The Gospel of Luke 21:25-38 Second Coming
Luke 21:25-38 · Vern Peterman · Aug 21, 2016
Gospel of Luke, No. 83
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492653837653

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning, we're going to be moving into Luke 21 25 through 38 as Courtney just read for us here and It is a part of a three-part series essentially we began at the end of July and so this will complete it and it's sometimes called the Olivet discourse and But Jesus in Matthew, as we'll see, 24, and Mark 13, and Luke 21, is telling about, here's what's coming down the road in the future. And they each have a slightly different focus and emphasis. At any rate, I just thought you'd want to know, this lady is Holly Hills, just so you know. OK. At any rate. So it's in Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21. They actually all report on the same event, although they give it a slightly different emphasis.

It started, as we remarked and saw earlier, the disciples had commented and said, wow, these are really impressive stones. And in fact, one of the things we pointed out was that there was still 30 years more of work to be put into this temple. The stones were going to be made even more impressive just about a half dozen years before they'd be completely taken down.

And so at any rate, so here is what this passage focuses on. Each Matthew, Mark, and Luke have a slightly different emphasis in what they draw from the same event. This would have been the temple as they looked at it at the time. And really impressive and beautiful and being made more attractive as the days go by. They do report on different aspects of those questions. And so, for example, some time back we went through Matthew 24 and 25, which covers some of the same event. But Luke puts a different emphasis on it. And so we'll be taking a look at that here today. So this would be kind of the scene as the disciples were leaving. And just a very impressive building. But Jesus was telling them not one stone would be left on another.

So Dr. Luke here, who was a God-fearing Gentile who had come to faith in Christ. A God-fearing Gentile, and you'll see that term show up in the Book of Acts a few times. Dr. Luke, who wrote the Book of Acts, makes note of it. A God-fearing Gentile is a Gentile who respects the God of the Jews, and typically they were allowed to sit like in the back of the synagogue. and to come in. Cornelius, the one that Peter brought to faith in the Lord, was an example of a God-fearing Gentile. So Dr. Luke, anyway, reports the things that would happen between Christ's first and second coming. So, alright, here's Christ in his first coming.

He's towards the very end of that. He would be crucified in less than two days. He's coming towards the very end of that first coming, and He's telling about all the different things, some of the pivotal things that would happen between His first coming and His second coming. And He even described His second coming.

So, Dr. Luke wrote that Jesus told the disciples about their own coming persecution, so He's warning them, and He's getting them prepared for that, because that's going to be significant, and it's also going to happen very soon. in rough figures, only a couple months out would that persecution begin. He's going to also tell them about the Roman attack on Jerusalem, how not one stone would be left on another of the temple, and then the tribulation, the seven-year tribulation period as Daniel 9, 24-27 tells us about, and then Christ's second coming at the end of that tribulation period. So that's the broad outline of what Dr. Luke reports here. So here's Luke 21, 25, and 26.

There will be signs in sun and moon and stars and on the earth, dismay among nations, and in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves. men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world for the powers of the heavens will be shaken." So here's kind of the broad outline in a diagram form of the first and second coming of Christ. So the first coming where Christ is crucified, buried, resurrected, and ascended.

And that's all about to be completed in a short period of time after this Olivet Discourse that we're seeing here. Then the Church Age, we are in fact somewhere in the Church Age. I'm thinking maybe towards the end, but the Lord knows. So in the Church Age, and that Church Age is then ended with the Rapture, the taking up of the Church to be with the Lord.

As a passage, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 13 through 18 are probably some of the best explanations of that, although there are many other chapters and passages that point to the rapture. Following that, and there could in fact be a break in time between the rapture and the tribulation, the rapture does not start the tribulation, the tribulation is simply after that.

The tribulation period begins. It's a seven-year tribulation period. It begins in heaven with Christ opening the first seal. It begins on earth with the Antichrist making a treaty that allows the Jews to resume their sacrifices in Jerusalem. Then there's the seven-year tribulation period, at the end of which is the second coming of Christ.

