MacArthur New Testament Commentary
I was doing some study on Luke 21 and wanted to get MacArthur's commentary on this. I went searching Logos and could not find a single commentary any where. I found an old post about the Luke 6-10 commentary set still being in production, but that was in 2013. Can anyone shed some light on why there Commentary sets appear to have disappeared from the logos universe?
Comments
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Scott Starr said:
Can anyone shed some light on why there Commentary sets appear to have disappeared from the logos universe?
These titles were pulled due to licensing (dis)agreements with the publisher. All modern Moody titles have been pulled from Logos. New resources which were not already in Logos may be available in Vyrso.
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Scott Starr said:
I was doing some study on Luke 21 and wanted to get MacArthur's commentary on this
Scott,
I bought MacArthur's New Testament Commentaries back when Moody was selling on Logos. I was going to share his comments on chapter 21 but, alas, I do not have that volume in my set. I have 18 volumes in the set, including Luke 1-5, but no Luke 21. I do not have the set in hardback so I don't know what it says about Luke 21. Sorry.
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I spoke with a LOGOS REPRESENTATIVE a few weeks ago, and he told me that they are in negotiations with the publisher right now to get THE COMPLETE SET OF MACARTHUR NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARIES here on LOGOS; which no doubt, would be a great asset, and that a lot of people would buy. In my personal opinion. no one can expound the Word of God like JOHN MACARTHUR. LOGOS should also consider getting THE ONE VOLUME MACARTHUR BIBLE COMMENTARY, which includes the Old Testament, and is published by THOMAS NELSON, and not MOODY.
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Confronting Error with Condemnation, Not Conversation (Luke 20:45-21:4)And while all the people were listening, He said to the disciples, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.” And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. And He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins. And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.” (20:45-21:4)
Emissaries of Satan have always twisted, distorted, and denied God’s word. False prophets and false teachers have led millions of people astray from the truth, dooming them to share their own eternal punishment in hell (Matt. 23:15).
The Old Testament records early warnings of the deadly danger false teachers posed to Israel. As they were about to enter the Promised Land, Moses cautioned the nation to be on guard against those who would deceive them with lies:
If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, “Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,” you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deut. 13:1-3)
But Israel was indifferent to Moses’ warnings, so when false prophets arose the people followed their defective doctrine into judgment. “The prophets prophesy falsely,” God later said through Jeremiah, “and the priests rule on their own authority; and My people love it so!” (Jer. 5:31). In Jeremiah 14:14 He added, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds” (cf. 2:8; 6:14).
Through His true and faithful prophets, like Jeremiah, God pronounced judgment on the false prophets and warned His people of their danger:
“Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray. Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood; and they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one has turned back from his wickedness. All of them have become to Me like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah. Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets, ‘Behold, I am going to feed them wormwood and make them drink poisonous water, for from the prophets of Jerusalem pollution has gone forth into all the land.’” Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the Lord. They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said, “You will have peace”’; and as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, they say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’ ... I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied. But if they had stood in My council, then they would have announced My words to My people, and would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds ... I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, ‘I had a dream, I had a dream!’ How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal? The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the Lord. “Is not My word like fire?” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock? Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who steal My words from each other. Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares.’ Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the Lord, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the Lord. (Jer. 23:13-17, 21-22, 25-32; cf. 27:9-10, 14-16)
Ezekiel also recorded God’s condemnation of the fraudulent preachers:
Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy from their own inspiration, ‘Listen to the word of the Lord’ Thus says the Lord God, “Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing. O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes among ruins. You have not gone up into the breaches, nor did you build the wall around the house of Israel to stand in the battle on the day of the Lord. They see falsehood and lying divination who are saying, ‘The Lord declares,’ when the Lord has not sent them; yet they hope for the fulfillment of their word. Did you not see a false vision and speak a lying divination when you said, “The Lord declares,” but it is not I who have spoken?”’” Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “Because you have spoken falsehood and seen a lie, therefore behold, I am against you,” declares the Lord God. “So My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will have no place in the council of My people, nor will they be written down in the register of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel, that you may know that I am the Lord God. It is definitely because they have misled My people by saying, ‘Peace!’ when there is no peace.” (Ezek. 13:1-10; cf. 14:9-10; 22:25, 28)
The New Testament also warns of the deadly peril of religious liars. Jesus told His followers, “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Matt. 7:15). Paul cautioned the elders at Ephesus that “savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30). He warned the Corinthians that “such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ” (2 Cor. 11:13) when in reality they are “servants [of Satan who] disguise themselves as servants of righteousness” (v. 15). Paul wrote to the churches of Galatia, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ” (Gal. 1:6-7; cf. Phil. 3:18-19). In the last inspired letter he penned, the apostle commanded his protégé Timothy, “Avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some” (2 Tim. 2:16-18; cf. 1 Tim. 4:1-3). Jude (Jude 1-19), Peter (2 Peter 2:1-22; 3:15-17), and John (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7) also warned their readers to beware of false teachers.
Though always present, at no time in previous history were false teachers more aggressive than during the Lord Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry. In a desperate and futile attempt to thwart the gospel purposes of God, Satan unleashed all the power of hell against Jesus. The human agents of the darkness who carried out that assault were the scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians—the political and religious leaders of Israel. Those sects, normally bitterly divided against each other, temporarily set aside their differences and united in their determination to eliminate the disruptive Jesus.
Final confrontation between the Jewish religious leaders and Jesus took place on Wednesday of Passion Week. All of their desperate attempts throughout His ministry to discredit and silence Him had failed, and they had concluded it was useless to ask Him more questions (Luke 20:40). Instead, in a final act of mercy and compassion to show them the truth, He questioned them, challenging them to explain how the Messiah could be both David’s son and his Lord as Psalm 110 revealed (vv. 41-44).
After this last confrontation with the elite religionists, the Lord had nothing more to say to them until His trial before the Sanhedrin. He was also finished addressing the crowds, and shifted the direction of His teaching to His disciples. While all the people were still listening to His teaching, Jesus targeted His words specifically to the disciples.
The Lord did not seek common ground with those who rejected the truth. When compassion was exhausted and invitations spurned, He condemned them. Before issuing His condemnation of the religious leaders, Jesus cautioned His hearers of the danger that was hidden in their teaching, gave a characterization of them, condemned them, and pointed to a case that exemplified the threat they posed.
The Caution
“Beware of the scribes, (20:46a)
Matthew’s account notes that Jesus extended His warning to include the Pharisees (Matt. 23:2). Not all Pharisees were scribes, but the scribes were primarily Pharisees, who were interpreters and teachers of the law of Moses and the traditional rabbinic writings. Their teaching provided the theological framework for the Pharisees’ legalistic system of works-righteousness. The scribes were the dominant force in Judaism, not only theologically, but socially. Their views affected every aspect of life, and they also handled all legal matters, including property, estates, and contracts. They were revered, and given the respectful title of Rabbi (Matt. 23:7). That title was sometimes given to Jesus because He was a teacher (cf. John 1:38, 49; 3:2, 26; 6:25). It was commonly believed that Moses received the law, then gave it to Joshua, who gave it to the elders, who gave it to the prophets, who gave it to the scribes.
Because of the elevated esteem in which the populace held them, it must have come as a shock when Jesus warned, “Beware of (“take heed of”; “guard against”) the scribes.” They posed a soul-killing threat because they did not know God or the way to heaven, nor did they possess true spiritual wisdom. The scribes were destructive agents of Satan who opposed the purposes of God. Although it was not apparent on the outside, on the inside they were vile sinners. In Matthew 23:27 Jesus declared, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (cf. Luke 11:44). They had nothing beneficial to offer spiritually, and were hypocrites to be avoided. The opening verse of Psalm 1 praises “the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!”
The Characterization
who like to walk around in long robes, and love respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers. (20:46b-47a)
Jesus gave five illustrations of the scribes’ hypocrisy. First, they liked to walk around in long, fancy, expensive robes. In Numbers 15:38-40 God instructed the Israelites to add tassels to their robes to remind them of His commandments, and Jesus had such tassels on the fringe of His cloak (Matt. 9:20). But the scribes and Pharisees lengthened their tassels in an ostentatious display of their supposed piety.
