Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 21:10
Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
10. Nation, c.Matthew andMark (Mat 24:8 Mar 13:8)add, “All these are the beginning of sorrows,” or travailpangs, to which heavy calamities are compared (Jer4:31, &c.).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then said he unto them, nation shall rise,….
[See comments on Mt 24:7].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1) “Then said he unto them,” (tote elegen autois) “At that point he said to them,” to His own company of church disciples He had chosen as His followers, Joh 15:16; Joh 15:27; Joh 20:21.
2) “Nation shall rise against nation,” (egerthesetai ethnos ep ethnos) “Nation will be raised against nation,” in conflict, or race will clash with (against) race, Mat 24:7; Mar 13:8; Hag 2:22.
‘3) “And kingdom against kingdom:” (kai basileia epi basilelan) “And kingdom will be raised against kingdom,” organized government, incited by race against race, Mat 24:7; Mar 13:8.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Appleburys Comments
Sufferings at the Destruction of Jerusalem
Scripture
Luk. 21:10-19 Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11 and there shall be great earthquakes, and in divers places famines and pestilences; and there shall be terrors and great signs from heaven. 12 But before all these things, they shall lay their hands on you, and shall persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my names sake. 13 It shall turn out unto you for a testimony. 14 Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate beforehand how to answer: 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to withstand or to gainsay, 16 But ye shall be delivered up even by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. 17 And ye shall be hated of all men for my names sake. 18 And not a hair of your head shall perish. 19 In your patience ye shall win your souls.
Comments
Nation shall rise against nation.Wars, earthquakes, pestilence, terrors and great signs from heaven were to take place before the destruction of Jerusalem. These, of course, are things that occur continually in the history of the world. Just what Jesus meant by terrors and great signs from heaven may be difficult to know. But He included them in the list of catastrophic occurrences in the physical real. They do not seem to be the same as the signs in the sun and moon and stars which He associates with His coming (Luk. 21:25-27). They may refer to falling meteors or other phenomena that cause men to be afraid. Storms and hurricanes often strike terror in the hearts of men as they think of the destruction that might befall them. But even these things did not indicate that the destruction of Jerusalem was to take place immediately.
But before all these things.His followers were to expect persecution before the destruction of Jerusalem. They would be brought into the courts of both Jews and civil rulers. The Book of Acts gives the history of some of these persecutions. See Act. 4:1-21; Act. 5:17-42; Act. 7:54 to Act. 8:3; Act. 21:27-36.
It shall turn out unto you for a testimony.They would have an opportunity to preach the gospel of Christ when subjected to these persecutions. Peter and John were arrested for preaching the resurrection of Jesus, but the Holy Spirit supplied the words of their defense (Act. 4:1-21). The amazing boldness of that defense caused their persecutors to take account of the fact that they had been with Jesus. Pauls defense before Agrippa is a defense of the gospel rather than of the apostle. The early church seized upon all these occasions as opportunities to tell about the Christ.
Settle it therefore in your hearts.In those days of persecution, they were not even to think beforehand what to say or how to say it. It would be given to them in the moment of need by the Holy Spirit. They, of course, had experienced the same thing when Jesus sent them on their first mission (Luk. 12:11-12).
This ability to speak without previous meditation continued throughout the beginning days of the church, but when the completed revelationthe Biblecame, there was no further need for it. See Studies in First Corinthians, p. 243.
And not a hair of your head shall perish.Despite the fact that some of them would be put to death during the perilous times before the destruction of Jerusalem, Jesus said that not a hair of their heads would perish. The words that follow explain what He meant. By their endurance of trials they were to save their souls, that is, they were to gain eternal life (Rev. 2:10).
The same thought is presented in Mat. 24:9-13. The disciples were to face persecution and hatred. False prophets would lead many astray, iniquity would be multiplied, and the love of many would grow cold. But Jesus said, He that endureth to the endthe end of whatever persecution he might suffer, even death, during the period that led to the destruction of Jerusalemwill be saved.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
‘Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,”
‘Then he said to them.’ This may indicate that there had been a lull in the conversation (it does not appear in Mark, but Luke’s careful enquiry may have elicited the need for it from his witness). Or it may be with the intention of heightening the effect of what follows, as Jesus moves from relatively local situations to worldwide ones.
