Luke 21:5-38 - Be Wise, Ready & Watchful

I feel like everyone can probably relate to this feeling.

Have you ever felt like you just don't have enough information on a situation?

Like if you just had more information, then you would know what to do.

Then everything would work out.

You just need to kind of gather all the data, and then it would be easy for you.

There's all kinds of situations in life like this.

I mean, there's endless, right?

The obvious is like military operations.

How many military operations go bad?

There's just chaos because there was not good information.

There's a lack of good information.

So a catastrophe comes.

A little more close to home, but marriage.

How many times in marriage do you are you in conflict with your spouse because you just don't have actual information?

You have what you feel, and you have what you think they should feel, but you don't have the information that you need.

This causes frustration.

Because good information, it's a precious thing.

And we should be seeking after good data, good information, good knowledge.

We might know.

We might know what's going on.

But oftentimes, we might want to know more, but we don't need to know more.

We already have all the information we need to do what we're supposed to do.

Luke talks about when he begins the gospel of Luke, and he wrote this to Theophilus so that he might know.

So that he might have information and the knowledge of a historical, accurate account of who Jesus is and what he did on the earth while he was here.

So this whole intent is so that the knowledge might be there for us.

We might have information.

As we get into chapter 21 here of Luke, Jesus is giving information about the days ahead, what is to come.

Jesus is heading to the cross.

Chapter 22, we get right into here to the plot to kill him, the kind of the leading to the cross.

Things are winding down in a sense, or winding up, if you will.

And he's telling his followers what to expect.

He's giving them knowledge about what is to come.

He's preparing them.

This is from God, so this is pretty high-level intelligence.

It's pretty reliable.

It's first hand.

The question is, not so much what is the information, but what are they going to do with the information?

What are they going to actually do with the information once they have it?

Now you might relate to this in the sense of like, you just wish you had more.

Maybe you wish you had more information about your future.

If I just knew what would happen in 10 years, then I could plan accordingly now and kind of map things out.

If I just had more kind of resources now, then things can work out and I can plan accordingly.

We have this idea in our culture that if there's a deficiency in something, we just need more.

More money, more time to ourselves, more entertainment, more.

And Jesus is really particular and he gives the information to his people that he believes they need.

The Holy Spirit has given it to us here in the scriptures, and it is sufficient.

And as we work through Luke 21, you're probably going to feel you're familiar with this passage or not.

It would be helpful if we had some more information.

You're going to look, we'll read, and it'll be a little confusing at times.

They'll be wondering what's going on.

And part of that is this is a unique passage in the New Testament, particularly in the Gospels, because you and I, in a sense, are in this passage.

What I mean by that is Jesus is speaking of two events in Luke 21.

He's speaking about the event when Rome destroyed the temple and destroyed the city in 70 AD.

So this is going to happen just a few decades from when Jesus is speaking these very words.

So there's one event there.

And Jesus is also speaking about when he returns, the second Advent, when Christ returns.

And we're in the middle of that.

Something's already happened.

We're waiting for something else to happen.

So here we are, in the middle, with the information we have.

We need to look and see what Jesus is telling us.

If you're familiar with scriptures, you know there's a lot of debate around chapter 21.

And Matthew and Mark also record this same teaching.

There's all kinds of commentaries, and people who are really like-minded are all over the place on what these things mean.

But they all agree.

There's two events happening.

Jesus is speaking about them at the same time.

And there's some warnings I want to give, or some framework, excuse me, I want to give that would help us as we walk through this.

So again, one is that some of these events have already happened.

Some of these events will happen again.

There's some repetition.

And then there's some that will happen in the future.

So as we read, you'll see, man, I think that's already happened.

I think that's going to happen again.

And some of that already happened, but it's going to happen again.

Hopefully that's helpful.

And if you know me, I talk a lot about getting into the ditches, right?

You want to stay out of the ditches.

