Luke 21:27–36

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 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.

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).

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?

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."

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.

As though to rule out any chance of reading all this as the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, our Lord says, "when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draws near." He clearly distinguishes between "these things," which mark the close of the days of vengeance, and the other things which were to mark their beginning. The destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans was surely no sign of approaching redemption!

God will know how to trouble men's dreams and to break up Satan's ease. Their horror will reach its peak at the sight of the rejected Lord, the Son of man, coming in a cloud with power and glory. But there will be others on earth then, disciples tried 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.

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 confidence of holy expectation.

Much can make the head droop and the heart wither a little now: the power of temptation, sorrow of various kinds, seeing sin all around. But once the head is lifted up at the day of redemption, it is lifted up for ever.

It is nothing but the work of the Lamb of God that can lead to any joy or deliverance among us. The precious blood is all our title. And so the jubilee and redemption are connected. When the Lord here says, "Your redemption draws near," He was looking out to this jubilee of Israel and the earth. The jubilee was God's redemption of His land and people. Suppose no kinsman could be found who was able or willing to do this beforehand. Then God Himself, in the fiftieth year, would use both His rights and His resources on behalf of His oppressed land and enslaved people.

The earth's destruction is not what is meant here. What is meant is the blessing that comes after the end of the age, when God ends the time of man's wickedness and misery and trouble and suffering. The coming of the Son of man is never linked with the end of the world in that sense. It is linked with the close of Satan's misrule and the shining out of the kingdom of God.

Verse 28 can have its application both to the believing remnant of Israel in the time of the tribulation and to ourselves now. For the first application, their redemption will be the freeing power of the Son of Man. He will set Israel free from her ages of bondage. In the second case (taking place earlier) our redemption will be of our bodies at the Rapture (Rom. 8:23).

When you see these things, do not be disturbed, look up, do not look down, for your redemption draws near. I do not deny that dark times are coming. But may this only make us look up like Stephen, and see the glory that is also coming! This would separate us from all that is contrary to the purity, holiness, and love of the Lord Jesus.

Sweetness and good fruit are what marked the fig tree in Jotham's parable. God chose Israel as a nation, out of all the nations, to bear fruit for Him. Luke 21:29 shows it: "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees." The fig tree is set apart from the rest. We see Israel's failure to answer all God's goodness when our Lord cursed the barren fig tree. This was the only miracle our Lord performed that did not bring blessing. It tells us that while grace and blessing are what God delights in, judgment must still find its place, for God is righteous and must uphold His name.

He gives a parable, but not of the fig tree only: that would not suit the largeness of Luke's scope. "Look at the fig tree and all the trees." Here is the difference between Luke and the others. It is not that his Gospel lacks the Jewish part. It is that he brings in all the Gentiles as well. How perfect it all is! Luke writes for the Gentiles, so he gives not only the fig tree found in Matthew, but the Gentile trees found nowhere else. That one tree clearly applies to the Jews as a nation; the other figure, "all the trees," adds the rest, so as to be universal.

At the same time as Israel reappears in world politics, many of the powers Israel dealt with in the past will appear again... If the fig tree is Israel, "all the trees" stand for the powers that have to do with her. All must take up their positions to play the part assigned to them in the last scenes.

The Jew was God's fig tree, set on earth to bear fruit and to be a witness. He withered because he was barren. One day he will be broken in heart and will turn to the Lord. The branch becomes tender and puts out leaves in the power of a renewed life. Then the summer, the harvest, the end is near — at the doors.

They were scattered, as Luke told us they would be, and now they are gathering in the land again. The fig tree is shooting... The trees do seem to be putting out their leaves. The summer surely is already near; and there is no summer apart from the Kingdom of God.

The mark of the fig tree is that fruit and leaves are there together. As soon as the branch becomes tender, the fruit is found. It is a rapid development. This is the lesson here. Israel's blessing, new life, fruit and glory will quickly be realised in those end days... There is another application: that we now see Israel like a budding fig tree, with signs of new national life. Taken as a sign of the times, this is certainly not wrong. It tells us of the nearness of the end.

He gives a parable, but not of the fig tree only: that would not suit the largeness of Luke's scope. "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees." Here is the difference between Luke and the others. His Gospel does not drop the Jewish portion; in addition, he brings in all the Gentiles. This evangelist for the Gentiles gives not only the fig tree which is in Matthew, but also the Gentile trees, which no other Gospel mentions. That one tree plainly applies to the Jews as a nation; the other figure ("all the trees") adds the rest, so that it becomes universal.

The leaves on the fig tree, the Lord tells us in Matthew 24:32, give notice that summer is near; and so, He says, the things which He had been describing would give notice, when they came to pass, that the kingdom was near.

