[00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome to the Erickson Covenant Podcast. We are so glad that you've joined us today.
We confess that we don't have all the answers, but as a community, we seek to find and follow Jesus and to discover daily the life he has always wanted for us.
We hope this message will be encouraging and will inspire you to take the next steps on your spiritual journey.
If we can help you in any way, please connect with us. The easiest way is through our
[email protected] let's get started.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: There's a lot of talk these days
[00:00:40] Speaker C: about emergency preparedness, right?
[00:00:46] Speaker B: Flash floods, forest fires, earthquakes, tsunamis.
And what if your neighbor's goats get out?
[00:00:53] Speaker C: What then?
[00:00:56] Speaker B: Are you prepared?
How do you get ready for coming disaster?
[00:01:04] Speaker C: You know, it's probably wildfires most relevant for us here in the valley, and
[00:01:08] Speaker B: they say you need a plan of action.
[00:01:09] Speaker C: Apparently you need to know what kind
[00:01:12] Speaker B: of signs you should be looking for so you know when you need to act. When you need to leave, you need to have a go bag with essential documents like your will, your passport, maybe the odd photo of your kid in there.
You need to know what to do with your livestock and your pets and your kids. Don't forget your kids.
[00:01:34] Speaker C: I know all this because not because I prepare for these things, you understand?
[00:01:38] Speaker B: I figure we'll work it out as it comes.
[00:01:40] Speaker C: But I'm married to someone who knows these things.
[00:01:46] Speaker B: In today's passage, Jesus lays out an
[00:01:50] Speaker C: emergency preparedness plan for his followers as
[00:01:55] Speaker B: a catastrophe looms over Jerusalem and over the Temple, and he gives them key instructions so that they're ready for what's coming.
Last week, we explored how Jesus got judgy when he pronounced punishment upon the hypocritical religious abusers that were dominating the temple system of his day. And today, Jesus extends that pronouncement, but now with a view to preparing his followers to respond when disaster strikes. We're in Luke chapter 21, and today we're studying a passage that has often been misread along with the parallel passages in Mark 13 and Matthew 24, often misread as end times.
Passages predicting events that weren't just future to the followers of Jesus at the time, but are still future even to us.
By ignoring the original context of the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, Jesus words here in Luke 21 have been treated as irrelevant for the people of Jesus Day and timely only for us.
But the truth is, Jesus was giving instructions to his early followers that were profoundly relevant to them, requiring very specific actions so that they would be Ready for what was coming.
So just like we would study any
[00:03:23] Speaker C: part of the Bible, in order for
[00:03:25] Speaker B: us to understand and apply this teaching to our lives today, we first need to understand how it applied to them
[00:03:32] Speaker C: when they first received this, when Jesus first said it.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: So this morning, I'm inviting you on a little bit of a trip with me, okay?
[00:03:40] Speaker C: And when I mean trip, you take
[00:03:42] Speaker B: that however you want to take it,
[00:03:43] Speaker C: but it's going to be a car ride, okay?
[00:03:46] Speaker B: I want to help you piece together Jesus teaching about the end time that was coming for them, but is in fact an end time that we look
[00:03:55] Speaker C: back to from our perspective. It's behind us, if that makes any sense.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: And after we walk through it all, then we'll be able to hopefully glean some proper application for us today, because what Jesus said to them does have relevance to us if we read it.
[00:04:13] Speaker C: So are you ready for this?
[00:04:14] Speaker B: Turn to Luke chapter 21. There's paper Bibles around. Look it up on your phone if you have to. I confess I had the kind of
[00:04:20] Speaker C: week that didn't enable me to make any slides.
So sorry for you visual folks among us.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: I do my best every week, you know that, to make slides so that
[00:04:30] Speaker C: you can look at them and not listen to me.
But not today.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: Hold in, Try to follow.
So Jesus has been hanging around the temple since he showed up on a donkey and cleaned out the animal cellars there. And there's been a ton of conflict
[00:04:46] Speaker C: from the get go.
[00:04:47] Speaker B: Now the common people have been hanging on every word that Jesus has been saying and he has been crushing his debate opponents so that now they're over in the corner frothing at the mouth and scheming how they can get him killed.
And then Jesus had just warned everyone that was listening that those teachers of the law. Yeah, those guys right over there. That guy, him charlatan. A complete charlatan who's gonna be punished very severely for his misuse of God's
[00:05:16] Speaker C: temple and his abuse of the vulnerable. Yeah, super popular. Jesus was with them.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: But now there's a shift in point of view as we go on to listen to a more intense private conversation between Jesus and his closest followers here in Luke 21, verse 5.
[00:05:36] Speaker C: Let's dive into it.
[00:05:37] Speaker B: Some of his disciples were remarking how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God.
But Jesus said, as for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another.
[00:05:55] Speaker C: Every one of them will be thrown down.
[00:05:59] Speaker B: Now, it may not seem like much to you, but these Jewish boys gaping up at the Temple, they're receiving very shocking information.
You see, not only was the Temple the most significant building for the people of Israel, it represented the very presence of God among them, the very place and means of living in covenant relationship with Yahweh. The Temple itself was also an amazing structure. Difficult for us to imagine what they were looking at. We hear temple and we kind of think of one of those amazing cathedrals in Europe.
