Luke 21:1-24, “Jesus Commends A Poor Widow For Her Giving /
The Olivet Discourse: Part #1”
By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at verses 27-47 of chapter 20.
1.1.1. We saw that the party of the Sadducees tried to trap Jesus with a question
regarding marriage in the afterlife propounding to Him a hypothetical situation
wherein a woman married a man and then he died having no children. The woman in this hypothetical case was
married to seven brothers after each brother died in succession and took the
woman as his wife, yet none produced offspring through her. The Sadducees’ question was, which one of her
husbands would have her for his wife in the resurrection?
1.1.1.1. Jesus confounded the Sadducees with His answer as He explained to them
that they didn’t understand the true nature of the afterlife and that in that
place God’s people won’t marry and can’t die, and are like the angels.
1.1.1.2. Then, Jesus used the scriptures to prove to the Sadducees that there
will in fact be an afterlife.
1.1.2. Jesus Himself then went on the offensive and asked the scribes a
question about the Messiah which also left them speechless. Jesus asked them how that if the Messiah is
to be a son, or descendant, of David, that David could have written of the
Messiah calling him, “Lord” ?
1.1.3. Finally, Jesus warned His disciples not to be like the Pharisees in
their hypocrisy and caring most in life about what others thought about them
rather than what God thought about them.
1.2.
In our study today, we are
going to look at chapter 21 verses 1 through 24.
1.2.1. Jesus will first of all commend a poor widow for her giving.
1.2.2. Then, prompted by a question from His disciples Jesus will begin to
tell them how to know when the end times are occurring and the things that they
should do at that time.
2. VS 21:1-4 - “1 And
He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. 2 And
He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins. 3 And He
said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them;
4 for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she
out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.”” - Jesus notes a poor widow
putting in a couple small coins in the offering and commends her for this
2.1.
Here in this setting, we see
a contrast being noted. Jesus notices
that the ‘rich’ are putting their ‘giffts into the treasury’ and
then He notices that a ‘poor widow’ puts in money, however her offering
is only ‘two small copper coins,’ the smallest denomination of coins in
Israel at that time.
2.2.
Jesus notes that these ones
who were ‘rich’ were putting in money ‘out of their surplus,’
however she was giving ‘out of her poverty.’ In other words, even though this woman was
giving a very small amount of money, in comparison to how much she owned that
small amount was a very large amount of money.
However, the percentage that the ‘rich’ people were giving on
this day was actually a very small amount compared to their net worth.
2.3.
From a website called
“Generous Giving” I found the following statistics on giving amongst
denominations, and these statistics confirm the need that we today have of
listening to Jesus’ commendation of this poor widow and seeking to emulate her
generosity in our giving:
In 2002, 6 percent of born-again
From 1968 to 2000, members of mainline Protestant groups gave smaller
dollar amounts and smaller portions of income to their churches than did members
of evangelical Protestant groups.
A majority of the $125 billion donated to nonprofit organizations by
individual Americans in 1996 came from born-again Christians. Although they
represent only 38 percent (or 100 million people) of the
Evangelical Christians are most likely to take the Bible at face value,
and their chart-topping giving levels reflect that confidence in the accuracy
and importance of Scripture.”
Fifty-three percent of all black households give to charity, and 59
percent of their donations go to churches and other religious purposes.13
“Nine of every $10 donated by black people goes to churches or religious
groups.”14
Black Protestants give about 2.5 percent of their incomes to the church.
In 1990, charismatics and Pentecostals gave $37 billion to Christian
causes.12
In some of the evangelical and charismatic/ Pentecostal groups such as the
Assemblies of God, average giving levels range from 4 to 8 percent of annual
income.
In 2001, 5 percent of non-born-again
In 1987, the Catholic per-capita giving rate was $96.1
In 1991, Catholic giving totaled $5.48 billion. In 1995, the Catholic Church
reported 59 million members.2
By 2000, this number had grown to 62.4 million members.3
It is estimated that donors contribute over $500 million annually to
Word-Faith ministries, but numbers are notoriously hard to come by. “These
ministries refuse to make consolidated audited financial statements easily
available to anyone, including donor advocates.