The fig tree is no longer barren; for the Son of Man received, and the new covenant with Him, will change everything. These are early days; and we hear of no more than the branch becoming tender and putting out leaves. The time of fruit will come; but as yet they only know that summer is near.

The parable of the fig tree applies to the Jewish remnant of returned captives in the land. They were scattered, as Luke told us they would be. Now they are gathering there again; the fig tree is shooting. But Luke adds "and all the trees": in which we are apparently to see, in keeping with Luke's character, the revival of the nations making up Daniel's empires... Certainly the trees seem to be putting out their leaves. The summer surely is already near; and there is no summer apart from the Kingdom of God. Again we see, as in Matthew, how fast it will at last come on. The generation that sees the beginning will see the end. And here the Lord solemnly affirms that His word cannot change: though heaven and earth pass away, this will not.

Even before the Rapture we see the beginning of the signs of the Lord's coming in glory, which will be later than the Rapture. For Israel has once again become a nation possessing her own land. The nations around her were for years almost unheard of and of little account. Now they have become militant and are pressing to the front for recognition. This great resurgence of national ambition tells us that the kingdom of God is near. If the millennial kingdom is near, the coming of the Lord for the Church (the Rapture) is at least seven years nearer.

The first prominent sign is the one given in the "parable of the fig tree." This tree is an emblem of Israel, and the putting out of leaves may well point to a national revival of that people... Before Israel's false king appears, while the branch is still tender, there is a putting out of leaves, and this is a sign to the remnant. The movement called "Zionism," already begun among the Jews, feeble, undefined and tentative as it is, may be the start of what, after the church is gone, will become the putting out of the leaves of the fig tree.

Here is an instance of how exact Scripture is, even in its figures. Who but God could have thought of giving only the fig tree in Matthew, which speaks of Israel? In Luke we get the fig tree and all the trees, for there the Gentiles get mixed up in the troubles of Israel.

So we have every right to expect signs of life in Israel, and in the nations she has special dealings with. These signs come before the Saviour comes to earth to set up the visible kingdom of God. That great event is near, for no one can deny that remarkable movements are going on among these peoples.

Now in what sense could the kingdom of God be near when Jerusalem fell? In its mysterious state, the state it exists in now, the kingdom of God had already come long before Jerusalem was destroyed. In that sense no one could call it near at hand then. But once these signs of Christ's second coming begin, the kingdom in its open display of millennial glory will be near at hand.

Is it not clear, then, that the kingdom of God is coming in a sense different from what people look for and talk about? Its approach is real now to faith, but we do not see it. Then it will be manifest, and it will put down everything that sets itself against God. The yoke of evil will be broken then, which it is not now.

So the Holy Spirit records here an expression which may apply to both: "you know that the kingdom of God is near." I have no doubt this had a certain accomplishment in the complete suppression of the Jewish order, but not its fulfilment. The coming of the Son of Man, after the signs of verses 25 and 26, will establish the kingdom of God.

When they see these things happening, they are to conclude that the kingdom of God is near. He had spoken of the final, worldwide trouble for the whole inhabited earth, not just of what has happened to the Jews. The things seen here were signs, like the budding of the trees. So the kingdom of God plainly comes at the coming of the King, when the Lord God Almighty takes His great power and reigns.

For Israel has once again become a nation possessing her own land. Other nations around her, for years almost unheard of and of little importance, have become militant and are pressing forward for recognition. This great resurgence of national ambition tells us that the kingdom of God is near. If the millennial kingdom is near, the coming of the Lord for the Church is at least seven years nearer.

When does the phrase "this generation" come in? After the Son of Man has already come in power and glory — not when they saw Jerusalem surrounded by armies. That is an important point to help in determining its true meaning. If "this generation" really meant a man's lifetime, such a place in the prophecy would not fit... So "this generation," if taken as a stretch of time, must cover eighteen centuries at the least.

Few have weighed how fully Luke 21:32 settles the real meaning of those much-debated words... As long as people read them only in the light of Matthew 24 and Mark 13, there was room for doubt... So the clause seems to be meant in its full, unlimited strength. Luke has placed it where it makes every other application impossible.

The word "all" must include everything mentioned in the verses before, and the close of the times of the Gentiles is one of these. So He cannot mean by "this generation" the people who were then alive. The times of the Gentiles have not yet run out, so the generation the Lord speaks of has not yet passed. It is the race, the nation, of the Jews that He names. The Greek word here translated "generation" is translated "nation" in other places. In Philippians 2:15 older translations read "a crooked and perverse nation"... Parkhurst notes that "generation" is also used for people of like quality and character, even when they are not of one place or age. We also have "the generation of the upright," "the generation of those that seek Him," "the generation of His wrath."

