Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 21:8
And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am [Christ]; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.
8-27. Signs of the End.
8. Take heed that ye be not deceived ] A danger incurred even by the elect. Mat 24:24. The moral key-notes of this great Discourse of the Last. Things (Eschatology) are Beware! Watch ! Endurel Pray!
for many shall come in my name ] “Even now are there many antichrists,” 1Jn 2:18. the time draweth near ] Rather, the crisis has approached.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 8. Many shall come in my name] Usurping my name: calling themselves the Messiah. See Mt 24:5. Concerning this prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem, and its literal accomplishment, see the notes on Mt 24:1-42.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
See Poole on “Mat 24:4-5“, See Poole on “Mar 13:5-6“. This happened, and was abundantly fulfilled, before the destruction of Jerusalem, and probably will receive a further fulfilling in the latter end of the world. But before the destruction of Jerusalem it was, as Josephus assures us, fulfilled in many, particularly:
1. In one Theudas, whether the same mentioned by Gamaliel, Act 5:36, or some other of that name, is uncertain.
2. An Egyptian sorcerer, mentioned Act 21:38.
3. One Dositheus, a Samaritan.
4. Another in the time of Festuss government.
5. Simon Magus is also reckoned for one, Act 8:9. He boasted he was the great power of God. Others also reckon one Menander, a disciple of Simon Magus.
It is certain there were many who arrogated to themselves the name of the Messiah, to countenance their heading of a faction. There have also been many since the destruction of Jerusalem, and probably will be many more before the end of the world, 2Ti 4:3; 2Pe 2:1; 1Jo 2:18.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. the timeof the Kingdom, inits full glory.
go . . . not . . . afterthem“I come not so very soon” (2Th 2:1;2Th 2:2) [STIER].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he said, take heed that ye be not deceived,…. With false Christs, and false prophets:
for many shall come in my name; making use of his name, taking it to them; not that they would pretend they were sent by him, but that they were he himself:
saying, I am [Christ]; so the Syriac and Persic versions supply as we do:
and the time draweth near; not that such will come, but when come, they will say, that the time of the deliverance of the Jewish nation from the Roman yoke is at hand:
go ye not therefore after them; do not be their disciples, or follow them where they would lead you; for nothing but destruction will be the consequence of it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
That ye be not led astray ( ). First aorist passive subjunctive with (lest). This verb occurs here only in Luke though often in the rest of the N.T. (as Matt 24:4; Matt 24:5; Matt 24:11; Matt 24:24, which see). Our word planet is from this word.
The time is at hand ( ). Just as John the Baptist did of the kingdom (Mt 3:2) and Jesus also (Mr 1:15).
Go ye not after them ( ). First aorist passive subjunctive with . A needed warning today with all the false cries in the religious world.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Deceived. Rev., rightly, led astray. See on Mt 24:4.
In my name. See on Mt 18:5.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
THE CURSE OR DIRECTION OF THIS AGE V. 8-19
1) “And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived,” (ho de eipen blepete me planethete) “Then he said, you all beware or (be cautious) lest you be led away,” These words of caution, and this address, were delivered to the church disciples privately, or in a church fellowship capacity, Mat 24:3; Mar 13:3; Mar 13:5; Mat 24:4.
2) “For many shall come in my name, saying,” (polloi gar eleusontai epi to onomati mou legontes) “For many will come upon (leaning upon) my name, repeatedly saying,” alleging, again and again, with a strong claim, Mat 24:5; Mar 13:6; Of such Paul also warned, 2Co 11:13-15; Eph 5:6; 2Th 2:3; 2Ti 3:13.
3) “I am Christ; and the time draweth near” (ego eimi kai ho karios engiken) “I am (exist as the Messiah) and the season has drawn near,” Mat 24:5; Mar 13:6. Or be very cautious of their claims or of any of their duped advocates, 1Jn 4:1; Rev 12:9.
4) “Go ye not, therefore after them.” (me poreuthete opiso auton) “You all do not go after them,” or be led or drawn away after, to follow them, Mar 13:21-23; Mat 24:11-12; Mat 24:23-26; Mat 7:15-16; Mat 7:21-22.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(8) Saying, I am Christ.Literally, I am. The italics show that the word Christ is an interpolation. The sentence is better left in the vagueness of the original, or with only a pronoun as the predicate, I am He. The use of the words in Joh. 1:21; Joh. 8:58, may be referred to as showing that they had become significant even without a predicate.