2.4.
One of the things that can
be seen in these statistics is the fact that it has always been the case that
of God’s people that lower income people give more percentage-wise than higher
income people.
2.5.
Jesus’ comments here express
the fact that the Lord is impressed with our giving when that amount we give is
proportional to the amount of our general net worth or income. What we might normally consider a large gift
if it comes from a very rich man, is not very impressive to the Lord. Likewise, what we might normally consider a
very small gift if it comes from a poor person can be impressive to the
Lord. What is at issue really is the
attitude of the heart towards the Lord, however that attitude is reflected in a
person’s giving.
2.6.
Jesus’ comments also emphasize
the fact that the Lord knows all, that He expects all of His people to give to
the church, and that a gift should be offered to Him regardless of whether or
not it is small in size.
2.7.
The Lord receives the
smallest gifts given from a right heart with great pleasure.
3. VS 21:5-7 - “5 And
while some were talking about the temple, that it was adorned with beautiful
stones and votive gifts, He said, 6 “As for these things
which you are looking at, the days will come in which there will not be left one
stone upon another which will not be torn down.” 7 They questioned
Him, saying, “Teacher, when therefore will these things happen? And what will
be the sign when these things are about to take place?”” - As Jesus’ disciples were
admiring the
3.1.
We have now come to that
place in the gospels covered also in Matthew chapter 24 and Mark 13 known as
Jesus’ “Olivet Discourse,” a name derived because the discourse was given upon
the
3.2.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke each
record this discourse of Jesus’ from a different perspective, covering differing
aspects given by Jesus in this teaching.
Matthew’s record of the discourse is by far the most exhaustive.
3.3.
What spurred this discourse
by Jesus was conversation with His disciples in which they were admiring the
beauty of the temple, and Jesus wanted them to know that though this temple was
so beautiful that soon it would be completely destroyed.
3.4.
This temple was not the
3.5.
The question as recorded by
Luke that Jesus’ disciples pose to Him has two parts:
3.6.
‘When will these things
happen’ ?
3.7.
Not one stone of the temple
being left upon another.
3.8.
‘What will be the sign
when these things are about to take place’ ?
3.9.
Special indicators for this
time period signaling that it is about to commence.
3.10.
In Matt. 24:3, Matthew
records the disciples’ question as consisting of three parts, and his recording
of these questions helps explain why Jesus in His answer to these questions
deals so much with the events leading up to the end of the age:
3.11.
“When will these things be?”
3.12.
“What will be the sign of your coming?”
3.13.
“What will be the sign of the end of the age?”
3.14.
Within Christendom (those
who would name themselves as being Christian), there have been several
different camps of interpretation about these events prophesied by Jesus in the
Olivet Discourse:
3.15.
Amillennialists:
3.16.
These believe that the
events in the Olivet Discourse, as well as almost all of the judgments in the 7
year tribulation of the book of Revelation, were completed by 70 AD.
3.17.
They are forced then to do
heavy allegorical interpretation of this chapter and of the events of the 7
year tribulation of the book of Revelation since these prophesies describe
something of such a catastrophic nature as has never occurred in history
past.
3.18.
Their basic error is in
turning away from a literal interpretation of scripture when it is not called
for. Using their allegorical method of
interpretation of scripture there are really no rules by which to go by and
thus everyone tends to come up with unique interpretations of the scripture.
3.19.
Post-millennialists:
3.20.
Since they believe that
everything is going to get better and better as we head into the future with
everyone coming to have salvation through Christ before His Second Coming, they
have a hard time in interpreting this chapter as they are in a similar
situation as the Amillennialists and have to see this chapter as fulfilled in
history-past. Heavy allegorical
interpretation of scripture is used.
3.21.
Historical Position:
3.22.
