Wednesday, July 13, 2022 PM

All right, let's open our Bible and we will read. Thank you for the time you would, and they're singing, are greatly honored and glorified to receive the praise of these children. We pray that you would give them joy and ability.

Time tonight in your word that you would make it profitable to our hearts, that you would clarify matters in our mind, and that you would hone our affections to be upon Christ, and we pray that she would guide us by your Holy Spirit in all that we pray for tonight, that we would intercede for one another and for others, according to your will and for your glory.

We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Okay, so Luke chapter 21, and we begin in verse 20. Jesus is speaking to his disciples, answering some questions they have that were generated by his prophecy that the temple would be thoroughly destroyed.

Jerusalem Surrounded by Armies and the Desolation of the Temple

So at verse 20, he says, "'But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let not those who are in the country enter her.

For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days. For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people.

And they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the time to the Gentiles are fulfilled. And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon and in the stars.

And on the earth, distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth. For the power and great glory.

Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near. Then he spoke to them a parable. Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near.

So you also when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. Assuredly I say to you this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away.

But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and cares of this life. And that day come upon you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.

Watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the son of man. And in the daytime he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet.

Then early in the morning, all the people came to him in the temple to hear him. So as we look at this passage, we've already established the context in which Jesus has told several parables about the coming judgment upon the covenant-breaking religious Jews who were the leaders.

And Jesus has told several parables in which these unfaithful stewards, or the metaphor is in the parable, that they suffer judgment. And another people are raised up, perhaps surprisingly, and these will do the work that will produce the fruit.

And these will be a different type of fruit. Jesus has also gone and he has cleansed the temple. And he has declared that the temple will be destroyed. And his disciples want to know when and what will be the sign of this about to take place.

And Jesus says, well, it's going to happen within this generation. And here's the sign of it. You'll know it's near when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies. So when you see that, you get out of Judea.

You go to the mountains. Don't do what you want to do. But rather, I get out of Judea and go to the mountains and you'll be okay. His disciples. Afraid, he knows that they're going to be unsettled. And who wouldn't be?

That is slated for judgment. And so he has warned them not to fear, not to be, and reports and so on, and to not be deceived and be led astray after he has just said that Jerusalem will indeed be trampled and captured and destroyed and so on.

And then we come to verse 25. And again, he's what they're going to have to go through. And he wants them to share these words with those that they make disciples of. So verse 25, stars and on the earth distress with a sea and the waves roaring men's hearts, failing them from fear.

And the expectation of the heavens will be shaken. To borrow the phrase from R .C. But there were, for many of the ancients, this was very important. For example, earlier in Nero's reign, comet came through and people began to say, oh, that's it for Nero.

Into the throne is going to take his place. We bet he'll, they were saying, I bet, you know, he'll get assassinated and one of his other family members will take over. Well, Nero believed it. Began killing all of his family members as Thor takes the throne.

A little bit later on, another one he believed was no way out. But you know, when you have an unstable fire tends to be a little unstable, right? Why y 'all laughing? Also, right about this time when, this was a massive civil war, by the way, when the Jews empire and it was all over, lived throughout the Roman empire.

Remember the saying in Acts 15, that there wasn't hardly a city on a weekly basis. And so the Jews were all over throughout and how would they believe? That's bad when you go through four emperors, kinds of people, two of the Roman historians of the era said we despaired of the Republic or the empire.

We were despaired of, we didn't think we were going to make it through. There's going to be men fainting from fear. There's going to be perplexity, distress of nations. There's going to be the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

We've talked about in other contexts throughout the Old Testament. And of course, in our study of the Olivet discourse, how sun, moon and stars are used as metaphors for governing authorities. A metaphor that is rooted in Genesis one, where God said he made the stars and the sun and the moon to govern, to govern the day and to govern the night.

And past that point, stars and moon and sun, were used as metaphors of governing authorities. And so when Egypt goes down, the sun goes black, the moon turns into blood, stars fall out of the sky. You know, it's the end of the world for Egypt, all the heavenly powers crash.

Okay, the same thing happens with Assyria and Edom and Babylon and even Israel in 586 BC. So it's an expression that was well established in the scripture, well known by the Jewish audience to whom Jesus is speaking.

This would be a familiar metaphor for them. And we have metaphors like that today that would be nothing to the Jews of the ancient days. If somebody says ground zero, we all kind of have an idea of what that means.

They wouldn't. When they say the stars are falling out of the sky and the sun goes dark and the moon turns to blood, they knew what that means. And we're left with, you know, visions of sci-fi movies.

But it meant that the governing authorities are dead. And so Jesus is saying this is gonna happen, there's gonna be a shakeup of authorities. Now, why is he telling them that that's going to happen? Well, it makes good sense as he's trying to pastor his followers.

