Signs of the Times

to Luke’s Gospel. Luke 21. I think my microphone
is on now. We began last week by looking
at the Olivet Discourse. The longest discourse in all
of Christ’s teachings. The longest answer He ever gave
to a question. The longest version of this Olivet
Discourse, which is recorded in all three of the Synoptic
Gospels. The longest version of that is in Matthew’s gospel,
encompassing two entire chapters, chapter 24 and chapter 25. Essentially, what it is, is a
prophetic unveiling by Christ of things future, as we began
to see last week. What I have begun and what we
will continue on throughout this is kind of dipping in to see
what some of the other synoptic writers, Matthew and Mark, what
they bring to the table in this regard. But for this morning,
I just want to jump right into the passage for the sake of time
and and catch us up with exactly where we’ll be for the next several
weeks, if not longer. I want to turn, if you would,
to Matt, pardon me, to Luke chapter 21. We’re going to pick it up
there in verse five, all the way down through verse 11. Where
Luke records there, and while some were talking about the temple,
that it was adorned with beautiful stones and votive gifts, he said,
as for these things which you are looking at, the days will
come in which there will not be left one stone upon another
which will not be torn down. They questioned him, saying,
teacher, when therefore will these things happen and what
will be the sign when these things are about to take place? And
he said, see to it that you are not misled, for many will come
in my name saying, I am he and the time is near. Do not go after
them when you hear of wars and disturbances. Do not be terrified
for these things must take place first. But the end does not follow
immediately. Then he continued by saying to
them, nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.
And there will be great earthquakes and in various places, plagues
and famines. There will be terrors and great
signs from heaven. And with this, Jesus began this
great lesson called the Olivet Discourse. As we saw last week,
it wasn’t Jesus first time in Jerusalem. Not only immediately
after his birth, but regularly his parents would take him up.
A pattern of the family would take him up during the feast
of the Passover to Jerusalem. We don’t know how many years
that continued, but we do know it was a regular feature of the
family. On numerous occasions, Jesus is found at the temple
or in Jerusalem. But it says in Luke’s Gospel,
beginning in chapter 9, that Jesus began to set His face resolutely
to go to Jerusalem. And time after time, Luke 9.31,
9.53, 13.22, 13.33, and 34, it is recorded over and over again, this purposed
visit which would be His last to Jerusalem Luke 1711, 1831, 1911, 1928. It is an echo. It’s a refrain in Luke’s gospel. Luke is drawing us in and helping
us to focus on this great ministry that would take place in Jerusalem.
We saw last week was the key feature of Jerusalem was the
temple. which had been battered and destroyed
and rebuilt numerous times, but was a sight to behold for all
who approached Jerusalem. And it meant everything to the
Jew. As we saw last week, one said that the Jew had only one
temple and that was in Jerusalem, only one God, him who had once
enthroned there between the cherubim. who was still king over Zion,
the temple was the only place where a God-appointed, pure priesthood
could offer acceptable sacrifices. Whether for forgiveness of sin
or fellowship with God, there was one temple. And it meant
everything to the Jew. It meant everything to those
people. But it’s important to note That
as Jesus, as much drama as Luke has built up about this visit
to Jerusalem, what he records here in Luke 21 is Jesus last
visit. Jesus has embarked upon his last
visit to the temple, and that’s exactly where we find him with
essentially Matthew and Mark echoing the fact that Jesus had
left and departed the temple for the last time. Verse five
of Luke’s Gospel says, while some were talking about the temple,
that it was that it was adorned with beautiful stones and votive
gifts. We spent some time looking at the nature of the temple and
all of these beautiful offerings that were hung about and displayed
for all to see. One set of of the temple, that
it was a building which every Israelite regarded with almost
idolatrous veneration. They almost worship this building
because of its beauty. But beyond that, it was a building
which contained the Ark, the Holy of Holies, all the furniture
formed by a pattern given by God himself. As one said, it
was considered as one of the wonders of the world. This was
no ordinary building. And for Jesus to sit across from
it, And to gaze upon it, Josephus records that likely what he saw
was that it was all of the gold, the sun rising, shining and glimmering
off of the gold reflected back a splendor that made people want
to close their eyes. But Jesus saw something else,
as we saw. As one records, as the city lay
there stretched out before his view, The master’s prophetic
eye holds up as a sharp contrast. On the one hand, Jerusalem, peaceful
and beautiful. And on the other hand is a smoldering,
hideous ruin where thousands were doomed to meet their death
in a gruesome manner. Jesus saw it all. We pick up
Luke’s gospel where we left off last week, having just considered
the temple. And the fact that it would be
destroyed just as Jesus prophesied. In verse five, it says they were
talking about the temple that it was adorned with beautiful
stones and votive gifts, these offerings, and Jesus stops them
in their tracks. And in verse six, it says, as
for the things which you are looking at, the days will come
in which there will not be one stone upon another which will
not be torn down. Jesus prophesies that it’s going
to be destroyed. And we know that that was literally
fulfilled in eighty seventy. Those words that he echoed were
fulfilled, then the temple was destroyed by fire. Even though
that was contrary to the desires of the emperor Titus, who would
hoped to preserve it and spare it so that he could take over.