He now pointed out that wars between nations must be expected in the normal course of events (compare 2Ch 15:5-6). They have always taken place, and they always will. This is something that the first century onwards, through to the twenty first century, have constantly made clear. The first century was a century of war and disasters, and it is doubtful if there has been any time in all the ensuing centuries when there have not been wars somewhere in the world, wars which were devastating and appeared like the end of the world, and was for many of those involved.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
10. ] . . perhaps implies a break in the discourse which the other reports do not notice.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 21:10 . points to a new beginning in discourse, which has the effect of dissociating the repeated mention of political disturbances from what goes before, and connecting it with apostolic tribulations referred to in the sequel. In Mt. and Mk. the verse corresponding is simply an expansion of the previous thought.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 21:10-11
10Then He continued by saying to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, 11and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.
Luk 21:10 “these things must take place first” The Markan parallel calls these precursor events “the beginning of the birth pangs of the new age” (cf. Mar 13:7-8). Both Mark and Luke have the word dei (must), which means necessity. God’s children need to know and trust that all things are working out according to His plan!
The reason these bad events seem so magnified today is not their increased occurrences, but the immediacy of modern communication. We know of disasters and wars which happen in far away places almost immediately.
Luk 21:11
NASB”terrors”
NKJV”fearful sights
NRSV”dreadful portents”
NJB”terrifying events”
This form of the word “fear” is found only here in the NT, but it is also found in the LXX of Isa 19:17.
“great signs from heaven” The author uses OT apocalyptic language to describe these events (cf. Mar 13:25). Peter says that the prophecy of Joe 2:28-32, which also uses apocalyptic language, was fulfilled at Pentecost (cf. Acts 2), which shows it was not meant to be understood literally (cf. D. Brent Sandy, Plowshares & Pruning Hooks: Rethinking the Language of Biblical Prophecy and Apocalyptic).
There are several slightly different versions of the phrase in the Greek manuscript tradition. The variations do not alter the sense of the phrase in context. There is no way to determine which of the five variants is original.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Then said He, &c. Mat 24:7, Mat 24:8. Mar 13:8. Nation, &c. Quoted from Isa 19:2.
against. Greek. epi. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
10.] . . perhaps implies a break in the discourse which the other reports do not notice.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 21:10. , then said He to them) It is indicated by the introduction of this formula, that a short pause intervened before He spake. So in Luk 21:29.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Nation shall: This portended the dissensions, insurrections, and mutual slaughter of the Jews, the open wars of different tetrarchies, and the civil wars in Italy between Otho and Vitellius. 2Ch 15:5, 2Ch 15:6, Hag 2:21, Hag 2:22, Zec 14:2, Zec 14:3, Zec 14:13, Mar 13:8, Act 2:19, Act 2:20, Act 11:28, Heb 12:27, Rev 6:2-12
Reciprocal: Jer 25:32 – evil Hag 2:7 – I will shake
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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The Roman Empire was composed of many nations, and when the war against the Jews broke out, it threw the whole empire into commo-tions.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
WE should notice, for one thing, in this passage, Christ’s prediction concerning the nations of the world. He says, “Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines and pestilences: and fearful sights, and great signs shall there be from heaven.”
These words no doubt received a partial fulfillment in the days when Jerusalem was taken by the Romans, and the Jews were led into captivity. It was a season of unparalleled desolation to Juda, and the countries round about Juda. The last days of the Jewish dispensation were wound up by a struggle which for bloodshed, misery, and tribulation, has never been equaled since the world began.
But the words before us have yet to receive a more complete accomplishment. They describe the time which shall immediately precede the second advent of Jesus Christ. The “time of the end” shall be a time of war, and not of universal peace. The Christian dispensation shall pass away like the Jewish one, amidst wars, tumults, and desolation, amidst a general crash of empires and kingdoms, such as the eyes of man have never yet seen.
A thorough understanding of these things is of great importance to our souls. Nothing is so calculated to chill the heart and damp the faith of a Christian as indulgence in unscriptural expectations.-Let us dismiss from our minds the vain idea that nations will ever give up wars entirely, before Jesus Christ comes again. So long as the devil is the prince of this world, and the hearts of the many are unconverted, so long there must be strife and fighting. There will be no universal peace before the second advent of the Prince of peace. Then, and then only, men shall “learn war no more.” (Isa 2:4.) Let us cease to expect that missionaries and ministers will ever convert the world, and teach all mankind to love one another. They will do nothing of the kind. They were never intended to do it. They will call out a witnessing people who shall serve Christ in every land, but they will do no more. The bulk of mankind will always refuse to obey the Gospel. The nations will always go on quarreling, wrangling, and fighting. The last days of the earth shall be its worst days. The last war shall be the most fearful and terrible war that ever desolated the earth.
The duty of the true Christian is clear and plain. Whatever others do, he must give all diligence to make his own calling and election sure. While others are occupied in national conflicts and political speculations, he must steadily seek first the kingdom of God. So doing he shall feel his feet upon a rock when the foundations of the earth are out of course, and the kingdoms of this earth are going to ruin. He shall be like Noah, safe within the ark. He shall be “hid in the day of the LORD’s anger.” (Zep 2:3.)
