Lesson

#15
Signs of the End
(21: 1-38)

Signs of the End

In Lesson #14 Jesus entered Jerusalem on the feast of Passover, A.D. 32, as
hundreds of thousands of pilgrims were arriving for the fesAval from every
corner of the Roman Empire. Passover remembers the Israelites throwing o
the shackles of EgypAan oppression and of their Exodus from Egypt, a vivid
reminder of the Israelites current oppression under Roman rule and of their
hope for liberaAon once again. At the same Ame, the procurator, PonAus Pilate,
had moved a porAon of the 10th Roman Legion up from Caesarea MariAma to
provide security in Jerusalem, a city crackling with discontent and incipient
rebellion.
In the midst of it all, Jesus enters Jerusalem publically, and with his prompAng,
huge crowds loudly proclaim him king. Then, aOer physically aPacking the
moneychangers and merchants at the Temples southern steps, Jesus engages
the religious leaders in a series of escalaAng encounters, playing to the crowds
and denouncing the religious authoriAes, whom the crowds see as collaborators
with the Romans who desire nothing more than maintaining the status quo and
their favored posiAon within it.
Signs of the End

Judaism viewed history as linear, with a beginning, a middle

and an end. Many in Jesus dayincluding Jesus himself
believed that the end was very near, just around the corner,
and Jesus believed that he would be instrumental in bringing
it about.
As we have seen, virtually everyone in the 1st generaAon of
the Church shared in this eschatological vision, and in Lesson
#15 we shall explore this vision more deeply before turning to
a close reading of Luke 21: 1-38, Lukes version of MaPhews
and Marks Olivet Discourse.

Signs of the End

The mythologist Joseph Campbell argues that the

Judeo-ChrisAan concept of linear history stands in
sharp contrast to the earlier Near-Eastern idea of
history as being cyclical. In a cyclical world view
the world was not to be reformed, but only
known, revered, and its laws obeyed1 as Ame
moved on in an eternal, recurring cycle.
In contrast, a linear world view opens history to
the possibility of progress, but it also has
imbedded deeply within it an eschatology that
includes ethical dualism (i.e., the conict of good
vs. evil); the concept of a savior, an individual who
will shepherd history to its conclusion; and an
opAmisAc eschatology, proclaiming the nal
triumph of Good.2
1 Campbell, The Masks of God: Occidental Mythology (New York:

Penguin Compass, 1991), p. 191.

2 Eliade, A History of Religious Ideas, vol. 1 (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 2014), p. 302.

Signs of the End

This insight forms the basis for Thomas Cahills

bestselling The GiOs of the Jews (New York:
Doubleday, 1998). Virtually all ancient religions
saw life as an endless cycle of birth and death. Life
was like a wheel, spinning ceaselessly, round and
round.
The ancient Jews saw it dierently, however. For
them, Ame had a beginning, a middle and an end;
it was a narraQve, whose triumphant conclusion
would come in the future. In such a world view,
men and women are individuals with unique
desAnies who can inuencefor bePer or worse
the course of events and the trajectory of
history.
Such a perspecAve brings with it enormous
repercussions: without it, western civilizaAon as
we know it would not exist.

Signs of the End

If the Jews saw Ame as a linear narraAve,

then Scripture is the embodiment of that
vision: the curtain liOs in Genesis, with
creaAon; it falls in RevelaAon, with the nal,
climaAc baPle between the forces of good
and evil. In between, the narraAves main
character is God; the conict is sin; and the
theme is redempAon. Countless memorable
characters populate the narraAve: Abraham
and Sarah; Isaac and Rebecca; Jacob and his
wives; Joseph and Pharaoh; Moses and the
prophets; David and the kings; Mary and
Joseph; Jesus and the Apostles . . . and the
list goes on.

Signs of the End

But woven deeply within the

narraAves fabric like a recurring
leitmoAf or the ide xe in Berliozs
Symphonie FantasQque is an
apocalypAc vision of how the
narraAve will end.
Such a vision emerges from both
within Scripture and outside of it.

