Luke 21:5-19

Butler's Comments

SECTION 2

Preliminary Signs of Destruction (Luke 21:5-19)

5And as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, 6As for these things which you see, the days will come when there shall not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. -And they asked him, Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign when this is about to take place? 8And 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. 9 And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified; for this must first take place, but the end will not be at once.

10 Then he said to them, Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. 12But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. 13This will be a time for you to bear testimony. 14Settle it therefore in your minds, not to meditate beforehand how to answer; 15for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. 16You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they will put to death; 17you will be hated by all for my name's sake. 18But not a hair of your head will perish. 19By your endurance you will gain your lives.

Luke 21:5-7 Predicted Catastrophe: The complexity of this text makes it imperative that the reader avail himself of a harmony of the gospel accounts as an aid to understanding it. First, it is important to know that immediately preceding Jesus-' watching the widow's offering He uttered the following two eschatologically startling statements:

a.

He condemned the Pharisees, denouncing them as sons of hell (Matthew 23:15) and pronouncing upon them all the blood of the righteous shed upon the earth (Matthew 23:31-35). These were the keepers of the Hebrew system. Most Jews would consider their fall the end of the Jewish world.

b.

He declared the house of Judaism desolate and forsaken (Matthew 23:36-39). This is terminology Jeremiah and Ezekiel used to warn their contemporaries of the Babylonian captivity and destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 19:8; Lamentations 1:4; see Ezek. ch. 8-11).

After observing the widow's offering, Jesus preached the alarming sermon on Death and Life (John 12:20-50). He agonized over His own impending death (John 12:27); He warned, Now is the judgment (Gr. crisis) of this world (Gr. cosmos); He said the ruler of this world would be cast out (John 12:31); and He referred to the last day (John 12:48). The statement, Now is the crisis of this cosmos, was enough to precipitate the questions of the apostles about the destruction of Jerusalem. The word cosmos means order, system, establishment. It was very plain to the apostles Jesus was predicting the destruction of the present Jewish order, involving the desolation and forsakenness of the Temple and the nation in that generation (Matthew 23:36). Matthew records that as Jesus left the temple His disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple, (Matthew 24:1). Mark and Luke tell us they spoke to Him about how beautifully and wonderfully the Temple and the city was adorned with noble stones and offerings. The inference is that the apostles were filled with incredulity and excitement in response to all these startling predictions. Some of the great stones of Herod's Temple were, according to Josephus, 25 cubits long, 8 cubits high and 12 cubits wide. Using 18 inches to a cubit one stone would be 38 ft. long, 12 ft. high and 18 ft. wide. Eight large-sized American automobiles (Ford, LTD) could be stacked into those dimensions. The offerings were probably gold-plating on columns and the golden grape-vine decorating the huge doors of the Temple. When Jesus predicted not one stone would be left upon another it is not surprising that the apostles asked Him, Tell us, when will this be? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age? (cf. Matthew 24:3; Mark 13:4). The Greek word sunteleias is translated close (of the age) in Matthew 24:3the word is more often translated, consummation. The apostles were persuaded Jesus was talking about the consummation of the age.

It is now necessary to comment briefly on rabbinical eschatology apparently current in Jesus-' day. Jewish scribes and rabbis had divided their eschatology into three eras (more or less): (a) Olam hazzeh, the order then existing; (b) Athid labho, the age to come after that existing order; and (c) Olam habba, the world to come. In some rabbinic tradition, the age to come and the world to come blended into one. The existing order was to be succeeded by the days of the Messiah which would stretch into the coming age and end with the world to come. According to the rabbis, the birth of the Messiah would be unknown by his contemporaries; he would appear, carry on his work, then disappearprobably for 45 days; reappear, destroy the hostile powers of the world (notably Edomsymbolizing Rome, the fourth and last world empire listed by the prophet Daniel). Israelites would be brought back to Palestine from all over the world through miraculous deliverances and, according to the Midrash, all circumcised Israelites would then be released from Gehenna, and the dead Jews raised (according to some, by the Messiah). This resurrection would take place in Palestine so that those who had been buried elsewhere would have to roll undergroundin great painuntil they reached the holy land of Palestine.

