Luke 21:5-24 Destruction & Persecution

Introduction

[CONTEXT] It was the last week of Jesus of life, just a day or two before His death on the cross. Jesus had been teaching in the temple during the day and the Passover pilgrims—those who had traveled to Jerusalem for the annual feast—they rose early in the morning to hear Jesus teach. In the evening though, Jesus would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives, which afforded a great view of the temple.

Perhaps it was as they looked back on the temple from the Mount of Olives that the disciples were astonished by the grandeur of the temple and began talking.

We read in Luke 21:5-24…

[READING - Luke 21:5-24]

Luke 21:5–24 NASB95

5 And while some were talking about the temple, that it was adorned with beautiful stones and votive gifts, He said, 6 “As for these things which you are looking at, the days will come in which there will not be left one stone upon another which will not be torn down.” 7 They questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, when therefore will these things happen? And what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” 8 And He said, “See to it that you are not misled; for many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not go after them. 9 “When you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately.” 10 Then He continued by saying to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, 11 and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. 12 “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake. 13 “It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. 14 “So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; 15 for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute. 16 “But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, 17 and you will be hated by all because of My name. 18 “Yet not a hair of your head will perish. 19 “By your endurance you will gain your lives. 20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. 21 “Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; 22 because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled. 23 “Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people; 24 and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

[PRAYER]

[CIT] In the passage we just heard, Jesus spoke about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple of God within it—a destruction that I believe was fulfilled in A.D. 70.

And Jesus also spoke about the persecution of His disciples leading up to Jerusalem’s destruction.

[PROP] We live after these things, but even so we still see in this passage how we should live in this present age—as we wait for Jesus, the Son of Man to return in a cloud with great power and glory.

[INTER] So how should we live?

[TS] Look at the INSTRUCTIONS Jesus gave His disciples in this passage…

Major Ideas

INSTRUCTION #1: Do not be misled; do no go after false saviors and do not be terrified (Luke 21:8).

Luke 21:8 NASB95

8 And He said, “See to it that you are not misled; for many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not go after them.

[Exp] The temple was awe-inspiring.

The beautiful stones mentioned in v. 5 were huge white marble stones. And the votive gifts may refer to all the gold and silver that gleamed in the temple. There were gold- and silver-plated gates and gold-plated doors.

Herod, the Roman-backed, king of the Jews at this time, had spent decades remodeling and expanding the temple. He gave a golden vine to decorate it with golden grape clusters that were as tall as the average man.

The Jewish historian, Josephus, said about the temple, “Whatever was not overlaid with gold was purest white.”

The Roman historian Tacitus called the temple “immensely opulent.”

This—and the fact that they thought of the temple as God’s house—is why it shocked the disciples’ ears to hear that it was all going to come down; that there wouldn’t be one stone left on top of another.

The disciples asked the obvious question: when?

Specifically the disciples asked about signs leading up to the temple’s destruction, but before Jesus prophesied about those signs, He warned them about some non-signs—things that would not signify that the temple was about to be destroyed.

He said there would be false saviors - “for many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not go after them,” (v. 8).

He said there would be wars and disturbances - “When you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately,” (v. 9).

[Illus] Perhaps some of you husbands have had an experience I’ve had while driving around with my beautiful wife.

I’ll be driving along thinking everything is fine when all of sudden my beautiful wife will inhale in horror, “UUUUHHH!” When she does this I think it’s a sign of the end! My heart rate jumps! I’m ready to jerk the wheel! But in reality the end is not yet.

It seemed like a sign of the end, but it was not!

She just found her lost pair of sunglasses under the seat!

False saviors and wars and disturbances sound like signs of the end, but Jesus said that although those things would take place, the end would not follow immediately.

It would, however, be possible for people to be misled.

Wars and disturbances are terrifying. And terrified people will sometimes chase after a false savior.

So Jesus said, “Do not go after them. Do not be terrified.”

[App] We do not live in the time that Jesus spoke of in this passage, but we do live in a time of terror. We do live in a time of wars and disturbances. We do live in a time when false saviors prey upon terrified people.

These false saviors come preaching a different Jesus or a different gospel.

These false saviors come as unbiblical worldviews—unbiblical ways of looking at the world around us.

These false saviors come as political parties or politicians making promises they cannot deliver.

These false saviors come as immorality, anger, materialism, distraction, and other sins of the flesh.

What would Jesus say to us in our day?

Do not be misled.

Do not go after them.

Do not be terrified.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom.

The fear of anything else is the beginning of foolishness.

[TS] …

INSTRUCTION #2: Trust the Lord Jesus (Luke 21:14-15)

Luke 21:14–15 NASB95

14 “So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; 15 for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.

[Exp] With v. 10 Jesus began to talk about the signs that did signify the end of the temple.

Some of it sounds very common in a fallen world and some it sounds very uncommon.

Conflicts among nations and kingdoms, earthquakes, plagues, and famines all sound very common, but what about terrors and great signs from heaven?

The word ‘terrors’ in v. 11 refers to a horrific sight.

From the Jewish perspective of Jesus and His disciples, the Romans entering the holy of holies in A.D. 70 or bringing their idolatrous images into the temple—all of that would qualify as terrors.

Great signs from heaven also in v. 11 may refer to a star and a comet that were both visible just before the temple was destroyed in A.D. 70.

Josephus said there was “a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued for a whole year” before the Romans laid siege to the city and destroyed the temple.

But notice that Jesus shifts gears in v. 12, “But before all these things...” Just when Jesus was beginning to really answer the disciples’ question about signs indicating the temple’s demise, Jesus pulls back and talks to them about the persecution they would endure before the temple came crashing down.

He said that they would be delivered to synagogues and prisons.