Its force is moral. It is not exactly the nation of Israel, but that Christ-rejecting race who refused their Messiah then and refuse Him still. This will go on till all these solemn threats of judgment are accomplished... The Lord does not say that this generation will not pass away until the temple falls or the city is taken. He says, until all is fulfilled... He declares that this generation will not pass away till then. Only then will grace form a new generation, the generation to come.

They have come through troubles like no other people, and heavy discipline under the holy hand of God. They have borne the hatred and persecution of the boastful Gentile, east and west. Still they remain. Where is Moab? Where Edom, Assyria, Babylon? People may dig up the ruins of their palaces and fortresses. But as nations they are dead and gone... These words guarantee that Israel stays a distinct people to the end, until the whole prophetic word is fulfilled.

Fulfilment began at the destruction or treading down of Jerusalem — its desolation, vengeance and so on — and it continues still. A far fuller fulfilment comes at the close, before the coming of the Son of Man... Note also that this passage rules out applying "the coming of the Son of Man" to the destruction of Jerusalem. The long treading down has already come before it.

Christ has attached a very solemn warning to this prophecy: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." No doubt this applies to all His words. But He said it about this particular prophecy. So let us come to it with full regard for the warning the Lord has set over this scripture to protect it. The globe we walk on will pass away. The heavens will go like a scroll rolled up. But not one syllable of what the Lord Jesus said here will fail to come true.

Verse 33 goes far beyond the kingdom. It reaches to the passing away of heaven and earth at the time of the Great White Throne, some 1000 years later (Rev. 20:11). The words of the Lord Jesus will never pass away.

"Heaven and earth will pass away" — and the voice is that of the Lord and Maker of heaven and earth — "but my words will not pass away."

We are told that the "words" He spoke, He received from the Father. He was so perfect as Man in His dependence on the Father that He said, "The Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment — what to say and what to speak." Again we read, "For he whom God has sent utters the words of God." So nothing could be more truly from God than the words He spoke. It is no wonder, then, that He should say, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."

This is the mystery the Lord has before Him when He says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." Creation could be removed. Redemption — the work of the Word — cannot be moved, because the living God has joined Himself to it. And so the prophet, speaking to Jesus the Son, says, "Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain." All things that are made may be shaken (Heb. 12:27), for God Himself is not joined to them; He is not their foundation.

Is this not exceedingly sweet for us to think about! The child of God knows he has a foundation for his faith more stable than heaven or earth. The Lord speaks of His own words; the word of the Lord endures forever. However much people may try to detract from the word of God, by His grace may we hold fast all God has given to us. Here it is the Lord's own words, but the whole word of God has a divine character.

You know you have sinned and want your sins forgiven, and you are asking, How am I to know that they are forgiven? On what ground? I do not know any trustworthy ground except God's holy word, and having this, you need not fear all the powers of Satan. There is no power in this world, or under this world, which can destroy the imperishable word of God.

Verse 34 is negative. It deals with the most common hindrances to a walk with God — the undue emphasis put on eating and drinking, and the cares of this life. How easily we slip into a state that seeks only to satisfy our own appetites, while matters of intense, eternal importance are left knocking at the door! Of course eating and drinking are necessary, but is it that for which we live? Should the cares of this life, the many details of living, so occupy us that we are loaded down with them?

He then tells them that, as people living on earth, they must be watchful. Their own hearts could be weighed down with things that would sink them into this world — the very world in which they were to be witnesses. For that day would come as a snare upon all those who had their dwelling here, who were rooted here.

We know the intoxicating power of this world's schemes and operations. We know how the human heart gets swept away, as if on the surface of a fast current, when such things come before it. Schemes of improvement, commercial operations, political movements — yes, and popular religious movements too — all of these produce on the human mind an effect like the one Nabal's wine produced.

No doubt those three verses — 34, 35, 36 — have special application to believers who will be on earth just before His appearing. But they have a great voice for the believer today. Many pleasures surround us, and we may easily become overloaded with too much of them. On the other hand, there were never more and greater dangers on the horizon. Our hearts may be loaded with dread, so that we lose sight of the day that is coming. We can be so taken up with the doings of dictators and the progress of world movements that the coming of the Lord fades from our minds.

How could the destruction of Jerusalem come "as a snare on all who dwell on the face of the whole earth"? No; it is of His own actual, personal return, at the close of the times of the Gentiles, that our Lord speaks.

His day will surprise all who dwell on the face of the whole earth like a thief in the night. But He meets His heavenly ones with quite other thoughts, for in mind and spirit they are already in the place He comes from.

