Smoodock's Blog

At this, his final Passover season, Jesus told his listeners to behold the fig tree and all trees. They began to bud at the time of Passover, showing that summer was near (Luke 21:29-30). He used this to signify that, once believers saw the signs of the judgment against Jerusalem and the Temple, they should understand that the time of Jesus’ coming and the Day of the Lord was near (Luke 21:29-31). Moreover, he claimed that everything he predicted about Jerusalem and the Temple would occur in the space of one generation (Luke 21:32; cir. 30-40 years).

Jesus said that in time the heavens and the earth would pass away, i.e. cease to exist, but his words would never cease to exist (Luke 21:33). In other words, he claimed that his words are equally dependable as the word of God. God’s word goes out upon the earth and cannot return to him without having accomplished the reason it was sent out (cf. Isaiah 40:8; 55:11). Jesus’ words, likewise, would prove to be fruitful in the hearts and work of his disciples.

Nevertheless, Jesus also warned that, if his disciples became too involved in the desires and goals of this world, this would cause them to be unprepared to meet Jesus at his coming (cf. Luke 21:34). Luke expresses this unpreparedness by describing such folks as overindulgent and drunken (Luke 21:34). That is, their behavior (walk) would be changed due to their overindulgent behavior in matters concerning this world (i.e. politics, science, education, religion, military, music, literature, art, law, commerce etc.). These things Jesus claimed are not part of his Kingdom (cf. John 18:36), so overindulgence in them would be inappropriate in his service.

The end will come primarily upon the Jews as a snare (Luke 21:35). The persecution that Jesus said would come before the time of the end was laid as a snare against believers by the Jewish authorities. According to Paul, David cursed the Jewish nation, asking that God would let their table (believers are the bread of God) be a snare, and what was meant for their good (i.e. the preaching the Gospel in the first century AD) would be as a trap, and would allow their eyes be darkened, so they couldn’t see the end coming (Romans 11:9-10; Psalm 69:22-23).

Jesus’ disciples were told to watch and pray that they might escape the thing that would come upon the earth, and stand before Jesus (Luke 21:36). In other words, Jesus didn’t want believers to take part in the judgment, which would come upon the Jews (cf. Revelation 18:4). Rather, at the end of it all, he wished them to stand before him and receive the reward he promised (cf. Luke 19:15-19)

Luke concludes his record of the Olivet prophecy by saying that each of the days before his crucifixion, Jesus could have been found teaching in the Temple during the day. At the end of each day, he retired to the Mount of Olives (Luke 21:37). However, Jesus was arrested as though he were a criminal. It was done during the night on the Mount of Olives, where no one could see what was taking place. (Luke 22:39, 52-53). Thus, what was meant for their good, Jesus’ sacrifice as their Redeemer, had become a snare to them, as they worked to rid themselves of their very own Savior.