Luke 21

CHAPTER XXI

Luke 21:1

1 Jesus is still in the Temple courts on Tuesday. Mark 12:41 describes him as sitting where he could see the people depositing their offerings. He is not teaching, and the disciples stand about until Jesus calls them to tell them what the widow had done. Both in Mark and in Luke this narrative is set alongside the warning against the greed of the scribes who devour widows’ houses. Here there was one of those widows offering the last she had to the Lord. Now on looking up he saw those throwing their gifts into the treasury, who were rich.

Stier utters an exclamation of surprise that, immediately after delivering the most scathing woes against the scribes, Jesus is able to sit down calmly and to express his appreciation of the gift of a widow. Thirteen trumpet-shaped, metal receptacles (shapharoth), each marked with a Hebrew letter, stood in the court of the women to receive the gifts of the worshippers for the benefit of the Temple and for the Temple tax. The singular τὸγαζοφυλάκιον, “the treasury,” may refer to all of them. On looking up, Jesus beheld those throwing their gifts into them, and the adjective used is predicative: “rich,” i. e., “who were rich.” Mark says that the multitude did this and then refers to the rich who threw in much. Luke is briefer and remarks only that Jesus noted the rich.

The Jews gave freely for the support of the Temple and its worship in addition to the tithe. It is said that the city was in a flourishing condition at this time. The sons of Jacob have always known how to increase their substance. Mark adds the detail that the rich threw in much. We may say that most of them did this ostentatiously so that men might see and exclaim because of their liberality. Jesus silently watched them making offerings.

Luke 21:2

2 Moreover, he saw a penniless widow throwing in there two lepta. And he said: Truly I tell you that this penniless widow threw in more than all. For all these out of what abounds to them threw in for gifts, but she out of her want threw in all the living which she had.

Jesus “saw” and noted this widow and the amount of her insignificant gift. Mark uses the word “poor” which means “beggarly,” Luke the one which means “poor” in the sense of “penniless” or “destitute.” Her appearance betrayed that fact. But Jesus sees more, namely that she was a widow, and that these two lepta were “all the living which she had.” This was not a guess but an exercise of that supernatural knowledge which Jesus always employed wherever he needed it for his work. Let us remember, too, that God always has a special eye on widows and on orphans, and so Jesus does here also.

No name is inserted in the record, but this widow has had “a good name” in the church of all ages. Every man’s gifts stamp him with a name, and when the gift is small like that of this widow, the giver’s name is not always in the same class as hers. The indefinite pronoun used with “widow” is only our indefinite article and is used often by Luke.

This widow “threw in there two lepta,” which were called so from their smallness, each was an eighth of an assarion, the two making a quadrans, about the fourth of a cent in value. Bengel remarks that she might have retained one of the two lepta. She has been judged by worldly wisdom which declares that she should have kept the money for her support, and that, as far as the Temple was concerned, her gift amounted to nothing. Why was it that Judas objected to the richer offering of Mary in Bethany? Worldly wisdom always makes a fool of itself. In the case of the widow it sees neither the faith and trust that filled the woman’s heart nor the true act of worship she performed.

All these are more precious in Jesus’ eyes than were the largest gifts that were bestowed by the Jews in the Temple that day. Hypocrites attempt to imitate this widow’s gift and think that, if they give all their living, God will have to provide for them. But God cannot be thus bought or tempted. Poverty may be made a great curse as well as a great blessing. It becomes a curse when it fills the heart with anxious care and worry. It becomes a blessing when it impels the poor man to cast himself upon God who has promised to care for his children.

Luke 21:3

3 Mark tells that Jesus called his disciples to him and made his pronouncement upon the widow’s gift as de magna re (Bengel). Here was something for them to learn concerning the principle on which gifts are to be valued in the church. Did the widow hear what Jesus said about her? This is usually answered in the negative, but it is not as unlikely as some think when we consider that Jesus often spoke commendation in the hearing of those whom he praised. “Truly” stresses the fact that his judgment was a true one; and “I say to you” indicates the authority on which this judgment rests. Jesus does not compare the widow’s gift with that of any one rich giver but with all the gifts of all the rich who gave that day. In the estimation of Jesus the widow’s two lepta amounted to more than the combined sum of all these wealthy givers. It is the quality that makes a gift more or less in Jesus’ eyes.

Luke 21:4

4 The disciples may well have looked at Jesus with questioning eyes and wondered what made him rate the widow’s gift so highly. He explains at once (γάρ). “All these” might have taken in many more rich givers than those who came to the Temple that day, for despite all their quantity they could never have equalled the quality of the widow’s gift. For all these gave “out of what abounds to them,” out of what they have above their needs. But the widow gave “out of her want,” out of what was wholly insufficient to provide even the barest necessities.

Right here a tremendous difference appears even as the two ἐκ phrases are intended as opposites. Jesus touches only this one point and not any display on the part of the rich. Gifts that are given out of our superfluous income and gifts that are given out of want and necessity are not on the same level. To give the latter requires much more in our hearts than to give the former.

Jesus adds far more regarding the widow’s gift: she gave “all the living which she had,” the last two lepta that she had wherewith to buy food. Tissot paints this scene with the woman carrying a child on her arm. That child helps to bring out the thought expressed by Jesus. “Oh,” one said, “if that was all she had, two lepta, she might as well have thrown that in—it would not have helped her anyway!” So spoke one who was too blind to see what this widow’s gift involved. A fourth of a cent could, of course, help her very little; but that is true of a million dollars as well. No man lives by the bread he is able to buy; millionaires die as did Dives with his tables loaded—not only beggars like Lazarus. We live only by the word that goes forth out of God’s mouth, by his will that is expressed in that word.