We will come with Him. The angels will come with us as well. And then that will also be the time of judgment of the tribulation saints and those who are not. It will also be a time of the resurrection of saints from the tribulation period and the Old Testament, both Jew and Gentile. then you will have what is sometimes called the millennial kingdom that's the millennial term is not a Bible term explicitly it simply means a thousand years which is reflected in six times you given a thousand-year figure in Revelation chapter 20 that is an equivalent term to the kingdom of God kingdom of heaven or sometimes simply the kingdom and at the end of that is the eternal New Heavens, New Earth, the Eternal State, as it's sometimes called.

So that kind of completes the sweep of the chart. What Jesus is going to be telling them about today is specifically events in the Tribulation and the Second Coming. So that's what today's passage is going to focus on. So this passage here clearly describes Tribulation events, and I say the normal response, of people and nations to those abnormal circumstances.

They will definitely be abnormal. People will be thinking, boy, the world has sure gone crazy. A lot of crazy stuff happening, right? That's what they'll be thinking, not understanding what the scripture lays out. So the magnitude and scale of events will be such that everybody It's going to be overwhelmed by them. This is when we talk about events of biblical proportions. This is definitely biblical proportions.

They will have no ability, zero ability to control and manage these things. These will be things that will definitely be way, way beyond human control. Here's this asteroid coming towards Earth and not much you can do. And it wasn't one that NASA predicted. And you'll have various other kinds of chaos happening upon the earth.

We have here a chart that's available as a supplement on the cabinet to the right as you exit this room. And that maps out from Revelation chapter 6 to Revelation chapter 16. So those 11 chapters. We have the seven seals. which are opened by Christ, then you have that followed by the seven trumpets, and then the seven bowl judgments. So anyway, that one chart outline is available, and if we run out, we'll certainly get some more and also have it posted to the church website. Also, we ran out last week of the three-page supplement, What Happened to the Apostles. Last I looked, there were a couple of those left. We printed some more, but at any rate, if we need to get some more, we'll get those.

It is of interest for people to know what happened to all these apostles. In fact, we have something on each of them, and it is a fascinating development. None of them died in Israel after James the one who's recorded in Acts chapter 12 all of them died in different places and have different stories Anywhere from Southern Europe? All the way to India that's as far as Thomas went and then in North Africa to Ethiopia so so except for John the one who wrote Revelation, the Gospel of John, the three letters of John, all of them died a martyr's death.

So anyway, that's available and if we run out we'll make more available. So, these verses here, verses 25 and 26, point to some disturbing astronomical events within our solar system and possibly beyond as well. Massive things, things that were unpredicted and not in the least bit expected. We've got a program through NASA now where they have near-Earth objects, objects that could possibly come near the Earth. They've tracked, and are tracking, continuing to track, close to 5,000 objects None of them has any immediate risk of hitting Earth. But all it would take is a nudge for one of those to do so. And that sort of thing is included in what will happen to the Earth. Now, there is even today astrological and zodiacal interest. People are interested in astrology. But that was also something very prominent with the ancients. Many of them were very much into astrology.

In fact, that's where it all started. But when things start going haywire, it's like, you know, tell me my horoscope. Oh, I don't want to tell you. Right. It's all really, really bad because bad things are going to be happening, things that were completely unexpected and unpredicted. It'll be, no, don't tell me about my horoscope, right? Because it'll be nasty stuff.

Whether you're talking about the secular worldview where there's no recognition of anything spiritual, or even the pagan worldviews that included astrology and related things, all those fail to see the universe that God has made and the one in which he is ultimately in control.

So the rest of the Bible has a great deal to say about what's going to happen during the tribulation period. And we mentioned the chart out of Revelation, but that's certainly not the only place. It even gives the sequence and description of the earthly events. And in some cases, we have even a description that gets mathematical, right? So we have some fair amount of detail on a lot of these events.

Jesus summarizes them here in this passage. But here in Dr. Luke's account, Jesus gives just a summary description of these supernatural events, and he says things like, on the earth, roaring of the sea and waves, and things like that, and just sort of broad outline, just telling them, you know, huge things are happening, cosmic and momentous things. Now, the other thing that comes out of this passage, though, is Jesus refers several times to the human response to these. And the reality is these things are frightening to ponder, but people who are not looking at Scripture to understand what's happening will just be dismayed, panicking, going out of their minds over these things and not understanding them.

