Bible Commentaries
Luke 21

Verse 1

‘And he looked up, and saw the rich men who were casting their gifts into the treasury.’

As we see from the chiasmus of the passage Luke connects the behaviour of the Scribes towards widows’ possessions with the behaviour of a godly widow towards God. Here we see one whose livelihood is swallowed up, but by her own choice because of her trust in God to provide for her. And she is also here compared with the wealthy generally. We are here reminded of Jesus’ words, ‘Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingly Rule of God’ (Luke 6:20).

In this case, which also connects up with the next passage, Jesus is possibly sitting with His disciples in the Temple courtyard not far from a group of trumpet shaped collection boxes placed in the wall of the court of the women for the purpose of receiving nominated contributions to various needs. Each box was for a different purpose which was clearly indicated on it. From there the gifts would make their way to the Temple strong room. Or it may be that they were seated near where the vow offerings were made, when the amount being offered would be openly stated to the officiating priest.

He noted how the rich men came along and ostentatiously ‘cast’ their gifts into the Treasury. This ostentation linked them with the follies of the Scribes. Or it may be that they handed them over ostentatiously, making sure that all knew what they were giving. And no doubt many were watching in admiration, including possibly the disciples, who may even have commented on particularly generous gifts.

Verses 1-3

Jesus Warns Against The Hypocrisy Of The Pharisees and Commends The Example Of The Poor Widow (20:45-21:3).

Having established His position over against Pharisaic teaching, Jesus now warned further against following the ways of the Pharisees, who did ape such ways. Just as in the parallel in the Section chiasmus above, the Temple was a Den of Robbers, thus condemning the chief priests, so are the Rabbis hypocritical seekers of glory in the eyes of the world, and despoilers of widows. And an example of one such widow is then given, who in spite of her poverty, gives all that she has to God, her consecration highlighting the godliness of such people in contrast with the unscrupulousness and greed of these Rabbis.

We can compare His condemnation here with that in Luke 11:39-52, but there it was the Pharisees who received the initial assault, whereas here all was reserved for the Scribes. It will be noted that unusually for Luke, who generally avoids repetitions, there is almost a ‘repetition’ of Luke 11:43, for there He accuses the Pharisees of loving the best seats in the synagogues and the salutations in the marketplaces, whereas here He applies the same accusations to the Scribes. Clearly He felt that this typified what they were truly like. Spiritual pride has been the downfall of far too many for it not to be taken with the deepest seriousness.

Analysis.

a ‘And in the hearing of all the people He said to His disciples, “Beware of the scribes, who desire to walk in long robes, and love salutations in the marketplaces, and chief seats in the synagogues, and chief places at feasts” (Luke 20:45-46).

b “Who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers” (Luke 20:47 a).

c “These will receive greater condemnation” (Luke 20:47 b).

b And he looked up, and saw the rich men who were casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw a certain poor widow casting in there two mites (Luke 21:1-2).

a And he said, “Of a truth I say to you, This poor widow cast in more than they all, for all these did of their superfluity cast in to the gifts, but she of her want did cast in all the living that she had” (Luke 21:3).

Note that in ‘a’ the Scribes make a great show of their own importance, and in the parallel, where men continue to make a show, they are shown up in contrast with a poor widow. In ‘b’ the Scribes devour widow’s houses and yet make a pretence of sanctity by praying long prayers, and in the parallel their giving is contrasted with that of a widow who in what she is represents all whom they have despoiled. In ‘c’, and centrally, their great condemnation is declared.

Verses 1-38

Jesus Preaches In The Temple (19:47-21:38).

Having driven the traders out of the Temple in His prophetic zeal Jesus then revealed the greatness of His great courage by returning daily to that same Temple in order to teach the people. As the traders, who would quickly have returned, watched with baleful eyes, and the Temple police stood by alert for trouble, Jesus boldly entered the Temple again, and ignoring both, proceeded to address the crowds gathered there. Indeed the great crowds that gathered to Him would make it seem to the authorities as though He had almost taken over the Temple, apart from the Sanctuary itself.

And perhaps that was how He intended it to be seen. Having driven out the traders He has now taken possession of it in the name of the Lord, for its genuine purpose, that of proclaiming the word of God within it (a theme of Luke/Acts) and of prayer. In the coming months and years this will be one of its purposes until at length it will be finally rejected because it had rejected Him (see Luke 19:47. Luke 20:1; Luke 21:37-38; Luke 24:53; Acts 2:46; Acts 3:1; Acts 3:8; Acts 4:1; Acts 5:20-21; Acts 5:25; Acts 5:42). While it continued as the hub of the Jewish religion, it also became for a time the source from which light could go out from the Jews to the world (Isaiah 2:2-4).

But whereas the authorities wanted to arrest Him they did not dare make a move in public, because He was too popular. They were forced to recognise that any move against Him could only result in tumult, and that that would then bring down on them the wrath of their Roman overlords. Thus they turned to a new tactic, and got together to decide how they might discredit Him in the eyes of the people. They knew that if they could only do that, then they could take Him. This therefore resulted in a number of challenges which are found in what follows. These included the challenge as to His authority for behaving as He did (Luke 20:1-8), the challenge as to whether it was right to give tribute to Caesar (Luke 20:20-26) , and the challenge concerning the truth of the resurrection (Luke 20:27-38).

In dealing with these Jesus not only showed them up as being hypocritical and incompetent, but went on to denounce them and their fellow leaders by means of a parable which demonstrated their connection with the villainy of those who in the past had persecuted those sent from God (Luke 20:9-18). Within this parable at the same time He revealed His own uniqueness as God’s only Son. Then once their challenges were exhausted He riposted with a quotation from Scripture concerning His Messiahship (Luke 20:41-44), following it up with a further attack on the Scribes (Luke 20:45-47) and a contrasting of them with an impoverished widow whose godly giving aroused His admiration (Luke 21:1-4). This was then followed by His description to His disciples of the future destruction of the Temple, along with prophecies concerning the future, which ended up with the promise of His return in glory (Luke 21:5-36). And during all this period He continued teaching daily to the crowds in the Temple (Luke 21:37-38).

In all these episodes Luke was calling, at least to some extent, on Marcan material, but altered so as to suit the points that he was trying to get over, and in terms of other information received. This was, however done without altering their essential message. It all begins with an attack on His authority.

Verse 2

‘And he saw a certain poor widow casting in there two mites.’

But then Jesus noted a woman who cast in ‘a very few lepta’, the very smallest Jewish coin. The number ‘two’ was often used to indicate ‘a very few’ (compare 1 Kings 17:12). Numbers in those days tended not to be used strictly mathematically but as adjectives which were intended to convey an impression. Thus Jesus may not have known the exact amount. Although if it was a vow offering it would be declared. In this latter case we can imagine what the priest thought when he announced ‘two lepta’. Even if he was a good man he would not have been moved by the thought of it. But whether it was a general gift or a vow offering, in either case Jesus knew that it was all that she had. And He was moved in His heart by how much she had given.

Verse 3

‘And he said, “Of a truth I say to you, This poor widow cast in more than they all, for all these did of their superfluity cast in to the gifts, but she of her want did cast in all the living that she had.” ’

And this time it was Jesus turn to comment on the munificence of the gift, and He does it with characteristic firmness. ‘Truly I say to you’. And what He wanted to point out was that while others had given out of their plenty, and would hardly notice the loss of what they had given, this ‘poor widow’ (the unusual adjective emphasises it) has actually given her whole living. She has cast herself on God. Thus she had given more than all the others put together, for she had given all that she had. Here was one who had done what the rich ruler had failed to do, she had given all that she had to God. Her attitude of ‘giving’ was in direct contrast with the ‘devouring’ of the Scribes. And from it we gain that important lesson, that God does not judge our giving by the amount that we give, but by the amount that we keep for ourselves. We also see in it an example of how and why it is the ‘poor’ to whom the Good News will come (Luke 4:18).

Verse 5

Introductory words.

‘And as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and offerings, he said,’

Luke is deliberately vague about where and to whom these words were spoken. He does not want to move attention away from the Temple area, nor specifically restrict the words to the disciples. He wants it to be seen that these words were finally meant for all, and link them as closely as possible to the Temple in which Jesus has and will spend His last days.

Excursus on The Temple.

Luke’s treatment of the Temple and Jerusalem is fascinating. He closely links it with Jesus’ birth, (although the birth itself takes place outside it), as He is seen as it were to come from it, as we now discover, in order to replace it (1-2; John 2:18-21) as Samuel did of old (1 Samuel 1-4 with 1 Samuel 7:15-17). It is closely linked with these last days prior to His death as He comes there as God’s Servant (Acts 4:27) to be examined as God’s perfect sacrifice, ready for the offering of Himself outside the camp (Luke 23:26-31; Hebrews 13:11-14), and its final destruction (Luke 13:34-35; Luke 19:41-44; Luke 21:5-24; Luke 23:28-31). In the first part of Acts (1-6, mentioned eleven times, followed by silence) it is closely linked with the first outreach of the church, although deliberately not mentioned in Acts 2:0 so that the ‘birth’ of the church might be seen as from above, and it is then seen as rejected, first in the defence of Stephen (Acts 7:48-49; compare Luke 17:24), and then by its treatment of Paul (in Acts 21-24 it is mentioned ten times), once Paul has been ejected from its doors (Acts 21:30). The Good News, having first gone out from Jerusalem (Acts 1-12) in fulfilment of the idea in Isaiah 2:2-4, will then go out from a replacement of the Temple, which is found in those appointed by the Spirit to carry forth His word, the church of Christ as symbolised by the church in Syrian Antioch - Acts 13:1 onwards. This will be the result of the Lord coming in power to Jerusalem (Isaiah 52:7; Mark 9:1; Luke 22:69; Luke 24:49) and the Apostles going out to the world bearing figuratively ‘the vessels of the Lord’, now to be made available to the whole world (Isaiah 52:11-12, see our commentary on Isaiah). The Servant will take out light to the nations (Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:6). The difference is that in Acts Luke depicts the Spirit as transferring His effective working to Antioch, because Jerusalem had again accepted a false and blasphemous king (Acts 12:0). From now on in the New Testament the true Temple and the true Jerusalem is seen to be above (Acts 7:48-49 with 55-56), although present on earth in His true people as part of the corporate Servant (Acts 13:47) and as bearer of the Good News. The earthly Temple and the earthly Jerusalem are replaced by the heavenly Temple and the heavenly Jerusalem (Galatians 4:26-27; Hebrews 12:22-24; and in Revelation constantly, for in Revelation 11:0, as the description of it makes clear, the ‘Temple’ there is the true people of God in Jerusalem, not a building. See our commentary on Revelation), of which in Christ the people of God on earth are a part by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Corinthians 6:16-18.

End of Excursus.

The goodly stones and offerings have already been mentioned above. The huge white stones and marble columns, the glistening gold plating and special ‘gifts’ such as the huge vine of pure gold whose clusters were each as tall as a man, gripped all by their splendour, and looking from the Mount of Olives, possibly while the sun was setting and making all shine with radiant light, we can understand why it impressed the disciples. It looked indestructible, and glorious. Only Jesus’ heart was filled with the thought of that hugely costly gift of the poor widow, which surpassed all the others. And when He heard their admiration for the Temple He clearly felt it necessary for them to see that their minds should be on other things, rather than on a Temple which would shortly be destroyed. Their glorying in the Temple was all a part of their failure to see things from the right perspective.

Verses 5-24

The Coming Destruction Of The Temple (21:5-24).

The destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD is now for us a simple fact of history of which today many are unaware, and most see it as almost an irrelevance, but its implications were in fact huge for us all. To the disciples, and the Jews of Jesus’ day, and in fact to the whole history of the Christian world, its significance was certainly immense. For the Temple was seen by many Jews, and even by large numbers of Christian Jews, both those in Palestine and those scattered around the world, as the indestructible centre of the world and of all true worship, and its destruction therefore was seen as shaking the very foundations of the world.

But what its destruction did accomplish was to free those who still looked to the Temple from its powerful grip. From the time of its destruction all Christians together, both former Jew and former Gentile, could concentrate their attention and their thoughts on the One Who had replaced the Temple, on Jesus Christ Himself, through Whom alone we can come to God. As Jesus had said, ‘the time is coming when neither on this mountain (Gerizim) or in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. --- But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship Him’ (John 4:21; John 4:23).

So as the powerful words that follow demonstrate to all, it was God’s purpose to destroy it as His purposes moved forward among the nations, and it is made clear here that He would do it in order to replace it with the promise of the coming of the Son of Man from Heaven and with the testimony of His disciples pointing to Him on earth. His message throughout all Jesus’ words here is this, let all men therefore now look, not to the Temple, but to the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom the Apostles will give their testimony (Luke 21:13), and Who will come again in glory (Luke 21:27) to bring about the final redemption of His own (Luke 21:28). For the Temple is now of the past.

Verses 5-36

Prophecy Concerning the Destruction of the Temple, the Scattering of the Jews, and the Coming of the Son of Man (21:5-36).

This passage connects with the last in that the disciples begin to discuss the offerings that had resulted in the building of the glorious Temple which they could see before them, first as they left the Temple, and then as they sat on the Mount of Olives (Marl Luke 13:3-4). These had been great indeed. Tens of thousand of people who flocked to the Temple would be amazed and awed at the splendour of the gifts made to the Temple by the very wealthy. It was one of the wonders of the world. The disciples had been amazed and awed when they had first seen it, and they were equally amazed and awed every time they came to Jerusalem and saw it. It had that kind of splendour that no provincial ever got used to.