When this widow gave all the living she had she gave herself completely into the hands of God. Her last act with the final bit of her living was an act of worship in true faith that now looked only unto God who cares for the destitute who trust in him. What makes so many gifts so small? The fear that the givers will not have enough for themselves. They depend on what they have, not on God who gave them even that and can give them much more.

Did the widow starve? I do not think so. But let us not overdraw the picture. She has been pictured as going home with a heart singing with joy. Let us rather say that she was ready to starve if that were God’s will. She was ready to accept that from the God she trusted. And if God did not let her starve, she took what he sent her as being sent only by him. To live thus and to give thus with such a faith means to earn the highest commendation of Jesus.

Luke 21:5

5 And with some saying concerning the Temple that it had been adorned with beautiful stones and votive offerings, he said, These things which you view, there shall come days in which there shall not be left stone upon stone here, which shall not be thrown down.

Matt. 24:1 and Mark 13:1 tell us that Jesus and the Twelve are in the act of leaving the Temple on this momentous day. All that we are able to gather from the synoptists is that this occurred at the close of Tuesday, and that Jesus never again entered the Temple courts. Because that leaves Wednesday without a recorded event or word, harmonists are inclined to assign something to Jesus that he did on Wednesday, but the synoptists’ records include only Tuesday. Jesus must have spent Wednesday quietly in Bethany and on Thursday made arrangements for the Passover celebration in the city.

Mark has one of the Twelve draw the attention of Jesus to the beauty of the Temple. Matt. 23:38 explains how this took place. The disciples thought: “Are all these grand structures actually to be left desolate?” Some of the beautiful marble columns were forty feet high. Fifty years had already been spent in rebuilding the Temple (John 2:20). In addition to the beautiful stones there were the “votive offerings” that had been donated and dedicated by rich individuals, which were exceedingly costly, such as the golden vine at the entrance portal which had branches as tall as a man, (Josephus, Ant. 15, 2, 3; 2 Macc. 3:2, 3). Ἀνάθεμα with the short vowel means a curse, devoted to God for destruction; but ἀνάθημα with a long vowel is a gift that has been set aside for God, ein Weihgeschenk, R. 187.

Luke 21:6

6 Jesus repeated the prophecy that he had uttered in 19:44, that the place would not only be left desolate, but that not one stone would remain upon another—all would be absolute ruin. “These things which you view” may be regarded as an absolute nominative, nominativus pendens (R. 459), or as an adverbial accusative (R., Tr.): “as for the things,” etc. That was all Jesus said on the way out of the Temple courts.

Luke 21:7

7 But they inquired of him, saying: Teacher, when, then, will these things be; and what the sign when these things are about to occur?

Matthew and Mark add the detail that this inquiry was made when Jesus reached the Mount of Olives and sat down there for awhile, Mark supplies the information that Peter, James, John, and Andrew came to Jesus with the double question. The writer stood on the slope of Olivet toward evening and looked across to the Temple hill where the Mohammedan Dome of the Rock (sometimes called the Mosque of Omar) now stands, its dome of dull gold magnificently lit up by the slanting rays of the sun, the city on Zion hill rising behind to a higher elevation. So Jesus sat with Herod’s magnificent Temple and the brilliant Sanctuary (Holy and Holy of Holies) sparkling in the dying sun with their golden roofs. It was thus that he spoke this discourse about the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world.

The question introduced with “when” asks for no date, and Jesus never gives a date (Acts 1:7; Matt. 24:36; Mark 13:32). This “when” belongs together with “the sign” which shall indicate the nearness of a Jesus’ return to judgment and of the winding up of the world age. It is useless to speculate regarding as to just what these four disciples meant with their double question; the synoptists record it only for our understanding as to how Jesus came to deliver this important discourse.

Luke 21:8

8 And he said: See to it that you be not deceived! For many will come on my name, saying, I myself am he! and, The season has come near! Do not go after them! Moreover, when you shall hear of wars and tumults, be not terrified; for it is necessary that these things occur first; but not at once the end.

The way in which Jesus begins shows that his heart is full of concern for his disciples. The introduction to the great discourse is a strong warning. They are to “see to it,” to keep their eyes open, “that they may not be deceived” (πλανᾶν, to trick one to believe what is not true). There is only too good a reason for this warning. “Many will come on my name” (see this phrase in 9:48), will use my own revelation as the basis for their lying, deceiving claims, and even say boldly, “I myself am he!” (emphatic ἐγώ), namely the Christ whose return is promised (Matthew and Mark). Others may be less brazen, but on the basis of his name (revelation) they will figure out the date of Christ’s coming and proclaim that the season for it “has come near,” is thus actually at hand.

The procession of such deceivers from Simon Magus and Barcochba onward to the great Antichrist and the little antichrists goes on to the end of time. Some are petty and have some little sect of fanatics following them, some sit on thrones like the popes in their long succession; some are out for the hard cash; some are viciously lascivious. The sad thing is that they succeed in their deceptions, for all men have an affinity for religious error, and many yield to it with avidity and develop the strongest fanaticism. They find no limit in perverting to their own ends what the Scriptures say about the kingdom. “Do not go after them!” means: “Do not become their followers.”