The time draweth near.Better, the season has come near.
Go ye not therefore . . .The better MSS. omit the last words.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. The time draweth near It must not be understood that our Lord here prophesies that the false Christs would assume to be Messiah returned to judgment. They could only claim that the Messiah’s kingdom was alone to be set up on earth; and the time of that event was, indeed, drawing near.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And he said, “Take heed that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he’, and, ‘The time is at hand’, do not go after them.” ’
The first thing that His people will have to beware of is those who will arise saying, ‘I am the one’ in the name of the Messiah, or who will say ‘the time is at hand’. The warning was very necessary as such things did happen in the first two centuries AD. While we know of only one who was actually officially proclaimed as the Messiah, Bar Kokhba, ‘Son of the Star’ (around 135 BC), who rebelled at the prospect of the building of a heathen city and temple on the site of the old city of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, when Jewish Christians were persecuted for not being willing to follow him, we know of a number who were claimed as having special status, and were probably thought of by their followers in Messianic terms, including some in the last days of Jerusalem (66-70 AD), such as for example – John of Giscala, Simon Bar Giora, and Eleazar, Simon’s son. There was certainly sufficient fanaticism about for it to be so (all we know about it is Josephus’ watered down version, and he would not wish to raise the spectre of Messianic claimants. He wanted to please the emperor).
Among others who made special claims, some of whom arose even earlier, there were:
Samaritan ‘prophet’ who claimed that he would produce the ancient Temple vessels, and whose followers were slaughtered by Pilate on Mount Gerizim in 35 AD.
second Theudas, possibly the descendant of the Theudas mentioned in Act 5:36, who gathered a large number of followers and promised that the Jordan would open before him, only for his followers to be slaughtered and dispersed, with himself being beheaded (c.44-46 AD).
Jewish Egyptian prophet (Act 21:38) who assembled a large gathering in the wilderness, promising that the walls of Jerusalem would collapse at his approach and that the Roman garrison would be destroyed. His insurrection was, however, quashed almost before it had begun, although the Egyptian prophet escaped (around 54 AD).
Another unnamed ‘prophet’ who gathered people in the wilderness, in the time of the Roman governor Festus, promising redemption and deliverance from all evils, and who was again violently crushed (around 60 AD).
Menahem Bar Hezekiah the leader of the revolt in 66 AD, the son of Judah of Gamala, who claimed Davidic descent.
Later still Lucuas/Andreas aroused the Jews in Cyrene and its surrounds in the time of Trajan, destroying many heathen temples, and being seen as ‘king’ by his followers and even by a number of Egyptians (around 116 AD).
And around the same time we know that there were further insurrectionists in Palestine.
These all come to our attention because they were figures involved in direct military action taken by the Romans against them. Some almost certainly saw them as ‘messiahs’. But John tells us that others also arose as false ‘christs’ (antichrists, those who set themselves up over against Christ), teaching heresy, and proving that it was ‘the last hour’, so that John could speak of them as antichrists (1Jn 2:18).
Indeed at times of such religious ferment, with expectations running high, we can be confident that such claims were made or applied constantly by some of the common people to different figures who arose, and as quickly fell. We can compare how some did it with Jesus without really knowing the truth about Him (e.g. Joh 6:14-15; Joh 7:41). Such ‘messiahs’ are depicted in Rev 6:2 in terms of a horseman on a white horse (see our commentary on Revelation). The warning to Christians therefore was not to follow any who were like them, for in the nature of what He was about to say, none could be the Christ.
‘In My name.’ This could mean ‘in the name of the Messiah’ or ‘in the name of Jesus’. For the latter compare Act 19:13, and the later Gnostic heresies. ‘I am the one’ indicates ‘the coming one’ of whatever variety or hue. ‘The time is at hand (or ‘has drawn near’)’, is a warning against alarmists, whether first or twenty first century ones. For the legitimate use of this idea compare Rev 1:3; Rev 22:10. Jesus’ implication behind all this is that there will be quite some interval before He returns. For He is going into a far country from which He will not return too soon (Luk 18:12). Compare here Luk 17:23; Mar 13:8; Mar 13:21-23; Mat 24:8; Mat 24:23; Mat 24:26.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Violent Political Events and Natural Catastrophes Will Not Be Signs of The Coming Destruction of The Temple, Nor Of The Coming Of The Son of Man (21:8-11).
