Commentary - Luke 21:25-28

Bird's-eye view

In this section of the Olivet Discourse, the Lord Jesus employs the dramatic, world-ending language of Old Testament prophecy to describe the impending judgment on Jerusalem in A.D. 70. This is not, as is commonly supposed, a description of the final Second Coming at the end of time, but rather the end of an age, the end of the old covenant world. The disciples had asked about the destruction of the temple, and Jesus answers them directly. The cosmic signs, the turmoil of the nations, and the shaking of the heavens are all apocalyptic metaphors for a historic, concrete, and localized judgment. This was the "coming of the Son of Man" in wrath against the generation that rejected Him. For the unbelieving world, particularly apostate Israel, this was a time of unprecedented terror and despair. But for the beleaguered Christians of that era, it was the very moment of their deliverance. This passage is a stark reminder that God judges His enemies in history and that the collapse of corrupt world systems is, for the faithful, a prelude to their redemption.

The key to understanding this passage is to let Scripture interpret Scripture. The prophets regularly used this kind of language, describing the sun and moon going dark and the stars falling, to announce the fall of earthly kingdoms like Babylon or Egypt. Jesus, as the ultimate prophet, takes up this inspired vocabulary to pronounce the doom of the temple-centric world of Old Covenant Judaism. For the world, it is terror. For the church, it is time to look up, for their King is being vindicated and their deliverance from their persecutors is at hand.

Outline

Context In Luke

This passage is Luke's account of the Olivet Discourse, delivered by Jesus in the final week before His crucifixion. It is a direct response to the disciples' awe over the temple buildings and Jesus' subsequent prophecy that "not one stone will be left upon another" (Luke 21:6). The disciples ask when this will happen and what the sign will be. Jesus spends the bulk of the chapter describing the preliminary signs: false messiahs, wars, famines, plagues, and persecution. He specifically identifies the sign for the coming desolation as "Jerusalem surrounded by armies" (Luke 21:20). He then prophesies the fall of the city and the trampling of it by the Gentiles. The verses that follow, our current text, describe that climactic judgment in apocalyptic terms. This entire discourse is a prophecy of covenantal judgment against Israel, culminating in the historical events of A.D. 70, which in turn serves as a type and shadow of the final judgment at the end of history.

Key Issues

Decreation and Judgment

When modern readers encounter passages about the sun being darkened and the moon not giving its light, we tend to think in literal, astronomical terms. This is a mistake. We have to read this language with Old Testament ears. The prophets used this kind of "decreation" language to describe the collapse of political and religious orders. For example, Isaiah describes the fall of Babylon in precisely these terms: "For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light" (Isa 13:10). Was this a literal astronomical event in 539 B.C.? Of course not. It was a powerful, inspired metaphor for the total collapse of the Babylonian world order.

Jesus, the Lord of the prophets, is doing the same thing here. He is describing the end of the world, but it is the end of the Jewish world, the old covenant age that was centered on the temple in Jerusalem. The "heavens" in this context refer to the ruling structures of that world, and the "earth" refers to the people of the land. The sun, moon, and stars represent the ruling authorities, the religious calendar, the very fabric of their society. When Jesus says these will be shaken, He is prophesying the complete and utter overthrow of the entire Judaic system, which is exactly what happened when the Roman armies destroyed the temple and scattered the people. This was not just a military defeat; it was a covenantal apocalypse.

Verse by Verse Commentary

25 “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth anguish among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves,

Jesus begins with the language of cosmic collapse. As noted above, the "signs in sun and moon and stars" refer to the overturning of the established religious and political order of Israel. This is the deconstruction of their universe. On the earth, this celestial chaos is reflected in terrestrial chaos. There will be "anguish among nations." The word for nations here can also mean the Gentiles, but in this context, it more likely refers to the tribes of the land of Judea in their tumultuous rebellion against Rome. This led to "perplexity," a state of being utterly at a loss, with no way out. The "roaring of the sea and the waves" is another classic Old Testament metaphor for the raging of rebellious peoples and the tumult of invading armies (cf. Isa 17:12; Ps 93:3-4). This is not about a tsunami; it is about the sound of a society tearing itself apart and the clash of armies.