Luke 21:9

9 The structure of the discourse is plain. After the opening warning (v. 8) Jesus tells of the signs that run through the course of time (v. 9–11); he then tells the disciples what awaits them in the near future (v. 12–19); he next describes the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the Jewish nation (v. 20–24); upon this there follows the description of the Parousia (v. 25–33). The discourse closes with admonitions that apply to the entire time until the end (v. 34–36).

The disciples would soon hear of wars and tumults, especially as these ushered in the destruction of Jerusalem and the nation, although Jesus is speaking generally of any and of all wars, rebellions, and turmoils that occur in the course of time. “Be not terrified!” Jesus says. He explains that these things occur of necessity; δεῖ is used to express any type of necessity, here one that is due to the condition of the world and to God’s judgment in dealing with that condition. Such wars and tumults, one may say, are only natural in a world that is full of wickedness. Hence the disciples must not be terrified but must take them as a matter of course.

Note the emphasis on the adverb: they must occur “first,” and then the plain addition: “but not at once the end,” i. e., of the world. Wars, etc., are only general signs, constant reminders, but do not signify that the end will follow closely upon any one of them. This word: “not at once the end,” refers to the plural “wars,” etc., and shows that Jesus saw the years stretching on and on and answers the claim that he expected the world to end during the lifetime of his disciples.

Luke 21:10

10 Then he went on to say (see 3:7 on the imperfect) to them: There shall rise nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom. Both great earthquakes and famines and pestilences from place to place shall there be; both terrors and great signs from heaven shall there be.

“Then he went on to say” marks a break but only to show that Jesus now presents the whole matter at length and in detail. The fact that nation rises against nation, kingdom against kingdom, is not intended to explain how wars, etc., result, for they, of course, result in this way. This statement reveals the abnormal and the desperate condition of the world when nations and kingdoms cannot dwell peaceably side by side. We may regard ἐγερθήσεται as a passive: “shall be raised up,” or as a middle: “shall raise itself up” and thus “shall rise.” The passions that cause these uprisings need not be mentioned.

Luke 21:11

11 The two τε … καί present two further groups of disturbances, and each has two members. In v. 10 the abnormal condition obtaining among the nations is referred to; Jesus next mentions the abnormal condition that prevails on the earth, and coupled with this the abnormalities that occur in the heavens. All of them proclaim in a succession of mighty voices that are great enough for all the world to hear that conditions are abnormal and are hurrying the world to its end. The earth itself shall rock with mighty earthquakes; the very earth on which we live is unstable. Every quake gives warning of the approaching end. The same is true also on the earth: “famine and pestilence from place to place,” these two form the second member of the first “both and” group.

Instead of bringing man its fruits for his bodily life the earth deals him pestilential death, now here, now there (distributive κατά). Since earthquakes precede, famines and pestilences are to be understood in the general sense and not merely as being the results of wars.

“Both terrors and great signs from heaven” include all the manifestations in the skies and the heavenly bodies, both as being terrifying to men and as signs that the disturbances and the dislocations here on earth affect the whole universe and thus foretell its end. Comets, eclipses, meteors, and rarer siderial phenomena are referred to, finally also those that are specified in v. 25, 26.

Luke 21:12

12 But before all these things they will lay their hands on you and will persecute, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, being led before kings and governors for the sake of my name.

“Before all these things” is very clear as also the following specifications show which deal with the early days of the church, and which reflect the later persecutions only in a general way. The story of the Acts is the earliest commentary on what is stated here. The plural verbs are indefinite, “they” in these verbs refers to the enemies of the gospel. To lay hands on=to place under arrest; to deliver to the synagogues=to place on trial before the Jewish synagogue courts; the addition “and prisons”=to lodge in prison as condemned criminals.

Instead of proceeding with a finite verb: “they shall lead you before kings,” etc.; or with an active participle: “they leading you,” both of which would imply the same Jewish enemies as the agents, Luke simply adds the passive participle in the accusative which modifies ὑμᾶς understood: “you being led before kings,” etc., since Jews would not do this but Gentile enemies of the gospel would. These are pagan kings and governors (Felix, Festus, the Roman emperor in the Acts; likewise in the ten great persecutions of the early church). The final phrase, “for the sake of my name,” of the revelation connected with me, should be construed with the entire sentence as explaining why all these vicious acts will be perpetrated upon Christ’s disciples. On this prospect of the most violent persecution Jesus ever spoke in plainest words to his followers. And all this would strike them because of one thing only, because of him.

Luke 21:13

13 It will turn out for you for testimony.

That will be the great and glorious outcome of all this suffering of yours for my name’s sake: it will be your highest and most effective testimony for me before your and my enemies. We have an instance in Acts 4:11, etc. The idea is not: testimony of your loyalty to me or testimony that exonerates you before the tribunals. All this suffering for Jesus’ sake is testimony for him, the very testimony he wants us to bear. Acts 9:15, 16.

Luke 21:14

14 Fix, therefore, in your hearts not to meditate beforehand to make defense for yourselves, for I myself will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your opponents shall not be able to stand against or to speak against.

Compare Mark 13:11. Once for all, during all these persecutions the disciples are to place this in their hearts (aorist imperative), not to think ahead as to how they will defend themselves (passive deponent, R. 334), aorist to express the whole act of defense. The same thought is found in 12:11, 12. In those trying hours, while they are lying in frightful dungeons, are perhaps beaten, are physically unfit, mentally upset, their natural worry would be about what they should say at their trial by conning over (προμελετᾶν) their answers to the judge now in one, now in another way. Jesus tells his disciples to dismiss this entirely from their minds.

