The Return of Christ,
Part 2

Luke 21:29-38

by Dennis Gunderson

If there is nothing that the believer looks back on more fondly than the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is just as true to say, there is nothing a believer looks forward to more than the return of our same beloved Lord Jesus Christ. We are as joyful over the fact He is coming as we are thankful that He came. Because He is our life. He is our hope. He is everything we wait for! because the salvation we cherish and rely upon will then become our complete possession but until then, in many ways its not yet.

Every believer loves the very thought of Jesus coming again! Just as a real mark of one who does not have genuine faith in Christ is, being terrified over His coming for the believer, the language of our longing for it bleeds through in the Scriptures, which give voice not only to God, but often to our yearnings! Just as, for instance, the Bible ends this way:

Rev 22:20: Yes, I am coming quickly. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

Believers not only show these traits:

1 Thes 1:9 you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, but this trait just as much, v 10: and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus

The Apostle John describes us as people who have this hope fixed on Him:

1 Jn 3:2-3: We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Phil 3:20: For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Tim 4:8 Paul even calls Christians those persons who who have loved His appearing.

We are, in the words of Titus 2:13: looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.

Why we love it, is easy to see! Its because:
~ We eagerly await it because we long to experience the completeness of our salvation
~ We long to experience and see the ultimate defeat of all the enemies of Jesus and His church
~ We long to see the public and universal acknowledgement of the true identity and official position of our Lord Jesus
~ We long to be with the Lord we adore, the object of all our faith and love

We know that when He comes, so we shall ever be with the Lord. And who was right and who was wrong about the details surrounding the event, and what comes prior to it, wont matter very much to us!

But we have the Word of God to study for today and it does tell us some of what precedes: not in so much detail that we can pin down the day or the hour, probably not even the month or the year but there will be indications that it is coming soon. Just remember that, when you see great wars; conflict among nations; storms, earthquakes, plagues and famines those are not the signs that the end has come. Those are signs of life as usual! Life in the world under the curse.

But at the end, when there are dramatic signs in the skies evidence of perhaps a re-making of the world, men terrified because the powers of the heavens are shaken, as v 26 puts it, and then the sight of the Son of Man coming in a cloud with great glory, for we know not how long that image across the skies will be vivid and present but when you see these things, you know its the end and that He has returned. And so now, if you will turn to Luke 21:29, we will see the Lord Jesus resort to one of His favorite of teaching methods a parable to emphasize this point the recognition of the kingdom of God coming near.

The Lord Jesus had often taught in parables. Some of the truths He wants to most make vivid, are illustrated in this way. In this case, its a simple parable not one designed to shed a huge amount of light on a truth, but to make an observation about His coming and maybe about ourselves and human nature a bit:

1) The Parable of His Coming vv 29-31

And 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. Even so you, too, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near.

How will you know that My kingdom is near? Well, how do you know its almost summer? When trees start showing their leaves. Now, this is simple stuff. This little parable is so homey to us now, its hard to imagine even needing to make the point. But the simple point stands out all the more by not having a complicated parable to illustrate it just a plain one.

Its all a very great certainty. His coming is a sure thing. Its as sure to come as season predictably follows season. This is a season of life for mankind, and like winter and spring end and give way to summer, so this season is going to end and He will return.

I see in this also, a commentary on men's ability to see the obvious sometimes, in nature, and miss the obvious at other times, especially in spiritual matters. It has to remind you a little of what He said back in Luke 12:54-56:

And He was also saying to the multitudes, When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming,' and so it turns out. And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, 'It will be a hot day,' and it turns out that way. You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time?

You can read those! So how do you miss this? The world has been living in denial for the longest time that Christ is going to hold them accountable, dreaming that life just goes on, and sadly, the majority of men will remain in denial up to the very moment He comes! hoping against all rational reasoning that God is going to just allow rebellion to go on unchecked and undealt with forever. Which is ludicrous!

But though the world misses the point steadily, disciples can and will discern supernatural matters which the world cannot interpret, and can only discern natural and earthly things with skill and pride themselves on it! While missing the greatest issues of life. Yes, you can see what season it is by observing pretty much any tree. And the righteous, the Lords people, will know, I believe, when the very end is upon them. We live in times when, as always, some Christians think He is coming soon, and many don't. He does seem to put such a hunger in our hearts for His return that, it seems to linger in and stay on the minds of all who believe, as though it were right on the horizon.

