The Fig Tree Has Budded....What is a Generation?

[GlennO]

I have often tried to figure just what constitutes a generation in context of the Return of our Lord without much success. Today I found an awesome treatment of the topic. Today I came across the 7K word pre-publication of Pastor Douglas Hamp’s work titled “The Fig Tree Has Budded” You may download this scholarly work via the link below. The research is high quality IMHO. I encourage you to read the whole work, however if you are time challenged, I’ve provided the conclusion starting below the link. To me, this is a very encouraging work!

The Fig Tree Has Budded by Douglas Hamp

However, there is another verse that provides a more average lifespan of a human being which is also the key to see approximately when the Lord will return for the second time, (a fact pointed out to me by Dr. Kenton Beshore, Sr.).

The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away, (Psalms 90:10).

The fullness of a generation being 70 or 80 years is striking when one considers that Moses, the author of this Psalm, lived to be 120 years old. Bible commentator Thomas Constable points out:
It is interesting that he said the normal human life span was 70 years. He lived to be 120, Aaron was 123 when he died, and Joshua died at 110. Their long lives testify to God’s faithfulness in providing long lives to the godly as He promised under the Mosaic Covenant, (Constable, Psalm 90)

It would seem that the Holy Spirit guided Moses to write of what a typical lifetime is, versus his (and other ancients’) lifetime.[10] We find further biblical evidence that a generation is a lifetime which is equivalent to 70 (or 80) years in Isaiah 23:15 which correlates: “seventy years like the days of one king.”

According to the CIA World Fact Book[11] the longest average life expectancy (by country) for 2009 was 84.36 years in the country of Macau. The Swiss had the 10th longest life expectancy of 80.85. Israelis ranked 12th in the world and on average lived to be 80.73 years old, Americans ranked 49th with an expectancy of 78.11 years and Guatemalans ranked 143rd with an expectancy of 70.29. People in only 38 countries (out of 224) live less than 60 years on average.

Psalm 90:10 therefore provides a very realistic picture of how long a generation is. The vast majority of people (by nationality) on the planet live until they are sixty (185/224 or 82.5%). Fewer, though a majority still, live into their seventies (144/224 or 64.2%). However, only a fraction live on average into their eighties (22/224 or 9.8%).

Matthew provides our last clue in the beginning of his Gospel when discussing the number of generations from Abraham until Christ thereby demonstrating that generation (genea γενεά – the same word used in Matthew 24:34) signifies the lifetime of a person:
So all the generations [genea γενεά] from Abraham to David are fourteen generations [genea γενεά], from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations [genea γενεά], and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations [genea γενεά], (Matthew 1:17, emphasis mine).

Here we see that a generation was the lifetime of a person and not the specific amount of years though we have learned that the duration of a generation is anywhere from sixty years to eighty. We need to understand that generations overlap one another. When a father and mother have children a new generation is born, but so long as all the people born around their birthdates are living, their generation has not passed away.

Think of it this way: the Baby Boomer generation (born between 1946 and 1964) has not yet passed away. In fact, the oldest members would just now be reaching their mid 60’s. Certainly some of its members have passed away already, but the majority can expect to make it well into their 70’s and some into their 80’s. In the same way, the generation spoken of by Jesus will not pass away until all the things he mentioned take place. The following diagram depicts how generations overlap one another. The 1stgeneration could be likened to the Baby Boomer generation. Generation X (2nd Generation) was born toward the beginning of a Baby Boomers life (generation) but they are not of the Baby Boomer generation. Considering all the evidence we explored, I’d like to propose that the Baby Boomer generation is the generation that will not pass away until the Lord comes back.

So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near – at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place, (Matthew 24:33-34, emphasis mine).

