Already preached to all creatures?

It is well known from the Scripture that the gospel must first reach all nations before the end comes. The great commission of Jesus Christ to his disciples is to preach the gospel to all nations. And we are still working on that commission today. But, in Colossians 1:23, we saw something interesting, which seems to indicate that the task was already accomplished even in the time of Apostle Paul:

If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; Colossians 1:23, KJV

This of course is very puzzling at the first glance, but the key seems to be in the prophesy of Zechariah the father of John the Baptist, when he was filled with the Holy Ghost:

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: Luke 1:68-70, KJV.

Paul also wrote in the book of Hebrews, testifying that those of the old times had the same gospel as we have now:

For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. Hebrews 4:2, KJV

And indeed, the gospel was pronounced even when Adam and Eve fell, because the Lamb of God was slain at the foundation of the world (ref: Revelation and Ephesians). Now in the end times, this mystery is fully manifested to us, and this gospel of salvation should be preached among all nations, to have them know the fulfillment of the word of God, to have hope of eternal life, till the end comes:

whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:25-27, KJV.

It is only that the gospel is now fully manifested, but the same gospel was preached from the very beginning to all men, only that most of them hardened their hearts and rejected it quickly, and followed their own ways of this world. Hey, but now it is high time to tell everybody what our Lord Jesus said on the cross: it is finished!

Where you stand is holy

In the Book of Joshua 5:13-15, we can read of this amazing record of the encounter of Joshua with the LORD before the fall of Jericho:

And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Ney; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said onto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? And the captain of the LORD's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. Joshua 5:13-15, KJV

As Joshua worshiped him, who then told Joshua to loose off his shoe, for the place is holy, we know that he is none other than the Christ, the Son of God! It is interesting to note that when moses was called in the wilderness at the age of 80, he was also told to take off his shoe. So, here is the question: why taking off their shoes? Undoubtedly, both Moses and Joshua are serving the God who is holy. As servants, they must stand before God, and where they stand is holy. The shoe, however, is what we ware to walk in this world, and consequently, is filthy. So, to serve and stand before God, we must take off our old wakings in this world, and stand in holiness. This is such an important issue for us to have victory in our lives serving God, that the LORD come on special purpose to emphasize this to Joshua before the battle to take Jericho, the first city in the promised land.

The First Lie

Why all these terrible sufferings now all around the world? Why men and animals all die? It all goes back to a lie (yes, just a single lie!), the first lie man ever know, but a very deadly one.

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. (Genesis 3:1-7, KJV)

While the lie suggested a better life, it resulted in immediate death: after they ate the fruit, they immediately knew that they were naked -- for their eyes were both opened. Before they ate the forbidden fruit, "[And] they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." (Genesis 2:25) So, they knew they were naked. Why they did not know before? Were they created blind when God first created Adam and Eve? Surely not, for before they ate, "the woman saw that the tree was good for food". Then why it says that their eyes were opened? Because their state of being has been changed permanently, and they saw a totally different human being in themselves! They are ashamed of what they saw of themselves, and they wanted to hide themselves away. So they "sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons". This shall become evident when we read later that for the very nakedness, they were in fear and hid themselves from the face of the LORD God. Why would they become so ashamed of themselves, and feared? For they were conscious of the filthiness of themselves, being captured by sin from breaking the command. Meanwhile, they defended themselves using the wisdom they have just acquired -- that they were not guilty.

And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. (Genesis 3:8-12, KJV)

Because of the sin, the harmony between God and men, and the harmony among men, are all shattered. And men are caught in a dilemma, that their consciousness accuses themselves, but their wisdom defends themselves in vain, because it begot itself from a lie.

And so Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus, hanged himself in the end, and was lost forever. Oh, how great is that blindness, when the Savior is at sight for three years! And when God afterwards sacrificed an animal so that their nakedness can be covered from the animal skin, God had already preached the Gospel to the very first couple, that at a pointed time in the future, the Lamb of God will be sacrificed, that the power of death and the grip of sin will be broken (Genesis 3:15), and all our nakedness can be covered because of him!

You don't have to die!

When Lazarus was dead for four days, his body already stinking in his tomb, Jesus said to his sister Martha, 'I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?' (John 11:25, KJV) With those words already said, Jesus proved his claim by raising Lazarus from the dead, as recorded in the Scripture:

Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. (John 11:38-44, KJV)

Now many believed in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. But because of the same thing, the council gathered and plot against Jesus, and there the Scripture reveals the price Jesus paid for us so that we could have eternal life:

And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death. (John 11:49-53, KJV)

Hey, you don't have to die! For Jesus Christ already paid the price, so that whosoever believes can have eternal life!