I believe it is the sheer immensity of the event that makes it appear imminent the way a mans love for his wife remains the most important feature of his life, even when he does not see her for a year because he's in Iraq. But the immensity of it makes it foremost regardless. Or like when you're driving and the car is approaching the Rocky Mountains, and you can see them from afar off, so they stay in your view a long time, and even though you're still many miles away so the coming of the Lord Jesus stays in our view and is meant to stay in our view! despite its distance over the centuries from many a generation, still, it was prominent in their minds and immediate in their hopes. As it ought to be.

And so, for the first time, on the eve of His own arrest, Jesus gives a clear statement in v 31 that these things must happen before the kingdom of God comes; which meant to show them, its not coming yet not until all this is fulfilled. But however long the delay is, the 2nd point is:

2) The Assurance of His Coming vv 32-33

Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

Two things are being said in these words. There is:
A) A Promise to a People v 32

and

B) A Promise Concerning His Word vv 33

Lets look at them in that order. First:

A) A Promise to a People v 32
That's the part about: Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place. the question which has been controverted for centuries now has been, who are the people to whom the promise is made? Who is this generation? Do you know that there have been at least 5 or 6 views on that? Though you can sum them up in a major 4 that is, 4 of the views contain them all:

a) Some think that the generation He meant was, the terminal or final generation of the worlds history. That is, He was saying that, once all the prophesied world conditions are present that He spoke of in vv 25-26, it wont be but a few years until His coming. These conditions will not continue for years and years, and certainly not for many lifetimes of peoples. It will all be over in one generation. So, once the prophesied conditions exist, all will be fulfilled including His climactic return within the span of one eventful, final generation of people.

Of course, the weakness of this view is, it leaps to the rather enormous assumption that, the way we speak of a generation an age-period of 40 years is what they meant in the Hebrew culture 2,000 years ago, by an entirely different word. You see, sometimes our NT or OT translates with a term which is the best we can come up with, but our best is still not even a close match for the original.

b) Others have held a very popular view, viewing it as the most literal, that is, to say that Jesus means the generation of people living when He was speaking right then! that much of this generation of people would still be alive when all of this came to pass. Thus this has made some into advocates what is called the full preterist position those who believe that everything Jesus said in this chapter all took place occurred in the lifetime of the Apostles; all future prophecy about Christ has already been fulfilled.

Thus, those persons do not even await a return of our Lord. They say the judgment of the temple was the return of the Lord, that was His day, and we are not to think that we are to be waiting for some sort of huge future event of the return of Jesus. I do not view this as even a Christian view. Some things are too central to the Christian faith to be left out, and this is one. The view is entirely unacceptable. And again, the only reason to hold this view is by holding to the needless assumption that Jesus word for generation means the same as our word for it today.

But now let me get closer to the truth and I will make a case to you for why. But you have to promise me that you're going to try to not think in English! Otherwise you cant get it. I know this is conceptually difficult to wrap your brain around, but try hard as you can to put on a thinking cap which lets you think outside the box, and here goes:

c) What if, by this generation, Jesus means and was using a term that had nothing to do with a period of time, but a type of people? A sort of generated persons? So that it didn't refer to 4 decades or 5 decades or to people living at such-and-such a time, but to a type of people? Are you with me? Some who are generated like others. And the fact of the matter is, this term just as frequently meant a race of people as it meant a span of time. And that simply has to be the meaning here, unless we want to face difficulties way too great to overcome or explain in any other way.

I believe it means that the Jewish people and nationality shall never cease to exist as a people, even until the time when the Lord Jesus returns. Now that would be meaningful, and comforting, and helpful to His disciples to hear! Taken this way, it not only makes sense but it makes a very meaningful addition in the midst of all this. Even though He has predicted the ruin of the Jewish land, and temple, that is not the same as predicting the extinction of her people. They will endure. I think that, given the ruin of the temple He had just prophesied, it fits in very well for Him to say, The Jewish people will exist until the end. This generation that is, the generating of Jewish peoples will not cease to be until all these things take place.

Your generation the people to whom you are born, the people whom the Lord has called His own, will still be in the world when Christ comes. And to what must have been a joyful look on their faces, perhaps of surprise and shock and yet intense hope Oh, we hope that is so! He then bends the nail over, so they can know that when He says it, they can believe it:

OK, so it sounds nice. But that's not a good enough reason. Why do I think so? For the best of reasons when interpreting the Bible: because of the Biblical usage of the term generation. It all rides on the term generation. Notice: Deut 32:5, 20:

They have acted corruptly toward Him, They are not His children, because of their defect; but are a perverse and crooked generation.

