The End of Summer

Jesus talks about the end of summer in Matthew 24:32, "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh."  What does that mean? When the tree buds, it's spring.  It's really not very complex.  In this time of year when the sap begins to flow through those branches, they become somewhat swelled and tender as that life begins to pulsate and pour through and push out the end of the branch in the form of a leaf.  There is a tenderness to the tree.  There is a need to care carefully for that tree in that period of time.  When its branch is tender, because it's soft with swelling sap and it pushes out its leaves, you know its spring, and spring means summer is near and summer means harvest.  In Matthew, harvest is a time of rewarding that which is good and of burning and punishing that which is evil, so what the Lord is saying that when you see the leaves come forth in the spring, you know that the coming of summer is near and there will be soon a harvest.  They would perceive the harvest to be the second coming, the coming of God's judgment.  Jesus is saying that the generation that sees the signs that He is talking about in Matthew 24, signs that He is coming, you know the end is near, like harvest follows summer.  It's a simple metaphor, but for you, think of the Lord's coming with the end of summer.