Luke here wants us to contrast this amazement at the glory of the gifts of the wealthy with Jesus amazement at the glory of the gift of the widow. Note indeed the contrasts within these verses, which Luke has deliberately associated together:

1). Certain of the Scribes devour widow’s houses.

2). The rich toss into the temple treasury of their abundance.

3). The poor widow gives all that she has.

4). Jesus admires the giving of the widow. She has laid up treasure in Heaven.

5). The disciples admire the giving of the rich who display their gifts.

6). Jesus declares that the Gentiles will devour the Temple.

So Jesus tells His disciples to look well at the gifts displayed on the Temple. And that these splendid gifts, admired by all, will in fact be pulled down along with the stonework of the Temple until not one stone is left on another, (while the few lepta of the widow will go on for ever and be remembered in the Day when those who are Christ’s receive their reward). It was the sight of the Temple, shining in the sun as they were leaving, that drew the admiring comments from the disciples, and the same splendour as they looked at it from the Mount of Olives (Mark 13:3-4) that made them ask when it would happen, but Luke mentions none of this. He continues the discourse without mentioning the change of place because he wishes a direct contrast to be made with the gift of the widow and for it to be closely connected with the Temple ministry (Luke 21:1-4; Luke 21:37). He wants his readers to see that the Temple is being given its warning.

It is difficult to overstress the splendour of the Temple. It was a huge edifice built on top of the Temple mount. Its building commenced in 19 BC and the main structure was completed within ten years, but the finishing touches went on and were still in progress at this time, not being finished until 64 AD (just in time for its destruction). It was enclosed by a wall of massive stone blocks, each block on average about 1 metre high and five metres long. The front of the Temple was covered in gold plating that shone brilliantly in the sun, and its stones were of glistening white marble. There were stones in the Temple measuring 20 metres by Luke 2:5 metres by Luke 2:25 metres (68 feet by 9 feet by Luke 7:5 feet), while the Temple area itself was about 450 metres (1450 feet) by 300 metres (950 feet). All was on a vast scale. The large outer court, the Court of the Gentiles, which surrounded the inner courts and the Sanctuary on three sides, was surrounded by porticoes built on huge pillars. It was in these colonnades that Rabbis held their schools and debates (Luke 2:46), and the Temple trading took place (Luke 11:15). It would be here that the early church came together for worship.

Steps leading up to the first inner court, the court of the women, demonstrate that it was at a higher level than the outer court. This court was surrounded by balustrades on which were posted the signs warning death to any Gentile who trespassed within. (Two of these inscriptions have been discovered). Beyond this balustrade was the Court of the Women, through which men had to go to reach the court of Israel, and in which were found the thirteen trumpets for collection of funds for the Treasury. A further court, raised above the court of the women, and reached by further steps, was the Court of Israel, and beyond that again was the Priests’ Court which contained the great Altar built of unhewn stone.

Within that Court, raised above all, was the holy shrine itself, entered through a porch that was 100 cubits high and 100 cubits wide (a cubit was 45 centimetres or 17:5 inches). The doorway that gave entry was 40 cubits high and 20 cubits wide, and another door, half the size, led into the Holy Place. This was 40 cubits long and 20 cubits wide, and separated from the Most Holy Place by doors over which hung a curtain (the veil). The Most Holy Place was 20 cubits square and 40 cubits high. But the height of the sanctuary was increased by an additional empty room above it which raised the height of the whole to 100 cubits.

Josephus described the holy shrine and its magnificence thus. ‘Now the outward face of the Temple in its front wanted nothing that was likely to surprise men’s minds or their eyes, for it was covered all over with plates of gold of great weight, and, at the first rising of the sun, reflected back a very fiery splendour, and made those who forced themselves to look on it turn their eyes away, just as they would have done at the sun’s own rays. But this Temple appeared to strangers, when they were at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow, for as to those parts of it which were not gold they were exceeding white.’ Some of these great white stones have been unearthed within the last decade.

This was the magnificence that so drew the attention of the disciples as they left the Temple, and then gazed at it from the Mount of Olives (Mark 13:3-4). They had seen it before but they never ceased to marvel at its massiveness and splendour, and as the sun went down they were again struck by the sight of it and began to discuss its marvellous stonework of massive white stones, and the glistening gold of the offerings made by Herod and others that shone in the sun. It drew a sense of wonder from their hearts. And these gifts had been made by great and powerful men. They never ceased being filled with awe. No wonder the widow’s lepta seemed unimportant to all but Jesus. But Jesus saw it totally differently, for He knew it all for what it was.

So Luke deliberately make his introduction less personal and explanatory, and less detailed than the other Gospels. He wants all concentration to be on the message, and he wants attention to be maintained on the Temple (Luke 21:37). So while he nowhere contradicts Mark about where the questions and the speech took place, he is simply silent on the matter, thus intentionally linking the words directly with the Temple.

It is clear that in this speech Luke is not only calling on Mark, but also on one or more other sources, and it is interesting that if the identifiable Marcan extracts are removed the discourse is still on the whole a conjoined whole, hinting at this use of another source or sources. That is why he can give us words of Jesus omitted by Mark. Mark seeks to make his version of the speech (a speech which was probably a lot longer and more detailed than either Mark or Luke) carry straight through from the sacking of Jerusalem and the arrival of the Desolating Abomination, to the final coming of the Son of Man, so as to link the two, the initial judgment, which ends with the coming of the Desecrating Desolator, the great Beast of Daniel, being seen as followed by the final judgment and the coming of the glorious Son of Man. But Luke makes clear that there is a period of time of unknown dimension between the two, what Jesus calls ‘the times of the Gentiles’ (Luke 21:24). Revelation will later depict this in terms of ‘a thousand years’ (Luke 20:4-7), a long period of unknown length which is within the perfection of God’s plan, when the martyred people of God will also reign with Jesus above.

But the first three Gospels all make clear that there must be some considerable delay before His coming, although none can know how long. And during this period Jesus makes clear that there will be world catastrophes, ‘worldwide’ preaching of the Good News including persecution, and then the defiling of the Temple. It is only when these have taken place that the Son of Man will come.

The passage that now follows divides strictly into two. The first part deals with the answer to the question of the disciples, in response to His comment about what was to happen to the Temple (Luke 21:5-24). The second part deals with the final coming of the Son of Man (Luke 21:25-38). In the Section chiasmus the first part of this passage (Luke 21:5-24) is paralleled by Jesus weeping over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44). That parallels the destruction of Jerusalem as described here. The second part of this passage (Luke 21:25-36) parallels His triumphal coming to Jerusalem on an ass (Luke 19:28-40). The entry in Kingly humility on the ass thus parallels the coming of the Son of Man in glory. Jerusalem had refused to receive Him. A desolated Jerusalem would welcome His return.

The first part (Luke 21:5-24) then divides into three parts, the troubles coming on the world found in Luke 21:8-11, the persecution of God’s true people and the opportunity to be a testimony through it (including in Mark the proclamation of the Good News to all nations) which is found in Luke 21:12-19, and the taking of Jerusalem and the scattering of the Jews among the nation found in Luke 21:20-24.

Because of his readership and his background Luke is more wary of how he presents Jesus’ words about the coming destruction of the Temple than Mark or Matthew, for he wants his readers to understand. Instead of speaking of the ‘Desolating Abomination’, a phrase pregnant with significance to Jews, but meaningless to Gentiles, he paraphrases it in terms of Jerusalem being surrounded by armies (accompanied by their idolatrous insignias) which will bring about its desolation. Alternatelt we may see it as signifying that he is quoting further words of Jesus, which Jesus gave in explanation of the phrase ‘desolating abomination’ (or ‘the desecration that appals’) not recorded by Mark and Matthew. But the ideas are actually the same. The Desolating Abomination in the time of the Maccabees, described in Daniel 11:31 and extended into the future in Daniel 9:27, from which the phrase comes, had been the result of Antiochus Epiphanes, together with his armies, surrounding Jerusalem and desecrating the Temple. That Luke’s description in Luke 21:20 does actually refer to the same thing as Mark 13:14; Matthew 24:15 is clear when we make a verse by verse comparison of Luke with Matthew and Mark which we will consider when we come to it.

We note now how Luke, with consummate skill, takes his sources and moulds them into one in the form of a chiasmus, in the way we have constantly seen him do previously, while yet still remaining faithful to the words of Jesus. That these are actually the words of Jesus comes out in the fact that these magnificent words require their author to be a magnificent personality, and as this magnificence is found in the passage in all the first three Gospels it is clearly not that of the writers. It must be found in it being the words of One Who stood out among His generation, along with His other words elsewhere that bear the same stamp. (Comparison with other writings reveals how distinctive Jesus’ style was. He spoke as none other spoke). We will now analyse the chiastic construction of the speech.

Analysis of 21:5-28.

a As some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and offerings, He said (Luke 21:5).

b “As for these things which you behold, the days will come, in which there will not be left here one stone upon another, that will not be thrown down” (Luke 21:6).

c They asked him, saying, “Teacher, when therefore will these things be? and what will be the sign when these things are about to occur?” (Luke 21:7).

d ‘And he said, “Take heed that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he’, and, ‘The time is at hand’, do not go after them. And when you shall hear of wars and tumults, be not terrified, for these things must necessarily come about first, but the end is not immediately” (Luke 21:8-9).

e Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes, and in many and various places famines and pestilences, and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven” (Luke 21:10-11).

f “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you, and will persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake” (Luke 21:12).

g “It will turn out to you for a testimony” (Luke 21:13).

h “Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries will not be able to withstand or to gainsay” (Luke 21:14-15).

i “But you will be delivered up even by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends, and some of you they will cause to be put to death” (Luke 21:16).

h “And you will be hated of all men for my name’s sake, and not a hair of your head will perish” (Luke 21:17-18).

g “In your patience endurance you will win your souls” (Luke 21:19).

f “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded with armies, then know that her desolation is at hand, then let those who are in Judaea flee to the mountains, and let those who are in the midst of her depart out, and let not those who are in the countryside enter into it” (Luke 21:20-21).

e “For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled” (Luke 21:22).

d “Woe to those who are with child and to those who are breast-feeding in those days! For there will be great distress on the land, and wrath to this people. And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations, and Jerusalem will be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:23-24).

c “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows, men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Luke 21:25-26).

b “And then will they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luke 21:27).

a “But when these things begin to come about, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28).

We note that in ‘a’ the disciples look up at the ‘goodly stones’ and ‘offerings’ of the Temple, the centre of Jewish worship and deliverance, and in the parallel in complete contrast they are to lift up their heads, watching for their coming redemption and deliverance from above. They are to seek the things which are above where He will shortly be seated at the right hand of God (Luke 22:69), setting their minds on things above and not on things on the earth (Colossians 3:1-2). In ‘b’ the things that they now see will be thrown down so that not one stone will be left on another, and in the parallel the Son of Man will come with power and great glory, for it is He Who replaces the glory of the Temple (John 2:18-21). In ‘c’ they ask Him for signs, and in the parallel signs are given. In ‘d’ will come false dawns to Jerusalem and Israel, and rumours of dreadful things, and in the parallel come the reality of those warnings and the news that rather than the coming of dawn, it is darkness that is coming on Jerusalem and Israel. In ‘e’ are outlined the dreadful things coming on the world, and in the parallel reference is made to the days of vengeance. In ‘f’ is outlined the future tribulation for the disciples, and in the parallel future tribulation for Jerusalem when the Roman armies invade (called in Matthew, with its aftermath, ‘great tribulation’). In ‘g’ the tribulation of the disciples will be a testimony, both to men and God, and in the parallel through their patient endurance they will win their inner life. In ‘h’ they will be provided with the means to withstand their adversaries in court, something which they will require, for in the parallel they will be hated of all men for His name’s sake. And in ‘i’, centrally to what they would now have to face in the future are given the consequences for them, and the warning that they will be hated by family and friends, and some will even be put to death. For this is all a sign of the fire that is now coming on the earth that will revolutionise their future (Luke 12:52-53 with 49), and bring about all that is being described.

As we have previously observed the passage may now be seen as divided into two main parts (with the first part divided into three), the two parts describing first the coming future judgment on Jerusalem, prior to the scattering of the Jews in Jerusalem throughout the world, which came about in 70 AD and what followed, and secondly the glorious appearing of the Son of Man. They are separated by ‘the times of the Gentiles’.

Verse 6

“As for these things which you behold, the days will come, in which there will not be left here one stone upon another, that will not be thrown down.”

And so He informed them that days were coming when the temple would be torn down, with not one stone to be left on another, just as it had been in the days of Jeremiah among the rubble of the houses (2 Chronicles 36:19; Jeremiah 7:12-14; Lamentations 4:1). God would repeat His judgments upon it as He had promised in the book of Daniel would happen once the Messiah had been cut off (Daniel 9:26). Interestingly there is little in these words of Jesus from Luke 21:8-24 which has not already been clearly depicted by the prophets in the Old Testament as coming on the world in the future. His genius lies in bringing it all together.