Luke 21:15

15 “I myself” (emphatic ἐγώ), he says, will take care of you. Since this is to turn out as your witness for me (v. 13), “I will give you mouth and wisdom” at your trial, against which all your opponents (“those lying opposite you”) will be unable to stand, unable even to speak. Note “mouth and wisdom,” word and thought combined into one.

Jesus promises the disciples inspiration, verbal inspiration in the critical hour of their need. And its product will be so wonderful as to astonish the disciples themselves when they see that their opponents are defeated and silenced as they so often saw them defeated before Jesus. But this means only that the testimony of the disciples which will be placed on their tongue by Jesus will be so strong and not that the disciples will in every case be acquitted and set free. Despite all his good testimony Jesus himself was crucified. The argument is unanswerable: if Jesus is able and ready to grant verbal inspiration to the disciples for their proper defense at court, will he do less for the testimony of his written Word to all men and all ages? In all these passages: Matt. 10:19, 20; Luke 12:11, 12; Mark 13:11; and the present one it is verbal inspiration that is promised and not some inspiration in general.

Luke 21:16

16 Moreover, you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends. And they shall put some of you to death. And you will be hated by all because of my name. And a hair of your head shall in no way perish. In your patience you will gain your souls.

Compare Matt. 10:21, 22. Something different is added by δέ; it is the fact that even those who are nearest to us by blood and friendship will use this very nearness and knowledge of our discipleship to denounce us with the result that some (partitive ἐκ) shall be put to death by the authorities—just as Jesus was betrayed unto death. Blood ties are strong, and so is friendship, but hatred of Christ and the gospel destroys them utterly and turns them into the very opposite.

Luke 21:17

17 The periphrastic future is used to bring out the durative nature of this hate; it is always thus that the world hates Christ’s true disciples. Jesus explains in John 15:18–21 why this is the case, and why we must never expect anything else. Jesus uses διά and states that his name causes this hatred, name again signifies his revelation, that which fully reveals him, who and what he is. Men who reject this name hate those who love it and, when the time comes, will show that hate and even let it go to the extreme.

Luke 21:18

18 Just as Jesus comforts and makes a great promise to those who are arrested and put on trial, so he again comforts and cheers with promises those who in any way suffer the world’s hate and must perhaps yield up their lives. Καί adds coordinately the adversative thought that not a hair of their head shall perish. Although they are killed, not a hair of theirs shall perish. The word about “a hair out of your head” recalls Matt. 10:30 which speaks of the care of providence that extends as far as every numbered hair on our heads. The sense must be the same here. When a disciple suffers persecution, even death through wicked men, let him not think that God has forgotten him—he is in God’s care and keeping to the last hair of his head. Nothing, absolutely nothing occurs to us without God’s own will.

We do not need the allegorical interpretation, “hair perishing”=losing the very least of the Messianic salvation; or the generalizing references to John 10:20 or Phil. 1:21. Nor does this passage mean that the bodies of the disciples shall in the resurrection not be minus a single hair which they had in life or at the moment of death; or, broadly generalizing, that the bodies of the martyrs are to have full participation in the Lebensrettung, which is true of all who die in faith and not of martyrs only.

Luke 21:19

19 Compare Matt. 24:13 and Mark 13:13. In v. 18 Jesus makes a great, comforting promise, in v. 19 he adds to that, provided we have the future tense; important texts have the aorist imperative κτήσασθε which makes the paragraph end with an admonition—the promise seems far more natural. But even then the verb cannot mean “possess,” which would require the future perfect tense since only the perfect tenses of this verb mean “to possess” (Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon), all the other tenses mean “to gain,” “to acquire.” The word ὑπομονή is likewise used regarding patience or brave holding out under adverse things, inflictions, etc., and is never used with reference to God because it would not apply to him (Trench, Synonyms).

Another point to be noted is that ψυχή is used as it is in Mark 8:35, 36 and in John 12:25, as referring to the immaterial part of man which animates his body, which is as such called “the life.” To suffer for Christ, to die for him, seem like losing the life (soul in this sense); but if we hold out bravely, instead of losing anything of life or life itself we shall do nothing but gain these very lives (souls). What is lost is transient and lost to the soul anyway in the end. They who strive for nothing more will have no gain of any kind at the end but an irreparable and eternal loss; but they who suffer for Christ, even die for him with brave, true hearts, achieve everything, gain their own “souls” In this pregnant sense of the term.

Luke 21:20

20 Now when you see Jerusalem being encircled by soldier camps, then realize that her desolation has drawn near. Then they in Judea, let them begin fleeing to the mountains, and those in her midst, begin to get out; and those in the country places, let them not be coming in to her; because days of vengeance these are that all the things that have been written be fulfilled.

Jesus is answering the question asked in v. 7, but in the fullest and the completest manner. He first states the general signs of the end (v. 8–10); then the persecutions that shall start immediately after Pentecost (v. 11–19); and now in a most masterly way the destruction of Jerusalem and its dreadful fate which last on to the Parousia of the Son of man. Here the mistaken view of the critics is plain when they assert that Luke recorded the prophecy concerning Jerusalem from his knowledge after the event (v. 20–24)—how about all the rest of it which takes us on to the end of the world? Is this, too, written after the event?