Ultimately, The demolition was complete, though. So much so
that Josephus remarks that the city walls were so thoroughly
destroyed and they were so thoroughly dug up to the very foundation
that there was nothing left to make those who came near believe
that it had ever even been inhabited. This is total destruction. Another
records that Jesus here is making it absolutely clear that while
the temple was undoubtedly a wonderful building, the disciples should
not be beguiled by its beauty. Jesus stops them in their tracks
and says, before you go any further with his worship of the building,
let me tell you what will happen. Well, that very news. This startling
announcement. That Jesus gave regarding this
temple. Was so utterly shocking to them
that they begin to even question how it could even be, they respond
to the shocking news, if you glance down at your Bible, they
respond to the shocking news with a series of questions born
out of that incredulity. Nothing fit. Nothing made sense. This was the Messiah. They believed
that. Of that fact, they were all convinced. But they also believed that they
were marching into Jerusalem to take it by storm. To establish
the Messiah as their earthly king and conqueror, a spiritual
and political ruler, they believed that. Every faithful Jew recorded one. Every faithful heart in Israel
longed for Rome to be overthrown so that the nation could truly
be free again. And they believed the Old Testament
messianic prophecies who spoke of one who would suddenly appear
and said everything right. After which he would reestablish
the throne of David on earth, ruling over all the nations of
the earth, And now, all of a sudden, nothing makes sense. All they
had were questions. Many of them. And they came in
rapid succession. So much so that not all of the
Gospel writers record them or even record them in the same
way. All three of the synoptic writers
record questions. And all three of them record
the first question. When? When is this going to happen? When will these things happen?
These things here quite evidently referring to the destruction
of the temple. When is this going to happen?
Both Mark and Luke record the second question. What will be
the sign when these things are about to take place now? Well,
the first question is general. Approximately when the second
question seeks to know the harbingers of such a time. What’s going
to give us an advanced notice of this? When will these things
begin to go south? When will things begin to go
downhill? When will society begin to unravel
to the point where the temple itself is going to be destroyed? What can we look for in the way
of indicators? We can understand their mindset,
you and I, can’t we? We don’t like to get caught off
guard. We don’t like surprises, not bad surprises. Neither did
they. They wanted to know not only
when a general time frame, but in a specific way, they wanted
to know exactly what they could be looking for. That would precede
such a dreadful time. Matthew, however, goes on to
record two additional questions, I believe there’s a total of
four. If you want to look at Matthew, chapter 24, verse 23, Matthew chapter 24, verse 3.
Matthew will give us two additional questions that really begin to
help us understand the scope, not so much of the questions,
but of the answers that follow, of the answers that Jesus provides. Matthew records these two additional
questions that are very telling. It is these two questions that
let us in on the mindset of the disciples Because they were equating
the destruction of the temple with Jesus’ return and the end
of the age. Matthew records specifically
what will be the sign of your coming. And the final question,
and what will be supplied there, what will be the sign of the
end of the age? What will be the sign of your
coming and of the end of the age? Now, Jesus, he will respond
to these questions. But unraveling them is sometimes
difficult here in the Olivet discourse and confusion abounds. Jesus doesn’t erase all the mystery
of those questions. The interpretation of the Olivet
discourse is one that is exceedingly difficult. Essentially, as one recorded,
The disciples assumed that the destruction of the temple would
be the prelude to the Messiah’s return to consummate that age
and to initiate his kingdom on earth. That’s their assumption.