Verse 7

‘And they asked him, saying, “Teacher, when therefore will these things be? and what shall be the sign when these things are about to occur?” ’

Revealing their typical Jewishness his hearers then asked when these things would be and what would be the signs that introduced their occurrence. In context they were asking about the destruction of the Temple and the casting down of its stones and gifts. Jesus’ reply is quite vivid. The signs that signify its end will not be the political or natural events of great magnitude which are coming (Luke 21:8-11), nor will it be the tribulations that they themselves will have to face (Luke 21:12-19). The first sign of it will be when Jerusalem is being surrounded by armies (Luke 21:20), when it will be almost too late for anyone to do anything about it, although those who foresee it happening can flee (Luke 21:21-22), as the early Jerusalem church seems to have done. This should warn us too against seeking special signs of the second coming. The sign of that also is clear. The sign will be the glory that accompanies His arrival (Luke 21:27). So that will also be too late for anyone to do anything about. He will have come when least expected ‘like a thief in the night’.

‘Teacher.’ This is a general standard method of addressing Jesus used by all types. It is an idea seen as applying to Him in connection with the Apostles (Luke 6:40); and is used by people of all kinds who approached Him (Luke 7:40; Luke 8:49; Luke 9:38; Luke 10:25; Luke 11:45; Luke 12:13; Luke 18:18; Luke 19:39; Luke 20:21; Luke 20:28; Luke 20:39; Luke 22:11). Luke’s desire is to make the questioners anonymous so that all can apply it to themselves.

Verse 8

‘And he said, “Take heed that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he’, and, ‘The time is at hand’, do not go after them.” ’

The first thing that His people will have to beware of is those who will arise saying, ‘I am the one’ in the name of the Messiah, or who will say ‘the time is at hand’. The warning was very necessary as such things did happen in the first two centuries AD. While we know of only one who was actually officially proclaimed as the Messiah, Bar Kokhba, ‘Son of the Star’ (around 135 BC), who rebelled at the prospect of the building of a heathen city and temple on the site of the old city of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, when Jewish Christians were persecuted for not being willing to follow him, we know of a number who were claimed as having special status, and were probably thought of by their followers in Messianic terms, including some in the last days of Jerusalem (66-70 AD), such as for example - John of Giscala, Simon Bar Giora, and Eleazar, Simon’s son. There was certainly sufficient fanaticism about for it to be so (all we know about it is Josephus’ watered down version, and he would not wish to raise the spectre of Messianic claimants. He wanted to please the emperor).

Among others who made special claims, some of whom arose even earlier, there were:

· Samaritan ‘prophet’ who claimed that he would produce the ancient Temple vessels, and whose followers were slaughtered by Pilate on Mount Gerizim in 35 AD.

· second Theudas, possibly the descendant of the Theudas mentioned in Acts 5:36, who gathered a large number of followers and promised that the Jordan would open before him, only for his followers to be slaughtered and dispersed, with himself being beheaded (c.44-46 AD).

· Jewish Egyptian prophet (Acts 21:38) who assembled a large gathering in the wilderness, promising that the walls of Jerusalem would collapse at his approach and that the Roman garrison would be destroyed. His insurrection was, however, quashed almost before it had begun, although the Egyptian prophet escaped (around 54 AD).

· Another unnamed ‘prophet’ who gathered people in the wilderness, in the time of the Roman governor Festus, promising redemption and deliverance from all evils, and who was again violently crushed (around 60 AD).

· Menahem Bar Hezekiah the leader of the revolt in 66 AD, the son of Judah of Gamala, who claimed Davidic descent.

· Later still Lucuas/Andreas aroused the Jews in Cyrene and its surrounds in the time of Trajan, destroying many heathen temples, and being seen as ‘king’ by his followers and even by a number of Egyptians (around 116 AD).

· And around the same time we know that there were further insurrectionists in Palestine.

These all come to our attention because they were figures involved in direct military action taken by the Romans against them. Some almost certainly saw them as ‘messiahs’. But John tells us that others also arose as false ‘christs’ (antichrists, those who set themselves up over against Christ), teaching heresy, and proving that it was ‘the last hour’, so that John could speak of them as antichrists (1 John 2:18).

Indeed at times of such religious ferment, with expectations running high, we can be confident that such claims were made or applied constantly by some of the common people to different figures who arose, and as quickly fell. We can compare how some did it with Jesus without really knowing the truth about Him (e.g. John 6:14-15; John 7:41). Such ‘messiahs’ are depicted in Revelation 6:2 in terms of a horseman on a white horse (see our commentary on Revelation). The warning to Christians therefore was not to follow any who were like them, for in the nature of what He was about to say, none could be the Christ.

‘In My name.’ This could mean ‘in the name of the Messiah’ or ‘in the name of Jesus’. For the latter compare Acts 19:13, and the later Gnostic heresies. ‘I am the one’ indicates ‘the coming one’ of whatever variety or hue. ‘The time is at hand (or ‘has drawn near’)’, is a warning against alarmists, whether first or twenty first century ones. For the legitimate use of this idea compare Revelation 1:3; Revelation 22:10. Jesus’ implication behind all this is that there will be quite some interval before He returns. For He is going into a far country from which He will not return too soon (Luke 18:12). Compare here Luke 17:23; Mark 13:8; Mark 13:21-23; Matthew 24:8; Matthew 24:23; Matthew 24:26.

Verses 8-11

Violent Political Events and Natural Catastrophes Will Not Be Signs of The Coming Destruction of The Temple, Nor Of The Coming Of The Son of Man (21:8-11).

Despite the warning of these verses each succeeding generation has among it some who have a huge interest in pointing to ‘the signs of the times’. But while all these signs are reminders along the way, and an encouragement to persevere when they occur, they had all already occurred in 1st century AD, which was a tumultuous century, and would continue to occur century by century. And such signs have been pointed to again and again over the last two hundred years as indications of the nearness of the end. But as Jesus warned, they must not be seen as necessarily indicating the close of the age. They are reminders that it is coming, but not necessarily indicators of the end. ‘The time is not (necessarily) yet’, for when it does come, it will come with the suddenness and unexpectedness of a thief in the night, ‘in such an hour as you think not’ (Matthew 24:44).

Verse 9

“And when you shall hear of wars and tumults, be not terrified, for these things must necessarily come about first, but the end is not immediately.”

He then emphasises that as well as messiahs and deliverers there would also occur wars and ‘tumults’ (or ‘civil wars’, compare James 3:16. See Isaiah 19:2). But He makes clear that such things must be expected in view of what man is, and that they must therefore not be terrified by them into thinking that the end of the world was approaching. In Old Testament prophecy war is regularly indicated as resulting in and from ‘the Day of the Lord’ (the time when the Lord acts decisively), but it is always difficult in the prophets to separate these from the wars constantly prophesied there, and they prophesied local as well as far off ‘days of the Lord’. In the New Testament ‘the last days’ were introduced by the coming of Christ, and His death and resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:16-21). Thus all that it really prophesies is war, war, war, which, with lulls, will rise and fall in intensity until the consummation.

These events are depicted in Revelation 6:3-4 in terms of a horseman on a red horse, and the greater detail of this is now outlined.

Verse 10

‘Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,”

‘Then he said to them.’ This may indicate that there had been a lull in the conversation (it does not appear in Mark, but Luke’s careful enquiry may have elicited the need for it from his witness). Or it may be with the intention of heightening the effect of what follows, as Jesus moves from relatively local situations to worldwide ones.

He now pointed out that wars between nations must be expected in the normal course of events (compare 2 Chronicles 15:5-6). They have always taken place, and they always will. This is something that the first century onwards, through to the twenty first century, have constantly made clear. The first century was a century of war and disasters, and it is doubtful if there has been any time in all the ensuing centuries when there have not been wars somewhere in the world, wars which were devastating and appeared like the end of the world, and was for many of those involved.

Verse 11

“And there will be great earthquakes, and in many and various places famines and pestilences, and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.”

And along with wars will come natural events, great earthquakes, famines, pestilences, terrors and portentous signs in the heavens. These will all be reminders that Christ is coming whenever they occur, but are not to be seen as evidence of His imminent return. Rather they are to be seen as evidence of God’s continuing anger against the sin of man. Compare for ‘earthquakes’ Isaiah 13:13; Isaiah 29:6; Haggai 2:6; Zechariah 14:4; Revelation 6:12; Revelation 8:5; and regularly. For famines (loimoi) and pestilences (limoi) (note the play on words) compare Ezekiel 14:12; Ezekiel 14:19; Ezekiel 14:21; Jeremiah 15:2; Amos 4:6-10. For portents in the heavens compare Isaiah 13:10; Isaiah 34:4; Isaiah 51:6; Ezekiel 32:7-8; Joel 2:10; Joel 2:31; Amos 8:9. Jesus had a wide background on which to draw. It is interesting that Josephus describes such signs and portents as having preceded the fall of Jerusalem, signs such as a ‘tailed star’, or comet, which resembled a sword which stood over the city for a considerable time. Events like these are all represented in Revelation in terms of the horsemen on black and pale coloured horses (Revelation 6:5-8) followed by vivid effects in the heavens (Revelation 6:12-14).

Tacitus, a first century Roman historian, after referring to the horrors and calamities, and disasters and portents, of the period, went on to say ‘never has it been better proved, by such terrible disasters to Rome, or by such clear evidence, that the gods were concerned, not with our safety but with vengeance on our sins.’ Thus he too saw the 1st century AD as a century of disasters. These included among others not only continued warfare, but also serious famines in the times of Claudius and Nero, a great earthquake in Phrygia in about 61 AD, and the later eruption of Vesuvius which buried Pompeii and neighbouring towns. It was fitting that it was in such a century that God sent His Son into the world.

We can see in these verses a picture of the whole history of nations. This is history as we know it, and there has been no century in which such things have not occurred, from the first to the last, including portents in the heavens, and a world which has seemed upside down. They are intended to be like a fire alarm practise, saying, ‘Be ready for when I come, even though you do not know when it will be’.

Verse 12

“But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you, and will persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake.”

“But before all these things.” Mark omits this, probably because Peter did not include it in his summary of the speech, but Luke is concerned to ensure that we recognise that this would happen from the very beginning, as he makes clear in Acts 1-12, and having questioned his other witnesses carefully, feels that he can introduce these words as genuine words of Jesus. For these things will commence immediately after His resurrection and enthronement.

Jesus here assumes their future ministry, and reveals that as a result of it they will face persecution (Mark 13:10 makes their future ministry plain). He declares that His followers must expect to taken hold of by men’s hands, to be persecuted, to be delivered up to synagogues and prisons, and to be brought before kings and governors, for His name’s sake. For if such people do it to Him they can be sure that they will do it to them (John 15:18-21). The fulfilment of all this Luke will depict clearly throughout Acts. And all this will happen ‘for His name’s sake’, that is, because they are representing themselves as His and are going out in His name. And it will go on happening.

Synagogues are specially mentioned because they had as part of their responsibility the disciplining of heretical or openly sinful Jews, which would be done by beatings (compare Mark 13:9). Many early Christian Jews were no doubt subjected to such beatings because of their open testimony for Christ. The references to imprisonment, and being brought before kings and governors was a declaration of the wider nature of the future ministry of the Apostles. For examples of such beatings see Acts 22:19; see also Acts 5:40; Acts 16:22-23; for examples of imprisonment see Acts 4:3; Acts 5:18; Acts 8:3; Acts 9:2; Acts 16:23-24; etc. For being brought before kings and governors see especially Paul’s experiences in the last part of Acts, following on Jesus’ own experiences of both in Acts 23:1-25.

Verses 12-19

The Coming Ministry of the Apostles And Its Consequences (21:12-19).

Meanwhile, while all these things are going on, the Apostles and those who follow them must be involved in testimony to the world, and must recognise that they will face hatred and persecution because they are His (see John 15:18-19; John 16:1-3; Acts 8:1; Acts 9:1 and regularly for Paul throughout Acts).

Verse 13

“It will turn out to you for a testimony.”

But none of these things should disturb them, for it will result in their being able to testify before men concerning Him. It will be a part of their overall testimony. It will also result in the end in their being testified to by Him before the Father (Luke 12:8). Note that Luke here omits Mark 13:10 (the Good News will be preached to all nations, compare Romans 1:5) because he is concerned to keep the emphasis on their suffering for Christ’s sake, but the idea behind the words is necessarily assumed in order for the persecutions to take place. ‘All nations’ in those early days would be seen as signifying all known nations. And later Luke is at pains to point out that even at Pentecost itself there were people from ‘every nation under heaven’ (Acts 2:5). We can compare also Romans 1:8, where Paul is able to say ‘your faith is proclaimed in all the world’. Their ‘world’ was not as large as ours.

Verses 14-15

“Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to prepare in detail beforehand on how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries will not be able to withstand or to gainsay.”

When such things occur they will not need to prepare clever defences beforehand. (It was usual to prepare long and verbose speeches along with suitable gestures in order to impress the court). For they are assured that Jesus will Himself at that time give them a mouth and wisdom which none will be able to prove wrong or rebut. We note again here Luke’s deliberate omission of reference to the Holy Spirit in accordance with his pattern in this last part of the Gospel (but for such an idea compare Mark 13:11; and see Luke 12:12; Matthew 10:20). Instead note how Jesus Himself will be with them in His risen power, as in Matthew 28:20.

‘I will give you a mouth and wisdom.’ Compare here God’s promise to Moses, ‘I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say’ (Exodus 4:12). Then He promised that Aaron would be his mouth (Exodus 4:16). The whole of Exodus 4:10-16 is worthy of study in this connection, the difference being that the persecuted Christian will have Christ standing with him rather than just Aaron. Compare Acts 6:10 where the hearing ‘could not withstand the Spirit and wisdom with which he (Stephen) spoke’.

