I have long thought of the church age as a circle. The beginning with Peter and Co. the end on Pentecost. Hoping and praying I was wrong and to be home lots sooner. But,, 1948- 2018=70 years.. Could this be it?? Could we be going home in 3 weeks?? We shall see.....
I wouldn't put a date on it, and I suspect it will happen when nobody is expecting it. I do think Israel is represented by the fig tree, but the question is did the countdown start in 1948, or did it start in 1967 with the capture of Jerusalem? Also, a generation in Psalm could range anywhere from 70 and 80 years.
I believe the depiction of the Prodigal Son is a future picture of Israel and Christians, the other offspring. Israel, the prodigal, is now feeding at the trough, but soon will come to his senses and return to the Father, although the return may take a long journey. Christians are the elder brother, still working in the fields. How might some Christians respond when the prodigal returns and is blessed by the Father, while they continue to work in the fields in times of great difficulty?
I have made a similar analogy before as well. The Christian response will depend on their attitudes toward the Jews. Given the increase in replacement theology and antisemitism that I see, some hearts will become hardened like Pharaoh's. I believe though they have always been blessed to a certain degree. Mark Twain said it best:
"If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one quarter of one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk.
His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine and abstruse learning are also very out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world in all ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself and be excused for it. The Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Persians rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greeks and Romans followed and made a vast noise, and they were gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, and have vanished.
The Jew saw them all, survived them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmaties, of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert but aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jews; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?" - September 1897