Despite the warning of these verses each succeeding generation has among it some who have a huge interest in pointing to ‘the signs of the times’. But while all these signs are reminders along the way, and an encouragement to persevere when they occur, they had all already occurred in 1st century AD, which was a tumultuous century, and would continue to occur century by century. And such signs have been pointed to again and again over the last two hundred years as indications of the nearness of the end. But as Jesus warned, they must not be seen as necessarily indicating the close of the age. They are reminders that it is coming, but not necessarily indicators of the end. ‘The time is not (necessarily) yet’, for when it does come, it will come with the suddenness and unexpectedness of a thief in the night, ‘in such an hour as you think not’ (Mat 24:44).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Tokens of the end:
v. 8. And He said, Take heed that ye be not deceived; for many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near; go ye not therefore after them.
v. 9. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified; for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.
v. 10. Then said He unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom;
v. 11. and great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. It is a characteristic of prophecy that there is rarely an exact division of time according to human standards, for there is no time before the eternal, omniscient God. Whether things will happen a thousand years hence or within a few years does not influence the Lord’s time. For all things before Him are happening and taking place in the great present. And so in this case the Lord speaks of the two impending catastrophes, the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world, in almost the same breath, connecting them in such a way that the signs foretelling the one must be taken in a measure to refer to the other also. The Lord’s first warning is against deception. In the days before the calamity which wiped out Jerusalem, false Christs arose, and in the name of the true Christ, the Messiah, at that. Deceivers of that kind appeared often in the decades after Christ’s ascension, and always did they find people willing to listen to them and to cast their fortunes with that of the fraudulent impersonator. Even so the false Christs and false prophets of our days are multiplying with great rapidity; in Eddyism, in Russellism, in Dowieism, and in scores of minor sects they arise to deceive the people of God. Their call and promise invariably is: Here is Christ; here is the full truth; the time is near. They have even, repeatedly, fixed the date of Christ’s coming to Judgment. But the believers should pay no attention to them nor follow after them as their disciples, for they are deceivers. As in the days before the destruction of Jerusalem there were wars and uprisings throughout the Roman Empire, but especially in Palestine, so the terrible World War of these last days and the uprisings throughout the world are speaking a strong language to them that heed. As in those days people rose against people and kingdom against kingdom, making it necessary for the Roman legions to be on the move continually, so, while the world stands, neither the most rosy nor the most practical dreams of diplomats will succeed in eliminating war. At the very moment when they are shouting peace with a voice calculated to drown opposition, they are trying to hide the selfishness of their plans which will plunge the world into further wars. As there were great earthquakes in many parts of the world in those days, in Asia Minor, in Italy, in Syria, so the recent terrible catastrophes in Italy, in Alaska, in Java, in Central America have filled the world with horrified astonishment. As great famines and pestilences visited various countries, especially Palestine, in those days, so the pestilence which recently swept the world and even now baffles science in certain of its aspects, and so the famines that have been reported from large areas of Europe and Asia, are God’s reminders of the end. As there were terrifying phenomena and fearful portents from heaven in those days, some of which are told by Josephus, so the science of astronomy is unable to account for many things out in the universe today and will be utterly helpless before the manifestations of the last great day.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls. And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Both Matthew and Mark have related the same prophecy of Christ; and our Lord’s predictions in both Evangelists were nearly the same. I refer therefore to them, to avoid the swelling of our pages beyond the limits I must observe. See Mat 24 throughout, and Mar 13 in like manner.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
XX
OUR LORD’S GREAT PROPHECY HIS SECOND COMING (CONTINUED)
Harmony, pages 160-168 and Mat 24:1-25:46
This discussion begins with the third question: What shall be the extent of the tribulation of the Jews, commencing with the destruction of Jerusalem?
Jesus answers, “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” (Luk 21:24 ). That is his answer.