Signs of the End

Within Scripture, apocalypAc visions

stretch back as far as the canonical
books of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel and
Zechariah; the visions develop in the
Olivet Discourse of Luke 21 (and its
parallels in Mark 13 and MaPhew
24), 1 & 2 Thessalonians and Jude,
and they reach their climax in
RevelaAon.
Many non-canonical works reect the
apocalypAc genre, as well: the
Sibylline Oracles, Books 4 & 5; The
Apocalypse of Peter and The
Shepherd of Hermes, just to name a
few.
Signs of the End

The genre of apocalypAc literature

oers a vision of Gods unfolding plan
and the nal steps toward historys
fulllment. In the deepest sense, all
apocalypAc literature is propheQc, in
that it arAculates and manifests Gods
plan and his intenAon toward
humanity as history moves toward a
close.

Signs of the End

Early in Scripture propheAc literature speaks

primarily of current events within its own
historical framework. Isaiah, for example, is
called to be a prophet in Isaiah 6: 1- 9a
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord
seated on a high and loOy throne, with the train of
his garment lling the temple. Seraphim were
staQoned above; each of them had six wings: with
two they covered their faces, with two they
covered their feet, and with two they hovered.
One cried out to the other:
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!
All the earth is lled with his glory! . . .
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom
shall I send? Who will go for us?
Here I am, I said; send me!





(6: 1-3, 8)
Signs of the End

10

Called to be a prophet, the opening verse of Isaiah

establishes Isaiahs historical context:
The vision which Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw concerning
Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz
and Hezekiah, kings of Judah





(Isaiah 1: 1).

Isaiah is called to be a prophet in the year that

king Uzziah died (c. 740 B.C.) and he conAnues
speaking as a prophet through the reign of king
Hezekiah (c. 686 B.C.). Thus, Isaiah is acAve as a
spokesman for God from 740 686 B.C., during
two crucial events: 1) the Assyrian invasion and
conquest of the northern kingdom of Judah in 722
B.C., led by Tiglath-Pileser III and 2) the Assyrian
aPack on Jerusalem, led by Sennacherib in 701
B.C.
These two events form the immediate historical
context for what Isaiah has to say in chapters 1
39.
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11

Peter Paul Rubens. The Defeat of Sennacherib (oil on canvas), 1612.

Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

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12

Other prophets reect events within their own historical context, as well:

Signs of the End

13

Signs of the End

14

In post-exilic Ames, however, largely

as a result of the Babylonian capAvity
(586 539 B.C.), prophecy begins to
shiO focus from current events to
future events, from current
catastrophe to a coming Kingdom,
one in which God will fulll the linear
course of history, ushering in the
Kingdom of God. The development
of this apocalypAc refocusing spans
roughly 200 B.C. through A.D. 200,
with precursors as early as the 7th
4th centuries B.C. We might view the
genres development in three phases:
Signs of the End

15

Phase 1 ( 7th to 4th centuries B.C.)

Isaiah (Isaiah 24-27; 56-66) [Canonical]
Ezekiel (chapters 37-48) [Canonical]
Joel [Canonical]
Zechariah [Canonical]
Phase 2 (late 3rd century B.C. to A.D. 70)
1 Enoch (c. 200 B.C.)
Daniel (c. 165 B.C.) [Canonical]
Jubilees (c. 150-100 B.C.)
Sibylline Oracles, Book 3 (c. 150 B.C.)
Testament of the Twelve (c. 150-100 B.C.)
Psalms of Solomon (c. 48 B.C.)
Testament of Moses (c. A.D. 6-36)
1 & 2 Thessalonians (c. A.D. 50-52)
[Canonical]

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16

Phase 2, cont.

Manhew 24, and parallels in Mark and Luke (c.

