Luke 21:23
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-Let me invite you to...
...turn in your Bibles back to Luke 21.
We’re going to be continuing...
Our study of the Olivet Discourse this morning...
And with that...
Our study of “The Abomination of Desolation”
So far, we’ve focused on:
Its Identity
(what event it was referring to)
Its Imperative
(What God’s people were commanded to do in response to it)
And today, we’re going to...
...keep up our Baptist alliteration...
...and focus on the descriptions...
...of its intensity in Verse 23.
And we may have to...
...carry that over into next week...
...because there’s a lot of...
...additional material in Matthew and Mark.
-So, let’s get going!
Luke 21 beginning in Verse 20.
This is His Holy Word.
20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near.
21 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,
22 for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.
23 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.
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Pray
-I’m hoping that by now...
...most of you were here...
...for at least ONE...
...of the last two sermons in Luke 21...
Because we spent a lot of time...
...trying to positively identify...
...what specific event...
...Jesus was referring to in Verse 20...
And we don’t have time...
...to go over all of that again.
But… I will remind you, that...
. . . Luke (in Verse 20) was referring to...
...the same thing that Matthew and Mark...
...referred to as:
The Abomination of Desolation
Remember how they had lined up?
14 “But when you see the abomination of desolation...
Flee!!!!
(Matthew’s was basically the same.)
15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation...
16 then let those who are in Judea flee...
Well, once again...
Luke’s construction was the exact same...
With the only difference being...
...that Luke explained...
...what the Abomination of Desolation was going to be...
...in very simple terms:
20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near.
21 Then let those who are in Judea flee...
Same narrative flow.
Same response commanded:
Forsake the City
Forsake the Temple
Forsake the Holy Land completely
Don’t look to them for salvation...
Instead:
21 . . . flee to the mountains…
Do you remember why?
22 for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.
God was about to...
...adjudicate the terms of the Old Covenant.
Remember?
15 if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant,
16 then I will do this to you . . .
25 ...I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute vengeance for the covenant...
31 And I will lay your cities waste and will make your sanctuaries desolate...
33 And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.
These were promises...
...that God had made to Israel too!
And what was the ultimate covenant transgression?
Rejecting the Very Son of God!
That’s why...
The city
The temple
The land
The people
...were about to be forsaken!
And Christ’s message to His people...
...had been essentially this:
4 . . . “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues;
5 for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
And finally, remember this:
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 A Way of Escape
The first church in Jerusalem remembered the words of Jesus; when they saw the advance of the Roman legions, they knew their city’s desolation was drawing near.
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 A Way of Escape
According to Eusebius, they recognized this as the signal that Jesus had prophesied, they gathered their belongings, and they fled across the Jordan River to find refuge in the city of Pella.
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 A Way of Escape
Therefore, nearly all of the Christians who lived in Jerusalem escaped before the city fell
-Now, Verse 23 takes us back...
...to a consideration of...
...what Jesus had predicted beforehand...
...about the nature of those days:
First, he says:
23 Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! . . .
Let’s be clear… what days?
22 for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.
Those days of vengeance where:
20 “...you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies . . . its desolation has come near.
Also known as:
14 “But when you see the abomination of desolation...
Those days!
Concerning those days, Jesus says:
23 Alas...!
Do you know what that word is?
Most translations:
23 “Woe...
That is an indication of...
Lexham Research Lexicon of the Greek New Testament οὐαί
οὐαί (ouai)
1.
(Here, it seems clearly to be...
...an interjection of grief.)
And it ought to remind us, that...
Though Jesus is committed to...
...the justice of God...
...in the prosecution of the Covenant...
He remains grieved for...
...and compassionate toward...
Those who will suffer as a consequence of it.
He doesn’t delight in their suffering!
He appears to be echoing...
...the same posture of heart...
That He had back in...
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
38 See, your house is left to you desolate.
Even in His judgments...
He’s sympathetic and compassionate!
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Amen?
