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Luke 21:5-36 Consider this: Jesus has never been one to waste words, but he knows that he is going to die within days. He is trying to give his followers as much information as possible without completely losing them. We are getting into famous last words territory now. Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples for the days ahead. He knows they are pretty much clueless but he wants them to be able to look back and connect the dots. “Oh! That’s what he meant.” He’s giving them a lot of information of which they could make very little sense in the moment. But clearly it started to make sense later, because Matthew, Mark and Luke all recall these warnings in similar detail.
Do me a favour. Read this whole passage in one go just to get an overview.We are going to take it in chunks (sort of), but it is one big monologue to answer a question the disciples asked Jesus. The trouble for them then, which can also be confusing to us now, is that there were multiple events coming. They thought they were asking about a single event, but Jesus knew it wasn’t going to play out how they expected. In fact the first couple things were going to be pretty awful. Jesus wanted them not only to know it was coming, but also that hope and victory were still on the horizon. Ok, let’s read this. Here’s a link if your Bible isn’t nearby.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2021%3A5-36&version=NIV
Remember, after entering Jerusalem a day or two earlier, he wept over the city because he knew it was going to be devastated in a very short time. This is obviously still tormenting him because, when the disciples start admiring the temple, he brings it up again. “This place is going to be levelled.”
At this point the disciples have made an assumption that is more obvious in Matthew’s account of the story, but it helps make sense of Jesus’ answer. Matthew 24:3 records them asking when this will happen just as Luke does, but within their question they also ask when Jesus will come at the end of the age. Their assumption was that, if Jerusalem was being levelled, it must be part of the victorious return of the Messiah. Now at least they have the identity of the Messiah figured out, but they still have some gaps in their understanding. It seems like, since Jesus’ triumphal entry didn’t involve the immediate eviction of Rome, they figured he must be coming another time to finish the job. They had thought it was all going down a couple of days before, but it hadn’t. So they ask, “When is it happening? How can we know, so we don’t look silly leading another misguided procession?”
It seems to me that they are still expecting something awesome. What Jesus describes is not immediately awesome.
I feel the need to insert a disclaimer here: There is much debate among scholars, and I am not the scholar I wish I was. Please consider this for yourself. We are reading this together. You will undoubtedly perceive things I miss. That’s why we study with other people. This book, by which I mean the whole of the Bible, is alive and able to meet us each where we are. We will never finish studying the Bible. There is always more. Let me say that again. We will never finish studying the Bible. There is always more. My analysis is exactly that, my analysis. I frequently beg the Holy Spirit to help me see what he wants me to see today and to avoid error. The Holy Spirit may draw your attention to something I miss. He may help you understand something entirely beyond me. Read it for yourself and listen to him. But I have set out to write a simple analysis in the hope of encouraging people to read their Bibles. So I can’t stop here. Let me show you what I’ve found.
He begins in verses 8-11 by responding to the big picture question. They want to know when Jesus is coming back to establish his kingdom. He warns them that it’s going to be a while. There will be wars, disease, natural disasters and a few things that truly look like supernatural disasters. He also wants them to know that people are going to try to deceive others into thinking he has already returned to establish his kingdom. People will claim to be Jesus and try to get people to follow them. Many will be fooled. When we get to verse 27 we will understand why we don’t have to be concerned that we will somehow fail to notice his arrival. It’s not going to be a secret.
But first Jesus needs to warn them about something else. This something else will not be triumphant or exciting. This ‘something else’ is what has been breaking his heart with anticipation. History demonstrates that about 40 years after Jesus spoke those words, Jerusalem was devastated by Rome. Verses 20-24 could have come out of those history books if they hadn’t been spoken decades before it happened. In AD70, in response to a Jewish revolt, Rome marched on Jerusalem, surrounded her, breached her walls, and anyone who survived the devastating blood bath that ensued was dragged off into captivity. Although Jerusalem and the surrounding “Holy Lands” would be given to the people of Israel following World War 2, it continues to this day to be a place of conflict and devastation. It is certainly not the peaceful safe-haven that God promised his kingdom would one day bring on earth. Jesus prophesied all of this 40 years before it occurred.
But even before the destruction of the Temple, he warns, his followers will be persecuted by both Jewish and Roman authorities, betrayed by their closest family. In this, Jesus had a word of hope and advice. “Don’t sit up nights planning your defence. When the time comes, I’ll give you the words.” He also promised that their persecution would serve a purpose. Through it they would spread the message of the kingdom in some of the world’s highest courts. History confirms exactly this. About 300 years later, Rome would declare the worship of Jesus, by then called Christianity, her official religion.