We should notice, for another thing, in this passage, Christ’s prediction concerning His own disciples. He does not prophesy smooth things, and promise them an uninterrupted course of temporal comfort. He says that they shall be “persecuted,” put in “prison,” “brought before kings and rulers,” “betrayed,” “put to death,” and “hated of all men for His name’s sake.”
The words of this prophecy were doubtless intended to apply to every age of the Church of Christ. They began to be fulfilled in the days of the apostles. The book of Acts supplies us with many an instance of their fulfillment.-They have been repeatedly fulfilled during the last eighteen hundred years. Wherever there have been disciples of Christ, there has always been more or less persecution.-They will yet receive a more full accomplishment before the end comes. The last tribulation will probably be marked by special violence and bitterness. It will be a “great tribulation.” (Rev 7:14.)
Let it be a settled principle in our minds that the true Christian must always enter the kingdom of God “through much tribulation.” (Act 14:22.) His best things are yet to come. This world is not our home. If we are faithful and decided servants of Christ, the world will certainly hate us, as it hated our Master. In one way or another grace will always be persecuted. No consistency of conduct, however faultless, no kindness and amiability of character, however striking, will exempt a believer from the world’s dislike, so long as he lives. It is foolish to be surprised at this. It is mere waste of time to murmur at it. It is a part of the cross, and we must bear it patiently. The children of Cain will hate the children of Abel, as long as the earth continues. “Marvel not, my brethren,” says John, “if the world hate you.” “If ye were of the world,” says our Lord, “the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” (1Jn 3:13; Joh 15:18-19.)
We should notice, lastly, in this passage, Christ’s gracious promise to His disciples. He says, “there shall not a hair of your head perish.” Our blessed Lord knew well the hearts of His disciples. He saw that the prophecy He had just spoken might well make them faint. He supplies them with a cheering word of encouragement-“Not a hair of your head shall perish.”
The promise before us is wide and comprehensive, and one which is the property of all believers in every age. A literal interpretation of it is clearly impossible. It cannot apply to the bodies of disciples. To say that would be contradictory to the notorious fact that James and other of the apostles died violent deaths. A figurative interpretation must evidently be placed upon the words. They form a great proverbial saying. They teach us that whatever sufferings a disciple of Christ may go through, his best things can never be injured. His life is hid with Christ in God. His treasure in heaven can never be touched. His soul is beyond the reach of harm. Even his vile body shall be raised again, and made like his Savior’s glorious body at the last day.
If we know anything of true religion let us lean back on the words of the glorious promises in every time of need. If we believe in Christ, let us rest in the comfortable thought that Christ has pledged His word that we shall not perish. We may lose much by serving Christ, but we shall never lose our souls. The world may deprive a believer of property, friends, country, home, liberty, health, and life. It has done so in innumerable cases from the days of Stephen to the present time. The roll of the noble army of martyrs is a very long one. But one thing the world cannot do to any believer. It cannot deprive him of his interest in Christ’s love. It cannot break the union between Christ and his soul. Surely it is worth while to be a thorough-going believer! “I am persuaded,” says Paul, “that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:38-39.)
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Notes-
v10.-[Then said he unto them.] The part of the prophecy commencing here, and extending to the nineteenth verse, appears to admit of a double interpretation. Primarily it applies to the wars connected with the taking of Jerusalem, and the afflictions of Christians after our Lord’s death until the end of the Jewish dispensation. Secondarily it applies to the times immediately preceding the second advent of Christ and the end of the world.
[Nation shall rise, &c.] The times preceding the last Jewish war and destruction of Jerusalem were remarkable for repeated insurrections, and a most disturbed state of things in Juda, and the countries immediately around Juda. The “time of the end” just preceding our Lord’s second advent, will, in like manner, be a time of war, confusion and disorder among the nations of Christendom.
v11.-[Earthquakes…famines…pestilences.] These visitations of God were remarked to be specially frequent and severe in the last days of the Jewish dispensation. In particular, myriads died from famine and pestilence at Jerusalem during the siege, before the city was taken.
[Fearful sights and great signs.] The following note of Bishop Pearce deserves reading. “Josephus has given us a very particular account of the prodigies of this kind which preceded the destruction of Jerusalem. He speaks of a flaming sword seen over the city, and of a comet which appeared there for a twelvemonth. He mentions a light, which for the space of half an hour shone so bright in the night between the temple and the altar, that it seemed as if it was noon-day. He takes notice also, of what eyewitnesses had related to him, that chariots and armed troops were seen fighting in the sky upon a certain day. He adds, that on the day of Pentecost, when the priests entered into the inner temple, they heard a great noise and voice as of a multitude, crying out, ‘let us depart hence.’ The substance of this account is also given by Tacitus the Roman historian.”
