WWUTT 2483 Jesus Speaks of Wars and Persecutions (Luke 21:10-19)

In the gospel of Luke, Jesus warned his disciples that, hey, the world is gonna get bad. There will be wars, famines, earthquakes, all kinds of chaos everywhere, but we must hold fast to Christ when we understand the text.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

The Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in Luke 21

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the gospel of Luke, we continue in chapter 21, Jesus talking about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple and the coming of the Son of Man. Today, I'm gonna begin reading in verse 10 and go through verse 24.

Hear the word of the Lord. "'Then Jesus 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.

"'But 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.

"'This will be your opportunity to bear witness. "'Settle it therefore in your minds, "'not to meditate beforehand how to answer, "'for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, "'which none of your adversaries "'will be able to withstand or contradict.

"'You will be delivered up "'even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, "'and some of you they will put to death. "'You will be hated by all for my name's sake, "'but not a hair of your head will perish.

"'By your endurance, you will gain your lives. "'But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, "'then know that its desolation has come near. "'Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, "'and let those who are inside the city depart, "'and let not those who are out in the country enter it, "'for these are days of vengeance "'to fulfill all that is written.

"'Alas for women who are pregnant "'and for those who are nursing infants in those days, "'for there will be great distress upon the earth "'and wrath against this people. "'They will fall by the edge of the sword "'and be led captive among all nations, "'and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, "'until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.'".

Now, what happens after this is Jesus talking about the coming of the Son of Man. What happened before this is what we looked at yesterday with Jesus talking about what they can be expecting first. Remember, the disciples have come to Jesus and said, when will these things be?

And what will be the sign when these things are about to take place? Because Jesus had just said to them that these stones they were looking at, everything that was the construction of the temple, they were all gonna be thrown down.

And so the disciples are going, well, if this is all gonna come to destruction, we must be talking about the end of the world here. So asking Jesus what he meant and when these things would take place.

Now, in verse eight, verses eight and nine, which we considered yesterday, he said, "'See that you are not led astray. "'There's gonna be many who will come and say, "'I am he, here's the return, it is time.

"'Do not go after them. "'And when you hear of wars and tumults, "'do not be terrified, "'for these things must first take place, "'but then the end will not be at once.'". Now, the next part, verse 10, I started reading that part today.

So this is Jesus' foretelling of wars and persecution. But this next part still seems to go with the previous part that we just read. Jesus talking about those who would come claiming to be of Christ and not really being of Christ.

And you're gonna hear of wars and tumults. So the next part is the wars and tumults. This is still part of sort of that introductory warning that Jesus was giving to this. Nation will rise against nation, 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. But before all this, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you.

So Jesus is still talking about those things that are gonna take place that are just kind of the natural ebb and flow of things. We live in a fallen world and there are always gonna be natural disasters and wars and things of this kind.

He's already said, do not be terrified of this. So he's talking about this that they may know this is not the end. The end will not be at once, he says. There's gonna be nation rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom.

Now that certainly happened at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. You had the Roman Jewish war, especially it was going on during that time. And there were wars of conflicts or sorry, rumors of conflicts that came from all over the place.

But these are still things that have yet to transpire. These are things that are gonna come later in the future. Since that day, since that time, of course the destruction of the temple was in 80, 70.

So since then, have we not had many wars and many natural disasters, even nations rising against nation? As I've heard it said, the 20th century was the bloodiest century in the history of mankind. So it's of little wonder that so many prophecies came out of that century concerning the return of Christ, because you also had within that century, the restoration of national Israel.

So I get it. I get why so many prophecies came out of the 20th century. So many, so much expectation, so many predictions about when the end of the world would come or, you know, maybe people didn't even believe the predictions, but they still had some sense of it's gotta be near because Israel has been restored.

And when was the last time that Israel had been a nation? So doesn't the Bible say that Israel would be gathered back again? So what's gonna happen next? We're looking forward to the construction of the temple now.

And there are still temple watches going on all the time. You can search for this on YouTube. And there are people that put this together on their YouTube channels of things that you need to be looking for concerning the reconstruction of the temple.

There was one guy's site I was on just recently. As a matter of fact, I think this was just last week where he's talking about red heifers. He's even standing there in Israel in a pen where there are red heifers.

