Luke 17:22-29

 (Luke 17:22-29)

And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.  For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.  But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.  Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

Jesus spoke of the signs of the end of the world. Regarding the end, the Bible says that Jesus' first coming is to preach the year of grace (preaching the Gospel) as said in Isaiah 61:2, and that Jesus' second coming is to preach the day of vengeance (the last tribulation). I have said something. The primary end is the end of Israel, the secondary end refers to the end of the world, and the Bible speaks to people in the distant future. That is, it corresponds to the day of vengeance spoken by the prophet Isaiah. It was said that many false prophets appeared in the world at the end of the world.

All tribes on earth come to know that Jesus is coming. How is the difference between Jesus, who comes like a thief and Jesus, who comes to know all the nations? Jesus, who comes like a thief, raptures the saints, and that Jesus comes from the situation that all tribes see is the Second Coming of Earth, who comes after the 7 years of the Great Tribulation. These words speak of a phenomenon that will appear at the Second Coming of Jesus. When Jesus is going to show signs in heaven, in this regard Jesus told us to learn the parable of the fig tree. The fig tree symbolizes Israel. So people think and talk about Israel. Although Israel was destroyed by Rome, people highlight that Israel became independent almost 2000 years later.

There is something that Jesus said about the fig tree in a parable. In Luke 13:6-9『 He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down. 』

One is God. Vineyard means this world. So planting fig trees means that God chose the people of Israel. And God asked for fruit, but as a result, Israel had no fruit and was cut off.

In Matthew 21:9, "And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. Likewise in Mark 11:13, "And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. "It is not the time of Israel to say that it is not the time of figs."

In Matthew 21:9, when Jesus looked at a fig tree on the side of the road, he said, ``From now on forever, you will not bear fruit.'' The word ``for eternity'' means Israel until the Second Coming of Jesus. It means that it cannot bear this fruit. The object of Jesus' curse here is to curse Israel through the fig tree. The fruit Jesus expected through Israel is the fruit worthy of repentance. God gave Israel the law, and while trying to keep the law, realizing that he could not keep the law perfectly, he told them to find Christ, but Israel did not find Christ, but rather crucified Christ on the cross. .

God wanted Israel in the law to groan and cry out to God. Just as the slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt cried out to God, so Israel wanted to cry out to God, but they turned away from God's will. Israel's representative Pharisees and scribes did not cry out to God, and the publicans, prostitutes, and sick people cry out to God. That is why they discovered Christ.

“If the branches are softened and the leaves grow, you know that summer is near.” Here, through “The branches are softened,” there are many people who talk about the independence of Israel, but this is not the independence of Israel, but at the time of Jesus’ Second Coming. I'm talking about the situation. In Matthew 24, Jesus said the situation figuratively about Noah's time. “As in Noah’s day, so shall the Son of Man come” In Noah’s day, God destroyed the world with water. The reason is said in Genesis 6.

In Genesis 6:2, “That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 』 We can see how severe the spiritual adultery of the world at that time was. They say they are God's people, but they are all people who live for the world. Today we live in a time when homosexuality is rampant and same-sex marriage is allowed globally. At the time of Jesus' Second Coming, we can realize the situation that is gradually approaching. The world is gradually moving towards the end times.