Welcome to St. Andrew's Lutheran Church, Kamloops

From  the very beginning, the Lord God has placed signs all around us to  inform our lives. “God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the  heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs  and for seasons, and for days and years” (Genesis 1:14). Without the  changing seasons, without the rising and setting of the sun – the  passage of time would be irrelevant to us as time would be non-existent  and we would be living in an eternal moment. 

Signs are all  around us. (note: the following uses visual representations on the  overhead screen). Man-made signs serve to guide us in the physical path  of earthly life. Directional highway signs point us in the right  direction while some signs leave us confused about which way we can go.  Many signs tell us what we can and cannot do. Some signs come with legal  consequences describing what we shouldn’t do while other signs are just  plain simple for us to obey. Then, there are some signs designed for  those people who really, really, really need a lot of help obeying a  sign while others have simply lost their ability to be a good sign (The  ‘g’ of this sign has fallen – leaving ‘sin’). Some signs might also  prophetically point us towards a future end of time. 

God also  uses signs to guide us along the spiritual path of faith life. John’s  gospel is filled with signs rather than miracles, as John uses them to  point his readers to “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,  and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31) but  that’s another sermon. In fact, the entire Bible can be understood as a  sign which through the guidance of the Holy Spirit points towards the  real presence of Jesus Christ and reveals to us Christ incarnate within  the pages of the Bible which is the Word of God. “The Word became flesh  and dwelt among us” (John 1:14) describes the beginning of the  fulfilment of God’s covenantal promise to humanity as Jeremiah writes  “the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the  promise, I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those  days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for  David” (Jeremiah 33:14-15). 

Today, we want to focus on a  different sign of divine origin in which Jesus uses a simple fig tree to  make his point. Jesus is speaking with the disciples about a future  time – a time which will occur after his death, resurrection and  ascension into glory. Before ascending, the disciples wanted to know  about the future as Jesus again needs to refocus his disciples’  priorities by reminding them that their purpose is in the present age as  “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria,  and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The mission of the apostles was  so important that for the first thirty years after the ascension, it  was believed that Jesus’ return was imminent – “for the Son of Man is  coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 14:44).

In one of  the apostle Paul’s earliest letters, he writes “may the Lord make you  increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for  you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before  our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints”  (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13). The first followers of Christ lived in  anticipation that Jesus was returning within their lifetime. Imagine,  those first believers were living with the belief that Christ is  returning at any moment and he will bring an end to time while you know  that there are so many people, neighbours, friends, and family who don’t  know Jesus and the gift of salvation. Telling the message of good news  was more important than worrying about the future. 

Although  jealousy regarding Jesus’ great following is at the heart of the  religious conflict in Israel, one of the reasons Jesus gets in trouble  with the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem focussed on his condemnation of  the abuses of the temple and the priesthood (it shouldn’t surprise us  since it’s been a problem for the last 2000 years of the Christian  church). The Temple of Jerusalem was the lifeblood of the Sadducees, who  were also the financial elites of Israel and the only Jews who worked  in close fellowship with the Roman Officials. First, there was the  cleansing of the Temple Marketplace on Palm Sunday, then the  testing-question of paying taxes to Rome and the Sanhedrin trial  accusations that Jesus would destroy and rebuild the Temple in three  days. 

“While some were speaking of the temple, how it was  adorned with noble stones and offerings, he [Jesus] said, ‘As for these  things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here  one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” (Luke 21:5-6).  Jesus begins his final visit to Jerusalem before his death by announcing  the end of the Temple before concluding this teaching by speaking about  another end and the coming of the Son of Man.  Notice how these are two  separate events!  “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars … and  they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great  glory” (Luke 21: 25, 27). 