Those who have held this
position see all of the events prophesied in the book of Revelation as
happening all throughout history from the time of Christ’s resurrection up
until His second coming, so for them there is not a literal 7 year period of
tribulation taught in the scriptures that leads up to Christ’s return, but
rather a continuous stream of events.
Not many hold to this position today.
3.23.
Liberal Theologians:
3.24.
Since they reject the
inerrancy of scripture they tend to believe that either Jesus didn’t really say
these things or they come to the conclusion that this discourse is just a
collection of some of Jesus’ teachings and that Jesus didn’t really say these
things at this time as recorded in the gospels.
3.25.
Pre-millennialists:
3.26.
They hold to a literal
interpretation of scripture unless the scripture itself tells us to interpret
the passage allegorically, or if there is no other explanation that is
plausible.
3.27.
They see this discourse as
referring to the Second Coming of Christ and to varying extents believe that Jesus
is also referring to the events of the 70 AD destruction of
3.28.
Being ourselves from the
Premillennial camp, we see that central to this study is determining if and to
what extent in this discourse Jesus is expounding upon the two different events:
3.29.
The events leading up to the
destruction of Jerusalem and dispersion of the Jews that occurred in 70
AD.
3.30.
The range of beliefs. Some would believe that this part of Jesus’
explanation goes all of the way to verse 24, however others would say that
Jesus never refers to the 70 AD destruction in the Olivet Discourse.
3.31.
The signs proceeding His
Second Coming which will occur at the end of this present age.
3.32.
This part of Jesus’
explanation begins at the very latest at verse 25 and then continues through
the end of the chapter. Again some would
say that the passage deals only with this event and does not reference the 70
AD destruction.
3.33.
I personally believe that
the 70 AD destruction is an initial fulfillment of this prophesy but not the
ultimate fulfillment of it. During and
prior to that 70 AD destruction history reveals that many of the events
described by Jesus did in fact occur. In
that destruction, as in the end time destruction proceeding Jesus’ return (as
revealed in the book of Revelation’s description of the 7 year tribulation) it
is
4. VS 21:8 - “8 And
He said, “See to it that you are not misled; for many will come in My name,
saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not go after them.” - Jesus tells His disciples
that the first thing to know about when these things will occur is that they
need to not be deceived if someone says that He is the Christ and that the
‘time is near’
4.1.
Intriguingly, the first
thing that Jesus tells His disciples about the time leading up to occurrence of
the destruction of Herod’s temple is that they need to beware of the
possibility of being “deceived” or ‘misled.’ The reason that they need to beware is that ‘many’
will come in the name of Jesus claiming to be Jesus and saying that, ‘The
time is near.’ The deception that
will come upon the earth at that time will be so great that nearly everyone
will be deceived.
4.2.
False Christ’s are evidently
prophesied by Jesus to precede both the destruction of 70 AD as well as Jesus’
Second Coming. Jesus twice gives this
warning to beware of false Christ’s in Matthew’s account of this teaching,
Matt. 24:5 and 24:11, and, in Matthew’s account it is clear that Jesus is primarily
dealing only with the eschatology of the end times before His Second Advent,
not the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD. J.C. Ryle writes the following about the
false Christ’s prophesied by Jesus here, “There were many impostors who appeared
in the latter days of Jewish history who pretended to be the Messiah. It must not surprise us if some in like
manner shall arise and make similar claims about the time of the second advent
of Christ.”
4.3.
Notice that Jesus says here
that these false Christ’s will be “doomsdayers” claiming that ‘The time is
near.” Jesus tells His disciples not
to be misled then by anyone saying that he is the Christ or that the end is
near. This is not the way that Jesus
tells us that He is going to return, His return will happen quickly, in the
time it takes the lightening to cross the sky (Matt. 24:27).
4.4.
In my lifetime I have heard
of several different men who have claimed to be Jesus Christ or God: Sung
Young Moon, Bagwahn Rashneesh, Charles Manson, David Koresh, Jim Jones,
Marshall Applewhite the founder of “Heaven’s Gate, and Mitreya.” This sign certainly qualifies
as a legitimate indication that we alive today are in the last days just
preceding Jesus’ Second Coming.
