Luke 21:5-28 | The Signs of God's Judgment
The Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost | November 13, 2022
Today’s gospel reading is challenging to interpret. The disciples ask Jesus about when the temple would be destroyed, and Jesus talks about both the end of the temple and the end of the world. It can be hard to wrap your head around it. At each point, is he talking to the disciples, or to us?
I want you to understand the reason Jesus does this. The reason is that the destruction of the Jewish temple is not fundamentally different from the end of the world. They are different in time – the Jewish temple was destroyed in 70 AD, Jesus will return at some point in the future – but on both days, God executes judgment against evil. They are not fundamentally different.
With that in mind, let’s look at today’s reading, and I want to begin with the question the disciples asked Jesus.
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?”
The temple took 46 years to build [John 2:20]; it was adorned with noble stones; it was a massive structure. By saying that it would fall, Jesus was foretelling a catastrophic, life-changing event. It would be like me like saying “The White House is going to collapse.” That doesn’t just happen. Thankfully, the disciples trusted Jesus enough to believe that it would happen, but they wanted to know when.
If Jesus told me that my town was going to be destroyed, I would ask him when so that I can plan for the future. Maybe I would try and get out or stock up weapons or something. I would be asking for the signs so that I can prepare for the incoming physical destruction.
Jesus’ answer to the disciples allows them to plan for the incoming physical destruction. But he wants them to see that the destruction of Jerusalem is not just a physical event, it is the judgment of God against evil. And so Jesus wants them to be prepared not just for Jerusalem’s coming destruction, but for God’s coming judgment.
Sometimes we are interested in the end of the world because we think it will be like a good movie. We like to imagine that we have the secret knowledge about how the plot is going to unfold. One problem with way of thinking is that we tend to read our own plots into the Bible. Many Christians have unbiblical ideas of how the end times will be – thinking that the sacrifices will be reinstituted in Israel, or that there will be a secret rapture of believers. But the biggest problem with this way of thinking is that we tend to only see and prepare for the physical destruction. We are left unprepared against God’s coming judgment. So when Jesus tells us this morning what the signs of the temple’s destruction will be, we must also see where he is talking about the signs of God’s coming judgment.
We can break Jesus’ words today into three parts, and I want to look at each part individually. The first part describes the general signs that will occur before both the destruction of the temple and the last day. The second part is specifically about the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans that occurred in the year 70 AD. The third part describes the last day itself. Let’s start with the first part of today’s Gospel reading.
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 name's sake. 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 name's sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.
All these things will happen before God’s coming judgment. These things are not “the” sign that will indicate to the disciples when Jerusalem will fall, but they are signs in that they will be happening when the end comes. They will happen not only as the end of the temple approaches, but also as the end of world approaches.
The first of these general signs that Jesus gives is that there will be false teachers who come in Jesus’ name either claiming to be Jesus, or claiming to know when the last day is.
I bet you can all think of examples of this. One famous example is William Miller, who came across a verse in Daniel [8:14]: which says that in “2,300 [days]… the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.” He assumed each day represented a year, and then concluded from this verse that Jesus would return 2,300 years after the destruction of the temple. The temple was rebuilt in 457 BC – add 2,300 years, do some calendar conversion, etcetera, etcetera, and you get 1844. Jesus would return in 1844. The Millerite movement became popular, and eventually everybody decided that October 22, 1844 was the day Jesus would return.1
People dressed in white robes for the occasion. They climbed up mountains and stood on the roofs of their houses in order to get a head start. And Jesus did not return. This event is known in history textbooks as the “Great Disappointment.” The Christians who still follow his teachings, though not his predictions, are the Seventh Day Adventists, among others.
The fact that these false prophets existed is a sign of the end, and of God’s judgment. However, it is not only a sign, but something that Jesus warns us to avoid. This is because false prophecies are dangerous.
If I had been on my roof dressed in white ready for Jesus to return, and he didn’t, I probably would have renounced Christianity. To believe that Christianity teaches this prediction, and then to learn that it is a false prediction – it causes people to think that Christianity is just as false. Even the Bible says that when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not … come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken [Deuteronomy 18:21-22]. It is like those who begin to doubt all spiritual realities once they realize that Santa Claus isn’t real. False predictions of Jesus’ second coming are dangerous because they cause people to walk away from the faith.