A.D. 65-75) [Canonical]
2 Peter (c. A.D. 68) [Canonical]
Jude (c. A.D. 65-80) [Canonical]
Martyrdom of Isaiah (1st century A.D.)
Dead Sea Scrolls (c. 100 B.C. A.D. 70)
Apocalypse of Moses (c. A.D. 70)
Testament of Abraham (1st century A.D.)
2 Enoch (1st century A.D.)

Phase 3 (A.D. 70 2nd century A.D.)

Sibylline Oracles, Book 4 (c. 80 A.D.)

4 Ezra (c. A.D. 80-90)
2 Baruch (c. A.D. 90 110)
Apocalypse of Abraham (c. A.D. 70 100
RevelaQon (c. A.D. 90 95) [Canonical]
3 Baruch (2nd century A.D.)
Sibylline Oracles, Book 5 (2nd century A.D.)
Apocalypse of Peter (2nd century A.D.)
The Shepherd of Hermes (2nd century A.D.)
Signs of the End

17

We see this refocusing rst in Isaiah 24-27, the

LiPle Apocalypse. Here, God sets wrongs to
right and prepares to bring our story to a
conclusion in clearly universal terms,
redeeming not just Israel but all of humanity:

See, the Lord is about to empty the earth and lay it
waste;
he will twist its surface
and scaner its inhabitants.
People and priest shall fare alike:
servant and master,
maid and mistress,
buyer and seller,
lender and borrower,
creditor and debtor.
The earth shall be unerly laid waste,
unerly stripped,
for the Lord has decreed this word.




(Isaiah 24: 1-3)
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18

This end Ame theme gains momentum as

we move forward through Scripture. Ezekiel
37-48 pictures a dead people brought back to
life in the Valley of Dead Bones, chapter 37;
judgment on all the earth in 38-39; and the
Kingdom of God, with a new Jerusalem at its
center, a new temple and God living with his
people in 40-48. Joel speaks of a fearsome
day of judgment, the Day of the Lord
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,

for the day of the Lord is coming!

Yes, it approaches,
a day of thick clouds!
Like dawn spreading over the mountains,
a vast and mighty army!
Nothing like it has ever happened in ages past,
nor will the future hold anything like it,
even to the most distant generaQons.





(Joel 2: 1b-2)
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19

As we move into Phase 2 of our apocalypAc

genre, the events and imagery become more
concrete, more specic and more immediate.
Although Daniel is wriPen c. 165 B.C. the story
is set 605-539 B.C. As Joseph is taken capAve to
Egypt in Genesis, Daniel is taken capAve to

Babylon
in 605 B.C., and like Joseph, Daniel
rises to a posiAon of power and esteem in the
royal court, now controlled by Cyrus, king of
Persia. In Daniel 10 we read:
In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia [539 B.C.], a
revelaQon was given to Daniel (who was called
Beltshazzar). Its message was true and it concerned
a great war. The understanding of the message
came to him in a vision.
At that Qme I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I
ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips;
and I used no loQons at all unQl the three weeks
were over.
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20

 On the twenty-fourth day of the rst month, as I

was standing on the bank of the great river, the

Tigris, I looked up and there before me was a man
dressed in linen, with a belt of the nest gold
around his waist. His body was like chrysolite, his
face like lightning, his eyes like aming torches, his
arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze,
and his voice like the sound of a mulQtude.
I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; the
men with me did not see it, but such terror
overwhelmed them that they ed and hid
themselves. So I was leO alone, gazing at this
great vision; I had no strength leO, my face turned
deathly pale and I was helpless. Then I heard him
speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep
sleep, my face to the ground.