The fact that Jerusalem is presently to be encircled by soldier camps that will be setting siege to the city is not stated as something that is new but as something that has already been foretold (19:43); it is, therefore, put into a subsidiary clause. The present participle speaks of this encircling as being in progress, and the Greek word “soldier camps” of the army of the Romans as settling down permanently in camps for the siege. Then, before the encircling is completed, before it is too late, let the disciples know what is impending: Jerusalem’s complete desolation has come near, is now at her very doors. This desolation is her complete destruction.

Luke 21:21

21 The following imperatives give the disciples specific orders as to what to do. Those who are living in Judea, the war area, are to start fleeing to the mountains, namely those outside of Judea, beyond the Jordan in Perea, where alone they will be safe. This injunction is put first because it includes all the other commands. Those who are in the city are to hasten and to get out and are not to dream that the great walls and the towers will afford them protection. Those who are outside, in the country sections around the city, are by no means to run to the city. All of them are to get away posthaste.

The Jews generally did the very opposite. Everybody rushed into the city so that it was filled with people when the Romans closed it in, and then, because of the mass that was filling the city, the most horrible sufferings began and increased to an extent that stands cut with horror in all history. The Christians followed the bidding of Jesus. Eusebius 3, 5 reports that the congregation in Jerusalem followed a revelation that had been received by reliable men before the war and migrated to Pella in Perea. As far as one can judge, this must have occurred at the very time when bloody factions in the city were making an abomination of the Temple.

Luke 21:22

22 Why this precipitate flight? Jesus has already said that Jerusalem’s desolation is at hand. He now adds more, namely that these are “days of vengeance” (compare the verb and the noun in 18:3, 5, 7). The word is neutral: “the handing out of justice,” which may be in vindication of the right or in retribution for the wrong, here it is the latter. Jerusalem shall receive the punishment for all her unbelief and her crimes against the gospel, and this will not be some incidental punishment but her complete and final rejection by God: “that all the things that have been written be fulfilled”—all of them, completely fulfilled (aorist), in a final reckoning. We may look at the postexilic prophets, Zech. 14:2; 11:4–14; Mal. 3:1, etc., and the prophets before the exile whose words were fulfilled already in earlier devastations of Jerusalem but were now attaining a renewed and final fulfillment.

Luke 21:23

23 Woe to those with child and to them suckling in those days, for there shall be great anguish on the land and wrath for this people. And they shall fall by the sword’s mouth and shall be led captive into all the Gentiles. And Jerusalem shall be trampled by Gentiles until Gentile seasons shall be fulfilled.

Jesus’ heart melts at the thought of the hardships that will come upon pregnant and upon suckling women in those days, the former being burdened with unborn babes, the latter with babes in arms. This pity of Jesus is intended also for such Christian women who are caught amid all the hurry and the dangers of the flight.

“For” explains. “Great anguish” is subjective and “wrath” objective, the divine wrath which must descend when the cup of wickedness is full and overflows. “On the land” and “for this people” are synonymous. The fate of Jerusalem involved the entire Jewish land, for this land is but a small area and is more than almost any other land tied up with the fate of its capital.

Luke 21:24

24 The two statements about those who shall be devoured by the mouth (Greek idiom) of the Roman short sword that was used by the Roman legionaries and about those who shall be carried away as captive slaves into all the Gentile nations of the Roman Empire are striking prophecies that were most literally fulfilled. Josephus, Wars, 6, 9, 3, states that 1, 100, 000 Jews were slain and 97, 000 carried away as captive slaves. The figures have been considered too high whereas, if anything, they are too low. The city was closed in during the Passover season, and the number who attended this festival in A. D. 65 Josephus, Wars, 2, 14, 3 reports with accuracy, namely over 3, 000, 000, counting only 10 to a paschal lamb. The significance of this slaughter and this exile into slavery is the destruction of the Jewish nation as a nation.

Deprived of Palestine, the Jews were scattered among all the Gentiles of the Roman Empire. They have never again obtained their land, small as it is. The Zionist movement is the latest attempt of the Jews to repossess their land, and it has thus far failed.

The periphrastic future is used because the idea to be expressed is durative: “Jerusalem shall continue to be trampled by Gentiles.” We know that this has continued to the present day, three-fourths of the population of Palestine and Jerusalem are the worst type of Gentiles, fanatic Mohammedans who fiercely oppose the Jews. But Jesus states how long this subjection to Gentiles will last: “until Gentile seasons shall be fulfilled.” Note the absence of the articles, which stresses the two nouns; also the plural “seasons,” more than one. The seasons referred to continue from the destruction of Jerusalem to the time of the Parousia. The plural “seasons” is justified because of the length of the time involved, and because of the different Gentile nations that have in turn occupied Jerusalem.

The opinion that the plural intends to reach back to the earlier conquests of Jerusalem is not indicated. This thought is carried still farther when “Gentiles” is taken to mean “pagan kingdoms,” and when we are told that such kingdoms have always and will always rule the world and shall end with the Parousia. No; up to the final dispersion of the Jews and the disruption of their nation the seasons were those of the Jews; this was the chief nation in the world to God, with it he had made his covenant. Then God’s wrath rejected this nation, it fell from the covenant, and the gospel and its new covenant passed to the Gentiles, the non-Jewish nations of the world. It did this to such an extent that all Jews who become Christians are lost to their race even physically and become absorbed among us who are still called Gentiles by the Jews. And so “Gentile seasons” are those that date from the rejection of the Jews.

