revealed it to His disciples while they were on the Mount of Olives (Matt. 24:3; Mark 13:3). Its truths have been the subject of Luke’s gospel since verse 7 of this chapter.

As noted in the previous chapters of this volume, the period between Christ’s first and second comings will be marked by three general categories of signs: deception (false Christians, false teachers, and a false church), disasters (both manmade and natural), and persecution of the true followers of Jesus Christ. All of those things will become increasingly severe as the time of Christ’s return draws near.

In addition to those general signs, there will be two specific ones. Midway through the tribulation, Antichrist, who had pretended to be Israel’s protector and benefactor, will desecrate the temple in Jerusalem by setting up the “abomination of desolation” (Dan. 11:31; 12:11; Matt. 24:15; cf. 2 Thess. 2:3–4)—a blasphemous image of himself that everyone will be required to worship or be killed (Rev. 13:14–15; 14:9, 11). That act will trigger the severe outpouring of divine wrath and judgment that marks the second half of the tribulation, which Jesus referred to as the “great tribulation” (Matt. 24:21; cf. Rev. 7:14). That intense and unparalleled three and a half years of devastation, destruction, and death will reach its climax when Antichrist’s forces surround Jerusalem (Luke 21:20) to face their destruction.

The simple, straightforward story the Lord told in this passage is not an allegory, or a mystery with hidden meaning. It is an analogy, parable, or illustration couched in uncomplicated and unmistakable language. The disciples, who after all were plain, ordinary working men, not sophisticated theologians, would have easily understood its meaning. Jesus’ story may be discussed under three headings: the simple analogy, the specific application, and the supernatural authority.

THE SIMPLE ANALOGY

Then He told them a parable: “Behold the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they put forth leaves, you see it and know for yourselves that summer is now near. (21:29–30)

As He frequently did, Jesus told an agrarian parable, the elements of which were familiar to them, to clarify unfamiliar spiritual truth (cf. 8:4–15; 13:6–9, 18–19; 15:3–7; 20:9–19; Matt. 13:24–30; 20:1–16; Mark 4:26–29). The fig tree, a common sight in Israel, is often used in Scripture in spiritual analogies. In Judges 9:10–11 Jotham used the fig tree in his analogy rebuking Israel for making Abimelech king. Hosea used the fig tree to represent the patriarchs (Hos. 9:10). Jeremiah used good and bad figs to illustrate good and bad people (Jer. 24:1–10), while Joel used the fig tree to represent Israel (Joel 1:6–7).

Fig trees, like all the rest of the trees, put forth their leaves in the spring. Everyone understands the obvious reality that the budding trees of spring indicate that summer is near. The Lord’s point is that events in the present can anticipate what will happen in the future.

THE SPECIFIC APPLICATION

So you also, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place. (21:31–32)

Just as the appearance of leaves on trees signifies that summer is near, so you also, Jesus declared, when you see these things—the signs of His return that He had delineated in the preceding verses—happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near. The twice-repeated word you (the people alive when the final signs of His return begin to take place) is the bridge between the general principle expressed in Christ’s analogy and its specific application.

The word truly (amēn) is emphatic, and indicates that what Jesus was about to say is a vital, unequivocal truth (cf. Matt. 5:18; 6:2, 5, 16; 8:10; 11:11; 18:3; 19:23; Mark 3:28; 10:15; John 3:3, 5; 5:24–25; 6:47; 8:51, 58; 16:23).

The identity of the generation to whom Jesus was referring has been much discussed. One common view is that the Lord was referring to the disciples; that He was telling them that they would live to see His second coming. But if that was what He meant, Jesus was wrong, since He obviously did not return in their lifetimes. Some, seeking to deny His deity and thus undermine His divine authority over their lives, argue just that. They misuse Jesus’ words in Mark 13:32, “But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone,” in an attempt to support their point. Since He Himself admitted His ignorance, they argue, it should come as no surprise that He was wrong. But though Jesus voluntarily set aside the full use of His divine attributes during His incarnation (Phil. 2:5–7), doing so never caused Him to err. So this view is unacceptable.

Another view argues that Jesus was referring to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. According to that view, the people of whom the Lord spoke included not only the disciples, but also that entire generation. While it is true that Jerusalem was surrounded by the Roman army in A.D. 70, the other signs of Christ’s return that He had referred to earlier in this discourse—worldwide catastrophes on a scale unprecedented in history and Antichrist’s setting up of the abomination of desolation—did not take place. Nor, most importantly, did Jesus return to earth following the events of A.D. 70. The generation alive at that time did pass away before He returned.

It should be noted that some (proponents of the view known as full or hyper-preterism) are forced to argue that Jesus did return in A.D. 70—but not in a literal, bodily sense. Hyper-preterists believe that all of biblical prophecy—including the second coming of Christ—was fulfilled by A.D. 70. That radical error sets in motion a series of disastrous consequences. Denying the literal, bodily return of Christ means denying His bodily ascension, since, as the angels told the apostles, “This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). Further, if the resurrection of all believers is a past event, it must of necessity be a spiritual, not bodily one. Even more alarming, to deny the bodily resurrection of believers is to deny the bodily resurrection of Christ, since the two events are inseparably linked (1 Cor. 15:13, 16). Shockingly, some hyper-preterists take the extreme view that Christ’s resurrection was also a spiritual, not a physical one.

The truth is that denying the bodily resurrection destroys the Christian faith. In 1 Corinthians 15 the apostle Paul bluntly warned the Corinthian believers, some of whom were denying the bodily resurrection (v. 12), of six dire consequences of that denial:

• Preaching Christ would be pointless (v. 14)

• Faith in Christ would be in vain (v. 14)

• All who preached and taught the resurrection would be liars (v. 15)

• No one would be redeemed from sin (v. 17)

• Believers who had already died would have perished (v. 18)

• A hope in Christ that is for this present life only would make Christians “of all men most to be pitied” (v. 19)

To deny the future, bodily resurrection of believers is, like Hymenaeus and Philetus, to “have gone astray from the truth” (2 Tim. 2:18). (For a more detailed critique of hyper-preterism, see my book The Second Coming [Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 1999], 9–13.)

