And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of [the] nations until [the] times of [the] nations be fulfilled.
Jesus stood near the temple in its final days. He told His hearers what was coming on the city that had rejected Him: the sword, exile, and long centuries under foreign rule. One sentence covers it all, and it ends with a word that sets a limit — "until."
Three Gospels record this prophecy. This part of it belongs to Luke alone.
Luke 21:20-24 holds truth that is not in Matthew or Mark. It plainly predicts the coming destruction of Jerusalem, and the great distress that would fall on the land and on this people. Only Luke says they would be led captive into all the nations. Only Luke gives the remarkable sentence, still in force, that Gentiles would trample Jerusalem until their appointed times are complete... This fits the plan of the third Gospel, which leaves out the abomination of desolation and the tribulation like no other, both so prominent in the two Gospels before it. From verse 25 on, Luke joins the other two writers in describing the time of the end.
The words landed on real events. Roman armies under Titus took the city, and captivity followed.
This came true in what happened to the Jews when Titus took the city and "this people" went into captivity for the second time... And so it happened. For many centuries Gentiles have trampled Jerusalem. One national power after another was to hold the holy city. It is still so: the trampling goes on, because the seasons given to the Gentiles are not yet complete.
The phrase "the times of the Gentiles" is not in the book of Daniel. It is the Lord's own expression, and He does not date its start from His own rejection.
The expression "the times of the Gentiles" is not found in the book of Daniel. It is a New Testament phrase, and only our Lord used it... Now, the times of the Gentiles did not begin when Jerusalem rejected the Lord who came from heaven. Our Lord does not say they were brought in then. They started with the Babylonian captivity under Nebuchadnezzar. The glory of the Lord departed from Jerusalem.
That start marks a transfer of authority.
God was patient with Israel for a long time. Then He set the house of David aside and sent it into captivity. He handed the power to govern for Him to the Gentiles, and the times of the Gentiles began with Nebuchadnezzar... Three other empires followed Babylon, and the times of the Gentiles still go on, under one form of government after another. They will run on until God, in His own time, gives supremacy in the earth back to His ancient people.
The Gentiles are the nations other than Israel. The phrase is about who is on top and who is underneath.
"The times of the Gentiles" points to Gentiles on top and Israel pressed down. He is looking ahead over this whole age. In verse 24 He calls the whole age "the times of the Gentiles" — the Gentiles rule, and Israel has no land or inheritance in the earth.
Commentators differ over how the modern State of Israel fits this. Some read the Jewish return as a sign that Gentile control is loosening and "the times of the Gentiles are nearly over" (A. J. Pollock). Others point to the nation's long suffering since it rejected its Messiah, and say that holding the city today settles nothing, because another trampling is still to come.
Because they rejected and crucified their Messiah, the Jewish nation has suffered centuries of being "trampled underfoot by the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24). At the present time the Jews have possession of Jerusalem. A nation of Israel exists, and it makes its mark on world affairs. They are there in unbelief. Their troubles are not over yet, and the city will again be overrun by the Gentiles: "they will trample the holy city for forty-two months" (Rev. 11:2).
God never leaves His judgement on Israel open-ended.
Whenever God speaks in His Word about judgement on Israel, He always sets a limit to it with an "until." So Romans 11:25 tells us that "a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in." Luke 21:24 sets the same kind of limit for Jerusalem... "The fullness of the Gentiles" means the present Christian company. "The times of the Gentiles" means the period when the Gentiles hold power, which started with Nebuchadnezzar some six centuries before Christ.
The next verses say what happens when that limit runs out.
"Immediately after the tribulation," when the times of the Gentiles close, the Son of Man will come in person. We know these times are still running: the Gentiles still trample Jerusalem. But that trampling will end, and the Lord will come to deliver Israel.
- Cause. God took government from the house of David and handed it to Nebuchadnezzar. The "times of the Gentiles" began there, not at the cross.
- Course. Empire has followed empire ever since, with Jerusalem passing from one national power to the next.
- Confirmation. Titus fulfilled the first half of the verse exactly: sword, captivity, and scattering into all nations.
- Contrast. Luke alone records this Roman siege; Matthew and Mark pass over it and go straight to the final crisis.
- Close. "Until" is the mercy in the sentence. God has measured Gentile rule, and it ends when the Son of Man comes.
And there shall be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity [at] the roar of the sea and rolling waves,
The Lord has spoken of Jerusalem trampled by the nations; now He widens the view to the sky itself. Two questions follow: when do these signs come, and are they events in the heavens or pictures of something else?
The Lord had already spoken of the siege and capture of Jerusalem by Roman armies. That came true. What verse 25 describes has not. One commentator makes the small word "and" the hinge, and compares it to a famous break in Isaiah.
"And there will be signs," that is, of the revealing of Christ's presence. The "and" introduces a separate account. It works like a special use of the Hebrew conjunction. Isaiah 61:2 gives one of the most striking examples of this in the Old Testament. The Lord used that passage on the occasion described in Luke 4:16-19. He stopped before the words "and the day of vengeance." … In passages that look disjointed like this, a long stretch of time may come between the events. So it is here, between verses 24 and 25.