Second, they loved respectful greetings in the market places. As they mingled in public, the scribes expected to be noticed and addressed with dignified titles. The Lord’s extended condemnation of them in Matthew 23 reveals that they wanted to be called “Rabbi” (v. 7), a title denoting an exalted, revered teacher. An example of just how revered they were comes from the Mishnah, which states, “It is more culpable to transgress the words of the Scribes than those of the Torah” (cited in Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974], 1:625 n. 1). Edersheim went on to relate more outrageous statements regarding the scribes:
So weighty was the duty of respectful salutation by the title Rabbi, that to neglect it would involve the heaviest punishment ... It reads like a wretched imitation from the New Testament, when the heathen Governor of Cæsarea is represented as rising up before Rabbis because he beheld “the faces as it were of Angels;” or like an adaptation of the well-known story about Constantine the Great when the Governor of Antioch is described as vindicating a similar mark of respect to the Rabbis by this, that he had seen their faces and by them conquered in battle ... To supply a learned man with the means of gaining money in trade, would procure a high place in heaven. It was said that, according to Prov. viii. 15, the sages were to be saluted as kings; nay, in some respects, they were higher for, as between a sage and a king, it would be duty to give the former priority in redemption from captivity, since every Israelite was fit to be a king, but the loss of a Rabbi could not easily be made up. (Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974], 5:409)
Incredibly, “a Rabbi went so far as to order that he should be buried in white garments, to show that he was worthy of appearing before his Maker” (Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, 5:409). Edersheim then gave perhaps the most shocking example of all:
Perhaps the climax of blasphemous self-assertion is reached in the story, that, in a discussion in heaven between God and the heavenly Academy on a Halakhic question about purity, a certain Rabbi—deemed that most learned on the subject—was summoned to decide the point! As his soul passed from the body he exclaimed: “Pure, pure,” which the Voice from Heaven applied to the state of the Rabbi’s soul; and immediately afterwards a letter had fallen from heaven to inform the sages of the purpose of which the Rabbi had been summoned to the heavenly assembly, and afterwards another enjoing a week’s universal mourning for him on pain of excommunication. (Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, 5:410)
Never humble, the scribes also wanted to be called “father,” imagining themselves to be the source of spiritual life and truth, and “leader,” as befits the ones who determine direction and destiny.
Third, they sought the chief seats in the synagogues, which were on the elevated platform at the front. They also sought the places of honor at banquets, the ones closest to the host. “Rabbinic writings lay down elaborate directions, what place is to be assigned to the Rabbis, according to their rank, and to their disciples, and how in the College the most learned, but at feast the most aged, among the Rabbis, are to occupy the ‘upper seats’” (Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, 5:409; cf. Matt. 23:1-12).
The first three examples highlighted the scribes’ overweening pride. But the next one introduces a more sinister aspect of their hypocrisy—their rapacious greed that led them to prey on the most defenseless members of society. That the scribes would stoop so low as to devour widows’ houses graphically illustrates the intense desire for wealth that characterizes false teachers (cf. Mic. 3:5, 11; 2 Peter 2:1-3, 14). Devour translates a form of the Greek verb katesthiō, an intense word that literally means “to eat,” and metaphorically, “to devour completely,” “to consume,” or, “to eat up.” The Old Testament teaches that widows are to be protected and cared for (e.g., Ex. 22:22; Deut. 10:18; 14:29; 24:17-21; 27:19; Pss. 68:5; 146:9; Prov. 15:25; Isa. 1:17; Jer. 22:3; Zech. 7:10), but the scribes consumed their meager resources. They took advantage of their hospitality, cheated them out of their estates, mismanaged their property, and took their houses as pledges for debts that they could never repay (cf. Darrell L. Bock, Luke 9:51-24:53, The Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996], 1643).
Finally, for appearance’s sake they offered long prayers, not to call attention to God, but to themselves as pious. Jesus strongly condemned such self-exalting, God-dishonoring prayers in the Sermon on the Mount:
When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. (Matt. 6:5-6)
The Condemnation
These will receive greater condemnation.” (20:47b)
Far from being rewarded for their self-righteous, outwardly moral lives, the scribes would receive greater condemnation from God for leading people astray from the truth. His condemnation of them is consistent with the Bible’s strong warnings against and denouncing of false teachers, as I noted in an earlier volume of this series:
God’s attitude toward false teachers stands in sharp contrast to the inclusiveness and tolerance of error that pervades contemporary evangelicalism. Scripture denounces them as blind men; “mute dogs unable to bark; dreamers lying down who love to slumber”; ignorant (Isa. 56:10); demented fools (Hos. 9:7); reckless, treacherous men (Zeph. 3:4); ravenous wolves (Matt. 7:15); blind guides of the blind (Matt. 15:14; cf. 23:16); hypocrites (Matt. 23:13); fools (v. 17); whitewashed tombs full of bones (v. 27); serpents; a brood of vipers (v. 33); thieves and robbers (John 10:8); savage wolves (Acts 20:29); slaves of their own appetites (Rom. 16:18); hucksters peddling the word of God (2 Cor. 2:17); false apostles; deceitful workers (2 Cor. 11:13); servants of Satan (v. 15); purveyors of a different gospel (Gal. 1:6-8); dogs; evil workers (Phil. 3:2); enemies of the cross of Christ (Phil. 3:18); conceited and understanding nothing (1 Tim. 6:4); men of depraved minds deprived of the truth (v. 5); men who have gone astray from the truth (2 Tim. 2:18); captives of the devil (v. 26); deceivers (2 John 7); ungodly persons (Jude 4); and unreasoning animals (v. 10). As a result, the Bible also pronounces severe judgment on them (Deut. 13:5; 18:20; Jer. 14:15; Gal. 1:8-9; Rev. 2:20-23).
The reason for such seemingly harsh language is the deadly danger false teachers pose because they engage in Satan’s most distinctive wickedness and the most devastating sin; they lead people astray from the truth of God’s word (Isa. 3:12; 9:16; Jer. 14:13; 23:26-27, 32; 50:6; Matt. 23:13, 15; 24:4-5, 24; Luke 11:46, 52; Rom. 16:17-18; Col. 2:4, 8, 18; 1 Thess. 2:14-16; 2 Tim. 3:13; Titus 1:10; 2 John 7)—including the need for repentance from sin (Jer. 6:14; 8:11; 23:21-22; Lam. 2:14; Ezek. 13:10, 16, 22). Left unchecked, the demon doctrines they peddle (1 Tim. 4:1) will ravage souls and corrupt the church (Acts 20:29-30; 2 Tim. 2:17-18), lulling many into a false sense of security regarding their salvation. (Luke 6-10, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 2011], 112)
The Case
And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. And He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins. And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.” (21:1-4)
The previous section ended with a warning of judgment (20:47), and the next section (21:5-36) resumes that theme. The question arises as to how this intervening passage fits into that context. Why did Luke inject this story of a widow giving an offering between a diatribe against false leaders, and a pronunciation of future judgment?
This little vignette is commonly, if oddly, interpreted as a lesson on giving, in which the widow’s sacrificial offering is presented as a ray of sunshine in the darkness of hypocrisy and judgment. Not only is such a perspective alien to the context, but also if Jesus is teaching a lesson on giving, is the lesson to give everything you have, go home, and starve? On that, commentators differ.
Some argue that the story teaches that the true measure of a gift is not what was given, but what was withheld; not the amount of the gift, but the amount the giver kept back.
Others insist that a gift should be measured by the giver’s self-denial, as reflected by the percentage given.
Another view, related to the first two, is that a gift’s value is directly related to the attitude with which it is given. Was it given selflessly? Humbly? As an expression of love and devotion to God? Since the widow had the least amount possible left after her gift, she must have had the attitude most pleasing to God.
The only real option is that the gift that truly pleases God is everything.
All those ideas, however, are imposed on the narrative; Jesus drew no principle regarding giving from her behavior. The text does not record that He condemned the rich for their giving, or commended the widow for hers. There is no judgment made regarding the true nature of her act, nor is anything said about her attitude, or the spirit in which her gift was given. Since Jesus made no point about giving, neither should the interpreter.
To frame this incident as a lesson on giving isolates it from the obvious theme of divine judgment on false religious leaders, their followers, and, ultimately, on the nation as a whole. Such interpretations also assume that Jesus was pleased with the widow’s gift, which He does not state or even imply. Further, she was giving to a false, apostate system, not honoring to God. What is clear from the narrative is that the widow’s involvement in that system cost her everything she had. That is the obvious lesson. False religion can and does divest the weakest of their resources down to the last coin. That is all the story means. It is an illustration of the corruption that was dominant in the religion.
Mark’s account of this incident reveals that the Lord was sitting down near the temple treasury. It was nearing the end of a long, exhausting Wednesday spent in the midst of massive crowds. Jesus had dialogued with the people, taught them, confronted and denounced the religious leaders (Matt. 23:1-36), and lamented the coming judgment on the nation (vv. 37-39). In addition to His physical weariness, Jesus felt deeply the agonizing, sad reality of Israel’s coming judgment.
The Lord’s eyes must have been downcast as He contemplated the damning false religion that had the nation in its grip, the corruption of the temple, and the divine judgment that would hit the city of Jerusalem and the temple (cf. Luke 21:5-36). As Luke’s account opens, Jesus looked up and saw the people (Mark 12:41), in particular the rich, putting their gifts into the treasury. The treasury, located in the Court of the Women, consisted of thirteen trumpet-shaped receptacles into which the people deposited their offerings.
