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Stanne, I don’t know you, but do understand the underlying concern or fear any person should have when reading prophetic texts from Scripture.

Well over 1/3 of the Bible is Prophecy (Eschatology) from God, and or fulfulled prophetic word from God.

Many pivotal prophesies have already taken place, such as Israel being conquered and spread out to the ends of the earth for their lack of faith in God for their salvation, and for adopting rebellious pagan idol worship, (which included the pagan sacrifice of little unborn and newborn children in horrific ways, to ga iij n prosperity). GOD warned them in great detail, but they rejected and even killed Gods prophets.

Gods son Christ, (The Lamb and sacrifice for sin), coming to earth, and going to the cross, which was the fulfillment of hundreds of references in the Old Testament, including Isaiah 53*

Because I have to get out the door, I am going to throw a significant block quote in here, which has as it’s most significant author quoted as Jesus Christ himself, by Matthew to Luke !

For everyone on this thread, and for anyone who claims to believe or read the Bible, keep in mind —

“All Scripture was given by God [or literally God breathed], and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and righteousness.
(2 Timothy 3:16)
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“And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention* as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,

knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

But false prophets also arose [or will arise] among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.”
(2 Peter 1:19 - 2 Peter 2:1)
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I will also use brackets where there is a plausible context clarification to be highlighted[.]

From MATTHEW 24 [A prophesy of Jeremiah 24, and Jeremiah 30] —

https://reasonsforhopejesus.com/parable-of-the-fig-tree-matt-24/

“The Parable of the Fig Tree

In Matthew 24, Jesus told the Parable of the Fig Tree to His disciples (Matt 24:32ff). This passage is prophesying of the time we know as the seventieth week of Daniel (Daniel 9), the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jer 30:7), and the Great Tribulation (Mat 24:21)

Jesus began His discourse with a mandate to learn this parable. Since Jesus commanded that we learn it, we should take it very seriously and do our best to understand His teaching.

*Mat 24:32 “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.

Israel is the Fig Tree

Israel has been represented typologically, in the Old Testament, as a fig tree with both good and bad figs.

Jer 24:2 One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.

Jer 24:5 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.

This clearly indicates that the “fig tree” is a symbol for Israel. It is a “tree” that produces both good and bad figs. The good figs representing those devoted to serving God (David, Daniel, etc) and the bad figs representing self-righteousness (many, especially the Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus’ day). The leave of the fig tree are what Adam and Eve tried to use to cover their sin (Gen 3:7) and the fig tree is the only tree that God ever cursed (Matt 21:19,20). Jeremiah clearly tells that fig tree represents religious Israel without fruit (Jer 24:2,5,8).

Young and Tender?

Matthew 24:32 raises the question: since the fig tree is Israel when was Israel “young and tender?” Certainly, it was not when Jesus was teaching. The nation of Israel, God’s people, was ancient, dating as far back as God’s covenant with Abraham. But in 70 AD the nation ceased to exist.

[In all reality, Israel ceased to exist as a sovereign nation, with it’s people being largely dispersed, or carried off into captivity, in two phases, nearly 800 years BC. In fact many Old Testament prophets wrote from captivity in Babylon, which was also foretold in detail hundreds of years prior.]

The [Non-sovereign-Israel, and gentile permitted and administered] Temple was destroyed by the Romans and [many of the remaining] the people were dispersed throughout the nations. The language died [ancient Hebrew ceased to be spoken], and there was no Israel [in its land]. But God, in His faithfulness, regathered His people and on May 14th, 1948 Israel was” born again” (statehood declared) and became a “young and tender fig tree.”

Israel was “young and tender” but not for long. The day after statehood was declared a war with Arab nations began and then seven years later, in 1956, the Jews fought the Suez Canal War. With overwhelming odds, God gave them victories. Again in 1967, Israel was at war. This time with their neighboring nation, Egypt and the combined forces of the Arab nations. Known as the “Six Day War, Israel fought for six days. Once again, God gave them victory, and on the seventh day they rested (what a beautiful pattern from “the beginning” Gen 1). In the Six Day War, Israel gained control of God’s holy city, Jerusalem, the Sinai peninsula, and the west bank–the lands known to the Jews as Judea and Samaria.