The same writer marks the change of subject. Nothing earlier in the chapter hinted at trouble in the heavens.
There was not a word of all this when He spoke of the siege and capture of the city under Titus. The domination of the nations is not over yet. When it ends, there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and distress of nations.
Do these signs happen in the sky, or do they stand for something else? Commentators differ. One holds both at once:
There seems good reason to believe that these signs are physical. Yet matching signs appear in the political world too, as the book of Revelation shows. At such a time God's mercy multiplies His calls to men to give heed to what He is doing. Nature seems to share in human sorrow, and that appearance gives whatever support there is to the fables of astrology. In this way man twists the goodness of God into his own ruin.
Another writer takes the words as pictures. His clue is the roaring sea at the end of the verse.
Then the passage reveals the state of things at the close of the rule of the Gentile nations — signs in sun, moon, and stars; on earth, distress of nations with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring. That last phrase makes me think the words are figures here, though there may also be real signs in the sky.
The verse also names the roaring sea. One writer says who the sea stands for, and finds the same restlessness in today's news.
"The sea and the waves" mean the peoples. We read in Isaiah 57:20, "But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt." How true this is! A glance at the newspaper is enough to prove it. … "The sun, moon and stars" mean the rulers of the nations. … Then every form of government is overthrown, with complete confusion resulting. Men are preparing for this now. They are refusing to be ruled.
Verse 25 pairs distress with perplexity. One writer names the cause of the confusion, and why the fixes never hold.
Man's sin and folly have created the confusion, but man is not able to clear it up. No difficulty is ever really settled. Politicians and others manage from time to time to put a patch on here and a patch on there. For the moment things look reasonable. Then come outbreaks that are more serious and more widespread.
Luke records something the other Gospels leave out: what these terrors do inside people. One writer sees God's hand even in that unrest.
Luke alone mentions the moral signs of men's anguish, despite the deceits and false claims of that day. No doubt there will be strong delusion, and people will believe what is false. But that is the very reason there is no rest and no contentment. Only the grace and truth of God in Christ can give peaceful enjoyment with a good conscience. So God will know how to trouble men's dreams and to break up Satan's ease.
Terrible times have looked like this before. One history tells of an age of famine and plague, when strange sights in the sky made people think the prophecy had come.
These words describe that time well, but the prophecy was far from fulfilled. Our Lord goes straight on to say: "And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory."
- Gap. The "and" of verse 25 can span a long stretch of time, just as Isaiah 61:2 does; Jerusalem's fall is past, these signs are not.
- Signs. Are the sun, moon and stars really shaken, or do they stand for rulers? Commentators differ, and some hold both.
- Sea. The roaring sea pictures the peoples in restless revolt, refusing to be governed.
- Perplexity. The trouble comes with no answer. Man made the confusion, and man cannot cure it.
- Test. One proof settles it: the Son of Man seen coming in a cloud. Until then, alarming times are not the fulfilment.
men ready to die through fear and expectation of what is coming on the habitable earth, for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
In this verse the Lord describes a state of mind, not an event. He tells His disciples what people will feel while the world around them falls apart. Two questions press: when does this happen, and what are "the powers of the heavens" that get shaken?
Commentators place this verse long after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. It comes at the close of the long period when Gentile powers rule. The earlier part of the chapter deals with the siege; verse 25 opens a new scene.
Next, He introduces the last days. There was not a word of all this when He spoke of the siege and capture of the city under Titus. After the rule of the Gentiles is over — and it clearly is not yet — there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and distress of nations.
Luke's account reaches past the outward signs into what people will think and feel. That knowledge has a purpose.
Luke alone has preserved this: what people will be feeling and thinking in that terrible time when the Lord's return in power is close at hand... He who foresees future events also knows beforehand what His creatures will then be feeling and thinking. So there can be a prophetic ministry to meet the need of God's people at that time — the Psalms are full of this — as well as a prophetic description of the thoughts of others at that time.
People in that day will not lack things to believe. Belief will not give them rest.
It is Luke only who mentions the moral signs of men's anguish despite the deceits and pretensions of that day. No doubt there will be strong delusion and the belief of falsehood. But for this very reason there is no rest or contentment. Only the grace and truth of God in Christ can give peaceful enjoyment with a good conscience. So God will know how to trouble men's dreams and to break up Satan's ease.
The terror is not about what has already struck. It is about what is on the way.
People were astounded because they could not see the end. They trembled as they were dragged along toward some unknown, terrible conclusion. For principles were at work, in ways they did not understand, dragging them along whether they wanted it or not.
An older translation reads "ready to die through fear" — fainting that goes as far as collapse.
The stated reason for the panic is the last clause of the verse. One writer explains the phrase in a short parenthesis.
for the powers of heaven — the sources of the way things stand on earth — will be shaken.
God Himself does the shaking.
This is the moment when God is going to shake the heavens as well as the earth, as Haggai predicted. Only the things that cannot be shaken will remain. All will lead up to the public appearing of the Son of Man in power and great glory.
