INTRODUCTION:

1. We were in Luke 21 last week, and once again, tonight’s message will be from the Olivet Discourse (cf. Matt. 24 & 25; Mark 13). The key word in the discourse is “sign” (Luke 21:7).
2. Some of the signs we looked at last week were religious deception (21:8), and “wars and commotions” (21:9, 10). Or “wars and rumors of wars” as we see in Matthew 24:6 and Mark 13:7.
3. Other signs include great earthquakes in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs from heaven; and persecution.
4. I mentioned last week that these things have been going on since the beginning of mankind, but they will increase and multiply and intensify as we head toward the tribulation period and the second coming of Christ.
5. Our Lord said, “But before all these (other signs) …” there will be persecution (21:12). There was terrible persecution of Christians by pagan Rome, and later by papal Rome.
6. Last week’s message can be summarized by saying that the period between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ will be marked by deceivers, disasters and distresses; and this will all increase and multiply and intensify as we head toward the tribulation period and the second coming of Christ.
7. Tonight, we will pick up at verse 20 – “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.”

 

I. THE IMPORTANCE OF JEUSALEM.

1. When we study Bible prophecy we come to understand that everything revolves around Jerusalem.
2. In 1947, the United Nations recommended that Jerusalem be declared an international city, rather than be incorporated into either the Arab or the Jewish states.
3. Israel became an independent nation on May 14, 1948, and immediately after that announcement they were attacked by five hostile Arab nations.
4. In the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 that followed its declaration of statehood, Israel captured the western portion of Jerusalem while Jordan seized the east.
5. Later on, in “the Six-Day War” with the Arabs in 1967, Israel took control of East Jerusalem and annexed it, declaring that the city would remain whole and unified as its eternal capital.
6. But since then, the United States and other countries have kept their embassies in Tel Aviv. Since 2006 there have been no foreign embassies in Jerusalem.
7. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both promised during their presidential campaigns to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, but both presidents later backed down after strong political pressure.
8. Now President-elect Donald Trump has promised to move the American embassy to Jerusalem. He may succeed because he doesn’t seem like the type of man to back down under political pressure.
9. In 1995, the United States Congress passed a law declaring Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital and requiring the embassy to be moved there by 1999 — or else the State Department building budget would be cut in half.
10. But the law included a provision allowing presidents to waive its requirement for six months if they determined it was in the national interest. So, every six months, Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama signed these waivers, fearing trouble from the Muslims.
11. Time will tell how all of this will play out. But no matter what happens, as far as God is concerned, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
12. Psalm 48:2 says, “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.”
13. Jesus said, “Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King” (Matthew 5:34, 35).
14. Psalm 122:6 says, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.”
15. The Bible repeatedly predicts that the Jews will return to Israel before the second coming of Christ.
16. Jeremiah 30:3 says, “For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.”
17. Ezekiel 34:13 says, “I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land.”
18. But all of this is in preparation for the Battle of Armageddon. The prophet Zechariah says that God “will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem” (cf. Zechariah 12, 14).

 

II. THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM IN AD 70.

1. This is the third time in the Gospel of Luke that our Lord predicted the impending fall of Jerusalem, and this prophecy is the most detailed (cf. 13:34, 35; 19:41-44).
2. The Olivet Discourse is recorded by Matthew 24, Mark 13, as well as here in Luke 21, but Luke contains some additional teaching not found in the others (21:18-24, 26, 28, 34-36).
3. Matthew and Mark anticipate the fall of Jerusalem in the way they introduce the discourse (cf. Matthew 24:1-3; Mark 13:1-4), but Luke describes the Roman invasion in AD 70 in a way Matthew and Mark do not.
4. It is not until Luke 21:25 that Luke’s account refers to the second coming of Christ.
5. Warren Wiersbe said, “Luke’s account refers…to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and the Roman army in AD 70, just forty years from that time. This terrible event was in many respects a ‘dress rehearsal’ for what will happen when Satan vents his anger on Israel and the believing Gentiles during the last half of the Tribulation (Revelation 12:7-17)” (The Bible Exposition Commentary).
6. When Titus invaded Jerusalem in AD 70, the Jewish historian Josephus claimed that nearly one million Jews were killed by the Roman army, and over 100,000 were taken captive (Luke 21:24; cf. 19:41-44).
7. Jerusalem was once again “trodden down of the Gentiles” (21:24). The Scofield Study Bible says, “The ‘times of the Gentiles’ began with the captivity of Judah under Nebuchadnezzar (II Chronicles 36:1-21), since which time Jerusalem has been under Gentile overlordship.”
8. The “times of the Gentiles” will end when Christ returns (Luke 21:27).
9. The siege by the Roman army in AD 70, when the city of Jerusalem was taken, foreshadows the final siege during the tribulation period.
10. Comparing Luke with Matthew and Mark, Scofield says, “In Luke the sign is the compassing of Jerusalem by armies (Luke 21:20); in Matthew and Mark (Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14) the sign is the abomination in the holy place (II Thessalonians 2:4)” (Scofield Study Bible).

 

III. CATASTROPHIC SIGNS (21:25, 26).

1. Our Lord predicted several signs:

• signs in the sun (Luke 21:25; cf. Matthew 24:29)
• and in the moon (Luke 21:25; cf. Matthew 24:29)
• and in the stars (Luke 21:25; cf. Matthew 24:29)
• and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity (Luke 21:25)
• the sea and the waves roaring (Luke 21:25)
• Men's hearts failing them for fear (Luke 21:26)
• and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth (Luke 21:26)
• for the powers of heaven shall be shaken (Luke 21:26; cf. Matthew 24:29)

2. These catastrophic signs, which will accompany the second coming of Christ, were foretold by the prophets Isaiah and Joel.
3. “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine” (Isa. 13:9, 10).
4. “And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come” (Joel 2:30, 31).
5. “The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel” (Joel 3:15, 16).

 

IV. THE LORD WILL RETURN IN GLORY (21:27, 28).

1. One night, God gave Daniel dream and visions, and Daniel said, “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven…” (Dan. 7:13).
2. This is similar to Luke 21:27 – “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”
3. Many Bible prophecies describe Jesus coming in a cloud.
4. Matthew 24:30 says, “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
5. Matthew 26:64 says, “Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
6. Mark 13:26 says, “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.”
7. Mark 14:62 says, “And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
8. Revelation 1:7 says, “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him.”
9. This old world is in trouble, but thank God, the Lord is coming back (Luke 21:28). In the meantime, we are to be watchful (21:28, 31, 34-36).

 

CONCLUSION:

1. I saw an interesting video the other day (already watched over 7 million times). On Thursday, December 1, at around 8 AM, a big dust storm occurred on the border between Israel and Syria.
2. The dust storm did not cross over the border fence into Israel. It just stopped and sat like a barrier between ISIS and Israel.
3. Some people said, “This is God miraculously intervening to protect Israel!"
4. But others, who were rather cynical, disagreed, saying: "Actually, it's simply a weather phenomenon."
5. Yes, that is true, it could be just “a weather phenomenon."
6. But who controls the weather?