In the coming age, athid labho, the rabbis wrote that all resistance to God would be concentrated in the great war of Gog and Magog (Ezekiel, ch. 38-39), and there would be an intensification and focusing of all wickedness upon Israel in her land. Israel's implacable enemies would three times assault the Holy City to destroy it, but each time be repelled. The city would suffer some destruction, but not complete. When Israel's enemy was destroyed completely, the Holy City would be gloriously rebuilt and inhabited. The new city would be lifted to a height of some nine miles-some said it would even reach as high as the throne of Godand extend from Joppa to the gates of Damascus. The new Temple, the Messiah was to erect, would contain every glorious item which had been absent in Herod's Temple; the golden candelabra, the ark, the heaven-lit fire on the altar, the Shekinah, and the cherubim. Some rabbis insisted that the whole of the ancient ceremonies of Moses-' Law plus rabbinic traditions would be practiced. More liberal ones believed that only the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Esther (Purim), or Feast of Tabernacles, would be observed and only the thank-offerings made. Some insisted that the many stipulations concerning lawful and unlawful foods would be abolished.

The end of that age would blend right into the world to come, olam habba, a glorious period of holiness, forgiveness and peace. In this vast new land and Holy City (not heaven, but literal Palestine), angels would cut gems 45 ft. long and 45 ft. broad and place them in the City's gates. The walls of the City would be of silver, gold and precious gems, and precious jewels would be scattered all over the land which every Israelite was at liberty to take. Jerusalem would be as large as all Palestine and Palestine as large as the world. Every event and miracle in the history of Israel would be repeated, only on a much more magnificent scale, in the Messianic days. Wheat would grow as high as the mountains and the wind would miraculously convert the grain into flour and blow it into the valleys of the land. Every woman was to bear a child, daily, so that ultimately every Israelite family would number as many as all Israel at the time of the Exodus. All sickness and disease would pass away; Israelites would not die; some Gentiles would live hundreds of years. The Messiah was to rule the entire world from Jerusalem; Jerusalem would be the capital of the world and take the place of the fourth world empire (Rome). The time of this was among the seven things, according to the rabbis, unknown to man.

A war, a revival of that of Gog and Magog, would close the Messianic era. The nations, which had to this point given tribute to the Messiah, would rebel against him, and he would destroy them by the breath of his mouth, so that Israel alone would be left on the face of the earth. That period of Gentile rebellion was to last seven years. Then the final Judgment would commence. There seems to be no resurrection for Gentiles at all, except to immediately die again at Judgment. Gehenna, where all Jews but the perfectly righteous Jews were kept, served as a Jewish purgatory, from which they were all ultimately delivered by Abraham, to go to heaven. No such deliverance was ever considered for the heathen, or apostate Jewsthey would suffer eternal torments. The final Judgment would be held in the Valley of Jehoshaphat by God, leading the Heavenly Sanhedrin, composed of the elders of Israel. After the final Judgment there would be a renewal of heaven and earth and the full implementation of olam habba, the world to come. Now when Jesus spoke of the judgment of the Jewish hierarchy, the desolation of Jerusalem, and the crisis of the cosmos, the apostles concluded that such catastrophic events would be signaling the end of the existing order, olam hazzeh, and the ushering in of athid labho, the coming age, and perhaps, olam habba, the world to come. The apostles asked three questions which indicates how influential the rabbinic interpretations had been on them, and how confused they were trying to reconcile that with Jesus-' statements. While the apostles apparently did not hear the Lord's prediction earlier (Luke 19:41-44), or it did not register on their minds due to the excitement of those moments, they were hearing Him now. We must refer to a harmonization of the Synoptists to find the three distinct questions. Their first question was: When will all this destruction be? (Matthew 24:3 a; Mark 13:4 a; Luke 21:7 a); second, What will be the sign that You are coming? (Matthew 24:3 b; Mark 13:4 b; Luke 21:7 b). Matthew alone mentions a third part to their questioning: What will be the sign of the consummation of the age (Gr. sunteleias tou aionos)?(Matthew 24:3 c).