[00:06:33] Speaker C: No, they pale in comparison.
[00:06:36] Speaker B: They don't even come close to matching the Temple's grandeur. You see, after The Babylonian exile, 500 years before Christ, some Jews returned to Israel and a second temple was built.
But it was quite a modest structure.
Yes, it represented God's promise of faithful return and faithful presence, but it really was only a shadow of its former glory.
However, when Jesus was just a teenager, Herod the Great sponsored a massive expansion of the Temple Mount and a renovation of the temple itself. And what he did transformed the Jerusalem Temple so much that it was considered
[00:07:17] Speaker C: one of the wonders of the ancient Mediterranean world.
By Jesus Day, when he was doing
[00:07:24] Speaker B: his ministry, it was getting closer to its former glory and everyone was amazed by it.
Spanning 36 acres on the top of Mount Moriah, the temple was so much
[00:07:36] Speaker C: more than just a building.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: It was a huge complex of wonderful architecture with stunningly visual artistic beauty.
A famous rabbinic saying from the Talmud reads, he who has not seen Herod's
[00:07:50] Speaker C: temple has never seen a beautiful building in his life.
[00:07:55] Speaker B: Not only was the front of the temple sanctuary a massive towering structure, 150ft tall, 150ft wide, the exterior walls were in pure white marble.
From a distance, the Jewish historian Josephus tells us that the temple looked like a snow capped mountain, because wherever it
[00:08:14] Speaker C: was not covered in gold, it was
[00:08:16] Speaker B: blindingly white, but it was covered in
[00:08:20] Speaker C: a lot of gold.
[00:08:21] Speaker B: It turns out the huge front facade featured massive plates of it. So much so that when the morning sun hit the east side of the temple, people had a hard time watching, looking at it, because the glare of the sunlit gold was so powerful.
Over the main temple entrance, maybe exactly what some of these young disciples or
[00:08:42] Speaker C: Jesus are pointing to.
[00:08:43] Speaker B: There were great giant golden vines that had been fashioned by skilled artisans. And hanging from these golden vines were clusters of grapes made of precious stones
[00:08:55] Speaker C: as tall as a man, to which wealthy donors would then contribute extra gold and extra grapes.
[00:09:03] Speaker B: Along the southern edge of the outer plaza was a magnificent triple aisled basilica portico supported by 162 massive Corinthian marble columns. Are you getting a sense of what this thing was like?
Magnificent.
And the wonders of the architecture only served to deepen this theological conviction that this was the holy space of Yahweh. This was the place where his name dwelt. The temple was the very center of the world. They saw it as the navel of the world, the very nexus of God's connection with earth, mediated through his holy people, a sacred space of inestimable value.
[00:09:43] Speaker C: There the true God was worshiped.
[00:09:47] Speaker B: There the holy sacrifices were offered. There the holy people of God celebrated their covenant relationship with Yahweh that was unlike any connection with any other peoples in the world.
[00:09:58] Speaker C: From there, the glory of God was would come out and cover the whole earth.
[00:10:04] Speaker B: The Jerusalem Temple was a fabulous, ornate,
[00:10:08] Speaker C: gleaming architectural wonder of deep theological significance.
[00:10:14] Speaker B: Even how it was constructed still defies the imagination. Some of the single stones, like the famous Western stone, weighed over 500 tons, measuring this is one stone measuring 45ft long, 13ft wide and 11ft high. Like, wow.
And how, as I've already said, Herod initiated this huge temple expansion during Jesus teenage years, maybe 10 to 15 years before the public ministry of Jesus began. And it went on for years after renovation was still underway. The day that Jesus told his disciples
[00:10:53] Speaker C: it was all going to be torn down.
[00:10:56] Speaker B: And as history tells us, the temple
[00:10:58] Speaker C: was only completed a few years before the Roman army arrived and did just that.
[00:11:04] Speaker B: So Jesus words here that not one stone will be left on another is precisely what happened in AD 70 when the temple caught fire during the last
[00:11:14] Speaker C: month of the war, maybe a month
[00:11:16] Speaker B: before the war was done. The heat was so intense that it melted all the gold which ran down into the crevices of the temple stones. And the Roman soldiers, having decimated the population by that time, tore the temple down stone by stone by stone so they could get at the gold in the cracks, so that not one stone
[00:11:38] Speaker C: was left on another, fulfilling Jesus prophecy here in Luke 21, but also in
[00:11:44] Speaker B: Luke 19, because this wasn't the first time that Jesus had spoken about this coming disaster in exactly these terms. Not only had he alluded to this disaster quite a number of times through parables, things he was saying.
[00:11:54] Speaker C: If you read it in that light, you see it.
[00:11:57] Speaker B: He explicitly foretold the stone business as he approached Jerusalem before his triumphal ride into Jerusalem. We read this in Luke 19:41. As he approached Jerusalem and saw the
[00:12:09] Speaker C: city, he wept over it and said,
[00:12:13] Speaker B: if you even you had only known on this day, what would bring you peace. But now it is hidden from your eyes.
The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.
They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on
[00:12:39] Speaker C: another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you. Luke 19:41, 44.
Now, I don't want to get you
[00:12:48] Speaker B: too far into the literary weeds.
