The Olivet Discourse
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning! Welcome to CHCC. We have quite a bit of reading to unpack this morning in Luke’s gospel. The passage of our focus is often called The Olivet Discourse. It is a prophetic word given by Jesus to His disciples. These prophecies cover the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, to the signs of the end times, and into His second coming.
Being prophetic in nature, it is a passage that stirs up great debate. One of the most respected New Testament scholars—Earle Ellis—states that this Olivet Discourse that is recorded in each of the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) “has been the subject of more scholarly debate than perhaps any other passage in the Gospels.”
We shouldn’t be surprised, since this is true of most apocalyptic literature and prophetic language. So if you come across a scholar or theologian that can perfectly summarize this section of Scripture, please let me know because I would love to read their work. But in the meantime, you are stuck with me and I will do the best that I can to unpack these words of Jesus, discuss what it meant for His disciples and the believers of the early church, and also what it means for us today.
I believe that anytime we study God’s Word—and especially so when it comes to prophetic texts—it does us much good to approach them with humility and an open willingness to admit that we may not have ALL the answers. The late, great G.K. Chesterton so pointedly stated:
It is only the fool who tries to get the heavens inside his head, and not unnaturally his head bursts. The wise man is content to get his head inside the heavens.
So let us not be fools this morning. Let us not try to get the whole of heaven inside our heads, but rather let us attempt to get our head inside the heavens.
If you have your Bibles with you this morning, please turn with me to Luke’s gospel, chapter 21 as we read the Olivet Discourse together this morning.
PRAY
PROPHECY 1: DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE
Luke 21:5-9
And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” And they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.”
The parallel of Mark’s gospel gives a little more detail to the disciples awe of the temple.
And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!”
The temple really was an ancient marvel! In fact, it was considered one of the great wonders of its day. It was still under construction during Jesus’ day, being rebuilt and expanded. Up to this point work on it had gone on for 46 years and it wouldn’t fully be completed until AD 63—just 7 years before its destruction at the hands of Rome.
The Jewish historian of the day, Josephus, wrote about its grandeur.
The exterior of the building wanted nothing that could astound either mind or eye. For, being covered on all sides with massive plates of gold, the sun was no sooner up than it radiated so fiery a flash that persons straining to look at it were compelled to avert their eyes, as from the solar rays. To approaching strangers it appeared from a distance like a snow-clad mountain; for all that was not overlaid with gold was of purest white. From its summit protruded sharp golden spikes to prevent birds from settling upon and polluting the roof. Some of the stones in the building were forty-five cubits in length, five in height and six in breadth.
The foundations stones were the size of boxcars! But the sad prophetic reality is that it would not last. Initially, when General Titus conquered Jerusalem he ordered that the temple would remain untouched. However, one of his soldiers set fire to it and it eventually all came down. Due to greed, many of the soldiers began to take apart the temple stone by stone in an attempt to collect any of the gold they could.
Naturally, upon hearing of such a terrible event happening, the disciples ask Jesus, “When will these things be, and what will be the signs when these things are about to take place?”
This question brings an answer from Jesus that goes beyond just the destruction of the temple, but also of wars and persecution, as well as His return. As we see, His answer also doesn’t give us an exact date but signs to look for in order that the people will be prepared. Four things stand out that Jesus tells them that will come about but will not bring with it the end times.
The first is false teachers. Luke 21:8 “And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them.”
The second is wars. Luke 21:9 “And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.””
The third is catastrophes. Luke 21:10–11a “Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences.
The fourth is cosmic signs. Luke 21:11b And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.”
These are signs we have seen since Jesus’ ascension into heaven. And I think it becomes quite easy to believe the end is at hand when we personally experience such things. But wars, for example, have always been on this earth. Will Durant wrote:
War is one of the constants of history, and has not diminished with civilization and democracy. In the last 3,421 years of recorded history only 268 have seen no war.
And that is not even taking into account unrecorded history! The Jewish people especially have felt the ravages of war throughout the generations. When one is so personally touched by war it is very easy to think apocalyptically. I imagine this is how many of the Jews and Christians of Europe thought during WW2.
