In Luke 21 verses 20 through 38, we have the destruction of Jerusalem continued. 70 AD and also the end of the world under that type and shadow of the destruction of Jerusalem and a concluding set of applications our Lord gives from the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world. Hear now the word of almighty God inspired by his spirit profitable for us. Luke 21 verse 20. And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let them which are in the midst of it depart out, and let not them that are in the countries enter therein too. For these be the days of vengeance. that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days. For there shall be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into all nations and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars and upon the earth, distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring. Men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh. And he spake to them a parable. Behold the fig tree and all the trees. When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye, therefore, and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. And in the daytime he was teaching in the temple. And at night he went out and abode in the mount that is called the Mount of Olives. And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple for to hear him. Thus far the reading of God's inspired word from the gospel of Luke chapter 21 verses 20 through 38. May the Lord bless us in the reading and hearing of it and now in consideration of its teaching. Now these passages we have considered in some detail, Matthew 24, 15 through 28, Mark 13, 14 through 23, we've looked at them before, I will look at distinctions here in Luke, notes on those. Notice here verse 20, he refers to Jerusalem compassed with armies. In Matthew 24, verse 15, it says, the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place. So there were certain signs. One is the Romans would have an army all the way around, or as we looked at earlier, they would have bulwarks built up around the city. They would compass it about. This abomination of desolation is where this hateful thing will come in and destroy the temple itself and stand in the holy place or standing where it ought not. Mark 13, 14. So there are various signs our Lord discussed of the destruction of Jerusalem. And so it shall be at the end of the age. Do you remember when the dragon is chained in Revelation 20? And then he's finally released. What does he do? He compasses about the camp of the saints, doesn't he? Just like here. Toward the end of Jerusalem, they're going to be destroyed and they're compassed about with armies. But what happens to the camp of the saints? They're compassed about with the armies of Gog and Magog. And what happens? They're delivered. You see the difference. But the similarity is, After the unchained dragon comes out of his bottomless pit, he circles around the camp of the saints. So it's a type. It's preparing us. There are similarities. One is like a shadow, the destruction of Jerusalem. The other is the substance, the end of the world. What are they to do? Should they be in Jerusalem? Should they watch the Romans build these bulwarks? Should they see the armies of the Romans in camp around about them? What should they do? He tells them, let them which are in the midst of it depart out, and let not them that are in the countries enter therein too. Remember what we read in Josephus? It was at the feast, the high and holy feast of the Passover. What did they do? They all came to Jerusalem. What were they supposed to do? Stay out. But they said, no, we need to go. We need to observe the Passover. That's where they slew the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where they were slain at the Passover. He says, leave, don't stay there and don't come in. This is further emphatic detail added about the danger of being in Jerusalem or Judea, added by Luke. For these be the days of vengeance. Remember what we read from Tacitus, what we read from Josephus. What did they see? Sword hanging over their city. They saw a heifer come in and give birth to a lamb. What in the world is that? They saw a comet that lasted there for what? I think it was a year? There was a comet in the sky? Lights shining down from heaven, illuminating the doors flying open and God saying, I'm out of here. I'm not here anymore. And what did they do? These are the days of vengeance. Do you remember what he said about the scribes? The scribes were writing down, oh, we know judgment is coming. Why? Because these are the days of vengeance. Just like God destroyed the first temple. So now he's going to destroy the second temple. There's no hope for us. The scribes knew this. The scriptures said it. Vengeance was foretold by Moses in Leviticus 26, in Deuteronomy 29. And the other prophets from age to age would tell them of their destruction. And even the fall of the first temple was a type and shadow of the fall of the second temple. They knew it. They had all the signs. Christ even told them a parable about that. You remember? What's going to happen to this house? Well, see, I sent all my servants in the Old Testament. What did you do to them? You beat some, you killed others. Now I'm going to send my son. And what are you going to do to him? You're going to kill him. You're going to think, let's take the inheritance for ourselves. And what's going to happen to your house? It's going to be left