A great many people, in commenting upon this, try to make out this great tribulation to be a Gentile tribulation. There is no Gentile tribulation in it at all; it is a Jewish tribulation altogether, and the “elect” spoken of, for whose sake the days were shortened, are not elect Gentiles, but elect Jews. Now, as their probation had lasted nearly twenty centuries, so that penalty has already lasted nearly twenty centuries, and no man now can see the end of it. There is no discernible sign yet upon the spiritual horizon of the fulness of the Gentiles. The kingdom of heaven was turned over to them and they pushed it through Asia into Africa, into Europe, across the ocean into America, across that continent and into the Pacific and into its islands, and then to the thick-peopled Orient again, and they are still pushing out the boundaries of the kingdom of God, and triumphantly preaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Jewish tribulation has not yet ceased. Moses, with very great particularity, anticipating the very declaration of Jesus Christ, describes this Jewish tribulation. He says, “If you shall break my covenant, and will not hear the prophet that is to come, like unto me, then you shall be destroyed as a people. You shall be sent captive among all nations, and nowhere shall ye be kindly received. And so great will be the persecution against you that the heavens above shall seem brass and the earth beneath seem iron, and when it is evening you will say, Would to God it were morning, and when it is morning, you will say, Would to God it were evening.” Our Lord further says that this tribulation shall cease when they shall say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,” that is, when they shall hear the Gentile messengers bearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then, as Zechariah puts it, “In the last days, saith the Lord, I will pour out upon the house of Israel and upon the house of David, the spirit of prayer and supplication, and they shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his first-born son, and in that day a fountain for sin and for uncleanness shall be opened for the house of Israel and for the house of David.” So that the tribulation ends, just as Paul, in Rom 11 , says it will end, by the conversion of the Jews. He says, “I say then, Did they stumble that they might fall? God forbid: but by their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. Now, if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? . . . For, if the casting away of them is the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?” (Rom 11:11-12 ; Rom 11:15 .)
To like purport speaks Ezekiel in Eze 36:16-27 ; Eze 37:1-14 . He saw a valley of dry bones. They represented dispersed and afflicted Israel. He prophesied over them, and they came together, and articulated into skeletons, and were clothed with flesh. He prophesied to the Spirit: “Come from the four winds, O Spirit, and breathe on these slain that they may live.” And they lived. Thus, under the figure of a physical resurrection, he sets forth the spiritual resurrection of Israel in the day of their conversion. The house of Israel had gone away to the nations in captivity and this is the promise of God that they shall be revived and restored, so that a very important question arises what is the relation of the conversion of the Jews to the final advent of our Lord? Peter answers that question. He says to the Jews: “Ye crucified the Lord of glory. I know, brethren, that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers, and now repent ye and turn so that your sins may be blotted out, so that God may send Jesus, whom the heavens must receive until the time of the restoration of all things.”
There is not in the Bible one thought more clearly taught than this, viz.: The Jews must be converted before Messiah comes again. The salvation of the Jews in one day, as set forth in many prophecies, and many other events lasting at least a thousand years, will intervene between the end of the tribulation and the advent of our Lord, as is shown in his second great prophecy Revelation.
We now take up the next question: When, then, will Messiah come? And here is Jesus’ answer to that. On page 164 of the Harmony, Mat 24:29 says, “But immediately, [mark that comma] after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven.” Notice how Mar 13:24-25 puts it: “But in those days, after the tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall be falling from heaven.” Luk 21:25-26 says, “And there shall be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows: fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world; for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.” Notice that word “immediately.” You see from the punctuation that it does not connect with tribulation, so as to make it read without comment, “immediately after the tribulation.” It does not connect with that. It connects with the darkening of the sun “after the tribulation of those days” how long after, he does not say: “the sun shall be immediately darkened.” That means not gradually, as in an eclipse, but instantly every light shall be put out. Is that the sign of his advent? He says, “No.”
