One oft cited proof that we are in the last generation is the passage in Matthew 24:32 about the fig tree. It is taken to be the nation of Israel and so its foundation in 1948, or its flourishing in 1967, are taken as proof that this generation will witness the Second Coming of Christ
The thing about the fig tree is that sometimes a fig tree is only a fig tree and nothing more, and certainly is not the nation of Israel. Why is this? Luke 21:28-30" And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand."
If the fig tree is the nation of Israel then clearly ALL THE TREES would flourish whereby we would know that summer was near and so therefore was His coming. All the nations? Clearly not. So what the mere fact of this plural, all the trees, shows is that the fig tree was not Israel. So what we are left with is that there is no biblical nor rational linking of the restoration of the Nation of Israel with the last generation. The fig tree was only a fig tree and not symbolic of Israel.
So are we in the last generation? given the current upsurge of nationalism in response to globalism my considered opinion is that the climate is not right for a one world government which is a necessary precursor for the Second Coming, for the Beast must be in place and in power before Christ come to overthrow him. And he is not at this time.
Moreover if any say that it must be in this generation end up dying of old age without it happening then they have only discredited the whole notion of the second coming in the eyes of the world. and for that, God assures us, they will pay
Context is an amazing thing. Immediately before Paul spoke of the rapture of the church he told us to live quiet lives, do our own jobs and mind our own business (I Thessalonians 4:11).
So if we are running around like mad things, carnally excited by the prospect of His coming before lunch time next Tuesday we are not in the sabbath rest of the believer spoken of in the letter to the Hebrews and so are not prepared for His coming
Certainly Christ is coming. But i am likely to be among the dead in Christ when it happens, that is to say it will not be in my lifetime.
Next issue, please! something of practical import!
How I live today is of more practical moment that obsessing over times we were not given the authority to know (Acts 1:6-8