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.

The psychological effect of this covenantal collapse is sheer terror. Men will be "fainting from fear," or more literally, their hearts will fail them. The historian Josephus documents the absolute horror, despair, and madness that gripped the inhabitants of Jerusalem during the Roman siege. They were terrified by what was happening and filled with a dreadful "expectation" of what was yet to come. The word for "world" here is oikoumene, the inhabited earth, but it is often used to refer to the Roman Empire or, in a Jewish context, the world of their covenantal land. The reason for this terror is that the "powers of the heavens will be shaken." This is the foundation of their world giving way. The temple, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the entire system that they believed made them right with God was being violently dismantled before their eyes. This was the final removal of the old covenant order, which was a copy and shadow, so that the unshakable kingdom could remain (Heb 12:26-27).

27 And then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN A CLOUD with power and great glory.

This is the central event. But what is it? Our popular hymnody has trained us to see this as Jesus descending physically to earth on a literal cloud. But we must let the Old Testament define the terms. This language is drawn directly from Daniel 7, where "one like a son of man" comes "with the clouds of heaven" and approaches the Ancient of Days to receive a kingdom (Dan 7:13-14). The movement is not down, but up. It is a scene of vindication and enthronement. Jesus' "coming" here is not a coming to earth, but a coming in judgment against His enemies. The clouds are the vehicle of divine judgment throughout Scripture (Ps 104:3). So, how did "they see" this? They saw it in the events themselves. They saw it in the smoke rising from the temple. They saw it in the victorious Roman armies, which were the unwitting instrument of God's wrath. They saw the effects of the enthroned Christ's power and glory. His authority, which they had rejected, was now demonstrated in their utter destruction. It was the vindication of His claims and the execution of His sentence against them.

28 But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Here, Jesus turns from the condemned to the redeemed. The very events that cause the world to faint with terror are the signal for believers to stand up straight and look up with eager expectation. For the Christ-rejecting Jews, the destruction of Jerusalem was unmitigated wrath. But for the Christians, who had been persecuted and hounded by that same corrupt establishment, it was their "redemption." The word here is apolutrosis, which means a release or deliverance bought by a price. In this historical context, it refers to their deliverance from the persecuting power of apostate Judaism. The fall of Jerusalem broke the back of that persecution and vindicated the followers of Jesus as the true people of God. Their Lord, who had been crucified outside the gates of that city, was now judging that city. The destruction of the old was the final confirmation of the new. This was their vindication, their deliverance, their redemption in that historical moment.

Application

The first and most crucial application is that we must learn to read our Bibles as a coherent whole. The apocalyptic language of the New Testament is not a free-floating code for us to decipher with newspaper headlines. It is rooted deeply in the soil of the Old Testament prophets. When we understand how the prophets spoke, we can understand how Jesus spoke.

Second, this passage teaches us that God judges nations and corrupt religious systems within history. The fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 was a temporal judgment that serves as a pattern for all subsequent judgments. God is not a distant, uninvolved landlord. He raises up kingdoms and He casts them down. We should therefore not be surprised when we see corrupt and godless civilizations begin to shake and crumble. The powers of our own secular heavens are being shaken right now. For those who have put their trust in those systems, it is a time of anguish and fainting from fear.

But for the church, the lesson is the same as it was in the first century. When the world begins to come apart at the seams, we are not to despair. We are to straighten up and lift up our heads. Our King is on the throne. The collapse of man's proud towers is a sign that our ultimate redemption is drawing near. Our hope is not in the stability of this world's sun, moon, and stars, but in the unshakable kingdom of the Son of Man, who has all power and great glory. Therefore, we should see the tumult of our times not as a reason for panic, but as a call to faithfulness, confidence, and joyful expectation.