Because remember a red heifer has to be burned and the ashes sprinkled on the place where the temple is gonna be constructed. So they're very keen on all of these signs coming together. And once it seems like we have all the ingredients in place, we're finally gonna see the temple be rebuilt.

It's like when mama's making cookies and you're looking for a sign of cookie making. All the ingredients are out there on the counter so we know that cookies must be near. And this is what people are looking for concerning the reconstruction of the temple.

So because all of these things happened in the 20th century, I get why people were expecting this. I didn't live in the middle part of the 20th century, obviously. I wonder if I had lived at that particular time and seen the reestablishment of a nation of Israel.

I wonder if I would have thought those things at that time. Now I'm growing up in the 80s. And if you remember, there was the big push for 88 reasons why Jesus will return in 88. I heard about that when I was a kid, but my dad never for a moment believed it.

So it was never a thing we were like doomsday preparing for when I was a kid because we thought that Jesus was gonna return in 1988. All of that was kind of talked about, but we didn't, as a family, even the churches that I was a part of, we didn't really expect that that was gonna take place because nobody knows the hour or the day.

But as Jesus is talking here about all of this chaos that will be going on around the world, and the end doesn't come as a result of this, the end will not be all at once. So things are happening on a grand scale over a pretty broad period of time.

And even the destruction of the temple, that's not the end, right? So when he says the end will not be at once, well, that can't be in reference to Jerusalem or the destruction of the temple because the end did not happen then.

Now, certainly there was something that did come to an end, and that was sacrifice. All of the different Jewish rituals that were still going on for that 40 years between Jesus' ascension into heaven and the destruction of the temple in 80, 70, you still had all the Jewish practices that were taking place.

It took the destruction of the temple to put an end to the temple sacrifices, naturally. And then that spot has always been occupied ever since so that the temple can never be reconstructed. That is by God's providential hand that the temple could never stand there again.

You know, that's one of the things that for me, when I was a kid and I may have been tempted by my friends to disbelieve Christianity or to bend it a little bit or make it more palatable to unbelievers so they wouldn't be making fun of me so much, whenever I had those temptations when I was younger, not even just as a kid, but even a young adult, this was one of those things that for me was solid evidence that God's word is true and that he is in control right now.

This is not a world that God just created and set in motion and it's kind of running by a natural course without God's hand on it. He is active in the creation that he has made, preventing this thing from taking place.

Because surely if God had not been preventing it for 2000 years, you know the opportunity absolutely would have been taken at some point for somebody to rebuild the temple there. It's a pretty astonishing thing that for 2000 years now, I was gonna say 2000 plus years, but it hasn't been that long.

For 2000 years now, that temple has never been reconstructed. No opportunity has even been given for it to have been reconstructed. And you know there are people that would love to rebuild it if given the opportunity.

So the temple is gone, we're the temple now, the people of God in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, we are the temple. And what we see in this world is exactly what Jesus said would happen. Nation rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom, great earthquakes in various places, famines, pestilences, there will be terrors, there will be great signs from heaven.

But before all this, Jesus says, 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.

Now we know that happened. And this is even Luke foreshadowing the things that he's going to write about when he gets to his second book, and that's the book of Acts. You could really call Luke and Acts, first Luke and second Luke, because he's the one who has written both of these books.

The first one concerning the life and ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The second concerning then the sending out of his apostles to preach the message of the gospel that you just read in the gospel of Luke.

And so here Luke is foreshadowing the things that he's going to be writing about in his next book. You're going to be thrown in prison. You're going to be brought before kings and governors, the apostle Paul, brought before kings and governors for my name's sake.

This will be your opportunity to bear witness, Jesus says. Settle it therefore in your minds, not to meditate beforehand how to answer. So in other words, you could try to practice, you could try to prepare your answer, but nothing is really going to suffice for what you will need to say in that moment.

Instead, Jesus says in verse 15, I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. Even when the apostle Paul was standing before Agrippa in Acts chapter 26, as he was making these arguments before King Agrippa, he says, I'm not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, this is Festus and Agrippa together, but I am speaking true and rational words for the king knows about these things.

And to him, I speak boldly for I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice for this has not been done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.

And Agrippa said to Paul, in a short time, would you persuade me to become a Christian? And Paul said, whether short or long, I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am, except for these chains.

Because of course, Paul was in chains when he was brought before Agrippa and Festus. Paul desired that all would come to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. This was exactly what God said to Paul that he would do.