One ditch, as you read Luke 21, and you think, in an effort, in an effort to kind of really know what God's word is, and an effort to really understand it, you press and you squeeze the text to actually get it to say what you want it to say, rather than just letting the text speak for itself.

And the other danger, the other ditch, is that we, in an effort to follow the Lord faithfully and be good Christians and all that stuff, because we we're just kind of apathetic.

Who's to know?

How do we really know?

What we know is Jesus is coming back.

Amen?

And it's going to be okay.

And so we can kind of get into a ditch of apathy.

Like, I don't know.

I don't really want to argue with anyone about it.

I really don't want to read about it because it's confusing.

We just kind of do that.

So those are the two ditches: apathy and kind of, I don't know what's saying pride.

We're trying to get something out of the text that's not fully there.

We rather need to trust that God has given us the information we need, and he's going to tell us what we need to do.

And here's the primary point I think Jesus is getting after in Luke 21.

It's difficult, it's confusing, but he's getting after is that Jesus is teaching his hearers then, right, when he's saying this, and now, that we need to follow him faithfully.

Now, you might think, man, isn't that what all the Bible's about, really?

Like, doesn't, are you just kind of summarizing all of Scripture, isn't it?

All saying, just follow God faithfully.

Are you really doing justice to the text by saying that?

And I think I am, and I hope to explain that and to prove that to you as we go through the text this morning, that Jesus is saying that judgment is coming.

Judgment is coming.

It was coming for them as he's speaking, because soon Rome was going to come and destroy the temple, and the church will be scattered, the believers will be scattered and persecuted and suffer.

So, in a sense, they were being caught up, even as a church, in the judgment upon the nation of Israel from the Romans.

So judgment was coming.

And he's telling us here and now the same thing that yet judgment is coming.

The end is coming.

And so we must be diligent to be faithful to the Lord.

What we the time we think we have on this earth changes how we live.

Right?

If I told you, listen, in eight years, you're gonna get cancer, and you're gonna fight cancer for about six months, and then you're gonna die.

That's gonna happen in eight years from now.

And that's gonna change how you live.

Right?

It would, it just naturally would.

If I said to you, this week, some point in the next seven days, you're gonna get in a car accident and you're gonna die.

Right?

It's gonna change how you're you're gonna live.

And you might hear, well, those are just emotional pleas.

You're just you're just playing on our emotions.

No, no.

Scripture's clear, we're not promised tomorrow.

We're not promised the next day.

So when Jesus calls us to live in obedience to him, he means it.

For we do not know when he is coming.

We do not know when he will be calling us home to him.

As we walk through this passage, there's three themes I just want to kind of hit, kind of on repeat.

Jesus is giving information and knowledge, Jesus is giving warnings, and then Jesus is giving encouragement, it's giving hope.

So we have information, we have warnings, and we have encouragement.

So Jesus begins in verse 5 talking, these people are talking about the temple and how beautiful it is, and he says, it's going to be destroyed.

Destroyed to such an extent that not one stone will be laid on top of another.

I mentioned this a week or so ago about how there's so much gold in the temple, and it was so beautiful that when the Romans came in, they set the temple on fire and it burned, the wood burned, but all the gold melted and it went in the cracks and the crevices.

And the soldiers, wanting the gold, tore the temple down piece by piece, so every single stone was torn down.

Jesus is giving this warning, this information, excuse me, that the temple will be destroyed.

He goes on to tell about how there will be this persecution and wars.

Verse 10.

Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

Earthquakes are going to happen, terror, great signs in the heavens.

They will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons.

You'll be brought before kings.

He's given them information.

This is going to happen to you.

Letting them know what to expect.

And then he says, not only will the temple be destroyed, and not only will you be persecuted and face much suffering, but also the city, verse 20, will be surrounded by armies.

Jesus is telling them, This is just what's going to happen.

Just so you know.

Now, what they do with that information really matters.

He gives them these warnings.

One that false teachers are going to come.

Right?