Now, I have a picture of a fellow here who looks terrified. I have to tell you what that picture actually is. This guy that looks terrified, you know what he's terrified about? He's got to shave his beard off. I'm not kidding you, that's where the picture came from. But hey, he does look terrified and traumatized. So Jesus used these kinds of dramatic words to convey how people respond. So this is how he spells it out. The general human response, dismay, perplexity, fainting from fear and the expectation. What's next? Read your Bible! So people won't understand, why is the world going so crazy? Just read your Bible, it's in there.

The Bible has been foretelling these events starting more than 3,000 years ago, telling us exactly what to expect. This morning in our How to Study the Bible elective, we went through Psalm 1, Psalm 2 and Psalm 6. And Psalm 2 is a psalm all about the end of the tribulation period and the second coming of Christ. The whole psalm is about that. It refers to Christ four times using different names almost each time. But the Bible's been telling people these events for quite some time.

One of the things we're going to be doing starting in the new year is we'll be stepping into the book of Acts, which lays out some really amazing and neat history. And it's an essential guide in order for us to answer questions like, who's Paul? Timothy, who's that? So the book of Acts is going to be great.

But one of the things that happens is when Peter addresses the Jews several times in a row, he quotes frightening passages to them. And we're going to be looking at that. But what he's going to do, he's going to draw from the Old Testament prophets. And because why?

These prophets have been telling about this for thousands of years, and telling about the things that are going to happen that have not yet taken place. In round figures, about 10,000 prophecies have already been fulfilled in details. Another 5,000, right, excuse me, of 10,000 prophecies in the Bible, 5,000 have been fulfilled, 5,000 have yet to be fulfilled. So, got that? So 10,000 prophecies, 5,000 fulfilled, 5,000 yet to be fulfilled. Many of them are these that we're talking about here. Here's Luke 21, 27, and 28.

Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. Here's where the Son of Man figure comes out of the Old Testament. Jesus referred to himself as the Son of Man a number of times, very commonly. Even more so than this calling himself the Son of God So Daniel 7 13 and 14 reads like this 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 as God the Father and was presented before him in verse 14 and to him was given dominion glory and a kingdom and that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language, and we saw in the How to Study the Bible elective just before, the peoples, that's the Gentiles, right, and the nations, that's the Gentiles, okay, two synonymous terms, might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. Here you have, and this is on page two of your handout, this is a broad outline of the campaign of Armageddon.

In our trip to Israel last year, we crossed, we drove out of Nazareth, we drove past Nain, which is a place where Jesus raised the son of a widow. And then we went from there out across the valley, and this is the Valley of Megiddo. This is Armageddon is the way it's carried across. So if you've heard of the Battle of Armageddon, that's actually not quite correct. And the reason is, it's really a campaign that starts at Armageddon. It's that broad valley. that starts at Haifa, goes up and then drops off to the Jezreel Valley towards the Jordan. It's that broad valley that will be the assembly and staging area for the armies of the Antichrist.

They will gather there at the end of the tribulation period. And so this is the first of eight stages of Armageddon. I'm going to change the proportions a little bit so I can actually read it. So, the eight stages. The first one is assembling of the allies of the Antichrist. And this was a fulfillment of what we studied and how to study the Bible electives. Psalm 2, 1-6 is the assembling of the armies of the Antichrist there in the valley of Megiddo. Next is the destruction of Babylon. Babylon farther to the east. And that's what you see over on the right hand side of the diagram. Next is the fall of Jerusalem, and number four is the armies of the Antichrist at Basra.

Basra, or if you have seen pictures of or been to Petra, that is the place where the Jews will run. You may recall that Jesus says, you know, if you're up on the housetop, don't go in to get your coat, run, okay? That's where you run to. This is the place where the Jews will be protected from the armies of the Antichrist. God will miraculously defend them there.