A third view sees the generation of which the Lord spoke as the Jewish race, His point being that the Jews would survive until the end. But that would not have told the disciples anything they did not already know. They understood from the Old Testament that God had made an eternal covenant with Israel. In Jeremiah 31:35–37 God declared,

Later in Jeremiah He added,

It would have been pointless for Jesus to introduce this topic to the disciples. The everlasting nature of God’s covenant with Israel was not an issue for them, and has nothing to do with their original question about the signs of the Lord’s return (Luke 21:7).

The notion that the word generation refers to evil people in general (cf. Matt. 12:39, 45; 16:4) is similarly pointless. That there will always be wicked people until Christ returns is self-evident and communicates nothing new or definitive. It would also fail to relate to the analogy of the fig tree budding being a sign of summer.

Still another view (popularized by Hal Lindsey’s 1970 book The Late Great Planet Earth) sees the generation as the one alive when Israel was restored as a nation in 1948. Its proponents interpret the fig tree as an allegorical picture of Israel, and its budding as a reference to Israel’s rebirth as a nation. Because they teach that a biblical generation is forty years in length, the logical conclusion of that view is that Christ had to return before 1988. Obviously, that did not happen. Further, Luke’s inclusion of the phrase all the trees indicates that Jesus was not identifying the fig tree with Israel, but merely using trees in general to illustrate His point, as noted above.

All of those interpretations fail either to explain the meaning of generation in the context of the parable, or to show how Jesus’ reply answered the disciples’ question (v. 7). It is best to understand the generation of which Jesus spoke to be the one that will be alive when the signs come to pass. Just as the appearing of leaves on the trees indicates that summer is near, so also will those signs reveal to that generation that the coming of the Son of Man to establish the earthly, millennial kingdom of God is near. That also answers the disciples’ question that prompted the Lord’s discourse. Christ’s return will come soon after the appearance of the final signs.

The final generation will be limited to those saved after the rapture of the church, which will take place before the tribulation begins. Several lines of evidence support the pretribulational view of the rapture.

First, the flow of thought in the book of Revelation suggests that the church will not be on earth during the tribulation. The church appears repeatedly on earth in chapters 1 to 3. In chapters 4 and 5 the scene shifts to heaven where the church, represented by the twenty-four elders (4:4, 10; 5:8; cf. 11:16; 19:4), appears (for evidence that the twenty-four elders represent the church, see Revelation 1–11, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 1999], 148–50). Then in chapters 6–18, which record the events of the tribulation, the church is not mentioned. In chapter 19 the church returns with Christ (19:14; cf. v. 8).

Second, there are no warnings or instructions in Scripture addressed to the church that tell it how to live during the devastating divine judgments of the tribulation.

Third, the passages that describe the rapture (John 14:1–3; 1 Cor. 15:51–52; 1 Thess. 4:13–18) make no mention of judgment, which features prominently in the passages that describe Christ’s return (e.g., Matt. 13:34–50; 24:29–44; Rev. 19:11–21).

Fourth, a posttribulational rapture is pointless. Why rapture believers to meet Christ in the air (1 Thess. 4:17), only to have them immediately return to earth with Him? Why not just gather them together to meet Him when He arrives on earth? Commenting on the pointlessness of a posttribulational rapture Thomas R. Edgar asks,

Fifth, if at the end of the tribulation all unbelievers are judged and executed, and all living believers raptured and given their glorified bodies, who would be left alive to populate the millennial kingdom (cf. Isa. 65:20–23)?

Sixth, the promise to the church in Revelation 3:10 is that it will be kept out of the tribulation, not preserved in the midst of it (see Revelation 1–11, 124–25).

Finally, there are notable differences between the rapture and the second coming, in addition to the issue of judgment noted earlier. At the rapture, the church meets Christ in the air; at the second coming, the church returns with Christ to the earth. At the rapture, the church goes to heaven; at the second coming, it returns to earth. At the rapture, the Mount of Olives is untouched; at the second coming it is touched and split. At the rapture, living saints are translated; at the second coming, no one is translated into heaven. At the rapture the world is not judged, and sin gets worse; at the second coming, sin is judged, and the world is ruled by righteousness. At the rapture the body goes to heaven; at the second coming it comes to earth. The rapture is imminent and signless; the second coming has distinct signs preceding it. The rapture involves only the saved; the second coming involves both the saved and the lost.

THE SUPERNATURAL AUTHORITY

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. (21:33)

The opening phrase of this verse is not mere hyperbole; heaven and earth will indeed pass away. After Christ’s thousand-year earthly kingdom comes to an end, God will destroy the present heaven and earth and create a new heaven and earth. In his second epistle Peter described the destruction of the present universe:

In his vision of the great white throne judgment, John wrote, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them” (Rev. 20:11; cf. 21:1; Isa. 65:17; 66:22).

In contrast, the words of Jesus will not pass away. They are not ephemeral like flowers or grass (Isa. 40:8), but permanent. His word can neither be added to nor taken away from (cf. Deut. 4:2; Matt. 5:17–19; Luke 16:17; Rev. 22:18–19). The Word of God is the same unassailable, unchanging truth whether it speaks of the past, present, or future. Just as Christians were “born again … through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23) and are being sanctified by the “word of His grace” (Acts 20:32), so also will they in the future be glorified, according to the promises of the Word (Rom. 8:17, 30).