There's teachers, as verse 7 says, and when they come, and they'll say, hey, they're here, they're there, they'll be trying to lead others astray.

Do not go after them, the end of verse 8 says.

When you hear of wars and tumult, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place.

So he's giving them this warning.

People will come saying they're the Messiah.

This confusion will come.

But do not listen to them.

He gives them these warnings.

And listen, you will be hated.

You need to be aware of this.

You need to know that there will be people who hate you.

You need to know that there will be people who kill you.

You need to know that there will be family members who turn on you.

You need to know how dark these days will be.

And Jesus gives them this encouragement.

He says, listen, don't be terrified.

These things have to take place.

Don't be caught up and undone.

What's going on?

The whole world's kind of coming unglued.

Is this not what Jesus had spoken?

Historians write about when Rome did come into the city to destroy it.

How those who hear this, heard this message, when the first hand was relayed to them, they remembered the words of Christ and they did flee.

They fled to other cities, across countries that they might live.

They weren't caught off guard in a sense.

Sure, they didn't think maybe it was like today.

It's going to happen this day.

But when the events started to unfold, they had the information, they heard the warning, and then they're to be encouraged.

Not in the sense of like this is a joyous thing, but knowing that the God who declared these things to take place was their God, and he would hold them fast.

They could trust him, they could rest in him.

So he says, verse 18, not a hair of your head will perish.

Which is interesting.

When in verse 16 it says, Of you they will put to death, some of you they will put to death.

And then in verse 17 it says, You'll be hated by all for my name's sake.

Verse 18, but not a hair of your head will perish.

What's that mean?

Well, naturally, this isn't, Jesus isn't saying literally, not one hair of your head will perish.

What he is saying is the things that really matter, your soul, your eternal standing before God, they will not take that from you.

They may slander you, they may persecute you, they may kill you, your family might turn against you.

All those things might be your members of your family putting you to death.

It's okay.

For who you are is secure in Christ.

You don't need to be undone by these things.

Yes, they're heartbreaking, they're tragic, they are no small thing.

But Christ, He's got you to such a degree that Jesus compares them to the hairs of your head not being, not even perishing.

He's got you to such a degree, so secure are you in Christ.

He's got you.

People might be tempted to look at verse 19 and read this as a challenge.

By your endurance, you will gain your lives.

What I mean by that is a works-based salvation.

If I can just endure, if I can just cling on and hold on and white and knuckle it around the cross through all these things, then I'll be saved.

And I hope I can make it through that day.

I think that's a given our culture and our teaching as a culture, that's an understandable under uh interpretation.

Just hold on, cling to Christ, and by golly, you'll make it if you endure.

Nobody, not a one of us, no one who heard these words, none of us here today, would make it if it weren't for the grace and the mercy of Christ.

You would not make it, you would not endure.

You do not have enough knowledge of the Bible, you don't have enough years of walking in holiness, you don't have enough of any of those things to endure.

I don't care who you are, you will not make it.

But Christ is endured for you, and Christ will hold you fast.

So it's the promise of verse 18 that gives us the right understanding of verse 19.

Christ will hold us fast if we know enough of the Bible.

Christ will hold us fast if we go to church enough.

Christ will hold us fast if we've memorized enough scriptures.

No.

No.

If you are saved, if you've repented and believed, if Christ has granted you salvation, if you are a new creation in Christ, He will hold you fast.

But there will be those who we assume to be Christians, we will see them falling, we'll see them recanting their faith.

We'll see them turning from Christ and going the way of the world.

This is just a pattern throughout all of human history.

Those who claim to be followers of Jesus when things are good, when things get really hard, they are like, you know what?

I was in with this Jesus thing when I thought it was gonna be good for me.

This whole death thing, not good for me.

I'm out.

There will be those kinds of people.

We are to hold fast.

Jesus says that these things will come about to fulfill all that is written.

There's a theme throughout scripture of God's judgment, even his judgment on his own people in the rebellion.