to you desolate. The rock will come down and crush you to powder. Not one stone shall be left upon another. These be the days of vengeance. John Calvin comments, true indeed. The most destructive plague inflicted on the Jews was this, that the light of heavenly doctrine was extinguished among them and that they were rejected by God But they were compelled as the great hardness of their hearts made it necessary that they should be compelled to feel the evil of their rejection by sharp and severe chastisements. That's what's happening. That's what this vengeance is sharp and severe. Their desperate wickedness. Made them disdain even the medicine God brought to heal them. What did they say? We don't want that medicine. Send it off to the Gentiles. And so the wound was incurable. As men possessed by devils, madness, they thought they were winning when they're getting ready to lose. When Christ comes to us to heal us by his law and his gospel, do not harden your heart. Receive his gracious words, even his hard sayings, even his rod and his reproof. Hear him and kiss the rod and him who appointed it, for God has designed our chastisements to work good for us. These be the days of vengeance, verse 22, that all things which are written must be fulfilled. These must come to pass. This must happen. And Luke mentions a couple of things that are mentioned as a great tribulation in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 in verse 24. Notice he doesn't just say great tribulations. He says you'll be led away captives into all nations. You're going to become slaves. You're going to be killed or the sword will eat you up. The mouth of the sword or the edge of the sword. Verse 24. That word is mouth there when it says edge of the sword. The sword will devour a million of you and the rest of you are going to be slaves. These are the great tribulations that the other holy apostles write about. Luke also adds that Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Now, this is very parallel to Matthew 23, 38 and 39, where our Lord says, Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, that ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Romans 11, 25, the apostle says, blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. You see the connection here? The Jews will have their nation trodden underfoot till what? Till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. The church will largely be a Gentile church with a small remnant of Jews until the Jews say what? Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. He is the son of David. John Diodati comments. Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled until the time prefixed by the Lord, that the multitude of the Gentiles being gathered, the Jews likewise shall return and be reestablished in God's covenant of grace. Let us pray for that latter day glory. that Christ's kingdom would come, that he would gather in one body the fullness of the Gentiles, then regraft that ancient hard-hearted people and draw them back into the olive tree. Verses 25 through 33, we have the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to judge the world, again, under the type and figure of the destruction of Jerusalem. We've considered this in Matthew 24, 29 through 36, and Mark 13, 24 through 32. Verse 25 mentions vivid descriptions by Luke Upon the earth, distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, more amazing and unusual natural disasters, various kinds of evils that befell Judea right before the destruction of the temple. And likewise, it seems, before the second coming of Christ and the end of the world. Verse 26. Luke gives a unique description of the fearful response to the coming judgment, the shaking of the heavenly powers, and then verse 27, then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Some wish to make this only refer to 70 AD, period, full stop. But in Matthew chapter 24, verse 31 and Mark 13, 27, We are told that in this coming of the Son of Man, you know what else is going to happen? All the elect from the four winds, whether in the earth or under the earth, shall be gathered together and the trump of the angel will sound. Well, what happens at the trump of the angel? What happens when all the elect are gathered together? Well, that's the resurrection of the dead, you see. And those who wish to believe that 70 A.D. was the resurrection of the dead are not Christians. They're heretics. We call them full preterists. They don't believe the gospel. You know why? Because they believe that the body, which God has promised to save and to renew and to make immortal like unto his glorious body. You know what they say about that? No, that's not going to happen. That thing that God promised in the gospel, that He would overcome the sin and the death of Adam completely, that's not going to happen. God will just save your inner man. He's not concerned about your body. Really? That's supposed to be Christianity? It's not. It's heathenism. It's nonsense. It's saying that God only saves part of man. What is man? Well man is a composite being, isn't he? He's made up of a spirit and a body. And if God saves one part without the other, his salvation goes less far than the sin that Adam did. That's nonsense. God has promised time and again. And so here, this cannot be talking about the destruction of the temple. And if it is, merely talking about it as a shadow of the substance of the end of the world. as a type and a figure of