But it gets even worse, because something else happened in 1844. A prophet arose in the Middle East, in Persia, named Baha’u’llah. He claimed to be the prophet of the Baháʼí religion, which teaches that all religions worship the same God. Even today, the Baháʼí religion claims that Miller’s date of 1844 was correct, but that the fulfillment looked different than he expected.2 Demonic things happen when you claim to know what is going to happen when Jesus has not said.
Another sign of Jesus’ coming is unrest in the world. There will be wars between nations. There will be rumors of wars [Matthew 24:6], rumors of dirty nuclear bombs, street violence in the cities. There will also be disasters, natural or man-made. There will be places where there is no food in the grocery stores, there will be pandemics, there will be earthquakes.
We think that these things are easily explained by geo-political factors, but we must remember that nothing happens without God. Are you reminded of God’s judgment whenever you hear of a war? Are you reminded that you need to be prepared? We should see every war as a sign from him.
Another sign of Jesus’s second coming that that Christians will be persecuted. Some of us will have to bear witness to the truth of the Gospel before kings. Jesus tells us not to meditate about what to say before we get there – not that we shouldn’t think about it or prepare, but that we shouldn’t lose sleep worrying about it. Jesus will give us the words to say. Because our opponents will not be able to contradict or withstand what we say, their only course of action will be to silence us. Some of us will be put to death. This will be happening up until the end of the world. You might be called upon to be a witness or a martyr. And God would you bless you, and bring you through it.
These things are signs of the end, because they will be happening as the end approaches. And we don’t need to look too far to see these things in our world. The signs Jesus tells us will happen are already happening. This is important to realize because it means that we are not waiting for some cataclysmic event to happen before Jesus can return. There is nothing left needed to happen before Jesus returns. This means that you should not put off repentance, saying “Well, such and such hasn’t happened yet. I have time. I can live in my sin until I see it happening.” No. Jesus could come at any time.
In fact, the Bible is full of clear passages showing that the second coming of Jesus will come unexpectedly [Luke 21:34], like a thief in the night [1 Thessalonian 5:2, cf. 2 Peter 3:10], and at an hour we will not expect [Matthew 24:44]. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape [1 Thessalonians 5:3]. Likewise, Jesus tells us that no one knows that day and hour, not even the angels [Matthew 24:36].
False teachings are signs. Massive disasters are signs. Our persecutions and witnesses are signs. They do not predict exactly when the physical destruction is going to happen – that’s a mystery. Instead, they point us to recognize that God’s judgment on evil is coming so that we can be prepared. They show that there is still evil that needs to be punished. They show that wrath is being stored up that God will need to release. And I think they are also signs that the devil has lost. A wolf caught in a trap can’t do anything except lash out at the people who come to put him in a cage. The devil does not go quietly, he will do anything to bring others down with him, and so he does anything he can do.
But Jesus has caged the devil. With his death on the cross, Jesus bound the devil. He set you free. And now the devil cannot touch even one hair on our heads. Even if we witness about Jesus and are put to death, we will wake up on the last day with every hair on our body accounted for.
Each sign points us past the physical destruction of the end to recognize that God will someday judge evil, and this knowledge points us to Jesus. To be truly prepared for God’s judgment on the last day, you simply need faith in what he has done for you on the cross. Through faith in him, God judges you to be righteous.
The second part of the gospel reading today talks about the destruction of Jerusalem.
“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 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 this 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.
The sign that would indicate Jerusalem’s imminent destruction is that it would be surrounded by armies. During the reign of Roman Emperor Vespasian, the Romans marched on Jerusalem and laid siege to it. This happened at the time of Passover, so Jerusalem was full of visitors – the ancient historian Eusebius says that there were 3 million people trapped in Jerusalem during the siege. Finally, the temple was burned and Jerusalem was conquered. Over 1 million people died, and 90,000 were taken captive. Another historian named Josephus gives a long account of what happened in Jerusalem during the siege. And it was as horrible as Jesus said it would be. Josephus describes people taking food from others mouths and torturing those who had something to eat. He says that if there was a closed door, they suspected the people of having a meal, and so they would break the door down to take it. He even tells of one woman who roasted her infant son and ate him.
This was the kind of evil that the people would read about in Old Testament times [2 Kings 6:28-29]. The people of Jerusalem probably said, “It would never happen here. Look at the noble stones on our temple.” But Jesus knew that it would. It is the vengeance and wrath of God because the Jews had rejected Jesus [Luke 19:44]. Just as the Old Testament prophesied that Jerusalem would be destroyed for her faithlessness, all that was written was fulfilled once again.