The generation spoken of here must be the generation that would see all of the things that Jesus spoke of when the disciples questioned Him and specifically it would be the generation that would see the “fig tree budding”. Since we have seen that the fig tree was Israel in both the prophets and according to Jesus, then “this generation” must be the one that began at the commencement of the new state of Israel.[12]

Thus we see Israel was a dried tree for about 1900 years and then miraculously the branch put forth leaves in one day on May 14, 1948. Jesus told us that when this happens His return is at the doors. He said that the generation that saw this would by no means pass away. A generation is the lifetime of a person and that is on average between seventy or eighty years. Thus, according to the above considerations we could write out our equation in the following manner:
1948 + 70 ≈ 2018
OR if by reason of strength
1948 + 80 ≈ 2028
The parable of the fig tree was the answer to the disciples’ original question at the beginning of the chapter:
As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” (Matthew 24: 3).

The observant student of the Word has noted that this reference to when the end of the age will be is in seeming contradiction to Jesus’ own words in Acts 1:6-8.
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth,’ (Acts 1:6-8).

This apparent contradiction is resolved however, when we consider just who Jesus was talking to – the disciples that He was speaking to in Acts were the same men who, only some forty days earlier, He had told what to look for at the end of the age. And the sign that He told them would definitively mark the beginning of the generation that would see the end was nothing less than the fig tree putting forth its branch and becoming tender. Thus, the solution is the fig tree. They asked a question which he had already answered for them – look for the revival of the fig tree (which Jesus had pronounced cursed). In other words, there was no point in looking for the end of the age so long as Israel was a dried tree! There was no point in looking for the second coming so long as the fig tree remained cursed (that is: not a nation). Only when it would become tender could the restoration of the kingdom occur. That is why Jesus told the disciples of what they would receive in the meantime (“but you shall receive power”) and what their task was to be (“and you shall be witnesses to Me”) until the revival of the fig tree and ultimately His coming. Therefore, until the fig tree (Israel) was revived, there would be no restoration of the kingdom to Israel – which is of course only logical: Israel cannot have the kingdom if they do not exist as a national entity (a dried tree). But within a generation (lifetime of a person) of the revival of the fig tree (Israel) the kingdom will be restored in the millennial/messianic era.

We have seen that the biblical interpretation of the fig tree is clearly Israel. We have also seen that a generation is the lifetime of a person which according to Psalm 90:10 is generally 70 or 80 years. Whether or not the Lord is required to return within 80 years exactly we obviously cannot be dogmatic. Nevertheless, in light of the incredible accuracy of His first coming, we ought to be persuaded that the above dates are both reasonable and likely. The Lord’s second coming, therefore, appears to be between 2018 – 2028.[13]The beginning of the Great Tribulation (subtract seven years) then would most likely commence between 2011 – 2021.[14] Remember we are to know the times and the seasons yet Jesus said very literally that the day and the hour no one can know. The Lord’s second coming between 2018 and 2028 is seemingly the time and the season, but is not predictive of the day or the hour. In light of the events that are happening in numerous categories (economics, natural disasters, etc.) on a global scale, the Lord’s return within the 80 years from the reestablishment of Israel in 1948 appears almost certain. Nevertheless, no matter when the Lord returns, occupy until He does and tell others the good news of the gospel. Heed Jesus’ warning:

“Constantly be on your guard so that your hearts may not be loaded down with self-indulgence, drunkenness, and the worries of this life, or that day will take you by surprise like a trap. For it will come on all who live on the face of the earth. So be alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and to take your stand in the presence of the Son of Man.”
(Luke 21:34-36 ISV).

[SonSeeker]

Thank you for a wonderful post, Glenn.
Every passing moment brings us that much closer to His imminent return.

[mikhen7]

I like the different ways that this generation passage is approached. He has brought out some very significant details and does not fail to touch upon what we all know...the second coming is at hand!

In Christ alone..

[Sean Osborne]

I have been considering this subject for some time now and I think the "generation" of which Jesus spoke is applicable to the Jews in Israel who witness the events He described in the Olivet Discourse, but it has no specific applicability to the Bride of Christ because the imminence of the Harpazo/Rapture is generationally exclusive - i.e. a generation of time has no meaning for for the Bride of Christ as we can be taken at any point within a given generation of time.

More later...