We see this in the old covenant with Israel being carried off into Babylon.

We even see just in chapter 19 as Jesus is coming into Jerusalem, he's weeping over the judgment that's coming.

He's weeping for the city.

If they would just have repented and believed.

This judgment has come.

And then there's this verse about the Gentiles.

This is one that's like, what's what are we doing with this here?

Right, saying, verse 24, excuse me, they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations.

He's speaking of those living in Jerusalem, and in Israel.

And Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Just so you know, when they're talking about Gentiles, everyone who's not a Jew is a Gentile.

Right?

So there's Jews and there's Gentiles.

Just kind of two categories.

So if you're not a Jew, you are a Gentile.

Right?

So Jesus is saying the Gentiles are going to come in, which they did, waste to the temple and to the city, and carry off the Jews and to all kinds of among all the nations.

And this will keep going until the time of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

So, where's another place in the scripture we hear the same language?

We see this in Romans 11.

Romans 11, 25 says, Lest ye be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers.

A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written.

He will banish ungodliness from Jacob, and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.

So Gentiles, as we learn from Scripture, are to be grafted in, grafted in as the true sons of Abraham, as being revealed as in the true all Israel sins.

So when Jesus is saying, this is my understanding, happy to talk with you later about this, when he says the time of the Gentiles are fulfilled, I think he's meaning is the Great Commission is fulfilled.

The gospel is taken to all the earth.

I know that some people argue that this will end when Israel, bloodline of Abraham, descendants, come back and reoccupy Israel and Jerusalem.

We know that historically happened in 1948.

So it's a piece of modern history.

And some people, again, they disagree and they argue that's all speculative.

But what I wanted to keep us from doing is jumping off here and just having a debate about Israel and modern Israel and ancient Israel and the church and all those things.

I think those are good things to talk through.

I think those are needed conversations.

I think my microphone's going out.

Maybe I'm saying too much.

But if we're not careful, we're gonna miss what Jesus is getting after.

Right?

What he's saying is there is a time coming when this temple will be destroyed, and the city will be laid waste, and no longer will God's presence and his voice be here in this city and this temple.

It's to be a different time, a different age, and a different covenant.

And Romans tells us that we as Gentiles are to be grateful, thankful, and humble, not looking down on all the Jews throughout history who've just never kept God's word, but rather on God's mercy and grace in offering to us salvation.

So it's this encouragement that when the fulfilling of the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled, I believe Christ will return.

He will come.

This is what he says in verse 25.

And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth, distress of nations, and perplexity because of the roaring of the seas and waves, people fainting with fear and foreboding of what is coming on the world.

For the power of the heavens will be shaken, and they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

Now, when these things take begin to take place, straighten up, raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

And then Jesus goes to use the example of a fig tree or all trees.

We can look at the tree and we can determine where we're at in the season.

Are they budding?

Are we heading, are they full bloom?

Are they changing colors?

He's saying, so would you look to a tree, and it tells you what's going on, so you will be able to look at the world around you and see the coming of the Son of Man.

This is why I think it's always leery when people are like, hey, I think this is it any day now.

But I think scripture is saying that to the degree of the suffering and the wars and the natural phenomenon that's going to be going on, I think you will know.

It will be different than anything else that we've seen.

And what does Jesus tell them?

He says, Well, watch yourselves, verse 34, lest you lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and days come upon you suddenly like a trap.

Verse 35, for it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the earth, but stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and stand before the Son of Man.

And then he kept going on and teaching in the temple and lodging outside of the city on the mount called Olivet.

So in this, there's a lot of debate about this idea of the generation, as he says in verse 32.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Well, what does this mean?

Because if we think that, if we take this all literally, just just this literally, this is what he's saying, and this the events are just happening one after another, well then Jesus is already returned.

Right?

Because this clearly this generation has died.

The generation, the original audience here, they've been dead for a long time.

So has Jesus returned already?

No.

Although there are some who teach that is a false teaching.