[00:12:50] Speaker C: I don't want to get sidetracked, but
[00:12:51] Speaker B: do you remember how I drew your
[00:12:52] Speaker C: attention last week to the bookends, how there was this conflict and then there
[00:12:56] Speaker B: was these bookends that Luke gave us,
[00:12:58] Speaker C: intentionally showing that the judgment on the temple was partly, at least due to the injustice toward the vulnerable.
[00:13:05] Speaker B: Well, here we actually see another set of bookends. If you just extend that out, you have another set foretelling the destruction of
[00:13:12] Speaker C: Jerusalem exactly in the same way in Luke 19 and in Luke 21, Luke's
[00:13:17] Speaker B: drawing our attention to Jesus prophecy regarding Jerusalem. Jesus was very clear on what exactly was going to happen to this magnificent temple. And it is a tragedy. Jesus weeps over it. This is not what he wanted. He warned and warned and warned and
[00:13:34] Speaker C: warned, but they wouldn't listen. The city and the temple now would
[00:13:39] Speaker B: come under judgment, not only because of the rampant injustice, it was also going
[00:13:43] Speaker C: to be torn down because they simply
[00:13:45] Speaker B: would not listen and they insisted on going their own way. And despite all the warnings Jesus gave,
[00:13:50] Speaker C: the leaders were blind to the Messiah that God had sent to save them.
[00:13:54] Speaker B: Rather than receiving life from Jesus and
[00:13:57] Speaker C: following in his way of peace, they chose to kill him instead, which is a choice that led them further and further into revolt against Rome and eventually disaster.
[00:14:07] Speaker B: So this isn't the first time that Jesus has said this. He's been saying this already.
But now, as the boys are standing there gaping at the magnificent temple, Jesus
[00:14:16] Speaker C: tells them it's all coming down.
[00:14:19] Speaker B: And he wants his followers to know how they are then to faithfully respond as these things happen, so that they're prepared for the coming time of trial and judgment.
But Jesus followers are still clueless about all that. Regardless of what, however clear Jesus has been. Whatever clues he's been dropping, they aren't.
[00:14:38] Speaker C: They aren't. They aren't hearing it yet.
[00:14:40] Speaker B: So with eyes kind of darting back and forth between the big temple and
[00:14:43] Speaker C: Jesus, back and forth, back and forth,
[00:14:45] Speaker B: they say to him, the question that's probably would have been on everyone's list,
[00:14:50] Speaker C: Verse seven, Teacher, they asked, when will these things happen?
[00:14:55] Speaker B: And what will be the sign that
[00:14:57] Speaker C: they're about to take place.
[00:15:00] Speaker B: Jesus now goes on to focus his answer to help them be ready for the trouble that's coming, so that they
[00:15:06] Speaker C: don't freak out and lose faith, but
[00:15:09] Speaker B: stand firm as faithful, fearless witnesses and
[00:15:12] Speaker C: then get out when it's time to go.
[00:15:16] Speaker B: Let's walk through Jesus.
[00:15:17] Speaker C: Response verse 8.
[00:15:18] Speaker B: He replied, Watch out that you're not deceived, for many will come in my name, claiming I am he and the time is near.
Do not follow them.
When you hear wars and uprisings, do not be frightened.
These things must happen first.
[00:15:35] Speaker C: But the end will not come right away.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: So first out of the gate, Jesus warns them against deception, fear. Why?
Because when there is great trouble looming, when there's a lot of turmoil on the horizon, particularly political and societal, people
[00:15:53] Speaker C: are very susceptible to false hope and fake messiahs.
[00:15:57] Speaker B: You can see that all down through history.
[00:16:00] Speaker C: You can see it today.
[00:16:02] Speaker B: Jesus knows this. And so he's telling them very clearly. Whatever you hear, whatever you see, whatever machinations are going down, whatever revolutions are rising up, do not be deceived and don't be afraid.
There's going to be people who claim to speak for me. There's even people who claim to be me. But you know me already.
You know my voice, you know my ways, you know where I'm going to be. You're hearing me tell you right now that all of this is part of what's going to happen. And I'm telling you this so you prepared. You're prepared for everything when it comes. Whatever is said, it won't be me.
[00:16:38] Speaker C: Watch out so that you're not deceived.
[00:16:41] Speaker B: There will be rumors of wars and revolts and troubles, geopolitical maneuvering, and a lot of people projecting what's going to happen. The evening news would just be lit up, right?
Don't be thrown by that. Jesus says, don't be afraid. I'm going to give you very specific instructions, very specific indications to look for. But hearing about armies here or troop movements there, or this revolt here or this, this group there, those are not the signs that you need to be looking for. That's all stuff that needs to happen.
[00:17:09] Speaker C: But that won't be the end yet.
[00:17:13] Speaker B: Well, now Jesus goes on to give more details about how bad it really
[00:17:17] Speaker C: is going to get in the end.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: Verse 10. Then he said to them, nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
[00:17:32] Speaker C: But before all this, do you hear
[00:17:34] Speaker B: that little indication before that something else needs to happen first before the temple is destroyed, before all these things are happening. Jesus is still answering their when question. Before all this, they will seize you and persecute you.
They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison and you will be brought before kings and governors and all on account of my name. And so you will bear testimony.