The word translated rich (plousios) refers to those who have enough; who are fully supplied. But what caught the Lord’s attention was not the wealthy putting their lavish gifts into the treasury, but a poor widow putting in two small copper coins. Penichrōs (poor) describes someone who is poor and needy, but not destitute. Her offering of two small copper coins (lepta; the smallest denomination of Jewish currency) was a tiny fraction of what the rich would have given. Yet this poor widow, hoping to purchase blessing by following the Jewish religious system’s legalistic requirements, put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering, while those two small coins were all that she possessed.
This is clearly an example of what the Lord had spoken of earlier (see the discussion of 20:47 above). The legalistic works system had devoured this impoverished widow by taking from her all that she had to live on. The second use of poor in verse 3 reflects that reality; it is the word ptōchos, a different word than the one used in verse 2. Ptōchos describes those who have nothing and are reduced to begging. The Old Testament commanded that widows be cared for, as noted above, but the religious leaders set aside those commands for the sake of their traditions (and their greed). Mark 7:9-13 records Jesus’ condemnation of them for another practice that set aside the clear teaching of the Old Testament:
He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to be put to death’; but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God),’ you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”
As the story of this widow reveals, deceptive, self-righteous religion preys on the weak, the desperate, and the defenseless. Far from being pleased with her giving, Jesus was angry that the so-called worship she had bought into had taken her last cent. The Lord would go on to pronounce judgment on that very apostate Judaism in the next section.
Money has always been at the heart of satanic religion (cf. Luke 16:14; 19:46; 1 Peter 5:2), consequently abuse of the poor by false religious systems has continued from our Lord’s day down to our own. For example, the medieval Roman Catholic Church defrauded the desperate by selling indulgences, purportedly to free the purchasers’ loved ones from purgatory. Like modern religious hucksters, those who sold them used fear tactics to relieve the poor of their money.
One very successful seller of indulgences was the Dominican friar Johann Tetzel. In the fall of 1517, Tetzel began selling indulgences in Germany, raising money to help build the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. Historian James M. Kittleson describes a typical Tetzel sales pitch:
“Do you not hear the voices of your dead relatives and others, crying out to you and saying, ‘Pity us, pity us, for we are in dire punishment and torment from which you can redeem us for a pittance’? And you will not?” Finally, there was the appeal: “Will you not then for a quarter of a florin receive these letters of indulgence through which you are able to lead a divine and immortal soul safely and securely into the homeland of paradise?” A money chest, a supply of blank indulgences, a scale to make certain that people’s coins were good, and the scribes were all ready and in their places. Then came Tetzel’s last exhortation: “Once the coin into the coffer clings, a soul from purgatory heavenward springs!” The transactions were finished quickly. Soon the entourage was on its way to the next town. (Luther the Reformer [Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1986], 103-104)
To Martin Luther, such “pious defrauding of the faithful” (Kittleson, 104) was intolerable. Like any true pastor, Luther was outraged at this fleecing of his flock. In response, he railed against indulgences and posted his famous Ninety-Five Theses condemning them along with other deadly aberrations. That act sparked the Reformation.
This passage is instructive in today’s context, as it reveals how Jesus dealt with those who did not believe the truth. His approach was radically different from that of today’s evangelical trends. The charismatic movement leads the list in taking money from the most desperate, weak, sick, and poor on the promise of health, wealth, and prosperity. The means is to send the minister “seed” money and wait for the Lord to fulfill all desires. Instead, like any Ponzi scheme, only the false teacher becomes rich.
Jesus taught in this passage that those who are purveyors of false religion will face the most severe divine condemnation. They are not fellow truth seekers, to be engaged in “conversation,” but dangerous opponents of biblical truth (cf. Matt. 7:15; Acts 20:29). While Christians are to compassionately present the gospel to them, pray for their salvation, and grieve when they reject the truth and are eternally lost, the true church of Jesus Christ must warn them and all who follow them of the grave and eternal danger awaiting.
MacArthur New Testament Commentary, The - MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Luke 18-24.0 -
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Signs of Christ’s Return—Part 1: Jesus’ Description of the Temple’s Destruction (Luke 21:5-7)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?” (21:5-7)
The Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, came into the world to redeem lost sinners from judgment and hell. Before His birth an angel told His father Joseph, “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). Jesus defined His mission when He said that He had “come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). In Matthew 20:28 He told the disciples that “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” When the scribes and Pharisees complained that He associated with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus replied, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31-32). He told the preeminent Jewish teacher Nicodemus that “God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17). In John 12:47 Jesus said, “If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.”
The rest of the New Testament also teaches that Jesus came to redeem sinners. John the Baptist declared of Him, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Paul wrote, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all” (1 Tim. 1:15). After He brought salvation to the village of Sychar, the Samaritans declared that Jesus was “the Savior of the world” (John 4:42). In his first epistle the apostle John wrote:
You know that He appeared in order to take away sins ... By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins ... We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. (1 John 3:5; 4:9-10, 14)
Christ’s redemptive mission clearly fulfilled Old Testament prophecy, most notably that of Isaiah 53:
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors. (vv. 5-12)
But although He was sent ultimately to redeem the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24), Jesus pronounced judgment on that nation when it rejected Him. At both the beginning (John 2:13-22) and the end (Mark 11:15-18) of His ministry, He struck a blow against Israel’s false religious system by attacking the corrupt operations of the temple during Passover. Further, He upbraided the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum for their unbelief, and warned that Capernaum faced more severe judgment than Sodom because of it (Matt. 11:20-24). He rebuked the entire wicked generation that rejected Him for refusing to repent, in contrast to the people of Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba (Matt. 12:41-42). He told the disciples that those who willfully reject the truth will be judicially deprived of it (Luke 8:9-18). Though He was moved to tears by the judgment that Israel’s stubborn rejection of Him would bring (Luke 13:34-35; 19:41-44), He gave a blistering denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees and those who followed them and did so with another lamentation over Israel’s (represented by Jerusalem) fate (Matt. 23:37-39).
This section of Luke’s gospel records Christ’s final pronouncement of judgment on Israel in particular, as well as the world in general. This last of His great discourses is commonly known as the Olivet Discourse, because the Lord taught this truth to His disciples while sitting on the Mount of Olives, across the Kidron Valley looking back at the temple (Matt. 24:3).
It was Wednesday evening of Passion Week. All of the scribes’, Pharisees’, and Sadducees’ attempts to publicly discredit and destroy Jesus had utterly failed, and they were forced to silence (Luke 20:40) by His answers. The Lord had preached His last sermon to the crowds, condemning the religious leaders (Matt. 23:1-36) and warning the people of the deadly influence of their hypocrisy. After watching a poor widow give all that she possessed to the apostate religious system, Jesus and the disciples left the temple (see the exposition of 21:1-4 in the previous chapter of this volume) for the mount.
As they were leaving, some of the disciples were commenting on the magnificence of the temple (v. 5). When Christ replied that the coming judgment on the nation would include the destruction of the temple (v. 6), His followers asked Him when that judgment would take place and what signs would precede both it (v. 7) and His return (Matt. 24:3). Jesus’ reply, beginning in verse 8, is the longest recorded answer He ever gave to any question, establishing its importance.
This preliminary section introduces Luke’s account of the Olivet Discourse, and may be divided into two parts: judgment’s coming predicted, and judgment’s timing questioned.
Judgment’s Coming Predicted
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.” (21:5-6)
As noted above, when Jesus and the disciples left the temple grounds, some of the disciples were admiring the temple. The construction of that stunning, magnificent structure, one of the architectural wonders of the ancient world, had been started half a century earlier by Herod the Great, but was still ongoing when the Romans destroyed the temple in a.d. 70. It was built with brilliant white stone, polished like marble, and contained numerous rooms, porticos, colonnades, plazas, and patios, as well as caves, cisterns, and pits for water storage. The highest of its many levels towered hundreds of feet above the Kidron Valley. The eastern wall of the temple’s main structure was covered in plates of gold, which shone brilliantly in the rays of the morning sun coming over Olivet.
The disciples noted in particular that the massive stone block walls were also adorned with beautiful stones, donated by the wealthy as their ancestors had done for Solomon’s temple (1 Chron. 29:8). Votive gifts were given as offerings symbolizing a vow made by the giver. Such consisted of plaques, sculptures, and other artistic treasures (including a nearly six-foot-high golden vine with golden grapes, donated by Herod), found throughout the temple.