[mattfivefour]

I agree with the OP and with the comments ... though I disagree slightly with Sean in that while the generation referred to prophetically indeed applies directly to the Jews, it applies indirectly to the Church to the extent that the Rapture must occur at some point prior to the end of the generation spoken of in order for it to occur prior to the Tribulation. And the Trib most certainly must come before that generation ends. (Matthew 24:34; Mark 13:30; Luke 21:32) This fact in no way attenuates the doctrine of imminency (NOT immanency, which is something else again and does not apply to the Rapture). RAther, it merely acknowledges the picture painted by scripture— that the Rapture will occur before the Great Tribulation and the Great Tribulation will occur before the generation that sees the recreation of nation Israel passes away.) Hence my statement that the prophecy specifically to Israel also affects the Church.

[LivnForChrist]

Love this

[Sean Osborne]

I was not disagreeing with Douglas Hamp's calculative logic based upon Biblical text. I have previously made those exact same calculations myself in fact.

What I have not done is to state as Douglas Hamp has done (in extrapolation) that Jesus will return during the Battle of Har Megiddo sometime between 2016 and 2044, although I pesonally believe he is correct. Jesus' return for His Bride is undateable, no one knows or can know but the Father.

My point is that the Bride of Christ will never never witness the Abomination of Desolation nor will we flee to the Judean hills afterward as Christ has directed. The fact of the matter is that the nature of the Bride of Christ is multi-generational and includes (hopefully) our parents, ourselves and our children. Multi-generational. In fact I belive a generation of children from newborns to the age of reckoning (approximately 10 years old) will be taken with us in the Harpazo.

Our Harpazo will have occured at some unknown point prior to the defining events referred to by Jesus.

The generation spoken of is a Jewish generation which is alive today in Israel; we are related to it only through the years of our various birthdates which coincide with Israel's rebirth in 1948 and the number of years implied by Psalm 90:10. This is the 'no specific applicability' I mentioned above.

No specific applicability, i.e. unspecific applicability, to the Bride of Christ is identical to saying it is an "indirect" reference to the Church.

[mattfivefour]

@ Sean. It's all in the semantics, bro. And, as usual, when it comes to doctrine it turns out we're saying the same thing ... just sometimes not speaking the same language.

[myinnuendo999]

great article GlennO

[GlennO]

Hi-
I just walked in the door. Looks like I missed a lively and learned discussion.

Sean said:

My point is that the Bride of Christ will never never witness the Abomination of Desolation nor will we flee to the Judean hills afterward as Christ has directed.

Adrian said:

Rapture must occur at some point prior to the end of the generation spoken of in order for it to occur prior to the Tribulation. And the Trib most certainly must come before that generation ends.

Douglas Hamp said:

Rapture must occur at some point prior to the end of the generation spoken of in order for it to occur prior to the Tribulation. And the Trib most certainly must come before that generation ends. Remember we are to know the times and the seasons yet Jesus said very literally that the day and the hour no one can know. The Lord’s second coming between 2018 and 2028 is seemingly the time and the season, but is not predictive of the day or the hour. In light of the events that are happening in numerous categories (economics, natural disasters, etc.) on a global scale, the Lord’s return within the 80 years from the reestablishment of Israel in 1948 appears almost certain.

Finding this study certainly enhanced/sharpened my sense of the imminency of harpazo.

MARANANTHA!

[RonJohnSilver]

I'm hoping that a generation is more 70 yrs than 80. If the Rapture does not occur this year or next, then I am really going to be bummed.

[Sean Osborne]

@ Sean. It's all in the semantics, bro. And, as usual, when it comes to doctrine it turns out we're saying the same thing ... just sometimes not speaking the same language.

Amen and right back at'cha Bro. And in this case would it not more correctly be referred to as "significs," the second definition of semantics within semiotics? You know how precise I like to be.

[mattfivefour]

[Sean Osborne]

I'm hoping that a generation is more 70 yrs than 80. If the Rapture does not occur this year or next, then I am really going to be bummed.

That's assuming 1948 A.D. was the start date for the generation.