Okay, just pause for a second. Jesus is telling them that they're going to suffer persecution and death as they bear witness to his life, death, resurrection and lordship as they share the good news of Jesus and his salvation with the world. And it's all way before the temple falls.
And it's worth remembering that that is exactly what happened to the very disciples
[00:18:21] Speaker C: that are being talked to here by Jesus.
[00:18:23] Speaker B: This is exactly what happened to the first Christians in Jerusalem and then extending out throughout the Roman provinces, as the Church grew after Jesus rose again from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father, he sent his Holy Spirit to fill and to empower the first Christians as his witnesses to the world. And while many thousands of Jewish people became followers of Jesus, some of these first Christians were then seized and persecuted. Some of them were put in prison and brought before kings. You can hear all about that in the book of Acts.
It follows exactly that which Luke himself wrote.
[00:19:00] Speaker C: Ha ha. Handy
[00:19:04] Speaker B: in the act stories, we hear how Peter and John and James and Stephen and Paul, each one of them were experiencing this persecution. Each one of them prepared for what was coming because of Jesus words here and in other places.
And Jesus isn't done prepping them for persecution. He goes on to prepare them by telling them that they don't need to prepare what they're going to say.
[00:19:25] Speaker C: I love that verse 14.
[00:19:27] Speaker B: But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves.
For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.
[00:19:38] Speaker C: You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends.
[00:19:44] Speaker B: And they will put some of you to death.
Everyone will hate you because of me,
[00:19:51] Speaker C: but not a hair of your head will perish.
Stand firm and you will win life.
You see how Jesus is prepping them for trouble that's coming?
[00:20:02] Speaker B: And did you notice that little bit
[00:20:03] Speaker C: that's supposed to give them confidence?
[00:20:05] Speaker B: The little bit that says they will put some of you to death, yet not a hair of your head will
[00:20:12] Speaker C: perish you like that?
[00:20:16] Speaker B: It's exactly the perspective the early Church
[00:20:18] Speaker C: had as they faced persecution.
[00:20:20] Speaker B: It's exactly how these Early Christians viewed their witness to Jesus not only in Jerusalem, but then throughout the Roman Empire. Some of them were killed for that witness, but they understood that really not
[00:20:32] Speaker C: even a hair of their head perished.
[00:20:34] Speaker B: Jesus words here gave these martyrs confidence. God has got you in the palm of his hand. Whether it's in life or it's in death.
[00:20:42] Speaker C: We win. So stand firm.
[00:20:45] Speaker B: Now Jesus is prepping his followers for
[00:20:47] Speaker C: these hard times ahead because everyone's going to hate them because of Jesus.
[00:20:52] Speaker B: And all this happens first. This is the context of what Jesus did. All this happens before. Yes, there's going to be earth shattering, heaven shaking events coming, but in the end, when the temple does fall, but not before, you get plenty of chances to bear witness to me before all the heavy stuff happens at the temple. Jesus says, you're going to have your
[00:21:12] Speaker C: own heavy stuff to endure for Christ.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: Well with all of that laid out, Jesus now gets to their first question,
[00:21:20] Speaker C: the actual when question, like what are we supposed to be looking for?
[00:21:24] Speaker B: And Jesus gives that sign to them. He says, this is what you look for.
[00:21:28] Speaker C: He tells them to watch for Roman armies surrounding Jerusalem.
Verse 20.
[00:21:35] Speaker B: When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near.
Then let those who are in Judea,
[00:21:43] Speaker C: the surrounding area, flee to the mountains.
[00:21:46] Speaker B: Let those in the city get out and those in the country not enter the city.
For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. And he's catching up Old Testament prophecy.
[00:21:59] Speaker C: He's also catching up his own words.
[00:22:02] Speaker B: Verse 23. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers. There'll be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of, of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
Jesus gives very specific directions for any of the Christians who would be still
[00:22:24] Speaker C: left in Jerusalem at that time.
[00:22:27] Speaker B: The sign will not be wars, uprisings, because that's still not the end. Jesus says those rumbled around through the 40s, the 50s, into the 60s, kind of culminated in 66 with the Jewish revolt which kind of tripped the final phase. But those rumblings, that's part of the package.
The sign will also not be when they start experiencing persecution because of Jesus or when some of them are seized and put in jail like the apostle Peter was, or persecuted and killed like James and Stephen, that stuff, man, that
[00:22:58] Speaker C: started days after the Holy Spirit came.
[00:23:01] Speaker B: That was just a prelude of what was to come. In fact, the early persecution of the church in Jerusalem served to spread the gospel beyond Jerusalem so that more people, as they left Jerusalem, they took the gospel with them and more Jews throughout the Roman Empire. And then eventually more non Jewish people
[00:23:21] Speaker C: started following Jesus as a result.
[00:23:24] Speaker B: But as far as the sign, the specific indication, the thing that they need to be looking for, Jesus says it will be on the day you see
[00:23:31] Speaker C: Roman armies surrounding Jerusalem. That'll be it. That's what you're looking for.
Now we know that Jerusalem fell to Titus in 80, 70.