It must have seemed inconceivable to the disciples that such an enduring, massive, ornate structure, prized so highly for its magnificence and value, would ever be destroyed. Yet the temple could not escape the coming judgment on the unbelieving nation. “As for these things which you are looking at,” Jesus told them, “the days will come in which there will not be left one stone upon another which will not be torn down.” His words would be fulfilled literally in a.d. 70, when the Romans, the human means of divine wrath, erected scaffolds around the walls of the temple and its buildings, filled them with wood and other flammable material, and set them on fire. The intense heat from the fires caused the stones to crumble. After it was further dismantled and sifted to find all the melted gold, the rubble was thrown down into the Kidron Valley. Only the huge foundation stones remained largely intact. Those stones, however, were not part of the temple itself, but supports for the retaining wall.
The disciples could have remembered from the Old Testament that there would be judgment on Israel’s enemies associated with the Messiah’s coming. In Zechariah 12:8-9 God said,
In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them. And it will come about in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
In distinction to the destruction of the nation’s enemies, they would likely have known Israel was promised salvation.
I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn ... In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity. (v. 10; 13:1)
All that would be followed by the glorious reign of Messiah in the kingdom on earth. “The Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one” (14:9).
But looking more carefully at Zechariah’s prophecy, it was also predicted that before the time of Israel’s salvation, Jerusalem will be destroyed: “For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle,” the Lord declared, “and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city” (14:2). So Messiah’s coming will produce both judgment and destruction as well as final restoration and salvation for Israel.
Judgment’s Timing Questioned
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?” (21:7)
In light of the Lord’s prediction of coming judgment, the disciples had two questions: When would the judgment of which He spoke take place? And what would be the sign of His coming (or “presence”; Matt. 24:3), which will usher in the judgment?
They were not completely without knowledge about elements of the coming of the messiah, since the Jewish people had a well-developed system of eschatology, as the following summary indicates:
(i) Before the Messiah came there would be a time of terrible tribulation. There would be a Messianic travail. It would be the birth-pangs of a new age. Every conceivable terror would burst upon the world; every standard of honour and decency would be torn down; the world would become a physical and moral chaos.
“And honour shall be turned into shame,
And strength humiliated into contempt.
And probity destroyed,
And beauty shall become ugliness ...
And envy shall rise in those who had not thought aught of themselves,
And passion shall seize him that is peaceful,
And many shall be stirred up in anger to injure many,
And they shall rouse up armies in order to shed blood,
And in the end they shall perish together with them.” (2 Baruch 27.)
There would be “quakings of places, tumult of peoples, schemings of nations, confusion of leaders, disquietude of princes.” (4 Ezra 9:3.)
“From heaven shall fall fiery words down to the earth. Lights shall come, bright and great, flashing into the midst of men; and earth, the universal mother, shall shake in these days at the hand of the Eternal. And the fishes of the sea and the beasts of the earth and the countless tribes of flying things and all the souls of men and every sea shall shudder at the presence of the Eternal and there shall be panic. And the towering mountain peaks and the hills of the giants he shall rend, and the murky abyss shall be visible to all. And the high ravines in the lofty mountains shall be full of dead bodies and rocks shall flow with blood and each torrent shall flood the plain ... And God shall judge all with war and sword, and there shall be brimstone from heaven, yea stones and rain and hail incessant and grievous. And death shall be upon the four-footed beasts ... Yea the land itself shall drink of the blood of the perishing and beasts shall eat their fill of flesh.” (the Sibylline Oracles 3:363 ff.)
The Mishnah enumerates as signs that the coming of the Messiah is near,
“That arrogance increases, ambition shoots up, that the vine yields fruit yet wine is dear. The government turns to heresy. There is no instruction. The synagogue is devoted to lewdness. Galilee is destroyed, Gablan laid waste. The inhabitants of a district go from city to city without finding compassion. The wisdom of the learned is hated, the godly despised, truth is absent. Boys insult old men, old men stand in the presence of children. The son depreciates the father, the daughter rebels against the mother, the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law. A man’s enemies are his house-fellows.”
The time which preceded the coming of the Messiah was to be a time when the world was torn in pieces and every bond relaxed. The physical and the moral order would collapse.
(ii) Into this chaos there would come Elijah as the forerunner and herald of the Messiah. He was to heal the breaches and bring order into the chaos to prepare the way for the Messiah. In particular he was to mend disputes. In fact the Jewish oral law laid it down that money and property whose ownership was disputed, or anything found whose owner was unknown, must wait “till Elijah comes.” When Elijah came the Messiah would not be far behind.
(iii) Then there would enter the Messiah. The word Messiah and the word Christ mean the same thing. Messiah is the Hebrew and Christ is the Greek for the Anointed One. A king was made king by anointing and the Messiah was God’s Anointed King. It is important to remember that Christ is not a name; it is a title. Sometimes the Messiah was thought of as a king of David’s line, but more often he was thought of as a great, divine, superhuman figure crashing into history to remake the world and in the end to vindicate God’s people.
(iv) The nations would ally themselves and gather themselves together against the champion of God.
“The kings of the nations shall throw themselves against this land bringing retribution on themselves. They shall seek to ravage the shrine of the mighty God and of the noblest men whensoever they come to the land. In a ring round the city the accursed kings shall place each one his throne with his infidel people by him. And then with a mighty voice God shall speak unto all the undisciplined, empty-minded people and judgment shall come upon them from the mighty God, and all shall perish at the hand of the Eternal.” (Sibylline Oracles 3:363-372.)
“It shall be that when that the nations hear his (the Messiah’s) voice, every man shall leave his own land and the warfare they have one against the other, and an innumerable multitude shall be gathered together desiring to fight against him.” (4 Ezra 13:33-35.)
(v) The result would be the total destruction of these hostile powers. Philo said that the Messiah would “take the field and make war and destroy great and populous nations.”
“He shall reprove them for their ungodliness,
Rebuke them for their unrighteousness,
Reproach them to their faces with treacheries—
And when he has rebuked them he shall destroy them.” (4 Ezra 12:32, 33.)
“And it shall come to pass in those days that none shall be saved, Either by gold or by silver,
And none shall be able to escape.
And there shall be no iron for war,
Nor shall one clothe oneself with a breastplate.
Bronze shall be of no service,
And tin shall not be esteemed,
And lead shall not be desired.
And all things shall be destroyed from the surface of the earth.” (Enoch 52:7-9.)
The Messiah will be the most destructive conqueror in history, smashing his enemies into utter extinction.
(vi) There would follow the renovation of Jerusalem. Sometimes this was thought of as the purification of the existing city. More often it was thought of as the coming down of the new Jerusalem from heaven. The old house was to be folded up and carried away, and, in the new one, “All the pillars were new and the ornaments larger than those of the first.” (Enoch 90:28, 29.)
(vii) The Jews who were dispersed all over the world would be gathered into the city of the new Jerusalem. To this day the Jewish daily prayer includes the petition, “Lift up a banner to gather our dispersed and assemble us from the four ends of the earth.” The eleventh of the Psalms of Solomon has a noble picture of that return.
“Blow ye in Zion on the trumpet to summon the saints,
Cause ye to be heard in Jerusalem the voice of him that bringeth good tidings;
For God hath had pity on Israel in visiting them.
Stand on the height, O Jerusalem, and behold thy children,
From the East and the West, gathered together by the Lord;
From the North they come in the gladness of their God,
From the isles afar off God hath gathered them.
High mountains hath he abased into a plain for them;
The hills fled at their entrance.
The woods gave them shelter as they passed by;
Every sweet-smelling tree God caused to spring up for them,
That Israel might pass by in the visitation of the glory of their God.
Put on, O Jerusalem, thy glorious garments;
Make ready thy holy robe;
For God hath spoken good for Israel forever and ever,
Let the Lord do what he hath spoken concerning Israel and Jerusalem;
Let the Lord raise up Israel by His glorious name.
The mercy of the Lord be upon Israel forever and ever.”
It can easily be seen how Jewish this new world was to be. The nationalistic element is dominant all the time.
(viii) Palestine would be the centre of the world and the rest of the world subject to it. All the nations would be subdued. Sometimes it was thought of as a peaceful subjugation.
“And all the isles and the cities shall say, How doth the Eternal love those men! For all things work in sympathy with them and help them ... Come let us all fall upon the earth and supplicate the eternal King, the mighty, everlasting God. Let us make procession to His Temple, for He is the sole Potentate.” (Sibylline Oracles 3:690 ff.)
More often the fate of the Gentiles was utter destruction at which Israel would exult and rejoice.
“And He will appear to punish the Gentiles,
Then, thou, O Israel, shalt be happy.
And He will destroy all their idols.
And thou shalt mount upon the necks and the wings of the eagle (i.e., Rome, the eagle, is to be destroyed)
And they shall be ended and God will exalt thee.
“And thou shalt look from on high
And see thine enemies in Gehenna,
And thou shalt recognize them and rejoice.”
