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Luke 21 20-24 WATCH AND PRAY III 01 Luke 21 20 A heart of surrender to Him
📖 Luke 21:20-24
*FRIEND OF GOD*
24May2021 - *A heart of surrender to Him* - _Luke 21:20-24_ - WATCH AND PRAY III (01) – Bible reading: _Luke 19:41-44_
God is merciful and gracious to us and this is His character. Over centuries, man has rebelled and rejected God. At this time the Lord is sounding the alarm bells, through these terrible events that are happening.
If man continues to reject God, what is in store for man is the second death, which God does not want anyone to undergo. These are His final moments of God’s appeal to a God-rejecting world to repent, return and be restored back to Him.
*The church ought to be one with God in His heart cry to the human race* and not be in a state of panic, praying, crying and beseeching God to save us from the crisis.
The crises at this time are God’s final alarm bells to the human race. It is for the church to interpret the alarm sound to the world. If the church, herself, is in a state of panic and fear then how will we warn the world?
_Luke 21:20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near._
The Lord is talking to His disciples and the disciples wanted to know the signs of the end of the age. _Matthew 24:3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And *what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age*?"_
The response of Jesus must be seen in two overlapping experiences.
Prophesy is often in this manner that overlapping experiences in different times of history are given together and that is the reason why we find it difficult to unravel prophesy.
*The reason for prophecy to be given in this superimposing manner is because God is outside of time and space and He is in the realm of the eternal, whereas, we live in the realm of time and space*.
The Lord’s answer to the disciples was of two overlying events. Two sieges of Jerusalem are in view in the discourse in _Luke 21:20-24_.
One was the siege by Caesar Titus, AD 70 when the city was taken. _Luke 21:24 And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, was literally fulfilled._
Judea and Jerusalem have been trampled by the Gentiles for 2000 years and it is only in the last 70 years that Israel has become a sovereign nation.
That siege in AD 70 and its horrors are but an outline of the final siege at the end of this age, in which the "great tribulation" culminates. At that time the city will be taken, but delivered by the glorious appearing of the Lord _Revelation_19:11-21_.
_Luke 21:28 Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."_
Compare _Luke 21:28_ with _Luke 21:20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near._ Though here Jesus is talking of what will happen in AD 70, we must also see that the implications are for our current times as well.
In Luke, the sign of the beginning of the siege is the compassing of Jerusalem by armies _Luke 21:20_.
The abomination in the holy place is the sign of final tribulation siege _Matthew 24:15_ / _Mark 13:14_ _II Thessalonians 2:4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God._
In this section from _Luke 21:20-24_ the Lord is specifically prophesying of the siege by Rome in AD 70 but as we know, this prophecy is indicative and a sketch of the final tribulation siege. Therefore, we will need to see the prophecy of what will happen in the end times, which are seen in _Matthew 24:15-28_ and _Mark 13:14-26_
_Luke 19:41-44 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, (42) saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. (43) For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, (44) and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation."_
The Lord is pleading with the people of Jerusalem to repent, return and be restored to Him. The Lord is warning them of what would happen shortly because of their rejection of the Messiah.
Many tend to say that different events are taking place because of prophecy in Scripture. This is an unfortunate way of expressing what the Lord is sharing here.
The Lord does not want man to suffer. He desires that we have the fullness and abundance of life in Him but when we rebel and reject God from being the Lord of our lives, then there will be consequences to our rebellion.
Since God is beyond time and space, He knows that though He remains reaching out to man out of His great love, goodness and mercy, man will continue to rebel and reject God. There are and there will be consequences of man’s rebellion toward God.
The Lord is prophesying for us events that are to take place. He permits these difficult experiences to cause man to repent, return and be restored to Him. This understanding must always be kept in place.
Knowing what the Lord is showing us, through the prophecy of the end of the age, must make us walk before Him in reverential fear. _II Peter 3:11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,_
*Thought to ponder*
As *we walk in His ways in a surrendered relationship to Him*, we can experience and enjoy the goodness of the Lord, even now, when we live in dark times.