Verse 16

“But you will be delivered up even by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends, and some of you they will cause to be put to death.”

The evidence of Jesus’ fire being cast on earth is now forthcoming (compare Luke 12:53 with 49). Even their own families and friends will betray them as Christians, denouncing them to the authorities and taking action against them. Note how this statement is central in the chiasmus of the passage. It is the very heart of what they will have to face in the future in preparation for His coming. Jesus did not water down the cost of following Him. ‘Some of you’, that is, of those who have been closely attendant on Him in His life.

Verse 17

“And you will be hated of all men for my name’s sake.”

And all this will happen to them because for His sake they will be hated by all men. By ‘all men’, of course, He means the generality of mankind. In contrast with the love of Christians for one another, and the general tolerance of society, they will always be open to hatred at any time, a hatred aroused by false fervour and the activities of wicked men, and which once aroused will affect the majority (compare Acts 13:50; Acts 14:5; Acts 14:19; Acts 17:13; Acts 19:28-29). They will never be able to be sure of how the world will react against them. That is why they will be ill-treated in the synagogues, put in prison, and brought before kings and governors. Beginning in Acts all this happened both in Judea and elsewhere. Indeed in the first two centuries it was often at the instigation of the Jews that it happened (compare Revelation 2:9; Revelation 3:9), until they at length in later centuries in their turn became the persecuted.

Jews today try to paint over the part played by their leaders in the death of Christ, and their own behaviour to Christians in the first two centuries after Christ when they often acted as informers in a way that resulted in many Christian martyrdoms and imprisonments, preferring to concentrate on their own later persecution by so-called Christians. But any persecution, whether by Jews or by Christians, is totally indefensible, and both broke God’s Law. Each was equally heinous. For whether Jews love us, or hate us, we must certainly love them, for Christ’s sake, if not always for their own, and they are supposed to do the same (Leviticus 19:34).

Verse 18

“And not a hair of your head will perish.”

But Jesus’ final guarantee to His own was that not a hair of their heads would perish (compare Luke 12:7; Acts 27:34). This was not intended to be taken literally, indeed could not be, for the number of our hairs is not fixed, and when we lose them they perish. The saying was probably proverbial. The point was that at the resurrection every hair would still be in place, even though they had been burned or had been ground to powder or had decayed in the grave. Eternally they were totally secure. That is why they did not need to fear those who could only kill the body (Luke 12:4), but could not prevent every hair from surviving. This is confirmed by the next verse which also has in mind eternity.

Verse 19

“In your patience endurance you will win your souls.”

Note how in the chiasmus this statement parallels the earlier “It will turn out to you for a testimony” (Luke 21:13). By their patient endurance as they gave testimony to Him and endured persecution they would gain in its fullest realisation the eternal life that they have received through Jesus. They will not lose their souls (Luke 12:5; see especially Mark 8:36). So the essence of these verses is twofold. The dreadful persecutions that must be faced and the certain security of all who are in Christ.

Verse 20

“But when you see Jerusalem being surrounded with armies, then know that her desolation is at hand.”

The surrounding of Jerusalem by armies in the future was something constantly referred to in the Old Testament. We can consider, for example, Isaiah 4:4 where it can be assumed and is to happen ‘in that day’; Zechariah 14:2, where in ‘a day of the Lord’, ‘I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished ---; Daniel 9:26, where ‘the people of the coming prince will destroy the city and the sanctuary’ (in a context which mentions one who comes on the wing of abomination to make desolate); compare also Joel 3:2. So both Zechariah and Daniel describe such a future event vividly, and an example of what it would be like had been equally vividly portrayed in 2 Chronicles 36:16-21, where, speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem in around 587 BC, the writer says, ‘until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy --- therefore He slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary ---and they burned down the house of God and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.’ There is no difficulty then in seeing the source from which Jesus obtained the vividness of the picture, and like the prophets He is declaring that before the end can come Jerusalem must be destroyed.

Verses 20-24

The Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple And The Scattering of the Jerusalemites (in the Great Tribulation Mentioned by Matthew) (21:20-24).

The only sign that will be given of the events leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple will be the approaching foreign armies (‘standing where they ought not’ - Mark 13:14). That will be sufficient warning to those who will to take heed. In the event Galilee was the first to be invaded, and eventually Tiberius was invested. Ample warning was therefore given to Judea and Jerusalem, and those who heeded it survived, including the Jerusalem church which fled to Pella.

In view of the diverse views held by many on this passage we will first consider it in contrast with Mark, setting the two side by side.

------------LUKE-----------------------------------------------MARK------------------------

But when you see Jerusalem-------------- But when you shall see the desolating abomin-

surrounded with armies, then know------ation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,

that her desolation is at hand. Then -------standing where it ought not, then

let those who are in Judaea flee to -------- let those who are in Judea flee to

the mountains, and let those who---------- the mountains, and let him who is on the

are in the midst of her depart out,---------housetop not go down into the house, nor enter

and let not those who are in the------------into it to take anything out of the house, and let

countryside enter into it. For these--------not those who are in the country not turn back

are days of vengeance, that all things-----again to take up his garment,

which are written may be fulfilled.

Woe to those who are with child and ------but woe to those who are with child and

to those who are breast-feeding in --------- to those who are breast-feeding in

those days! -------------------------------------- those days! And pray you that your flight is not

-----------------------------------------------------in the winter.

For there will be great distress on the-----For in those days shall be tribulation (Matthew -

land, and wrath to this people. And-------great tribulation) such as was not from the beg-

they will fall by the edge of the-------------inning of creation which God created unto this

sword, and will be led captive into---------time, nor shall be. And except the Lord had

all the nations, and Jerusalem will be-----shortened those days, no flesh would be saved,

trodden down of the Gentiles, until------but for the elect’s sake whom he has chosen he

the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. -----has shortened the days.

-----------------------------------------------------And then if any man shall say to you, lo here is

-----------------------------------------------------Christ, or lo he is there, believe him not. For

-----------------------------------------------------false Christs and false prophets will rise and will

-----------------------------------------------------show signs and wonders, to deceive if it were

-----------------------------------------------------possible even the elect. But take heed, behold I

-----------------------------------------------------have told you all things. But in those days, after

-----------------------------------------------------that tribulation

And there will be signs in sun and---------the sun will be darkened and the moon will not

moon and stars, and on the earth----------give her light, and the stars of heaven will fall,

distress of nations, in perplexity for

the roaring of the sea and the

billows, men fainting for fear, and

for expectation of the things which

are coming on the world.

For the powers of the heavens will be --- and the powers that are in heaven will be

shaken. -------------------------------------- shaken.

And then shall they see the Son of ------ And then shall they see the Son of

man coming in a cloud with power ------ man coming in the clouds with great power

and great glory. ------------------------------ and glory.

Comparison between the two demonstrates broad agreement and some important differences. Instead of Luke’s ‘But when you see Jerusalem surrounded with armies, then know, that her desolation is at hand.’ Mark has ‘But when you shall see the desolating abomination, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not’. At first sight these might appear wildly different statements. But the initial ‘desolating abomination’ in Daniel did surround Jerusalem with armies preparatory to the desecration of the Temple, by the offering of a pig on the altar (Daniel 11:31), and Daniel also forecast that some such thing would occur again (Daniel 9:26-27). ‘Standing where it ought not’ clearly signifies, to a Jew, the surrounding of God’s holy city and the temple, which was certainly where no idolatrous symbols ought to be, and the ‘desolating abomination’ is precisely how the Roman legions with their idolatrous eagles to which they offered sacrifices, and their intent to bring about the desolation of Jerusalem and raise it to the ground, would have been described. Thus Luke’s version is either his own ‘paraphrase’ used in order to enable his readers to understand what was being indicated, by the ‘desolating abomination standing where it ought not’, or Jesus’ own explanation given in His own words, tacked on by Him to the more ambiguous statement in order to explain more fully what He meant, possibly following the words ‘let him who reads (what Daniel says) understand’ (Mark 13:14). Mark’s version with its Old Testament reference is clearly in itself original, but Luke may also be citing original words given in explanation, remembered by another eyewitness.

The fact that in both cases the warning is addressed to those in Judea and that escape is possible by fleeing into the mountains indicates a local situation, and the slight differences in explaining who is to flee may again be Luke’s paraphrase to his Gentile readers who may not all have known about steps leading down from flat rooftops, or may be an indication that Jesus’ more expansive statement has been abbreviated in both cases.

Mark then drops out the reference to the days of vengeance. He wishes to move on quickly from the destruction of Jerusalem to the second coming. But Luke wants to lay stress the deep significance of those days. After this they both deal with the question of being with child and breast-feeding, and Mark then further adds in the prayer that the flight may not be in the winter, which is omitted by Luke, again probably because it would not have great meaning to him or his readers, with their lack of knowledge of Palestinian weather conditions.

The ‘great distress’ in Luke parallels the ‘tribulation’ in Mark and the ‘great tribulation’ in Matthew, and it should be noted is to be seen as taking place before, and possibly during, the scattering of the Jews among the Gentiles. These parallel sayings might simply be extracted from a larger portrayal (Luke’s words can on the whole easily be inserted within Mark’s in a way that makes sense) or Luke’s may again be an interpretation of the more Biblically based reference in Mark which has in mind Daniel 12:1. But either way it is made clear that the ‘tribulation’ (Mark) or the ‘great tribulation’ (Matthew) refers to the investment and sacking of Jerusalem and what followed, and not to so some period in ‘the end days’ divorced from that. Note how in Mark the affliction is not only the greatest ever known but is also greater than any future affliction that will come, ‘neither shall be’. In Daniel the statement looks only to the past. This suggests that they are not referring to the same event, otherwise why does Mark change Daniel’s statement in this way?.

This is then followed by contrasting treatments of what is coming on the world in terms of sun, moon and stars. Both may in fact have been said by Jesus as He expanded on His theme, with Luke obtaining what he wrote from another eyewitness, and each writer selecting what he wanted to say, or again it may be a case of Luke interpreting and abbreviating Mark in the light of other sources and his own purpose. For in the end both are giving the gist of Jesus’ words rather than the whole message. Both then end with the reference to the powers of heaven being shaken, followed by reference to the coming of the Son of Man.

The verses that do agree almost word for word should warn us that Luke is faithful to his sources, and therefore against too glibly assuming that Luke obtained the remainder by paraphrase rather than from another source which cited words of Jesus. We shall now consider Luke verse by verse, having the above suggestions in mind:

Verse 21

“Then let those who are in Judaea flee to the mountains, and let those who are in the midst of her depart out, and let not those who are in the countryside enter into it.”

The warning here is vivid and pointed. At the first indication of approaching troops they are to find refuge not in the city (the natural place of refuge in time of war), for that is doomed, but in the caves on the wild, deserted mountains. That what is being described here is local can be seen from the fact that it can be avoided by fleeing to the mountains in the vicinity of Judea, a flight also to be engaged in by those in Jerusalem with all speed. Nor are those in the countryside to see Jerusalem as a refuge. The emphasis is on the fact that the judgment is centred on Jerusalem, and is certain, although necessarily it will involve all concerned with the welfare of Jerusalem. In the event the whole of Galilee and Judea would be affected, which was ever the case when Jerusalem was to be invested as past investments had made clear (when Sennacherib invested Jerusalem he had besieged and taken forty six large cities. Nebuchadnezzar had engaged in wholesale destruction). But Jerusalem would experience the total devastation, for after huge slaughter of both young and old, male and female, the remainder were carried off into captivity. No mercy was shown by the Roman invaders.

For this idea of fleeing to the mountains see Ezekiel 7:16; Genesis 19:26; Isaiah 15:5; and compare also Jeremiah 49:8; Zechariah 14:5; Amos 5:18-20. As Jerusalem is itself in the mountains the idea is of the remote mountains of the Judean wilderness in the Dead Sea area, to which David fled to escape from the vengeance of Saul (1 Samuel 26:1-3), as well as the mountains across the Jordan in Transjordan.

Verse 22

“For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.”

And the reason that they are to flee is because these are the days of vengeance, the days when God visits the people who have rejected Him with judgment. For the days of vengeance compare especially Deuteronomy 32:35-36 LXX where they are a part of what will happen as a result of breach of the covenant; Isaiah 61:2, where the day of vengeance follows the coming of the great prophet and the proclamation of the Good News; Hosea 9:7; Jeremiah 46:10. God has had many days of vengeance, but as Jesus will go on to say, these particular ones will be long and protracted.

Verse 23

“Woe to those who are with child and to those who are breast-feeding in those days! For there will be great distress on the land, and wrath to this people.”

The awfulness of the days that are coming on the land and on Jerusalem are emphasised in terms of the weakest and most vulnerable, those who are pregnant or breast-feeding. And yet in this very application (for the old and blind and lame are not mentioned) there is also stress on the effect it will have on the growth of the seed of these people. Even the most innocent will be affected. Many will be still born or will die in infancy because of what is coming.

We note that Luke omits the suggestion that they pray that their flight might not be in the winter. That suggestion (which did not say that it would be in the winter, only that they should pray that it was not) was in order to compound the horror. If it was not in the winter that would be at least one mercy. Instead he emphasises the distress in another way. Jesus’ full speech, which would include both, must have been even more terrifying.