The next verse says: “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 on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” What, then, is the last event antecedent to the sign? It is this instant darkening of all the heavenly bodies. That is the background for the sign total darkness, darker than Egypt, darker than the darkness of Byron’s dream, so dark it could be felt, the whole world dark ‘and not an eclipse not a gradual and partial darkness, but immediately the sun shall be darkened and totally. Then, right in that darkness, shall appear the sign of the Son of man. What is that sign? He answers that question very plainly. He says (Mat 25:31 ), “When the Son of man shall come in his glory” not in his humiliation, as he did the first time, but in his glory “then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.” John says (Rev 20:11 ), “And I saw a great white throne.” Now, that is the sign; a great white throne, right in the heart of that darkness. When he came the first time he said to the shepherds through the angels, “This shall be a sign unto you.” What was the sign the first time? “A babe in swaddling clothes and cradled in a manger;” that was the sign of the first advent, the sign of the coming of his humiliation, when he stooped, when he condescended, when he took upon himself human nature, when he came in the feebleness of infancy, exposed to hunger and cold and thirst and poverty that was the sign then. The next time he comes he does not come in his humiliation: he comes in his glory, and we must look for a sign as far distant from a baby in a horse trough as possible, and that sign is a throne, and it is a white throne of dazzling whiteness. From the manger to the throne! And mark well, it is not the throne of a continuing priesthood. It is not the throne of the inauguration of a king. The priest has left forever the most holy place of intercession, and kingship ends with the second coming. The King is just about to abdicate and turn the kingdom over to the Father (1Co 15:24-28 ). It is the throne of the judge, the last office of our Lord. That is the sign of his coming, viz.: The appearance of a great white throne of judgment.
Picture the scene. Imagine that the expanse above the horizon and all around the world is as dark as the world was in its chaos, when darkness was upon the face of the deep, and right in the midst of that darkness a center spot of whiteness is seen, the whitest thing the eye ever looked at, coming, coming, coming, larger, whiter) until we can see him that is sitting on the throne. Now, that white throne is the sign of the final advent of our Lord. But we are not left to that identification alone. We are told in this very prophecy that at his coming he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet.
The trumpet and the throne come together. Earth never heard it but once before. When the law was given at Mount Sinai, when God came down and Sinai smoked and trembled and thundered, Moses says that there came a sound of a mighty trumpet that waxed louder and louder and louder, and the people fell at the sound of that terrible blast blown by no human lips. Now, that trumpet sound will come in connection with that white throne. But don’t make the mistake that this is Gabriel blowing his horn for the raising of the dead. That is Negro theology. Gabriel doesn’t blow that horn. Michael blows it. The object of it is not to raise the dead, but to marshal the angels that come.
He shall send forth his angels with this trumpet sound. It is their signal to fall into line and forward march: “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory.” Nor is that all. There is a signal to the saints on earth. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,” says Paul. He shall come with a great shout. The earth never heard that voice of the archangel (1Th 4:16 ). Earth never heard that shout before, and we know just what it is. Jesus tells us here in this prophecy. He says, “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold the Bridegroom; go ye out to meet him.” There can be no mistaking in any of these things. We can’t mistake that darkness for any other darkness, that whiteness for any other whiteness, nor that trumpet for any other trumpet, nor that shout for any other shout.
To complete the intensely dramatic and artistic power of the application, imagine that whiteness to be fringed with fire whiteness fire-fringed, outlined in darkness. His angels are flaming spirits, ministers of fire, and they come surrounding that white throne on which the Master, the Judge, is sitting. Darkness, white throne, fire-fringed, trumpet, and shout. Two men shall be out in the field that very day. They get their breakfast and start out to work, maybe plowing side by side, but there are two of them, and all at once they can’t see the plow handles nor each other. There is total darkness. Then that whiteness, that fire fringe, then that trumpet, then that shout comes. A part of that fire fringe separates itself. It is an angel swooping down upon the earth and one of these men is taken, and the other is left. “He shall send his holy angels and gather up his elect from all the ends of the earth.” Now imagine the man whom the angel took and the man whom the angel left. But that man is not left long. Another angel swoops down and that man is taken. He (Jesus) says in the parable of the tares, “At the end of the world he shall send his angels and they shall gather out of his kingdom everything that offends.” They shall pick up these tares and bind them for the burning. Notice again that he says, “Two women shall be grinding at the mill.” It is a handmill. They will be pounding their corn with a maul. We see that in Mexico today, just as they did then, and these two women will be working together. They will be getting ready the material for dinner, pounding the grain. All at once the darkness, the whiteness, the fire fringe, the trumpet, the shout, “Behold the Bridegroom; go ye out to meet him,” and an angel swoops and one woman is taken, and the other is left. Another angel swoops, and the second woman is taken. He then brings out another thought so intensely tremendous that it will stagger the credulity of some. He says that the kingdom of heaven at that time shall be likened unto ten virgins. These are all professing Christians, all church members, five of them are real Christians. They have oil in their lamps. Five of them are only nominal Christians. They took no oil with their lamps, and suddenly that cry was heard, “Behold, the Bridegroom!” and the five that were ready were caught away with the Lord. The other five, what? Mark it. They tried then to get ready. They go out to buy oil, and what is the reply? “Too late, too late; ye cannot enter now.”
