Jesus' prophecy about the destruction of the city and the Temple, sometimes called the Little Apocalypse, causes bewilderment among many. This bewilderment first arose in the second generation of Christians, some of whom lived to the year 70 and saw with their own eyes the devastation of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple of which the Saviour speaks. This was because...
Jesus' prophecy about the destruction of the city and the Temple, sometimes called the Little Apocalypse, causes bewilderment among many. This bewilderment first arose in the second generation of Christians, some of whom lived to the year 70 and saw with their own eyes the devastation of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple of which the Saviour speaks. This was because what Jesus had predicted happened, while He Himself still did not return. Another revelation, given to the apostle John, was needed before the meaning of the new era became clearer. Jesus Himself, meanwhile, seems not to have gone into detail when speaking about the end times and His return in glory. He mentions only the principal events: the end of the former age and the coming of the Kingdom in all its fullness.
The revelation received by John completed the picture: it portrays an entire age, the age of the advancing Kingdom, which the Saviour does not mention at all in His prophecy. This is understandable, however: He was telling the disciples about the coming events when history had not yet ended, when the Temple was still standing in its place. In Jesus' words, it is precisely the end of the Second Temple that becomes the end of times.
This might seem strange: almost two thousand years have passed since the year 70, yet history apparently continues. But from the standpoint of the processes that began with Christ's coming into the world, the former history really did end with the end of the Second Temple. All subsequent events belong to another age, one wholly defined by the moment of its completion and therefore by the Saviour's return and the manifestation of the Kingdom to the world in all its fullness. This is precisely why, immediately after describing the devastation of Jerusalem and the Temple, Jesus turns to the subject of His return and the triumph of the Kingdom. He says nothing about the transitional age itself. This is why those who remembered this conversation formed the impression that Jesus would return immediately, or almost immediately, after these events.
The revelation received by John after the year 70 put everything in its place: it became clear that an entire age was meant, the age of the advancing Kingdom in which we too have had to live. Yet it can already be regarded as the home stretch leading us to the goal. The main thing is to reach it.
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21:29 Behold the fig tree and all the trees - Christ spake this in the spring, just before the passover; when all the trees were budding on the mount of Olives, where they then were.
21:30 Ye know of yourselves - Though none teach you.
21:31 The kingdom of God is nigh - The destruction of the Jewish city, temple, and religion, to make way for the advancement of my kingdom.
21:32 Till all things be effected - All that has been spoken of the destruction of Jerusalem, to which the question, Luk 21:7, relates: and which is treated of from Luk 21:8-24.
21:34 Take heed, lest at any time your hearts be overloaded with gluttony and drunkenness - And was there need to warn the apostles themselves against such sins as these? Then surely there is reason to warn even strong Christians against the very grossest sins. Neither are we wise, if we think ourselves out of the reach of any sin: and so that day - Of judgment or of death, come upon you, even you that are not of this world - Unawares. Mat 24:42; Mar 13:33; Luk 12:35.
21:35 That sit - Careless and at ease.
21:36 Watch ye therefore - This is the general conclusion of all that precedes. That ye may be counted worthy - This word sometimes signifies an honour conferred on a person, as when the apostles are said to be counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ, Act 5:41.Sometimes meet or becoming: as when John the Baptist exhorts, to bring fruits worthy of repentance, Luk 3:8.And so to be counted worthy to escape, is to have the honour of it, and to be fitted or prepared for it. To stand - With joy and triumph: not to fall before him as his enemies.
21:37 Now by day - In the day time, he was teaching in the temple - This shows how our Lord employed his time after coming toJerusalem: but it is not said, he was this day in the temple, and next morning the people came. It does not therefore by any means imply, that he came any more after this into the temple.
21:38 And all the people came early in the morning to hear him - How much happier were his disciples in these early lectures, than the slumbers of the morning could have made them on their beds!Let us not scruple to deny ourselves the indulgence of unnecessary sleep, that we may morning after morning place ourselves at his feet, receiving the instructions of his word, and seeking those of his Spirit.