Well, good morning and happy new year. If you would please take out your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 21. In every preaching seminar they will always teach you that there is no better way to bring in the new year than with a sermon on the Olivet discourse. And so here we go, new year, same Luke chapter 21. Now, I know it says on this right here that we are going to go through the end of the chapter, but your bulletin sits on a throne of lies. We are actually only going to get through verse 24 this morning. So, let's start by just reading the text. In order not to lose the broader context of what Jesus is saying, let me start reading back in verse 5. So you hear the word of the Lord. 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. 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, and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. 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 namesake. 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 namesake, but not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance, you will gain your lives. 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 the 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 his 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. This is the word of the Lord. So let's remember where we are in the broader storyline of this gospel. We are getting to the very end of Jesus' life. This is Tuesday or Wednesday of Passion Week. His arrest and his trial, they're gonna lead to his crucifixion. That's literally in the very next chapter of the book. And so he just had a long day of going back and forth with the Jewish religious leaders in the temple court. He silenced all of their arguments, right? That's what Luke chapter 20 is about. And then, Matthew and Mark tell us in their accounts, that Jesus and his disciples leave the temple grounds to go to the Mount of Olives. That's why the teaching of this chapter is called the Olivet Discourse. Olivet from olives. Well, from the Mount of Olives, you can see the temple. And so the disciples are looking at the temple and they're talking about the temple. They're talking about its magnificence, its splendor, its beauty. And that's when Jesus declares, verse six, that temple that you're marveling at, it's going to be completely destroyed. And so they ask him two questions in verse 7. Teacher, when will these things be? And what will be the sign when these things are about to take place? These things clearly refers back to what Jesus was just talking about in verse 6, the destruction of the temple. So when is the temple going to be destroyed, like you're saying, and what's the sign that this destruction is about to take place? Jesus's answer to those two questions is the Olivet Discourse. Now last week we focused our attention on verses 8 through 19. And I mentioned that one important hermeneutic, one important interpretive principle that we ought to use is to think about the audience to whom Jesus is saying these things. He's speaking to his disciples. He's answering the questions that his disciples asked him. And so for example, when he says in verse eight, see that you are not led astray, He's speaking to those disciples. He's telling them not to be deceived by false teachers. Because in the days leading up to the temple's destruction, there's gonna be things like wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes and famines and pestilences and signs from heaven, things that can cause fear and panic in people that false teachers and false messiahs can then use to try to lead them astray. And so Jesus' warning to them is do not go after them. And then a few verses later, he's telling them, again, the disciples who are with him on the Mount of Olives who ask him these questions, he tells them that persecution is gonna come their way. But Jesus also gives them two precious promises, that he would give them a mouth and wisdom, and that he would preserve their souls, even as some of them are gonna be martyred. And as Luke shows us in his second volume, the book of Acts, all that happens to those disciples pretty much exactly how Jesus describes it here. Now, does that mean that there's no application for us at all? No, of course not. We spent a lot of time last week talking about how these principles can be applied to our lives as believers, how we ought to be on guard against false teachers, how we ought to be prepared for persecution, how we ought to take comfort in God's presence with us and God's ultimate preservation of our souls. But at the same time, we should recognize that these words were primarily addressed to them, to the disciples who asked Jesus about the destruction of the temple, and that guards us from unnecessarily projecting the entire passage into the future. These are things that would happen first and foremost to them, to that generation. But while that teaching that we covered last week, while that is given in response to the disciples' questions about the temple, you'll notice as you scan your eyes through the text that Jesus actually hasn't said anything about the temple, at least not yet. Like everything that he's said so far is just warnings about things that are gonna happen before the destruction of the temple. Here's what you need to be prepared for in terms of false teachers, in terms of persecution. But now in verse 20, now he begins to actually answer their questions. Teacher, when will these things be and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place? Well, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. And that's exactly what happened between the years AD 66 and AD 70. So I think a little bit of historical background will be helpful for us here. Remember that at this time in history, the Jewish people are under the dominion of the Roman Empire. And yeah, that comes with certain benefits, like the Roman economy and the Roman peace. and the Roman infrastructure. But the Jews as a whole, they did not like being Roman subjects. They longed for the days when they were an independent kingdom, the golden age of King David and King Solomon. They desperately wanted to be freed from Roman rule. And so there's always this kind of underlying tension, one that would span many, many decades. But by the time you get to the 60s AD, so that's about three decades after Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension, it's about the time that the book of Acts ends with Paul under house