Errors in Greenleaf's Harmony

There are some errors in Greenleaf's harmony of the resurrection accounts, as adapted by W. R. Miller below:

The Greenleaf's Harmony of the Resurrection Accounts
http://www.tektonics.org/harmonize/greenharmony.htm

Nevertheless, it is a great work by Professor Greenleaf, a Harvard law school professor, who was first an unbeliever, but as he studied the Scripture to find evidence against the resurrection account, and thus to overthrow the whole Christiandom, eventually became a believer, quite the opposite to his initial goal of study.

Let us first get a more accurate understanding of John 20:1-2, as is a key:

The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the LORD out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.(John 20:1-2, KJV)

John's account did not mention that Mary had met the LORD, but according to the principle behind Le Clerc's canon, no mentioning does not mean nonexistence, we shall not assume that Mary did not tell that. According to what happened later, it should be clear that the opposite is true:

Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. (John 20:7-9, KJV)

So after John examined the situation in the sepulchre, he believed. Believed what? From the context, the details inside the sepulchre as described herein, he believed the resurrection! Now it also explicitly mentions that "they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead", then where comes the information of resurrection? The only possible answer here is Mary! The reason of not mentioning it might be that what really motivated John and Peter to run to the sepulcre is the missing of the body of the LORD, not the resurrection -- since her words "seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not." (Luke 24:11) Also, the Gospel according to John was written much later than the other three, and at the time of writing it was well known that the other Gospels already gave more details.

So Mary did tell them about her meeting Jesus after she came out of the sepulchre. This understanding of John 20:1-2 is then in perfect harmony with the accounts in the other Gospels (Matthew 28:1-15; Mark 16:1-11; Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-10). The account in Luke 24:11-12 clearly shows that Mary was not alone when she told Peter and John about that, and in Matthew 28:8-10, they were found to have met the LORD alive early that morning. The reason that only Mary Magdalene was mentioned by John, and that she was mentioned before the other women with her by the other Gospels, should be found by Mark 16:9, "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils." This meeting was recorded in Matthew 28:8-10, but Mary was not singled out. Since Mark 16:8 mentioned the other women, then in the next verse Mary Magdalene was singled out, it is likely that Mary Magdalene met Jesus alone first, then her reaction caused the others to come to meet Jesus.

Then in John 20:11-18, Mary met the LORD the second time, which is not mentioned in the other three Gospels. From the account, it seems obvious that Mary believed not the resurrection then, even after her first meeting with the LORD. We do not know for sure why, a possible reason could be that she overly worried about the disappearance of the body of the LORD and she was extremely sorrowful. Her unbelief may partly explain why the disciples did not believe from her account, or on the contrary, may be the result of the unbelief of the disciples, not taking her account seriously. But she really loved Jesus, that she followed the two disciples again back to the sepulchre. I bet that's why the LORD appeared to her again, so as to turn her sorrow into joy.

Now, let us come back to Greenleaf's harmony. The errors lie in that Mark 16:9-11 were considered to be parallel with John 20:11-18, which should not be, for the reasons given above. Once these errors are corrected, we found perfect harmony in the four Gospels. Harmony, perfect harmony!!!

No reasonable man can study these evidences and deny that our LORD was raised the third day!

The canon of Le Clerc

Many of the alleged disagreements in the Gospels come from the ignorance of the sound canon of Le Clerc:

Qui plura narrat, pauciocra complectitur; qui pauciora memorat, plura nzon negat.” (Harmony of the Gospels, p. 525. Can. XII. fin.)

This is in Latin, translated into English, it means:

What is narrated as plural, already covers the singular case; what is mentioned as singular, does not deny the plural case.

The principle behind this canon is very intuitively simple: while mentioning means existence, no mentioning does not mean nonexistence. When you apply this canon, many of the alleged disagreements automatically disappear. For example**, in the visit of the women to the sepulcher (Matt. 26:1-8. Mark 16:1-8. Luke 24:1-11. John 20:1, 2.), Matthew mentions Mary Magdalene and the other Mary; v. 1. Mark enumerates Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome; v. 1. Luke has Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and others with them; v. 10. John speaks of Mary Magdalene alone, and says nothing of any other. The first three Evangelists accord then in respect to the two Marys, but no further; while John differs from them all. Is there here a real discrepancy?