It's called praetorism, and it's false.

Jesus is not returned.

But what's he mean by this generation?

Well, there's, I mean this, there's a lot of different opinions on this.

Um, I read a lot, and there's a lot of people who disagree.

But it's my understanding, there's there's two arguments I want to put forth as I think really, really good proposals for what this word generation means here in verse 32.

The word in Greek, Genea, can mean a generation of people or a time.

An age, if you will.

So one argument is he's referring to the generation that's alive, and they're going to be alive when Rome comes in and destroys a temple.

Right?

So he's connecting verse 37 or 35, excuse me, um, with the events he mentioned earlier.

Jerusalem being destroyed, the temple being destroyed, that this generation will not pass away until that happens.

Or, and that's plausible, that makes sense, right?

It's hard for us because we we see this as one prophetic message happening in one linear time, but if we can separate it out and put some kind of a dimension to it, and know how it's corresponding, it's easier for us to handle this.

I think one good interpretation is he's referring to those who hear this, they're gonna see the destruction of the temple.

Another good interpretation is it's taking the word as a generation, as an age, and that he's speaking of the age between the two advents of Christ.

That this generation of Christ followers will not pass away until all the final judgment comes.

So this encouragement is that these things will pass away, destruction will come, people will die, there's confusion, but what information do we have?

Oh, what does verse 33 say?

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

So all the questions we still have, all the questions you might have about scripture, all the questions you might have about this passage and this text and the order of the events, all the questions you might have about your own life and why the Lord hasn't brought you the things you feel like he should, or why it's been as hard as it is, or why things have played out the way they have.

Be encouraged.

You and your desires and those things are in a sense temporary.

But God has given us his eternal word.

He's given us the words that will not pass away, so that as you see the things around you decaying, as you even feel your own physical body, this earthly tent decaying, you can know that there's something that will not pass away.

And it's not someone's ability to rightly interpret every single piece of scripture.

It's not your own wisdom, it is the words of Christ.

So we cling to that, we hold fast.

See, again, there's this information, there's natural disaster, there's gonna be wars, lots of sickness going on, shaking of the heavens.

I think we'll we'll know it when we see it.

There's something going on.

It is different.

You can take the area, the era we're in right now, 20, 26.

You can rewind the clock 50 years, you can rewind the clock 20 years, 10 years, 100 years.

And when you look out, earthquakes still happening, tsunamis still happening, natural disasters happening, plagues happening.

These do seem to be normal and natural events.

But what Christ is saying is there's gonna be a change, a noticeable change.

So you need to have that information.

We need to be warned, there's gonna be lots of fear, there's gonna be foreboding.

This will happen.

This isn't like a theoretical thing.

This is going to come, this will happen.

There's gonna be an apathy.

I think this is just the natural way of our heart, an apathy towards the things of the Lord.

There's gonna be a care for present rather than a care for eternity.

We're giving this warning to watch yourselves, as verse 34 says.

And verse 36 says, to stay awake, to be encouraged, that Christ will return, that redemption, how wonderful this, redemption is drawing near, and God's kingdom is coming near.

His words will not pass away.

So you can read all this and you can speculate is it this thing or is it that thing, and has this already happened, or is it yet to come?

Well, the judgment has come on Jerusalem, and there's great suffering, and it came.

And there's judgment yet to come when Christ returns, and there will be great suffering and difficulty.

But deliverance has come.

Salvation has come.

This isn't a declaration of just run and try to save yourself because judgment is coming.

It is judgment is coming.

So come to Christ.

Come and know your Savior that you might know his mercy and his grace.

So as judgment is coming quicker, comes redemption, the offer of salvation.

So easy it is for us to look at these things and be overwhelmed or just be confused.

I want to close with a few questions.

You know, Jesus is telling his listeners to be awake, ready, watchful.

What in your life keeps you from this?

We all, every single one of us, have things in our lives that kind of desensitize us.