(Assumption of Moses 10:8-10.)
It was a grim picture. Israel would rejoice to see her enemies broken and in hell. Even the dead Israelites were to be raised up to share in the new world.
(ix) Finally, there would come the new age of peace and goodness which would last forever. (William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark, rev. ed. [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975], 194-198; cf. Emil Schrer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ [New York: Scribners, 1896], 2:154-178)
But that general knowledge did not provide the disciples with the answers they sought to their specific questions, so Jesus gave them a detailed answer in verses 8-36. The truths He presented regarding His coming are critically important. The end of history is the reason for history; the consummation is the reason for the creation; the story that began in Genesis reaches its glorious climax in Revelation. In the next several chapters of this volume we will learn from our Lord Himself the reasons that necessitate His coming, the preliminary signs and events leading up to His coming, and how believers are to prepare for His coming.
Indifference to our Lord’s eschatology is unacceptable, and so is ignorance. The end of the story matters for our comfort and God’s glory. And it is not vague or unclear. We must hold to the precision of sound doctrine on this subject as we do on any category of divine revelation in Scripture.
The book of Revelation, the most comprehensive prophecy of the end times, begins with a call to such understanding and blessing:
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. (Rev. 1:1-3)
MacArthur New Testament Commentary, The - MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Luke 18-24.0 -
Since, macarthur's commentaries are his sermons wouldn't his sermons be equivalent.
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Yes and No- most of the commentaries are "based" on his sermons- but I have found they are not 'word for word'- so they may contain information or insights that are not part of the sermons.
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18.
Signs of Christ’s Return—Part 2: Why Jesus Must Return to Earth (Luke 21:8)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. (21:8)
By some estimates, future predictive prophecy comprises one fifth of Scripture. Of that one fifth, one third refers to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of the approximately 300 Old Testament prophecies regarding the coming of Christ, approximately one third were fulfilled at His first coming, leaving about 200 still to be fulfilled at His second coming. The New Testament also predicts Christ’s return (some of the Old and New Testament predictions are listed below).
But despite the abundant biblical evidence, proud scoffers have always denied the reality that the Lord Jesus Christ will one day return to earth—just as the Bible predicts they would. Peter warned, “Know this first of all, that in the last days [which began with Christ’s first coming; cf. Heb. 9:26; 1 John 2:18] mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation’” (2 Peter 3:3-4). They deny the second coming because they deny the deity of the Lord Jesus, and reject any idea that He is the judge and executioner of humans for their sins who will return to judge. The simplistic argument Peter answers invokes the principle of uniformitarianism: Christ has not returned, “all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation,” they say, therefore He never will return. But to claim that something cannot happen because it has not yet happened is obviously foolish.
Further, that convenient, if faulty, reasoning ignores the obvious reality that things have not continued uniformly from the beginning, namely the destruction of the world by the flood of Noah’s day, “through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water” (v. 6). Peter then pointed out that the cosmic judgment of the flood serves as a model for the even more catastrophic judgment yet to come:
By His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men ... But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. (vv. 7, 10)
In the preceding verses, Jesus had told the disciples that judgment—including the destruction of the temple—was coming on Israel. That judgment, which began with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in a.d. 70, will continue until Christ’s second coming. His men would never have expected that such judgment of which Jesus spoke would last as long as it has. They likely would have expected it in Jesus’ lifetime, and that it would be followed immediately by the restoration of Israel and the setting up of Messiah’s earthly kingdom. Even after Jesus’ death and resurrection they asked Him, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).
The first hint that such expectation was wrong and that Christ’s return would be delayed is His warning, “See to it that you are not misled.” That warning would have been unnecessary while He was still with them to protect them. Because of their eager anticipation of His return, believers will be in danger of being deceived by the many false messiahs who will come in His name, saying, “I am He,” and, “The time is near.” The Lord’s followers are not to go after them. Subsequent history would prove the timeliness of His warning:
The passing centuries have seen false messiahs, each claiming to be the one so eagerly anticipated by the Jewish people. Of these self-proclaimed deliverers, some were simply self-deceived, while others were purposefully exploitative; some sought personal prestige, others to rescue their people from oppression; some advocated violence, others prayer and fasting; some professed to be political deliverers, others to be religious reformers. But though their motives, methods, and claims varied, they all had one thing in common—they were satanic counterfeits of the true Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.
About a.d. 44 Theudas (not the same individual mentioned in Acts 5:36) promised his followers that he would part the Jordan River. But before he was able to do so, Roman troops attacked and massacred many of his followers. The Egyptian for whom Paul was mistaken (Acts 21:38) had boasted that he would command the walls of Jerusalem to fall down. But, like Theudas, his plans were also foiled by Roman soldiers. Although the Egyptian managed to escape his attackers, several hundred of his followers were killed or captured (Josephus, Antiquities 20.8.6; Wars 2.13.5). In the second century Simon Bar Cochba (“son of a star”; cf. Num. 24:17), who was identified as the Messiah by the leading rabbi of the time, led a major Jewish uprising against Rome, conquering Jerusalem for three years, where he was called king and messiah. The Romans crushed the rebellion, retook Jerusalem, and massacred Bar Cochba and five to six hundred thousand of his followers. A fifth-century false messiah on the island of Crete promised to part the Mediterranean Sea so his followers could walk to Palestine on dry land. But the sea refused to part and some of his followers drowned. In the seventeenth century Shabbethai Zebi proclaimed himself “king of the kings of the earth,” and attracted a widespread following among the Jews of western Europe. Zebi later converted to Islam and was eventually executed. (John MacArthur, John 12-21, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 2008], 11-12)
The long parade of charlatans claiming to be Christ will culminate in the ultimate deceiving false messiah, the Antichrist, the
man of lawlessness ... the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God ... [the] lawless one ... whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. (2 Thess. 2:3, 4, 8, 9, 10; cf. Rev. 13:1-18)
There will be no mistaking Christ’s return. Jesus said, “For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day” (Luke 17:24).
Not only must believers be wary of false christs, but they must also be ready for Jesus’ return. Earlier in Luke’s gospel Jesus told His followers,
Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit. Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect. (12:35-40)
In Luke 17:22 “He said to the disciples, ‘The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.’”
Despite the denials and mocking of the scoffers, the Lord Jesus Christ will return to earth. Before examining in detail His discourse on the events leading up to His return, it will be helpful to generally consider the reasons why He must return. As I have pointed out in each of the gospel treatments of the Olivet Discourse, Jesus must return to earth because God’s person, program, and priorities demand it.
God’s Person Demands Christ’s Return
The Promises of the Father Demand It
God is the “God of truth” (Ps. 31:5; Isa. 65:16), who abounds in truth (Ex. 34:6) and whose words are truth (2 Sam. 7:28). God cannot lie (1 Sam. 15:29; Titus 1:2), therefore all of His promises will certainly be fulfilled (Num. 23:19; 1 Kings 8:56).
God made numerous promises concerning Jesus’ first coming, including that He would be born of a virgin (Isa. 7:14), that He would be born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2), that God would call Him from Egypt (where His parents had taken Him to avoid Herod; Matt. 2:13-15) (Hos. 11:1), that He would be a descendant of Jesse, David’s father, and would be anointed with the Holy Spirit (Isa. 11:1-2), that He would enter Jerusalem riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey (Zech. 9:9), that He would be betrayed by a close associate with whom He had shared a meal (Ps. 41:9), that He would be forsaken by His disciples (Zech. 13:7), and that the exact amount Judas would receive for betraying Him would be thirty pieces of silver, which he would throw into the temple (Zech. 11:12-13).
The Old Testament also predicted the specific details of Christ’s death. Isaiah 50:6 says that He would be beaten and spit upon. David recorded the details of His crucifixion (a form of execution unknown in Israel in Old Testament times), including the piercing of His hands and feet, His final cry to the Father, and the dividing of His garments by lot among His executioners (Ps. 22). Psalm 34:20 notes that none of His bones would be broken, while Zechariah 12:10 predicted that His side would be pierced. Psalms 2:7 and 16:10 allude to His resurrection.
All of those promises regarding the Lord’s first coming were fulfilled literally; they were not just spiritual ideals or subjective principles. Their fulfillment set the standard and pattern for the prophecies yet to be fulfilled at His second coming. As noted above, approximately two thirds of the Old Testament prophecies regarding His return were still unfulfilled after His first coming. For instance, Genesis 49:10 predicts that when Messiah comes, the people of the world will obey Him. But when Jesus came the first time, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (John 1:10-11).
Psalm 2 describes Messiah’s earthly reign (v. 6), when God “will surely give [Him] the nations as [His] inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as [His] possession,” and “[He will] break them with a rod of iron” and “shatter them like earthenware” (vv. 8-9). But Christ’s earthly rule was not established at His first coming.
