Luke 21:20 - 28

 Luke 21:20 - 28

As Jerusalem so the world.

As always the context for this passage is critical. The Jews have followed a course of action and thought that has led them to the point of rejecting Christ. That rejection set them on a course from which there is no deviation. The rejection of Christ by the Jews leads to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. In ancient times of war the conventional wisdom was to go to the city as a place of safety or as a stronghold. Jesus warned that the stronghold itself is the object of destruction. Don't run to the “safe place”, it is the target. The siege and destruction of Jerusalem was brutal. If the ancient historian Josephus is correct only about 8% of the population of Jerusalem survived and they all became slaves. Luke uses the phrase the “days of vengeance”. The word vengeance is a compound word that is made of the words “out” or “to” and “to judge”. It means “to release the judgment”. The rejection of Jesus meant that the Jews and Jerusalem were subjects and objects of wrath. But God, in His mercy, held back fair and right treatment for a time. But there came a day in which He would no longer hold it back, but would release it. He was not like to pagan deities, a vindictive mean-spirited god with hurt feelings. He was a holy God who has withheld punishment to allow repentance, but that time has passed. There came a day when justice had to be fulfilled.

Jerusalem also serves as a picture for the whole world. The world has rejected the Savior. Here the term world refers to the inhabited population committed to a sinful system. Not necessarily all people or the physical earth itself. This rejection will also produce the wrath of God just as rejection of the Jews produce wrath for Jerusalem. The destruction of the world is as certain as the ruin of Jerusalem. The very cosmos scenes to be unraveling as if nature is falling apart are even turning on humanity. “Men fainting from Fear” literally means men stop frozen because they are so afraid. Men without the Savior have no ability to deal with a world showing signs of ruin.  

But all the bad news is not reason for negativism and despair that grows from a conviction of hopelessness. Resigned pessimism is not the answer. Nor is the answer fool hearted optimism placed in the hopes that mankind will be able to overcome the obstacles with his own wisdom and greatness. There is no solution in humanism’s arrogant confidence of man's ability to conquer all. The right response to a world that is falling apart is the life of faith. This faith is not an idle intellectual belief, but hope filled living in the anticipation of rescue by our Savior that causes us to call others to join us. Things are not getting better they're only getting worse and then comes the rescue.

“Lord, give me the grace to be hope filled as I look for the coming Savior. AMEN”