“MY WORDS WILL NOT PASS AWAY”
LUKE 21:29-38
I. Introduction
Are you a Bible-believing Christian? If you are, then you believe that Jesus is coming back to this earth. You believe in the Second Coming. Not only is that what the Scriptures clear-ly and repeatedly teach, but it’s also an essential truth of the Christian faith. It’s often called a “fundamental of the faith.”
The fact of Jesus’ return is one of those essential or core truths that every true Christian must believe. The Second Coming is on a par with the doctrines of the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture, the deity of Christ, His virgin birth, His substitutionary atonement for sins, and His bodily resurrection from the dead.
We can (and often do) have all sorts of differing opinions on scores of other theological issues and doctrinal positions, but on these essentials, all true Christians agree: The Bible is God’s Word, Jesus Christ is God in human flesh, He was born of a virgin, He died for our sins, He was raised from the dead, and He is coming back.
So, Christian, my question for you is not whether you believe in the Second Coming, rather it is what difference does the Second Coming make to you this morning? How does it affect your view of the events that go on around you? How does it affect the way you go about your life? Does it have an effect on how you react to and deal with temptation? Does it have an effect on how you spent your money?
Do you ever think about that moment when you stand before Him and He welcomes you into His presence? What do you think He might say to you? “Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master (Matthew 25:23).” Or will He say something else? There is no more powerful motivation for you and me to live the Christian life than the continual awareness of Jesus’ imminent return. While the chronological order of the events of the last days is not a fundamental of the faith, the fact that Jesus coming back most certainly is.
The very fact of His coming should be all the motivation we need to be ready to meet Him at any moment. That’s what I want us to think about today as we look at Jesus’ last parable.
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II. Review
This morning’s passage brings us to the end of Luke 21. Jesus’ ministry to the Jews has ended. It is late in the day on the Wednesday before the crucifixion. Our Lord has less than forty-eight hours to live. Since entering Jerusalem three days earlier (on Palm Sunday) He has taught in the temple and has had one confrontation after another with the religious leaders and the false teachers.
The chief priests, scribes (lawyers), and elders have all questioned Jesus’ authority to speak for God. Then they’ve tried to catch Him in some perceived error that would either cause the people to turn on Him or the Romans to condemn Him for sedition.
*Luke 20:22-25
22 “Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
23 But He detected their trickery and said to them,
24 “Show Me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” And they said, “Caesar’s.”
25 And He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
26 And they were unable to catch Him in a saying in the presence of the people; and marveling at His answer, they became silent.
The Sadducees have tried to expose what they think are His theological inconsistencies by asking Him a ridiculous question about a divorced woman.
*Luke 20:29-35, 39-40
29 “Now there were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, and died childless;
30 and the second
31 and the third took her; and in the same way all seven died, leaving no child-ren.
32 “Finally the woman died also.
33 “In the resurrection therefore, which one’s wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife.”
34 And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in mar-riage,
35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrec-tion from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage;
39 And some of the scribes answered and said, “Teacher, You have spoken well.”
40 For they did not have courage to question Him any longer about anything.
The Pharisees have challenged Jesus’ deity by refusing to believe He is descended from King David. So He has asked them a question that they cannot answer.
*Luke 20:41-44
41 And (Jesus) said to them, “How is it that they say the Christ is David’s son?
42 For David himself says in the book of Psalms, ‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand,
43 until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”’
44 “David therefore calls Him ‘Lord,’ and how is He his son?”
It’s at this point that Jesus turns away from the false teachers and unbelievers. He has nothing more to say to them.
So He turns to His own disciples, and beginning in Luke 21:5, Jesus presents them and us with a horrifying picture of the last days before His return to judge the unbelief that reigns in this world. He speaks of wars, famines, catastrophes (both natural and man-made), and intense persecution of all who believe in Him. Eventually that judgment, detailed by the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation, will end…
*Luke 21:27-28
27 “And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28 “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
That brings to this morning’s text.
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III. Text
Jesus has called the time of judgment upon this earth the “Great Tribulation.”
Matthew 24:21-22
21 “…for then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall.
22 “And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days shall be cut short.”
So we say, “All right, Lord. We know you will judge the earth and its inhabitants. We know there will be a time of such horrors that we can barely imagine them. And we know that, by God’s grace, that time will come to an end. We know all of that and we believe it with all our hearts. But Lord, please tell us when it will begin.”
*Luke 21:29-38 (Please stand with me in honor of reading God’s Word.)
29 And He told them a parable: “Behold the fig tree and all the trees;
30 as soon as they put forth leaves, you see it and know for yourselves that sum-mer is now near.
31 “Even so you, too, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near.
32 “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place.
33 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
34 “Be on guard, that your hearts may not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day come on you suddenly like a trap;
35 for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth.
36 “But keep on the alert at all times, praying in order that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
37 Now during the day He was teaching in the temple, but at evening He would go out and spend the night on the mount that is called Olivet.