Recognizing the dangers inherent in their confusion, Jesus sets out immediately to reveal a number of future events and to specify that they are not signs of the rabbinic theories coming to pass, nor are they signs of the consummation of the ages. At the end of His discourse, He tells them what they are not to know (signs of the end of the world). But for the immediate future of these apostles and those of their generation who would become followers of the Way, He gives some very practical instructions so they would not be led astray. The destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish commonwealth would not take place for more than 30 years after Jesus died, was raised from the tomb and ascended to heaven (beginning in 66 A.D. and coming to a climax in 70 A.D.). The apostles have not yet understood that Jesus must go away. When He did return to His heavenly throne, they would long to have Him back (cf. Luke 17:22). Great persecutions were to come upon them. They must live in daily expectation of His return. They would be vulnerable to false expectations of a coming messianic age as portrayed by the rabbis, because the circumstances preceding the destruction of Jerusalem were to be similar to rabbinic messianic eschatology. So Jesus spoke His warnings.

Luke 21:8 Pseudo-Christs: Jesus warned the apostles that their generation would experience the rise and fall of many who would come in His name, saying they were the Messiah (Anointed One, Christ) (cf. Matthew 24:4-5; Mark 13:5-6). But the first century Christians were not to be led astray by these claimsfor in spite of all the excitement and troubles attending these pretenders, He was not then returning, nor was the time at hand. Pseudo-Christs coming to proclaim the new age would precede the desolation of Jerusalem Jesus predicted. There were many such imposters who deluded multitudes of first century Jews into following them claiming they would prove they were the Christ by exhibiting wonders and signs by the power of God (see Antiquities, XX, VIII, 5, by Flavious Josephus). About 44 A.D. (during the rule of Palestine by Fadus, Roman procurator) one Theudas (not the Theudas of Acts 5:36) gathered a large band of followers claiming he was a miracle working deliverer. And about 54 A.D. (during the reign of Felix) an Egyptian claimed to be a deliverer with prophetic powers. Such pseudo-Messiahs were plentiful. All these came to a climax 62 years after the destruction of Jerusalem in the great rebellion against Rome under the false Messiah, Bar Kokhba, A.D. 132-135.

Luke 21:9-11 Presaging Crises: The Greek word polemous, war, is the word from which we get the English word, polemics. It means to fight. Rome was having increasing difficulty with civil war among Roman emperors and army generals. There was also an ever recurring necessity for Rome to defend her empire against foreign invaders. Jesus is probably predicting the increasing rebellious attitude of the Jews against Rome when He predicts wars and rumors of wars. Herod Agrippa, given his uncle Philip's territory by Caligula, set out to revenge his uncle Philip against Herod Antipas who had stolen Philip's wife, Herodias. Agrippa spread the rumor to Rome that Antipas was conspiring with the Parthians against Rome and would make war, rumoring that Antipas had in his arsenal at Tiberias enough armor to equip 70,000 men. Riots broke out in Alexandria, Egypt, between the Egyptians and the Jews of that city (37-38 A.D.). A riot broke out in Jamnia (western Judea) (39 A.D.) when some Gentiles erected an altar to the Roman emperor and Jews tore it down. The emperor sent two Roman legions (12,000 men) to Jerusalem to set up his statue in the Jewish Temple. Jews vowed to resist to the last Jewish death. Some Jewish Christians in Palestine thought this impending blood-bath was a fulfillment of Jesus-' prophecy here. Caligula was assassinated before this could be enforced. Claudius was forced to put down another riot in Alexandria with bloodshed (A.D. 53). We have already mentioned the Jewish rebellion under Theudas in the days of the Roman procurator Fadus. After the death of Herod Agrippa I (44 A.D.) the Roman emperor again imposed a rule of procurators upon Judea which deeply agitated the Jews. In the days of the procurator Cumanus (48 A.D.), a Roman soldier from the garrison in The Tower of Antonia, exposed his genitals to the Passover crowds which infuriated them. The Jews rioted and Roman soldiers killed hundreds of Jews in suppressing the rioting (cf. Josephus, Antiquities, XX, V, 3). There were continuing frontier disputes between Jews and SamaritansJews and Gentiles rioted in Caesarea (cf. Israel and The Nations, by F. F. Bruce, pub. Eerdmans, pgs. 197-225). Wars and tumults (Gr. akatastasia, confusion, instability or literally, falling down away from) were predicted to precede the destruction of Jerusalem. Although nations rise against one another and the world society seems to be unstable, Jesus warned His disciples they should not be terrified (Gr. ptoeo, fightened, intimidated.). Luke records Jesus-' statement, ... for this must first take place but the end will not be at once (Luke 21:9). Why the exhortation against being alarmed? Because Jesus is giving a very plain prediction of the holocaust coming upon Jerusalem and Israel. But Jesus has a work for them to do in Jerusalem and Palestine (Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8) which will take years to accomplish. He does not want them to be terrified when wars and instability come so that they will flee Jerusalem before the real holocaust comes. When the actual, final destruction of Jerusalem comes He will want all who are able to escape (cf. Matthew 24:15-22; Mark 13:14-20; Luke 21:20-24). Jesus warns them not to be alarmed when great earthquakes in various places and famines and pestilences and terrors and great signs from heaven occur because these, too, would not necessitate their fleeing Jerusalem. Even when these great disasters were headlined throughout the Roman empire, they were not signaling the immediate holocaust He was predicting. One famine, recorded in the New Testament (Acts 11:29 ff.) occurred about 45-46 A.D. and was very severe in Palestine. Luke tells how the church at Antioch sent relief to their Jewish brethren in Palestine. Josephus tells how Queen Helena, an Adiabene convert to Judaism, also sent relief to the Jews in Palestine for the same famine (cf. Josephus, Antiquities, XX, II. 5) (Adiabene is a territory east of the Tigris River).