‘Wrath.’ This is not a normal Lucan concept and confirms that he is giving us words that have been passed on to him. But it is not an idea from which he withdraws (see also Luke 3:7). The idea is of impending doom because of the nature of God in response to sin (compare Mark 3:5; John 3:36; John 10:0 times in Romans 9:0 times elsewhere in Paul’s letters; twice in Hebrews; twice in James and six times in Revelation). It is the inevitable consequence of sin (Romans 1:18).

Verse 24

“And they will fall by the edge (literally ‘mouth’) of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations, and Jerusalem will be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”

And the result of the investment of Jerusalem will be many slain by the edge of the sword (compare Jeremiah 21:7; Hebrews 11:34), and many led captive among the nations (Deuteronomy 28:64). It will be like 587 BC all over again. And then Jerusalem will be left deserted and trodden down by the Gentiles, and it will not rise again to its former glory for it will be trodden down by the Gentiles until their time comes to its fulfilment. Note that there is no promise that Jerusalem will then rise again. The Jerusalem that the prophets spoke of as having a glorious future is seen in the New Testament to be the heavenly Jerusalem. The earthly Jerusalem is finally dispensed with, from a spiritual point of view, in Acts. What happens to it is therefore of no more consequence from God’s viewpoint (it is only man who has fixations on holy places).

As a result of God’s judgments Jewish control over the Temple will cease, the godly among the nations will cease to look to Jerusalem, and all the Jewish hopes of world rulership will have collapsed. Jewish hopes will have been crushed. Their Temple will have been defiled, and then destroyed. Their Messianic expectations will have been thrust into a distant and empty future, for the simple reason that they did not receive Him when He came (‘He came to His own inheritance and His own people did not receive Him’ - John 1:11). It is the sign that God has replaced them with a new Israel, the Israel of God, to which belong all who are His (John 15:1-6; Galatians 3:29; Galatians 6:16; Romans 11:17-29; Ephesians 2:11-22; James 1:1; 1Pe 1:1 ; 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 2:9). So they are given the warning that unless they are willing to accept in Jesus their true Messiah, they will have to recognise and settle for the period of Gentile domination stretching forward into God’s immeasurable but perfect time, the ‘thousand years’ of Revelation 20:0. For this will be the time of Gentile rule and of spiritual activity by the true Messiah Who will gather together His people through the proclamation of the Good News and make them one in Him, both Jew and Gentile. This will be accompanied by the literal domination of the world by the iron boot of earthly rulers, many of whom would crush the Jews, and others of whom would uphold them (and sadly some of them will do it in the name of Christ, although not in accordance with His teachings). The Jews will have been replaced in the purposes of God except in so far as they seek Him. For their future can now only be found in Christ.

For the warning of the treading down of the sanctuary and of Jerusalem compare Isaiah 63:18; Daniel 8:10; Daniel 8:13; Zechariah 12:3; Psalms 79:1-2; Revelation 11:2. This gradual transition from Jerusalem to the Gentile world is made clear in Acts. The first part of Acts is all concerning Jerusalem. It is the centre from which the word goes out (Isaiah 2:2-4). It is the hub of Apostolic activity. But from chapter 13 onwards this is all transferred to elsewhere. Peter has gone to ‘another place’ (Acts 12:17). Paul works from Syrian Antioch (13 onwards), and when given the choice the Temple finally and definitely closes its doors against him (Luke 21:30). Jerusalem has forfeited its significance, being replaced by the Jerusalem which is in Heaven (Galatians 4:26; Hebrews 12:22). For it is the idea that lies behind Jerusalem that God guarantees, not the physical city itself.

So the question, “Teacher, when therefore will these things (the destruction of the Temple) be? and what shall be the sign when these things are about to occur?” is answered. Looking at it from Jesus’ point of view on earth, it will occur some time in the future, and the sign will be the gathering of armies against Jerusalem. There are no good grounds, apart from speculation, for applying these ideas to any other than what happened in 70 AD. Indeed if we consider the question that both Mark and Luke emphasise (Luke 21:7; Mark 13:4), both make clear that it specifically refers to that time, that is, to the time of the destruction of the Temple which at that moment of time was being observed by Jesus.

‘The Times of the Gentiles.’ This is the time when the Gentiles come into their own in the purposes of God, when the Servant will be a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:6), and when God will not oppose Gentile domination. Various nuances have been seen in the phrase. It has been referred to:

1). The times when the Gentiles will be exercising God’s judgments on Israel.

2). The times leading up to when the Gentiles themselves will be judged.

3). Their times of opportunity for turning to God. Compare Romans 11:25 where the fullness of the Gentiles will come in.

4). Their times for enjoying the privileges that the Jews have forfeited.

5). Their fixed times for lording it over Jerusalem.

In one way or another all these are involved. It is the period following the rejection of the old Israel, and its replacement by the new, when God’s purposes in and for the Gentiles will be fulfilled, as Acts will reveal.

Verses 25-26

“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows, men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”

And what will happen during the period when the times of the Gentiles are being fulfilled? Will this be the time of worldwide peace? Jesus tells us quite plainly, if symbolically, that it will not be so. They will be times of portents, when the very lights of heaven are affected, times of distress, times of perplexity because of the roaring of the nations. This Gentile domination will not produce peace. Rather men will be fainting for fear as they look forward to what the future holds (compare Isaiah 13:6-8). For it is only the Messiah Who can bring a true, genuine and lasting peace (Isaiah 11:0).

The mention of the heavenly bodies here ties in with their use elsewhere to indicate dreadful events on earth. Things will happen of such a nature that they will appear to distort the heavens. Their friendly light will be affected. It will be as though the earth is falling in on itself. Compare Isaiah 13:10; Isaiah 34:4; Ezekiel 32:7-8; Joel 2:10; Joel 2:28; Haggai 2:6; Haggai 2:21; Revelation 6:12-14, all of which really in the end indicate political movements and dreadful things happening on earth, not all in the last days. When the smoke of warfare and the fires of destruction are on the earth it has a strange effect on the perception of the heavens. If ‘the powers of the heavens’ are seen as shaken, then times are really bad. That is not to deny that behind the words is the fact that unearthly influences might also be at work. If we consider Romans 8:38; Ephesians 1:21 (compare also Daniel 10:0) these may indicate that more is involved than just the physical. See also for this the images in Revelation such as Luke 16:12-14. But if that is so we will not be aware of it. It will be going on unseen. And we should note that in Haggai the idea of the shaking of the heavens is as a preparation for the final triumph of God (Haggai 2:21-22). It finally indicates the activity of God.

‘The roaring of the sea and the billows’ reminds us that God regularly likens the nations to troubled seas. ‘The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt’ (Isaiah 57:20). God is thus the One who ‘stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples’ (Psalms 65:7), so that without Him it goes out of control. It is from the sea that the beastly empires arise (Daniel 7:2-3; Revelation 13:1). Thus the sea symbolises the nations. Furthermore the Israelites tended to fear the sea and would also see in this picture all of which they were afraid.

And there can be no doubt that such fear and distress and perplexity has been present in all centuries, and never more so than now as we see the rise of militant Islam, the fear of nuclear weapons reaching uncontrolled hands, the approach of the unknown effects of global warming, the possibility of the cessation of the gulf stream, the thinning of the ozone layer, the rising of sea levels, and the effects of other phenomena that could bring disaster on our world, and about which we can do very little, even more so because we are driven on by the insatiable demand of men and women for pleasure and enjoyment. Perhaps these will produce signs in sun, moon and stars, perhaps through this parts of the world will be burned up (2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 16:8), perhaps these will bring distress of nations and perplexity. No sensible person today doubts the possibility that such could be the result of what we are doing to the earth’s atmosphere. Or perhaps in time these will pass by and little will seem to happen and another century will come and go, and then all these fears will again repeat themselves. We do not know. But in the midst of it we hear His warning, ‘Be ready, for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man will come’.

Verse 27

“And then will they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”

For one day that is what will happen. It will be the event to end all events. All will come to its conclusion. God will sum up history. And the Son of Man, spoken of by Daniel the prophet as having been given all dominion (Daniel 7:13-14), will come personally and in great power and glory, seen by all, and lighting up the sky from east to west (Luke 17:24; Mark 13:26; Revelation 1:7; Revelation 19:11-16). For some it will bring fear as they look on the One Whom they had pierced, and from Whom they had turned away (Zechariah 12:10; Revelation 1:7). For others it will bring joy, for they will be made like Him and see Him as he is (1 John 3:1-3). It is the time of their final redemption. They are going home.

Or to put it another way the risen and enthroned Jesus will come visibly and in glory to receive His own and to bring judgment on the world (Matthew 24:31; Acts 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; Revelation 1:7; Revelation 11:12; Revelation 19:11-16). This idea of His return has already been highlighted in the parables ( Luke 12:35-36; Luke 12:40; Luke 12:43; Luke 12:45; Luke 19:12; Luke 19:15), and is a new emphasis in the teachings of Scripture (compare Acts 1:11). Previously it had been seen in terms of God acting climactically in world affairs, but now it is seen in terms of the One Who God has chosen, His only Son Who had become man, and now returns in person to bring about the consummation and then present all things to His Father, so that together with the Holy Spirit they may be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:23-28). It could only be vividly portrayed in this direct way once God had become man and had lived on earth.

It should be noted that Jesus has customarily called Himself ‘the Son of Man’ in front of His disciples. They could be in no doubt about Who was being referred to as ‘the Son of Man’. But to others not so much in the know it would be an enigmatic title, designed to make them reflect on its true nature. It was especially used by Him when thinking of the heavenly aspect of His activity, in order to distinguish the heavenly from the earthly, for He wished to keep a clear distinction before His disciples between His earthly and His heavenly life (John 3:13). But He also used it when claiming unearthly authority (Luke 5:24; Luke 6:5) and in order to bring out the greatness of His humiliation in becoming the suffering Servant (Luke 9:22; Luke 9:44; Luke 9:58). For as in Daniel 7:0 the glory of the son of man (where the term represents the king who comes before God as the representative of His suffering people) results from his and their having undergone suffering (compare Luke 24:26). The Apostles and the church recognised how enigmatic the title was when they mainly ceased using it after the resurrection. It was only used by Stephen in Acts 7:56 where his point was that the Son of Man had received His throne as promised, and in Revelation 1:13; Revelation 14:14 where the point was of His glory in the heavens as One Who had come to the throne of God and had received authority to judge the world. Instead the early church thought of Him in terms of the risen and glorified Christ (Messiah) and Lord (Acts 2:36). The Name no longer needed to be veiled. (In view of this lack of use by the early church it is quite astonishing that some try to claim that they invented it).

‘Coming in a cloud.’ The idea behind clouds is to indicate heavenly origin. But Luke deliberately presents the idea in the singular, bringing out even more the sense of the divine. For it was through a cloud that God constantly revealed His presence to His people (from Exodus 13:21 onwards until Exodus 40:34; Exodus 40:36; Exodus 40:38 and even beyond (e.g. Deuteronomy 31:15; 1 Kings 8:10). To come in a cloud was the symbol of deity.

Verse 28

“But when these things begin to come about, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”

So the final consequence of the sufferings and tragedies of the ages will be the coming of Christ to receive His own, and to bring His final judgment on the world. And the result is that as we become aware of such things it should cause us to lift up our heads, recognising that our final redemption draws ever closer. While he suffers with those who suffer, the Christian is not surprised at what is coming on the world, indeed he expects it. Whether it be earthquake, volcanic eruption, hurricane, tsunami, human bombs or whatever, he sees it as a reminder of man’s sinfulness and judgment, and as God’s reminder that His Son will be coming ‘soon’, to take His own to be with Himself, and to bring on the world a judgment which in Scripture is constantly pictured in terms of all these tragedies, and much, much more.

‘Look up.’ The verb means to raise oneself from a stooping position, to stand upright, and therefore to look with confidence and elation. Out of the trial that will come on him the Christian continually looks up in order to visualise the One Who is coming. He is able to lift up his head because he looks to his coming deliverance by Him.

‘Your redemption.’ The final release from the bondage of sin and of the world, which has become a possibility because He gave His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45), paying the price for sin (1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Peter 1:18-19). See also Luke 22:37.

Verse 29

“And he spoke to them a parable, “Behold the fig tree, and all the trees, when they now shoot forth, you see it and know of your own selves that the summer is now near.”

The parable is a simple one, and its basis is that men know when summer is coming because they observe the growth on the trees. Luke’s addition of ‘all the trees’ (contrast Mark 13:28) makes clear that nothing is to be gathered from the description of a particular tree. The fig tree is mentioned as the early blossomer, but the principle applies to all the trees. So the principle in his view is a universal one, and we need not doubt that he gathered that from his source. That being so the parable signifies nothing more than that His people should be observant and recognise that growth on trees reveals the approach of summer. But it is an indicator, not a guarantee. The summer is seen as ‘near’, not ‘now here’. In context the distinction is important. For in eschatological terms ‘near’ is subject to the timing of God with Whom a thousand years is as a watch in the night. As always the signs are in order to awaken interest, not in order to indicate certain timing. Jesus always rejected the idea of giving signs which would replace faith. They could be used to bolster faith, but not to replace it.

Verses 29-38

Concluding Words (21:29-38).

Jesus now sums up the conclusions which result from what He has been saying. In His summing up He stresses the signs that will indicate the ‘nearness’ of the Kingly Rule of God, that is, the point at which there will be nothing between the sign and its fulfilment.