38 And all the people would get up early in the morning to come to Him in the temple to listen to Him.
Can you hear the urgency in Jesus’ words? In v. 31 He says, “…recognize that the kingdom of God is near.” In v. 34 He says, “Be on guard…” And in v. 36 Jesus says, “…keep on the alert…” This is the Christian’s hope. Paul and John speak to it. If you’d like to memorize two short verses that will encourage you in the worst of times, you might try these.
Titus 2:13
13 (We are) looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.
1 John 3:2
2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.
So, of course, you and I, as Bible-believing Christians want to know when this is going to happen. This is what Jesus addresses as we come to the end of Luke 21. When will the glory of our great God and Savior appear? When will we see Him as He is? This is what Jesus’ followers have always wanted to know.
*Luke 21:7
7 And they questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, when therefore will these things be? And what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?”
But He will not give them a date. In the parallel passage in Matthew’s gospel He has already said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone (24:36).”
The question often arises as to how – since Jesus is God and He is omniscient – how could He not know the day and the hour of His return at the Second Coming. The answer is found in His voluntary veiling or restricting His glory in order that He might become a man. Paul addresses this in the “kenosis” or the “emptying.”
Philippians 2:6-7
6 (Christ Jesus) who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant (slave), and being made in the likeness of men.
After His resurrection, He laid aside that veiling or self-imposed restriction and reassumed His pre-incarnate glory and everything that accompanied it. He said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18b).”
So when Jesus spoke to His disciples in the gospels and said He did not know the day or the hour of His return, He told them the truth. He did not. But He does now. And here is what Jesus wants you and me to know about it.
*Luke 21:29-31
29 And He told them a parable: “Behold the fig tree and all the trees;
30 as soon as they put forth leaves, you see it and know for yourselves that sum-mer is now near.
31 “Even so you, too, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near.
Here is another parable, Jesus’ last parable in Luke. It’s a simple story designed to convey a divine truth. It’s not a riddle. It’s an analogy followed by an application. There is no spe-cific training or education required for you to get the point. When the weather warms up in the spring, the trees begin to bud. In v. 30 Jesus says that when trees begin to bud, you know that summer is coming. The budding of the trees is a sign that anyone can readily recognize. There is the analogy.
The analogy then leads us to an application. It’s found in v. 31. “Even so,” (“just like that” or “in the same way”)” Jesus says, “…when these things begin to happen…the kingdom is near.”
We say, “All right, I get that. But what are ‘these things’?” The answer is that they are the very things Jesus has been talking about since the beginning of Luke 21.
One of “these things” is found in Luke 21:6 ~
The temple in Jerusalem will be destroyed.
A number of “these things” are found in vv. 9-12, 25 ~
There will be false teachers and false Messiahs. There will be wars, rumors of wars, nations against nations, kingdoms against kingdoms, earthquakes, plagues, famines, terrors from the earth, terrors from the skies, and persecutions of believers.
So the application is clear enough, is it not it? “Even so you, too, when you see all of these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near (v. 31).” In the parallel passage in Mark, the evangelist reports it this way…
*Mark 13:34-37
34 “It is like a man, away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the door-keeper to stay on the alert.
35 “Therefore, be on the alert – for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, at cockcrowing (dawn), or in the morning –
36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.
37 “And what I say to you I say to all, ‘Be on the alert!’” (back to Luke 21)
Be alert, be vigilant, be expectant, be ready! This is Jesus’ warning to you and me today.
He is coming soon.
*Luke 21:32
32 “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place.
The interpretation of this verse has caused no end of theological debate over the last two thousand years. Who is “this generation” in v. 31? Many people today believe that Jesus is referring solely to those to whom He is directly speaking, His disciples. They say that all of “these things” have already happened. In fact, they say, that all of “these things” happened before the last of the disciples died prior to the end of the first century.
There are some who believe that the word “generation” can refer to an entire race of people. And using that logic they say that Jesus was prophesying the preservation of the Jews, no matter how the Gentiles would try to destroy them. But the Jews preservation is assured, and they already knew that. God’s covenant with Abraham promises it. Listen…
Genesis 17:7-8
7 “And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.
8 “And I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
So to put things in context look once more at Luke 21:32. Jesus isn’t saying that the Jewish people will survive. He’s simply saying that the generation that sees all of “these things” will be the last generation before the Second Coming. There’s no need to make it any more complicated than that. Today we’re seeing many of the things Jesus is talking about going on all around us. But there are at least two things we haven’t yet seen.
*Luke 21:25-26
25 “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth dis-may among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves,
26 men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
And we haven’t yet seen this either…
*Luke 21:20
20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is at hand.”
But we do see kingdom after kingdom and nation after nation – including our own – turning their backs on Israel, don’t we? And we do see more and more individuals – and even many in the professing church – turning their backs on Israel, don’t we?
