The Future

Luke 21 

 After a brief story about the smallest amount of money making the biggest difference when its all that one has, Jesus switches to a particular topic - the future. He answers two questions that have, too often, been considered together chronologically. Jesus is not describing a blow-by-blow account of the future; he is simply describing what will happen to the Jewish temple and then, also in the future, what will happen at the end times.

As people admire the temple and all the time and money poured into it, Jesus corrects them by saying how the temple is a poor investment. Each stone will be ripped out and nothing will be left. This turns out to be prophetic as in 70 AD the Roman Empire surrounds Jerusalem and eventually destroys the temple. When the army first appeared, Zionists (religious extremists) would kill anyone trying to leave the city. If someone did manage to escape, Syrians were waiting outside to murder and split open the people. They were looking for jewels that may have been swallowed by the people as they left. It was a brutal and horrific time for Israel, so Jesus warns us not to make our investment there. 

Jesus also says that false prophets, famine, war, declarations of the end times and religious prosecution are all routine history. These are not signs of the end times. Only after the temple's destruction and the completion of "what was given [the nations] to do" would the end truly be near. The goal, according to Jesus, is not to guess when the end will come. The only purpose in considering the end times is to be prepared for it, to not be caught napping. Jesus wants us to be ready for his return, whether its today, tomorrow, or a hundred thousand years from now. Whenever it comes, be confident that Jesus knows every detail of us, body and soul; know that we are in his care and that Jesus will, indeed, save us. That is where our investment of time and money should go.