One writer says the moment itself has not yet come, though its principle already shows. He hears confidence and dread in the same generation.
Progress, success, the long run of a new development of human nature — this is the language of those who mock at the Lord's coming. Yet beneath it all, what fears for the future are gripping and weighing down the heart! I use the word "principles" because I do not believe that the moment the Lord speaks of has come yet. But the shadow of coming events falls on the heart. Blessed are those who belong to another world!
The very next verses tell believers to do the reverse of what this verse describes. Fainting hearts and lifted heads face the same events.
For them it means a final redemption, when all creation will be set free from its bondage to decay. That being so, the first signs of His advent are to fill us with glad anticipation. We are to "look up," for the next movement that really counts is to come from the right hand of God, where He sits. We are to "lift up our heads," the opposite of hanging them down in depression or fear. The very things that frighten the world are to fill the believer with the optimism of holy expectation.
- Shaken — God shakes the sources of authority above the earth. Only what cannot be shaken survives.
- Feared — the shaking is still ahead, not past. People collapse under dread of a future they cannot see or stop.
- Recorded — Luke alone preserves what people will feel, not just the signs in the sky.
- Foreshadowed — the moment itself is still future. Its principle already shows: loud confidence in progress, deep fear underneath.
- Reversed — the same events that make the world faint are the believer's signal. Look up and lift your head: redemption is near.
And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
The Lord has been describing a world in terror — distress of nations, people fainting with fear, the powers of heaven shaken. Then comes a sight, and with it three questions: when is this "then," who are the "they," and why does He come as Son of Man?
The Lord has already spoken of the city's capture and of the long period of Gentile rule after it. This verse belongs to the end of that period, not to the siege long ago.
Next, He introduces the last days. "And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars." There was not a word of all this when He spoke of the siege and capture of the city under Titus. The Gentile domination is clearly not over yet. After it ends, there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and distress of nations. People will faint with fear, 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 — not when the Romans took the city long ago, but in the future crisis, when God gives these astonishing signs in heaven and on earth.
The Lord does not say "you will see." One writer takes the roaring sea as a picture rather than a bare event, and marks the change of pronoun.
The sea and the waves roaring — that expression shows, I think, that the words are figurative, though there may be portents too. And then they (not "you," but they, these proud, rebellious Gentiles) will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud.
Clouds appear all through Christ's going and coming. Scripture is careful about the small words it uses with them.
Christ is nowhere said to come with the clouds to gather His own. On the contrary, they go up in the clouds (1 Thessalonians 4:17). These are the royal carriages provided to carry us from earth to meet the Lord. The cloud of old was the well-known symbol of Jehovah's presence with His people (Exodus 13:21; 40:34-38; Luke 9:35). But notice, Christ is not only said to come in the clouds (Mark 13:26), but with them (Revelation 1:7), and on them (Matthew 24:30). The clouds that attend His coming are symbols of His majesty (Psalm 18:9-12). He sits on them as on His throne (Matthew 24:30). He ascended in a cloud (Acts 1:9), and will come in a cloud (Luke 21:27).
The title matters. It explains both why men treated Him with contempt and why judgment belongs to Him.
It is as Son of Man that the Lord Jesus will sit on the throne. No doubt He will show His divine knowledge in judging. But, as He says plainly, the Father has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is Son of Man. As Son of God He gives life; as Son of Man He will judge. How solemn! Had He been only Son of God, who would have dared to despise Him? It was His grace, then, in becoming man to save men that exposed Him to contempt in His path of lowly obedience and suffering in love. If they insulted Him in His work of grace, how will it be when He executes judgment, and this as Son of Man?
Scripture uses two words for the Lord's return. They do not cover the same ground.
The "coming" of the Lord means His presence, in contrast with His absence. It is a wide word. It reaches from what many of us call the "rapture" of the saints, to be "forever with the Lord," on through the interval that follows, until His appearing with His saints in glory. The word "coming" (parousia) takes in both thoughts. The "appearing" (epiphaneia) is the shining out of His coming, when He will be displayed in glory to the world. That word "coming" is often used for this event, the "appearing"; but this last word is never used for the "coming."
The same sight will not mean the same thing to everyone.
God will know how to trouble people's dreams and to break up Satan's ease. Their horror will reach its height at the sight of the rejected Lord, the Son of Man, coming in a cloud with power and glory. But there will be those on earth then — disciples tested by the evils of that day. For them, even the beginning of these troubles and the signs of change for the world will be the sure herald of deliverance.
- Then. The moment is still future. It comes after Gentile rule ends. The Lord said nothing of these signs when He described the siege under Titus.
- They. Not "you" but "they." The proud, rebellious nations will see Him come, not the disciples in front of Him.
- In a cloud. He went up in a cloud and returns in one. Scripture also says with the clouds and on them. They are symbols of His majesty, and long before they marked God's presence with His people.
- Son of Man. He judges under the very name in which He was despised; as Son of God He gives life, as Son of Man He executes judgment.
- Two reactions. The same sight brings horror to those who rejected Him. To tested believers it is the sure sign that deliverance is coming.