Bible Commentaries
Luke 21

Verses 1-38

1-4 Compare Mark 12:41-44.

3 Compare 2 Corinthians 8:12.

1 God values a gift according to the sacrifices of the giver. Its commercial value means little to Him, Who owns all things, and Who accepts nothing except as a token of esteem. The rich seldom labor for a living, hence their offerings, unless very great, can mean little to them or to God. But such a drudge as this widow, who had nothing except the pittance she could earn, was at a great advantage. However little she might give, it would be great in God's eyes. And if she should give all, as this dear woman did, she would actually bring greater wealth to God than the combined total or all the large oblations. No one lacks the means to give much to God.

8-7 Compare Matthew 24:1-3; Mark 13:1-4; Micah 3:12.

6 The present interval being an absolute secret, we must banish it from our view entirely when considering the prophetic forecast here given. It is contained in the "eras of the nations" (24) but the vision of the future is as though we were looking at two mountain ranges, one before the other, which look like one, and hide the valley that lies between. We see here the turbulent times of the Jewish wars, the destruction of the temple at the siege of Jerusalem, the dispersion-all long past-and then find ourselves in the future terrors of the sixth seal, and the coming of the Son of Mankind.

8-11 Compare Matthew 24:4-8; Mark 13:5-8.

8 It is said that more than sixty different ones have come with messianic claims and the greatest of them is still to come at the time of the end. The rider on the white horse, under the first seal of the sixth chapter of the Unveiling, will be the false messiah of the end time.

10-11 The second seal (Revelation 6:3-4) takes peace from the earth. It corresponds with the conflict of nation with nation and seems to indicate a world war with universal conscription, whole nations hurling themselves at one another rather than merely sending small contingents of fighting men. Famine is indicated by the black horse with the balances (Revelation 6:5-6). A day's labor will barely buy one day's food. The fourth seal, with its sallow greenish horse (Revelation 6:7-8) corresponds with the pestilences here predicted.

12-19 Compare Matthew 24:9-14; Mark 13:9-13.

12 From verses twelve to twenty-five we have an outline of the siege of Jerusalem, the dispersion among the nations, the occupation of the holy city, and the persecutions which will be endured before the time of the end. We should remember that the perspective here and in all similar prophecies is such that the great affliction which is yet to come appears to follow soon after the dispersion. The present interval is practically ignored.

20 The siege of Jerusalem under Titus was one of the most terrible of all time. After the city was once invested, the opportunity for escape was cut off, and many who attempted it were slain. Thousands were crucified and many deserters were disemboweled because of a rumor that they sought to conceal their money by swallowing it. Others over-ate and burst asunder. More than a million perished miserably and nearly a hundred thousand were enslaved and carried off to Egypt and elsewhere. The city was almost completely demolished. It is said that the Christians in the city took warning and fled to the mountains of Judea in time to escape the terrible affliction.

24 Jerusalem has been in the hands of alien nations ever since. Even the crusades did not restore it to the Jews. Its change from Turkish rule to British sovereignty is a most favorable sign, but by no means gives the city back to the holy nation. It is still trodden (not trodden down, as usually misquoted) by a foreign power. This may be the last era of the nations, but it is not yet the end of "the times of the gentiles".

25-27 Compare Matthew 24:29-31.

25 The end of the eras or the nations will be accomplished by marvelous indications of divine intervention. This is brought before us under the sixth seal (Revelation 6:12-17) of the Unveiling. The sun becomes black as sackcloth of hair and the moon as blood, and the stars of heaven fall to the earth. It is the time of divine indignation and only those in Israel who are preserved by divine power will be able to stand. The hundred and forty-four thousand will be sealed and saved through this great affliction as well as the innumerable throng (Revelation 7:2-17). Portents which perplex and appal mankind will presage their deliverance.

29-33 Compare Matthew 24:32-35; Mark 13:28-31.

29 The fig tree pictures Israel politically. Like that one which the Lord cursed, the nation in this aspect withered away and has had no political status until recent years. When their right to a home in Palestine was acknowledged, and they became the subject of international diplomacy, it became necessary to recognize them as a nation. Zionism has kindled their national aspirations and was a token that the branches of the fig tree were preparing to bud. The British declaration giving them a home in Palestine, and their efforts to reclaim and repopulate the land of their forefathers, are sure indications that Israel's winter is nearly past and her summer is near.

32 It is evident that all these things did not take place in that generation. Nor did the Lord say that they would. He simply said that they should. He could not at that time reveal to them the failure of the Pentecostal economy. The present grace was an absolute secret. These must be left out of this prophecy. Leaving these out, all these things would have taken place in a single generation. Peter, at Pentecost, shows that repentance of the nation alone stood between them and the day of the Lord. Had the nation received his message, the times of refreshing would have come (Acts 3:19). This passage, instead of being an insoluble difficulty, is really the key to the proper apprehension of this whole prophecy. It shows that the whole is viewed as an immediate possibility, and does not include the Pentecostal or the present economy in its scope.