If so, the 7 years remaining between 2011 and 2018 are not enough for the fulfillment of all the prophetic specifics of Jeremiah 49:34-39, Isaiah 17, Psalm 83, Ezekiel 38/39 and Daniel's 70th week to occur sequentially. Jesus' return with the Bride of Christ at Har Megiddo has to be later.

That was an element in my point above - our Harpazo occurs unspecifically within the present generation. There is a literal time element which appears to indicate this generation is a generation of strength (80 years), but at the same time the last literal days of which will also be cut short for the sake of the elect (Matthew 24:22).

[myinnuendo999]

I think the Generation whom Jesus may be referring to is the Generation who sees the "budding of the fig tree". I think that's the point that the author was making because Jesus does specifically begin with the analogy of the fig tree for a specific reason and the reference point is that this is what Jesus was implying to as the Generation...

Also, we are the only Generation who has seen the birth of Israel and ALL these things taking place at the same time and increasing in number and in intensity just like birth pains on a pregnant woman. Yes, all generations have seen earthquakes, pestilence and famines, wars and rumors of wars. However,as Jesus describes these birth pains there is one generation who will see all these things at the same time increasing in number and intensity. All this is a strong indication "to me" that the generation referred to by Jesus is the one who sees ALL these things just like birth pains. No generation has witnessed the birth of Israel and no generation has witnessed the rebirth of the revived Roman Empire and no generation has witnessed the coalition of Russian with Iran as foretold in Ezekiel 38. All this and more "to me" is a strong indication that this is the generation and that the budding of the fig tree is the beginning of "that" generation. sorry for my periphrases--

I remember when Christians were not sure if these were the final days and were careful to always talk hesitantly--and that's fine being careful. Now, as time has moved on and the signs of the Tribulation is approaching, most Christians are confident that we are indeed living in the final or last days without hesitation.

Jesus said and it's quite interesting how he began----- "Learn this lesson from the fig tree"---


what did Jesus mean by "as soon as its twigs get tender"and it's leaves come out"---

I think it would be quite interesting to have a Botanist lesson on the fig tree. I know that the leaves are pretty rough on the outside and I'm sure Adam and Eve were not very comfortable wearing them--lol.

okay, gotta go and y'all have fun and I love you in Christ

[Keeplookinup]

I'm hoping that a generation is more 70 yrs than 80. If the Rapture does not occur this year or next, then I am really going to be bummed.

Me too.

[Sean Osborne]

You two, and there may be others thinking similarly, realize that "really being bummed" if the Rapture does not occur within a year or two is tantamount to saying that you're going to be bummed with the Sovereign decision of God Almighty as to when He sends His Son to claim His bride.

I would re-think and re-state such a statement my brethren.

There is much work for His Name's Sake to do and being about that business is what we ought concern ourselves with and not a self-centered concern with the timing of our escape.

[GlennO]

Rom 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Rom 8:19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
Rom 8:21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
Rom 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Rom 8:24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?
Rom 8:25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

[Keeplookinup]

Rom 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Rom 8:19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
Rom 8:21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
Rom 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Rom 8:24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?
Rom 8:25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

There's a word for me today....thanks for the reminder. Patience is not one of my virtues but something the Lord is working in me every single day! Great post Glenn!

[WVBORN56]

I agree it does not matter what we want but it will occur when God decides it is time. We can still keep working even if it does not occur even when we hope it will occur sooner rather than later. I would only be human to be a bit bummed (for lack of a better word) but I appreciate the caution Sean. People want to see Jesus face to face. The bride longs for the groom. That is not such a bad thing.

I tend to think the tribulation events are already coming into focus and 2011 is not out of the question. I tend to believe that Jesus comes for the church as a thief in the night, when people least expect it and that people would be given in marriage and eating and drinking as if to say it will be business as usual. Our economy is a house of cards and the rapture could be the nail in the world wide economy to usher in the AC who has to fix the world's dilema of bread costing a days wages.

Of course our economy may recover and this may just be the dry run to wake people up. God will cause all things to beocme the "perfect storm" when he is ready and not until. I too could use help with patience...