How long will it be before the armies of the world surround Jerusalem in order to rid the world of what has been called “the Jewish menace”?
Will all of the horrors, all of “these things” that we have not yet seen happen soon? It seems as if God’s wrath is already being seen. And if so, then the Rapture is imminent. We could be taken from this earth at any moment because the NT teaches that the church will be pre-served from the wrath to come. 1 Thessalonians 5:9 says, “God has not destined us (the church) for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Therefore, I believe that the specific generation of which Jesus speaks in Luke 21:32 is the generation of believers who come to saving faith after the Rapture – the “tribulation saints” whom John introduces us to in Revelation 7. While a relatively small number of them will survive the reign of the antichrist to see all of “these things,” many of them will already be in heaven, having been martyred for their faith. We see them again at the Second Coming when John speaks of them and how they died.
Revelation 20:4b
4b And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the Word of God, and those who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received (his) mark upon their foreheads and upon their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thou-sand years.
So the generation that will not pass until all “these things” take place will be that generation of believers who survive and are alive to witness the Glorious Appearing of Christ. At that point the church will not be on earth to see it. But that’s all right because the church – the Bride of Christ – will be coming to earth as a part of it. That’s what Revelation 19:11-16 is all about!
So in Jesus’ parable the tree is budding. The application of the analogy has been when you see all “these things” that Jesus has been talking about, you’ll know He’s coming soon. How can we be sure all of this is true? Because Jesus says so!
*Luke 21:33
33 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
No one but Jesus can say this because no one but Jesus has the authority to say it. It is this authority, this divine authority that the religious leaders questioned.
Luke 20:2b
2b “Tell us by what authority You are doing these things, or who is the one who gave You this authority?”
Jesus’ words in Luke 21:33 are as clear as they can be. These heavens and this earth will pass away. This despite the best efforts of the radical environmentalists. Spending less time in the shower won’t save it. Turning down your thermostat won’t save it.
Throwing away your 100 watt light bulbs won’t save it. Driving an electric car won’t save it. It’s all going to pass away, but the Word of God will not.
Do you see why His Word is eternal? Do you see why His Word is the only thing we have now that we’ll still have in eternity future? His Word has saved us. His Word is preserving us. His Word will glorify us.
There’s going to be a new heaven and a new earth and they’re going to be infinitely better than the ones we have now because they won’t be corrupted or polluted by sin. His Word promises it. But His Word also promises that He is coming to take us to be with Him. His Word! And just as Luke 21:34-36 speaks to the generation that will witness the Glorious Appearing, there is also instruction for those of us who will be Raptured.
While we have seen that these verses are not addressed directly to the church, we can apply some of them to us as we await that moment when we are taken up to meet Him in the air.
*Luke 21:34-36
34 “Be on guard, that your hearts may not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day come on you suddenly like a trap;
35 for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth.
36 “But keep on the alert at all times, praying in order that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
From v. 34 we are reminded that we should be on guard and not weighed down with the cares and worries of this life. And from v. 36 we are reminded that we should stay alert and pray for the Rapture, not so that we will escape what is coming upon the earth – God has promised that we will escape it – but so that we can meet Jesus and be with Him.
*Luke 21:37-38
37 Now during the day He was teaching in the temple, but at evening He would go out and spend the night on the mount that is called Olivet.
38 And all the people would get up early in the morning to come to Him in the temple to listen to Him.
Now with these two simple statements of fact Luke concludes the portion of his gospel that centered on Jesus’ preaching and teaching ministry. Betrayal, the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane, the arrest, the trials, the torture, the crucifixion, and Jesus’ death are next. But so are the resurrection, the ascension, and the promise of eternal life for all of God’s people. We begin next time with Judas and his betrayal of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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IV. Conclusion
Jesus’ return is imminent. My dictionary defines the word as “likely to happen without delay.” Jesus could come for us, His Bride, the church at any moment.
There is nothing else on the prophetic calendar that must take place before the Rapture. That is why His coming for us is imminent. The Apostle Paul tells us about it.
*1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
These are the words of the living God. They are sure and Jesus said “…they will not pass away.” He is coming soon. Are you ready?
Let me close with a little anecdote about being ready for a momentous event. It is July, 1959, in Chicago. Queen Elizabeth and her royal entourage are scheduled to visit the city. The lakefront is being prepared to receive her yacht and a red carpet is rolled out on the dock. The great historic hotels of the city are alerted to be prepared to receive her royal highness. But which grand old hotel will it be? Will it be the Blackstone, the Conrad Hilton, or the Palmer House? No, it will be none of those. It will be the Drake.
When the news media breathlessly contacts the manager of the Drake and asks if they are making any special plans for the Queen, the answer is, “We are making no special plans for the Queen. Whether it is for royalty or anyone else, the Drake is always ready.”
Jesus is coming soon. He said so, and His words will not pass away. Are you always ready?
Take this with you this morning. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever (Isaiah 40:8).”
~ Pray ~