The poignant information that adds to the subject of the "Signs of the Times" is the pattern of the destruction and building of Jerusalem as well as the scattering and gathering of Israel.

Old Testament history records the prophesy and the subsequent fall of the Lord’s City with resulting exile of the Jews. The destruction of the wicked Nebuchadnezzar, is noteworthy. The scattering is always followed by a gathering. The imagery of "first figs" and "second figs" as stated in a previous lesson supplement, helps us understand the modern interpretation of the "signs."

"The LORD showed me . . . two baskets of figs . . . set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon." ". . . the good figs . . . and the evil . . . Thus saith the LORD . . . Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good." "For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land . . . I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart." "And as the evil figs . . . So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land . . . I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them." (Jeremiah 24:1-10)

There may be a parallel in the parable of the fig tree in that the "first fruit" allows the "wheat and tares" to grow together. But in the "second fruit," when the Lord comes, judgement will be given and the "tares" removed. The "sins" or "hurts" will be exposed and a way provided so that they can be removed and the people become redeemed.

"Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon who, in 586 B.C.E., destroyed the first Temple in Jerusalem and exiled the majority of the Jewish population of Judea. He reigned from 605 to 562 B.C.E., a period in which Babylon and Egypt were the two great powers of the civilized world, and during most of that time he was engaged in almost continuous battle with Egypt over the territories of Syria, Palestine and the surrounding region. In 597 he captured Jerusalem for the first time, deposed the Judean king, Jehoiachin, and appointed in his place a king of his own choice, Zedekiah. Several years later, while he was engaged in battle in the far east, Zedekiah together with the king of Syria revolted against his rule, but he returned in 588 and laid seige to Jerusalem. In 586, he captured the city, and on Tish'ah be-Av he had the Temple destroyed, carried off a large part of the population into captivity and put Zedekiah and other Judean notables to death. Daniel and the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel were eyewitnesses to all these events and the biblical books bearing their names testify to the political and spiritual crises which confronted Judea during this period. According to the Book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar suffered greatly for destroying the Temple. He was beset by dreams which he could not understand. One of them, a vision of a magnificent tree cut down in its prime was interpreted by Daniel for the king as a personal warning of many years of madness that were about to come upon him, during which time he would eat grass and live like an animal. (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.)

In New Testament history, after the great atonement by the Lord, Jesus, similar destruction and scattering were experienced, starting with Jerusalem.

"Upon Herod's death, Jerusalem was ruled by a series of Roman procurators. (One of these, Pontius Pilate (26--36 C.E.) was responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth in Jerusalem.) But the misrule of these administrators provoked the outbreak of yet another Jewish revolt, which soon became a full-scale war. In 70 C.E. Titus and his Roman legions laid siege to the city and then stormed its weakened defenders. The city was burned, its inhabitants massacred and the Temple destroyed. Of the once-glorious city, only the three towers of Herod's palace and the western wall of the Temple Mount remained intact."

"According to Jewish sources, the Romans razed Jerusalem to the ground and plowed the site over to prevent further settlement. Even so, some Jews managed to return. When the emperor Hadrian tried to establish a Roman colony there, the second Jewish-Roman war broke out with Bar Kokhba leading the Jewish rebels. They were defeated by Hadrian who subsequently decreed that no circumcised person should be allowed into Jerusalem under pain of death." (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.)

The Savior prophesied of the destruction of the Temple, a sign of another scattering of Israel.

"And Jesus said unto them . . . there shall not be left here, upon this temple, one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down."

"Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted . . . Then let them who are in Judea flee . . . and not return to take anything out of his house;" (Joseph Smith - Matthew 1)

Yet in the subsequent gathering, an accountability of their sins becomes a blessing when the Redeemer comes and true repentance is done.

"And again, this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all the nations, and then shall the end come, or the destruction of the wicked;"

"And, as I said before, after the tribulation of those days, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken, then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of Man coming the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory;"

"And whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived, for the Son of Man shall come, and he shall send his angels before him with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together the remainder of his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." (Joseph Smith - Matthew 1)

The latter-day restoration of the Gospel to "Joseph" and the return of the keys of the gathering of Israel which includes both "Joseph and Judah," represent the first fruit that precedes the growth of leaves in the parable of the fig tree. A remarkable gathering has started. This gathering is reflected in the growth of the Latter-day Saint population as well as the State of Israel, which in the parable of the fig tree is the growth of leaves. This gathering is in preparation of the coming of the Redeemer, which in the fig tree parable is the second fruit.

"Between 1948 and 1951 almost 700,000 Jews migrated to Israel . . . From 1955 to 1957 two-thirds of the almost 250,000 migrant Jews went to Israel (from Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Poland and Hungary). Half of a further 450,000 migrant Jews went to Israel between 1961 and 1964. (Virtually all Jews left Algeria for France during 1961--62). In the 1980s in two campaigns, Operation Moses and Operation Solomon, virtually the entire Jewish community of Ethiopia was airlifted to Israel. From the area of the former Soviet Union, some 400,000 Jews went to Israel in 1989/91, and many others went elsewhere in the West. In 1992/93 most of the remnant of the Jews in Yemen left the country, many eventually reaching Israel."

"An undoubted change has occurred in the motive for migration since the 1880s. From then on the main motive was distress. Migrations will continue as new world trouble spots develop." (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.)

Within the last ten years, Israel has experienced a growth of a million immigrants, mostly from the Russian speaking countries. That growth would be equivalent to the U.S.A. receiving more than forty-million new citizens.

The world-wide Latter-day Saint growth to a sum of more than ten million members has brought a ratio of "Joseph" and the world population to one Latter-day Saint for every five hundred.

The "leaves are abundant, it is almost time for His arrival, He is coming!