Next, number five, the national regeneration of Israel. And notice on these we have multiple passages in support of each of these points. that it is not exhaustive. So these are not all the passages we could refer people to, but there's certainly plenty and substantial. The national regeneration will end as Romans 11, 25 through 27 says, and that is all those believing and surviving Israelites will be saved.

All Israel will be saved. And those who believe and survive to the end there will all be saved, every single one, and God will save them, and they will know that it is God that did it. They will be thinking, only God can save us. Yep. And that's exactly what the mindset will be.

Then in number six is the second coming of Jesus Christ. And then the Battle of Basra ends at the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which is right between the Mount of Olives and the Temple Mount. There's a valley in there. That valley also knows the Kidron Valley that heads to the south. That will be the last battle between Christ and the Antichrist. And guess who's going to lose?

And then Number eight, the victory is sent upon the Mount of Olives, and then from there he will go into, through what is now blocked, the Eastern or Golden Gate. Alright, so that's the eight stages of the battle of Armageddon, or the campaign of Armageddon.

And on quick outline you can certainly look up the passages for yourself. So, what this boils down to, Jesus is talking to the disciples using you in an editorial sense, sometimes it's called you universal, right? He's not referring to the disciples themselves personally, but simply using them as representative Israelites, okay? Representative Jews.

Those who are alive at the time, and looking to the Lord to save them, and He will be the only one who will save them, and the only one who can save them. The campaign of Armageddon map that we looked at here, the fifth item, draws upon passages from Psalms, like Psalm 2 to begin with, to Romans to make the point there will be a national regeneration of Israel. Now this is going to be multiply miraculous. Not only will God protect these who will be saved and endure to the end, He will protect them, but There will also be a miraculous universal regeneration of these. They will all come to believe.

And right now in Israel, that just is not even possible. If you look at the population of Israel now, they're roughly 90% agnostic to atheists. There's very low level of belief. A small percentage of Hasidic or observing Jews is less than 10%. So what's going to happen? They're going to be in a frightening position. And they're going to realize, you know, what's coming at us is so huge, we have no chance unless God saves us. And you will have, in rough numbers, about a third of the Israelites will then come through this and will believe. realizing only God can save them, and He will. Here's Luke 21, 29, and 30. Then He told them a parable.

Behold the fig tree and all the trees. As soon as they put forth leaves, you see it and know for yourselves that summer is now near. So these leaves are coming out. You know that summer is coming. So, Israel is pictured as a fig tree in a few Old Testament passages, and frankly, most of those passages are negative expressions of Israel as a fig tree. The trees were even included in the Law of Moses. We looked at one in our How to Study the Bible elective this morning, where we looked at Deuteronomy 20, 19 and 20, where it said you may not cut down a fruit-bearing, live, healthy fruit tree. And that would be one of the places where the trees are addressed in the Law of Moses.

The fig tree, however, and trees in general, put out their leaves in the spring. This is of the deciduous kind. Varying, of course, by the tree species and geography and by the year. But the general picture is these trees start leafing out in the spring and you know summer's next, right?

And that's Jesus' point here. The trees are telling us that summer season is about to follow, and so those are signs. And He's saying, in the same way, when you see these kinds of things happening in the tribulation period, it means at the end of this that Christ is coming. Christ is coming again, and we with Him.

Luke 21.31 looks like this. So you also, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near. Now, he also used here, you, right? This is an editorial you or universal you.

He's not saying that they're going to be in the tribulation period. As a matter of fact, we have that handout that says how all of the apostles died, right? Every single one. So we know that they had no chance of even coming into this time period. So he's referring, talking to them, saying you as a you editorial or you universal. He had just briefly outlined the kinds of events, not the details, and the human mindset that's going to be typical of the tribulation period. And it will, in fact, be a horrible, awful time for anyone who goes through it.

At the end of that time, Christ will come, and He will come with us and with His angels. These will be called the armies of heaven, but we won't fight. We won't be saying, Phil, you head up this group over here and you take out the left flank. And Brad, you come over here and you take them out the middle. It's not going to be any of that. We will come with Christ and Christ will do one thing. He will speak. That's all it takes. The armies of the Antichrist will be done in.