"Sober" means that quietness and seriousness of mind, that solemn feeling, which the Spirit of God produces in the hearts of those who take in the character of the approaching end of all things. On the other side, it is a mind freed from the intoxicating influences of this scene. It shows itself in the absence of all flippancy, and in the reverence that comes from walking before God with a sense of how short the present time is, and of the coming judgments. Notice, too, that the Lord, just as Peter does, presses constant prayer upon His disciples.

Snares to be effective must be hidden. It is useless to set a net where a bird can see it; in the same way the hook in fishing is always concealed. The baits that Satan uses are things that men like. They may not always be moral evils in themselves — riches, honour, and the like. But they may end in the loss of the soul.

The special rejoicing is on the part of the dwellers on the earth, that is, the earthly-minded... In other words, to "dwell on the earth" is not a vague description of men. It expresses a moral condition.

Our Lord Himself warned His hearers to take heed in case that day should come upon them unawares. In all these passages, as in 1 Thessalonians 5, it points to sudden and overwhelming judgments carried out on the wicked. Those judgments open the way for Christ to set up His earthly kingdom by power. The contrast is sharp. The descent of the Lord Jesus into the air was presented to the Thessalonian believers as the crown of all their hopes. This day of the Lord comes "as a thief in the night" on the whole world of the ungodly. In one case the Lord comes to gather His saints; in the other, to strike His enemies. And the saints are taught about the first, so that they may know for certain that they are exempt from the terrors of the second.

He then tells them that, as living on earth, they must be watchful. Their own hearts could grow heavy with things that would sink them into this world — the world in the middle of which they were to be witnesses. For that day would come as a snare upon all those who had their dwelling here, who were rooted here. They were to watch and pray, in order to escape all those things, and to stand in the presence of the Son of man.

The warnings against carousing, drunkenness and the cares of this life apply directly to those going through the future tribulation. They are to watch and pray always. The aim is that they may be counted worthy to escape the things that threaten all around them, and at the end to stand before the Son of Man. At that time those believers will be kept through the tribulation, while the Church will be kept out of the hour of it (Rev. 3:10).

No doubt those three verses, 34, 35, 36, have a special application to believers who will be on earth just before His appearing, but they have a great voice for the believer today. Pleasures of every kind surround us, and we may easily take on far too many of them. On the other hand, there were never more and greater dangers on the horizon. Our hearts may grow heavy with dread, so that we lose sight of the day that is coming.

The Lord gave His disciples what they needed then. He also gave it in the written word for similar times still to come. Still, though the principle is always true, verse 34 clearly applies to a day still to come on the earth. The privilege is to escape the judgments and stand before the Son of man. This again is earthly, not being caught up to heaven.

Those who pass through those days, and especially the suffering remnant of Israel, are called to watch and pray always. They are not called to pray that they may be taken out of the hour of trial. They are called to pray that they may escape the things that come to pass. To escape here means to come through the whole tribulation alive, "and stand before the Son of Man."

The Lord speaks of "the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (v. 27). The title "Son of Man" never refers to the rapture. It refers to His appearing in glory. The Lord is speaking of people who will pass through the tribulation on earth. If they are faithful, they will escape the snare of this antichrist and at last stand before the Son of Man.

"Praying … may be counted worthy" (or, on another reading, "may be strong") "… to stand (be set) before the Son of Man." … This is not a judgment in the sense of John 5:24. It is the occasion when our Lord gives out reward or loss to those of the House of God. He holds His first examination then, reviewing the life of each disciple.

Knowledge by itself is not power. We need to be kept in the dependent attitude of prayer, if we are to carry out the exhortations in practice. … Persevering in prayer means more than turning to God in some special need. It means a habit of depending on Him. … The Lord warned His disciples to watch and pray. It is useless to pray about a particular temptation, or snare, if at the same time we do not watch against it.

He then tells them that, since they live on earth, they must watch. Their own hearts could be weighed down by things that would sink them into this world — the very world in which they were to be His witnesses. For that day would come as a snare on all who had their home here, who were rooted here.

No doubt those three verses, 34, 35, 36, apply in a special way to saints who will be on earth just before His appearing. But they have a great voice for the believer today. Pleasures of every kind surround us, and they may easily overload us. On the other hand, there were never more and greater dangers on the horizon. Dread may weigh our hearts down, so that we lose sight of the day that is coming. … Then we shall be wide awake, and ready to greet the Lord when He comes.

They were to watch and pray, so as to escape all those things and to stand in the presence of the Son of man. … To be with Him, as those who have escaped from the earth, and to be among the 144,000 on Mount Zion, will be one fulfilment of this blessing. But the place is not named. So, if the people He was speaking to proved faithful, the hope His words awakened would reach something better still — His heavenly presence in the day of glory.