There seems no reason to doubt the correctness of this report of Josephus. At any rate, being an unconverted Jew, he had no intention of confirming the statements contained in the Gospels.
It is in the highest degree probable that the second advent of Jesus Christ will be preceded by similar signs and unusual appearances in the framework of nature.
v12.-[Lay hands…persecute…&c.] This verse appears to have a special reference to the persecutions undergone by the early Christians, between the time of Christ’s ascension and the destruction of Jerusalem. The Acts of the Apostles describe the fulfilment of the verse.
v13.-[It shall turn…for a testimony.] The meaning of this verse seems to be, “that the sufferings of the Christians shall prove an evidence of the truth of Christianity.”
It may be well to remark here, that if the first professors of Christianity had always received riches, and honor, and temporal rewards, as soon as they became Christians, the heathen world might fairly have doubted their sincerity, and the truth of their cause. But when the world saw thousands of them patiently enduring tremendous sufferings rather than give up their religion, the sight must have supplied a very strong proof that it was a religion which was true. A man here and there might be found who, in a fit of enthusiasm or fanaticism, might endure suffering and death for a false religion, which he foolishly believed to be true, or for a religion which he knew to be false. But when myriads suffered and died for Christianity, in the early days of the Church of Christ, an argument was supplied for the truth of Christianity, which infidels have never been able to overthrow.
v14.-[Settle it…not to meditate.] Here, as in other places, the right application of this precept must not be overlooked. It was not intended to encourage ministers in neglecting preparation for the pulpit. It does not apply to their case at all. It was spoken for the comfort of persecuted Christians. The promises connected with it were marvellously fulfilled in the case of the Apostles in the Acts, as well as in the trials of many martyrs in modern times.
v15.-[I will give you a mouth and wisdom.] Scott remarks on this promise that it is an incidental proof of the divinity of Christ. None but One who was very God could have made such a promise as this.
v16.-[Ye shall be betrayed.] We have no particular instances of such betrayal given to us in the Acts. But that they were far from uncommon in the persecutions of the early Church, is well known to all readers of ecclesiastical history.
v17.-[Ye shall be hated of all men.] These words should be carefully noticed. They show that universal popularity is not a thing that Christians should covet, nor yet value much if it should fall to their lot. The Christian of whom everybody speaks well, can hardly be a faithful man.
It is no reply to this to point to the honors paid to eminent Christians after their deaths, and the respect with which worldly men have attended their funerals and spoken of their memories. The world has always liked dead saints better than living ones. The Pharisees could build the tombs of the prophets, when they were dead.
v19.-[In patience…possess…souls.] We must not suppose that these words mean, “Keep your souls in a state of patience.” This is a common interpretation, but not a correct one. The meaning appears rather to be, “Win, or procure, or keep in possession the salvation of your souls, through or by patience.” Alford paraphrases it, “This endurance is God’s appointed way in and by which your salvation is to be put in your possession.” The expression “Work out your own salvation,” (Php 2:12,) will naturally occur to a Bible reader as somewhat similar.
Pearce takes the word “souls” to mean nothing more than “your lives,” and thinks the verse may be paraphrased, “Your perseverance shall be rewarded with the preservation of your lives in the general ruin.” Yet the expression of the verse preceding is so clearly a spiritual promise, that the verse before us seems to mean something more than the saving of mere bodily life.
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
2. The need for faithful perseverance 21:10-19 (cf. Matthew 24:7-10; Mark 13:8-13)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Luke’s interruption of Jesus’ teaching suggests a break of some kind in His thought. It seems clear from what follows, in Luk 21:11 especially, that Jesus now broadened His perspective from the wars that would precede the destruction of Jerusalem to include later wars. He was referring specifically to the wars that would precede His return to the earth. The disciples may not have understood this difference when Jesus spoke these words, but by the time Luke wrote his Gospel the difference had become clearer. Later revelation gives us much more information about the wars, earthquakes, plagues, famines, terrors, and great heavenly signs that will precede the Second Coming (Revelation 6-18). The Old Testament prophets had predicted this time of turmoil on the earth, namely, the Tribulation (cf. Isa 13:10; Isa 13:13; Isa 34:4; Jer 30:4-7; Eze 14:21; Eze 32:7-8; Dan 9:26-27; Amo 8:9; Hag 2:6; et al.). However, Jesus’ hearers did not know when it would come.