After Jesus comes in his final advent, the soul-saving time is ended forever. Whoever is not ready will then never be ready. The idea of Christ coming and thousands of years passing on after he comes and men living and dying, and the gospel being preached or men being saved by some other means, is wholly foreign to the teaching of our Lord. No one can get ready then. His coming is a windup.
The prodigies are not exhausted. One great tragedy remains, more momentous than Noah’s flood, its great prototype. We recall that when Noah was ark sheltered, then on the wicked came the deluge. As soon as the saints, soul and body, are caught into the clouds unto the Lord, another deluge comes, not of water, but of fire. The whole world, land and sea, is an ocean of flame. In this literal world the living wicked perish. Their bodies are actually consumed in this fire. They cannot escape physical death as do the living saints. There is for them no transforming change as comes to the righteous (1Co 15:51-55 ). They must die by fire in the day of that fire. Carefully read in this connection the following scriptures: Mal 4:1-3 ; 2Pe 3:1-10 ; 1Co 3:11-15 ; and especially the parable of the tares, Mat 13:24-30 ; Mat 13:36-43 . While the foolish virgins vainly seek to get ready, vainly knock when it is forever too late, the fire comes, the deluge of fire, and their bodies are consumed.
Let us now proceed to his next question: What is the purpose of his coming, and in what capacity does he come? When he came the first time he came as a prophet teaching the way of life. He came as a sacrifice expiating sin. He ascended to heaven, assuming his kingdom and reigning in heaven for his people, and exercising his priesthood in heaven, ever living to make intercession for them, but when he comes the next time he does not come to teach; no gospel then; he does not come as a sin offering. Paul says, “When he comes the next time, he comes apart from a sin-offering unto salvation.” There is no salvation in his second coming. He does not come next time as a king, for when he comes, says Paul, he comes to turn over the kingdom to the Father, and then will be the end. As he says further in 1Co 15 , he reigns up yonder until the last enemy is put under his feet, and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, and then he turns over the kingdom to the Father, and God is all in all. Then, if he comes, not as prophet nor as’ sacrifice, nor as king, does he come as priest? Nay, verily. When he comes he vacates the high priesthood function in the court of heaven, for in the New Jerusalem that is seen, says John, “I saw no temple therein.” He does not come as a priest; he comes as a Judge: “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all the nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then he says to those on the right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, and to those on his left hand, Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.” These shall go into eternal life and those shall go into the place prepared for the devil and his angels.
There is no teaching about that; there is no explanation about that; there is no ruling about that; there is no high priesthood about that. That is the function of a judge. Now here is John’s statement of it: “I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away. . . . And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. . . . The sea gave up its dead, death and hell gave up their dead, and they were judged.” That is the purpose of his coming. You never can be a sound theologian until you master the purpose of Christ’s first coming and what he did; his ascent into heaven, why he went, how long he stays, and what he does while he is up there; then the purpose of his final advent. “The Lord said unto my lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” And he is going to stay up there until he does make his enemies his footstool. “We have left all to follow thee,” says Peter, “What shall we have?” “You who have followed me, when the regeneration comes,” that is, the regeneration of the earth, when the great fire sweeps the earth, and it is purified, “then you shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Those that are placed at his right hand aid him and voice his word when he pronounces the sentence of death upon the wicked and upon the lost angels: “Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?” says Paul, and “Know ye not that the saints shall judge angels?” What poetic justice is there in thinking that Peter and Job shall sit upon this throne at the right hand of Jesus Christ and judge the devil that worried them so much while they were here upon the earth I All Christians will participate in that judgment. They will take their place at the right hand of the Lord: “They shall sit with me upon my throne, as when I had overcome and took my seat on my Father’s throne, and they shall judge all nations.”
QUESTIONS 1. What was Jesus’ answer to the question, “What is the extent of the tribulation commencing with the destruction of Jerusalem”?