We may at once answer, No; because, according to the sound canon of Le Clerc. Because John, in narrating circumstances with which he was personally connected, sees fit to mention only Mary Magdalene, it does not at all follow that others were not present. Because Matthew, perhaps for like reasons, speaks only of the two Marys, he by no means excludes the presence of others. Indeed, the very words which John puts into the mouth of Mary Magdalene, (v. 2), presupposes the fact that others had gone with her to the sepulcher. That there was something in respect to Mary Magdalene, which gave her a peculiar prominence in these transactions, may be inferred from the fact, that not only John mentions her alone, but likewise all the other Evangelists name her first, as if holding the most conspicuous place.

The instance here under consideration is parallel to that of the demoniacs of Gadara, and the blind men at Jericho; where, in both cases, Matthew speaks of two persons, while Mark and Luke mention only one. Something peculiar in the station or character of one of the persons, rendered him in each case more prominent, and led the two latter Evangelists to speak of him particularly. But there, as here, their language is not exclusive; nor is there in it anything that contradicts the statements of Matthew. There are no disagreements, the whole Bible is in perfect harmony.

**Ref: Greenleaf's Harmony of the Resurrection Accounts
http://www.tektonics.org/harmonize/greenharmony.htm

The Mission and Offices of Jesus Christ

Once we have identified Jesus with the Christ, the Son of God, we naturally wonder why God sent his Son Jesus Christ into this world, who became flesh, and dwelt among us? Today we will study the mission of Jesus Christ, without which, the office titles would be meaningless. Let us hear what the Scriptures say with regard to this (all quotes are from the King James Version) :

And she [Mary] shall bring forth a son, and thou [Joseph] shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21)

The name JESUS means Savior, and so the name of Jesus already indicates the mission. It is plainly stated that **his people** are to be saved from **their sins**. Who are his people? The elect -- first the Jews, then the Gentiles, as explained in the parables (The parable of the wicked husbandmen in Matthew 21:33-41, and the parable of the marriage feast in Matthew 22:1-14), and by apostle Paul in Romans 11. Remember those famous verses in the Exodus? "Let my people go!" Moses is a shadow of the true Savior to come, and Egypt shadows the state of sins, and the people were slaves. But who were saved by the passover in Egypt? Aren't they that put the blood of the passover lamb on their doors by their faith, without regard to persons? The same is true when the True Lamb of God is sacrificed. So the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached the gospel unto Abraham: In your seed shall all nations be blessed (the promises sworn by God himself, and the seed being Christ). Isiah the prophet also said: And in his name shall the Gentiles trust (as cited in Matthew 12:21). Another prophecy by Isiah: And all flesh shall see the salvation of God (as cited in Luke 3:6).

Do man must be saved from sins? The consequence of sin is death -- complete and eternal separation from the living God: God is the God of the living, not of the dead. All good things come from God, and such a separation from God is just terrible. We now still enjoy a lot of good things in this life, righteous or unrighteous, for the final judgment is not yet. And none can free themselves from the bondage of sin, which comes from the womb even at the conception. Since we are all dead even before we were born, how can we save ourselves? We must therefore need a Savior!

How did Jesus save us from our sins? First he needs to get there, yet not by his own sin -- as he is sinless, but by bearing our sins, and to die in our stead. Then, he breaks the power of death, and was raised again the third day! Thus, all of us are no longer subject to the bondage of sin, but become free. But we first need to delegate our sins to him, so that we identifies ourselves with the death of Jesus Christ (he died in our stead), and then with his life everlasting (we participate in his life). We are freed from the dominion of the power of darkness, and saved into the Kingdom of light. For the atonement of sins, Jesus Christ is the High Priest; for the freedom and life, Jesus Christ is the almighty King that overcome the power of darkness to bring us into the Kingdom of God; and for us to put our faith in him to be saved (to delegate our sins onto him, to identify with his death and resurrection), Jesus is the Prophet (in fact, all the prophets are sent by him), so that we can believe in the Word and have eternal life.

Praise the Lord!

Is Jesus the Christ?

