"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." Isaiah 11:11-12

"And He spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.
So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled." Luke 21:29-32

Greetings, my dearly beloved near and far away! May this day be one of great joy to you, for surely I bring you glad tidings of marvelously good things; yes, even for you individually. I have the happy fortune of being a servant of Jesus Christ, even of our Lord and our God. Because God is good, even very good and only good, then it follows that His true servants can only bring glad tidings of marvelously good things unto all who will hear His Word and live as the sons and daughters of Jesus Christ.

If your Bible is convenient, you may look up the 21st chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, from which I will quote shortly. In the meantime, I wish to remind you that we have here on earth two great kingdoms. The first – and that which seems to be the foremost – is the earthly kingdom of Lucifer, whom God appointed to take charge of this world misty eons ago. At the time of our Lord's temptation following His fast in the wilderness, the Devil told Him very clearly that the kingdoms of this earth and the glory thereof had been given into his hand, and he could give it unto whomsoever he wished (Lk. 4:5-6). Since our Lord did not dispute his word in the slightest, we must assume that Lucifer's statement was correct. And to that agree later statements of the Lord, such as those He made to His disciples on that last evening He was with them. When in the Upper Room He said, "The Prince of this world approaches and has nothing in Me" (Jn. 14:30). Therefore, this world and its present society, that is, the world as you and I see it today, is the kingdom of his Satanic Majesty, the Devil.

Often we hear people, who are inclined to question the existence of God, use arguments something along this line: "If God is, and He is a good God, then how can it be that we see a world full of misery and multiplied hell? We see sorrow and distress and suffering, which defies description. We even see innocent children born into this world who may be malformed, diseased or crippled, facing a life of perpetual distress or even suffering. How then can I believe that there is a good God in charge of this world?"

When we come to study the entirety of the Word of God, it becomes a very simple matter to explain all of this – and that to the utmost satisfaction of the most critical; yet that would become a narrative to take up an entire day, instead of this short sermonette. But in the fewest of words and simplest language, all of this is answered and explained by what I previously stated: that this world, as you and I know it, is the kingdom of his Satanic Majesty, the Devil. Because this is the realm of Satan, we see the untold misery and suffering which humankind has come to know.

The second kingdom is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. But because the risen Lord is no longer a human being of flesh and blood and bones as you and I, but is a glorified Being in a spiritual world, it follows that of necessity His Kingdom is a spiritual Kingdom, which He superimposed upon this world before He ascended to the Heavenly Throne to sit at His Father's right hand.

We can find a certain amount of similarity in the affairs of man. We could look upon the President of the United States: does he "rule" the country? But no, the power of rulership has been delegated to Congress, otherwise we would have a oneman dictatorship. Look to a monarchy like that of Great Britain: the present Queen has a Prime Minister unto whose Cabinet and House of Lords all legislative powers have been delegated. Although it may be difficult for the average person to understand, for the simple reason that the modern Christian knows absolutely nothing about the ways of God and His plan for man, yet much in the same way, God Almighty appointed Lucifer to take charge of this world and to set up his government. That was in the dim ages of long ago.

Now, I am little concerned over the kingdom of Lucifer. He has his henchmen of the highest order appointed all over the world, and they run it. But I personally am chiefly interested in the glorious Kingdom of Jesus Christ, which is a spiritual Kingdom already superimposed upon this world. And the fruits of this marvelous Kingdom of Christ our Lord are available to every one of His citizens who have been born into His Kingdom and who live as His true sons and daughters! I ask in the plainest of words: isn't that marvelous news? Shouldn't it bring a broad smile to your face, and a great joy rising up in your heart, bursting forth in shouts of praise and songs of great joy? If it doesn't do that for you, that means you don't understand my language. Like our Lord said in the days of His flesh, "It is because My words find no room within you" (Jn. 8:37). Emphatically do I state with all that within me is, that the said spiritual Kingdom of Jesus Christ is now in functional existence superimposed upon this world, and every one of its legitimate citizens can, right here and now, draw upon the wonderful grace of Christ our Lord, and enjoy in this earth-life, right here and now, the bounteous and superabundant fruits of His marvelously good Kingdom! (Oh, what glory!)

Now, let us read from the 21st chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, starting with verse 29:
"And He spake to them a parable; `Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.'"

Emphatically do I state that the fig tree was used by our Lord as a symbol of the Jewish nation. You need not take my word for that. At your leisure, you may look up the Prophet Hosea, chapter 9, verse 10, which I will quote:
"I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree...."

There you have it. God named the ancient Hebrew fathers of the Jewish nation as the firstripe in the fig tree. Students of God's prophetic Word have known for hundreds of years that the Jewish people were destined to again come back to Palestine as a nation. For, the selfsame Spirit of God spoke through His Prophet, saying, "I will set My hand the second time to gather the remnant of Israel" (Isa. 11:11). After the seventy years of captivity in Babylon, a remnant of Israel was sent back to Palestine: that constituted the first time that God set His hand to gather the captivity. Then in 70 A.D., the armies of Rome under Titus destroyed Jerusalem and completely dispersed the seed of Jacob. Therefore, students of the prophetic Word were well aware that the time had to come when God would set His hand the second time, in fulfillment of His Word, to "gather the remnant of Israel." And that was also a must, because the very Son of God in the days of His flesh said to the Jewish people: "Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, `Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord'" (Matt. 23:39). Manifestly, the Jewish people as a nation must be living in their homeland in order to fulfill that prophecy when our Lord returns to earth.