Jesus did not deny a relationship between those two things. But
he also didn’t explicitly reveal the long interval that would
separate those two things. Some of those predictions were
fulfilled just in a few years and some of them have yet to
be fulfilled. They assumed, even though incorrectly,
that the end of the world would immediately follow the destruction
of the temple. They are related. But they don’t
immediately and sequentially follow one another. They didn’t
see the long interval that lay in between those two events.
As one said, it is clear that as these men interpreted the
master’s words, Jerusalem’s fall, particularly the destruction
of the temple, would mean the end of the world. And what Jew
wouldn’t come to that conclusion? They were partly mistaken because
a lengthy period of time would intervene between Jerusalem’s
fall and the culmination of the age, his second coming. All three
of the gospel writers. Record the outlines of these
two main events with their signs, and as the Olivet discourse continues,
they can’t always be disentangled as if Jesus is speaking exclusively
of one over against the other. Sometimes things point to the
destruction of Jerusalem, others clearly point to Christ’s return,
and sometimes it is difficult to even pull them apart. So of the three questions, pardon
me, of the four questions, Jesus ignores for a moment the first
two. As to the time when the temple
would be destroyed. But looking back now, we know
exactly when it was destroyed. 70 AD, and it was total destruction,
as I hinted, precisely as Jesus prophesied. And I wanted to take
a few moments to unfold for you the nature of this destruction.
And for that, I found a tremendous help in shafts history. The history of the Christian
church. Where shafts said this. There is scarcely another period
in history so full of vice, corruption and disaster as the six years
between the Neronian persecution and the destruction of Jerusalem.
The prophetic description of the last days by our Lord began
to be fulfilled before the generation to which he had spoken had passed
away. And the day of judgment seemed
to be so close at hand. So the Christians believed and
had good reason to believe Even to earnest heathen minds, that
period looked as dark as midnight. Tacitus begins his history of
Rome after the death of Nero with these words. I perceive
to a work rich in disasters, full of atrocious battles of
discord and rebellion, a horrible even in peace. For princes. Killed by the sword, three civil
wars, several foreign wars and mostly all raging at the same
time. Leaving cities swallowed up and
buried in ruins, Rome laid waste by conflagrations, the old temples
burned up, even the capital set on fire by citizens. Sanctuaries
desecrated, adultery rampant in high places. The most unfortunate
country in that period was Palestine, where ancient and venerable nation
brought upon itself unspeakable suffering and destruction. The
tragedy of Jerusalem prefigures in miniature the final judgment,
and in this light is represented in the eschatological discourses
of Christ, who foresaw the end from the beginning. The party
spirit among the Jews themselves and their hatred of their heathen
oppressors rove to the most insolent political and religious fanaticism
and was continually inflamed by false prophets. At last, in
the month of May, eighty sixty six under the last procurator,
Flores, a wicked and cruel tyrant who, as Josephus says, was placed
as a hangman over evildoers and organized rebellion broke out
against the Romans. To defy Rome. In that age, without
a single ally. Was to defy the world in arms. But religious fanaticism blinded
the Jews against the inevitable failure of this mad and desperate
revolt. The emperor Nero informed of
the rebellion, said his most famous general. Vespasian with
a large force to the Palestine. Vespasian opened the campaign
in the year 67 from the Syrian port town Ptolemaic. And against
a stout resistance, he overran Galilee with 60,000 men. I would just have you note that
the campaign began in 67. And we know that the temple was
destroyed in 70 AD. Vespasian returns. Ultimately,
he is crowned as emperor after four others failed. His son,
Titus, is sent in his stead. He had already faced these stubborn
Jewish people. He was already irritated and
inflamed at them. And he sends his own son to take
up the cause. And I pick up with Schaff, who
says his son Titus, who himself 10 years after had become emperor,
highly distinguished himself by his mildness and philanthropy,
then undertook the prosecution of the Jewish war It became the
instrument in the hand of God of destroying the holy city and
the temple. He had an army of not less than
80,000 trained soldiers and planted his camp on Mount Scopus and
the adjoining Mount Olivet. In April of AD 70, immediately
after the Passover, when Jerusalem was filled with strangers, the
siege began. The zealots rejected with sneering
defiance the repeated proposals of Titus. and the prayers of
Josephus, who accompanied him as interpreter and mediator.