The saved of Israel will take their place in that coming kingdom. The Jews and Gentiles of the time before the church began in Acts 2 and those Jews and Gentiles who died during the tribulation period will be resurrected at that time. Right then. This is Daniel chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. They'll be resurrected at that time when Christ comes again.

It'll be those who survive and are saved at the end of this tribulation period who will populate the kingdom. The Jews populating Israel, which will have new definition, and the Gentiles populating the rest of the earth. Those who survive and are saved from the Jews and the Gentiles will then be those who populate earth in the coming kingdom.

Here's Luke 21-32, truly I say to you this generation will not pass away until all things take place. Ah, now the big question. What is this generation? Any guesses? Oh, I'm sorry, you're asking me. Okay, let's take a look here. Matthew 24 and 34, Mark 13, 30, and Luke 21, 32 that we just looked at here, each report Jesus saying the exact same words. So, what does he mean by this generation in this context?

So, there are going to be many who died during the tribulation period. Matter of fact, the book of Revelation gives some proportional figures, and it's a lot. A great many people will die during the tribulation period. But the generation that sees the start of that will also see the end of it, those who survive. since it will last seven years from start to finish.

This is not some distributed period of time. The figure seven years comes from Daniel 9, 24 through 27 that we have referenced there at the top. So that's what this generation is. It's not something that's going to be spread out over time. It's not going to be happening over decades and decades and decades and centuries and centuries of time. It's going to happen in that one brief period of time. the same generation that starts it and survives will be the generation that sees the end of it.

So at the moment of the rapture, that is the taking up of the church to be with Christ, there will be nobody on earth who is saved. Absolutely no one. Nobody is going to get left behind as long as they are a believer. All of us. And by the way, You don't have to worry about whether or not you're going to be raptured as a believer.

Those who are asleep in Christ, Apostle Paul, those whom you and I have known, who are asleep in Christ, they'll be raptured too. So you don't have to worry about missing it. You're not going to miss it. Those who are alive when the rapture takes place, will be included as well. So if you're a believer, you're not going to miss it. You're not going to get left out. If the rapture were to take place today, we'd have lots of empty pews. And I hope it does.

Though there are a great many who are saved, right afterwards, and here's why. Have you talked to people and told them about the rapture? Do you know people who know about the rapture? when there is this mass disappearance, that's when many will be saved. Let me give you an example. Have you ever heard someone say, oh, I don't want the Lord to come because I still have friends and relatives that I want to be saved.

It may be the rapture that actually brings them around to a point of realizing, oh, they weren't kidding. This isn't just a Christian myth. It may in fact be the rapture that turns around and saves those people. So don't worry about the rapture happening and somebody missing out. That may be the very thing that saves them. Now, that's a good thing. It does mean that they're going to have to get through the tribulation. And that's going to be rough. But if that's how they get saved, it's still a good thing.

All the events that are described here as happening during this seven-year tribulation period are going to happen with the same generation that started it being the generation that finished it, even though a great percentage of them will be taken out by the various events. Only those who are saved will enter the kingdom, saved from Jews, saved from Gentiles. and survive to the end will enter in the kingdom and populate the Millennial Kingdom. Luke 21 33 reads like this, heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away. The earth won't last forever.

One of the things that was an influence from the Greeks The Greeks very commonly had the idea that the earth was eternal in the past and will be eternal in the future. That's what lasts and the gods and people come and go. That was the Greek idea. It was in fact something that the Apostle Paul dealt with in Acts 17 when he was dealing with Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. Mars Hill and one of the things that he had to deal with was though those two philosophical groups had different perspectives philosophically they both had the same Greek idea that the universe the physical universe is eternal in the past and on into the future and he had to correct it what did he do he took them back to Genesis 1 through 11 to correct that misunderstanding okay So that was the Greek idea.

We find that the Bible talks about what was before, and you can read about it in various places in the Bible, what was before the beginning and at the beginning. It talks about the beginning and it talks about things that were before the beginning. Example, God the Father chose us in Him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world, Ephesians chapter 1. So that's something that happened before, and that refers to this world has a beginning.