Jerusalem and the temple were extremely impressive in the Jesus’ day, but they were nothing compared to our cities and buildings today. Yet if the people of Jesus’ day were tempted to think that their buildings would last, how much more are we tempted to believe that the things we have built will not or cannot fall? It’s not even just buildings – people trust that war will never come to their town, they act like doctors are able to cure any disease, and they take for granted that their investments won’t completely fail. They don’t realize that on the last day, everything will be destroyed by fire.
And so we must not place our trust in what we can build or know or do. We can thank God for what he has given us, but we must always have the perspective that it will someday be destroyed by fire. We do this when we pay attention to the true signs and remember the judgment they point to. Then we will recognize that our security is not found in the things we can build, but in Jesus. He will reward us with much greater things when we get to heaven.
Eusebius describes the Christians fleeing Jerusalem before it was destroyed. They listened to these words of Jesus and did what he said when they saw the signs. We must imitate their faith.
Jerusalem was destroyed, and everyone saw that the times of the Gentiles had begun. We are currently in the time of the Gentiles – when God’s grace is not only revealed to Israel, but to all nations through Jesus. The times of the Gentiles will endure until the world ends and Jesus comes again in his glory. The third part of our Gospel reading this morning is a description of that final day.
“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
This is clearly not a continuation of the destruction of Jerusalem, because it refers to the “nations” and to the “world.” What Jesus describes here comes after the fall of Jerusalem. This is made clearer in the parallel accounts in Matthew [24:29ff.] and Mark [13:24ff.]. We also know from Matthew and Mark that the signs in the sun and the moon will be that both stop shining, and the sign in the stars are that they begin to fall.
In some ways you might say that these signs are among us right now. After all, the sun and moon are regularly eclipsed, meteor showers and hurricanes occur regularly – we just call them acts of nature and forget that they are also acts of God, just as we do with the rainbow. Insofar as these signs happen now, they have the same meaning as the wars and terrors we talked about earlier – they show that God’s wrath is coming.
But I think these signs also describe a supernatural darkening of the sun and moon, along with other things that will only happen at the end of the world. This because of many days in the Old Testament called the Day of the Lord. Hear me out.
The Day of the Lord in the Old Testament is any day when God punish[es] the world for its evil, and puts an end to the pomp of the arrogant [Isaiah 13:11]. It is when God’s kingdom comes, and Jesus reigns as king. And the sun and moon are always darkened for the day of the Lord. When the day of the Lord comes in Isaiah 13 as a judgment against Babylon, it is prophesied that the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light [13:10]. When God promises to destroy Egypt in Ezekiel 32:7, he says “When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light.” Joel prophesies a plague of locusts on the day of Lord [1:15], a day when [t]he sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining [2:10, 3:15]. I could go on.
The description of the darkened sun and moon is the same in the Old Testament prophecies and in Jesus’ words about the end of the world. Just as the end of the world is not fundamentally different from the destruction of Jerusalem, the end of the world is not fundamentally different from any other Day of the Lord foretold in the Prophets. Each day is a day when God executes judgment on evil. Each day is a day when Jesus’ kingdom comes and when Jesus reigns in glory.
But that also means that the end of the world is not fundamentally different from the day Jesus died on the cross. Because you see, that was the day when God put your sin on Jesus and executed his judgment on him. This was the real Day of the Lord – the day when the sun refused to shine [Matthew 27:45]. The day when the earth shook at the death of the Son of God [Matthew 27:51]. The day when everyone looked up and saw the Son of Man coming in great glory and power on the cross. The day when Jesus’ kingdom came – and he reigned.
The end of the world happened on the cross. Your sins were forgiven. The day of the Lord has already come in Jesus, and it is still coming at the end of the world. God’s judgment of you on both days will be the same – righteous in Jesus.
We can lift up our heads and see the end of the world approach – not because we know about all the physical destruction – but because we know that God’s judgment has already been made, in Jesus. We can see Jesus reigning from the cross, the Son of Man on his throne in glory. We can look up and know that our redemption has drawn near. And on the last day, when the trumpet sounds, and the sun again is darkened and all of heaven is about to be consumed by fire, we will look up again and see the Son of Man coming on the clouds in his glory with scars on his hands and his feet. And we will have confidence that we are his redeemed, to be taken to heaven with him forever.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millerism.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baháʼí_Faith and https://bahaibooks.com.au/products/1844-convergence.