And they struck down everyone who spoke of surrender. The most
pitiable scenes of misery around them could not move these crazy
fanatics. History records no other instance
of such obstinate resistance. Such desperate bravery and contempt
of death. The Jews fought not only for
civil liberty, life and their native land, but for that which
constituted their national pride and glory and gave their whole
history its significance for their religion, which, even in
this state of horrible degeneracy, infused them into an almost superhuman
power of endurance. At last. In July, the castle
of Antonia was surprised and taken by night. If you’re familiar
with the walls of Jerusalem, the castle of Antonia is right
on the edge. This prepared the way for the
destruction of the temple in which the tragedy culminated.
The daily sacrifices ceased on July 17th because all hands were
needed for defense. The last and the bloodiest sacrifice
at the altar of burnt offerings was the slaughter of thousands
of Jews who had crowded around it. Titus, according to Josephus,
intended at first to save this magnificent work of architecture
as a trophy of victory. And perhaps from some superstitious
fear, When the flames threatened to reach the holy of holies,
he forced his way through the flame and smoke over the dread
and pardon me, over the dead and dying to arrest the fire.
But the destruction was determined by a higher decree, his own soldiers
roused to madness by the stubborn resistance and greedy of the
golden treasures could not be restrained from the work of destruction. At first, the halls around the
temple were set on fire. Then a firebrand was hurled through
the golden gate. When the flames arose, the Jews
raised hideous yells and tried to put out the fire, while others
clinging with a last grasp of messianic hopes. That God, in the midst of the
conflagration, would save the temple. Josephus, here I insert,
records the following. That building, God long ago had
sentenced to the flames, and you’d even get a sense almost
immediately that Josephus, not a Christian, is not one to give
the glowing and passionate and sympathetic ear That building,
God long ago had sentenced to the flames, but now in the revolution
of the time periods, that fateful day had arrived. The 10th month
of loose one of the soldiers, neither awaiting orders nor filled
with horror of so dread and undertaking, but moved by some supernatural
impulse, snatched up a brand from the blazing timber and hoisted
it up by one of his fellow soldiers, flung the fiery missile through
a golden window. When the flame rose, a scream
as poignant as the tragedy went up from the Jews, and now the
object before they had guarded so closely was going to ruin. Soon Schaff winds up. The whole prodigious structure
was ablaze and illuminated the skies as it burned on the 10th
of August, AD 70. Josephus adds, that no one can
conceive a louder, more terrible shriek than that which arose
from all sides during the burning of the temple, the shout of victory
and the jubilee of the legions that surrounded the wailing.
The wailing of the people now surrounded with fire and sword
upon the mountain and through the city, the echo from all the
mountains around increased to a deafening roar. Yet the misery
itself is more terrible than the disorder The hill on which
the temple stood was seething hot and seemed to envelop its
base in one sheet of flame. The blood was larger in quantity
than the fire and those that were slain more in number than
those that slew them. The ground was nowhere visible.
All was covered with corpses over the heap. The soldiers pursued
the fugitives. And so Jerusalem. Ultimately,
the entire city was raised to the ground, even Titus, this
heathen general who had gone at the will of his own father.
Eventually, publicly declared that God himself, by some special
providence, had to have aided the Romans. Because the devastation
was so great and so thorough, The number of the Jews that were
slain during this time, including all those that had crowded in
from all around the countryside, Josephus estimates at more than
a million. Eleven thousand perished from
starvation shortly before. Ninety seven thousand were carried
captive and sold into slavery or sold, sent into the mines.
This was utter destruction and God allowed it. The temple, the
city and everything, as I said last week, except the people.
He allowed the destruction of the place of worship, the beautiful
temple, the Holy of Holies. It is recorded that this space
and his son Titus celebrated the dearly bought victory together.
No expense was spared for the pageant. They they were preceded
by the soldiers in festive attire, 700 Jewish captives. The images of the gods, the sacred
furniture, the temple, the table of showbread, the seven armed
candlestick, the trumpets which announced the year of the Jubilee,
the vessel of incense and the roles of the law were born along
in procession and deposited in the newly built temple. But they
called the Temple of Peace. God allowed all this. And he
allowed all this destruction of everybody, but that are everything
rather, but the people, he didn’t allow them to be totally eradicated. He preserved the remnant. A remnant
of the nation of Israel. And they were not utterly destroyed. As I recorded last week, Schaff
ends his account with this final paragraph, the Jews still had
the law and the prophets, the sacred traditions to which they
clung to this day with indestructible tenacity and with the hope of
a great future. Scattered over the earth at home
everywhere and nowhere, refusing to mingle their blood with other
races, dwelling in distinct communities marked as a peculiar people.
