Jesus teaches about giving
21
📚And he looked up, and saw the rich men putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 📚And he also saw a certain poor widow putting in it two small copper coins.3 📚And he said, “I tell you the truth: This poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4 📚For all these have put money into God’s offerings out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had on which to live”.
Jesus reveals the future
5 📚And as some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, he said, 6 📚“As for these things you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left on another. They will all be thrown down”.
7 📚And 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?”
8 📚And he said, “Watch out that you are not deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am Christ’ and, ‘The time draws near.’ Therefore, do not go after them.
21:8 They will claim that they are Christ and that the end of this age is at hand.⚜
9 📚But when you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must first take place, but the end is not to come immediately”.
10 📚Then said he to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, 11 📚and there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines, and plagues. And there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.
12 📚“But before all these things, they will seize you and persecute you, handing you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and bringing you before kings and rulers for my name’s sake. 13 📚And this will turn out to you as an opportunity to give testimony. 14 📚Therefore, settle it in your hearts not to imagine beforehand what answer you will give. 15 📚For I will give you a mouth to speak and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to contradict or resist.
16 📚“And you will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. And they will put some of you to death, 17 📚and you will be hated by all men for my name’s sake. 18 📚But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 📚In your patient endurance possess your souls.
20 📚“And when you see Jerusalem surrounded with armies, then know that its desolation is near. 21 📚Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city go out, and let those who are in the country not enter it. 22 📚For those are the days of vengeance, so that all things which have been written 📖 might be fulfilled. 23 📚But woe to those with child and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.
24 📚“And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led away as captives to all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
21:20-24 Matt 24:15-21 is similar. But in Matthew the events begin with “the abomination of desolation”, and issue in the “great tribulation” (v 21). And immediately after that Christ returns to earth (Matt 24:29-30). But here in Luke the events begin with armies surrounding Jerusalem and issue in the captivity of the Jews and the “times of the Gentiles”. In other words, Matthew records events that will take place at the end of this age, but Luke wrote of those connected with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD (see Luke 19:41-44). The one is a small picture of the other.⚜
21:24 In Old Testament days from Abraham onward, and during Christ’s lifetime on earth, Israel was God’s special nation, the channel of His word, the center of His spiritual dealings, teaching and revelation on earth. After Israel rejected Christ God turned to the other nations of earth (the Gentiles) – Matt 21:43; 28:18-20; Acts 28:28; Rom 11:11-14. The “times of the Gentiles” (now more than 1900 years). They will end with Christ’s second coming. As of 1967 Jerusalem is in the hands of Israel, but once again Gentile power will take control of it and trample it underfoot – Rev 11:2; Zech 14:2-4.⚜
25 📚“And there will be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth distress among nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring,
21:25 With this verse the whole of the “times of the Gentiles” is passed over and the end of this age is brought before us. This is clear from the words of v 27 which connects those events with Christ’s coming in glory. Notes at Matt 24:29.⚜
26 📚men’s hearts fainting in fear and in expectation of what is coming on the earth. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
27 📚“And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 📚And when these things begin to take place, then look up and raise your heads, for your redemption 📖 is drawing near”.
21:28 Matt 24:33. Believers living at the very end of the age will be able to recognize that the end is near.⚜
29 📚And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. 30 📚As soon as they put forth leaves, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. 31 📚In the same way, when you see these things take place, know that the kingdom of God 📖 is near.
32 📚“Truly I say to you, this generation 📖 will not pass away, until everything is fulfilled. 33 📚Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
34 📚“So watch yourselves, so that your hearts will not be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that day come on you unexpectedly. 35 📚For it will come like a trap on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 📚Therefore watch, and pray always, so that you may be counted worthy to escape all those things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of man”.
21:5-36 See Matt 24:1-44; Mark 13:1-27. In all three Gospels (Matthew chapter 24; Mark chapter 13; Luke chapter 21) the Lord Jesus foretold events concerning Jerusalem in answer to His disciples’ questions. It should be noted that in Matt 24:3 there is a three fold question, but in Mark 13:4 and Luke 21:7 the question has to do only with the destruction of Jerusalem. It seems that in Luke especially we have more spoken of that event which took place in 70 AD, and in Matthew we have more concerning the second coming of Christ and the end of this age.⚜
21:34-36 These instructions are suited both to those living before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and to those living at the end of this age. But since He mentions the “whole earth” (v 35) He probably refers to the end of this age. In Matthew He compares the end time with the days of Noah (Matt 24:37-39).⚜
21:36 These words also seem to fit both the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and the time of God’s wrath coming on the earth at the end of this age (Revelation chapters 15,16). Those who escape will not be those who are ignorant and careless and prayerless. If we wish to stand before Him without shame and condemnation we must abide in Him (1 John 2:28).⚜
37 📚And in the daytime he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out and stayed on the mount that is called the Mount of Olives. 38 📚And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.
21:37-38 This is how the Lord Jesus spent the final few days of His life on earth.⚜