For the past few studies I’ve been focused on Jesus’ Parable of the Fig Tree (Matthew 24:32-35), demonstrating that the signs Jesus offered his Apostles (viz. Matthew 24:3) were fulfilled in the first century AD. Those signs were not for a future coming of Jesus in the twenty first century or later, but for the future of the Apostles in the first century AD. Some folks try to use Matthew 24:36 to indicate Jesus couldn’t give any signs, but that is a false assumption and illogical, according to the context. After all, if Jesus told his disciples to “watch” (Matthew 24:42), he must have given them something to watch for. If he told them what to watch for, then he gave them signs. Isn’t that a logical deduction from the scripture?
Jesus told his Apostles to learn from the fig tree. When it begins to have leaves, you can understand that summer is at hand. Likewise, when you see all these things occurring… What things was he speaking of? He mentioned three signs, the fulfillment of the Great Commission (Matthew 24:14), the appearance of the abomination that brings desolation (Matthew 24:15), and the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21). “When you see these things,” Jesus said, “know that **it** is near even at the doors!” (Matthew 24:33). When what is near? To what does **it** refer? It refers to the questions the Apostles asked: when will these things be (the destruction of the Temple), and what would be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? They all refer to the same event.
Notice in Matthew 24:29-31 the heavens become dark because the Son of Man is coming in the clouds with great glory (Matthew 24:29-30; cf. 26:64). Jesus comes in judgment against the Temple and the age of Moses ends—all one event. This is what **it** refers to in Matthew 24:33. When you see these things—the fulfillment of the Great Commission, the abomination that brings desolation and the Great Tribulation—know that **it** is near, even at the doors (Matthew 24:33).
Notice how James, the brother of the Lord, put it:
Therefore be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and the latter rain. (8) You also be patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of your Lord draws near. (9) Do not grudge against one another, brothers, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge stands before the door. (James 5:7-9 — emphasis mine)
James was stoned cir 62 AD by the order of Ananias, the high priest and son of Annas the high priest, who was present at Jesus’ trial. James wrote his epistle just prior to his death, saying the Lord’s coming was near, the Judge who was to judge Jerusalem for persecuting the saints was standing at the door!
Who was James writing to? Wasn’t it to the twelve tribes in dispersion (James 1:1), to the united Israel, the remnant and true Israel? They were at the time of James’ writing undergoing persecution. With the exception of Nero persecuting believers at Rome (a local persecution), the only persecuting power that stood against believers in the 1st century was that of the Jewish authorities at Jerusalem. James told his readers that their vindication was near. Their reward was at hand, because the Judge was at the door (Matthew 24:33; James 5:9; cf. Matthew 16:27-28).
If James said the Judge was at the door, that puts Jesus coming in the first century AD, unless, of course, one wishes to remove all these things out of their context, but, then, what is sola scriptura for. If the traditions of men contradict scripture and the context in which it was written, at what point should the believer stand up of sola scriptura?
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