I think natural disasters have a very similar impact on our immediate thinking as well. We see tsunamis ravage coastal cities. Hurricanes rampage entire states. Tornados, earthquakes. You name it. The same was true with the people of Christ’s day. In the years between Jesus’ death and the destruction of the temple there was a severe earthquake in Laodicea. Mount Vesuvius destroyed the city of Pompeii and Rome itself suffered from a terrible famine. These events the early church faced did not dictate that the end was upon them.
Throw in “cosmic signs” and we can have a whole group of false teachers coming out of the woodwork proclaiming the end is at hand.
In Matthew’s parallel account it records for us a little more detail.
And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. Not the delivery itself, but the beginning. I think the most important words from Jesus here for us to heed come in verse 8. “See that you are not led astray.”
Jesus then gives fair warning to His followers; before all of these things take place, something else will happen to you. Namely, persecution.
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.
I love that in the midst of the trials of persecution, Jesus gives purpose to His followers. He says to them, “This will be your opportunity to bear witness.” Yes, it will be hard. Yes, there will be pain and suffering. Yes, it will require sacrifice. But it will also be your opportunity to bear witness! This would be the case from the very get go. Peter and John are arrested and stand before the Sanhedrin for healing a man in the name of Jesus and teaching and preaching the name of Jesus. I want to read you their response—their opportunity to bear witness.
On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
Also, ironically, for the disciples and the early church, their persecution would be a catalyst for the dispersion of the gospel across the known world. In their fleeing of the area, they would go on to bring the gospel to all the ends of the earth.
Persecution is one of the realities of laying our lives down to follow after Christ. Now we live in a country that may feel a little more animosity and hatred towards Christians than in the past, but it is still nothing like very oppressive countries. But persecution can take on different forms. It isn’t always an arrest. It isn’t always the sword. Sometimes the persecution may hit much closer to home. It may be the disintegration of familial relationships. It may be the loss of close friends.
As on author put it: “The radical commitment that the gospel demands can disrupt even the most natural and sacred human relationships.”
Jesus warned us of this not only here in Luke 20 but also in Matthew 10.
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.
The warning is heavy, but I am grateful and appreciative that Jesus didn’t mince words. He gives us a clear reality that it won’t be easy. The kicker is the transparent words of versse 17.
You will be hated by all for my name’s sake.
Christians will be hated because of their allegiance to Jesus. They will be hated because they have abandoned the things of this world for the things of God.
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
As Charles Spurgeon so aptly put it:
He who hates truth soon hates its advocate.
Charles Spurgeon
To be hated by the world because of Jesus is a reality we must be aware of. But what did Jesus mean in verse 18? It seems to speak counter to verse 16 where He says, “Some of you they will put to death.” But verse 18 says different, so it seems.
But not a hair of your head will perish.
Jesus speaks spiritually here. Even though their bodies would die, their souls lived on in eternity with God.
Then Jesus gives His disciples, and us in turn, great encouragement.
By your endurance you will gain your lives.
Again, this is spiritual language. The physical life is temporal for all of us. But through endurance of faith we obtain salvation. I really like the NKJV’s translation of this verse. It says,
By your patience possess your souls.
Rather than be chopped down by persecution, we are to persevere, to endure, to stand firm. This exhortation from Jesus is a great reminder to us that the Christian faith isn’t a sprint but a marathon.
JESUS FORETELLS JERUSALEM’S DESTRUCTION
Next, Jesus warns of Jerusalem’s coming destruction.
“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.
To fully appreciate the word “desolation” found in verse 20, we need to look at Mark’s parallel account.
“But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Here it says the “abomination of desolation.” This is a phrase taken directly out of Daniel’s prophecy. As R. Kent Hughes explains:
This is a quotation from Daniel 9:27 and 11:31 that described a coming figure who would desecrate the temple and abolish the daily sacrifices there. It meant an abomination so detestable that it would cause the temple to be abandoned by the people of God and provoke desolation.