What Jesus made a point of here, the Bible all says, also says that this world has an end. This world is not going to be around permanently and forever. As a matter of fact, the end of this world, you ever hear about people getting freaked out and the end of the world is coming? The end of this world will come when God says it's time. possibly as soon as 1,007 years from today. That's what the Bible spells out. The world had a beginning, and that's described in the early chapters of Genesis. And the world will have an end. And these passages in Matthew, Mark, and Luke spell that out. And 1 Peter 3, 10 and 13, and Revelation 21, verse 1, all talk about the end of this present heavens and earth.

But Christ's words, Jesus said, will last forever. The truth of what Christ has revealed stands eternally. So Christ's kingdom will also stand forever. That's what we saw in the Daniel 7, 13 and 14 passage that we looked at just earlier here. Starting in the millennial kingdom, so 1,000 years, then the end of this present heavens and earth, and then the kingdom will roll on into the new heavens and new earth, which will be forever. So his kingdom will have no end. This world will have an end, but his kingdom will not. So Isaiah 40 verse 8 says this, The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever, and Christ is deity.

Here's Luke 21, 34 and 35, Be on guard so that your hearts will not be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life. And that day will not come upon you suddenly like a trap, for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of the earth. So one of the key things here is be on your guard.

So he's again speaking with this editorial you, as the disciples in fact all died over 19 centuries ago, all but John by martyrdom. The seven year tribulation period that he's talking about here in this passage has not happened yet. It hasn't taken place yet. Those who are going to be entering, however, that seven-year tribulation period are cautioned. They're told not to get pulled into the tribulation sidetracked. by the usual worldly distractions.

And as a matter of fact, we have in Revelation 9.21, it says, and this is the middle of the tribulation period, which starts in Revelation chapter 6, and they did not repent of their murders or of their sorceries, this is pharmacia, this is the use of drugs, nor of their immorality, nor of their thefts. Did not repent. No, keep on doing it.

The world by and large will all get pulled into these things. He says, don't get pulled into it like the rest of the world. Those who dwell on the face of the earth, this is the phrase that Jesus uses here in this passage. John uses the who dwell on the earth, either those who dwell on the earth or all who dwell on the earth. Ten times in the book of Revelation, the first one of those is quoting Jesus who promises you will not be among those who dwell upon the earth.

Why? Because we're going to be taken out of here, raptured, taken to be with the Lord. So in Revelation here, and apparently here in Luke, these terms refer to unbelievers living during the time of the tribulation. It's a tribulation specific term. It will come like a trap. rather suddenly, as a horrid surprise.

You know, you can't buy a vacation ticket from the tribulation. You can't do it that way. You know, hey, I'll just buy a ticket out of here, or some place I'll go where it's nice. There isn't any such thing. You can't buy a way out of it. Once people are in it, they will be trapped. There is no place where you can get away from it. You can't buy your way out of it.

Here's Luke 21.36, but keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place and to stand before the Son of Man.

Now one of the things he points out here is being always spiritually alert. Being on guard and always spiritually alert is a warning that always fits. It certainly will fit during this tribulation period. It will certainly be something that we as believers in Christ will avoid. But being on guard and always spiritually alert is something that always fits.

Jesus gave that warning here. And this is, of course, in the context of the Jews and tribulation period. Paul gave similar warnings as he met with the elders from Ephesus in Miletus. In Acts 20, he told them, this is going to be my last time. But he told them, be on guard, be on the alert.

Second Timothy 6.20, here's Paul's last letter to Timothy. What does he say? Be on guard, right? Peter gave warnings such as these two.

Here's 1 Peter 5.8 where he gives warnings and says, you know, stay alert. Until Christ comes back, this world is such a place that being on guard and being on the alert is going to be necessary.

People who just go casually into the tribulation period are going to find it's a nasty time and they won't understand what's happening. That'll describe most of the world. The other thing is to stand. Standing before the Lord at his second coming will be critical to entering the kingdom at the end of that tribulation period.