Many destructive earthquakes have been recorded in the history of Syria (the land bordering Palestine on the north). The Hauran beyond the Jordan is covered with signs of violent earth-shocks, and the cities on the coast of Palestine have suffered many quakes. The New Testament documents a great earthquake in Palestine at the death of Christ (Matthew 27:51-54); one at Christ's resurrection (Matthew 28:2); one at Philippi in Macedonia (Acts 16:26). Josephus mentions one in the reign of Herod such as had not happened at any other time, which was very destructive to men and cattle (Antiquities, IV, V, 2). The records of many such earthquakes in Palestine could have been recorded by the Jews and destroyed when Rome burned the city of Jerusalem. Roman historians document numerous earthquakes which preceded the destruction of Jerusalem: (a) one occurring in A.D. 46; (b) one in Rome on the day Nero assumed the toga, A.D. 51; (c) one at Apamaea in Phrygia; (d) one at Laodicea in Phrygia, A.D. 60; (e) one in Amporia, A.D. 62. Seneca and Tacitus both mention earthquakes in places like Asia, Achaia, Syria, Macedonia, Cyprus, Paphus, Crete, Italy and places already mentioned. The records of great plagues and pestilences may have been practically destroyed also. But there is at least one pestilence, mentioned by Josephus, in Babylonia (40 A.D.) which killed some 30,000 people (Antiquities, XVII, IX, 8), and one in Italy (66 A.D.) recorded by Tacitus.

What Jesus probably meant by great signs from heaven were the catastrophes of nature such as volcanic eruptions, cyclones, meteors or other great storms from the heavens which often terrify men. Josephus records the following signs which preceded the destruction of Jerusalem: (a) a star resembling a sword stood over the city; (b) a comet that lasted a whole year; (c) at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, during the night, a bright light shone around the altar and the Temple, so that it seemed to be broad daylight; (d) the eastern gate of the Temple, of solid brass, fastened with strong bolts and bars, which required 20 men to shut, opened in the night of its own accord; (e) chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding certain cities; (f) a great noise of a multitude, was heard in the temple, saying, Let us remove hence; (g) four years before the war began, Jesus, the son of Ananus, a farmer, came to the feast of Tabernacles when the city was in peace and prosperity, and began to cry aloud, A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house, a voice against the bridegroom and the bride, and a voice against this whole people!he was scourged and at every stroke of the whip he cried, Woe, woe to Jerusalem!this cry was continued every day for more than seven years, until he was killed in the siege of the city, shouting, Woe, woe to myself also! (Josephus, Wars, VI, V, 3). Some of these signs were probably the product of rumor and since we have no corroborating eyewitnesses to substantiate Josephus, we must be skeptical about some of them. But the very fact that Josephus records them indicates they were being rumored around Jerusalem. And that is the whole point of Jesus-' warning hereto keep His disciples from being terrified at such rumored signs so that they might not desert their work of evangelism. Jesus counsels them that should they see unusually frightening natural phenomena or even hear rumors of such, Jerusalem's destruction is still not imminent.