Firstly He is declaring that the eternal Kingly Rule of God cannot be manifested until the things that He has described have happened, for His coming (the timing of which He does not know - Mark 13:32) cannot take place until they have done so. Thus He makes clear both that there will be a delay before His coming. But secondly He stresses the fact of its imminence (as something that could happen at any time) once those things have occurred. The ideas are here held in tension as throughout the New Testament. In view of the fact that He clearly stated in an undoubtedly genuine saying that He did not know the time of His return we must certainly take that fact into account in our interpretation. It is not honest to suggest fallibility over something that He (quite remarkably) declared that while on earth He did not know.

First we shall analyse this passage:

a He spoke to them a parable, “Behold the fig tree, and all the trees, when they now shoot forth, you see it and know of your own selves that the summer is now near” (Luke 21:29-30).

b “Even so you also, when you see these things coming about, know you that the Kingly Rule of God is near” (Luke 21:31).

c “Truly I say to you, This generation will not pass away, until all things be accomplished. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Luke 21:32-33).

b “But take heed to yourselves, lest it happen that your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come on you suddenly as a snare, for so will it come on all those who dwell on the face of all the earth” (Luke 21:34-35).

a “But you, watch at every season, making supplication, that you may prevail to escape all these things that will come about, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36).

In these final words Jesus applies what He has said to those who are listening. Note that in ‘a’ the description of what happens in a season is described and in the parallel they are told to watch every season. In ‘b’ His disciples are to see in the things that are coming the sign of the nearness of the Kingly Rule of God, and in the parallel there are those who will not observe these things and who will thus be caught up unexpectedly in judgment. And centrally in ‘c’ the point is made that all ‘these things’ prior to standing before the Son of Man (for even He did not know the time of the latter) will be accomplished within that generation. It is as certain as the existence of Heaven and earth.

Verse 31

“Even so you also, when you see these things coming about, know you that the Kingly Rule of God is near.”

So in the same way when they see all ‘these things’ coming about they are to know that the Kingly Rule of God is near. Here it is clear that the future eternal Kingdom is in mind. In context ‘these things’ refers to the signs prior to the coming of the Son of Man for in Luke 21:36 it is ‘these things’ which can be escaped from, whereas the coming of the Son of Man is inescapable. Compare also Luke 21:28 where ‘these things’ cause men to look up and lift up their heads in anticipation of His coming. They cannot therefore include His coming. ‘These things’ are clearly therefore the indications of the possibility of His coming. This in fact agrees with Mark 13:4 where ‘these things’ refers to the destruction of the Temple and what will accompany it. Thus the main idea in mind here is that when they see the destruction of the Temple and the leading captive among all nations of the Jews, following on after the other ‘things’ that He has spoken of, they must then recognise the ‘imminence’ (the possibility of it happening at any time) of the establishment of the eternal kingdom. Nothing will then be required to happen before His coming occurs, although He does not know when that will be (Mark 13:32).

Verse 32

Truly I say to you, This generation will not pass away, until all things be accomplished.”

And indeed, He declares, all ‘these things’ that He has described as necessary before His coming will be accomplished within the lifetime of the current generation. It must necessarily be so. The blood of all the prophets would be required of this generation because of what they were going to do to God’s beloved Son (Luke 11:50-51). The judgment on Jerusalem must therefore necessarily happen within this generation.

This would then indicate that His return could also be within that time period, but would not necessarily be so, for His coming is not part of ‘these things’, it is the fulfilment resulting after ‘these things’. So the claim is that while all ‘these things’ that must take place before His coming will occur within a generation, the coming itself would not necessarily occur within that time period (for He did not know when it would be). All they could know when all these thing had occurred was that it was ‘near’, that is, could possibly arrive at any time.

That Jesus was at this point no more aware than His disciples of how long would be the period between the destruction of Jerusalem and His coming comes out in these words. Later revelation would reveal that it would be a long, indeterminate, unlimited period, cited as a round ‘thousand years’ (Revelation 20:3-7), a period which to first century man would indicate immeasurable time.

However, the word genea can in fact mean, 1) the descendants of a common ancestor, that is, those ‘generated’ from such an ancestor (thus a particular race, e.g. the Jews); 2) a group of people born at the same time (‘generation’ thus for example being seen as shorthand for ‘the people in that generation’); or 3) a period of time occupied by such a group of people (roughly a period of forty years). It has therefore been suggested that ‘this generation’ could be interpreted in any one of a number of different ways as follows:

1). ‘This generation’ (this ‘race’) could mean the race of the Jews as ‘generated’ from Israel/Jacob, those who were born of Israel/Jacob. This would then be promising that the Jews as a race would not cease to exist before all these things were accomplished. It would be declaring that they would still be around at the end, and unlike other nations, would not just have disappeared. It would be a word of hope for the Jews. Certainly the fact of the survival of the Jews as a distinct entity through the centuries must be seen as quite remarkable. But there are other explanations for their survival, (the Arabs have also survived, and also see themselves as descendants of Abraham), and it is not a natural meaning of the phrase in this context without further amplification.

2). ‘This generation’, which is a phrase used regularly by Jesus of unbelievers who do not respond to His words (see Luke 7:31; Luke 9:41; Luke 11:29-32), could be seen as signifying people with a certain attitude against Him, like the ‘generation of vipers’ (those born of vipers) in Luke 3:7, thus indicating a type of people who will not die out before the second coming. But it would again be an unusual use of the word without further amplification.

3). ‘This generation’ could indicate a generation in which certain of the events described will happen in the future, a generation which will then not pass away before all is fulfilled, e.g. the final generation at the end. The idea here would be to stress that all that is described must occur within the one generation, although in this case it is a later generation, ‘this’ referring to the generation who will actually be involved.

4). ‘This generation’ could mean the current generation when Jesus was speaking which would not pass away before all that necessarily had to lead up to His coming, especially the destruction of Jerusalem, was fulfilled. This is the most natural and straightforward meaning of the term.

We opt for the fourth as being Jesus’ intention, simply because it is the most natural significance of the phrase and ties in with the thought that the blood of the prophets will be required of this generation. The point that He is then also stressing is that all that must necessarily lead up to His coming will be fulfilled within that generation so that His coming need not necessarily be looked at as something that will happen only in a remote future, long after that time. This holding out of the future as imminent, part of which had not yet been fulfilled by the time of Jesus, is seen as constant in the prophets. The aim was to keep people in expectancy. On the other hand it always left open the options that what was to happen might be soon, or might be in the more distant future. The point then is that by the time the current generation is passing away His coming will be ‘near’, that is, will be such that it could possibly occur at any time. Jesus did not want His followers to lose sight of the fact that the time of His return was unknown, even to Him. Thus he wanted them to see it as ‘imminent’ (that is, as possibly happening at any time), so that they must always be anticipating the possibility of it. Not knowing when it would be He knew that it could be near or far. There was no other way of presenting it.

Verse 33

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

Indeed so certain are the things that He has promised that even the passing away of Heaven and earth will not affect them. Their occurrence is certain and sure. They are more stable and certain than Heaven and earth (compare a similar thing said about God’s Law - Luke 16:17). Note how He puts His own words on a parallel with God’s. No one else among the Jews would have dared to say that their words were more permanent than creation. It would have been seen as blasphemy.

Verses 34-35

“But take heed to yourselves, lest it happen that your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come on you suddenly as a snare, for so will it come on all those who dwell on the face of all the earth.”

In view of this certainty of the fulfilment of His words they must be sure that they keep a watch on their ways and are not caught out by their being too deeply involved in partying, and drunkenness and the affairs of life (a reminder that although Jesus ate and drank with public servants and sinners, He did not see their lifestyle as acceptable). If their hearts are taken up with such things then that day will come on them like a snare and a trap, in the same way as it will come on all who dwell on the face of the whole earth who are not believers and therefore are unready.

Verse 36

‘But you, watch at every season, making supplication, that you may prevail to escape all these things that will come about, and to stand before the Son of man.”

Rather than partying, and becoming drunk, and being too involved with worldly affairs they are to be ever on the watch at all times, praying that they might ‘prevail to escape’ all the things that will come about, by means of their being watchful, and by prayerful supplication, and may thus stand triumphantly before the Son of Man. To ‘stand before the Son of Man’ is come to Him and be acceptable to Him as one of His own, receiving His commendation.

‘Prevail to escape’ indicates a battle fought and won in escaping from what is false. Such a person has battled through the temptations of the flesh and of the world, and has won through, keeping his eye on Christ. He has not followed false signs or false teachers (Luke 21:8), he has not been bowed down by the problems of the world (Luke 21:9-11), he has maintained a good testimony (Luke 21:13) and faced up to persecution (Luke 21:12-18), he has patiently endured (Luke 21:19), he has escaped the lure of Jerusalem (Luke 21:20-22), and he has not been caught up in frivolous living or the cares of the world (Luke 21:34). And how has he done it? Humanly speaking he has done it by prayerful ‘watching’, by ‘making supplication’ to the One Who works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13) and by ‘battling and prevailing’. Divinely speaking he has done it because God has chosen him from the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).

EXCURSUS 1. Is the Church The New Israel?

The question being asked here is whether the early church saw itself as the true Israel, and whether they had any grounds for doing so? In Matthew 16:0 Jesus spoke to His disciples of ‘building His church (assembly, congregation)’ (Matthew 16:18) at a time when as far as the disciples were concerned He had come only to ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel’ (Matthew 10:6; Matthew 15:24). Thus here ‘church’ certainly equated in their minds with ‘Israel’, as indeed it did in its use in the Greek translations of the Old Testament where ‘the congregation/assembly of Israel’ was translated as ‘the church (ekklesia) of Israel’. And it was on this basis that the early believers called themselves ‘the church’, that is the congregation of the new Israel.

Furthermore in Acts 4:27-28 we read, “For in truth in this city against your holy Servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, were gathered together, to do whatever your hand and your council foreordained to come about.”

Note the mention of a king, a ruler, the Gentiles and ‘the peoples of Israel’. This follows as an explanation of a quotation from Psalms 2:1 in Acts 4:25-26:

‘Why did the Gentiles rage,

And the peoples imagine vain things,

The kings of the earth set themselves,

And the rulers were gathered together,

Against the Lord and against His anointed --.’

The important point here is that ‘the peoples’ who imagined vain things, who in the Psalm were nations who were enemies of Israel, have become in Acts ‘the peoples of Israel’. Thus the ‘peoples of Israel’ who were opposing the Apostles and refusing to believe are here seen as the enemy of God and His Anointed, and His people. It is a clear indication that old unbelieving Israel is now numbered among the nations, and that the Jews who have believed in Christ are the true Israel. As Jesus had said to Israel, ‘the Kingly Rule of God will be taken way from you and given to a nation producing its fruits’ (Matthew 21:43). Thus the King now has a new people of Israel to guard and watch over.

The same idea is found in John 15:1-6. The false vine (the old Israel - Isaiah 5:1-7) has been cut down and replaced by the true vine of ‘Christ at one with His people’ (John 15:1-6; Ephesians 2:11-22). The church is the new Israel, growing from the true vine. The old Israel has been cut off and replaced by believing Gentiles (Romans 11:17-28).

The new Israel, the ‘Israel of God’, sprang from Jesus. It was He Who established its new leaders who would ‘rule over (‘judge’) the twelve tribes of Israel’ (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30). They were Jews, and were to be its foundation (Ephesians 2:20; Revelation 21:14). All its first foundation members were Jews. As it spread it did so among Jews until there were ‘about five thousand men’ to say nothing of women and children (Acts 4:4). Then it spread throughout all Judaea, and then through the synagogues of the world. Soon there were a multitude of Jews who were Christians. Thus the earliest church was almost fully Jewish. It represented faithful Israel. Then the proselytes (Gentile converts) and God-fearers (Gentile adherents to the synagogues) began to join and they were grafted in to the vine (John 15:1-6) and the olive tree (Romans 11:17-28). They became fellow-citizens with the Jewish believers (‘the saints’, a regular Old Testament name for the true Israelites who believed). And so the new Israel sprang up following the same pattern as the old. Paul described the new church as ‘the Israel of God’ (Galatians 6:16), because the Gentiles among them had become ‘the seed of Abraham’ (Galatians 3:29).

Those who deny that the church is Israel must in fact see all these believing Jews as cut off from Israel. For in the 1st century AD the Israel for which those who deny that the church is Israel contend, that is the Jews as a whole, did not include them. They cut them off. To them the church was outside Israel.

Meanwhile the church, the new Israel did see themselves as Israel. They saw themselves as the true Israel of God. And that is why Paul stresses to the Gentile Christians in Ephesians 2:11-22 that they are now a part of the new Israel having been made one with the true people of God in Jesus Christ. In order to consider all this in more detail let us look back in history.

When Abraham entered the land of Canaan having been called there by God he was promised that in him all the world would be blessed, and this was later also promised to his seed (Genesis 12:3; Genesis 18:18; Genesis 22:18; Genesis 26:4; Genesis 28:14). But Abraham did not enter the land alone. In Genesis 14:0 he had three hundred and eighteen fighting men ‘born in his house’. One of his slave wives was an Egyptian (Genesis 16:0) and his steward was probably a Syrian, a Damascene (Genesis 15:2). Thus Abraham was patriarch over a family tribe, all of whom with him inherited the promises, and they came from a number of different nationalities.

From Abraham came Jacob, who was renamed Israel, and from his twelve sons came the twelve tribes of the ‘children of Israel’. As with Abraham these would include retainers, servants and slaves. So the ‘children of Israel’ even at this stage would include people from many nations, Israel’s own descendants and their wives, and their servants and retainers, and their wives and children. Israel was already a conglomerate people.