(Daniel 10: 1-9)

Signs of the End

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In uPer terror, Daniel faints dead away! Once

revived, the angelic messenger describes to
Daniel in detail a universal, catastrophic baPle,
resulAng in a Qme of distress such as has not
happened from the beginning of naQons unQl
then
(12: 1a). When the dust sePles,

everyone whose name is found wrinen in the
book will be delivered. MulQtudes who sleep in
the dust of the earth will awake: some to
everlasQng life, others to shame and
everlasQng contempt (12: 1b-2). Having
delivered the message, the angel concludes by
saying: Go your way, Daniel, because the
words are closed up and sealed unQl the Qme of
the end (12: 9). In RevelaAon 5 the scroll from
Daniel 12 is brought out, and in RevelaAon 6: 1
- 8: 5 the seals are opened, revealing the vision
given to Daniel that so horried him.
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22

Daniel was enormously popular in New

Testament Ames, establishing the sequence
and imagery of end Ame events well into the
second century. Jesus himself draws heavily
upon Daniel and the enAre apocalypAc
tradiAon, idenAfying himself as the Son of
Man, referenced in Daniel 7: 13-14; drawing
directly from Daniel 12: 1, regarding a Ame of
great tribulaQon such as has not been since
the beginning of the world unQl now, nor
ever will be (MaPhew 24: 21); and quoAng
word-for-word Daniel 12: 11 in reference to
the abominaAon that causes
desolaAon (MaPhew 24: 15). In his own
Ame, Jesus had much in common with the
prophets, living his life on the bleeding edge
of the apocalypAc vision.

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 Wow! I had no idea that

apocalypAc, end-Ame thinking
went back so far and that it had
such a pronounced aect on
Jesus and the thinking of the
early Church.

Not me.

Im amazed at that,
tooand its sure
something to chew
on!

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24

Given this long tradiAon of apocalypAc literature,

Jesus clear familiarity with it, and the current
events of A.D. 54-79 that were headline news at
the Ame Luke was composing his gospel and Acts,
such background greatly illuminates Jesus Olivet
Discourse in Luke 21.
So, lets have a look at it. It consists of 7 parts:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Jesus statement about the Temple (5-6)

Two quesAons about Jesus statement (7)
What will happen before the Temple is
destroyed (8-19)
What will immediately precede the Temples
destrucAon (20-24)
What will precede Jesus return (25-28)
How to read the signs (29-33)
What to do in the meanAme (34-36)

Signs of the End

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1. Jesus statement about the Temple (5-6)

2. Two quesAons about Jesus statement (7)
3. What will happen before the Temple is
destroyed (8-19)
4. What will immediately precede the
Temples destrucAon (20-24)
5. What will precede Jesus return (25-28)
6. How to read the signs (29-33)
7. What to do in the meanAme (34-36)

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Lukes Olivet Discourse

(Luke 21: 5-36)
While some people were speaking about how the
temple was adorned with costly stones and votive
offerings, he said, All that you see herethe days will
come when there will not be left a stone upon another
stone that will not be thrown down.








(21: 5-6)

Signs of the End

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280 meters/ 306 yards

(Southern Wall)

150,00 m2/ 37 acres

(Platorm Area)
30 meters/
9 stories

470 meters/ 513 yards

(Eastern Wall)
The Temple in Jesus day, as he would have seen it from the Mt. of Olives.
(1:50 scale model of 1st-century Jerusalem, Israel Museum.)
Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

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Gold Trim !

24 meters/8 stories

Temple Model
(1:50 scale model of 1st-century Jerusalem, Israel Museum.)

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ExcavaAons at the Western

Wall from 1993-1997
exposed the Herodian
street that paralleled the
wall. This is the pavement
that Jesus would have
walked upon.
The stones at the far end
fell from the Temple when
it was destroyed in A.D. 70.
They remain where they
fell nearly 2,000 years ago.
Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

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Detail of the fallen

stones, many sAll
charred from the
intense re.

Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

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Of course, all of this happened in

A.D. 70, at the very Ame Luke was
composing his gospel!
Looking back, and placing these
words in Jesus mouth makes Jesus
words clearly propheAc.
Jesus disciples then ask two
quesAons:

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32

Lukes Olivet Discourse

(Luke 21: 5-36)
Then they asked him,
1) Teacher, when will this happen?
2) And what sign will there be when all
these things are about to happen?
(21: 7)

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33

1. Jesus statement about the Temple (5-6)

2. Two quesAons about Jesus statement (7)
3. What will happen before the Temple is
destroyed (8-19)
4. What will immediately precede the
Temples destrucAon (20-24)
5. What will precede Jesus return (25-28)
6. How to read the signs (29-33)
7. What to do in the meanAme (34-36)

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34

He answered, See that you not be deceived, for many

will come in my name, saying, I am he, and The
time has come. Do not follow them! When you hear
of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such
things must happen first, but it will not immediately be
the end. Then he said to them, Nation will rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There
will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues
from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty
signs will come from the sky.








(21: 8-11)

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35

Indeed, many did come in his name; that is, many

others claimed to be the messiah. Gamaliel (c. 10
B.C. A.D. 70), perhaps the greatest Rabbi of the 1st
century (and St. Pauls teacher) menAons two who
preceded Jesus in Acts 5: 33-39Theudas and Judas

the Galilean, both of whom were killed and their
movements stopped.
Following Jesus, Simon bar Kokhba led a revolt
against Rome in A.D. 132 and was hailed by the great
Rabbi Akibah (A.D. 40-137) as the Messiah. The
Romans killed bar Kokhba and executed Rabbi
Akibah, ending the 3-year revolt.
The other events Jesus menAons do indeed happen
in Lukes lifeAme, including the erupAon of Mt.
Vesuvius in A.D. 79.

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36

Before all this happens, however, they will seize and

persecute you, they will hand you over to the
synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led
before kings and governors because of my name. It
will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are
not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself
shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your
adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. You
will even be handed over by parents, brothers,
relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to
death. You will be hated by all because of my name,
but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By
your perseverance you will secure your lives.








(21: 12-19)

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In Acts 5 all of the Apostles are arrested by the

Sanhedrin and put on trial, where St. Peter tesAes
eloquently. With the intervenAon of Gamaliel, they
are released.

In Acts 7 St. Steven is arrested by the Sanhedrin and

put on trial, where he also tesAes eloquently. He is
then put to death.
In Acts 12 we learn that Herod AnApas arrested the
Apostle James (Johns brother and part of Jesus
inner-circle) and put him to death by the
sword (that is, by beheading).
And, of course, St. Paul is arrested repeatedly,
tesAes eloquently on several occasions and is
ulAmately put to death in Rome, along with St. Peter,
in A.D. 68.

Luke himself chronicles all of this in Acts.

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38

1. Jesus statement about the Temple (5-6)

2. Two quesAons about Jesus statement (7)
3. What will happen before the Temple is
destroyed (8-19)
4. What will immediately precede the
Temples destrucAon (20-24)
5. What will precede Jesus return (25-28)
6. How to read the signs (29-33)
7. What to do in the meanAme (34-36)

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39

When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know

that its desolation is at hand. Then those in Judea
must flee to the mountains. Let those within the city
escape from it, and let those in the countryside not
enter the city, for these days are the time of
punishment when all the scriptures are fulfilled. Woe
to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days,
for a terrible calamity will come upon the earth and a
wrathful judgment upon this people. They will fall by
the edge of the sword and be taken as captives to all
the Gentiles and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot
by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are
fulfilled.








(21: 20-24)

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40

That is exactly what happens, beginning with

Neros persecuAon of the Church in Rome, A.D.
64-68 and the 1st Jewish Revolt A.D. 66-73.
As we noted in Lesson #13, in A.D. 66 Vespasian,
under Neros command, elded 50,000 combat
troops, crushed the rebels in Galilee and began
clearing the coast. In A.D. 68 his son, Titus,
assumed command, encircling Jerusalem with
three Roman legions on the west side
(V Macedonica, XII Fuminata, and XV Apollinaris)
and a fourth on the Mount of Olives to the east,
the X Fretensis. Titus recaptured the Temple
complex on the 9th of Av (July 29/30) A.D. 70,
during which Ame the Temple burned to the
ground, along with much of the city.
By the Ame the revolt ended in A.D. 73, with the
last holdouts dead at Masada, 1.2 million Jews
had been killed and Jerusalem was destroyed.
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41

Francesco Hayez. The DestrucQon of the Temple of Jerusalem (oil on canvas) 1867,
Accademia of Venice, Italy.