There is another word of hope that comes through in what looks like a contradiction between verses 16 and 18. In the first he tells them that some of them will be put to death. In the second he promises that not a hair of their heads will perish. The key is in verse 19 where he promises life to those who are faithful. Jesus knew, and history tells us, that many Christians would be killed for persevering in their faith. He also knew that only their bodies were vulnerable to that kind of persecution. When he said, not a hair of your head will perish, that word perish includes the idea of eternity. When Jesus’ people stand firm in their trust in him, they gain eternal life. It’s a precious promise that, in the coming years, many Christians would take to the bank. For some of those stories hold on for the sequel to Luke – the book of Acts.
Having warned his listeners that the days ahead would not immediately be full of the peace and prosperity they expected to follow their Messiah’s arrival, Jesus has one further message of hope. While days of hardship are yet to come, God’s promises are true. His kingdom will come and it will be so much more than they were expecting. After what he refers to as an era during which the Gentiles rule Jerusalem, an era I should add in which we now live, there will be a time of terror. Verses 25 & 26 are just wild. As I read them I feel like I can almost imagine what he is describing and then I read it again and I’m thinking, “Nah! That ain’t it.” Let’s just agree that nature is going to behave in supernatural ways and it is going to freak us out. And right about that time, when we are passing out with fear, Jesus will make an unmistakable entrance. Remember how he warned that people would claim to be him, or that he is about to appear here or there? Ya, that’s not something we worry about. When he shows up, we aren’t going to have to wonder if it’s him. You can stop searching the back streets and alleys. He will be coming in the clouds. Whatever there is in this passage that I’m a little fuzzy on, this isn’t it. When Jesus comes to bring the kingdom of God to earth, every one will know about it.
So returning to the question the disciples thought they were asking, the one about when God’s kingdom will finally be realised on earth, Jesus points at a tree. When trees get leafy, summer is coming. When the natural world goes completely crazy, the kingdom is coming. He tells them the intermediate stuff about the persecution of believers and the fall of Jerusalem so that, as they wait for his return, they can remember he was right about the other stuff. So he will be right about this too. The fall of Jerusalem would happen within the lifetime of many of Jesus’ listeners. His return would take a bit longer, but he reminds them that his words are eternally reliable. He is trustworthy and he has never lied. He also knows that the wait is going to be long and tough. Be careful not to get distracted by apathy, worry or even pleasure. The kingdom is coming. He promised.
But seriously, you might ask. When?
If you live in a land of extreme weather where the seasons are dramatically different like I do here in south central Canada, you know that one day after about three months of nothing but snow, you will wake up. The trees that you could have sworn had given up and died are suddenly covered in buds. In a matter of days we go from frozen wasteland to full blown spring. It’s breathtakingly sudden. Now, I’m not someone who is obsessed with end times, and I have NO clue if we are close (in human terms) or not. I don’t want to argue with you. Scripture is abundantly clear that our focus is not meant to be on when things will happen. Over and over and over we are urged to just live in readiness. Live so that you will be joyful if the next time you turn your head you look into the eyes of King Jesus in all his glory.
There’s a verse here that, at least as I read today, seems to be the key point of this whole passage. I love this verse because it’s got powerful, practical instructions. If you think you see the end approaching (and even if you don’t because for the last 2000 years we have been living in the time of the end, so whether we think so or not, it’s possible) we are to do two things. Stand. And look up.
- Stand firm therefore clad in the armour of God. Be faithful. The Lord will fight for you. Stand. Easy to say. Tough to do. Simple enough to understand at least.
- Look up! Don’t look around at the chaos and fear and hate. Look up! Don’t go digging for secret codes to discern our times. Look up! Don’t concern yourself with how people are treating you. Look up! Don’t exhaust yourself trying to make people behave morally. Look up! Don’t fear for those who don’t yet know him. (Yep, I said it, stay with me here) Look up!
What? Why? Because when we look up, God will be our focus. The thing on which we focus is the thing we reflect. Do you want your world to change? Do you want your loved ones to know Jesus? Do you want peace in your own heart? Look up!
God alone changes hearts and offers peace. When you look to him, people will see the change in you and start trying to see what it is that you are looking at.
Are you feeling a little stressed by this? I won’t lie, it can be more than a little scary to read this stuff. Listen. Jesus speaks right to our hearts through words directed to an audience that lived 2000 years ago. Stand, and look up. The one who ransomed you from the captivity that has characterised life in this earthly kingdom is on his way. He has paid the price of your entry into his kingdom, and you are going to the place your heart belongs.
Stand.
Look up.