Yesterday we identified the Christ with the Son of God, and learned that when we say "Jesus Christ", we already said a lot: that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah), the (only begotten) Son of the living God, the eternal Word that became flesh, and with regard to his office, the Prophet, the High Priest, and the King! Today, we will study the Scriptures and show that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

If Jesus is the Son of God, it is thus necessarily true that he is not the son of Joseph in reality, and Jesus was found not to admit Joseph as his real father in the Scriptures. And the Scriptures clearly show that Jesus is conceived from the Holy Ghost, provably of a virgin (Matthew 1:18-25; Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:26-38). And we know that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one (so the Holy Ghost is one of the living God, which is *crucial* to identify Jesus with the Son of God). Keep this in mind, Jesus must be sinless to redeem us from our sin, which was with us even when we were conceived in our mothers' womb (Psalm 51:5, 58:3) . If Jesus were conceived like all of us, how could he ever redeem any of us? But thanks be to God, for Jesus is the most precious Lamb of God (John 1:35-37), even His only begotten Son, prepared by God for us, the sinners!

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16, KJV)

Glory to God on the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2:14). The Sonship of Jesus is again testified at his baptism by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22, John 1:29-34), after which Jesus started his mission -- in a sense, the Baptism is somewhat like an inauguration ceremony for Jesus. The disciples confess Jesus as the Christ, both before and after the death of Jesus, there are too many verses to cite here, let me just give you a few: Andrew, Simon Peter's brother (John 1:41), Nathanael (John 1:49), and Peter (Matthew 16:16); and among the women that serves Jesus and his disciples: Martha (John 11:27). Those are before the death of Jesus, and after the death and resurrection of Jesus, there are two many to cite. And Jesus himself also testified this truth (John 4:25-26, John 9:35-38, John 10:22-38), and for this very truth he was even condemned to death (Matthew 26:62-68), besides all of the miracles he performed. At the Transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9), this is again testified (Peter later in his 2nd epistle also mentioned this in 1:16-18). Then the death of Jesus is in itself a testimony that he is the Son of God -- for that, even the Roman soldiers there said (Matthew 27:54): Truly this is the Son of God! And finally, the resurrection! Yes, the resurrection is the ultimate, and most powerful proof that Jesus is the Christ (Romans 1:3-4), and like the testimony of John the Baptist, the death and resurrection are also recorded in all of the four Gospels, testified by all these different disciples.

In fact, I have left out so many other important evidences, such as the genealogy, the betrayal, the burial, and the numerous other fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies, which will explode this blog. And so we confidently say that very tiny bit of Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God! Next time, we will study the three office titles of Jesus Christ, and his mission from his Father in heaven.

What think ye of Christ?

Well, most of you who are familiar with the Scriptures, will know that Christ means 'the Anointed One', which in Hebrew is Messiah. You may also know that there are three office titles that will be anointed in the old testament: high priests, prophets, and kings, and thus some say that Christ is the office title that has all of those three titles in one. Well, if we stop at that point, we have missed the most essential meaning of Christ. As Christians (which derive the name from Christ, for Christians literally mean 'little Christs'), we should really know better than that, because even the Pharisees agree with that, but that was far from being adequate, as Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees in the following conversation:

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. He says unto them, how then does David in spirit call him Lord, saying,

The LORD said unto my Lord,
Sit thou on my right hand,
till I make thine enemies thy footstool?

If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? (Matthew 22:41-45, KJV)

We know that the Pharisees were expecting a mere man as their Christ, to setup an earthly kingdom for them, like what David did, only that this time the kingdom should be much more powerful and glorious, and it should last forever. Thus by this conversation Jesus quoted a psalm of David to question their interpretation of the Scriptures.

So, let us take a look at what others of that time were thinking of Christ from the Scriptures. Let us first look at two places of the Scriptures, under quite different circumstances:

But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. (Matthew 26:63, KJV)

He says unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for the flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 16:15-17, KJV)

In the verse of Matthew 26:63, the high priest used that knowledge to condemn Jesus, while in Matthew 16:15-17, Peter confessed his faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God (this shows that knowledge by itself does not save). But one thing is in common: both acknowledged that the Christ is not just a mere man, but the Son of the living God! From the Gospel of John, we know that the Son of the living God is the Word, and Jesus is the Word became flesh. And so, the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, found its ultimate meaning: the Word became flesh! And the ceremony of anointment in the old testament shadows the ultimate mystery of the Word became flesh. In the Gospel according to John, the purpose of the whole Gospel is simply this:

but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. (John 20:31, KJV)

And this is such an important issue, that apostle John wrote in his first epistle about antichrist:

Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. (1 John 2:22-23, KJV)

So, if anyone denies that Jesus is the Christ, he effectively denies that Jesus is the Son of God, and by denying the Son, he also denies the Father! Such one is antichrist. Now we know from the Scriptures that the Christ is the Son of God. No wonder we are called Christians in the Scriptures: for we also became the sons of God by faith in Jesus Christ, inheriting the Kingdom in glory together with Christ! Rejoice, you sons of the living God! Praise the Lord!