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42

The Arch of Titus (on the Via Sacra near the Forum, Rome).

Erected in A.D. 82 by the Emperor DomiQan in honor of his brother, Titus.

Signs of the End

Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

43

The Arch of Titus (detail of the Menorah from the Jerusalem Temple.

Signs of the End

Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

44

1. Jesus statement about the Temple (5-6)

2. Two quesAons about Jesus statement (7)
3. What will happen before the Temple is
destroyed (8-19)
4. What will immediately precede the
Temples destrucAon (20-24)
5. What will precede Jesus return (25-28)
6. How to read the signs (29-33)
7. What to do in the meanAme (34-36)

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45

There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the

stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed
by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will
die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the
world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a
cloud with power and great glory. But when these
signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand.








(21: 25-28)

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As we enter secAon #5 of the Olivet Discourse,

the focus shiOs from the immediate historical
context of PalesAne in the Roman Empire to one
of cosmic proporAons: signs in the sun, the
moon, and the stars; roaring of the sea and the
waves; the heavens will be shaken.
The references recall The Day of the Lord in
Joel 2: 1b-2 and 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18,
St. Pauls understanding of Jesus return,
announced by the voice of an archangel and with
the trumpet of God, accompanied by a vast army
of the resurrected dead.
As Luke is as wriAng his gospel, this is clearly an
event that he foresees in the immediate future.

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1. Jesus statement about the Temple (5-6)

2. Two quesAons about Jesus statement (7)
3. What will happen before the Temple is
destroyed (8-19)
4. What will immediately precede the
Temples destrucAon (20-24)
5. What will precede Jesus return (25-28)
6. How to read the signs (29-33)
7. What to do in the meanAme (34-36)

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48

He taught them a lesson. Consider the fig tree and

all the other trees. When their buds burst open, you
see for yourselves and know that summer is now near;
in the same way, when you see these things happening,
know that the kingdom of God is near. Amen, I say to
you, this generation will not pass away until all these
things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass
away, but my words will not pass away.








(21: 29-33)

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Fig tree in Israel in the springAme.

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1. Jesus statement about the Temple (5-6)

2. Two quesAons about Jesus statement (7)
3. What will happen before the Temple is
destroyed (8-19)
4. What will immediately precede the
Temples destrucAon (20-24)
5. What will precede Jesus return (25-28)
6. How to read the signs (29-33)
7. What to do in the meanAme (34-36)

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Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from

carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily
life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.
For that day will assault everyone who lives on the
face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray
that you have the strength to escape the tribulations
that are imminent and to stand before the Son of
Man.








(21: 34-36)

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William Blake. The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (Watercolor, brush and
gray wash, pen and black ink over graphite), c. 1803-1805.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

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53

We conclude by reading:
During
the
day, Jesus was teaching in



the temple area, but at night he would
leave and stay at the place called the
Mount of Olives. And all the people
would get up early each morning to
listen to him in the temple area.

Signs of the End

(21: 37-38)

54

That was an
amazing lesson,
Dr. Bill!
Not me.

And youre so
humble!

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1. How would the story of redempAon dier if it were

told from a cyclical world view?
2. How does a linear world view shape our 21st century
world?
3. How do you know that Jesus was familiar with the
apocalypAc literature of his day?
4. The rst three centuries of the Church (A.D. 32-313)
are oOen called the Age of Martyrdom. Can you
think of ChrisAans today who are handed over,
persecuted and put to death for their faith? Is today
an Age of Martyrdom?
5. Once the 1st generaAon of the Church passed away and
Jesus had not yet returned, how did that change our
understanding of the end Ames?
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Copyright 2015 by William C. Creasy

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