What you see in the somewhat blurry photo above, is a fig tree plant growing in a pot on my balcony. It's been a hot summer so far, and the plant had been neglected leading to it losing all its leaves last year so about a month ago I removed it from the pot and replaced the soil which was full of bulbs from an aggressive weed that had taken over the pot, with new potting soil and worm compost. The new leaf tip you can see is the latest evidence that my rescue attempt has worked. There are further spurts of new growth at the base of the stem, which appeared first.
Matthew 24:32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Jesus told a parable of a man who did exactly what I did, attempted to save a fig tree. By the way, the fig tree on my balcony has fruited in the past, so that isn't even in question, and is the reason why I am trying to save it. It just needs to survive a blisteringly hot Queensland summer, so I need to keep watering it, or it will die again.
Luke 13:6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”
So yeah, I have my own little prophecy sign growing right on my balcony now. The fig tree actually belongs to my stepdaughter, who is returning to Australia from Canada with her husband in a month, so I'm glad that she will be able to see that her fig tree is still alive.
Update Feb 2020: here's a more recent, less blurry photo of the fig tree:
OK. so what does all this talk of fig trees have to do with the rapture? The rapture certainly isn't mentioned in either of these verses. Well it's mostly circumstantial evidence based on the notion of a pre tribulation rapture. But of course, Israel is really the centre of the story. When the church leaves, Israel becomes the centre of God's attention once again.
Now, once again, I want to look at the possibility of a rapture happening in 2020 or 2021. I won't go into a lot of detail about the fig tree prophecy, because it's been done to death by a lot of other people, but let's just say that the formation of the state of Israel in 1948 started a timer that is now up to 71 years and 8 months as I write this Post on 27/01/2020.
A lot of people were disappointed when the rapture didn't happen in 2018, but it seems that 70 years is not the length of this particular generation we are living in right now. In fact, according to no less than the World Health Organisation, the average expected life span globally in 2016 was 72.0 years.
https://www.who.int/gho/mortality_burden_disease/life_tables/situation_trends/en/
So, could the rapture happen in 4 months, in May 2020? Quite possibly. Am I prophesying this? Absolutely not, but I certainly won't be surprised if it does happen. Just to round off this post, have a read of Psalm 90:10. Just to be different, I selected the Orthodox Jewish Bible version in Bible Gateway:
Tehillim 90:10 Orthodox Jewish Bible (OJB)
10 The yamim of shnoteinu (our years, life) are threescore shanah and ten; and if by reason of gevurot they are fourscore shanah, yet is their boast amal (trouble, toil) and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
Could it be that after 70 years, but before 80, our life will be "soon cut off" and will we "fly away"? It's a tantalizing thought. There is another school of thought that places the second coming at 80 years, and the rapture at 7 years prior to that, which would mean the rapture in May 2021. Possibly, yes, so that's why I'm not dogmatic about any single rapture date or time frame, as all of these prophetic theories are subject to validation by the passing of time. As always, I will continue to watch and wait for the return of my Saviour, as prophesied in the scriptures all those centuries ago...