[00:23:43] Speaker B: But before that, when the Jewish revolt
[00:23:46] Speaker C: first broke out in AD 66, Cassius
[00:23:50] Speaker B: Gallus led a Roman army and he briefly besieged Jerusalem before unexpectedly retreating.
Some of the Jews thought, that's a good sign. They're scared, you know, they got them running.
But Jesus had already prepped his disciples
[00:24:07] Speaker C: to interpret it as the last sign before the fall.
[00:24:11] Speaker B: So when the Roman armies then swung back toward Israel in late 67 and
[00:24:17] Speaker C: early 68 to finish the job, when
[00:24:20] Speaker B: they began to subdue the surrounding areas in Judea, in order to isolate Jerusalem,
[00:24:24] Speaker C: the Christians knew that they needed to go.
[00:24:28] Speaker B: And Eusebius, the church historian, tells us that it's exactly at that time that all the early Christians grabbed their go bags and fled across the Jordan river
[00:24:37] Speaker C: to the Decapolis city of Pella.
[00:24:40] Speaker B: And so when Jerusalem finally did fall, after five gruesome months of horrifying warfare, hundreds upon hundreds of crucifixions and withering
[00:24:49] Speaker C: famine, the Christians weren't there.
They weren't there to suffer under that judgment. They had been saved from the ensuing destruction because they had obeyed the instructions that Jesus gave to them in advance.
[00:25:04] Speaker B: Now Jesus goes on to interpret this coming judgment on Jerusalem. Theologically, Jesus first draws on standard prophetic
[00:25:13] Speaker C: images of national judgment.
[00:25:15] Speaker B: What will it be like when the temple falls? Verse 25. There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars on the earth. Nations will be in anguish and perplexity. At the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world. For the heavenly bodies will be shaken.
Cosmic imagery like this is a prophetic way of saying that God's judgment on
[00:25:39] Speaker C: the temple will be an earth shattering event.
[00:25:42] Speaker B: Now, in the history of Christian interpretation, people have often overlooked the way that the Hebrew prophets actually use these kind of cosmological signs with heavenly bodies being shaken and the earth being tossed around. They use it as a way of speaking about God's national judgment, judgment on nations. But if you read the prophets you see it all over the place. When Isaiah foretells the overthrow of the Babylonian empire by the Medes and Persians, something which happened in 539 BC. This is how he put it. This is the words of Isaiah from Isaiah 13. See, the day of the Lord is coming. The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble
[00:26:29] Speaker C: and the earth will shake from its place.
That was about that specific judgment on Babylon.
[00:26:36] Speaker B: Ezekiel used cosmic eclipse imagery to describe God's judgment on Egypt. Not back in Moses day, but like in later times around the exile. This is what he said in Ezekiel 32, When I snuff you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars. I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon will not give its light.
All the shining lights in the heavens, I will darken over you.
[00:26:59] Speaker C: I will bring darkness over your land. And there's lots more where that came from.
[00:27:05] Speaker B: So why is this so important for us to understand?
[00:27:07] Speaker C: Some of you are probably wondering.
[00:27:09] Speaker B: Well, because Jesus is using stock prophetic imagery to interpret theologically the fall of the temple as God using Rome as
[00:27:19] Speaker C: his hand of judgment.
[00:27:21] Speaker B: And unfortunately it's right at this point in Luke chapter 21 that some, maybe many, some modern interpreters missing that background.
[00:27:30] Speaker C: They think, oh, well, that's weird.
[00:27:34] Speaker B: Jesus talking about, you know, things going on in the skies now. He must not be talking about Jerusalem anymore.
He must be speaking, they think of some other event happening way in the future because, quote, we know that didn't happen.
In other words, by missing prophetic imagery here and how it's used in the Hebrew prophets and then interpreting that through kind of a modern wooden literalism, they assume that Jesus just time jumped over the temple, over the early church, frankly, over all of Christian history.
[00:28:08] Speaker C: The land here, now in our time,
[00:28:14] Speaker B: and in fact must be speaking to events that are still in our future,
[00:28:17] Speaker C: probably our soon future friends. That is a mistake.
[00:28:23] Speaker B: Jesus is talking about what's going to happen in Jerusalem in their near future in the same way that Isaiah talked about what's going to happen to Babylon in its near future. And Ezekiel in Egypt's near future, Jesus is speaking here as a prophet, just like the ancient prophets spoke.
But there's more. So what Jesus says next gets people really turned around.
Are you with me so far, man?
I couldn't just like I had to
[00:28:50] Speaker C: give it all to you. Okay, so hold on.
[00:28:53] Speaker B: Verse 27.
At that time, at what Time, get that clear. At the time when the armies surround
[00:29:02] Speaker C: Jerusalem and you need to flee. At the time when Jerusalem will be
[00:29:05] Speaker B: trampled on by the Gentiles, at the time when these heavenly bodies being shaken
[00:29:11] Speaker C: as God's judgment falls.
[00:29:12] Speaker B: At that time, they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud
[00:29:17] Speaker C: with power and great glory.
[00:29:20] Speaker B: Now, I think you all know this, but for those of you at the
[00:29:22] Speaker C: back of the class, this Son of
[00:29:25] Speaker B: Man coming in a cloud of power and glory has often been interpreted as referencing the Rapture that is depicting a kind of future event where Jesus just suddenly removes all of his people from the earth and takes them up into heaven and leaves the world to spiral into destruction.