And he would become an apostle to the Gentiles. He said this to Ananias before Ananias went to Paul and laid hands on him and baptized him. And so Paul is fulfilling exactly what is being prophesied here in Luke chapter 21.

He was brought, he as an apostle was brought before kings and governors, and God gave him a spirit of wisdom to know what to say, which couldn't be contradicted. All Agrippa could say, are you trying to convert me to Christianity?

Couldn't contradict it. Paul even directly asked, he said, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe. And all Agrippa could say was this, in a short time, would you persuade me to be a Christian?

And he couldn't argue with it. He couldn't disprove it. He wasn't about to counteract with his own evidence. He just simply said, really? You're gonna try to make me a Christian right here? He certainly would have been thinking about those things even after Paul was gone.

Persecution, Martyrdom, and the Preservation of the Saints

Now, Jesus says this about those who are going to persecute you. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends. And some of you, they will put to death. The first martyr in the book of Acts is Stephen.

Now, Stephen wasn't one of the apostles. Stephen was a deacon, but he was the first martyr. Proclaimed the gospel there before the scribes and the Pharisees, and they had him dragged out of that place and stoned to death.

So he was the first martyr. But the first apostle who was killed was James, and he was killed by the sword. So we have that recorded for us in Acts that there were even apostles who died. Now, according to tradition, there are apostles who died that weren't recorded in the book of Acts.

Like Peter, for example. Peter was crucified upside down. That's according to tradition. We don't know that for sure because that's not in the Bible, though it does say Jesus said to Peter at the end of the gospel of John, kind of hinted at what manner in which he would die.

So yeah, those things are talked about in the New Testament, but the things that we know about the actual deaths of the apostles, those things are spoken about in church history by tradition rather than what we find in the pages of scripture.

All indications are that John lived to old age. So that's even at the end of the gospel of John, and we find that in church history as well, that John probably died in Ephesus, but he lived to old age.

He had been exiled, but he would not be persecuted, or yeah, he was persecuted. He would not be put to death, is what I was meaning to say. So even those that will kill you, that will mean you harm, will be those who are related to you, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake, verse 17 says, but not a hair of your head will perish.

They will put you to death. Some of you will be put to death, Jesus said. You will be harmed, beaten, persecuted, hated, but not a hair of your head will perish, meaning what? Christ would preserve them.

Though they would die in the body, they would live forever with God and glory, immediately be transferred to heaven to be with God and glory. Some of you have probably seen this since Votibakam died this past Thursday, but there's a sermon clip from just a few years ago of him saying, you're gonna hear one day, one day you're gonna hear a rumor that Votibakam is no more.

Don't believe it. Do not believe it. For though I die, yet I am alive forever with Christ. And amen, that is the truth for all of us. As said in 2 Timothy chapter four, when the apostle Paul knew that the time of his departure had come, he said, there is laid up for me the imperishable crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day.

And not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. So whether my friends, you go through life and you are persecuted for your faith, you should expect that people to hate you, especially because of your faith, but stand strong, be steadfast in this, for as Jesus says, by your endurance, you will gain your lives.

So hold fast to Christ. Though there are people who will hate you, you may even undergo persecution. We hold fast to the promises that we are given in Christ Jesus. Though the body will die, we will live forever with God.

Not a hair of your head will perish. So whether you are hated or you are put to death or you are persecuted in some way, regardless, all of us, no matter what happens to us, if you hold fast to Christ, the promise to us is the imperishable, unfading crown of righteousness, which the Lord will award to all who have loved his appearing.

Hold fast to Christ and all the promises of eternal life are ours. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we have read. And I pray that these things assure us, even in the midst of a fallen and sin sick world.

We see crazy things happening all the time. But Jesus said, these are the things that would take place. We hold fast to his promises. He prophesied that the temple would be destroyed and so it happened.

And he has also said that he is returning again and he will bring all of the dead to himself. The dead in Christ will rise first. We who are left will be caught up together with the Lord in the air. But in the meantime, should we die before Christ's return, our bodies may go into the ground, but our souls go to be with Jesus.

And Lord, I pray that that promise becomes our hope that we do not despair, though the body may die, though it may get sick and die, yet we continue to hold on to Christ Jesus, who rose from the dead and he will raise us as well with him.

It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Closing Announcements and Schedule

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.

On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on an Old Testament study, When We Understand the Text.