One of the things that Jesus had to tell the Jews that they were actually surprised to hear is not all Jews are going to enter the kingdom they had this myth that Abraham was going to stand at the gates of hell make sure no Jew ever went in but that's a myth in fact Jesus said strive to enter the narrow gate why it is the gate that leads to destruction But even for us in the body of Christ standing goes along with being spiritually on guard and alert and you'll find those commonly linked together in New Testament passages being spiritually alert and standing also goes along with our praying and Just making quick reference in in Ephesians chapter 6 where it talks about spiritual warfare oftentimes Christians think of that as an individual Christian standing and But a couple of things, one is this standing together, because the shield of faith, you put them together, right? And they stood together. The other thing is the lorica segmentata that they put on, that had to be attached from the back.

So you need somebody else to help you with that. So standing is not just an individual thing, standing is something we do together as the body of Christ. That's part of the stewardship that we have with one another. Standing together, not just I stand separately.

Here's Luke 21.37-38. This kind of turns a corner because it summarizes that time of the week before Christ's crucifixion.

So it reads like this, Now during the day he was teaching in the temple, but at evening he would go out and spend the night on the mount that is called Olivet. And all the people would get up early in the morning and come to him in the temple to listen to him. So you have here just kind of the general map of the area where the temple is. And it's off to the east a couple of miles where Bethany is located. So you have here that he would leave the temple area and head off towards the Mount of Olives.

So now, this is crucifixion week. During crucifixion week, up through Wednesday night, Christ would stay on the Mount of Olives, but that probably meant the village of Bethany, which is on the backside, because that's where Mary and Martha and Lazarus lived, and come into the temple in the courtyard to teach.

Wouldn't you be rather... I would find it distracting. Here's Jesus teaching and then here's this Lazarus guy comes to listen, right? It's kind of, whoa, that guy was dead, right? And so you see that, but they'd come likely over from Bethany, where Lazarus was from, and he'd very likely come over with them. And Jesus would teach there in the temple courtyards. So when he taught in the courtyards, his disciples certainly would be there, but this apparently refers to a lot of others who would come as well, and especially those of his household. You might have Mary and Martha and Lazarus coming, and others from Bethany particularly would come and listen to him. They seem to be, from this description, eager to hear him teach, even saying about getting up early in the morning. to come and hear him. They would go into the perimeter colonnade there in the larger temple courtyard for most of this teaching time.

Okay, let's pray. Lord, as we look at this, oh, excuse me, I'm sorry, got a slide out of context here. Alright, so then we have in less than 48 hours, Less than 48 hours, our Lord would have Passover with his disciples. That would be... His Passover with the disciples would be in what's called, you know, the upper room, the Lord's table, as we're about to observe here. He would establish the Lord's table at that point in time. It's kind of the handoff from the last Passover until the Lord's table, which would be observed in the church. and it would have its place among those who are church saints.

Jesus would teach the disciples things they needed to know, but would not understand until later. John 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 are unique recordings and unique things that Jesus said that they frankly would understand almost none of it. Until later on when the Holy Spirit was given and they would be brought to recollection the things that were there He would also pray in the garden for the father to the father. He would pray for himself He would pray for the disciples and he would pray for us Imagine that Christ prayed for you and me Jesus would allow himself to be arrested.

He was not a victim It wasn't some huge mistake, okay He would allow himself to be put on trial by the Sanhedrin, falsely charged, and then by Pontius Pilate, beaten twice. The first beating was just sort of on general principles, and then the second beating was severe. Then he would be crucified for our sins. He would say some things. What he said was largely in the morning, and nine to noon, right?

And he would do some things up on that cruel Roman cross. when the Father's wrath came against our sins, yours and mine. But you and I were there too. There's that song, you know, were you there when they crucified my Lord? Yep, you were there and so was I. We were crucified with Him that day and died with Him.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for just what your word has spelled out here. We thank you for, as we look ahead, you know what's going on. When people are confused and dismayed and perplexed and traumatized, you know what's happening in advance, and you know how you're going to deal with it. And you also know the eternity that you have planned for us. And we thank you for that. We thank you for the comfort that we can take in that. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.