[00:29:47] Speaker C: It's a hugely popular idea when I was growing up in the 1980s, anyone else?
[00:29:53] Speaker B: But it's still believed today.
[00:29:54] Speaker C: In fact, you might even believe it
[00:29:58] Speaker B: now. If you look at all this and you think, well, that's not what Jesus is saying here.
You'd be right, because that's not what he's saying here.
He doesn't say that. He talks about coming in a cloud with power and great glory, but he didn't say anything about us being sucked
[00:30:13] Speaker C: up in the clouds to be with Him.
Not here.
[00:30:16] Speaker B: What happened is that interpreters who miss the Old Testament background, which we'll get to in a moment, they read this riding in a cloud reference, and in their confusion, they combine it with a reference that Paul made in 1st Thessalonians 4:17, when Paul speaks of our future resurrection in similar terms in 4:17, he says this. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them. That's the people who've died already in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. And I could explain to you, if I had the time, how that's not rapture either, but that's what gets combined with that. Okay, so then track with me here, because these Rapture interpreters then smash all of that together with something else Jesus said in Luke 17. Back in Luke 17, Jesus references the coming judgment in terms of one being taken away and one being left. You know, two men walking up a hill,
[00:31:22] Speaker C: one's left behind, one's left standing still, whatever that is, that song, you
[00:31:26] Speaker B: know, that one, they combine it with that and they think they're onto something. Now, in the original Context, in Luke 17, if you read it at all, you realize that the one taken away isn't raptured man.
[00:31:37] Speaker C: He's judged, he's taken away in judgment.
[00:31:39] Speaker B: That's what's going on. He's comparing it with Noah.
So it's not rapture, it's not resurrection, but that gets misread, misapplied to this. And so what you have popping out at the end is this idea that the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory is really the second coming of Jesus Christ
[00:31:56] Speaker C: to rapture his people out of here.
[00:31:59] Speaker B: A lot of interpretive leaps are taken, a lot of biblical facts are ignored,
[00:32:04] Speaker C: but that's where it lands.
[00:32:06] Speaker B: But that, my friends, is not what's going on here.
[00:32:08] Speaker C: It's not what Jesus said.
And if you're upset with me over this, I apologize. Let's talk later.
[00:32:14] Speaker B: Jesus is speaking of himself here as this Son of Man who comes in the cloud of power and glory as the fulfillment of this very important prophecy in Daniel the chapter seven, which you heard read earlier. Daniel seven is the source of so many things that Jesus says about himself that the early church understood about Jesus. And it tells of a time when one, like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven, approaches the Ancient of Days, which Daniel has already told us. His hair is white like wool and he's seated on a flaming throne. He's surrounded by thousands upon thousands of divine attendants. The Son of Man was led into the presence of the Ancient of Days. And then what happened? Daniel 7:14.
[00:32:58] Speaker C: He, the son of man, who came
[00:33:00] Speaker B: in the clouds, was given authority, glory and sovereign power. All nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away. And his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
[00:33:15] Speaker C: The Son of Man is Jesus, the
[00:33:18] Speaker B: Messiah, and he's the risen king who sat down at the right hand of his father, far above all ruler and authority, and has been given by his father an everlasting kingdom that will never be destroyed. This is all over the place in the New Testament.
[00:33:31] Speaker C: We touched on it a few weeks ago as well.
[00:33:34] Speaker B: So when Jesus catches up this throne room scene in Daniel 7, what's he saying?
Well, in short. And we could go longer, but we won't.
Jesus is casting the coming fall of the temple first as God's judgment upon his people for their rejection of Jesus and the refusal to follow the way of peace.
[00:33:54] Speaker C: That's what all this apocalyptic celestial imagery is about.
[00:33:58] Speaker B: So, yeah, the fall is due to Roman aggression for sure. And Rome will be judged.
[00:34:03] Speaker C: Read Revelation. Rome will be judged too.
[00:34:06] Speaker B: But from Jesus perspective, this is divine judgment, and his words underline that fact.
And second, Jesus is casting the fall of Jerusalem as God's vindication, that his Son, the Son of man, Jesus himself, the one who was crucified, who rose, who ascended to the right hand of the Father. This Son of man is receiving the everlasting kingdom that was promised. And his warnings of the coming judgment, his prediction of the fall in Jerusalem is a revelation of that. It's the proof sign that he is who he said he was, that he
[00:34:39] Speaker C: is the King of all history and
[00:34:41] Speaker B: time, that he is the one who's
[00:34:43] Speaker C: received dominion and authority.
[00:34:45] Speaker B: And this coming on a cloud quote
[00:34:47] Speaker C: is meant to get us there through Daniel 7.
[00:34:52] Speaker B: So that we read what happens next here in Luke, as we read Jesus going to the cross and dying, but also as we read all that happens after what he already said about the temple and what's going to happen, how that is all fulfilled, all of that reveals who Jesus is as the King
[00:35:11] Speaker C: of kings and the Lord of Lords.
[00:35:14] Speaker B: Now, if that leaves you wondering about a few things, just be thankful because
[00:35:17] Speaker C: the sermon could go on longer.
[00:35:20] Speaker B: Have no fear.