Thirty years after Jesus’s  resurrection, Jewish revolts would escalate against Rome throughout  Palestine as Rome would retaliate by sending a destructive military  force that would end with many Jews being killed and the Temple of God  in ruin. Sixty years later, the Jewish revolts would again arise up  against Rome, and this time we would see not only the destruction of  Jerusalem by Rome, but its elimination as it became a Roman city with  the name “Aelia Capitolina.”  Worldly structures came to an end as Jesus  warned us of the judgement on the nations, while Jesus prophetic return  held within it the “other-worldly” salvation of the world. 

A  few months ago, Joe called me about a half page newspaper advertisement  that spoke about a number of presentations being done by the seven-day  Adventist church about the end of time. Sometimes we get too focussed on  the future and we forget that Jesus calls us to deal with the present  moment. According to the Word of God the end of time, the eschaton, is  unavoidable, unpredictable, but promised. The Christian Jews who  suffered under the Roman retaliations of the first century believed that  the end of time had come. Afterwards, many more Christians suffered and  were martyred for their profession of faith in the resurrection during  the first three centuries. The Black Plague that wiped out most of  Europe was believed to be the end, while the World Wars were thought to  be signs of the end while today, some imagine that the pandemic is a  sign of the end of the age. Just for your information, the last  prediction of the end of time was December 21, 2012 while Isaac Newton  predicted the apocalypse to begin in the year 2060. 

For you see,  the signs of the end are present in every age and since they are signs  of the “age of mankind” they are signs of sin. But again, when we turn  to Jesus’s teaching, we are reminded that as His disciples we are to be  concerned more with the ‘present time’ along with the in-between time,  while we remain watchful for the end-time. Jesus warns us to be awake,  to be alert and to live lives prepared for the end at all times, as we  will experience the end of worldly things long before we experience the  end of time in our world. He even further warns that in the in-between  time there will be false messiahs, persecutions and catastrophes and  plagues of all sorts. “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom  against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various  places.  All these are but the beginning” (Matthew 24:7-8). 

Jesus  uses some of the same apocalyptic language as the prophets of the Old  Testament who spoke about the coming of the great and awesome day of the  Lord. “Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let  all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is  coming” (Joel 2:1) or “the sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon  to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes” (Joel  2:31). Apocalyptic language is future oriented using language that is  sudden and violent as God bring about change in the world He created as  He brings about a new world order. “I (John) saw a new heaven and a new  earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the  sea was no more” (Revelation 21:1). Those without an eternal vision of  hope will react in a predictable way – with disbelief, distress, and  fear and panic. Fear and panic are in themselves also signs, but they  are signs of unbelief. But change is different for the believer. When  God appears the message always begins with fear not. “Take heart; it is  I. Do not be afraid” (Matthew 14:27) affirms Jesus. 

Jesus warns  that “people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on  the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they  will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory”  (Luke 21:26-27). We might worry about all the worldly signs, natural  disasters, wars, violence, lawlessness, disease, cancer, Covid, but we  need to remember that these are signs of judgement and sin. What is  important comes afterwards. How long afterwards – we don’t know (which  is likely a good thing because that way we always live awake, watchful  and waiting for it). And when it happens – it will be impossible to deny  the presence of God when “the Son of Man is going to come with his  angels in the glory of his Father” (Matthew 16:27). For now, his  promised presence is with those who believe but there will come a day  when he will return to judge the living and the dead and those who  denied him.

“The days will come when there will not be left here  one stone upon another” (Luke 21:6) as Jesus describes the end of the  things of the world. The heavens will be next as there will be signs in  the sun, moon and stars. The heavens will be shaken “and then they will  see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now  when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your  heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:27-28). Jesus  tells us to not deny the undeniable facts – but we are to interpret them  correctly. I don’t know how many people throughout history have tried  to predict the exact day and time of the Lord’s return of which Jesus  clearly says that only the Father knows when it will all take place.  This is why Jesus is clear in refocusing us to the ever important  present, while the future is something to ponder – because it will be a  terrifying and awesome conclusion to everything.