They would be brought before kings and governors.

They would be betrayed by family.

They would be hated by all.

And that some of them would die.

But throughout this passage on persecution (vv. 12-19) there’s a consistent theme: trust the Lord Jesus!

Yes, they would be delivered, brought, betrayed, hated, and even murdered—but they could trust the Lord Jesus through it all!

When they were persecuted for His name’s sake and stood before kings and officials to defend themselves, He would send the Holy Spirit to give them the words to say.

When they were betrayed and hated by those dearest to them, He would send the Holy Spirit to comfort them.

Though some of them would be murdered, He would send the Holy Spirit to give them endurance and seal them for salvation.

Though they die, not a hair of their heads would perish.

The Holy Spirit would enable them to trust the Lord Jesus through it all.

[Illus] This is exactly what we see happen in Acts. Some say that Acts is called ‘Acts’ because it refers to the acts of the Apostles. Others say that it is called ‘Acts’ because it refers to the acts of the Holy Spirit. They are both right: Acts records the acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles.

In Acts the Holy Spirit comes to the disciples after the ascension of Jesus.

In Acts the Holy Spirit is with the disciples of Jesus as they are persecuted.

He gave them the words to say as they stood before Jewish and Roman authorities.

He gave them endurance as they faced death.

One such example is Jame—the brother of John, one of the sons of Zebedee, one of the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples along with Peter and John.

Acts 12:1-2 says...

Acts 12:1–2 NASB95

1 Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. 2 And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword.

James was behead like John the Baptist, but even to the end the Holy Spirit within Him kept saying, “Trust the Lord, Jesus! He has delivered you! Endure to the end! Though your head come off, not a hair will perish! Though you die, yet you shall live!”

[App] We do not live in the age of the Apostles or the days of the book of acts, but we do live in an age of persecution.

We are not yet being threatened by the sword or betrayed by friends and family members, but we have brothers and sisters around the world who are experiencing these things. We too may find ourselves there one day—and one day very soon for that matter.

What does the Holy Spirit say to us?

Truth the Lord Jesus!

When you are persecuted, trust the Lord Jesus!

When you need the words, trust the Lord Jesus!

When you are betrayed, hated, and even murdered, trust the Lord Jesus!

He has sent to us the Holy Spirit so that we will trust Him.

[TS] …

INSTRUCTION #3: Flee the wrath to come (Luke 21:21-22).

Luke 21:21–22 NASB95

21 “Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; 22 because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled.

[Exp] The signs in vv. 10-11 were close but this one in v. 20 is closer - “when you see Jerusalem surround by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near.” With this, the destruction of not only the temple, but the city of Jerusalem itself is imminent.

Jesus said it would then be time to flee.

According to the ancient church historian, Eusebius, the followers of Jesus did just that in A.D. 69. They fled to the nearby mountains of Pella.

Some estimate that up to a million Jews perished inside the city, but the Christians listened to Jesus and fled.

Jesus said the days of Jerusalem’s destruction would be days of vengeance to fulfill what had been written.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote…

Jeremiah 5:29 NASB95

29 ‘Shall I not punish these people?’ declares the Lord, ‘On a nation such as this Shall I not avenge Myself?’

The prophet Hosea wrote…

Hosea 9:7 NASB95

7 The days of punishment have come, The days of retribution have come; Let Israel know this! The prophet is a fool, The inspired man is demented, Because of the grossness of your iniquity, And because your hostility is so great.

At the end of Luke 19, Jesus said over Jerusalem…

Luke 19:43–44 NASB95

43 “For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, 44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

Jerusalem had rejected Jesus as Messiah, as Christ.

It paid the price in A.D. 70.

Jesus said those would be terrible days for pregnant and nursing mothers as they either try to flee or are killed or are taken captive by Roman forces.

Jesus said Jerusalem would be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

The times of the Gentiles may refer to what Paul talks about in Romans 11:25-26 regarding the Jewish people, God’s Old Covenant people…

He says there that a partial hardening has happened to Israel because Israel rejected Jesus as Messiah.

He say that during that partial hardening of the Jews, Gentiles are being saved.

He says that when the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, all Israel will be saved.

Jesus, the Deliverer, will come from Zion and remove all ungodliness from Jacob.

But first Jerusalem and the temple will be demolished.

Many Jews will die.

And the followers of Jesus are warned to flee.

[Illus] If you’ve ever driven up to the Smoke Mountains, you’ve no doubt seen the mountains coming long before you got there. The elevation rises gradually and you come to a smaller mountain, and then steeply and you come to the bigger mountain that lay behind the smaller one.

The end of the temple in A.D. 70 and the end of all things work together like those mountains.

The end of the temple is the smaller mountain that has already occured.

In terms of human history, we’ve already driven by that smaller mountain.

All that remains now is the larger mountain that lies behind.

[App] There is a day of vengeance coming in which every person who has rejected Jesus as Lord and Savior will pay the price of their rejection.

They will face eternal vengeance and eternal wrath.

Everyone of them will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and be condemned to the fires of hell as the just punishment for their rebellion against God and their rejection of His Son.

But it doesn’t have to be that way for you.

You can flee the wrath to come by running to Jesus.

When Jesus died on the cross He was taking the vengeance that was yours, the wrath that you deserved—He took all that upon Himself.

In His rising from the dead, He proved that His righteousness now covers you as you stand before Almighty God.

Jesus paid your price.

He died your death.

He gave you right-standing before God.

Proverbs 18:10 says…

Proverbs 18:10 NASB95

10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is safe.

The name of the Lord is Jesus.

Have run into Him through faith? Have you fled to Him?

Are you safe from the wrath to come?

[TS]…

Conclusion

[PRAYER]