When they left Egypt they were joined by a ‘mixed multitude’ from many nations, who with them had been enslaved in Egypt, and these joined with them in their flight (Exodus 12:38). At Sinai these were all joined within the covenant and became ‘children of Israel’. These included an Ethiopian (Cushite) woman who became Moses’ wife (Numbers 12:1). Thus ‘Israel’ from its commencement was an international community. Indeed it was made clear that any who would, could join Israel and become an Israelite by submission to the covenant and by being circumcised (Exodus 12:48-49). Membership of the people of God was thus to be open to all nations from the beginning by submission to God through the covenant. And these all connected themselves with one of the tribes of Israel, were absorbed, and began to trace their ancestry back to Abraham and Jacob even though they were not true born. There were indeed regulations as to who could enter the assembly or congregation of the Lord, and at what stage they could (Deuteronomy 23:1-8). They then became Israelites.

That this was carried out in practise is evidenced by the numerous Israelites who bear a foreign name, for example ‘Uriah the Hittite’ (2 Samuel 11:0). See also the mighty men of David (2 Samuel 23:8-28). Later again it became the practise in Israel, in accordance with Exodus 12:48-49, for anyone who ‘converted’ to Judaism and began to believe in the God of Israel to be received into ‘Israel’ on equal terms by circumcision and submission to the covenant. These were called ‘proselytes’. People also left Israel by desertion, and by not bringing their children within the covenant. They were then ‘cut off from Israel’, as were deep sinners.

When Jesus came His initial purpose was to call back to God ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel’ (Matthew 10:6). But He later declared that there were other sheep that He would also call and they would be one flock with Israel (John 10:16).

Thus when the Gospel began to reach out to the Gentiles those converted were welcomed as part of the one flock. The question then was, ‘did they need to be circumcised in order to become members of the new Israel?’ Paul nowhere argues that circumcision was not necessary because they were not becoming Israel. He accepts that they became members of Israel, but argues that circumcision was no longer necessary because they were already circumcised by faith. They had the circumcision of the heart, and were circumcised with the circumcision of Christ (Colossians 2:11).

Thus in Romans 11:17-24 he speaks clearly of converted Gentiles being grafted into Israel through faith, and of Israelites being broken off through unbelief, to be welcomed again if they repent and come to Christ. Whatever we see actually see the olive tree as representing, it is quite clear that it is speaking of those who are cut off because they do not believe, and those who are ingrafted because they do believe, and this in the context of Israel being saved or not.

In Ephesians 2:0 Paul tells the Gentiles that they had in the past been ‘alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise’ (Luke 2:12). Thus in the past they did not belong to the twelve tribes. But then he tells them that they are now ‘made nigh by the blood of Christ’ (Luke 2:13), Who has ‘made both one and broken down the wall of partition --- creating in Himself of two one new man’ (Luke 2:14-15). Now therefore, through Christ, they have been made members of the commonwealth of Israel, and inherit the promises. So they are ‘no longer strangers and sojourners (outsiders to Israel), but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God, being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets’ (Luke 2:19-20). It is made as clear as can be that they have entered the ‘new’ Israel. They have entered into the covenant of promise (Galatians 3:29).

So as with people in the Old Testament who were regularly adopted into the twelve tribes of Israel (e.g. the mixed multitude - Exodus 12:38), Gentile Christians too are seen as so incorporated. That is why Paul can call the church ‘the Israel of God’, made up of Jews and ex-Gentiles, having declared circumcision and uncircumcision as unimportant because there is a new creation (Galatians 6:15-16). It is those who are in that new creation who are the Israel of God.

In context ‘The Israel of God’ can here only mean that new creation, the church of Christ, otherwise he is being inconsistent. For as he points out, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters any more. What matters is the new creation. It must therefore be that which identifies the Israel of God. For if circumcision is irrelevant then the Israel of God cannot be made up of the circumcised, even the believing circumcised, for circumcision has lost its meaning. The point therefore behind both of these passages is that all Christians become, by adoption, members of the twelve tribes.

But there would be no point in mentioning circumcision if he was not thinking of incorporation into the twelve tribes. The importance of circumcision was that to the Jews it made the difference between those who became genuine proselytes, and thus members of the twelve tribes, and those who remained as ‘God-fearers’, loosely attached but not accepted as full Jews. So when Paul argues that Christians have been circumcised in heart (Romans 2:26; Romans 2:29; Romans 4:12; Philippians 3:3; Colossians 2:11) he is saying that that is all that is necessary in order to be members of the true Israel.

In Galatians 4:26 it is made clear that the true Jerusalem is the heavenly Jerusalem, the earthly having been rejected. This new heavenly Jerusalem is ‘the mother of us all’ just as Sarah had been the mother of Israel. All Christians are thus the children of the freewoman, that is, Sarah (Luke 4:31). They are therefore ‘Israel’.

Again in Romans he points out to the Gentiles that there is a remnant of Israel which is faithful to God and they are the true Israel (Luke 11:5). The remainder have been cast off (Romans 10:27, 29; Romans 11:15; Romans 11:17; Romans 11:20). Then he describes the Christian Gentiles as ‘grafted in among them’ becoming ‘partakers with them of the root of the fatness of the olive tree’ (Luke 11:17). They are now part of the same tree so it is clear that he regards them as now being part of the faithful remnant of Israel. This is again declared quite clearly in Galatians, for ‘those who are of faith, the same are the sons of Abraham’ (Galatians 3:7).

Note that in Romans 9:0 Paul declares that not all earthly Israel are really Israel, only those who are chosen by God. They are the foreknown Israel. See Luke 9:8; Luke 9:24-26; Luke 11:2.

The privilege of being a ‘son of Abraham’ is that one is adopted into the twelve tribes of Israel. It is the twelve tribes who proudly called themselves ‘the sons of Abraham’ (John 8:39; John 8:53). That is why in the one man in Christ Jesus there can be neither Jew nor Gentile (Galatians 3:28). For they all become Israel. For ‘if you are Abraham’s seed, you are heirs according to the promise’ (Galatians 3:29). To be Abraham’s ‘seed’ within the promise is to be a member of the twelve tribes. The reference to ‘seed’ is decisive. You cannot be Abraham’s seed through Sara and yet not a part of Israel.

That is why Paul can say, ‘he is not a Jew who is one outwardly --- he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and the circumcision is that of the heart’ (Luke 2:28-29 compare v.26). The true Jew is the one who is the inward Jew.

In the light of these passages it cannot really be doubted that the early church saw the converted Gentile as becoming a member of the twelve tribes of Israel. They are ‘the seed of Abraham’, ‘sons of Abraham’, spiritually circumcised, grafted in to the true Israel, fellow-citizens with the saints in the commonwealth of Israel, the Israel of God. What further evidence do we need?

In Romans 4:0 he makes clear that Abraham is the father of all who believe, including both circumcised and uncircumcised (Luke 4:9-13). Indeed he says we have been circumcised with the circumcision of Christ (Colossians 2:11). All who believe are therefore circumcised children of Abraham.

When James writes to ‘the twelve tribes which are of the dispersion’ (Luke 1:1) (Jews living away from Palestine were seen as dispersed around the world and were therefore thought of as ‘the dispersion’), there is not a single hint that he is writing other than to all in the churches. He sees the whole church as having become members of the twelve tribes, as the true dispersion, and indeed refers to their ‘assembly’ with the same word used for synagogue (Luke 2:2). But he can also call them ‘the church’ (Luke 5:14).

There is not even the slightest suggestion anywhere in the remainder of his letter that he has just one section of the church in mind. In view of the importance of the subject, had he not been speaking of the whole church he must surely have commented on the attitude of Jewish Christians to Christian Gentiles, especially in the light of the ethical content of his letter, but there is not even a whisper of it. He speaks as though to the whole church. Unless he was a separatist this would seem impossible. It is inconceivable that in the situation of those days he could have written an ethical letter to Jewish Christians and not have mentioned Gentile Christians once. For relationships with them would have been central. Thus he must have seen the ex-Gentile Christians as part of the dispersion to which he was writing.

Peter also writes to ‘the elect’ and calls them ‘sojourners of the dispersion’ and when he speaks of ‘Gentiles’ (meaning unconverted Gentiles) is clearly assuming that those under that heading are not Christians (Luke 2:12; Luke 4:3). So it is apparent that he too sees all Christians as members of the twelve tribes (as in the example above ‘the dispersion’ means the twelve tribes scattered around the world). Good numbers of Gentiles were becoming members of the Jewish faith at that time, and on being circumcised were accepted by the Jews as members of the twelve tribes (as proselytes). In the same way the Apostles, who were all Jews and also saw the pure in Israel as God’s chosen people, saw the converted Gentiles as being incorporated into the new Israel, into the true twelve tribes. But they did not see circumcision as now necessary, because all who believed had been circumcised with the circumcision of Christ.

Today we may not think in these terms but it is apparent that to the early church to become a Christian was to become a member of the twelve tribes of Israel. That is why there was such a furore over whether circumcision, the covenant sign of the Jew, was necessary for Christians. It was precisely because they were seen as entering the twelve tribes that many saw it as required. Paul’s argument against it is never that Christians do not become members of the twelve tribes (as we have seen he actually argues that they do) but that what matters is spiritual circumcision, not physical circumcision. Thus early on Christians unquestionably saw themselves as the true twelve tribes of Israel.

This receives confirmation from the fact that the seven churches (the universal church) is seen in terms of the seven lampstands in chapter 1. The sevenfold lampstand in the Tabernacle and Temple represented Israel. In the seven lampstands the churches are seen as the true Israel.

Given that fact it is clear that reference to the hundred and forty four thousand from all the tribes of Israel in Revelation 7:0 is to Christians. But it is equally clear that the numbers are not to be taken literally. The twelve by twelve is stressing who and what they are, not how many there are. There is no example anywhere else in Scripture where God actually selects people on such an exact basis. Even the seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal (1 Kings 19:18) were a round number based on seven as the number of divine perfection and completeness. The reason for the seemingly exact figures is to demonstrate that God has His people numbered and that not one is missing (compare Numbers 31:48-49). The message of these verses is that in the face of persecution to come, and of God’s judgments against men, God knows, remembers and protects His own. But they are then described as a multitude who cannot be numbered (only God can number them).

It is noticeable that this description of the twelve tribes in Revelation is a little artificial in another respect. While Judah is placed first as the tribe from which Christ came, Dan is omitted, and Manasseh is included as well as Joseph, although Manasseh was the son of Joseph. Thus there is a deliberate omission of the names of Dan and Ephraim, even though Ephraim is included under Joseph’s name. (This artificiality confirms that the tribes are not to be taken literally). The exclusion of Dan is because he is a tool of the Serpent (Genesis 49:17), and the exclusion of the two names is because of their specific connection with idolatry.

In Deuteronomy 29:17-20 the warning was given that God would ‘blot out his name from under heaven’, when speaking of those who gave themselves up to idolatrous worship and belief, and as we have seen idolatry and uncleanness were central in the warnings to the seven churches. Thus the exclusion of the names of Ephraim and Dan are a further warning against such things. They were particularly connected with idolatry.

For the names of both Ephraim and Dan are unquestionably connected with idolatry in such a way as to make them distinctive. Hosea declared, ‘Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone, their drink is become sour, they commit whoredom continually’ (Hosea 4:17-18). This is distinctly reminiscent of the sins condemned in the seven churches. It is true that Ephraim here means the whole of Israel, as often, but John saw the connection with idolatry and whoredom as besmirching not the tribe but the name of Ephraim (Ephraimites are included under Joseph, it is the name that is excluded).

As for Dan, it was a man of the tribe of Dan who ‘blasphemed the Name’ (Leviticus 24:11), it was Dan that was first to set up a graven image (Judges 18:30) and Dan was the only tribe mentioned as being the site of one of the calves of gold set up by Jeroboam, as Amos stresses (Amos 8:14; 1 Kings 12:29-30; 2 Kings 10:29). Amos directly connects the name of Dan with ‘the sin of Samaria’. Thus Dan is closely connected with blasphemy and idolatry. And to cap it all ‘Dan will be a serpent in the way, and adder in the path’ (Genesis 49:17). He is the tool of the Serpent. Typologically he is the Judas of the twelve. How could he not be excluded? It is also voices in Dan and Ephraim which declare the evil coming on Jerusalem (Jeremiah 4:15), closely connecting the two.

That what is excluded is the name of Ephraim and not its people (they are included in Joseph) is significant. Thus the message of these omissions is that those who partake in idolatry and sexual misbehaviour will be excluded from the new Israel (compare the warnings to the churches, especially Thyatira). The exclusion of Dan is to warn us that those who are not genuine will be excluded.

So Revelation 7:0 is telling us that in the face of the future activity of God against the world He provides His people with protection, and marks them off as distinctive from those who bear the mark of the Beast. God protects His true people. There is no reason for seeing these people as representing other than the church, the true Israel, of the current age. The fact is that we are continually liable to persecution, and while not all God’s judgments have yet been visited on the world, we have experienced sufficient to know that we are not excluded. In John’s day it was telling the church that God had sealed them, so that while they must be ready for the persecution to come, they need not fear the coming judgments of God that he will now reveal, for they are under His protection.