the final judgment. Our Lord Jesus Christ shall come in clouds with power and great glory. He shall gather the elect from the four winds. from the earth, and he says he will gather the elect from heaven. What is that? Well, that's the final judgment. The saints come down with the Savior. The dead in Christ, their bodies rise and meet their spirits. Those still alive at that time in Christ shall be transformed in the twinkling of an eye to have their glorious resurrection bodies. That's what he's talking about. As these passages describe events that have already taken place, in this chapter 21 of Luke, in Matthew chapter 24, and in Mark chapter 13, so likewise, they describe events that have not yet taken place. Things that are yet to come. The prophecies, for example, think about this. When God says he would be father to David's son, who's he talking about? Is he talking about Solomon? Or is he talking about Jesus? And the answer is, yes. He's talking about Solomon as a type, and he's talking about Jesus as the substance. So when God says, I'm going to call the angels and the trumpet, and I'm going to come down and destroy Jerusalem, does that mean he can't be talking about the end of the age as well? Of course he can. He's talking about both. He's talking about the destruction of Jerusalem as a type and shadow of the end of the world, just as he spoke about Solomon as a type and shadow of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Solomon is the image. Christ is the archetype. So likewise, the destruction of Jerusalem is the image and the end of the world and the destruction of the wicked is the archetype. So here. Let us read the Word of God with wisdom, avoiding foolish extremes, errors, and excess. Verse 28, our Lord says, lift up your heads to them for your redemption draweth nigh. Even the redemption of the body, Romans 8, 19 through 23. They were released from the power of the Jews and the external ceremonies of the law. We shall be released from the bonds of sin and death once and for all at the resurrection of the dead. Again, type and antitype, image and archetype. Then our Lord tells a parable of a fig tree and all the trees. Though Matthew and Mark only refer to the fig, here Luke records what our Lord said about all trees. All have observable seasons and seasonal growth. We see it, don't we, right now? We walked outside, you walk to your car, what are you gonna see on the trees? Buds breaking forth, and what do you know? Well, summer's coming. There's gonna be fruit on that tree because I can see it breaking forth. So he says, it is in these matters. When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh. You don't need me to point out to you, hey guys, did you know summer's coming? Look at that tree right there. No, you know of your own self. Nobody has to teach you. It's common sense. When you see the signs, understand something is coming. When you see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Now God's kingdom, Christ said, was already among them. In fact, we see that God is my king of old in the Psalms, working salvation in the midst of the earth. We find that God sat as king on the flood, that he sat as king when they took them out of Egypt. Well, what is he talking about that the kingdom of God is coming? Well, there are various phases. of the kingdom of God. There is the inception. There is the kingdom of grace. There is the kingdom of power. There is God's kingdom over creation. There is his kingdom among the Jews. There is his kingdom among all nations. And then there is the kingdom of glory. That's what this is. The kingdom of glory, that final consummation of all of God's rule and dominion. That's what he's talking about. The kingdom of glory. Not represented, as Calvin says, at its commencement, but at its perfection. And let us pray for the kingdom of glory to be hastened. We even have this in our catechism. For all the steps to be accomplished, all the scripture promises fulfilled, the fullness of the Gentiles, the conversion of the Jews, and those holy angels announcing his coming with clouds. Then our Lord applies this in verses 34 through 38. Again, we've considered it in Matthew 24 and Mark 13. He warns of the dangers of being unaware of 70 AD or the end of the world in verse 34. Luke refers uniquely to this as a snare for the entire world. Again, this word world can refer to the entire inhabited earth or the land of Palestine. You see the ambiguity is on purpose so that you can apply it both to the destruction of Jerusalem and also to the end of the world. Our Lord commands, watch ye therefore. And in Luke, he records our Lord saying, and pray always. Do not merely be aware of the dangers, but beg God. That's this word pray. It means to supplicate, to beg him, to plead with him as the source of your provision and safety. And what should you pray to him concerning? that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. Let us request of the Lord that we may be kept and provided for. Let us be watchful unto prayer lest we enter into temptation. Let us be found in such a condition of being ready to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ, because remember what His enemies say, mountains fall upon us. They're not ready to stand before Him. But if we are in Christ and serving the Lord and loving Him and trusting in His promises, what do we say? We love His appearing, Paul says. And thus far, the exposition of Luke 21, verses 20 through 38.