 After reading your notes on Isaiah 34, I noticed that both Isaiah 34 and Matthew 24 mentioned fig leaves Right after saying that the stars will fall if the two texts are about the same ideas Would that mean that the fig leaves and Jesus's parable represent the same Heavenly beings as they do in Isaiah 34. Do you think that is what Jesus was saying? Could you elaborate on what they're coming out and summer is near might mean? Yeah, well, I would say I wouldn't use the word, you know, like the leaves represent the actual entities they represent some They represent something that I do think I would agree with the questioner that is consistent in Isaiah 34 But let's just let's just read the passages so listeners get a feel for the context here So in Isaiah 34 verse 4, this is what the one of the passages that the questioner is alluding to We read all the host of heaven shall rot away and The skies roll up like a scroll all their host shall fall as Leaves fall from the vine like leaves falling from the fig tree and We we spent a good deal of time talking about Isaiah 34 in an earlier episode Where this language again is it's not just celestial events There there are passages that there are other verses in this passage But there are other passages that make it clear that at the day of the Lord when the the host of The nations that you know the when they get judged well the host of heaven gets judged, too And you know, it's linking you know that basically God's gonna clean house not just on the earth But also in the spiritual world In a nutshell and so it uses this host of heaven shall fall as leaves fall from the vine It like leaves falling for the fig tree and then in a New Testament In Matthew 24 Matthew is not the only place that has this you get this in Mark 13 as well But in Matthew 24 verses 29 through 34 I'll read those immediately after the tribulation of those days The Sun will be dark and the moon will not give its light the stars will fall from heaven Again stars very familiar language for divine beings in certain contexts and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of man and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn And they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call. They will gather his elect from the four winds From one end of heaven to the other from the fig tree verse 32 learn its lesson As soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that the summer is near So also when you see all these things, you know that he is near at the very gates Truly I say to you this generation will not pass until all these things take place Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away now in in Matthew verse 32 fig tree is the Greek word suke and that is the same term Used in Isaiah 34 for in the Septuagint. So it's very conceivable to me And again, this isn't unique to me The other scholars are going to say the same thing that Matthew is drawing on in his description of The second coming here and of course associated with it all this other stuff You know the judgment of the nations and whatnot that he could be thinking of Isaiah 34 for I think that that You can make a really good case for that that Matthew does and mark you know have Isaiah 34 verse 4 in mind The stars are the gods of the nations the general powers of spiritual darkness that are hostile to God Again, that's there's a lot of precedent for that in earlier episodes of the podcast We've talked about that at length They're judged in the final sense at the day of the Lord. That's when the nations are also judged and believers are put over the nations In other words the nations get reclaimed Their gods are finally defeated and the believers rule the nations of the world in the new Eden on God's behalf like in the book of Revelation chapter 2 chapter 3 toward the end of both those chapters we see To hand it over comes, you know getting put over the nations and ruling the nations with a rod of iron the messianic language They're used to believers again This is all familiar stuff if you've listened to the podcast for any length of time The point of the fig tree is that it's a useful teaching analogy I'm going to read a little a little section here from We can find it here from my this is one of my favorite calm This might be my favorite commentary on Matthew. It's by RT France. He says The fig tree is used because it is the most prominent deciduous tree in Palestine and one whose summer fruiting was eagerly awaited The appearance of its new shoots is a clear harbinger of summer and Once they appear the observer may know for sure how long it will be before the fruit is ready In the same way the occurrence of the preliminary events You know and Francis talking about the preliminary events of the the messianic coming the first century the sort of the first ground the already Not the not yet He says in the same way the occurrence of the preliminary events of the first century will inform Jesus disciples clearly At the process which will end in the temple's destruction is underway and the end is near on the threshold I recall this is me talking now Recall that there are passages again. We had this in a whole episode There are passages that speak of the gods already being defeated in other words their rightful status is overturned Paul is demanding that the Gentiles abandon them even though God had put them, you know in charge of the nations They become corrupt. That's what Psalm 82 is about God had put them in charge Deuteronomy 32 8 9 Gentiles though should now reject them because this you know the coming of Jesus and the death barrel and resurrection especially the resurrection Signals the fact that it's time for the nations to come back home to the true God and abandon The lesser gods who have become corrupt and are their evil taskmasters So again, there are passages to talk about the gods already being defeated But not yet destroyed their destruction their ultimate destruction is Again awaiting a future time at the day of the Lord The same is true of the New Testament tribulation talk first century believers were and would endure Severe tribulation, but even worse tribulation would come right before the eschatological day of the Lord So I think it's hard for a lot of Bible readers and Bible students to process this kind of stuff I hate to say it this way because all they've ever been taught about prophecy is left behind so people who only know this sort of pre-tribulational rapture kind of format And again, this this isn't to exclude the possibility of a rapture I've said before I never said that it couldn't that couldn't be the case, but it I don't consider it very likely But you you know it could be But if that's all you know if that's your total framework There are a lot of things in the Gospels that are going to confuse you If on the other hand your framework is the already but not yet that we talk about a lot on this podcast Then you can see how okay some of some of this stuff Jesus is talking about or Matthew or Mark or whoever That was real in their day, and it really did happen to them But then there are other passages that say that was just a harbinger of something else to come or you know That that was sort of the template for something else yet to come You can see fulfillment in their day and Fulfillment yet waiting But if all you're ever trained to think about is whenever somebody says something about that sounds eschatological It's only future Then you're gonna you're gonna have a tough time reading the Gospels And so I just want to throw that out to maybe some listeners that that's really the only way they've ever been taught to process eschatology and times talk There's an already but not yet thing that that flows through most of this stuff and that's why you know We need to pay attention that we don't need to be on Miller's and say everything's already happened or full Preterist or whatever and then and we also don't need to be the other side and say well nothing's happened It's all yet future that actually the answer somewhere in between Like like there is in so many other cases So I think that the fig leaf thing is it's just a it's a useful illustration that And once you see this and you're gonna see it you're gonna experience What we're talking about here? But if it's tied to Isaiah 34 then the ultimate destruction of the stars of God Is associated with the day of the Lord? Which has not yet happened and you go to the New Testament and talk You know even in the Gospels and see you know Jesus and other people talking about the day of the Lord being yet Distant yet future so it's not that there's a contradiction is that we have a both and not an either or