Like His  disciples, it's hard for us not to ask “Teacher, when will these things  be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place”  (21:7)? Honestly, wouldn’t we want to know so that we can spend all our  time preparing for it. But when we are focussed completely on  ourselves, we aren’t taking care of our neighbours. And so, Jesus gives  us a sign from nature to help us understand so “that you are not led  astray” (Luke 21:8). So then, what can we learn today from the parable  of the fig tree about ourselves and the world in which we live? Simply  speaking, if we can interpret the signs in nature, we should be able to  interpret the cosmic signs all around us. “As soon as they come out in  leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near”  (Luke 21:30). Unless we are knowledgeable of agriculture, we actually  miss the deeper meaning found within the parable. The fig tree, in  contrast to most of the other trees of Palestine (the olive, oak, and  evergreens) loses its leaves in the winter and in contrast to the almond  which blossoms in early spring the Fig shows signs of life later than  all of the other trees. So, when the branches get soft when the sap  starts flowing through them and the leaves begin to appear, it is a sure  sign that the warm season is very near and the fruit will soon appear.  The lesson of the fig tree teaches us that there is not a lot of time  between the first signs of life, the blossoms and the fruit. The time is  very short between one event and what follows. 

After leaving  the temple and as Jesus was walking along with his disciples, he saw a  fig tree which reminded him of the final judgment. His point is clear.  The sign of the fig tree lends itself to Jesus’ constant teaching about  being watchful and prepared for the imminent End of time. The end will  soon be upon us and we ought to keep a watchful eye for all signs of  life which ultimately are signs of the presence of God acting in our  world. “Watch yourselves lest your hearts [your attitudes] be weighed  down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life” (Luke  21:34). There is an intoxicating attraction in our sinful world that  draws Christians away from what is important into an excessive concern  of looking for and waiting for the end. 

The Apocalypse, the  Eschaton, the End Time, the Second Coming, the Day of the Lord, the Last  Judgment – call it what you will – Jesus warns that it will come like a  trap and the event will be universal – everyone will be involved. It  won’t be like the popular “Left-Behind” series that says some will be  taken and others will be left. When the Lord returns – it is time. No  one knows when it will happen, no one can plan for that day and no one  will be excluded. The only sensible thing for us to do is to be prepared  at all times. Remember the parable of the ten maidens? “Five of them  were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps,  they took no oil with them” (Matthew 25:2). The bridegroom arrived at  an unexpected hour. The wise went into the banquet and the doors were  closed as the foolish were excluded from entering.

By the end of  the first century, the believers began to realize that Jesus’ return was  not imminent – but was going to take a longer time than they had  thought. In giving us the Holy Spirit, the believers understood that he  was a deposit, a sign for us during the in-between time as we continue  the work which Jesus had begun until the day of his glorious return.  In  reality, Jesus’s teaching about the imminence of his return is not  calling us to live in a state of emergency, but rather in a state of  urgency so that as his followers we don’t lapse into a state of  complacency just because nothing seems to be happening.  The signs of  nature remind us that something is happening, in God's timing and not  ours. It’s the signs in the heavens and nature that worry us as the  earthly cosmic disturbances, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, floods,  forest fires, global warming, pandemics, that scare us. They remind us  of our fragility when compared to nature’s power, our helplessness in  the face of forces too powerful to be faced, let alone tamed.

Those  cosmic disturbances are signs of our sin’s effect on the world in which  we live. “There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All  these are but the beginning of the birth pains” (Matthew 24:7-8). These  signs reveal to one degree or another humanities' effect on the planet  in which we live. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden  of Eden to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). I suspect we have not  done a good job at caring for God’s creation but we can be thankful that  those cosmic signs and disturbances have been rare and infrequent. We  could only pray that human sins were equally rare and infrequent.  Imagine if the signs of nature increased dramatically, our planet would  not survive for very long. We could use Jesus’ teaching of the fig tree  to make one final observation. If human sinfulness also increased  drastically beyond the amount of sin that life can sustain, we might  find the time between the appearing of the leaves, blossom and fruit  accelerating and then it will happen. “Stay awake at all times, praying  that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to  take place, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36).

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