This is going to happen. And because he tells them in advance, they don't have to be afraid. Well, Jesus said this was going to happen. This was going to come to pass. It's all part of the plan. It's all part of what God is up to, okay?

Now, you can see that he's encouraging them because he's telling them that this is not some random event where everything's out of control. But in fact, he tells them two things that are very encouraging to them, that they are to keep in mind while all of this chaos is happening, while empires are being overturned and emperors are falling and so on and so forth.

Here's two things to be encouraged by. Verse 27 is the first encouragement. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now, just because in verse 32, verse 32 says, "'Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place.'".

The other two passages in Matthew and Mark say the very same thing. So this vision of the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory is going to happen within their generation. Now, that doesn't mean that's the only time that Christ is going to come in power and great glory in the clouds, okay?

Because he already did upon Egypt, okay? You go back and you read Isaiah of the destruction of Egypt. The Lord comes in the clouds with great glory and power and he devastates Egypt, okay? And there's yet another day ahead of us where the Lord's going to come in power and great glory and in judgment and set all things right.

You see, when God shows up to judge, he shows up in a certain way and we read about it time and time again throughout the Old Testament, often in the Psalms, often in the prophets. We read about how when God shows up to judge, he shows up in power and great glory in the clouds.

And so again, this is a reminder that when nations are in a tumult and world leaders fail and when disaster strikes, that there's somebody in charge of the whole thing and he is passing judgment, right?

The media would have us believe that all the disaster and the tumult of the world is because of men and mother nature, okay? And that's who we're supposed to fear, right? When there's a famine or there's economic distress or there's war or there's political instability, when the financial markets tank and so on, what is the narrative that we're told time and again?

It's so-and-so's fault, right? Oh no, no, no, it's so-and-so's fault. And they point at everybody and that's all there is. Or they say, well, it's nobody's fault really, there's just too many of us and Gaia's mad at us and so she's punishing us.

Scripture says that God is very involved in his creation and that all authority has been given to Christ in heaven and on earth. And that the Lord has installed his anointed one, his Messiah, in the ruling place and that all the nations have been given to him as an inheritance and he's busy busting clay pots with a rod of iron.

And we've seen this throughout history. When you read accounts of history, how often is there some empire that raises up and is strong and becomes very boastful and arrogant and is full of evil, full of violence and so on.

All of a sudden, they just get busted like a clay pot and it happens again and again and again. And people trying to sell books and sell advertisement through their videos and so on and so forth will tell you, I have the secret, I know what's happening.

And they'll lay out some sort of a programmatic thing and saying, if we could just tweak the numbers and change the patterns or if we could just understand all of these formulas. But what they're missing is the fact that Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning.

He's ruling and reigning. Now, here's what he's saying. The son of man, again, the title from Daniel chapter seven. And when the son of man is seen in the clouds of heaven, it's because he has all authority.

And this is the, when he shows up in the clouds, it means that he's judging. So he says, that's what's going to happen. It's gonna be a big judgment. And first, that's encouragement number one. All this tumult is happening.

Well, first of all, be encouraged. It's Jesus Christ who's judging. And you think about who he is, his perfect character, how righteous he is, how faithful he is, how he always says the truth. He is the truth.

Think about how much he loves his sheep loves his sheep as a good shepherd. When you think about how much he rejoices in his heavenly father, and how he has sent forth the Holy Spirit and all the promises that he has made.

I don't want anybody else. I don't want anybody else on the throne on which from which to judge all men and all nations. What a perfect judge to wield the rod of iron. Praise the Lord. So that's encouragement number one.

Encouragement number two, in verse 28, he says, now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near. So he's, now their question, let's go back and look at their question.

And then now look how he's wrapping up his answer. So their question is back in verse seven, after he said that the temple's gonna be destroyed, verse seven. So they asked him saying, teacher, but when will these things be?

And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place? Now, the reason why they're wanting to know the timing of it all is because they're upset. It isn't like a mild interest. Like, oh, that's very interesting.

You know, this is world shattering for them. And they want to know when this is going to happen because they want to be ready. And so he tells them, you know, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, get out of Judea, get out of Jerusalem.

And he says, there's going to be all kinds of tumult in the world. The government, the governmental authorities are gonna be all over the place. They're going to be shifting back and forth. There's gonna be upheavals in the authority structures in the known world.

And all that, all that took place. But he says, now, when you see, when these things begin to happen, when these things all begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, all right? Why is he saying that?

Look up and lift up your heads. Why? Because this is the universal human posture of when things go bad, right? You can read the imagery in the Old Testament about how do people, what is the posture of people who are beaten, defeated, and hopeless?

