It's not quittin' time

 

He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority."  --Acts 1:7

 The Oxford Dictionary defines "object lesson" as "a striking practical example of some principal or ideal."  Jesus was a master teacher, and was masterful at using object lessons.  As He was walking and talking with the disciples, He adeptly changed the subject from the Temple, which they had been admiring, to a leaf on a ripe fig tree that illustrated His point.

Let's rejoin our text at Mark 13:28 and following.

From the fig tree learn its lesson; as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.  So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.  Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. --Mark 13:28-31.

Clearly Jesus was speaking of the destruction of the Temple, which occurred in 90 A.D., and not the end of the world.  That event actually happened within a generation of the time that Jesus was speaking.  In all probability, however, John may have been the only Apostle still alive when the Romans destroyed the Temple.

Some dispensationalist denominations teach that every time the Bible uses the term "fig tree", it is a reference to Israel.  Thus, they would make a big deal out of the phrase "budding of the fig tree," or "putting out it's leaves" as referring to the time that Israel became a nation again in 1948.  They believed that within one generation of Israel becoming a nation, Christ would return for His church.  A lot of time has passed since 1948 and some have amended their prediction to say that the Second Coming might occur within one generation of Israel's Six Day War in 1967.  Again, a lot of time has passed since that event, so perhaps a different method of interpretation is needed for this text.  I believe that Jesus and His disciples were walking along and saw some fig trees in bloom, and Jesus used them as an object lesson for the first part of their question, when will His prophecy of the destruction of the Temple take place.

As to the question of the end of the world, Jesus was quite clear: it is not for you to know.

But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  Be on guard, keep awake.  For you do not know when the time will come.  It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake.  Therefore stay awake--for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning--lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.  And what I say to you I say to all:  Stay awake.  --Mark 13:32-37 

 Only God knows the day and the hour of Christ's return, and He didn't tell us.  There is wisdom in this: if we thought that the end of the world was not imminent, we may not be faithful.  On the other hand, if we knew it was coming within the year, or within the month, or within the week, we would be tempted to act differently as the time approached.  I think the point that Jesus was making was that we should not act differently.  The command to "stay awake" means to always live as if He were coming back tomorrow.

When the Apostle Paul was giving instructions to Timothy, a young pastor in the early Church at Ephesus, he wrote these words: "As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."  I think it is interesting that every action movie Hollywood has ever made encourages the hero to fulfill his own destiny.  No matter how discouraged or despondent the main character becomes through the course of the story, someone always appears who will encourage him or her to try harder, to overcome, to fulfill their destiny.

We as Christians, on the other hand, know that our destiny is secure.  Heaven is assured for us, and nothing can take that away.  However, lest we become complacent, we are encouraged to fulfill our ministry.   We each have a ministry given to us by God, who has put in in our current circumstances on purposes.  Like Queen Esther in the Old Testament, we are put in our current circumstances "for such a time as this."

Will there be suffering?  Yes.  Will we make bad decisions sometimes?  Yes, unfortunately; but even if we get a crazy idea stuck in our heads, we are to be sober-minded.  Will we get discouraged and tired of being salt and light, revealing Jesus to the darkness?  Yes, but that is our job, to evangelize our corner of the world.  Jesus Himself said just before He ascended into heaven, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:18).

Last week we talked about "the abomination of desolation."  If we get so discouraged about Jesus not coming back after 2000 years that we stop doing the work of the ministry, then we have made being desolate (abandoned by God) our idol (and idolatry is always referred to as an abomination).  In other words, we must never act as if God has abandoned us.  Instead, we are to fulfill our ministry, the work that God has placed us here to do.