The Book of Luke

[Allyn]

Verses of interest in Luke that I will not be covering are as followsLuke 3:7, 11:31-32, 14:13-14 (compare to Daniel 12:13).


(Luke 9:26-27) 26 "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 "But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God."



(Luke 11:49-51) 49 "For this reason also the wisdom of God said, `I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute, 50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.'



(Luke 12:37-40) 37 "Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. 38 "Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. 39 "But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 40 "You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect."


This is an important parable for two reasons. First, because He says near the end "you too, be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that "you" do not expect". Twice He says "you". Who is the "you" in this verse? It is the disciples. He is telling them that they need to be on guard for this coming. Is this not the same as "this generation" and "some of you standing here shall not taste death" and "you will not go through all the cities of Israel?" Yes. Also, notice that in the parable that the slaves are still alive when the master comes back. The master did not go away 2000+ years and come again to different slaves. I don't want to make the parable walk on all fours, but that is something that shouldn't be overlooked.


(Luke 19:41-44) 41 When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. 43 "For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, 44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."


Compare Luke 19:41-44 to Luke 21:20


(Luke 21:20) "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near.


Think about what Josephus penned about the famine, pestilence, death, and total destruction of Jerusalem. There were well over a million dead and just like the final destruction of the northern 10 tribes, the rest were taken away captive. Luke 19:41-44 was spoken by Christ even before the Olivet Discourse. We know that this was fulfilled in that generation.

(Luke 20:13-19) 13 "The owner of the vineyard said, `What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.' 14 "But when the vine-growers saw him, they reasoned with one another, saying, `This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.' 15 "So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 "He will come and destroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others." When they heard it, they said, "May it never be!" 17 But Jesus looked at them and said, "What then is this that is written: `THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone'? 18 "Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust." 19 The scribes and the chief priests tried to lay hands on Him that very hour, and they feared the people; for they understood that He spoke this parable against them.


The key part of this verse is the last line. The religious leaders knew that He was speaking this parable about them. This destruction was realized in the lifetime of some of these leaders, or "this generation".


(Luke 23:27-31) 27 And following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him. 28 But Jesus turning to them said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 "For behold, the days are coming when they will say, `Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.' 30 "Then they will begin TO SAY TO THE MOUNTAINS, `FALL ON US,' AND TO THE HILLS, `COVER US.' 31 "For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?"


Compare Luke 23:27-31 to Matthew 27:25


(Matthew 27:25) 25 and all the people said, "His blood shall be on us and on our children!"


Compare Luke 23:27-31 to Revelation 6:16


(Revelation 6:16) and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;


These are all speaking of the same event. That is the second coming of Jesus Christ and the wrath poured out upon the Jews because of their rejection of Christ and their responsibility for the righteous bloodshed from Abel on. Look specifically at Luke 23:30 and Revelation 6:16


(Luke 23:30) 30 "Then they will begin TO SAY TO THE MOUNTAINS, `FALL ON US,' AND TO THE HILLS, `COVER US.'


Revelation 6:16 says


(Revelation 6:16) and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;


Either there are two second comings (one in 70AD and another one in Revelation, which would actually be a third coming) or these passages are speaking of the same event. We have shown how Luke 23:30 refers to the destruction of Jerusalem. If that is true, then Revelation 6:16 relates to the destruction of Jerusalem as well, for the wording is almost identical. This is the wrath that John the Baptist had been warning the Jewish nation about.