Love covers the multitude of sins

The title comes from 1 Peter 4:8. It often causes confusion. This morning I read Proverbs 17:9, and the verse in the title comes to my mind side by side with this one I am reading:

He that covers a transgression seeks love; but he that repeats a matter separates very friends. (Proverbs 17:9, KJV)

To cover a transgression (against you) can be understood from this context as not to mention it again and again, after the one who transgressed have asked for your forgiveness and have settled the matter with you. Pay attention to the word "repeats" -- it does not mean that you should not even mention it to the transgressor, rather the opposite is true if you read what Jesus teaches on how to deal with a brother who trespass against you (Matthew 18:15-17).

This is true forgiveness, as if you have totally forgot it, never to be mentioned again. I bet this is a golden rule of friendship. And if we follow this, we know God as a friend better, and we know for sure that God has covered our sins, never to be found again. And the Scripture says:

He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither has he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. (Numbers 23:21, KJV)

Praise God, for his love endures forever!

Note: KJV is abbr. of King James Version (of the Bible)

The parable of the fig tree and this generation

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! I was troubled by the interpretation of the parable of the fig tree and the meaning of the verse "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." (Matthew 24:34 KJV). I became very troubled for I could not understand, and my faith became very weak. But God had mercy on me, and gave me understanding.

My confusion came from some popular interpretations by the scholars. For example, some of them say that "this generation" simply means "this race", and some others say "all these things" means the destroy of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by the Roman army. On the very surface, they might take "this generation" as the generation of the 12 disciples, then they have to say that "all these things" means the destroy of Jerusalem, otherwise the Scripture would be broken, since the very next verse says: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." So they point to verses 15-20 as mentioning the destroy of Jerusalem (and even use history as their support, saying that many Christians were saved by that warning around the year of 70 A.D., yet that should be the verses in Luke 21:20-24, when the Israel will be again "led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled", and these are two different events: one is at the start of the times of the Gentiles, the other is about the end of the times of the Gentiles, which is a long, long time).

But, there are ample evidences against this interpretation as the destroy of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. For immediately the great tribulation follows in the next verse (and that's why people should escape in great haste, for it comes very quickly, and it is *the* most severe trouble in all human history: "such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."). Secondly, in verse 14, it mentions by that time "this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations;" And what follows from verse 15 on is for the detailed discussion of "and then shall the end come" in the latter part of verse 14. A third argument against that interpretation comes from the verses on "the abomination of desolation" in the book of Daniel (9:27, 11:31, 12:11). The abomination of desolation lasts for 1290 days (Daniel 12:11), and "blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty (1335) days" (Daniel 12:12). In Daniel 12:1 similar words are used: "and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." Daniel 12:2 mentions the resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous, which is also mentioned in the book of Revelation. These are all of the time of the end.

Then, how about the other interpretation as "this race"? Those people realized that Jesus was talking about the time of the end, and it will be a long long time, so they say that it means "this race". They are talking about the race of Israel, and we know that the race of Israel shall not pass (neither the Israel according to flesh, as some of them are of faith, nor the Israel according to faith), rather, they will be delivered onto eternal life according to their faith, some at resurrection, some will be fortunate enough to be ruptured while still in the flesh. If you notice how the word "this" is also used in verse 21: "such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." So, "this generation" in "this time", naturally, and what the term "this time" refers to here, is obviously the time of the end!

From these discussions above, it shall be clear that "this generation" in verse 34 is referring to the generation that saw "the abomination of desolation" stand in the holy place (verse 15). This interpretation cause trouble to a popular interpretation of the parable of the fig tree, as many consider it to be a prophecy about the independence of the modern Israel state in May 1948 A.D. As for why they think there is a link between the fig tree and the Israel nation, I do not quite understand, but that's the major argument they can deliver. But if we read Luke 21:29, "And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees;" we see that not just fig tree is mentioned, but also "all trees". This clearly shows that the interpretation of the fig tree parable as a prophecy of the establishment of the modern Israel state can not hold. And now we also know the timing is not right. In summary, the time of the end has little to do with the establishment of the modern state of Israel, and we should not expect that within a generation of the establishment of Israel, the time of the end should come. But when it comes, it comes swift and quick, just like the Lord says of the day of his return: like a thief, at an unexpected time.

So, don't fall asleep, you faithful! And when the time of the end comes, you can rejoice, for your redemption draws near!