These “seasons” do not, however, mean “gospel seasons” as such but seasons in which God seeks his people and builds his church among Gentiles or non-Jews with only a remnant now being drawn from the Jews. The expression has nothing to do with world kingdoms, whether they existed before or after the fall of Jerusalem. There is no fulfilling of such kingdoms and empires. God has set no climax or consummation for them. God has, however, set a consummation and fulfillment for his church and has appointed these seasons for his work among the Gentiles. He is done with the Jews as a nation, his work is now confined to non-Jews.

Chiliasts understand “until” to mean “until the millennium” when the Jews as a nation—they have never been a nation since the fall of Jerusalem!—shall be converted, shall become the head of the Christian Church, etc. Neither in this discourse of Jesus or in any other Scripture is such a reinstatement of the Jews foretold.

Luke 21:25

25 And there shall be signs in sun and moon and stars and on earth distress of nations in perplexity at the sound of sea and billow, men expiring from fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth, for the power of the heavens shall be shaken.

The connection is certainly not with v. 11 and with the signs mentioned there, for they shall run through all time, but the ones that are now foretold are the winding up of the world. The connection is with the preceding “until” clause. The “Gentile seasons” shall last until the final cataclysm comes. The millennialists insert their thousand years between v. 24 and 25, which is certainly an unwarranted eisegesis. What the signs that occur in the heavenly bodies shall be is stated in Matt. 24:29, the sun and the moon shall be extinguished, stars shall fall from their courses. Who can imagine the consternation that is thus caused on earth? Jesus describes it graphically: “distress of nations,” their hearts are held as in a vise, “in perplexity” or utter loss of what to do “at the sound of sea and billow” roaring and raging in the dislocation of the entire world.

Luke 21:26

26 “Men fainting” is too weak, “expiring” is better, “from fright and expectation (apprehension) of the things coming on the inhabited earth,” τῇοἰκουμένῃ (γῇ). “For the powers of the heavens” by which God held the universe of the skies plus the earth in place “will be shaken,” will rock and totter, everything being dislocated in ruin when God’s omnipotent hand reaches down to wind up the affairs of the earth and of man. What these two verses describe is not a succession of events but a simultaneous disruption.

Luke 21:27

27 And then they shall see the Son of man coining in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things are beginning to occur, lift yourselves up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near.

All these disintegrations are the heralds that usher in the Son of man at his Parousia (see 5:24 on the title). “They shall see” means all men who are then living on the earth. If the curious question is asked as to how men who reside on all sides of the globe shall simultaneously see the Son of man at the last day, the answer is that the whole universe and the earth will be completely changed beyond anything that we are able to comprehend with our present notions of time and space. Where will all the countless millions stand at the judgment, and how long will it take to have each one called and judged? The skeptic may be assured that he will have a place reserved for him, and his name will be reached in what we might now call the first minute.

“Coming” is that significant participle which is used so often regarding Christ’s first coming that it became one of his Messianic names: “The Coming One.” That name is still his in view of his second coming. But it will then occur “in a cloud in company with power and great glory”—he who was once spit upon, scourged bloody, mocked, and crucified. Regarding the clouds read Dan. 7:13; Acts 1:9, 11. They are God’s chariot, Ps. 104:3; Isa. 19:1, a symbol of his heavenly majesty. This “power” is Christ’s omnipotence which is manifested already in the cosmic upheaval; and his “great glory” is the sum of all his attributes that shine forth in splendor (Tit. 2:13; 1 Cor. 1:4; 2 Thess. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:7; 4:13).

Luke 21:28

28 Some restrict “these things” to the ones that are mentioned in v. 25, 26; but “beginning to occur” seems to take in more than the catastrophic events that are recorded in these two verses require. Besides, Jesus is telling the Twelve what to do at the beginning of these things. We must go back at least to v. 20 and may go back still farther. At every sign and indications of the end of the world the Twelve are to straighten up and to raise their heads like men who are in joyful expectation of a blessed event. We may apply these words to ourselves, seeing that the signs mentioned in v. 8–11 still continue; but we must leave the original sense of the peremptory aorist imperatives as being addressed to the Twelve. Others may lament and become frightened, not they; for their ἀπολύτρωσις is drawing near, the word is used in the wider sense, not as release by payment of a ransom, but simply as release or liberation from suffering, tribulation, and the like (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:14). They should feel as the captive does when he hears men coming to unlock his cell and to give him the liberty for which he longs.

Luke 21:29

29 And he spake a parable to them. See the fig tree and all the trees. When now they shoot forth, seeing it, you realize of yourselves that now the summer is near. Thus also you, when you see these things occurring, realize that the kingdom of God is near.

The fig tree helps only to individualize and is thus placed beside the others. But this fig tree has been allegorized. It is referred to the Jews and the other trees to the Gentiles. This is regarded as a reference to the fig tree which Jesus cursed (Matt. 21:19, etc.). So the Jews were cursed but shall be restored at the time of their final conversion. The dead fig tree will thus grow and again bear fruit. This is a sample of what millennialists find in simple Scripture words.

Luke 21:30

30 What Jesus says is that the trees that are budding and showing tender green inform all who see them that summer is near. They realize it themselves, need no one to teach them. Cold and discomfort are disappearing, lovely days are coming soon.

