Matthew 24 Prophecy Explained: 14 Clear Signs Jesus Gave About the End Times

Excerpted from Glory and the End Times.

Now we find ourselves in the beginning of the very end times.

We are also in the time of sorrow and birth pangs. These are times of intensity, pressure, chaos in the world—but at the same time there is a great harvest of souls and a great demonstration of the power of God in these last days!

We are living in the final generation that the apostles and prophets of old foresaw and wished they could see in their day—but here we are!

So to know what is coming and where we are on the end-time timeline, we have to first look at the fig tree, which is Israel, to see how ripe it is.

The fig tree prophecy references part of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21.

The following is what Jesus says:

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. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away (Matthew 24:32-35 NIV).

Fig trees were common in Israel, so Jesus used this illustration of a sign of the end times. The appearance of leaves on the fig tree heralded the onset of summer; similarly, the appearance of all the things Jesus had just described would herald the Second Coming and the end of the age.

Note the wording of the fig tree prophecy: Jesus says that when people see all the signs, then the end is near. What are all the signs? The following is what Jesus has mentioned in Matthew 24:5-30) up to that point:

• Many false messiahs will come (Matthew 24:5)

• There will be wars and rumors of wars (verse 6)

• Nations will rise against each other (verse 7)

• There will be famines and earthquakes worldwide (verse 7)

• Christians will face persecution and death (verse 9)

• Many professed believers will turn away from the faith and betray each other (verse 10)

• Many false prophets will deceive masses of people (verses 11, 24)

• Wickedness will increase (verse 12)

• The love of most will grow cold (verse 12)

• The gospel will be preached to the whole world (verse 14)

• The abomination of desolation will stand in the holy place of the temple (verse 15; Daniel 9:27)

• There will be a time of great distress, unequaled in the history of the world (verse 21)

• There will be signs in the heavens affecting the sun, moon, and stars (verse 29)

• The sign of the Son of Man will appear in Heaven (verse 30)

According to the fig tree prophecy, “when you see all these things, you can know his return is very near, right at the door” (Matthew 24:33 NLT). There were some present when Jesus spoke this who had seen some of the things Jesus prophesied (false teachers and persecution, for example), but His return will not occur until all are seen in fullness. We consider the events Jesus lists as corresponding to the seal judgments of Revelation 6.

Jesus goes on to say, “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened” (Matthew 24:34 NIV). The generation that Jesus speaks of not passing until He returns is a future generation, namely, the people living when the predicted events occur. They are the people alive in the future when all the events of Matthew chapters 24–25 take place.

In other words, the people who will see the start of those events will be the same people who see the end of those events. As one scholar puts it, “The generation that sees the beginning of the end, also sees its end. When the signs come, they will proceed quickly; they will not drag on for many generations. It will happen within a generation.”

This sequence of events hasn’t fully happened yet. To use Jesus’ illustration, the leaves of the fig tree have not yet emerged. When they do, the world can know that Jesus is coming soon. The fig tree prophecy concerns His Second Coming. The Second Coming is preceded by signs, just as summer is preceded by the fig leaves.

Also, we don’t know when the events of Matthew 24 will occur. “About that day or hour no one knows,” Jesus says in Matthew 24:36 (NIV). So we don’t know 100 percent if anyone alive today will see all these signs, but it sure is looking like it every day as things are rapidly speeding up. We believe we are getting closer to that time—we certainly aren’t getting farther away—and we pray, “Thy kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10 KJV). As we wait and pray and observe the “birth pains” (Matthew 24:8 NIV), we remember the fig tree prophecy.

But just because we don’t know the day or the hour, we can possibly know the season. Most of the major events of Jesus all occurred during a Hebrew feast that God gave to Israel. Most Jewish scholars believe He was conceived at Hannukah, which is the feast of dedication. He died at Passover and was the Passover Lamb! The Holy Spirit was sent on the Hebrew feast of Pentecost! And one of the last unfulfilled feasts is the Feast of Tabernacles. It starts off with the fall Feasts, which starts with Rosh Hashanah leading to Yom Kippur—but primarily the Feast of Tabernacles. It’s very possible Jesus returns during a Yom Kippur when the entire nation is fasting and mourning, which is what occurs on that day, but they will be repenting and mourning for the One whom they pierced.

Zechariah 12:10-14 (NIV) says:

And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, and all the rest of the clans and their wives.

Just two chapters later it’s the Feast of Tabernacles. It seems very possible there is national mourning for having missed the Messiah when He first came and realizing He is the Messiah after all. This realization will hit the spiritual, religious, and national leaders in full. Then shortly after this and He has returned, it will be a Feast of Tabernacles unlike any other!

The Feast of Tabernacles is already known as the most joyful feast, but when the Messiah appears it will be fully fulfilled. Every nation will be required to go to Jerusalem during this feast to worship the King, Yeshua/Jesus including the Arab nations. That’s how we know the feasts are not just ancient celebrations or only for the Jewish people today. The Feast of Tabernacles is also called the feast of all nations. Now we see why. All nations will come during that time to worship Him or at least send representatives from their respective nations. Look what it says here just two chapters after the mourning:

And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:16-19 NKJV).

On a side note, if there is a blessing of rain for going and celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem while King Yeshua/Jesus is present, could there be a blessing in blessing Israel today during those feasts while awaiting and preparing for His return? I did an experiment and went to Israel during this feast with a tour of believers to pray, visit, and bless Israel. During that trip I was offered a contract for a TV show, television cameras were given to me by another ministry, and international doors opened—all before I left Israel. A “rain” of favor surely hit our ministry during that time.