It has been popular to presume that the "fig tree" is a reference to Israel. That view was further popularized by Hal Lindsey's best seller, The Late Great Planet Earth, and Ed Weisenant's 88 Reasons that Jesus would return in 1988. The idea was that since Israel was restored to statehood on May 14, 1948, and that a generation can be defended as 40 years, that 1988 was the year to watch.