The familiar text of Isaiah 9:6-7 merges both Messiah’s first and second comings. The prediction that “a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us” (v. 6) clearly was fulfilled in Christ’s incarnation. But the rest of the passage was not:
And the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.
Jesus did not assume the throne of David in a literal sense; in fact, He Himself declared that it is only “when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, [that] He will sit on His glorious throne” (Matt. 25:31).
Micah predicted that Messiah “will judge between many peoples and render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they train for war” (Mic. 4:3). The literal fulfillment of that prophecy awaits Christ’s return. Jeremiah 23:5 also predicts Christ’s future earthly rule: “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land,’” as does Daniel 7:13-14:
I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.
The Statements of Jesus Demand It
Jesus repeatedly said that He would return, and gave a detailed description of the second coming in the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24, 25; Mark 13; Luke 21:5-36; cf. 17:20-37). After telling the disciples that He was leaving, Jesus comforted them with the promise, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:3). At His trial before the Sanhedrin the Lord boldly declared, “You shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62)—a promise He repeated several times in Revelation (2:5, 16; 3:11; 22:7, 12, 20). Jesus also told parables that illustrated the second coming (e.g., Matt. 24:45-51; 25:1-13, 14-30; Luke 12:35-40, 41-48; 19:11-27). If the Lord Jesus Christ does not return to earth, His word was not true.
The Guarantee of the Holy Spirit Demands It
The Spirit-inspired authors of the New Testament epistles also spoke of Jesus Christ’s return to earth. Paul commended the Corinthians for “awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:7). To the Philippians he wrote, “Our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20). The apostle reminded the Colossians that “when Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory” (Col. 3:4). In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 he wrote,
The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. (cf. Heb. 9:28; James 5:7-8; 1 Peter 1:13; 5:4; 1 John 3:2)
Like that of the Father and the Son, the credibility of the Holy Spirit will be undermined if Jesus does not return to earth. An errant, incapable, or unfaithful Triune God would be a devil more powerful than Satan.
God’s Program Demands Christ’s Return
God’s Program for the Church Demands It
The Jerusalem council, recorded in Acts 15, decided the momentous issue of whether salvation is by law or grace. After there had been extensive debate, Peter reminded those assembled that it was in response to revelation from God that he had taken the gospel to the Gentiles (vv. 7-11). Paul and Barnabas then related the mighty works of salvation that God had done through their ministry among the Gentiles (v. 12). Finally James, the Lord’s brother and head of the Jerusalem church (cf. Acts 12:17; 21:18; the apostle James, the brother of John, had already been executed [Acts 12:2]), brought the council to a conclusion (vv. 13-21). He cited Amos 9:11-12, which prophesied that after the setting aside of Israel (Rom. 11), God would call a people for Himself from the Gentiles (the church; cf. Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:1-41). It is only after that gathering is completed (cf. 2 Peter 3:9) that Christ will return.
The second coming of Christ includes a series of events stretching from the rapture to the new heaven and the new earth. The first event, the rapture, is the catching away of the church to heaven (John 14:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:51-54; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Rev. 3:10). In John 14:3 Jesus promised, “I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” The absence of any reference to judgment, both here and in the other rapture passages, is significant. That omission indicates that those passages do not refer to Christ’s coming to judge the wicked and set up His millennial kingdom (Matt. 13:36-43, 47-50; 24:29-44; 25:31-46; Rev. 19:11-15), but rather to His prior meeting believers to take them into heaven (cf. 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Cor. 15:51-57).
Further differences between the two events reinforce that truth. At the second coming angels gather the elect (Matt. 24:30-31), but in John 14 Jesus told the disciples He would come for them personally. At the second coming believers will return with Christ (Rev. 19:8, 14) as He comes to set up His earthly kingdom (Rev. 19:11-20:6); in John 14 He promises to return for them. Between the rapture and the second coming, the church will celebrate the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-10), and believers will receive their rewards (1 Cor. 3:10-15; 4:5; 2 Cor. 5:10). When Jesus returns in judgment and kingdom glory, the saints will come with Him (Rev. 19:7, 11-14).
God’s Program for the Nations Demands It
The rampant wickedness that marks the present world cannot go on indefinitely. It is true that God is “patient toward [sinners], not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). But His patience will one day give way to judgment; God is not only a God of love, grace, and mercy, but also of justice, holiness, and wrath against sin.
Joel’s prophecy records the judgment on the sinful nations that will take place when Christ returns:
For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land ... Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare a war; rouse the mighty men! Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up! Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am a mighty man.” Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there. Bring down, O Lord, Your mighty ones. Let the nations be aroused and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full; the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness. The Lord roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth tremble. But the Lord is a refuge for His people and a stronghold to the sons of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will pass through it no more. (3:1-2, 9-17; cf. Rev. 14:14-20)
Jesus described this same judgment in Matthew 25:31-46.
God’s Program for Israel Demands It
Christ’s return will bring not only judgment on the Gentile nations, but also salvation for the believing remnant of Israel (Rom. 11:25-27; cf. Luke 1:72-75), as the Old Testament promised:
“As I live,” declares the Lord God, “surely with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out, I shall be king over you. I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out; and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you,” declares the Lord God. “I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; and I will purge from you the rebels and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they will not enter the land of Israel. Thus you will know that I am the Lord.” (Ezek. 20:33-38)
“It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord,” declares the Lord God, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God. Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you. I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. I am not doing this for your sake,” declares the Lord God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel!” Thus says the Lord God, “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places will be rebuilt. The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. They will say, ‘This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, the Lord, have spoken and will do it.” (Ezek. 36:22-36)
God’s covenant promises to Israel of salvation, restoration to their land, and the kingdom can only be fulfilled by the return of Jesus Christ.
God’s Priorities Demand Christ’s Return
The Humiliation of Christ Demands It
The last view the world has of the Lord of glory cannot be of Him hanging on a cross between two criminals. The world did not see Jesus after the resurrection, since He appeared only to believers (1 Cor. 15:4-8). The writer of Hebrews said that “Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him” (Heb. 9:28). Having come the first time to offer Himself as a sacrifice for sin, Jesus will come again in triumphant salvation glory.
Only a relatively small group of people watched Jesus die on a hill outside Jerusalem. When He returns, however, the whole world will see Him:
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. (Matt. 24:29-30)
The Exaltation of Satan Demands It
Satan is at present the “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4; cf. Luke 4:6; John 12:31; 16:11; 1 John 5:19), a usurper permitted by God to reign temporarily. When He returns, Jesus will end Satan’s rule, destroy his kingdom, and take back what is rightfully His.
In Revelation 5, the apostle John describes a startling, dramatic scene in heaven just prior to Christ’s return. In his vision John “saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals” (v. 1). This book, or scroll, is the title deed to the earth. As the vision continued he “saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?’” (v. 2). To John’s dismay, “no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it” (v. 3), and he “began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it” (v. 4). But “one of the elders said to [him], ‘Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals’” (v. 5). John “saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth” (v. 6). The Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, “came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne” (v. 7), at which the heavenly host burst forth in praise (vv. 8-14).
Then in verse 1 of chapter 6, Christ began breaking the book’s seals, unleashing a series of catastrophic judgments that will devastate the world and destroy Satan’s kingdom. After those judgments have run their course, Jesus will return to take back what is rightfully His (Rev. 11:15; 19:11-21), and imprison Satan for the duration of the millennial kingdom (Rev. 20:1-3), before sending him forever to the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10).
History will not end with Satan on any throne. The Son of God will be vindicated, and reign over this universe as He is entitled to.
The Expectation of the Saints Demands It
The saints’ “blessed hope” of “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Titus 2:13) will not prove to be in vain. Jesus, who has ascended into heaven, will come again (Acts 1:11) to rescue His people from God’s eternal wrath against sin (1 Thess. 1:10), judge the wicked (2 Thess. 1:7-9), and receive glory (v. 10).
How should believers respond to the certain return of Jesus Christ? First, they are to long for it. Paul characterized Christians as those “who have loved [Christ’s] appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8; cf. Heb. 9:28), and in 1 Corinthians 16:22 used the word “Maranatha,” which means “Oh Lord, come!” (cf. John’s exclamation, “Come, Lord Jesus” [Rev. 22:20]).
Second, believers must watch for it, since the launch event, the rapture, is a signless event and could happen at any moment. “You too, be ready,” Jesus warned, “for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect” (Luke 12:40; cf. Matt. 24:44). Mark concludes his account of the Olivet Discourse with the Lord’s warning,
Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time [for Christ’s return] will come. It is like a man away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert. Therefore, be on the alert—for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep. What I say to you I say to all, “Be on the alert!” (Mark 13:33-37)
Finally, believers are to be prepared for it. Peter exhorted his readers, “Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless” (2 Peter 3:14). Paul gave similar counsel:
The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. (Rom. 13:12-14)
The promise to those who are prepared is that “when [Christ] appears, [they will] have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming” (1 John 2:28).