Luke 21:12-19 Persecuting Countrymen: Jesus now warns the apostles that even severe persecutions to come upon His followers will not be signalling any imminent eschatological end. Up to the time of Jesus-' death, there were no severe persecutions against those who followed Him. The authorities had determined to kill Jesus, but His followers were still free of such malice. But immediately after His death, their tribulation would begin. Even this should not cause them to expect the imminent destruction of the Jewish commonwealth. Even this should not terrify them into fleeing Jerusalem and neglecting to fulfill their commission to preach the gospel there first. As a matter of fact, being brought to trial in Jewish synagogues and prisons, and before Jewish rulers, would be an opportune time for them to bear testimony (Luke 21:13).

Jesus told the disciples they were not to meditate beforehand how to answer when hailed before persecutors. Luke uses the Greek words me promeletan which mean primarily, have no concern prior to. The better way to translate the word is be not anxious beforehand. In other words, Jesus exhorts those who anticipate being called to questioning before tribunals they need not distress themselves beforehand that they will not be able to endure the questioning or not have sufficient knowledge to give the testimony that should be given. What Jesus wants them to say will be given them between His prophecy here and the coming persecutions. This is not a promise of Jesus that they will need no preparation between these times. They will indeed be given many things to say from their own eye witnessed experiences (primarily, Jesus-' death and resurrectionwhich is essentially what they testified to before their persecutors). Jesus did not want the apostles to let His predictions of the coming persecutions fill them with anxiety ahead of time so they might hastily decide to flee from Palestine immediately upon His death. He desired to warn them here, at this moment, they would have a testimony of historical facts which none of their adversaries would be able to contradict. They need not be afraid they would Have nothing to say.

Matthew and Mark add that Jesus predicted apostasy (Matthew 24:10), false teaching (Matthew 24:11), lawlessness and indifference (Matthew 24:12) would all characterize the Jewish society in which the apostles would live preceding the holocaust upon the Jewish nation. Furthermore, the gospel of the kingdom would be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations-then the end of Jerusalem and the nation would come (Matthew 24:14; Mark 13:10). The hatred and persecution of Christians and Jews is abundantly confirmed by pagan historians (between 34-70 A.D.) as well as in sacred history (Acts of the Apostles), in the Pauline epistles, and in John's Revelation. The rise of false teaching and apostasy within Judaism and within the Christian Church as well as the betrayal of Christians by their own brethren is well documented in the epistles of the New Testament and in the book of Revelation (cf. Galatians 1:7; Galatians 2:4; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 1 Timothy 1:19-20; 2 Timothy 3:8-9; Titus 1:10-11; Jude; 2 Peter 2:1-22; Revelation 1:3; Acts 15:1, etc.). Neither do we have to speculate as to what Jesus meant when He prophesied that the gospel of the kingdom would be preached to the whole world before Jerusalem was destroyed. We have the documentation of the fulfillment of that from the pen of the inspired apostle Paul (cf. Romans 1:5; Romans 1:8; Romans 10:18; Romans 16:26; Colossians 1:6; Colossians 1:23). The same apostle made it abundantly clear in his epistle to the Hebrews that Judaism was doomed and near to passing away (cf. Hebrews 8:13; Hebrews 10:25; Hebrews 12:25-29; Hebrews 13:14).

Very alarming words had fallen from the lips of Jesus. The apostles, combining with these words their undoubted knowledge of popular rabbinical traditions of the coming age were startled. Jesus recognized the need to allay their anxieties lest the events which would precede the judgment of God upon the Jewish nation might terrify them into fleeing from Palestine before they could accomplish His purposes there. Jesus revealed to the apostles these events of history before they came to pass in order that they might believe and trust Him and carry out their mission (cf. Matthew 24:25; Mark 13:23; John 13:19; John 14:29). These are events preliminary to the destruction of the Jewish nation.