5. VS 21:9-11 - “9 “When
you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must
take place first, but the end does not follow immediately.” 10
Then He continued by saying to them, “Nation will rise against nation and
kingdom against kingdom, 11 and there will be great earthquakes, and
in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great
signs from heaven.” - Jesus tells His disciples that the second
thing that will be occurring before that time of destruction is that there were
will be wars and disturbances, earthquakes, plagues and famines, and terrors
and great signs from heaven
5.1.
Jesus tells His disciples
that there will be wars and rumors of wars prior to this time of destruction,
and that not only will nations war against nations but kingdoms will war
against kingdoms. This squelches the
belief of those today who are saying that before Jesus comes that the world
will be filled with peace and love and everyone getting right with the Lord.
5.2.
The ‘terrors and great
signs from heaven’ prophesied by Jesus parallel the events described to
occur during the 7 year tribulation as described in the book of Revelation.
5.3.
J.C. Ryle has written the
following about the events preceding the 70 AD destruction of
5.4.
I have always felt that the
two world wars that have occurred in the last century qualifies as fulfillment
of kingdoms going to war against kingdoms.
5.5.
I quote here dated information of ten years ago
collected for my previous study of Matthew 24, “I compiled this information a few years ago from
various sources, “It has been estimated that in the last 3,000 years of
recorded history, there have only been about 286 years in which there was no
war recorded, or 8% of the time, with the occurrence of over 15,000 total wars,
and 4 billion total people killed. From
1970 to 1986, 7.1 million people died in wars.
Over 8,000 peace treaties have been signed during the last 3,000 years,
and the average period of time that they have lasted is 2 years. Likewise, wars have been on an exponential increase
in recent years. It is estimated at the
present time that there are approximately 30-40 nations in some sort of war
with another nation, and that there are at least 19 wars occurring between
nations at any given time. Because of
the prevalence of war, there has even been a move to define “war” as an
altercation that results in the killing of 1,000 or more people… These
statistics do not take into account all of the acts of terrorism that have been
occurring all over the world with tremendous frequency. In 1984 alone, there were 2,679 attacks
committed by 126 of the world’s 174 existing terrorist groups… These statistics
concerning war also do not take into account the fact that in the
5.6.
Notice here that Jesus says that after the occurrence
of these things that ‘the end does not follow immediately.’
5.7.
Notice here that ‘earthquakes,’ ‘famines,’
and ‘plagues’ are mentioned here as signs that will precede this end
times scenario. We know that these sort
of things occurred prior to the 70 AD destruction, however in the past 80 years
statistics show that there has been an exponential increase in all forms of
natural disasters upon the face of the earth.
6. VS 21:12-17 - “12
“But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will
persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before
kings and governors for My name’s sake. 13 “It will lead to an
opportunity for your testimony. 14 “So make up your minds not to
prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; 15 for I will give you
utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or
refute. 16 “But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers
and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, 17
and you will be hated by all because of My name.” - Jesus describes great
persecution that will occur before the end times and that this persecution
shall provide an opportunity to witness for Christ
6.1.
Some contend that in the end
times that “everyone is going to love Christians” as all of the people
in the world will be coming to salvation, but that does not at all jive with
what Jesus states here. Jesus speaks
instead of the fact that there will be persecutions that precede this event and
that His disciples ‘will be hated by all because of My name.’ This persecution is evidently
promised for all of God’s people who will be alive during this time. This teaching should not surprise us for the
apostle Paul wrote that “all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12).
6.2.
We see from the book of Acts
the beginnings of the persecution of the church. Steven was the first martyr. James, the son of thunder, was next. Paul was a great persecutor of the church. The first 300 years of the church saw intense
persecution of the church, first at the hand of the Jews, then from ten Roman
emperors who tried to blot Christianity off of the face of the earth.