2. Was it a Gentile, Christian, or strictly Jewish tribulation?
3. How long was it to continue?
4. The elect for whose sake it is shortened, are they Jews, Gentiles, or Christians?
5. What is the description of this tribulation given by Moses?
6. What is the description given by Hosea? See Hos 3:4 .
7. How long has it already lasted and are there yet clear indications of its speedy cessation?
8. What event will terminate it?
9. What is Zechariah’s description of it?
10. What is Paul’s description of it?
11. What is Ezekiel’s description of it?
12. What is Isaiah’s description of it? Answer: Isaiah shows that the judgments of God upon Israel continue until their conversion, Isa 65:17-20 ; that this conversion introduces the millennium, Isa 65:25 ; that this national conversion shall be in one day, with glorious results to the Gentiles, Isa 66:8-10 .
13. In what dispensation, by whom & what means will all this take place?
14. What is the relation this event to the final advent according to Peter?
15. What were the mighty attendant events according to Revelation? Answer: Rev 11:19 ; Rev 20:1-3 .
16. What glorious world triumph of the gospel do these events introduce?
17. How does Christ answer the question, “When is the final advent and the end of the world?”
18. What great supernatural prodigy precedes the sign, and how do you connect and construe the “immediately” of Mat 24:29 ?
19. What is not the sign?
20. When and what is the sign of the second advent?
21. What is the sign of the first advent?
22. What is the contrast of the signs of the two advents and what is the fitness of each to the event?
23. What sound accompanying the sign, who sounds it, when heard before, negatively and positively what is this sound for, what appearance of those summoned by this sound, and what their double office on this occasion?
24. What shout attending the sign?
25. What two other supernatural prodigies precede the gathering of the elect by the angels? Answer: The resurrection of the righteous dead and the transfiguration of the living saints.
26. Describe in the case of the two women grinding at mill, the two men in the field and the ten sleeping virgins, this rapture, or catching up of the elect.
27. In view of the universal darkness, the appearance of the great white throne in the darkness, the fire fringe of the angels around the throne, the loud sounding trumpet, the great shout, the resurrection of the righteous dead, the transfiguration of the living saints, the instant separation of people close together, as in the case of the two women the two men the ten virgins is it possible, as some teach, that these stupendous events shall be secret, invisible, and inaudible to the wicked?
28. What convincing Scripture proof to the contrary?
29. What stupendous mistake was made by the foolish virgins, and what present-day teaching tends to perpetuate their mistake?
30. Instead of opportunity to then get ready, what overwhelming supernatural disaster befalls sinners and the world, and what office of the angels toward them is instantly executed?
31. What parable sets forth this angel office to the wicked?
32. Where according to this prophecy, do the angels in the double office of catching up the “elect” and the “tares” gather them?
33. How does our Lord in an earlier teaching concerning Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba show that good and bad are gathered together at one time and for one judgment? Answer: See Mat 12:41-42 .
34. How does his last Revelation to John show the same thing?
35. How does Paul show that when he comes to be glorified in his saints is the very time that the wicked are punished with everlasting destruction? Answer: See 2Th 1:6-10 .
36. What paragraph of this prophecy shows the purpose of final advent?
37. What are the Messiah’s several offices, when and where each exercised and in which does he come last?
38. Show from the Scriptures that in the final advent he does not come as a prophet, sacrifice, priest, or king, but only as a final, supreme judge, and that after this coming there can be no increase in the number of the saved.
39. What three things essential to know in order to be a sound theologian?
40. What part do the saints have with Christ in the judgment?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
8 And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.
Ver. 8. See Mat 24:4-5 , &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
8. ] . ., i.e. the time of the Kingdom .
They are the words, not of our Lord, but of the : see on Mat 24:4-5 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 21:8-11 . Signs prelusive of the end (Mat 24:4-8 , Mar 13:5-11 ). , etc., take heed that ye be not deceived . This the keynote not to tell when, but to protect disciples from delusions and terrors. , in my name, i.e. , calling themselves Christs. Vide at Mt. on these false Messiahs. : the should naturally mean Jerusalem’s fatal day.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
And He said, &c. See App-155.
Take heed. Greek. blepo. App-133.
not. Greek. me. App-105.
deceived = misled.
for many, &c. This was speedily fulfilled. It was the first sign as to “when” (Luk 21:7). Compare 1Jn 2:18, “the last hour. “
in. Greek. epi. App-104.
time = season.
draweth = has drawn.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
8.] . ., i.e. the time of the Kingdom.