In the Bible we find trees used to symbolize leaders of the people, and for fathers of tribes which grow into nations. The common people are symbolized by grass. So here when the Lord was speaking about the fig tree, He referred to the Jewish nation. But observe His closing words in verse 29: "…and all the trees." Surely everyone who reads these lessons is well aware that during the last 15 to 20 years a multitude of peoples have become sovereign nations. The greatest of these was India, which back in the 1940s achieved its independence from Great Britain. And since that time we have seen what has almost amounted to a frenzy for little and insignificant peoples to achieve independence and statehood, instead of being subject to some outside government. That is what the Lord prophetically referred to in those few words "...and all the trees." Now then, concerning those "trees," or peoples, and the Jewish people, He said, "When they now shoot forth [their buds], ye know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand" (Lk. 21:30).

We all know that in the summer of 1948, the Jewish people declared themselves a reborn nation in Palestine. That was in the month of May. In fact, based on Bible prophecy and the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, I had forecast about six months previously the very day that Israel declared themselves a new nation in the land of their fathers. So, not only you and I have seen the restoration of the Israel people to Palestine, but simultaneously thereto we have witnessed a multitude of other peoples gaining their "freedom" and statehood, as well as many others who were no people becoming new nations. Therefore, these events, combining and agreeing in one, constitute the greatest sign of the age that the return of the Lord is close to hand.

I suppose that different trees will slightly vary, but we do know that when a tree buds, it is only a matter of a few weeks until it is in the beauty of its foliage. Since God has said that a day stands for a year (Num. 14:34; Ezek. 4:6), it seems reasonable to suppose that in a reasonable number of years from the summer of 1948, we will see the return of our Lord to reign over His people Israel.

Now momentarily let us consider more carefully the wording in verse 32, wherein, according to the Authorized Version, it reads: "...This generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled." We know that except for the destruction of Jerusalem, which was in the era of our Lord, none of His predictions were fulfilled during the short time of that generation. But when we look to the original Greek manuscripts, we find the word auteh (root: houtos), which has been rendered "this." That is quite correct, but not all that there is to be said for it. We find as we study the ancient Greek that this auteh word was also used to mean "the same." In other words, it could quite properly be rendered "that." Or more fully, "That generation which sees the budding of the fig tree and all the trees, the same generation shall not pass away until all these things be fulfilled." What were those "things" of which He spoke? You will find them covered in the previous portion of the 21st chapter, but the most precious and glorious part thereof He put into these words:
"...then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (verse 27).

That, my friends, is your destiny and mine (unless you happen to already have a foot on the brink of the grave): to live to personally see that stupendous day when the heavens shall light up with the glory of the returning Son of God, coming not as a Lamb, but as "the Lion of the tribe of Judah" (Rev. 5:5), in consuming fire "taking vengeance on those who know not God, and who will not obey the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ" (II Thess. 1:8).

Might it not be well to take a look at the span of a generation? I think it would be impossible to allot a specific number of years, months and days to the span of a generation. For a long time it was considered as a period of 3040 years. Yet there are other references to the span of a generation which differ. That will make no difference, for, the words of our Lord were that the same generation witnessing the budding of the fig tree would not pass away until all things were fulfilled. In other words, the fulfillment of those wonderful prophecies is to take place previous to the end of that generation. So since it was to be less than the generation, it is not of too great importance as to its exact span of time. But when we consider that the Israel people become a reborn nation in the summer of 1948, to which we apply His words that "before that time all those things shall be fulfilled," we are aware that "that generation" implies that we are now living in momentous times. What marvelous days in which we live! Difficult would it be to have any happier news for you than that this kingdom of Lucifer is soon to be destroyed by the power of the returning King of kings and LORD of lords, Who will establish here on earth a terrestrial government, founded in righteousness – establishing peace, justice and happiness for all who will hear His Voice and enter.

As already stated, it would be difficult to bring you any happier news. Nevertheless, I have other marvelous tidings which are virtually just as good, insofar as you are individually concerned. And it is that which I am perpetually drumming at you, that Christ our Lord did establish, or superimpose upon this world, a spiritual Kingdom, of which He is now the reigning Lord; and that the fruit of that Kingdom, and its peace and joy, success, and happiness, health and strength, and marvelously good tidings, are the natural heritage of every citizen of that spiritual Kingdom, right here and now, who live as sons and daughters of Jesus Christ!

How I wish I could hear the shouting and singing for joy of heart at this marvelous news which is almost too good to be believed!

"Ear has not heard; eye has not seen; neither has it entered into the heart of man THE GOOD which God has prepared for those that love Him" (I Cor. 2:9; Isa. 64:4).