When the fig tree buds and puts forth new leaves, we know summer is near. How do we know when Christ's coming and His Kingdom are near? Israel is described as the fig tree, or the clock, that we are to examine to know the time. For almost 2000 years, the fig tree, Israel, was quiet and dormant. Throughout the Church age, from A.D. 70, when General Titus of the Roman Empire destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, until Hitler and World War II, very little happened to the Jewish people.
The new leaves began to appear when six million Jews were killed in World War II. New leaves appeared in 1948 when they became a nation, and again, when their barren wasteland became like a garden. More new leaves appeared when they became a great army. In 1989, the Berlin Wall was torn down and millions were freed from the Soviet Union. For almost 2000 years, nothing seemed to be happening.
Now what is left for Israel, and how fast will it happen? We are told in Daniel 9:24, they will be saved as a nation in the seventieth week of Daniel. What do we see happening to Israel on the way to Armageddon?
After almost 2000 years of silence, the fig tree started to bloom, beginning with World War II. It is amazing how much has happened since then. How soon will the remaining signs occur, and how quick will the coming of Christ's Kingdom be?