City Life Starter

Written by Nate Warren

The Word

29 Then He spoke to them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. 30 When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. 31 So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

Luke 21:29-33

Reflection

Jesus has been announcing a new era throughout His ministry. Here Jesus spells out that the signs of the coming of this age have been hiding in plain sight. Just as no one misunderstands the budding of the trees, so Israel should not miss the meaning of the events He has been describing.

The destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, which occurred about forty years after Jesus spoke these words, fulfilled the warnings He had given earlier in the chapter. That catastrophe functioned as a clear, historical sign that the old covenant order was giving way and that a new phase in God’s redemptive work had begun.

Jesus then speaks of “heaven and earth” passing away, invoking a passage from Isaiah about the destruction of the nations and the heavenly host:

² For the indignation of the Lord is against all nations,

And His fury against all their armies;

He has utterly destroyed them,

He has given them over to the slaughter.

³ Also their slain shall be thrown out;

Their stench shall rise from their corpses,

And the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

⁴ All the host of heaven shall be dissolved,

And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll;

All their host shall fall down

As the leaf falls from the vine,

And as fruit falling from a fig tree.

– Isaiah 34: 2-4 (emphasis mine)

The falling of fruit from a fig tree signifies the end of summer and the beginning of a new season. Jesus implies a profound transformation ahead: a new eschatological reality in which the cosmos—spiritual and material—is remade.

Application

But the Word of Jesus will endure.

Indeed, He has already begun the transformation He speaks of. As Paul teaches, those who belong to Christ are the first-fruits of the New Creation. By the Spirit, we already participate in the life of the age to come—even as we continue to live consciously within this present, passing age. The eternal reality has already broken into your life.

Therefore, while the world around us shifts and old structures fall, we anchor ourselves, not in the stability of the age that is fading, but in the enduring Word of the One whose kingdom will never end.

Prayer

Our Father,

I recognize that Your Kingdom coming on Earth means upheaval for everything I understand about this world. So I trust You when I hear of all kinds of calamity. I hold fast to Your Word, which will endure through every transformation.

Amen.