For two thousand years, the church has been waiting for her Lord's return. Many have tried to set a date, draw up a calendar, announce the day and the hour. Jesus himself closed that door with a sentence no disciple can forget.
"But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only." (Matthew 24:36)
In this fourth part of his teaching on the return of Christ, Pastor Wataru Sugawara (菅原亘) of Kobe Glory Christian Church opens Matthew 24 to recall what Jesus himself announced about the end times. Not the prediction of a prophet, but the word of the Son spoken directly to his disciples. This article faithfully retraces the points of this sermon from October 19, 2025.
Outline of the sermon
1. No one knows the day of his return
2. The great deception of the last days
3. Discerning false prophets
4. The great tribulation and the shaken heavens
5. The fig tree has turned green: Israel, a sign of the return
1. No one knows the day
Matthew 24 is the chapter that contains the most information about the Lord's return. Mark and Luke also speak of it, but this is where the account is most complete. And Sugawara stresses a crucial point: these words do not come from a prophet, they come straight from the mouth of Jesus. The Son of God is speaking directly to his disciples, who had come to ask him what would happen at the end of the world.
His answer opens with a warning. The Lord will return suddenly, like a thief, at a moment no one expects. And Jesus goes even further: at the very moment he speaks these words, he himself says he does not know the day. Only the Father knows it.
The consequence is simple. Everyone who today claims to know the exact date of Christ's return should be rejected. It does not matter their reputation, their charisma, the apparent power of their ministry, the signs or miracles that accompany them. If someone sets a year, a month, or a day for the return of Jesus, they are disqualified. No exceptions.
We know that Jesus will return. We do not know when. And the Lord makes clear that it is precisely when everyone is talking about peace, security, and economic progress that he will come without warning.
2. The great deception of the last days
The keyword of the end times, Sugawara returns to it again and again, is deception. Jesus repeats it four or five times in this same chapter: watch out that you are not deceived.
"For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect." (Matthew 24:24)
"The elect" are not only the Jews. In the Old Testament, the chosen people is Israel. But after the cross, everyone who believes in Christ is a child of Abraham, as Paul writes to the Galatians. In other words, you who are a Christian, you who came this morning to worship Jesus, you are one of the elect. And Jesus states clearly that even the elect risk being deceived.
Sugawara recounts what he has seen in Japan. Sixty-four years ago, the Unification Church (統一協会) entered the country. At the time, shared anticommunism drew some pastors close to this movement. The result was terrible: in Kobe, a respected pastor, a well-regarded teacher, joined this organization. The news shook the whole region. It took forty-five or fifty-six years before that man recognized his error and returned to his original calling.
There is also the case of Aum Shinrikyo and its founder, Shoko Asahara. This man had no prestigious degree, and yet his spiritual power seduced students from the medical school of the University of Tokyo, the most selective school in Japan. How is that possible? Because spiritual power outweighs intellect.
Sugawara reminds us that there are three powers in this world: physical strength (labor), the intellect, and spiritual power. Physical strength is good. Parents send their children to university so they gain the strength of the intellect. But above both stands spiritual power. It is the one that rules. That is why a spiritually powerful man can draw doctors, engineers, and professors after him.
The pastor who seems balanced, the one you think "he'll never be fooled," is often the first to fall. Sugawara says it with humility: "Those who believe they will never be deceived are the ones who get deceived." No one is immune, himself included. Pray for your pastors. Pray for yourself. Pray to be kept safe.
3. Discerning false prophets
How do you recognize false christs and false prophets? Jesus himself gives the method in Matthew 7: you will recognize them by their fruit. Sugawara draws two simple, solid criteria from it.
First criterion: their daily life
A man can preach beautiful spiritual words, carry a powerful charisma, perform apparent healings. But look at how he lives. Look at his fruit.
Sugawara gives a contemporary example. In London lives a fairly well-known preacher of African origin who presents himself as a Christian, performs signs and healings, and draws large crowds. The offerings pour in. Yet he owns several sports cars, each worth tens of millions of yen. He lives in a palace. This is not simply "he eats eel every day," it is a lifestyle beyond all measure. Whatever his message, whatever healings are claimed, such a man can be considered an impostor. The tree is known by its fruit.
Second criterion: to whom the glory goes
The true servant sends everything back to Christ. "This miracle is not from me. It is in the name of Jesus. Give thanks to Jesus." The false prophet, on the other hand, uses the name of Jesus but subtly implies, between the lines, that the power comes from himself, that he is the indispensable channel, the builder of his own kingdom.
If you notice that subtle shift of the center of gravity, walk away. These two criteria, the life he leads and the glory he gives to Christ, are enough to discern the truth.
4. The great tribulation and the shaken heavens
Jesus quotes Daniel 9:27 when speaking of "the abomination of desolation" standing in the holy place. This final week of God's plan spans seven years. The second half, three and a half years, corresponds to the great tribulation.
"For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be." (Matthew 24:21)
Worse than Noah's flood. Jesus says so. But he adds a comfort: for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. This tribulation does not stretch on indefinitely. Scripture names it in four different ways, all equivalent:
- Three and a half years
- A time, times, and half a time
- 1,260 days
- 42 months
A remarkable detail: Jesus's own public ministry also lasted about three and a half years. Around the age of thirty, he began announcing the kingdom, and three years and six months later he gave his life on the cross. The worldwide reign of the antichrist will last exactly the same length of time.
