Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 24:32-35

"Now from the fig tree learn her parable: when her branch is now become tender, and putteth forth its leaves, ye know that the summer is nigh; even so ye also, when ye see all these things, know ye that he is nigh, [even] at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." — Matthew 24:32-35 (ASV)

Our Lord here evidently returns to the subject of the destruction of Jerusalem and in these words gives His apostles warning concerning the signs of the times. He had recently used the barren fig tree as an object-lesson; He now bids His disciples “learn a parable of the fig tree” and all the trees (Luke 21:31). God’s great book of nature is full of illustrations for those who have eyes to perceive them, and the Lord Jesus, the great Creator, often made use of its illuminated pages in conveying instruction to the minds of His hearers.

On this occasion, He used a simple simile from the parable of the fig tree: “When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh.” They could not mistake so plain a token of the near return of summer, and Jesus would have them read just as quickly the signs that were to herald the coming judgment on Jerusalem: “So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” The Revised Version has the words, “Know ye that he is nigh,” the Son of man, the King.

His own nation rejected Him when He came in mercy. So His next coming would be a time of terrible judgment and retribution to His guilty capital. Oh, that Jews and Gentiles today were wise enough to learn the lesson of that fiery trial and to seek His face, whose wrath they cannot bear!

The King left His followers in no doubt as to when these things should happen: “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” It was just about the ordinary limit of a generation when the Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem, whose measure of iniquity was then full and overflowed in misery, agony, distress, and bloodshed such as the world never saw before or since.

Jesus was a true Prophet. Everything that He foretold was literally fulfilled. He confirmed what He had already said, and what He was about to say, by a solemn affirmation: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

“The Word of the Lord endureth forever,” and though that Lord appeared in fashion as a man, and was shortly to be crucified as a malefactor, His words would endure when heaven and earth would have fulfilled the purpose for which He had created them and passed away.

Christ’s promises of pardon are as sure of fulfillment as His prophecies of punishment. No word of His shall ever “pass away.”