The New Testament tells us that all God’s true people are sealed by God. Abraham received circumcision as a seal of ‘the righteousness of (springing from) faith’ (Romans 4:11), but circumcision is replaced in the New Testament by the ‘seal of the Spirit’ (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:30). It is clear that Paul therefore sees all God’s people as being ‘sealed’ by God in their enjoyment of the indwelling Holy Spirit and this would suggest that John’s description here in Revelation 7:0 is a dramatic representation of that fact. His people have been open to spiritual attack from earliest New Testament days (and before) and it is not conceivable that they have not enjoyed God’s seal of protection on them. Thus the seal here in Revelation refers to the sealing (or if someone considers it future, a re-sealing) with the Holy Spirit of promise. The whole idea behind the scene is in order to stress that all God’s people have been specially sealed.

In Revelation 21:0 the ‘new Jerusalem’ is founded on twelve foundations which are the twelve Apostles of the Lamb (Luke 21:14), and its gates are the twelve tribes of the children of Israel (Luke 21:12). Indeed Jesus said that he would found his ‘church’ on the Apostles and their statement of faith (Matthew 16:18) and the idea behind the word ‘church’ (ekklesia) here was as being the ‘congregation’ of Israel. (The word ekklesia is used of the latter in the Greek Old Testament). Jesus had come to establish the new Israel. Thus from the commencement the church were seen as being the true Israel, composed of both Jew and Gentile who entered within God’s covenant, the ‘new covenant’, as it had been right from the beginning.

But what are the arguments against this? It has been said that ‘Every reference to Israel in the New Testament refers to the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ And another expositor has taken the words and added the comment, ‘This is true in the Old Testament also.’ But such statements are again an oversimplification. They assume what they intend to prove, and as we have seen, they are in fact completely incorrect. For as we have seen above if there is one thing that is sure it is that many who saw themselves as Israelites were not physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Many were descended from the servants of the Patriarchs who went down into Egypt in their ‘households’, and were from a number of nationalities. Others were part of the mixed multitude which left Egypt with Israel (Exodus 12:38). They were adopted into Israel, and became Israelites, a situation which was sealed by the covenant.

It is made quite clear that anyone who was willing to worship God and become a member of the covenant through circumcision could do so and became accepted on equal terms as ‘Israelites’ (Exodus 12:47-49). They would then become united with the tribe among whom they dwelt or with which they had connections. There were indeed regulations as to who could enter the assembly or congregation of the Lord, and when (Deuteronomy 23:1-8). Later proselytes would also be absorbed into Israel. Thus ‘Israel’ was from the start very much a conglomerate, and continued to be so.

When we come to the New Testament Paul can speak of ‘Israel after the flesh’ (1 Corinthians 10:18). That suggests that he also conceives of an Israel not ‘after the flesh’. That conclusion cannot be avoided. When we remember that outside Romans 9-11 Israel is only mentioned by Paul seven times, that 1 Corinthians 10:18 clearly points to another Israel and is one of the seven verses, and that Galatians 6:16 is most satisfactorily seen as signifying the church of Jesus Christ and not old Israel at all (or even converted Israel), the statement must be doubted. In Ephesians 2:11-22 where he speaks of the ‘commonwealth of Israel’ he immediately goes on to say that in Christ Jesus all who are His are ‘made nigh’, and then stresses that we are no more strangers and sojourners (outsiders from Israel) but are genuine fellow-citizens, and are of the household of God. If that down not mean becoming a part of the true Israel it is difficult to see what could.

Furthermore in the other four references the present status of Israel is not in mind, the term simply being used as an identifier in a historical sense with Old Testament connections. Thus the argument about the use of the word Israel is not very strong. In Hebrews all mentions of Israel are historical, referring back to the Old Testament. They refer to Israel in the past. In Revelation two mentions are simply historical, while many would consider that the other actually does refer to the church (Revelation 7:4).

In Romans 9-11 it is made very clear that Israel can mean more than one thing. When Paul says, ‘they are not all Israel, who are of Israel’ (Romans 9:6) and points out that it is the children of the promise who are counted as the seed (Luke 9:8), we are justified in seeing that there are two Israels in Paul’s mind, one which is the Israel after the flesh, and includes old unconverted Israel, and one which is the Israel of the promise.

And when he says that ‘Israel’ have not attained to the law of righteousness while the Gentiles have attained to the righteousness which is of faith (Luke 9:30-31) he cannot be speaking of all Israel because it is simply not true that none in Israel have attained to the righteousness of faith. Many had become Christians as we have seen in Acts 1-5. Thus here ‘Israel’ must mean old, unconverted Israel, and thus exclude Christian Israel, and thus they do not make up all of the so-called descendants of the Patriarchs.

So here we see three uses of Israel, each referring to a different entity.

· One is all the old Israel, whether believing or not, which includes both elect and non-elect (Luke 11:11) and is therefore a partly blind Israel (Luke 11:25).

· One is the Israel of promise (called in Luke 11:11 ‘the election’), and which is therefore an Israel which excludes the old blind part of Israel. For not all of Israel who are descendd from Israel, are Israel (Romans 9:6).

· And one is the old Israel which does not include the Israel of promise (Luke 9:31). It is the part of the old Israel which is the blind Israel. The term ‘Israel’ is therefore seen to be very fluid.

Furthermore here ‘the Gentiles’ must mean those who have come to faith. It cannot mean all Gentiles, for it speaks of those who have ‘attained to the righteousness of faith’ (which was what old Israel failed to obtain when it strove after it). Thus that term is also fluid. (In 1 Peter ‘Gentiles’ represents only those who are unconverted).

When we are also told that such Gentiles who have come to faith have become ‘Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise’ (Galatians 3:29) we are justified in seeing these converted Gentiles as having become part of the new Israel, along with the converted Jews. They are now actually stated to be ‘the seed of Abraham’. This clarifies the picture of the olive tree. Old unconverted Israel are cut out of it, the converted Gentiles are grafted into it. Thus old Israel are no longer God’s people (Romans 9:6-8) while the converted Gentiles are.

What then does Paul mean when he says that ‘all Israel will be saved’? (Luke 11:26). It clearly cannot mean literally ‘all’ of old Israel, both past and present. Scripture has made quite clear that not all of them will be saved (as also says Romans 9:27; Romans 11:7). Does it then mean all Israel at the time that the fullness of the Gentiles has come in? That is unlikely as there is no stage in world history where all the people of a nation have been saved at one point in time. It would not be in accordance with God’s revealed way of working. It would also make nonsense of the many passages where God’s final judgment is poured out on Israel. Does he then mean ‘all the true Israel’, those elected in God’s purposes who are physically Jews, ‘the remnant according to the election of grace’ (Luke 11:5), who will be saved along with the fullness of the Gentiles? That is possible. And it does not require, although it might include, a final revival among the Jews in the end days. Or does it mean ‘all Israel’ who are part of the olive tree, including both Jews and the fullness of the Gentiles? That seems to be its most probable significance, and to be most in accordance with what we have seen above. After all, ‘all Israel’ including the Gentiles could not be saved until the fullness of the Gentiles had come in.

What in fact Paul is finally seeking to say is that in the whole salvation history God’s purposes will not be frustrated, and that in the final analysis all whom He has chosen and foreknown (Luke 11:2) will have come to Him.

In the light of all this it is difficult to see how we can deny that in the New Testament all who truly believed were seen as becoming a part of the new Israel’, the ‘Israel of God’.

End of Excursus 1.

EXCURSUS 2. What Does Matthew Mean In The Same Context By ‘Great Tribulation?’

If we set Matthew’s version of the speech of Jesus about the destruction of the Temple alongside that of Mark and Luke we find that the verse containing the phrase ‘great tribulation’ (no article) parallels Mark 13:19 and Luke 21:23-24. In other words it deals with the sufferings coming on Jerusalem (see the parallel versions of Mark and Luke above). The consequence of that has been evaded by claiming that in His speech Jesus actually taught both what Luke says, and what Matthew and Mark says, as two different parts of the same speech indicating two different destructions of Jerusalem. Now quite apart from the fact that the common phrases in the speeches reveal that that cannot be so, as comparison of the parallels between Mark and Luke have demonstrated, it is also beyond all reason. Is it really conceivable that Luke could have omitted a large chunk of Mark dealing with so important a subject as a second destruction of Jerusalem in the end days? Quite frankly it is not. Nor is it conceivable that when Mark records the disciples as asking, in response to the fact that Jesus says that the Temple they are looking at will be torn down, when that will be, he then does not include the answer that Jesus gives, but rather talks of another destruction and another temple. Exegesis on that basis can only be seen as making the text fit the theory without regard to common sense.

But if all are speaking of the one destruction of the Temple what then does the ‘great tribulation’ (great affliction), so bad that none has ever been like it or will ever be, refer to. Luke gives us the answer. It refers to the sufferings of the siege of Jerusalem followed by the sufferings of the Jews throughout at least a part of the times of the Gentiles. No other nation has ever gone through such an experience, nor ever will.

This being so it is clear that it does not refer to any period in ‘the end days’ called ‘The Great Tribulation’. If the latter is to be held it must be on the basis of other passages than this.

End of Excursus 2.

Verse 37

The Judas’ Plot (21:37-22:6).

As far as Luke is concerned the first stage in Jesus’ final hours is the entry of Satan into Judas Iscariot, the Apostle. ‘Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.’ These words bring a chill to the heart. How has Satan managed to find a foothold in such sacred territory, into the very heart of Jesus’ work, among ‘the Twelve’? And the simple answer is Mammon. For when it came down to the final analysis, eleven of them loved Jesus with all their hearts, and one loved Mammon more than he loved Jesus. As Jesus has already made clear Mammon kept many men from Jesus (Luke 12:13; Luke 16:19; Luke 18:23). It even bore heavy responsibility with regard to the failure of the Pharisees (Luke 16:14). And now it was penetrating into the very inner circle of Jesus’ followers. Eleven could say, ‘silver and gold have I none, but what I have I give you ---’ (Acts 3:6). But Judas cast all that aside and went to the chief priests with his hands wide open, seeking silver and gold. And thereby he lost all that he had.

So Judas, moved by Satan who had entered into him, plotted to betray Jesus in return for money. Like the Pharisees (Luke 16:14; Luke 20:47), and unlike the poor widow who had given her all to God (Luke 21:1-4), he had chosen Mammon rather than God. The constant teaching of Jesus on the subject had somehow passed him by. The glitter of silver was too much for him. Disillusionment may have made him decide to cease being a disciple, but it was silver that made him betray Him.

It was a necessary lesson for the young church to learn, that they must ever be on the watch lest Satan be granted a foothold in this way. And Mammon would, in fact, be the means by which in the Middle Ages the whole church was nearly destroyed. It took a Reformation that shook the world to deliver it from itself. In the same way many a person’s faith and usefulness today is destroyed by Mammon.

Analysis of 21:37-22:6.

a Every day He was teaching in the temple, and every night He went out, and lodged in the mount that is called Olivet, and all the people came early in the morning to Him in the temple, to hear Him (Luke 21:37-38).

b Now the feast of unleavened bread drew near, which is called the Passover, and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might put Him to death, for they feared the people (Luke 22:1-2).

c And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve (Luke 22:3).

b And he went away, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might deliver Him to them, and they were glad, and covenanted to give him money (Luke 22:4-5).

a And he consented, and sought opportunity to deliver Him to them in the absence of the crowd (Luke 22:6).

Note that in ‘a’ Jesus is constantly surrounded by the crowd from early morning to night, and in the parallel Judas promises to deliver Him to His enemies in a place where there is no crowd. In ‘b’ the Jewish leaders were seeking ways to put Jesus to death, but were afraid of the people, and in the parallel Judas communes with the Jewish leaders as to how to hand Him over at a time when the people will not know. Centrally in ‘c’ we have described the presence and activity of Satan who is the mastermind behind it all.

Verses 37-38

‘And every day he was teaching in the temple, and every night he went out, and lodged in the mount that is called Olivet, and all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, to hear him.’

Some see these as the closing words of the preceding section, but the chiasmus seems to suggest that they are the opening words to this final section, although they are certainly also to be seen as an intermediate link. However, equally certainly they are preparing the way for Luke 22:39 and they explain the background to Luke 22:1.

The words reveal that the popularity of Jesus continued and that the crowds continued to flock to hear Him. This was why the Jewish authorities felt so powerless and could do nothing against Him. Apart from when He and His disciples had disappeared into the night He was always accompanied by great crowds, and there is little doubt that in the intensity of the festal atmosphere they would have reacted against any attempt to arrest Him. For the leaders were not popular with the people, whereas Jesus decidedly was. And at Passover time religious feeling was at its height. This then explains why He was able daily to appear in the Temple and teach there, while the authorities had to stand by and watch in frustration. But even while they watched their hatred and their determination were growing. The more works of God that He did, and the more people who responded, the more determined where they to be rid of Him. Reason had gone out of the window. He had become a threat, and His influence was too great. They felt that He was undermining their authority, and all that they lived for. And so they had determined that He must go.

‘Every night He went out, and lodged in the mount that is called Olivet.’ Bethany was on the slopes of the Mount of Olives (Luke 19:29), and He may therefore have lodged there. But it is equally possible that He camped out nightly with His disciples in the open air, not far from the Garden of Gethsemane, which was also on the Mount of olives, although often visiting His friends in Bethany for meals. See Mark 11:11; Matthew 21:17 which certainly indicate a connection with Bethany. Thus wherever He camped was clearly within the reasonable vicinity of Bethany.