-Alright, with that being recognized...
Let’s read on:
His compassion has a particular focus:
23 Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!
Now, why them in particular?
Well, it’s true that...
...they are some of the most vulnerable...
...members of society...
...during that time of their lives...
But there’s more to it than that, here.
Here, the “woe” for them...
...is concerning the hardships...
...associated with the command in Verse 21:
21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains...
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That’s going to be...
...especially difficult to do...
If you’re about to give birth
If you’ve just given birth
You have a newborn baby to care for.
BTW, some people think that...
...this is why Paul said what he said, in...
26 I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is.
27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.
(i.e., it might be wise to wait until this is all over)
(There’s no telling how it may effect...
...even the families in Corinth)
Whether or not...
...that’s what Paul had in mind there...
It’s pretty clear that...
...Verse 23 in our text...
...was meant to be a “Travel Advisory.”
Matthew and Mark even include this:
20 Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.
Do you see the similarities?
Both of those would make travelling...
Out of Israel
Across the Jordan
Through wilderness regions
Into a foreign land
...all the more difficult.
So, clearly, the connotation of travelling...
...is in the foreground here.
But, we also need to recognize...
...that our text goes...
...much deeper than that in the background.
Watch:
23 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.
-Now, we’re going to...
...come back to that in a minute.
For now, we need to...
...turn over to Matthew 24.
Because it’s at this point in the narrative...
That Matthew records this:
21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
22 And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved...
Now, there’s a lot in that.
We won’t even get to it all today!
First of all, Jesus says:
21 For then there will be . . . tribulation...
“at that time”
Mark spells it out:
19 For in those days there will be . . . tribulation...
“The Abomination of Desolation”
“Jerusalem surrounded by armies”
(Those days)
Now, here’s what I...
...intentionally left out of that:
The description of the intensity...
...of that tribulation:
Matthew actually inserts the word...
21 For then there will be great tribulation...
(no definite article here)
(That only occurs in Revelation 7)
Mark doesn’t use the word “great” at all…
But look at what he does say:
19 For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be.
And they both include...
...some variation of this statement:
20 And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved...
Does that sound pretty rough?
-Now, there’s obviously a lot...
...that we need to discuss in those statements.
(And I’m sure that...
...we will have to revisit them next week as well)
First, how should we understand that description...
...of this time as...
...a time of unmatched suffering?
21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
If we take that at face value...
...without a consideration of...
...any other statements in the Bible...
It would lead us to conclude:
The time of tribulation in view...
The suffering that it will bring...
Would be...
Worse than any other suffering...
That ever came before it...
Will ever come again in the future.
That would include:
Noah’s flood!
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah!
The Bubonic Plague
The Spanish Flu
World War 2
The Holocaust??? (More on that later?)
I think this is one of...
...the primary reasons why...
...we tend to assume that...
...this can’t be referring to...
What happened/began in 70 A.D.
Or...
Anything that has already happened/begun.
The interpretive problem...
...that that creates for us, is...
...that we’ve already seen...
...that this time of trouble...
...had to have begun in the First Century!
(Or else Luke was talking about...
...something different than Matthew and Mark)
-So, how do we solve that dilemma?
Well, first we have to recognize...
...that Jesus was using...
A pretty common Jewish rhetorical device
And was not meant to be...
A mathematical statement!
Let me show you a few examples:
18 Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.
Now, that was a true statement!
But, He didn’t intend for them...
… to calculate the amount that fell...
...and compare it to all of their historical records.
The point was:
This was no normal phenomenon
This was an act of God.
This was a Divine judgment.
Not to be paralleled by anything that would ever naturally occur!
Watch:
24 There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
Clearly, an act of God!
Similarly:
14 The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again.
No one could say:
“this just happened naturally”
“just a coincidence”
6 There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again.
This was the Judgment of Almighty God
Nothing that men can do...
...will ever compare to it!
So, that’s the first thing...
...that we need to recognize.
-But, we also need to be aware...