Luke 21:31

31 So all the signs of which Jesus speaks proclaim that “the kingdom of God” is near. A beautiful parable, indeed! To the children of this world, who scorn this kingdom, every sign that this world, in which all their treasure rests, is breaking up must bring dismay. But the treasure of the disciples is in the kingdom, and every sign that proclaims its consummation must fill them with joy. Here is the winter of our discontent, there is the heavenly summer of our hopes and longings. “The kingdom of God” signifies Christ’s rule of glory which follows his present rule of grace.

Luke 21:32

32 Amen, I say to you that this generation shall in no wise pass away until all things occur. The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but my words shall in no wise pass away.

With great solemnity and using his well-known seal for verity and authority (see 4:24), Jesus declares that “this generation” shall in no wise (οὐμή, the strong negation for the future) pass away until all that he has predicted shall occur. The view that γενεά, especially “this generation,” refers to the contemporary generation, those who were living at the time when Jesus spoke, is not tenable. A look at the use of dor in the Old Testament and at its regular translation by γενεά in the LXX, when the sense is evil, reveals at once that a kind of men is referred to, the evil kind that reproduces and succeeds itself in many physical generations. Ps. 12:7: “Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever: 78:8, the fathers (many physical generations of them); 14:5, “the generation of the righteous”; 24:6; 73:15; 112:2; Deut. 32:5, 20; Prov. 30:11–14; Isaiah often; Jer. 7:29; etc. In addition to the Gospels note Acts 2:4; Phil. 2:15; Heb. 3:10. The evil in the men referred to is sometimes indicated by modifiers as is done in Matt. 16:4; 17:17; Mark 8:38; etc., but the context often does this. In the present connection the meaning of “this generation” is more than plain, for the Parousia is described in v. 27. “This generation” and πάντα extend that far.

Nor is “this generation” the human race or the Christians. But those who are on the right track and think of a class of moral men that continue to the end nevertheless are mistaken when they include all the wicked in “this generation.” Why such a solemn assurance with “amen, I say to you,” for a thing that is so obvious as that a race of wicked unbelievers and persecutors shall persist through the ages? “This generation” consists of the type of Jews that Jesus contended with during this Tuesday (19:45–20:47). He foretells the destruction of their nation (v. 20–24); and one might easily conclude that this would surely end the generation of Jews who were like the Pharisees and the Sadducees. But no; we are solemnly assured (and for this the assurance is in place) that this type of Jews will continue to the very Parousia. It has continued to this day. The voice of Jewish rejection of Christ is as loud and as vicious as ever: he is not the Messiah, not the Son of God! Here is Jesus’ answer to those who expect a final national conversion of the Jews either with or without the millennium.

Luke 21:33

33 The statement about “my words” is general and should be left so. Jesus does not restrict it by saying “these my words,” namely the ones that were just spoken in prophecy regarding the things that will occur between then and the end. Such a restriction would imply that other words of his would, indeed, pass away, i. e., as having no reality back of them and thus being soon forgotten. Because all the words of Jesus do not pass away, therefore also these about the end will stand unshaken as being utter verity and truth. This is made very striking by reference to the heaven and the earth, of whose passing away Jesus had just spoken. Sky and earth have stood so long, but even these will at last pass away completely. But not so the words of Jesus which stand forever; οὐμή is again the strong negation of the future.

This mighty assurance follows hard upon what Jesus has just said about “this generation,” and however much it includes, most certainly applies to the word about the endurance of this generation. This ought to make it plain that “this generation” cannot refer only to the generation that is then living, and that Jerusalem would be destroyed before it would be dead. Why such an assurance for an event that is so near at hand by a comparison with the heaven and the earth’s passing away at the end of the world? Untenable also is the view that Jesus thought that the end of the world was to follow hard upon the fall of Jerusalem, and that “this generation” would see it. This makes Jesus a false prophet; all that he said about the end would thus have been proven false by many a century. This view forgets the “seasons of Gentiles” and Matt. 24:14.

Jesus says positively that the physical heaven and the earth “shall pass away.” But this has been thought to mean: as little as heaven and earth shall pass away, so little, too, shall Jesus’ words pass away. The one impossibility would be more possible than the other. This needs no refutation.

Another idea is that Jesus meant that heaven and earth will pass away, but not before all the words of Jesus are fulfilled. But this, too, is incorrect. Jesus says that his words will never pass away, they will stand eternally. And this means that every word of his will be fulfilled to the uttermost and thus stand forever because of this fulfillment. The fulfillment, once accomplished, cannot be wiped out or even altered. Thus Jesus’ words stand forever.

Does the passing away of the heaven and the earth refer to their annihilation, sinking back into nothingness; or does it refer to a transformation into a different form of existence? We cannot obtain the answer from the verb παρελεύσονται which some think refers to annihilation. We consider together all the passages which deal with this subject; we dare not stop with one or two of them. The most decisive is Rom. 8:19–23 together with 1 Cor. 7:31 (only the σχῆμα, fashion of the world, shall pass away) and Rev. 21:1–5 (the divine heaven and the earth are to be united into one). So the physical heaven and the earth will be changed completely; when they are changed at the Parousia, we shall not recognize them. But the words of Jesus will never undergo even the slightest change in either meaning or form; every word of his is sealed with its absolute fulfillment.

Luke 21:34

34 But take heed to yourselves lest perhaps your hearts be weighted down in drunken nausea and drunkenness and anxieties of life, and that day come upon you suddenly as a snare. For it shall come upon all those sitting on the face of all the earth. But be watching in every season, begging that you prevail to escape out of all these things about to occur and to stand before the Son of man.