And he didn't mean, the Jews alive right now. He meant, this nation of people traditionally! Or v 20:

Then He said, 'I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end shall be; for they are a perverse generation, sons in whom is no faithfulness.

He meant, those of this line, this nation, My people the Jews. Not those of this 40 year period or any close match to that! Take also Ps 12:7:

Thou, O Lord, wilt keep them; Thou wilt preserve him from this generation forever. think about this! What need would there be for God to preserve someone from any generation forever? If one generation is only around for approximately 40 years? So that cant be the meaning.

Ps 78:8: And not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not prepare its heart, and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

He meant all their fathers, not just one generation (40 year span) of their fathers, as we might use the term. He meant your fathers in Egypt and your fathers who came out of Egypt and your fathers who first populated the land, and your fathers under the rule of various judges all sorts of eras of them! Don't be rebels like so many ages of the past fathers have been! In other words, Asaph is not just saying that one epoch or era or generation (as we use it) of the Jewish people were rebellious he's saying that it was the trend of the whole history of their nation to be rebellious.

The point being: there is nothing in the word generation that limits it to the people presently alive. Far more likely, the word being used seems to mean, the people of this land.

Israel had steadily been the people who stubbornly turned their backs on the Divine purpose. It was just the way Israel had habitually been. Well, there would be a people like that until the end, but they would still be until the end. So, Jesus is saying that the End will come not to another type of people (perfected saints in their resurrection bodies or some other group), but for the type or "set" of people living in Jesus' day, who, like their fathers, had persecuted the prophets before them. It is "this generation," this "sort" of people whom Jesus had come to give his life to redeem. I believe "this generation" includes you and me. So He is speaking of something more like an era or epoch.

He either means that there will always be corrupt people in the world, until the very end or He means that there will always be Jewish people in the world, until the very end. And He might be purposefully equating them, as in saying that there will always be unbelief until He comes. That they should never expect the preaching of the gospel to bring in the kingdom and win everyone in this life.

And in case that came as a shock, then He adds v 33:

B) A Promise Concerning His Word v 33

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

Its a promise which guarantees a certain reliability of His Word. These are words which have always greatly encouraged the Lords people, and certainly should. This is one of the firmest ways He could speak of the certainty that all He said would be fulfilled.

What is more lasting in our minds than heaven and earth? Even though we have been told repeatedly that they will be burned up? Still, to us, they are as stable as it gets. But we need to accept as a principle of living that, anything the Lord Jesus says, is more sure to be fulfilled than the ground you stand on is predictable to be there in the morning. Anything Jesus said however seemingly remote or unbelievable or out of the ordinary is more certain to be fulfilled than the sun is to come up tomorrow.

And by the way, if you never noticed, in this Jesus speaks as one who knows that His words have Divine authority! And wants us to see them that way. He does not just say heaven and earth will pass away, but Gods words will not pass away no, MY words will not pass away quite bluntly and decisively equating Himself with the Word of God.

Well, a final point:

3) The Watchfulness in Light of His Coming vv 34-36

Be on guard, that your hearts may not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day come on you suddenly like a trap; for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth. But keep on the alert at all times, praying in order that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.

A) What to Keep From Being Slowed Down by v 34

He names 3 things which He urges that we not be weighted down by in our hearts:

Dissipation now, the most common usage of this was, wearing yourself out partying. It was probably a term for gluttony, too; but really, the way it fits all of our lives (because not too many of you are prone to get carried away partying) is, the overuse of anything of this world. It makes no sense for people preparing for the world to go away, to live as though they just have to glut themselves on it.

You may look with great contempt and disrespect at the person who goes to bars and drinks heavily and gets carried away with things of this world in carousing and wild living and downing the beers and I know some of those folk well enough to know that they look down just as much at you, if you get carried away with seeking prosperity. And they'd rather pursue what they're pursuing than what you are. It doesn't take half the time and its a lot more fun. And you think you're not as worldly. Your addiction to shopping or beauty or money or career advancement can be every bit as worldly.

I have a right to speak of this because there is not one person who comes to our house who can ever know anything other than that its neat, its clean, but its a prophets lifestyle. I have not allowed things of this world to dominate my interest or time, or having the appearance of them. And I will not, and recommend the same lifestyle to you. Id rather live like John the Baptist any day than the way a lot of my Christian brethren do today.