[00:35:21] Speaker C: The main point is actually quite clear.
[00:35:23] Speaker B: Jesus wants his people to know that what happens is not a sign. When they see the temple fall, none of us can really understand what, what that did for them, how wrong that felt, how much of a loss that was, how devastating and appalling just. It would have literally blown your mind, would have cracked you like an egg. There'd be just nothing left of you. As you watch the holy temple and city fall. He wants them to know that when that happens, it's not a sign that Jesus has lost control over everything.
[00:35:54] Speaker C: It's a sign that he's now the King over all.
That's very important.
[00:35:59] Speaker B: He wants them to understand so they can interpret it properly. And I had to walk us through some of this to explain some of the ways these warnings of Jesus and this very historical event have been misinterpreted because there's still some people out there. I don't know if you've found them, but they're there on the YouTube who will promote this kind of interpretation or misinterpretation. And I wanted to help you understand what Jesus is saying here in its property biblical context, so that you'll be
[00:36:27] Speaker C: more equipped to read your Bibles right now.
[00:36:31] Speaker B: Jesus goes on and he keeps the AD 70 time frame in mind as he says this verse 28. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads because your redemption is drawing near. He told them this parable, look at the fig tree and all the trees, when they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know the summer is near. Even so, when you see these things
[00:36:56] Speaker C: happening, you will know the kingdom of God is near.
[00:37:00] Speaker B: Earthly kingdoms fall, Jesus is on the throne. These earth shattering events indicate that the
[00:37:05] Speaker C: kingdom of God has come, is near present that your redemption is near. Whether you die as a witness in
[00:37:13] Speaker B: the short or the long term, as you join Jesus in his suffering, his death, his resurrection and his rule, rule
[00:37:19] Speaker C: from the right hand of the Father.
[00:37:22] Speaker B: And then to give them just a little more of a time reference and so they know this isn't going to be long, but it's going to definitely happen in their lifetimes. It gives them kind of a time frame. Jesus says in verse 32, truly I tell you, this generation will not, will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but
[00:37:43] Speaker C: my words will never pass away.
Get that? This is the Jesus guarantee.
[00:37:49] Speaker B: What Jesus says here is more solid
[00:37:51] Speaker C: than heaven and earth itself.
[00:37:54] Speaker B: You, his followers here us, you place all your weight on the words of Jesus and know you've placed your trust
[00:38:02] Speaker C: on a solid, immovable rock.
[00:38:05] Speaker B: No wonder they took his words so
[00:38:06] Speaker C: seriously and got out in time.
[00:38:10] Speaker B: Then Jesus caps off his long speech with a final how you should live as a result.
[00:38:15] Speaker C: Verse 34.
[00:38:15] Speaker B: Be careful or your hearts will be
[00:38:17] Speaker C: weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life.
[00:38:21] Speaker B: And that day will close on you
[00:38:23] Speaker C: suddenly like a trap, for it will come on.
[00:38:25] Speaker B: All those who live on the face
[00:38:26] Speaker C: of the whole earth, be always on
[00:38:28] Speaker B: the watch and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, so that you may
[00:38:33] Speaker C: be able to stand before the Son of Man.
[00:38:36] Speaker B: Jesus wants his people to be prepared for what's coming, to not slack off and, and forget to not be distracted
[00:38:43] Speaker C: by pleasure, by troubles.
[00:38:45] Speaker B: What's the point of everything that he has said here? And so he finishes with that challenge to be careful. There's lots of distractions out there trying to pull your attention away from what really matters. Be always on the watch and pray.
[00:38:58] Speaker C: Pray that you'll be able to escape. Pray that you'll be able to stand. Jesus wants his people prepared and strong, because hard times are coming for them all. And with this, Luke concludes his temple narrative.
[00:39:10] Speaker B: Each day Jesus was teaching at the
[00:39:12] Speaker C: temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives. And all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple.
That's a lot. Hey, wow. You good people, you good people, wake up out there.
Sorry, Sorry, John.
[00:39:36] Speaker B: I hope that was helpful. Let me just finish with a couple
[00:39:38] Speaker C: of brief takeaways first.
[00:39:40] Speaker B: We're reminded here just how much we can trust the teachings of Jesus and the veracity of Scripture. I hope you've heard that what Jesus
[00:39:48] Speaker C: said here happened, period.
[00:39:51] Speaker B: He knew it in advance.
This is true with respect to his
[00:39:54] Speaker C: own death and resurrection, which is a pretty neat party trick to pull off.
[00:39:59] Speaker B: But it's also true regarding the fall of Jerusalem, and that's no small thing. 8070 is history. You can read all about it. Jesus told his followers it was going
[00:40:08] Speaker C: to happen 40 years before it did, and he told them in detail.
[00:40:12] Speaker B: Some skeptical scholars, in fact, look at how accurate these words of Jesus were and they assume it had to have been written after the facts because it's too bang on.
However, Mark and Matthew and Luke, they all talk about this event and most
[00:40:26] Speaker C: scholars date them somewhere in the 80s. Written, formally written and coming out just before the fall of the temple in AD 70. What's the point here? The point is that Jesus teachings are true and we can trust what he said.