arrest in Rome. By the time you get to the mid-60s AD, like, the pot is simmering. It is ready to come to a full boil. The Roman governor of the region of Judea at the time — that's an office, by the way, that was held once by a man named Pontius Pilate — the Roman governor was a guy named Gessius Florus, which sounds like the name of a houseplant, but he was a ruler who was notoriously antagonistic towards the Jews. He would steal money from the temple treasury. He would arrest and even crucify Jewish leaders. He would repeatedly provoke his Jewish subjects. And so by the mid-60s AD, the Roman province of Judea, under Florus, it's like this ticking time bomb. It is ready to explode. Well, just like Gavrilo Princip, his assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, that was the spark that ignited the fire that then became World War I. On the year 66 AD, there were some Greeks who performed a pagan sacrifice on the Sabbath day at the entrance of a synagogue in Caesarea. And the response, right, the outrage Well, that sparked an uprising from the Jews. That then ignited the fire that would then become the first Jewish-Roman War. So the emperor at this time is a guy named Nero. Surely you've heard of him. In AD 67, Nero appoints his military officer Vespasian to go and suppress that revolt. So Vespasian comes in and he subdues most of the northern region of Judea by the end of that year. And then he begins to make his way down south towards the capital city of Jerusalem. He begins to establish a ring of military outposts around that heavily fortified city. But then, as Vespasian is doing that, in June of AD 68, Emperor Nero takes his own life. And so Vespasian goes back to Rome, the siege is put on pause, and not much happens with the attack on Jerusalem for several months. Eventually, after a string of coups and rebellions, there's three other guys who become emperor after Nero dies within that year. Eventually, in July of AD 69, Vespasian becomes emperor. And one of the first things that he does as emperor is he sends his oldest son, Titus, to go and finish the job that he started with regards to the conquest of Jerusalem. That's a lot of historical detail. And you might be thinking, well, why is that necessary? Why are you telling us all of this? Well, the chronology is really important. Because that year or so gap between when Vespasian himself first approached Jerusalem and when Titus, his son, comes back to finish the job, that year or so gap, that's what Jesus is talking about in verse 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. You see, if the Romans just came and surrounded and besieged the city right away, such an escape would have been impossible. But the sequence of events that transpired, according to God's sovereign providence, allowed for Jesus' warning to his disciples to actually be meaningful. Because there was a time period after the Romans started to surround the city of Jerusalem when coming and going was still possible, when escape was still possible. And so Jesus' warning here is clear. Get out of Jerusalem. Like if you're in the city, get out. And if you're outside the city, don't flee to the city for safety. Remember that walled cities back then were considered the safest places to be. Just think about the Old Testament story of Jericho. When the Canaanites hear that the Israelites are coming across the Jordan River, what do they do? They shut themselves inside the walled city of Jericho because they thought that that was the safest place to be. Or in the book of Judges, When Abimelech is attacking the city of Thebes in the book of Judges, what do they do? Chapter 9, verse 51, there was a strong tower within the city and all the men and women and all the leaders of the city fled to it and shut themselves in and they went up to the roof of the tower. And so fleeing into the heavily fortified, walled city of Jerusalem, that would have been the most natural response, but Jesus says, no, don't do that. When the Romans come, when they begin surrounding Jerusalem, don't go in, don't be fooled into thinking that that's the safest place to be. That whole thing is gonna be completely destroyed. And so flee to the countryside. Flee to the mountains. And that's exactly what the Christians did. History tells us that even while many Jews did flee into Jerusalem, that many Christians got out. They fled to a city called Pella on the other side of the Jordan River, on the east of the Jordan River, far away from the city of Jerusalem. And that was a wise decision, wise decision to follow Jesus's warning because when Vespasian's son Titus does come back to finish the job that his father started, well, he begins with a full-on siege of the city in April of the year 70. No one at that point is allowed into the city. No one is allowed out of the city. There is no escape at that point. And it's only a few months later, in August of AD 70, that the Romans enter Jerusalem, and from there it is just an absolute massacre. Verse 23. Alas for women who are pregnant, and for those who are nursing infants in those days. Even the blessings of pregnancy. the great joys of having newborn children, those blessings and joys would instead become curses and sorrows because of the disaster that's about to befall the people. 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. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed. Those that weren't killed were taken into slavery, and the temple itself was burned to the ground. And Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. A side note, the times of the Gentiles, some people will take that to mean the time when the gospel would go out to the Gentiles. And so when that time is over, then Jerusalem is no longer going to be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles. It's going to return to the Jews. I think the plainest meaning, though, is just referring to the destruction of the city itself. The times of the Gentiles, it's just referring to the judgment that God is gonna bring on Jerusalem through the Gentile Roman army. And the end result? Well, it's exactly as Jesus said. There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. So what do we, as 21st century Christians, What do we do with this prophecy from the Olivet Discourse about the destruction of the temple and its fulfillment? Like, is this just a history lesson with no real application or relevance for us? Or is this scripture also profitable for