MacArthur New Testament Commentary, The - MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Luke 18-24.0 -
20.
Signs of Christ’s Return—Part 4: The End Is Near (Luke 21:20-24)But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people; and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (21:20-24)
The end of history has already been written by God and revealed in the Bible. Mankind is not headed for a utopia, such as those envisioned by Plato, Thomas More, Karl Marx, or others, but rather faces increasing chaos, devastation, and disaster until the end. Humans will create no Shangri-La. Our planet and its occupants also face a terrifying future—far worse than even the most pessimistic environmentalist could ever be willing to imagine.
Ever since the fall, the human race has battled the devastating effects of sin and the consequent curse on individuals, society, and the environment (cf. Rom. 8:20-22). As noted in the previous chapter of this volume, because of that divine curse, there have always been deceivers who twist and pervert the truth, natural disasters that bring destruction and death, and distress in the form of persecution of Christians.
But what lies ahead as the return of the Lord Jesus Christ draws near will be unimaginably worse than anything that has happened in the past, or will happen before the birth pains. Religious deceivers, natural catastrophes, and persecution of believers will escalate to a level never seen. Jesus described the last three and one half years of the final time of tribulation immediately preceding His return as “a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will” (Matt. 24:21; cf. Rev. 7:14).
Wickedness will be collective and unrestrained, dominating life on earth as never before. The Holy Spirit, who currently holds back evil, will no longer do so, permitting sin to run rampant (2 Thess. 2:7). Further, Satan will be allowed to release demons who are presently bound in hell (Rev. 9:1-2) to unleash one final, futile onslaught against God and Christ. At the same time, in addition to wickedness causing chaos, God’s wrath will be poured out with sustained deadly force on the world and its population.
As the tribulation accelerates, events will get progressively worse as God’s judgments intensify. They will consist of three sets of seven judgments each, beginning with the seal judgments (Rev. 6). As the Lord Jesus Christ unrolls the scroll that symbolizes the title deed to the earth (Rev. 5:7) He will break each seal, unleashing a specific judgment on the earth. Out of the seventh seal will come the rapid-fire seven trumpet judgments; out of the seventh trumpet will come the still more rapid-fire seven bowl judgments. The bowl judgments are God’s final outpouring of wrath (Rev. 16:1), and will be followed by the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to destroy the surviving ungodly and gather His saints into His earthly kingdom. He will return to earth visibly and the whole world will see Him (Rev. 1:7). His feet will touch the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem (Zech. 14:4), which will split open and water will flow out and create a river that will run down from Jerusalem into the desert (vv. 8, 10, 11). That will initiate the restoration and renovation of the planet, turning it into paradise regained.
While anticipating Christ’s glorious return is joy to the believer, it should be a terrifying reality for those who reject Him. He will come not only to establish His kingdom, into which those who belong to Him will be gathered alive, but also to kill the ungodly, who will then be condemned to eternal punishment in hell (cf. Matt. 25:31-46). The realization of those dual realities brought the apostle John’s consideration of the Lord’s coming both sweetness and bitterness (Rev. 10:9-10).
The time of tribulation will also be both bitter and sweet. It will not only be a time of unprecedented judgment and wrath, but also of God’s grace in global salvation. The gospel will be preached all over the world by one hundred forty-four thousand zealous Jewish evangelists (Rev. 7), as well as being proclaimed by an angel (Rev. 14:6). The result will be a worldwide revival in which multitudes will be converted to Christ (Rev. 7:9-10).
The credibility of God the Father and the Lord Jesus depend upon the exact fulfillment of the prophecies of Christ’s return. The precise predictions of the events at the second coming recorded in both the Old and New Testaments reflect God’s knowledge of the future. In several passages in Isaiah, God challenged the idols worshiped by Israel to demonstrate their deity by predicting the future:
“Present your case,” the Lord says. “Bring forward your strong arguments,” the King of Jacob says. Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place; as for the former events, declare what they were, that we may consider them and know their outcome. Or announce to us what is coming; declare the things that are going to come afterward, that we may know that you are gods; indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together. (41:21-23)
“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me. Who is like Me? Let him proclaim and declare it; yes, let him recount it to Me in order, from the time that I established the ancient nation. And let them declare to them the things that are coming and the events that are going to take place.’” (44:6-7)
Gather yourselves and come; draw near together, you fugitives of the nations; they have no knowledge, who carry about their wooden idol and pray to a god who cannot save. Declare and set forth your case; indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except Me. (45:20-21)
To whom would you liken Me and make Me equal and compare Me, that we would be alike? Those who lavish gold from the purse and weigh silver on the scale hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; they bow down, indeed they worship it. They lift it upon the shoulder and carry it; they set it in its place and it stands there. It does not move from its place. Though one may cry to it, it cannot answer; it cannot deliver him from his distress. Remember this, and be assured; recall it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, “My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure.” (46:5-10)
God stakes His credibility on His Word’s prophesying the future.
The rampant wickedness and the escalation of God’s wrath spoken of in this chapter will be general signs that Christ’s return is near. But in addition, our Lord predicts two specific signs: Jerusalem will be surrounded by armies, and the abomination of desolation will be set up.
Jerusalem Will Be Surrounded by Armies
But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people; and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (21:20-24)
Jerusalem has been surrounded by armies repeatedly throughout its history. As one writer notes:
There have been at least 118 separate conflicts in and for Jerusalem during the past four millennia—conflicts that ranged from local religious struggles to strategic military campaigns and that embraced everything in between. Jerusalem has been destroyed completely at least twice, besieged twenty-three times, attacked an additional fifty-two times, and captured and recaptured forty-four times. It has been the scene of twenty revolts and innumerable riots, has had at least five separate periods of violent terrorist attacks during the past century, and has only changed hands completely peacefully twice in the past four thousand years. (Eric H. Cline, Jerusalem Besieged [Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 2004], 2)
In a.d. 70, forty years after our Lord spoke these words, His prediction that Jerusalem would suffer desolation was fulfilled. The Romans laid siege to Jerusalem, sacked the city, burned the temple, and slaughtered thousands of people.
But no previous assault, including the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70, is what Jesus referred to here. It is true that during that Roman siege there were those in Judea who did flee to the nearby mountains, and others who were in the midst of the city did manage to leave before the city was surrounded, while those who were in the country naturally did not enter the city once that massacre and destruction had begun.
The events of a.d. 70, however, were nothing like the days of vengeance of which Jesus spoke. All things which are written were not fulfilled (cf. such unfulfilled prophecies as Zech. 12:1-9; 14:1-11 and the unprecedented outpouring of God’s wrath described in Rev. 6-19). Nor did Jesus visibly return to earth (Zech. 14:4; Acts 1:9-11), judge the wicked (Matt. 25:31-46), and establish His absolute rule here (Rev. 20:4-6).
The phrase days of vengeance is an Old Testament expression that speaks of divine vengeance in the end times (cf. Isa. 34:8; 35:4; 61:2; 63:4; Mic. 5:15), specifically the tribulation, the time of Jacob’s distress (Jer. 30:7; cf. Dan. 12:1). It describes God’s final, eschatological judgment, and is the equivalent of the familiar Old Testament term the Day of the Lord (Isa. 2:12; 13:6, 9; Ezek. 13:5; 30:3; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11, 31; 3:14; Amos 5:18, 20; Obad. 15; Zeph. 1:7, 14; Zech. 14:1; Mal. 4:5).
When those days come, it will be especially difficult for those who are pregnant and ... those who are nursing babies. Encumbered as they are, such women will find it difficult to escape the distress upon the land and the wrath poured out on its people. The mass exodus from Jerusalem will mark the end of evangelism, as the believing remnant, protected by God, flees into hiding.
Not all who flee will escape, however. Many Christian martyrs and Jewish unbelievers will fall by the edge of the sword, while others will be led captive into all the nations. In addition, Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles (the period from 586 b.c., when Israel first went into captivity, until Christ returns to establish His kingdom) are fulfilled. The times of the Gentiles obviously did not end in a.d. 70; they will not end until the future day of God’s final vengeance and judgment comes.
The Abomination of Desolation Will Be Set Up
The second sign that the Lord’s coming is near appears in Matthew’s parallel account of the Olivet Discourse, where Jesus referred to “the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (Matt. 24:15). That event, coming at the midpoint of the tribulation, will trigger the severest cataclysms—the time that Jesus, as noted above, called the “great tribulation.”