[00:40:39] Speaker B: Just like his earliest followers trusted what he said and were able to evacuate
[00:40:43] Speaker C: Jerusalem before it fell, we're able to trust the teaching of Jesus for our lives.
[00:40:48] Speaker B: Luke's gospel is historical.
It chronicles accurately what actually happened. So when you're reading this holy book,
[00:40:55] Speaker C: you're reading actual history.
[00:40:59] Speaker B: Second, suffering under rogue earthly powers continues
[00:41:03] Speaker C: to be a reality for Jesus followers.
[00:41:05] Speaker B: Jesus told his followers to expect hardship, so they didn't wonder why they're facing opposition. Why is everybody hating me?
[00:41:13] Speaker C: Well, they're going to hate you because of me, Jesus said.
Paul also said all those who are
[00:41:18] Speaker B: godly in Christ will suffer persecution.
This is hard for us to hear, but it helps us get prepared for those times when bearing witness to the Lord Jesus in all of life causes people to push back in anger where speaking out the truth in love to a world that's gone blind with hate
[00:41:34] Speaker C: or delusion makes us public enemy number one.
[00:41:38] Speaker B: Or when simply serving those who are despised and forgotten means that we aren't
[00:41:42] Speaker C: one of the cool kids anymore.
[00:41:44] Speaker B: Jesus preps his followers then and now
[00:41:47] Speaker C: for the inevitable opposition we will face as his followers.
[00:41:52] Speaker B: Third, and this is very relevant for some of us who have been frightened by various end times YouTubers or apocalyptic preachers, knowing what Jesus is both teaching and not teaching here helps us read
[00:42:08] Speaker C: the whole Bible better, and I hope with a bit of a calmer heart.
[00:42:12] Speaker B: As I took Some time to explain. Jesus is teaching here about the fall of the temple. He is not teaching about some future end times rapture event that is going to soon happen to us as the
[00:42:22] Speaker C: world descends into chaos.
[00:42:25] Speaker B: Here in Luke, as well as in the parallel passages in Matthew and Mark, he's helping his people get ready for what would be the most catastrophic event of their lifetime. It would just leave all the Jewish people just reeling as a whole. An event that would sweep across the globe as a significance that could not
[00:42:45] Speaker C: be comprehended and as a result has often been misinterpreted.
[00:42:50] Speaker B: So by reading Jesus words in proper
[00:42:52] Speaker C: historical and biblical context, we're able to
[00:42:55] Speaker B: hear and receive Jesus words more accurately,
[00:42:58] Speaker C: which in turn makes them more relevant for us, helps us not to be afraid, not to be deceived, even in our own time.
And then lastly, and most importantly, we need to know that Jesus is actually on the throne and that his everlasting kingdom is already operational.
[00:43:17] Speaker B: Jesus was facing the most difficult week in his life.
[00:43:19] Speaker C: He was soon to be arrested, humiliated and crucified.
[00:43:23] Speaker B: He was soon to take all of the sins of the whole world upon
[00:43:27] Speaker C: himself and bear them on the cross to step into our place and receive
[00:43:34] Speaker B: upon him the punishment for our sin
[00:43:36] Speaker C: so that we could be free, so that we could be saved, so that we would be raised with Him.
[00:43:42] Speaker B: That is what he is facing that week.
[00:43:45] Speaker C: And he wants us to know, as
[00:43:47] Speaker B: we look back on all these events,
[00:43:49] Speaker C: that we're hearing the assurance, we're hearing the words of the true king who rose again and reigns in victory.
[00:43:56] Speaker B: And so one very practical takeaway for
[00:43:58] Speaker C: us is that we should not fall prey to alarmism or apocalypticism so that
[00:44:04] Speaker B: we don't get frightened and frenzied like
[00:44:06] Speaker C: the rest of the world over the
[00:44:08] Speaker B: way the world is.
[00:44:10] Speaker C: Jesus is now on the throne.
[00:44:13] Speaker B: So let the words of Jesus here, as well as the whole of Scripture, give you calm and confidence in the face of troubles. Don't allow the news or social media to dissuade you from the truth that Jesus is already seated at the right hand of the Father, far above all principalities and powers. And that you, if you've placed your faith in Christ, you are seated there with him at the right hand as a member of his body, as part
[00:44:40] Speaker C: of his divine family, which enables us now to be on watch so that we're not distracted by pleasures or worries, we're not deceived by false teaching or stupid ideas, whatever might be happening around us.
Keep, keep your eye fixed on the throne of Jesus, whatever you might hear that's going down. Keep your ears locked on the teaching of Jesus and whatever people say or do. Know who you are in Christ and know whose you are now and forever. And with the trustworthy words of Jesus ringing in our ears, we will stand firm in Christ and win the life that he's already won for us. Amen.
Let's pray. Lord Jesus seated on the throne, we look to you.
I ask Holy Spirit very simply that you would take this long message today and apply it to our hearts and minds so that we can truly celebrate who you are and who you've called us to be. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
[00:45:52] Speaker A: Thanks for listening in today. We hope you feel encouraged and challenged.
If you know someone who would benefit from what you have heard today, please share this podcast.
For more information or if you have questions, you can connect with us through our website, Erickson Covenant ca.
You can also find us on Facebook by searching for Erickson Covenant Church.