...that the statement in our text...
...was being spoken...
Within a particular covenant framework
With a particular scope in mind
Let me show you what I mean.
Watch how that language...
...is used in:
5 “Thus says the Lord God: This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the center of the nations...
6 And she has rebelled...
8 therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, am against you. And I will execute judgments in your midst...
9 And because of all your abominations I will do with you what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again.
10 Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments on you, and any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds...
12 A third part of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst; a third part shall fall by the sword all around you; and a third part I will scatter to all the winds and will unsheathe the sword after them.
That’s 3/3rds!
14 Moreover, I will make you a desolation...
See the similarities?
That appears to have happened in 586 B.C.
-Here’s what’s interesting:
While that tribulation...
...was in the midst of being fulfilled...
The prophet Daniel predicted this:
(It’s a hint for later)
1 “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.
(Remember that for next week)
Do you see all of the tensions...
...that are created by all of this...
Especially when we...
...adopt some of the...
...the popular interpretations of it today?
-Well, I believe that there is...
...a simple solution to this paradox...
...that is similar to the solution that we saw...
...to the mystery of “The Abomination of Desolation.”
Here too... Matthew (in particular) uses...
...distinctly Jewish rhetorical language:
21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
19 For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be.
(And we gentiles consider the flood...
...and scratch our heads!)
But here again, Luke...
...spells it out clearly...
...for his gentile friend, Theophilus:
(I sure am grateful that they were friends!)
23 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.
Do you see what I’m talking about there?
23 ...there will be great distress upon the earth...
Literally: “great pressure”
Think: the squeezing of a grape.
But, here’s the thing:
Most translations render that word “earth” as...
23 ...there will be great distress upon the land...
What land?
The Holy Land!
The Land of Israel/Judah!
Also, notice that he specifies:
23 ...there will be great . . . wrath against this people.
What People?
The Jewish People
The People of the Old Covenant.
Again:
21 … such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
And again:
22 And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved...
It doesn’t get any more severe than that!
And again, why such a climax now?
22 ...these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.
Again, this whole thing signals...
That the final adjudication...
...of the terms of the Old Covenant...
...had finally come!
Here’s what happened:
The Millennium The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem
The climax came in the year 70 A. D., at Passover time with people from all over the nation gathered in Jerusalem,
The Millennium The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem
when in a spasm of maniacal fervor . . . the Jews decided to cast off the Roman yoke.
The Millennium The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem
The city was crowded with people from all parts of Palestine.
It was a bloodbath!
Watch this quote from Josephus:
The Millennium The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem
...neither did any other city ever suffer such miseries, nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful of wickedness than this was, from the beginning of the world.” . . .
Josephus recorded that:
The Millennium The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem
. . . 1,100,000 people perished during the long and fiercely contested siege, and that 97,000 survivors were sold as slaves...
The Millennium The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem
The temple was destroyed and the city was razed to the ground.
But watch this detail:
The Millennium The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem
“Now this vast multitude,” he says, “was indeed collected
The Millennium The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem
Accordingly the multitude of those that perished therein
Brethren, the Jews in 70 A.D.:
Were starved to the point of eating...
Leather, garbage, dung, — their own children!
Embroiled in civil wars with each other
Crucified in mass numbers
(Romans ran out of crosses)
Almost all slaughtered.
The rest were enslaved (a small fraction)
The temple and the city were raced to the ground!
It’s not hyperbole to say that the...
23 ...great distress upon the land and wrath against this people,
was...
21 ....such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
Thus, Boettner rightly concludes:
The Millennium The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem
It was by that event that the
(We’ll have to talk about 1948 next week!)
For now, consider how this aligns with...
...the way Paul described the Nation in the 1st Century...
...leading up to their destruction:
Remember the context:
14 For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews,
15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind
16 by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins.
But wrath has come upon them at last!
That is the language of Verse 23!
Why?
Remember what we finished with last week?
35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
That’s the ultimate reality
