“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
The weather has been lying a lot as of late. It promised spring and then waited … it promised summer and right now it is 56 degrees and I’m freezing. However, all the signs are there.
We pay close attention to signs of preparation. As the leaves change their color and drop from the trees in the fall, we know that they are preparing for winter. Activities wind down in the summer time and children’s backpacks and supplies get purchased as they prepare to go back to school in the fall. Gifts are purchased, trees are decorated, lights are hung, carols are sun; and we know that preparations are being made for Christmas morning. Young people send out applications and begin looking nostalgically at their lives and we recognize signs of high school graduation … commencement as they begin a new portion of their lives. Couples begin planning and preparations are made for weddings.
We are familiar with all of these different signs of preparation and so many more. In the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, Jesus finishes explaining all of the signs that will signal the end of the age; the final chapter in the story of humanity.
Like a fig tree that signals the oncoming summer, signs that we will recognize will signal the end of the age. We will not be caught unaware; it will be as familiar to us as many of the preparations we make for other things in our lives. We may not know the day or the hour, but we will not be surprised when it arrives.
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