Matt. 24:32 “
Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when
you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you,
this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
Israel was not restored in 1948. Modern "Israel" is not the Israel that existed before the fall of Jerusalem in A.D.70. The Israel of the Bible has disappeared forever. Even the Encyclopedia Judaica Jerusalem (1971, Vol. 3, p. 50) acknowledges that there is no longer such a thing as the Jewish race. The events of 1948 have nothing whatsoever to do with Biblical prophecy and the coming of Jesus.
Second, if the fig tree represents the restoration of Israel then "all the trees" (see
Luke 21:29) must mean that in 1948 "all the nations" were restored as well! Interestingly, those who insist that the fig tree in
Matthew 24 must be Israel, completely ignore the reference to "all the trees" in the parallel text in
Luke 21:29. This is inconsistent. If the fig tree represents Israel in 1948 then consistency demands that "all the trees" represents the restoration of all other nations.
Third, if the restoration of "Israel" in 1948 was the sign of Christ’s coming, then the clock has already run out. Hal Lindsey (correctly) calculated that a generation in scripture is approximately 40 years. (see
Matthew 1;
Hebrews 3:7-19). Of course, when he wrote that he was predicting the coming of Christ for 1988! When that failed he went back to the calculator and invented a new definition for generation, 100-125 years! That is completely false, yet he managed to convince a lot of sincere people nonetheless.
The point is that 1988 has come and gone. The forty year period that should have, according to modern theory, produced the Great Tribulation, the Great Apostasy, the Man of Sin, the Antichrist, the Mark of the Beast, and all of the other horrific events of the last days, did not, in fact, produce a single one of the signs necessary for the coming of Christ. The reason is simple, all of the signs that were predicted to occur prior to Christ’s coming appeared in the first century, just like Jesus said.