teaching, for proof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work? That's what's called a leading question. So let's think about three important things that this section of the Olivet Discourse teaches us about God, like three things that this passage calls us to meditate on for our spiritual prophet. Number one, let's consider God's truthfulness. God's truthfulness. This is true with any prophecy that we see in the scriptures that is then perfectly fulfilled, that it should draw our attention to the truthfulness of God's word. I mean, brothers and sisters, just think about what we just read and what we just studied. for Jesus to so perfectly predict and prophesy the destruction of Jerusalem almost four decades before it happened. And this wasn't like an educated guess. Like if I were to say, I think the Dodgers are going to win the World Series this season. Well, they've won the last two. They have the best player in the world in Otani. They keep adding through free agency. Like that's not exactly a hot take. That's a pretty good, educated, reasonable guess. But no amount of reasoning alone was gonna lead Jesus to a description that accurate of something that wasn't gonna happen for another four decades. And this wasn't him just following the trends in the news. This wasn't just him going with a popular consensus. This wasn't what people were expecting at all. It would have been unimaginable to a first century Jew that any of this could happen. Friends, this is nothing less than a divine prophecy based on divine knowledge. This is Jesus, the son of God, very God of very God, speaking as a true prophet. Like it says about Samuel, the Lord let none of his words fall to the ground. When Jesus says something's gonna happen, none of those words are gonna fall to the ground. It's gonna happen. But this is where we need to remember that Jesus as a prophet is different from every other prophet like a Samuel or an Elijah or an Isaiah or a Jeremiah. Because it's not just that what Jesus says is gonna happen is gonna happen. It's also that he, in his divine sovereignty, as the one who upholds the universe by the word of his power, he brings that very thing that he promised about. Isaiah 55, verse 11. So shall my word be that goes from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Or Isaiah 46.10, Jesus is the God who declares the end from the beginning, from ancient times, things not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose. Look at how Jesus brings our attention to all that later in this chapter. Look down to verse 33. Like with regards to everything that's been said about the destruction of Jerusalem, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Jesus's word, God's word is unchanging. It is fixed. It is infallible. It is inerrant. It will not pass away. And we have historical proof of that fact from AD 70. But that has immense practical application for us, doesn't it? If God's Word will never pass away, even as everything else in this life will, well, doesn't that call us to better prioritize that which will be forever in God's Word over that which is so fleeting and temporary, like all the meaningless amusements to which we can so easily give ourselves. If all of God's promises have always come to pass, like in this passage, doesn't that bolster our confidence and our assurance and our hope that he will continue to keep all of his promises to us? Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Faithful he has been, faithful he will be. And if God's word is trustworthy and truthful and reliable, does that not mean that we should trust what God's word says more than anything else? More than even Our feelings. Well, I know that I'm a Christian, but I just feel like God doesn't love me. Yeah, but God's word says that he showed his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Well, I know it's a sin, but I just feel like it's gonna make me happier. Yeah, but God's word says, blessed are those who keep his testimonies. How happy are you if you do these things? First, this prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem calls us, who are God's people, to meditate on God's truthfulness through His Word. Second, this prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem calls us to meditate on God's wrath. We need to remember that This destruction of Jerusalem, it's not just a random tragedy of history. It's a sovereignly orchestrated act of God. Now, that's true of any destruction. You remember Amos. We studied Amos last summer. Amos chapter 3, verse 6. Does disaster come to a city unless the Lord has done it? The answer is no. But oftentimes, God's ways, God's purposes, God's intentions in those disasters are a mystery to us. Like, why did he bring disaster on this city and not that one? Why did it happen when it happened? Was that disaster judgment for a particular sin? We typically do not know those things and any confident assertions that we might make are just darkening counsel by words without knowledge. But here, in the case of the destruction of Jerusalem, in this particular instance, we do know God's purposes because Jesus has told us. Look at verse 22. For these are days of vengeance to fulfill all that is written. To fulfill what? Well, going all the way back to the book of Deuteronomy, before Israel even set foot in the promised land, before there was a temple, before they controlled Jerusalem, God promised his people covenant blessings for obedience. and covenant curses for disobedience. And listen to this covenant curse from Deuteronomy 28 verse 52. They shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout all your land and they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land which the Lord your God has given you. It happened with the Babylonians in 586 BC. And now here again, even more fully, and completely, and finally, it happens again with the Romans in 8070. But it's not just the promises of the Old Testament that are being fulfilled. Remember, we've been in Luke now for many months, many years, Recall how many times in this gospel Jesus has promised judgment on the Jewish religious system, its leaders, its temple, its city. Going back to Luke chapter 11, he's speaking to the Jewish religious leaders here. Woe to you, for you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them and you build their tombs. Therefore also the wisdom of God said, I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute, so that, here it is, the blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. Or Luke chapter 13, this is now speaking about the temple. Oh 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. Behold, your house is forsaken. Or Luke chapter 19, this is speaking of the city. