6) Widespread corruption and violence (verse 37) – “as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man”. There will be situations in the earth, like the days of Noah.
7) The seventh sign is not found in Matthew 24, but in Luke 17:28. “As it was in the days of Lot, so it will be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man”.
Luke 17:28 – “As in the days of Lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. But on the day Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, destroyed them all. Even so, it will be like that, in the day that the Son of Man is revealed”.
As it was in the days of Lot… As it was in the days of Noah… He's saying that the coming of the Lord will be unexpected. They thought everything was going on like normal, and they were caught out by surprise.
The coming of the Son of Man will catch many people unaware. They will just think the world is carrying on like normal, when in fact it's about to go to cataclysmic change. We are to be ready - to prepare. Live your life as if the Lord is coming today; but plan your life like He's not coming in my lifetime. I need to prepare, and plan, and set out my whole life course - invest in the next generation, invest and build, and so on
8) The next sign is found in Luke 21:29 (and in Matthew 24). The fig tree, and all the trees... We live in an area which is very seasonal, so we can look at the fruit trees, and if you see the blossoms, then you know what season it is, and it's very clear. Suddenly, there's blossoms everywhere. Fruit is coming. Spring is on the way. There will be little lambs everywhere. We know something is about to change.
He said: here is the sign - it's about the fig tree, and all the trees. The ‘fig tree’ refers to the nation of Israel. Israel is constantly referred to as a fig tree, or a vine. All the ‘other trees’ means all the other nations. He said: look at the fig tree - look at Israel. Israel is a key figure nation. Watch what's going on there - it reflects what is going to be happening, spiritually.
Secondly, He says: look at all the other trees. When they're already budding, you know that summer is near. When you see these things happening, know the kingdom of God is near. This generation will by no means pass away, but all these things take place. He says: heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Jesus' words have stability in them.
In 1914, they began to section off an area called Palestine, and it became a place where Jews started to travel. When the Jews were dispersed in AD70, they dispersed to all the nations of the earth. There was no place called Israel, and the people were dispersed. There is never in history, ever, ever, ever recorded, any people that were dispersed into the globe, and lost their land, that survived as a culture and as a language, and then came back together, and found their piece of land again. It just has never happened before - it's impossible. It can never happen, and yet it happened to Israel, and it follows the promise in the Bible… “I will scatter you to the nations, and then I will show mercy, and I will regather you again”.
And so, we see an amazing fulfilment in 1948, when Israel came together as a nation. That is the fig tree budding! That's the sign summer is near! What's happening in Israel is a sign. In 1967, they took control of Jerusalem.
Who would've ever thought, 200 years ago, if you had said that Israel will come back together… it's just impossible! Then suddenly, within our lifetime, it's come back as a nation, and it's now established in Jerusalem, and Jerusalem has been acknowledged as its capital. What's happening with Israel, is a rising tide to their identity as a nation - but that's happening all round the world. People are saying, we want to hold our identity, as a nation. We want to hold on to who we are. You've got other ethnic groups now, who have been displaced, saying: we want our nation back.