Luke 21:1-28 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. ² And He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins. ³ And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; ⁴ 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.”

⁵ And while some were talking about the temple, that it was adorned with beautiful stones and votive gifts, He said, ⁶ “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.”

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?” 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. ⁹ When you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately.”

¹⁰ Then He continued by saying to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, ¹¹ and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

¹² “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake. ¹³ It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. ¹⁴ So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; ¹⁵ for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute. ¹⁶ But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, ¹⁷ and you will be hated by all because of My name. ¹⁸ Yet not a hair of your head will perish. ¹⁹ By your endurance you will gain your lives.

²⁰ “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. ²¹ 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; ²² because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled. ²³ 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; ²⁴ 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.

²⁵ “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, ²⁶ 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. ²⁷ Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸ But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

In today’s text it says:  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?” 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. When you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately.” Then He continued by saying to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.”  We’ve looked at Jesus warning previously as it was shared in the other gospels, but it seems so timely and relevant to our times, that we should try to understand and apply it today. First, Jesus says, “See to it that you are not misled.”  In order to not be misled, we need to understand what the deception that Jesus is warning against is. He says: “many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not go after them.”  The warning is not that others will claim to be the Christ, but rather that there will be many who will say that Jesus is the Christ, but they will present a different Jesus than the one revealed in scripture. The deception that will mislead many is that they will follow a teaching that says that Jesus would tolerate, embrace, condone and even participate in the immorality and sin of our society and culture. The only sure way that we can keep from being misled by what is false, is to know what is true. Jesus associated with sinners not because He embraced their sin, but so that He could call them to repent. In Luke 5:32 He says:  “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”   If we would not be misled, we need to know Jesus as He is revealed in scripture. In Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus says:  “Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law, until all is accomplished! Therefore, whoever nullifies one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness far surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” In Matthew 7:21-23 He says:  “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”  “See to it that you are not misled.”

The text continues:  Then He continued by saying to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.” Looking first at what is said last, we see that recently there has been a new and renewed focus on unidentified objects in the sky. These stories will cause fear and anxiety in many. We are currently experiencing a plague or pandemic that has much of the world living in fear. It really doesn’t matter what the origin of the virus was, what matters is that it has changed our world so that in many ways it will never be the same. It too, has caused fear and division which is fed and fueled by the media and those who want control.  Speaking of division, when Jesus warns that “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom,”  it is not repetitive. The word nation is the Greek word ethnos, from which the English word ethnic is derived. The nation against nation conflict that Jesus warns about, are these ethnic, racial and tribal conflicts. Around the world, and very much so in this country, we have seen these conflicts rising for about the last twelve years as violence, rioting, looting and destruction have been sanctioned as justifiable methods of protest. The more that we see and hear the media, entertainers and politicians focus on racial division, the deeper the divide grows. Those fueling the fires of racial and ethnic division are not really seeking to help anyone, but rather they seek to destroy our society, our families and the very foundation of our country. They try to rewrite history and eliminate His story. We see also that after four years with no new wars and unprecedented progress toward peace, that in just a few months international tensions are rising around the world. We see and hear that kingdoms are rising against and threatening kingdoms.

What should we expect?   Jesus says:  “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake. It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute. But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all because of My name. Yet not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.”  We should not be surprised that the world will reject and hate us is we stand for the true Christ. In John 15:18-20 Jesus says:  “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.”  “See to it that you are not misled.”

“There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, 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. 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.”   Amen. Come Lord Jesus. Amen.