The Regathering And The Crucial Sign Of The Generation

The Crucial Sign

Tim Moore

The regathering of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel is prophesied repeatedly in the Old Testament. 

During the long centuries of the Diaspora — the Jewish dispersal among the nations — as the Jews were afflicted and oppressed, the Land became barren. Although in the fullness of time, God prepared both the people and the Land to realize the prophetic promises.

In the late 1800s, a few impassioned Zionists were advocating for a Jewish state. However, most Jews believed they were accepted by the societies in which they lived. The Jewish emphasis on academic study and financial prowess made them excellent students, musicians, businessmen, artists, doctors, scientists, and citizens. In spite of lurking antisemitism and episodic persecution, most Jews were content to pursue quiet lives in places like Germany, Poland, France, and Russia. All that would change in the 20th Century.

Over the centuries following Rome’s expulsion of the Jews in 70 AD, the Promised Land fell under a curse. Known as Palestine (the Latinized version of the name given to the Holy Land by the Romans), it was controlled by a succession of foreign powers — including Christian crusaders and Islamic caliphates. By the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire obliterated the 1000-year Christian Byzantine Empire and began to rule Palestine with a heavy hand.

God’s curse lingered on the Land throughout the millennia of the Jewish exile — as foretold in Ezekiel 33:28-29. And make no mistake, the Land was forsaken — denuded of vegetation, deprived of people, and largely devoid of life. In 1869, Mark Twain documented the cursed status of the Holy Land in his book, The Innocents Abroad. He rightfully understood that God’s hand of judgment had fallen on His own Promised Land.

The horror of the Nazi Holocaust changed Jewish hearts and minds. Jews realized that away from their Promised Land they would always be homeless. So, by the thousands (and eventually millions) they streamed back to Eretz Israel — the Land of Israel.

The fig tree branch was becoming tender and beginning to put out leaves.

In the week between the triumphal entry of Palm Sunday and His crucifixion, Jesus spoke much about Israel’s rejection (Matthew 21:28-44), the shift of the Gospel to the Gentiles (Matthew 22:1-14), and the judgment about to fall on Israel (Matthew 23:13-39). He also responded when the disciples asked Him, “Tell us, when will these things (the destruction of the temple) happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3).

We have extensively addressed the discourse that follows in Matthew 24. But the lesson of the fig tree offers a key to understanding the timing of the end. Jesus said, “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door” (Matthew 24:32-33).

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