It's this, all right? It's still this today in our culture, right? This is, I don't know of any human culture where when things are going terrible, they're like this, you know? That's just natural. Jesus says, when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near.

Now, Jesus is saying, don't think that this is a sign that everything's going to fail. This is the essential, this is an essential judgment that has to come to pass for things that are better yet to come.

There is a passage in Daniel that we went through where it talked about, you know, these very same tumultuous times coming to pass, but wait so many days, and how blessed are you who endure this many days?

Because the judgment, the judgment that Christ has planned is temporary. The judgment that he has fashioned is limited. And throughout the scriptures, the pattern that we see is that God brings about his salvation through judgment.

God brings about his salvation through judgment. And so there was a judgment upon the Egyptians, 10 plagues, right? The Israelites weren't very kindly looked upon or treated by the Egyptians suffering from those 10 plagues.

But through the judgment, and after the judgment came the deliverance of his people, right? The judgment that God brought upon the Egyptians upon the Canaanites brought about the salvation of the deliverance of the promised land into the hands of his people.

This pattern continues throughout the scriptures, no less than the judgment that God poured out upon his own son to bring about the salvation of countless sinners. So here, Jesus is saying there's a necessary judgment, but don't let that bring you into despair.

Get your head up. Better things are coming. There is hope because he says, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near, verse 31. That means, it's like, so he gives them an example, verse 29.

Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they're already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. So what he's saying to them is like, all this is gonna happen within this generation, he tells them.

Now, when you see these things happening, don't be, with your heads down, scared, you know, it's over, it's over, and there's no hope left. He says, no, no, these are just blossoms, fig blossoms. You know, you're not gonna be depressed over a bunch of fig blossoms, are you?

Did fig blossoms ever hurt anybody? He's saying, think of it like, when you look at trees in the spring blossoming out, one of the most pretty and peaceful things you've ever seen. And that's the metaphor Jesus uses, that he wants to stick in their minds when the whole world is falling apart.

He's like, fig blossoms. Okay, when you see the fig blossoms, you know the fruit, the harvest is coming. When you see all this happening, know that there's good ahead, there's a harvest coming. And he says, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.

How near? Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. Meaning that the abolishment of the old covenant by judgment, they got it promised in Deuteronomy, against the covenant breakers.

But doing away of that, all the more manifests the new covenant, where there's no more shadows, just the substance. No more types, the actual reality. Where in the kingdom of God comes into its full form, into its most clear form, is when the old covenant is done away with.

He says, this is good news. And I would say that the explosion of Christianity in the first and second and third, fourth century and so on was indeed a great blessing to those to whom the gospel came.

Watchfulness, Prayer, and Living in Light of Christ's Coming

Now verse 34, he says, take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.

Watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the son of man. So he is saying, look, I've told you now, you've asked what the sign is when these things are about to take place.

I've told you the sign, but you have to pay attention. You have to pay attention, and given the weight of my instructions, that should change the way you live so that you don't get caught up in things that will keep you from living in obedience to what I have told you to do.

The priorities of Christ stand clearly before us in light of his coming, and there is a coming ahead of us. There was a coming ahead of them in terms of the judgment, but for them and for us, there is a coming yet where Christ is going to return, just like we talked about in Acts chapter one, verses nine through 11.

And when he comes, he is promised to return. He promised us in John five and Matthew 25 that he's going to set everything into its proper perspective, and everything's going to be weighed according to the truth of God, and everything is going to be shown its true value.

And we're also told in other places that we do not have a corner or a command on when he's going to come back, okay? So we should not be living in assumptions, selfish assumptions of, I'll just live however pleases me, right?

We should be living with Christ's values and assuming we ought to be living for him, okay? Verses 37 through 38, and we'll close. And in the daytime, he was teaching in the temple, but at night, he went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet, and then early in the morning, all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.

So just an observation, Jesus is teaching, he is not hiding what he is saying, he's giving instruction about judgment. What is he doing in the days just prior to the Passover? What is he doing in the days and nights just prior to the Lord's, the Last Supper in the upper room, and the night of betrayal, and trial, and crucifixion?

What is he doing? He's in the temple teaching how the temple is going to be destroyed. He's in the temple talking about how God's judgment is about to fall, is going to fall upon the tenets of the old covenant.

And the people are listening to him, they're gathering around him, he's got a huge audience. Remember, the temple is a huge place, this is a massive audience, and they're listening to him, and every night he goes out to the Mount of Olivet to rest and come back.

So, that's why the very next section in Luke's story is about a plot to kill Jesus. So that makes sense in the context. All right, any questions or thoughts before we close our time tonight? Yes.

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