6.3.
It has been noted by many
that the last hundred years have seen more persecution of Christians than all
of the other years combined. There is
intense persecution experienced by Christians in all of the predominately
Moslem countries, in
6.4.
Jesus tells His disciples
that their persecution shall provide opportunities for them to share their
faith. Further, He tells them not to
worry about what they will need to say at that time for He (Jesus) will give
them ‘utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will
be able to resist or refute.’ By the way, does not Jesus’ ability to do
this for all of His disciples prove His deity?
7. VS 21:18-19 - “18
“Yet not a hair of your head will perish. 19 “By your
endurance you will gain your lives.” - Jesus tells His disciples that in this time
of persecution that not a hair on their head will perish and by their endurance
they will gain their lives
7.1.
This particular verse is
interesting because there is really no way to interpret it in a literal
way. We know in fact of numerous
persecutions that resulted in severe injury and even death to Jesus’
disciples.
7.2.
How could Jesus then have
said that no a single ‘hair of your head will perish’ ?
7.3.
I believe that what Jesus
must have meant is something that is really profound. I think that He meant that when it comes to
persecution that no one can really harm one of His disciples. Though the body may suffer or even be
destroyed, no one can take our relationship with Jesus away, no one can take
our hope of eternal life away, no one can take the eternal rewards that Christ
can issue us away, no one can take away that peace that comes from His Spirit
in our hearts, no one can take away our faith, and no one can take away our joy
in Christ. No one can really harm us who
are God’s people. Therefore, none of us
as Christians should ever fear being persecuted because of our faith.
8. VS 21:20-22 - “20
“But when you see
8.1.
Jesus gives His disciples a
warning to flee
8.2.
This judging of
8.3.
J.C. Ryle has written how
that this warning evidently saved the lives of many many people prior to the destruction
of Jerusalem in 70 AD, “It appears that three years before the siege of
Jerusalem by Titus, the Roman army under Cestius Gallus made a sudden attack
upon Jerusalem, but most unaccountably and without any apparent reason,
withdrew again, although the city might have been taken with ease. The consequence of this attack was that a
large number of the inhabitants of
9. VS 21:23 - “23 “Woe
to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days;
for there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people;” - Jesus pronounces a woe upon
those women who are pregnant or nursing babies on that day of great distress
and wrath to the people
9.1.
Pregnant women and those
with small children would have the hardest time fleeing
10.
VS 21:24 - “24 and they will fall
by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and
10.1.
This verse definitely refers
to the 70 AD destruction of
10.2.
Josephus wrote that in the
70 AD destruction of
10.3.
Jesus mentions ‘the time
of the Gentiles’ here and that the city of
10.4.
10.5.
Jerusalem will once again be
surrounded by armies and be the setting for the vengeance of God, this time
before the Second Coming of Christ. When
Jesus returns though it will be to deal with all of the nations that are
gathered together against
11.
CONCLUSIONS:
11.1.
As we consider this study
and how it applies to our life, lets first of all remember the poor widow and
her giving. Lets realize that God wants
all of us to give to the church and His work, even if our means is small and we
can only give a little.
11.2.
What pleases the Lord is not
the size of our gift but the attitude of our heart and the amount of our giving
in relation to our means.
11.3.
The Lord has given us signs
that we may observe pertaining to His return for us. We see them occurring around us and therefore
we too need to be even more vigilant in serving the Lord and being ready in our
hearts for Him to return for us. Wars,
rumors of wars, nation fighting against nation, terrorism, kingdom fighting
against kingdom, famines, plagues earthquakes, signs in the heavens, false
Christ’s, persecutions, all we have seen in our lifetime. Today, I believe that we are sitting on the
precipice of Christ’s return and the end of the present age.
11.4.
When we are persecuted for
our faith remember that no one can “really” do us any harm. They can’t take away our relationship with
God, our faith, our hope, our joy, our eternal rewards, etc. Do not fear persecution.