Massacred yet springing up again, robbed yet wealthy. They have
outlived the persecution of centuries and are likely to continue to
live to the end of time. And it is with this. It’s with
this as a backdrop that the disciples are utterly shocked. This is
the news that Jesus was forecasting to them, this kind of destruction. As MacArthur adds here. A note
that I hope will set the tone for the weeks to come. He said,
a look at the whole discourse reveals that the most important
aspects of Jesus prophecy were not fulfilled in the destruction
of Jerusalem in 8070. The Great Tribulation that Christ
describes in these words that we’ll read in the weeks to come.
Describes involves cataclysm and a suffering on a global and
cosmic scale, not a local Holocaust in Jerusalem, only a time of
distress and hardship that would be unique in all the world’s
history. The destruction of Jerusalem
was indeed a great disaster that in no sense can it be accurately
said that the Roman siege of AD 70 fulfilled the prophecy
of a great tribulation. Major aspects of Jesus discourse,
therefore, clearly await a future fulfillment. Christ’s warnings
about false messiahs, wars, rumors of wars, famines, pestilences
and earthquakes have seemed to foretell what took place on a
limited scale. In other words, what he says
is what happened in Jerusalem is just a microcosm. Of what
will happen. Christ’s warnings about false
messiahs, wars, rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes
may have seemed to foretell what took place on limited scale in
80, 70. But many clues throughout this
context suggest a yet future cataclysm that will be worldwide,
not local and apocalyptic. Pardon me, apocalyptic, not merely
historic. And so as Jesus begins to answer
their questions, And again, I count four. Not only when will these
things happen and what will be the sign of the things that are
about to take place. I believe Jesus zeros in on those
last two that Matthew offers. What will be the sign of your
coming? What will be the sign of the
end of the age? Because it’s clear here the Jesus
followers interpreted his words as being Jerusalem’s fall equating
with the end of the world. It is as if Jesus starts by suggesting
that he may get to the other questions in time. The destruction
of the temple. Even though this occurs first
historically and as dramatic as an account, as we just read,
makes it sound so astounding. It is secondary in Jesus’ mind.
It is, if I may, small potatoes. Though Jesus has just foretold
of the destruction of the temple and its place in prophetic history,
it is second place. First and foremost is what Matthew
records here as the end of the age. That’s what’s in Jesus’
mind. Now, while they ask for signs,
Jesus doesn’t immediately provide them. In fact, you might say
that Jesus first tells them what the signs won’t be. False signs,
if you will, these are things that will confuse people into
thinking that the end is near. Jesus here is dealing. Primarily
in the Olivet discourse with things that pertain to Israel,
not to the church. The backdrop, the whole. What
is behind the Olivet discourse is the rejection of the Messiah.
And the disciplining that follows, as one said, the questions of
the disciples pertaining to all these Jewish customs, the disciples
knew nothing at this point of the church age and their questions
were not about the church. What unfolds here in this Olivet
discourse is future. It hasn’t happened yet. Jesus
isn’t laying out the things that would take place prior to 70
A.D. He’s telling us what to expect before the great end. As one pastor said, and I close,
Scripture suggests that the second coming occurs in two stages.
First, the rapture when he comes for his saints and they are caught
up to meet him in the air. And second, his return to earth
when he comes with his saints to execute judgment against his
enemies. That is the only scenario that reconciles the imminency
of Christ’s coming for his saints with the yet unfulfilled signs
that signal his final glorious return with his saints. The entire
church will be removed from the earth before the tribulation
even begins. National Israel, not the church,
will be the focus of God’s earthly program. The onset of the tribulation
marks the start of the painful process by which national Israel
will be grafted back into the olive tree. The significance
of the tribulation pertains to ethnic and national Israel, not
the church. That’s not to say that we can’t
gain great instruction. and great principles in coursing
through this very important dialogue regarding the end things, the
last things. And as always, Christ is glorified. Let’s pray. Our God, you are merciful to
let us peek in to this private conversation Not between the
greater portion of followers, but between the twelve and Christ. In this very intimate setting
where you unfolded the great plan of the end. The great tribulation
that the world will be faced with. And father, the glorious
reminder that we will be in heaven with you. those saints who proclaim
Christ in the here and now will be with Christ. Father, thank
You and we praise You and pray in advance that You would unfold
and uncover our understanding of these deep things. And always
make us humble as we digest them, that we too would glorify You.
It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray, Amen. Thank you very much.