[I have always been taught, and is my position, Israel without their capital Jerusalem, a name and place more significant prophetically in Scripture than the name Israel itself — marked the actual formal prophetically aligned “Israel as a nation”]

Jesus Gave a Warning and a Prophecy

Mat 24:33 “So you also, when you see all these things, know that it [the Tribulation] is near; at the doors!

All what things? Earlier in His discourse, Jesus had said spoken of things they would see that would precede the Great Tribulation (Matt 24:4-21). Let’s look at some of those verses. Since Israel was reborn:

many have come in His name (vs 5). there have been many wars (vs 6),nations have risen against other nations (vs 7). there has been famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places (vs7).

Israel, in its “young and tender” years, has seen all these things. All these are the “beginning of sorrows,” told Jesus (vs 8). He then continued by telling of the things that will take place in the first 3 ½ years of the seventieth week of Daniel (Matt 24 9-20), things that are yet to come. And finally, He told of the coming Great Tribulation (the last 3 ½ years) that would come, “such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” (Mat 24:21)

When?

Remembering that we cannot know the day or the hour (Matt 24:36), but understanding that we are able and expected to discern the times and seasons (Luke 12:56), let’s continue

Mat 24:34-35 “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”

What generation? And what did Jesus mean when He said that this generation shall assuredly not pass away until all these things take place?

End Times Prophecy

Biblical scholars have long understood this chapter to offer information about the timing of the Great Tribulation. It is centered on the “fig tree,” the young and tender Israel that was “birthed” in 1948. It’s believed that is the generation that “will by no means pass away till all these things take place.”

This now raises an important question. How many years is a generation? The Bible defines a generation by various numbers of years.

According to the standard set down in Genesis 15:12-16, a generation is 100 years. According to Moses, in Psalm 90:10, it is 70 (or 80) years. According to the passage in Matthew 1:17, it is about 42 years.

Forty-two years? Seventy years? One hundred years? We can rule out forty-two years since that would have been 1990 and the Tribulation did not take place then. The next possibility would be 70 years. Does that fit?

Seventy does seem to fit. The nation was exiled from the land for 70 years (in Babylon) before they returned to rebuild the Temple. So is it plausible that the nation could be “rebirthed” for 70 years before the Tribulation comes? Could this be God “restoring the years the locust have eaten” (Joel 2:25) and “redeeming the time” (Eph 5:16, Col 4:5). The answer is, we don’t know. Those are simply thoughts for consideration. We certainly know that we are in the season of the last days. Sin is rampant, apostasy is greatly increased. We certainly live in a time that is likened unto “the days of Noah,” which Jesus said is another sign of the coming Tribulation (Mat 24:38).

Could the generation be 100 years? Yes, it could be. Remember, Jesus said the generation would not pass away. It’s certainly possible that people born in 1948 could live for 100 years. Is a generation of 100 years more probable? We simply do not know.

Conclusion

With the 70th “birthday” of Israel, we, [[which I believe really began with the Re-established Jerusalem and covenant related *City of David as Israel’s capital]] as Christians, should be well aware of how quickly we are approaching the time of God’s fulfilling all things. We do live in the last days. There will be a time when Jesus comes for His Bride (Read: What is the Rapture?) There will be a time of Jacob’s Trouble, a seventieth week of Daniel, a Great Tribulation (Jer 30:7, Dan 9, Matt 24:21). And whether the generation of the fig tree is 70 or 100 years, our commission remains the same as it has been since Jesus gave it:

Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

We are to be Jesus’ hands, His feet, and His mouth to show His love and to speak His good news of saving grace. We don’t want anyone to go through the Tribulation. The Book of Revelation tells how terribly bad it will be and Jesus desires that none should perish but rather obtain salvation in Him (2 Pet 3:9, 1 Th 5:9). He has paid for all the sins of the world, but not all the people of the world have repented and trusted in Him. Share the gospel with someone today:

Rom 10:9-10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

In a nutshell, Matthew 24, like hundreds of other New Testament texts, is loaded, and empowered by fulfillment of Gods Old Testament blueprint!!