Interpreting the twenty-first chapter of Luke can be challenging. The chapter begins with Jesus’ prophecy of the destruction of the temple, including his call for discernment and warning of what would come. This leads us to begin interpreting the passage through that one historical event. But the destruction of the temple may also serve, as Charles Spurgeon puts it, as “a kind of rehearsal of what is yet to be,” like “the uprolling of the curtain on the great drama of the world’s doom.”[2] Jesus tells of what was to come and through it what is to come before he comes again.
Tag Archives: God’s Judgment
When Heaven Has Spoken
There are questions asked that want an answer and questions asked because the answer already received wasn’t liked. I think this distinction is pertinent to our passage today. The chief priests, scribes, and elders approach Jesus with what appears to be a reasonable question: “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority” (Luke 20:2)….
When the Wicked Rule
1 and 2 Kings contain primarily the royal history of Israel’s rulers, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Most were bad, and if by ugly we mean vile, then many were that too. In fact, it’s easy to list the good ones, because there were so few. But if we were to rank the bad ones, where would we start?
