Indications of the End
Indications of the End
LUKE 21:5–22
Luke 21:7 (NASB)
7 “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?”
Jesus cleansed the temple and took His seat as Teacher. Over the next few days, one group of Jewish leaders after another challenged Him. Clearly, the nation was rejecting Him. In response to this, Jesus predicted that in a few years the temple would be torn down, not one stone left on another (Luke 21:6).
The disciples asked Him for signs so they would know when it would happen. Jesus told them there would be many tribulations in the world and in the church during the next generation (vv. 8–19). Then He told them to look for specific signs (vv. 20–24).
The first indicator Jesus gave was that false Christ’s would appear. We know from history that within twenty years after Jesus’ ascension, there were several false messiahs who claimed to be the return of Jesus.
Second, Jesus mentioned wars and revolutions, but He told them that these were not indications of the approaching end. Such things go on all the time, and the disciples were not to be misled into thinking they were signs of the coming destruction of Jerusalem.
Other general indicators Jesus gave were earthquakes, famines, and plagues. In a.d. 61 there was a terrible earthquake in Phrygia. In a.d. 63, Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying Pompeii and Herculaneum. During the reigns of Claudius and Nero, there were serious famines throughout the Roman Empire.
Both Josephus, the Jewish historian, and Tacitus, the Roman historian, tell us of strange signs that appeared between a.d. 66 and 70, the years of the Jewish War against Rome. For instance, a great comet hovered over Jerusalem for many nights. In the ancient world, comets were regarded as terrible signs. These are some of the distresses Jesus predicted would occur before the destruction of Jerusalem.
CORAM DEO (Before the face of God)
Very often phrases from Jesus’ eschatological discourse are lifted out of context and used as “proof that the end of the world is near. People in every generation since Christ have claimed they were living in the final days. Consider the dangers of such thinking.
Matthew 24:36–51