They are the words, not of our Lord, but of the : see on Mat 24:4-5.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 21:8. , the time draweth near [hath drawn near]) viz. the time of the Messiah. The thing itself in the thesis (the general proposition) is true. Mar 1:15 [The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand]. The true Messiah has many characteristic marks, one of which is, the true time, to wit of both Advents. But false Messiahs and impostors boastingly alleged a false time for Jerusalem being ennobled by the setting up of the kingdom of God, at the very time when destruction was about immediately to assail it: Luk 21:24.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
And he said
See note on the Olivet discourse. (See Scofield “Mat 24:3”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Take: Jer 29:8, Mat 24:4, Mat 24:5, Mat 24:11, Mat 24:23-25, Mar 13:5, Mar 13:6, Mar 13:21-23, 2Co 11:13-15, Eph 5:6, 2Th 2:3, 2Th 2:9-11, 2Ti 3:13, 1Jo 4:1, 2Jo 1:7, Rev 12:9
for: Joh 5:43, Act 5:36, Act 5:37, Act 8:9, Act 8:10
and the time: or, and, The time, Mat 3:2, Mat 4:17, Rev 1:3
Reciprocal: Deu 4:23 – heed Deu 11:16 – Take heed 2Ch 19:6 – Take Mar 13:23 – take Luk 13:23 – And Luk 17:21 – Lo here Luk 17:23 – General Luk 21:9 – but Luk 21:34 – take 1Co 3:10 – But let every 1Co 3:18 – deceive Gal 6:7 – not Tit 3:3 – deceived Heb 3:12 – Take 2Pe 2:1 – even 2Jo 1:8 – Look
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
8
This corresponds with Mat 24:4-5.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 21:8-11. THE OPENING WARNING. See on Mat 24:4-8; Mar 13:5-8. The variations are slight: and the time (i.e., of the kingdom) is at hand (Luk 21:8). These are the words of those deceivers who should come.
Commotions (Luk 21:9). Peculiar to Luke.
Then said he onto them (Luk 21:10). At this point Lukes account indicates a break in the discourse, or, as is more probable, the beginning of a more particular discussion of the subject.
And in diverse places (Luk 21:11), to be joined with what follows.
And pestilences. To be omitted in Mat 24:7. Five years before the Jewish war 30,000 persons died at Rome in one season of pestilence.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, Christ does not gratify his disciples’ curiosity, but acquaints them with their present duty; namely, to watch against deceivers and seducers, who should have the impudence to affirm themselves to be Christs, saying, I am Christ: some Christs personal, or the Messiah; others Christs doctrinal, affirming their erroneous opinions to be Christ’s mind and doctrine: Take heed that ye be not deceived, for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ.
Observe farther, the signs which our Saviour gives of Jerusalem’s approaching destruction, namely, the many broils and commotions, the civil disorders and dissensions, that should be found among the Jews immediately before: Ye shall hear of wars and commotions, and see fearful sights, and great signs from heaven. Josephus declares, that there appeared in the air chariots and horsemen skirmishing, and that a blazing star in fashion of a sword hung over the city for a year together.
Hence learn, that war, pestilence, and famine, are judgments and calamities inflicted by God upon a sinful people for their contempt of Christ and gospel grace. Ye shall hear of war, famine, and pestilence.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
2. The Discourse: Luk 21:8-36.
The four points treated by Jesus are: 1 st. The apparent signs, which must not be mistaken for true signs (Luk 21:8-19); 2 d. The true sign, and the destruction of Jerusalem which will immediately follow it, with the time of the Gentiles which will be connected with it (Luk 21:20-24); 3 d. The Parousia, which will bring this period to an end (Luk 21:25-27); 4 th. The practical application (Luk 21:28-36).
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
21:8 And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come {b} in my name, saying, I am [Christ]; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.
(b) Using my name.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus proceeded immediately to warn His hearers about being misled about the time of the temple’s destruction. There would be false messiahs who would appear and predict the imminent destruction of the temple (cf. Act 5:36; Act 21:38). They should not assume that wars and disturbances were signs of the coming destruction either. Those things would happen, but their occurrence would not signal the immediate destruction of the temple.