The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 21 part 2 - Christogenea on Talkshoe 11-30-2012
20 “But when you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, then you know that her desolation has come near. 21 Then those in Judaea must flee into the mountains, and those in her midst must leave the land, and those in the countryside must not enter into her!
Two weeks ago, in our presentation of the first half of Luke chapter 21, we saw how these words recorded by Luke were perfectly fulfilled in history just as they were recorded. Jerusalem was surrounded by armies during the siege of Cestius Gallus in 66 AD, and then Cestius withdrew from the city for no apparent reason. A couple of years later the Roman armies under Titus besieged and destroyed the city. In the interim, as Josephus attests, many of the better people fled the city for good. Josephus also attests to the vile nature of all those who remained behind, who were for the most part destroyed by Titus' armies. Now we shall present the second half of Luke chapter 21, where we left off discussing verses 22 through 24 and had introduced the parable of the good and the bad figs from Jeremiah chapter 24.
22 Because these are the days of vengeance, by which all the things written are to be fulfilled! 23 Woe to those having conceived and to those with sucklings in those days! For there shall be great violence upon the earth, and wrath for this people! 24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword and they shall be taken away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be tread upon by the heathens until the times of the heathens should be fulfilled.
Two weeks ago, ending our presentation of the first half of Luke chapter 21, we read the parable of the good and bad figs which is found in Jeremiah chapter 24. We saw from the parable that, ostensibly, there were good figs in Jerusalem, and that there were also already bad figs in Jerusalem. Zedekiah and his princes were not bad figs themselves, as many surface readers of scripture assume, but rather they were to be given over to the bad figs. Here once again are the last few verses of that chapter: “8 And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil [so Jeremiah already saw the evil figs, they were already there]; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt: 9 And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them. 10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.”