So this is an event that had already taken place 150 years prior when a man by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes conquered Jerusalem and attempted to force the Jewish people into a Hellenistic life. He did not allow them to circumcise their children or offer sacrifices according to the Law. Instead he forced them to sacrifice pigs which were deemed unclean by the Law. What is more, Antiochus Epiphanes erected a statue of a pagan god (thought to be Zeus) in the midst of the temple upon the altar of burnt offering.
Sadly, a similar history would repeat and Jesus gives warning to His followers. He tells them that when you see the armies of Rome begin to surround the city, flee! Get out of there! Desolation is coming once again.
When this moment took place, the historian Josephus described the event to look like swimmers abandoning a sinking ship.
These horrors prophesied by Jesus here would come to pass in AD 70. Those trapped inside the city faced a horrible end to their lives. Starvation for many as the army surrounded Jerusalem and waited them out. Then the destruction of the temple that we talked about earlier.
This event would symbolize the “times of the Gentiles” that Jesus speaks of in verse 24. A partial hardening will come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles takes place.
A partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
“and this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”
As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
This time of the Gentiles will end at Christ’s return, which is exactly where Jesus turns to next.
THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN
“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
There are many passages in the Old Testament that echo Christ’s words here and we don’t have time to delve into all of them. But Joel’s prophecy is a great one here.
“And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
Peter would also write of it in His second letter.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
While we discussed earlier that not every single natural disaster or cosmic sign points to the end of times, Jesus does give us what to look for. As R. Kent Hughes states:
The end will feature unnatural disasters. Cosmic portents—quakes in the heavens, terrestrial catastrophes, tidal disturbances, chaos—all these are part of his final appearing. This is apocalyptic language for violent change in the natural order and in human life. The result will be widespread despair and apprehension.
But the greatest sign will be “the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” This is the very Jesus—the son of Man as prophesied in Daniel 7:13-14. What a frightful and awesome and beautiful moment this will be. Theologian David Gooding explains:
As surely as men standing in Jerusalem once saw him slowly descending the Mount of Olives and then ascending the opposite hill into the city, so surely shall the world one day see the Son of man descending the heavens. Not then shall he come as the meek and lowly: he shall come with power and great glory. Not then shall he come riding on [the foal of a donkey]: he shall come in a cloud, the emblematic carriage of Deity. Not then shall he have to borrow a donkey: then his advance preparations shall be the roaring of the sea and the shaking of the powers of the heavens.
Jesus gives us instruction for when these things begin to take place. “Straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” What a great visual for the command to keep our eyes fixated towards Heaven. So when will this happen? We aren’t given an exact time, but rather a parable.
And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Some have misunderstood verse 32. When he says “this generation,” He isn’t talking about His generation with the disciples. “This generation” means the generation that will experience His return. The generation of the end times will see all these things fulfilled.
As the late John MacArthur explains:
It seems best to interpret Christ’s words as a reference to the generation alive at the time when those final hard labor pains begin. This would fit with the lesson of the fig tree, which stresses the short span of time in which these things will occur.
And just as Jesus’ words of the temple and Jerusalem came to pass, we can be sure these words of His return will also come to pass in His perfect timing. So we must be ready. In fact, Jesus gives us some sound advice to listen to.
WATCH YOURSELVES
“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.
This is a call for vigilance and it is universal. It was meant for His disciples, it was meant for the early church, it was meant for the reformation age, it is meant for our age, and every age in between. Jesus issues this call in the very place His return will take place. Beautifully poetic.
Will His coming be today? I sure hope so. But if not, it could be here tomorrow, or in a month, or a decade, or a generation. We do not know, but we must watch ourselves and not be weighed down.
May we not live in such a way that we are numb to this reality. Do not allow the voices of this world to leave you flat footed to His return. Because all of life is moving towards its Creator.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
So we “straighten up and raise our heads.” Why? Paul tells us in his letter to Titus.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
As believers what a beautiful future awaits us! And it can’t get here soon enough.
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
Keep looking up!
PRAY/COMMUNION
