politically - and it is only the political aspect with which we are here concerned - the
whole period after the extinction of the Jewish State.154 Immediately after that would
follow the appearance to Israel of the 'Sign' of the Son of Man i n heaven, and with it the
conversion of all nations (as previously predicted),155 the Coming of Christ,156 and,
finally, the blast of the last Trumpet and the Resurrection.157
154. St. Matt. xxiv. 30.
155. ver. 14.
156. ver. 30.
157. ver. 31.
5. From this rapid outline of the future the Lord once more turned to make present
application to the disciples; nay, application, also, to all times. From the fig-tree, under
which, on that spring afternoon, they may have rested on the Mount of Oli ves, they were
to learn a 'parable.'158 We can picture Christ taking one of its twigs, just as its softening
tips were bursting into young leaf. Surely, this meant that summer was nigh - not that it
had actually come. The distinction is important. For, it seems to prove that 'all these
things,' which were to indicate to them that it159 was near, even at the doors, and which
were to be fulfilled ere this generation had passed away, could not have referred, to the
last signs connected with the immediate Advent of Christ,160 but must apply to the
previous prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Jewish Commonwealth.
At the same time we again admit, that the language of the Synoptists seems to indicate,
that they had not clearly understood the words of the Lord which they reported, and that
in their own minds they had associated the 'last signs' and the Advent of Christ with the
fall of the City. Thus may they have come to expect that Blessed Advent even in their
own days.
158. vv. 32, 33.
159. Not as in the R. V. 'He.' It can scarcely be supposed that Christ would. speak of
Himself in the third person. The subject is evidently 'the summer' (not as Meyer would
render θερος='harvest'). In St. Luke xxi. 31 it is paraphrased 'the Kingdom of God.'
160. vv. 29 -31.
II. It is at least a question, whether the Lord, while distinctly indicating these facts, and
intended to remove the doubt and uncertainty of their succession from the minds of His
disciples. To have done so would have necessitated that which, in the opening
sentence of the Second Division of this Discourse,161 He had expressly declared to lie
beyond their ken. The ' when' - the day and the hour of His Coming - was to remain
hidden from men and Angels.162 Nay, even the Son Himself - as they viewed Him and
as He spake to them - knew it not.163 It formed no part of His present Messianic Mission,
nor subject for His Messianic Teaching. Had it done so, all the teaching that follows
concerning the need of constant watchfulness, and the pressing duty of working for
Christ in faith, hope, and love - with purity, self -denial, and endurance - would have
been lost. The peculiar attitude of the Church: with loins grit for work , since the time was
short, and the Lord might come at any moment; with her hands busy; her mind faithful;
her face upturned towards the Sun that was so soon to rise; and her ear straining to
catch the first notes of heaven's song of triumph - all this would have been lost! What
has sustained the Church during the night of sorrow these many centuries; what has