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you because you did not know the time of your visitation. One more, Luke chapter 20, the parable of the wicked tenants. Jesus is speaking of the Jewish religious leaders, those who rejected and would kill the beloved son of the parable. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others. You see, all of that was fulfilled in AD 70 as Jerusalem, its temple, its religious leaders were completely destroyed. For these are days of vengeance to fulfill all that is written. Or as Jesus put it in verse 23, this was God's wrath against this people. Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments. So the destruction of Jerusalem was about vengeance and wrath. But the rest of the scriptures remind us that while AD 70 was a particularly pronounced example of God's vengeance and wrath, it's far from the only expression of God's vengeance and wrath. All sinners, all who have sinned against the holy God, all who have broken his laws are also subject to God's vengeance and God's wrath. The second Thessalonians chapter one reminds us that when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, he's gonna inflict vengeance on those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And Romans chapter 1 reminds us that the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Wrath and vengeance, it's not just for Jerusalem and the Jewish religious leaders. Wrath and vengeance is also for all of us. As the psalmist asks in Psalm 130 verse 3, If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? Or as the prophet Nahum asks, who can stand before God's indignation? The second thing this prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem shows us is God's wrath. God's truthfulness, God's wrath, but let's not forget God's mercy. This prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem clearly shows us God's mercy. So it reminds us of what the prophet Habakkuk once pleaded of God. In wrath, remember mercy. In wrath, remember mercy. That's exactly what God does here in the Olivet Discourse. In wrath, he remembers mercy. Because yes, there would be a terrible disaster. Yes, there would be a powerful display of God's wrath, one in which hundreds of thousands, maybe even a million Jews would be massacred, exactly as Jesus foretold on the Mount of Olives. But at the same time, we need to remember It's the very fact that Jesus foretold this disaster in such clear terms. It's the very fact that Jesus issues such clear warnings that allowed so many who believed him to flee to that city, Pella, to flee away from Jerusalem to find refuge and safety. In wrath, the promised wrath that would come upon the city of Jerusalem, Jesus remembers mercy as he tells all who had ears to hear how they might save themselves from the wrath to come. And friends, is that not a beautiful picture of the gospel? How in wrath, God remembers mercy. The wrath that we deserve because of our sins, because of the ways in which we have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. The wrath of God that ultimately finds its expression in an eternity in hell. By nature, the scriptures tell us, we were children of that wrath. But God, in mercy, In His great love for His people, in His great love for sinners like me and like you, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be born of a virgin, God in human flesh, to live the perfect life that you and I never could. And this Jesus would go to the cross. He would take upon Himself the days of vengeance that we deserve, the wrath against this people that we deserve. He dies in our place. And then three days later, he rises again from the dead so that all who would trust in him and him alone, trust in him and him alone for salvation, all who repent and believe might be forgiven of their sin and made righteous. You see, all who believed Jesus's word in the Olivet Discourse they found refuge from the wrath to come in the city of Pella. And all who believe Jesus's word in the gospel, that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved, can find refuge from the wrath to come in the finished work of Christ. First Thessalonians chapter one, verse 10. It's Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. I know that there are some of you here this morning who have not believed this gospel. You are still under the wrath of God. I think the invitation to you is very clear. It's to see God's truthfulness, which we so clearly see in this Olivet Discourse, to see God's truthfulness, that everything that he says about you in his word, that you are a sinner in dire need of salvation, that that is true, that you would see God's wrath, again, very clearly seen in this Olivet Discourse, apply to you, that your sin deserves judgment, wrath, and vengeance. but most of all to see God's mercy, again so clearly displayed in this passage, for you in the person and work of Jesus, that you might turn your eyes upon him. So that it might be said about you also, 1 Thessalonians 5, 9, that God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 130, verse 3, if you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? That's a terrifying question. One that reminds us of the reality of God's wrath. But we should never forget the next line, the very next verse of the psalm. But with you there is forgiveness, that in wrath God remembers mercy. That's the Olivet Discourse, and that's the gospel of our salvation. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you are a truthful God, and so we can turn to your word and trust it. that you are a holy God who expresses wrath towards sin, but most of all, that you are a merciful God who shows the objects of His wrath, like us, mercy by spending it on your Son, Jesus Christ, in our place. That we might have salvation, that we might have eternal life, that we might find a refuge and shelter and safety, not in the city of Pella, but in the gospel of your Son. Father, we pray that you would help us who know you to treasure that truth, and that you would grant to those who do not believe, eyes to see and ears to hear even today, that you would save those who are lost. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.