They they numb us to what's going on around us.

If we're not careful, we become dull.

We're not watchful, we're not awake.

What distracts you in your life?

It could be just our phones, right?

What distracts you?

Your phone.

Everyone raise your hand, right?

We all do that.

All of us.

What about your comfort?

Does your comfort, your quest for comfort distract you?

You're longing to be comfortable.

You're chasing after comfort.

And comfort might be money.

You're going after money.

Comfort, it might be, it might be a reputation.

If I'm well known and well liked, I'm I'm comfortable.

Maybe you're distracted because you're scared.

What scares you?

Is it the is it fear of man running through your mind?

I want to please everyone, I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing.

You're scared, you're kind of running around because trying to please others.

So you're just so you're not awake, you're not ready, too busy pleasing others because you're worried about what they think of you.

Maybe you're scared.

That drives you to just keep repenting.

And you don't know God's grace and your mercy.

So ironically, you're more distracted by repenting and making sure that you're just doing every single thing right to keep the law and do the law and be the right person.

You're missing the gospel right in front of you.

You're missing the grace and the forgiveness of Christ.

Because in some way you're too busy trying to earn it or maintain it or do the right thing.

And your obedience is flowing from a sense of fear rather than from a sense of just worship.

I'm doing these things out of worship to the Lord.

I'm obedient to the scriptures out of worship to the Lord.

Maybe you're distracted, you're not awake because you're in love with the things of this world.

You're just like, at the end of the day, you're just like, I just love this thing that gives me pleasure.

I love this thing more than I love Christ.

Maybe you're distracted because you want heaven, but you're not really about the whole Jesus thing.

Like you genuinely want to be forgiven and you want the blessings of heaven, but this idea of you and this single person that you're made to walk in unity with God, and you're like, I just don't, him and I just aren't that close.

I'll take heaven, and he can be like a friend I see on occasion.

So I encourage you that the answer to all this is the gospel.

What Jesus is getting after in Luke 21, he's saying, listen, you need to know what's coming.

Here's the information, here's the knowledge, you need to know what's going on.

And if we need to know more, he would have given us more.

Right?

Here's what you got.

Here's the warnings.

It's gonna be bad.

It's gonna be a lot of suffering, it's gonna be a lot of difficulty.

But here's the encouragement.

God's got you.

He has you.

I promise you, he did not come to earth, live a perfect life, keeping the whole law, every bit of the law kept perfectly, to go and be rejected by everyone, be crucified on a cross, and die, saying, Man, I just I hope they know I love them.

I hope they choose me.

God is too merciful for that.

He's too kind to leave this up to you.

He has come for you.

He has saved you, he's redeemed you.

And what that looks like then is watchfulness.

It looks like being ready, staying awake, knowing that there will be false teachers and there will be things that distract us.

Things that pull, want to pull at us away from Christ.

But we we endure because we keep our eyes on Christ, because he's redeemed us.

We have his spirit in us.

So we keep going.

And we're joyful.

This is the amazing thing about Christians for the last 2,000 years is they're the one people group on the planet who can be joyful in the midst of complete suffering.

Why?

How's that possible?

How can you be joyful when there's persecution?

Joyful when there's suffering, joyful when there's so much darkness around you.

What's wrong with you?

Jesus Christ.

He's come and he's coming again.

Our hope isn't in this life.

Our hope isn't in these things, it's in Christ.

And so as Jesus is teaching in this passage in Luke 21, that yes, judgment is coming.

What he's saying is, and deliverance is coming, redemption is coming, eternity with God, who you've been made to walk with.

He's coming for you, and he will dwell with you again.

So be ready and hold fast to Christ.

Amen.

Let us hold fast to Christ.

And let us encourage one another.

It's easy to preach this or to hear this and think, Amen.

But it's nothing to walk with each other through this.

To be on our knees with each other when the hardship comes.

Trusting in the sovereign hand of the Lord that He will deliver his people.

Let's pray.