The admonition that the disciples need in view of what Jesus has revealed is now uttered in the plainest words. They are to take heed to themselves “lest perhaps,” etc.; the admonition is stated in negative form. This is made positive in v. 36. They are not to be weighted down but are to be wide awake in watching and praying (v. 36). It is not the dulling effect that is stressed but the load and the weight upon the hearts which prevent them from attending to watching and to prayer.

Κραιπάλη is just the common term for Katzenjammer, the nausea and the headache that are caused by heavy drinking and nothing specifically medical (contra Zahn, Harnack, and Moffatt). Let us remember that the medics still use many common words in their common meanings just as they did in Luke’s day. This crapula (Latin) goes together with “drunkenness” but brings out the vile effects that drag the drunkard down. In all the turmoils and the convulsions of the world, as already in all common distress, men resort to drink to drown their troubles. Others love debauchery of all kinds for its own sake. With these loads Jesus couples the “anxieties of life,” distracting worries about the life we live here (the Greek has a handy adjective derived from βίος, which we cannot duplicate). Even disciples are liable to make their earthly affairs supreme, especially when the world becomes disturbed.

The weights that Jesus mentions are like samples of the things that drag the hearts down; they lead us to think of all else that might hurt us in the same way. For hearts that are weighted down thus that day is bound to come suddenly as a snare. The Greek uses the adjective αἰφνίδιος and makes it predicative to ἡμέρα whereas we use the adverb “suddenly.” The A. V. connects “as a snare” with the next verse, but this would place γάρ too far back. Besides, “suddenly” is not strong enough to indicate the coming of that day upon those who are weighted down as is described. It will come upon them (the verb itself being used regarding a sudden confrontation) with sudden, deadly effect as when a bird or an animal is caught in a noose or a net.

So the flood came upon those who were living in Noah’s day, and fire and brimstone upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt. 24:36–39). The warning applies to all because the coming of that day impends constantly.

Luke 21:35

35 To say that this day will come upon all men on earth, and to offer this in explanation (γάρ) of its sudden arrival like a deadly snare for certain people, would be pointless; for who would think that this day comes only for some men on a part of the earth? It is this thought that has drawn “as a snare” to v. 35 (A. V.) and caused the R. V. to insert “so.” Coupled with these constructions is the misunderstanding regarding καθημένους which is translated “all them that dwell on the face of the earth” when “dwell” is another verb, and this verb means “to sit.” The point lies in this sitting, resting content here on the face of the earth, caring nothing for anything higher. On all these over all the face of the earth that day shall come. And sitting thus, sunk in the things of earth, explains (γάρ) how all these shall be caught in a fatal snare.

Luke 21:36

36 We now hear the positive part of the admonition: constant wakefulness in the sense of alert watching (durative present imperative), and this “in every season,” no matter how some of them may appear. All this watching is to be coupled with “begging,” the ἵνα clause stating the substance of this supplicating. The A. V. translates the reading καταξιωθῆτε, “that ye may be accounted worthy” (it has the clause denote purpose), but the attested reading is κατισχύσητε, “that you prevail.” No inner reasons militate against this reading, on the contrary, the inner reasons support this reading. We are to be strong enough to down (κατά) every temptation to grow slack in our watching and to give way to the worldly ways that are depicted in v. 34, strong enough with spiritual strength “to escape out of all these things about to occur,” not to be caught suddenly in them as in a snare. They will occur, indeed, and affect also the disciples but not so as to overwhelm them because they are unprepared.

The second part of our prayer must be positive: “to stand before the Son of man” (v. 7), see 5:24. He who is man and more than man will come on that day, and to stand before him means to stand unharmed in his judgment, the Hebrew qum in the sense of bestehen over against falling under his adverse judgment. The form is passive: “be made to stand” and thus “to stand” by his grace. In Eph. 6:13 we have the active with reference to a victorious standing. Note that both “to escape” and “to stand” are aorists to indicate effective acts, actual escape and standing on that day. All others will be caught as in a snare; those who watch and pray will have their prayers heard, will escape and stand with joy before the divine judge, the glorious Son of man.

Luke 21:37

37 Now the days he was engaged in teaching in the Temple; but the nights, going out, he kept lodging in the mount called Olive-place. And all the people rose early for him to hear him in the Temple.

Luke closes his account of the public ministry of Jesus with these summary statements. From Palm Sunday onward Jesus spent “the days” (accusative of extent of time) teaching in the Temple courts. That this included Wednesday is doubtful. The Gospels seem to stop their records on Tuesday after the great discourse concerning the fall of Jerusalem and the end of the world. One cannot, however, be certain on this point; we state only the impression the records make. When Luke speaks of “the nights” (the same accusative) as being spent on Olivet, this does not exclude Bethany which lay just over the ridge; Mark 11:11 and Matt. 21:17 state that Jesus went to Bethany at least on Sunday night.

It seems probable that Jesus spent some nights in Gethsemane, but that” is all we can say. We regard Ἐλαιῶν as a nominative as it is in 19:29, “Olive-place”; see R. 267.

Luke 21:38

38 All the pilgrim crowds kept rising early for him in order to get to the Temple courts at once and to miss nothing of his teaching there. Luke alone reports this interesting fact.

R. A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, by A. T. Robertson, fourth edition.