Luke 21 Study

Luke 21:1-4.....

This account is also in Mark 12:41-44....

This is a simple but sharp comparison of the rich and the poor......the true faithful servant verses the hypocritical false servant.

1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

The love of money has been man’s stumblingblock in complete devotion to God! God knows this and challenges us continually to be willing to part with your means.

God allowed satan to take away all of Job’s means of living, not because Job had a problem with the desire of it, but because Job was a faithful servant and God knew he would stand the test because he believe and trusted in God.

Serving God, following Christ, demands us to be willing to part with the things of this world. Mainly, because that it is all going away, anyhow!

The financial system is going to be brought to ruins and so we any governmental system.

Now, to what was witnessed at the treasury.........

The treasury was in the court of women, in the temple. This court is where everyone could come......but this was as far as the women could come.

In this courtyard was where the treasury was collected. There was 13 chests with funnel shaped openings, these openings looked like shofars some say....... Horns.

Each of these 13 chests were labeled for different uses, showing the people where the money was going.

It has been said that they would blow trumpets when the religious leaders would come and give.

Not only that the horns were placed on the top of the boxes so when the coins would hit the metal, everyone could hear it and folks would look and see who was giving and how much was given.

The widow gave 2 mites......a mite is worth half a prutah.....a prutah is worth 1/64 of a denarius......one denarius was a days wage.

1/8 of a cent

Not only that this was all the woman had.....she was in extreme poverty and had no means of gain whatsoever.

Jesus saw all of this and knew every situation! He knows our situations as well!

He knew how much the widow had and He knew her lifestyle and He knew her heart.

He knew how much the religious folks had and He knew their lifestyle and He knew their heart>

Sure, these religious folks gave a lot of money, but they had a lot of money. The widow had nothing else for herself and for God. That was it!

She gave all and went home to die!

That is the essence of this eyewitness account, she gave all to God and the rest was God’s faithful hands.

This has a sense of Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Does God demand this kind of giving? No!

Jesus challenged the rich young ruler with selling all that he had and give it to the poor and to follow Him.......Jesus knew that the young man wasn’t willing!

Zaccheus, out of his new found faith in Jesus Christ, gave half of his possessions to the poor and gave 4 times what he cheated folks out of.

It was his heart change that created the desire to do that!

Giving is an important part of following Christ! I will go a little further a willingness to part with possessions in the name of Jesus, is a must!

All that being said, the cheerful giving that Paul talked about was to help widows like this one! The church at Jerusalem was in extreme poverty and Paul called on churches at other places to give.

The intent in giving is helping one another.

I will step out on a limb here and say that the giving of this widow showed an extreme devotion to God that none of the others had.

But, these same ones giving a lot but not all, were the very ones that Jesus referred to in Luke 20:47 “Which devour widows’ houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.”

In chapter 19 when Jesus ran them out of the temple, what did He say that they had turned His House of prayer into?

A den of thieves! These people were extortionists!

They were false teachers and we still have them here with us today!

I do not preach on tithing or giving! I do not kind of.... because of Zaccheus.....he was not taught on how to give and make things right, because of him coming to this knowledge of Jesus Christ, he began to give!

Luke 6:45 “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”

A person is only made good, by Jesus Christ and so He creates the change (regeneration through the Holy Spirit) that will cause an abandonment of living for self and desiring to minister to people, whether it be financially, in the word, helping out! Whatever!

If there is a need, yes, I will let you guys know, but until then, we give cheerfully how the Lord leads us to give!

There is no mandate in the New Covenant on giving other than giving out as you decide in your heart and being a cheerful giver!

2 Corinthians 9:7 “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”

Luke 21:5-6.........(Matt. 24:1-3 & Mark 13:1-4)

Some of the people remarked on how beautiful the temple was!

The stones were beautiful and there was gifts given by very wealthy people.....

Herod had donated a golden vine with clusters of golden grapes that were nearly 6 ft. tall.

There have been 2 temples in Jerusalem, both destroyed. The 1st being built by Solomon in 957 BC. The Temple suffered at the hands of Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylonia, who removed the Temple treasures in 604 BCE and 597 BCE and totally destroyed the building in 587/586. This destruction and the deportations of Jews to Babylonia in 586 and 582.

The 2nd began it’s construction under Cyrus the Great in 538 BC, Ezra and Nehemiah was involved in that.

This temple was kind of plain and Herod wanted something better, not because he revered God, but because he wanted to be revered by the people.

And he renovated that temple into a beautiful temple! It took almost 50 years to renovate this temple.

It was something to behold!

Back to the wonder of some that were gathered around Jesus. Matt. and Mark’s acct. has Jesus out of the temple. He had left some say to the Mt. of Olives. If you were at the right place the scene was majestic.

Jesus, however, doesn’t remark on the beauty of the temple, because He knows what is to come! Because of the rejection of the Jews, 40 years later the temple is completely destroyed!

The siege of Jerusalem in the year 70 CE was the decisive event of the First Jewish–Roman War, in which the Roman army captured the city of Jerusalem and destroyed both the city and its Temple. The Roman army, led by the future Emperor Titus, with Tiberius Julius Alexander as his second-in-command, besieged and conquered the city of Jerusalem, which had been controlled by Judean rebel factions since 66 CE, following the Jerusalem riots of 66, when the Judean provisional government was formed in Jerusalem.

The siege of the city began on 14 April 70 CE, three days before the beginning of Passover that year.

Josephus Flavious, an ancient Jewish historian, claims that this seige claimed 1.1 million lives based on it being Passover time.

Some also have said that the Roman soldiers, would take the stones, which had gold in them, and hammer them down to nothing to get the gold out.

Not one stone..............

Horrible prophecy that comes true! All because of the rejection of Jesus! It is not about the building, it is the Lord God!