The word “abomination” refers to something disgusting, repulsive, detestable, and abhorrent to God. In the Old Testament, it describes immoral practices that God hates (e.g., Lev. 18:22-29; Deut. 22:5; 25:13-16; 1 Kings 14:24; 2 Kings 16:3; Prov. 11:1; 12:22; 15:8-9; 20:23; Jer. 13:27). According to Revelation 21:27, “no one who practices abomination” will enter heaven. The ultimate false religion that arises in the end times is represented by a woman
clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.” (Rev. 17:5)
The “abomination of desolation” has its roots in the book of Daniel, where it was referred to three times (9:27; 11:31; 12:11). The prophecy of the seventy weeks describes sixty-nine weeks of seven years each (483 years), culminating in Christ’s first coming and crucifixion (9:24-26) with the seventieth week (seven years) separated and yet to come in the future. At the outset of that seven-year tribulation, the final Antichrist “will make a firm covenant with [Israel] for [that] one week” (v. 27). He will offer to provide protection for Israel and, engulfed by an increasingly deadly world, the nation will accept his offer.
But “in the middle of the week,” Antichrist will show his true colors. “He will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate” (v. 27). The New Testament adds that Antichrist will oppose God and exalt “himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God” (2 Thess. 2:4). Most likely, he will defile the temple by installing an idol of himself inside it (cf. Rev. 13:15). The term “abomination” was used in the Old Testament in reference to idolatry (e.g., Deut. 7:25; 27:15; 29:17; 32:16; Isa. 44:19; Ezek. 7:20; 18:12), and this unparalleled example of blasphemy will be the ultimate act of idolatry.
It will not, however, be without historical precedent. Daniel 11 records an amazingly detailed prophecy that would be fulfilled more than three centuries after Daniel revealed it. The prophecy highlights the career of the Seleucid king of the intertestamental period, Antiochus IV.
Antiochus bestowed on himself the title “Epiphanes,” meaning “manifest one” or “splendid one.” It was for all practical purposes a claim of deity for himself. But his enemies, varying the word slightly, nicknamed him “Epimanes,” meaning “madman.”
Pretending to be the defender of Jerusalem, Antiochus went to war against Egypt, then used spoils plundered from Egypt to win support from influential people in Israel. This seems to be precisely what Daniel prophesied in 11:24: “He shall enter peaceably, even into the richest places of the province; and he shall do what his fathers have not done, nor his forefathers: he shall disperse among them the plunder, spoil, and riches; and he shall devise his plans against the strongholds, but only for a time.”
History records that as he prepared to launch a final assault against Egypt in 160 b.c., he received orders from Rome via Cyprus (where the Roman fleet was anchored at the time) that he was not to make war against the Ptolemies. Antiochus, humiliated but unwilling to go against both Rome and Egypt, reluctantly withdrew from Egypt, and on his way back to Syria he decided to vent his rage against Jerusalem. That is precisely what Daniel had foretold more than three centuries before: “Ships from Cyprus shall come against him; therefore he shall be grieved, and return in rage against the holy covenant, and do damage” (11:30).
Two Apocryphal books, 1 and 2 Maccabees, record Antiochus’ treachery. He entered Jerusalem under the pretense of peace. He then waited until the Sabbath and ordered his army of more than 250,000 to carry out wholesale slaughter against the Jews. They met with very little resistance because of the Jews’ rigid observance of the Sabbath laws (2 Maccabees 5:24-26). Antiochus then deliberately set several Jewish apostates (enemies of Israel’s covenant with Jehovah) in power over the occupied city, again fulfilling Daniel’s prophecy to the letter: “So he shall return and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant” (Dan. 11:30). He set out deliberately to defile the temple, and this he did by sacrificing a pig (an unclean and forbidden animal, according to Lev. 11:7) on the altar and forcing the priests to eat its flesh.
His design, moreover, was to set up a new religion of his own, a thoroughly pagan kind of worship that was a mockery of Judaism.
King Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people, and every one should leave his laws: so all the heathen agreed according to the commandment of the king. Yea, many also of the Israelites consented to his religion, and sacrificed unto idols, and profaned the Sabbath. For the king had sent letters by messengers unto Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that they should follow the strange laws of the land, and forbid burnt offerings, and sacrifice, and drink offerings, in the temple; and that they should profane the Sabbaths and festival days: and pollute the sanctuary and holy people: set up altars, and groves, and chapels of idols, and sacrifice swine’s flesh, and unclean beasts: that they should also leave their children uncircumcised, and make their souls abominable with all manner of uncleanness and profanation: to the end they might forget the law, and change all the ordinances, and whosoever would not do according to the commandment of the king, he said, he should die. (1 Maccabees 1:41-50)
In other words, it was forbidden for anyone to observe the Old Testament dietary laws, the Sabbath laws, circumcision, or anything else distinctly Jewish. Notice that Antiochus’ stated goal was “that all should be one people.” In other words, he wanted to establish a new one world religion, beginning at Jerusalem. Under the pretense of “unity,” this megalomaniacal madman sought to found a religion that was an amalgam of many religions, but in which he was the ultimate object of worship. And there is little doubt that his real goal was eventually to conquer the whole world and impose his religion everywhere.
It was at this time that Antiochus committed the act usually associated with the abomination of desolation: “Now the fifteenth day of the month Chislev, in the hundred forty and fifth year, they set up the abomination of desolation upon the altar” (1 Maccabees 1:54). History records that this was an image of Zeus and an altar to Zeus, built right on the Jews’ altar of the burnt offering. This put an end to the daily sacrifices to Jehovah in the temple.
Again, history accords precisely with Daniel’s prophecy: “Forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation” (Dan. 11:31). (John MacArthur, The Second Coming [Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 1999], 108-10)
The ultimate eschatological meaning of Daniel’s prophecy was foreshadowed, but not at all fulfilled, by the degradations carried out by Antiochus IV. The final abomination of desolation of which Jesus spoke awaits fulfillment in the middle of the seventieth week, three and one half years into the tribulation.
At the same time that the abomination of desolation is set up, Jerusalem will be under massive assault from the world’s armies, under the leadership of Antichrist. The attacking force will be huge, extending from Jerusalem to Megiddo, about sixty miles to the north. This massive assault will cause many professing believers to abandon their faith (Matt. 24:9-12), but not true believers, who will persevere to the end (v. 13). It will also be a time of savage atrocities against the Jewish people, two thirds of whom will be killed, while the rest will call on the Lord and be redeemed (Zech. 13:8-9; cf. Jer. 30:1-8). Zechariah describes the siege and judgment, but also promises the salvation of the nation of Israel (12:1-13:1).
As noted above, the terrors of the great tribulation, initiated by Antichrist’s setting up of the abomination of desolation, will last for three and one half years. That fact is confirmed by several passages of Scripture. Daniel 12:7 says that it will last “for a time [one year], times [two years], and half a time [half a year],” and verse 9 makes it clear that the reference is to an event in the end times. Revelation 11:2 and 13:5 set its length at forty-two months; 11:3 and 12:6 at 1,260 days, all of which add up to three and one half years (1,260 days equals three and one half years based on a 360 day year). A comparison of Daniel 12:12 and 13 reveals that there will be an additional seventy-five days between Christ’s destruction of the forces of Antichrist at the battle of Armageddon and the establishment of His kingdom, perhaps to clean up the remains of the carnage.
Though they will not know the exact day or hour (Matt. 24:36), the twin signs of Jerusalem being surrounded by armies and the setting up of the abomination of desolation will give clear warning to those alive at that time that the return of the Lord Jesus Christ is near.
The church will be spared the unimaginable horrors of the entire tribulation period, being raptured before it begins (John 14:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:51-52; 1 Thess. 4:15-18; Rev. 3:10). Just as the church was not in the first sixty-nine weeks of Daniel’s prophecy regarding Israel, so also it will not be in the seventieth. (For a defense of the pretribulation rapture, see 1 & 2 Thessalonians, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 2002], chap. 11.)
In the meantime, Christians are to be prepared for Christ’s return:
Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Peter 3:11-18)
MacArthur New Testament Commentary, The - MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Luke 18-24.0 -
Sorry just checked about 700 words over allowable quote- if you want more WS has the volume.
I own the missing copies of MNTC in WS which means- I WILL NOT DOUBLE PURCHASE IN LOGOS AS I HAVE IN THE PAST- SORRY GUYS "YOU" DROPPED THE BALL NOT ME:)
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I must say that I am overwhelmed. While I was at work I was reading all of these responses and I was just simply taken back...thank you all for your kindness and assistance. I sincerely appreciate it. I pray that this message finds you all doing well.
In Christ,
Scott
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Whyndell Grizzard said:
I own the missing copies of MNTC in WS which means- I WILL NOT DOUBLE PURCHASE IN LOGOS AS I HAVE IN THE PAST- SORRY GUYS "YOU" DROPPED THE BALL NOT ME:)
ditto! [Y]
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