Passage: Mark 13:28-37

The Big Idea

Jesus closed His teaching on the end of the age with two short parables. The fig tree teaches us that signs announce His coming, so choose the right side while there’s still time. The doorkeeper teaches us how to live once we’ve chosen: watch and pray, abiding in His grace, because no one knows the day or the hour. I believe Jesus’ return unfolds in two stages: the rapture of the church, which could happen at any moment, and His glorious return to the earth seven years later. Either way, the call is the same: be ready.

Review

In the first half of Mark 13, Jesus taught about the end of the age:

Signs come first. These line up with the first seals of Revelation 6, the four horsemen: the Antichrist revealed, war, famine and death.
Believers stay on task. Expect persecution, and rely on Spirit-led ministry the whole way.
A very specific sign. The Antichrist will enter the temple and demand to be worshiped as God: the abomination of desolation.
His return. About three and a half years later, Jesus will return with great power and glory.

Now Jesus gives two parables with two important lessons:

The fig tree teaches us to choose the right side while there’s still a chance.
The doorkeeper teaches us how to live once we have: watching and praying, abiding in His grace.

The Fig Tree (Mark 13:28-31)

“Learn this lesson from the fig tree: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things happening, you know that He is near, right at the door. Truly, I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”

Signs tell you an event is coming.
When football season starts, I know Christmas is coming. When the Christmas ads start, I know Thanksgiving is coming!
Jesus says that when you see these general signs, and then the specific sign of the abomination of desolation, His return is very near.

The main point: choose the right side while there’s still a chance.

When you see these end-time events unfolding, get right with God immediately!
Better yet, why wait? Get right with God now. Turn to Him, confess your sin, and ask for mercy and grace through the blood of Jesus. He will save everyone who calls on Him in this age of grace (Romans 10:13).

“This generation”

“This generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” This is a much-debated verse. Does “generation” mean a specific group of people living at one time, or a kind of people?

As always, context helps. In Mark, “generation” is consistently used to describe a kind of people, the unbelieving, God-rejecting kind (Mark 8:12, 38; 9:19).

So I believe it means the same here. Jesus is saying the wicked, Christ-rejecting world that sees these signs will be swept away. It’s not about counting years or an age range. It won’t get better and lead to worldwide revival at the very end. That rebellious generation will pass away at the end of the seven years.

What does the fig tree represent?

We know the main lesson: the end comes when these signs appear. But is there more?

I believe so, again from context. Mark just told us about a fig tree in chapter 11, a clear picture of a fruitless, faithless nation. And in the Old Testament, the fig tree often pictures Israel:

In Jeremiah 24, God compares the people of Judah to two baskets of figs, one good and one so rotten it couldn’t be eaten.
In Hosea 9:10, God says, “Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, I saw your fathers.”
In Joel 1:7, God laments that the invader has laid waste His vine and splintered His fig tree, stripping its bark and leaving its branches white.

So I believe Jesus frames His whole discussion of His return around Israel, which will be directly involved in these end-time events, as Daniel and Revelation 6-19 also show.

This doesn’t give us a timetable, because “this generation” refers to the unbelieving world at the end, not to Israel. But consider this: Israel didn’t exist as a nation for nearly two thousand years, until 1948. That shows God truly knows the future and will keep His promises to Israel. Her rebirth as a nation is like tender branches and leaves on the fig tree, setting the stage for the end-time events. Notice, though, that it’s leaves, not fruit: national life, not yet spiritual fruit.

The Rapture: The First Stage

That’s right: I believe the rapture is actually part of the second coming.

The rapture comes seven years before Jesus’ physical return to the earth.
It’s the event that begins the final chapter of history as we know it.
It ends the church age and launches the last seven years of God’s plan for Israel.

Paul describes it: the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, the voice of an archangel and the trumpet of God. The dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

No One Knows the Day (Mark 13:32-33)

“But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you don’t know when the time will come.”

This is very clear: no one knows the day.
So I believe this refers especially to the rapture, not to Jesus’ visible return at the end of the Tribulation.
Why? Because Scripture gives a countdown for that final return: about 1,260 days, three and a half years, after the abomination of desolation, which itself comes three and a half years after the Antichrist makes his covenant.
And Paul says the lawless one can’t be revealed until the One who restrains him is taken out of the way (2 Thessalonians 2:6-8). Many understand that Restrainer to be the Holy Spirit’s work through the church.

Scripture’s three-and-a-half-year timeframe shows up again and again:

Daniel 9:27: a covenant for one “week” (seven years), broken in the middle.
Daniel 7:25: the saints given into his hand for “a time, times and half a time.”
Daniel 12:11: 1,290 days from the abomination.
Revelation 11:2: the holy city trampled for forty-two months.
Revelation 12:6: the woman protected in the wilderness for 1,260 days.
Revelation 13:5: the beast given authority for forty-two months.

So the day no one can know is, I believe, the rapture of the church. What are we supposed to do with that? “Be on guard, keep awake.” And to help us, Jesus gives a parable.

The Doorkeeper (Mark 13:34-37)

“It’s like a man going on a journey, who leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Stay awake, therefore, for you don’t know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning, lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

The lesson is to watch. How do we do that?

Abide in His grace! Humility and faith.

Paul says the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:11-13).

Notice: it’s grace that trains us to live ready. Not fear, not pressure, but the grace of God.

This is called the doctrine of imminence: the rapture can happen at any moment.

The abomination of desolation can’t happen at any moment; the Antichrist must be revealed first.
Jesus’ visible return to the earth can’t happen at any moment; it comes three and a half years after the abomination.
But the rapture could happen today.

Two Stages, One Return

These are two parts of Jesus’ one return, but they’re very different:

The Rapture	His Glorious Appearing
Jesus comes for His saints (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)	Jesus comes with His saints (Jude 14; Revelation 17:14)
We meet Him in the air	His feet stand on the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4)
Could happen at any moment; no one knows the day	Follows clear signs and a countdown
Comfort and rescue for the church (1 Thessalonians 4:18; 5:9)	Judgment on the rebellious world (Revelation 19:11-21)
Begins the final seven years	Ends the final seven years

When Jesus returns to the earth, Revelation says He comes with the armies of heaven, and those with Him are “called, chosen and faithful” (Revelation 17:14). That’s not only angels; it’s us! Enoch prophesied, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints” (Jude 14).

Grace Takeaway

The fig tree says the season is coming; the doorkeeper says to stay awake. Jesus could come for His church at any moment, and one day He will return in glory with all His saints. That’s not a reason for fear but for hope. If you haven’t trusted Him yet, don’t wait. And if you have, let His grace train you to live awake: humble, trusting, faithful, and looking for your blessed hope.

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The Second Coming of Jesus