Drunkenness it seems so terribly inappropriate to imagine a believer drunk, but just as there are great sins, there are no sins too great for a believer to possibly fall into. It is possible for us, or He would not have felt a need to warn disciples against it. One has to wonder, how many Christians still both eat too much and drink too much. I will say no more and let you take the Word home to do its work.

Far more insidious than either of those is:

Worries of Life a temptation which does not resemble the others in worldliness, in that it is not as blatant, but can be just as sinful, just as dangerous, and yes, just as worldly. And it makes you just as unprepared. This is more than workaholism or pre-occupation with business it is pre-occupation with thinking about it, all the time. An absorption with that which is only temporary. In other words, even if you don't put hours and hours of overworked time into it, the mental energy of fretting over it more than you should! For notice, He did not say the work of life destroys a person, but the worries of life.

Do you ever think about whether you are losing your soul while doing things God says are perfectly ok? Because they are too important to you. You can make just as big a spiritual shipwreck on things which God allows as on the evil vices which He forbids. Wow what a thought. How can anyone be saved in such a world? Lots of alertness unto prayer.

There are just as many people who are dirt poor who are fixated on this as there are rich fixated on it. And see Luke 8:14 for how it steals the Word out of ones heart. It prevents prayer, Phil 4:6 which, not surprisingly, is then presented as the option or antidote to the above.

B) What to Keep After in Hot Pursuit v 36

If those are the temptations which are most distracting from a fervent and active spirituality, in the worst of times, do you want to know what are the features of a life which is most likely to be preserved in the worst of times?

Alertness in Prayer but keep on the alert at all times, praying that's one thought. Not two. Its exactly what Paul borrowed when he wrote Col 4:2: Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving. There is no such thing as Biblical alertness without prayerful habits. You're not awake to anything unless you're in the habit of talking to God about it. You don't see anything right unless you talk to the Lord frequently about it. This is prayer as business. Not prayer as convenience or prayer as an aside or prayer as a nicety. Prayer is serious business with God.

Dependence for Strength this very much goes hand-in-hand with the first, but still, it bears giving it a stress and emphasis on its own. In other words, a dependence on the Lord which doesn't just occur or show itself when you pray, but having an attitude which at all times leans on the Lord for strength! You have to live like a guard on post in enemy territory. If you are not prepared to live like that, against temptation, then you are not prepared to live as a Christian. And finally:

Judgment Day Awareness you should probably consider the closing words of v 36 about as somber words as you have ever been confronted with: and to stand (that you would be able to stand) before the Son of Man. Can you stand being in His presence? He is coming. You've been hearing about the inevitability of that for the last 5 weeks. Can you stand it when He comes? How will you bear the presence of a holy God, who is so holy that sin is such a big deal to Him, that He will slaughter His Son to pay for it? And what are you going to do when He sends that Son back to pour out final justice?

4) The Conclusion of His Temple Teaching vv 37-38

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 to come to Him in the temple to listen to Him.

He wasn't hiding what He was doing. It was quite open and bold, despite the risks to His skin.

Its just a closing summary of the chapter. That's probably all it is here for. Just maybe, Luke was including this to point out that Jesus, quite aware of the dangers He was facing in these days, would teach in the city in the daylight, but would not sleep in the city, but rather isolated Himself up on the mountain, so His exact location was not known. Would you be willing to do that, for His worthy work? Other believers have imitated Him in that since.

Though I think Luke's main purpose in stating this is, just to give us a closing wrap-up at the end of the chapter. Which makes me think of wrapping up.

So its a chapter which begins with the Lord approving a widow for sacrificing two pennies. He soon speaks of condemning a nation who devoted what might have been the worlds richest temple to Him. He concludes by talking of the complete overhauling and burning of the known world in a talk which began with deep admiration of a woman, and making that woman an example to us all, who gave 2 coins. I guess were meant to get the clear message: what matters in the sight of men, what impresses men, doesn't amount to much with God. He'd rather have anything sincerely devoted, than all you can muster, when your motive is wrong. Let that search you awhile.

But this is all you are going to hear of the coming of the Lord for some time. What we all need most in this is not greater skill to recognize approaching signs, but patience and perseverance as we wait. That's what James 5:7-8 urges us:

Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.