Then Jesus announces a cosmic upheaval.
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken." (Matthew 24:29)
It is no longer just the earth that trembles. It is the universe itself that shakes. Sugawara recalls what science suggests about the extinction of the dinosaurs: a meteorite about ten kilometers across is believed to have struck the Yucatan Peninsula, darkening the sky, killing off vegetation, breaking the food chain. Ten kilometers, on the scale of the earth, is a tiny pebble. But at the speed of a cosmic impact, that tiny pebble changes everything. What Jesus announces is on that same scale.
And at that moment, the whole world will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven. In Jesus's day, that seemed impossible. If the Lord came down to Jerusalem, how could the people of Japan possibly see him? Today, with smartphones, the internet, television, the question no longer arises. Just yesterday, the whole world watched live as Shohei Ohtani hit three home runs in Los Angeles. The Lord can return anywhere on earth, and all of humanity will see it at the same instant.
5. The fig tree has turned green: Israel, a sign of the return
Jesus then gives a very simple parable.
"From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near." (Matthew 24:32)
To understand this image properly, remember that in Scripture the fig tree represents Israel. Two passages shed light on it.
Nathanael under the fig tree
In John 1, Philip brings Nathanael to Jesus. Nathanael doubts: "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" But Jesus, seeing him, declares: "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" Nathanael, surprised, asks how Jesus can know him. The Lord answers: "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." (John 1:45-49)
Why this mention of the fig tree? Because in Jewish culture, under the scorching heat of Judea, people gathered in the shade of the fig tree to meditate, pray, and think about the future of the nation. Nathanael was under the fig tree, carrying the weight of his nation oppressed by Rome, praying for his country. To be under the fig tree is to be an Israelite who carries Israel in his heart. Jesus saw him there, and Nathanael instantly responds: "Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel."
The barren fig tree cursed
In Matthew 21, Jesus is hungry as he returns toward the city. He sees a fig tree, comes near, finds nothing but leaves, and curses it: "May no fruit ever come from you again!" The fig tree withers at once. (Matthew 21:18-22)
Read on the surface, this text can be puzzling. But if the fig tree represents Israel, everything becomes clear. Jesus came to Israel, his own people. Israel should have been the first to welcome its Messiah. But Israel did not receive him, it handed him over to the cross. The fig tree bore no fruit. The fig tree withered. And for two thousand years, the Jewish people were scattered, tested, and persecuted across the world.
1948: the branches turn tender again
But God had not rejected Israel forever. In 1948, about 77 years ago, this people, scattered for two millennia, gathered together again, and the State of Israel was reborn. The branches are turning tender again. The leaves are coming out. And Jesus says: when this happens, know that summer is near.
Summer is the Lord's return. Many understand Israel's rebirth as a nation to be the fulfillment of this parable: a sign that the return of Christ is drawing near. And in the end, Israel too will be saved, together with all the redeemed whom the angels will gather from the four corners of heaven.
Key takeaways
- Jesus himself declared that no one knows the day of his return, not even the Son. Anyone who claims to fix the date should be rejected, whatever signs they show.
- Deception is the great danger of the last days. Even the elect are targeted. Spiritual power outweighs intellect; no one is too intelligent to fall.
- Two criteria help discern a false prophet: his daily life (his fruit) and the glory he gives, to Christ or to himself.
- The great tribulation will last three and a half years, a length of time limited by God's mercy for the sake of the elect.
- The fig tree turning green is Israel. Its rebirth in 1948 announces that summer, the Lord's return, is near.
Personal application
- Are you ready to reject any teacher who sets a date for Christ's return, even if they are popular or appear powerful?
- What teachings or spiritual figures in your life or your surroundings do you need to run through Jesus's two criteria?
- Do you regularly pray for your pastors and for yourself, to be kept from deception?
- How does the promise of Christ's return change the way you live today?
Scriptures cited
- Matthew 24:14-31
- Matthew 24:32-34
- Matthew 24:36
- Matthew 7:15-20
- Matthew 21:18-22
- John 1:45-49
- Daniel 9:27
FAQ
Can we know the date of Christ's return?
No. Jesus states in Matthew 24:36 that no one knows that day, not even the angels, nor the Son at the moment he was speaking. Only the Father knows it. Anyone who today claims to know the exact date of Jesus's return should be considered a false prophet, whatever their reputation or miracles.
How can you recognize a false prophet?
Jesus gives the rule in Matthew 7: you will recognize them by their fruit. Two concrete criteria emerge. First, the preacher's daily life: an extravagant, luxurious lifestyle funded by offerings is a serious warning sign. Second, the glory he gives: does he send everything back to Christ, or does he subtly claim the honor for himself?
Why does the fig tree represent Israel?
Two passages confirm it. In John 1, Nathanael is found under the fig tree, a place where Jews gathered to meditate on the future of their nation. In Matthew 21, Jesus curses a barren fig tree, a picture of Israel, which did not bear the fruit of welcoming its Messiah. When Jesus, in Matthew 24, announces that the fig tree turns green again, he is speaking of Israel's rebirth, an event fulfilled in 1948.
to take notes and ask questions.