Look Up, For Your King is Coming Text: Luke 21:25-28
Introduction: Reading the Signs
We live in an age that is perpetually terrified. Our news cycles are driven by a constant barrage of panic, perplexity, and the expectation of things coming upon the world. Whether it is economic collapse, climate disaster, global pandemics, or the threat of war, modern man is fainting from fear. He sees the roaring of the sea and the waves, and he has no idea what to do. He has no king, no anchor, and no hope. He is, in a word, godless, and therefore he is terrified of the future.
Into this swirling vortex of anxiety, the words of Jesus in the Olivet Discourse come not to amplify the fear, but to anchor the faithful. For the unbeliever, the shaking of the heavens is the end of everything. For the believer, it is the beginning of everything. The very same events that cause the nations to despair are the signs that should cause the saints to rejoice.
But we have to know how to read the signs. For two centuries, American evangelicalism has been hobbled by a disastrously wrong-headed approach to these texts. They have read them with newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other, looking for signs of the "end times" in every headline about the Middle East. They have interpreted the de-creation language of collapsing stars and darkened suns with a wooden literalism that the original audience would have found baffling. This has produced a frightened, escapist, and culturally impotent church, always looking to be raptured out of a world they were commissioned to disciple.
The key to understanding this passage, and the entire Olivet Discourse, is to recognize that Jesus is speaking prophetically in the language of the Old Testament. And in the Old Testament, this kind of apocalyptic language, the shaking of the heavens and the earth, consistently refers not to the end of the space-time continuum, but to the collapse of a nation or an empire. It is covenantal language. It is the language of judgment. And the judgment Jesus is primarily predicting here is the catastrophic judgment that fell upon Jerusalem and the entire Judaic system in A.D. 70. That event was the definitive end of an age. The sun, moon, and stars of the old covenant world were shaken and fell, making way for the new covenant kingdom that cannot be shaken.
The Text
"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, 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. And then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN A CLOUD with power and great glory. But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
(Luke 21:25-28 LSB)
Cosmic Collapse as Political Judgment (v. 25-26)
We begin with the signs of cosmic and earthly distress.
"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, 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." (Luke 21:25-26)
Now, if we insist on reading this like a modern science textbook, we will miss the point entirely. Jesus is not predicting that the literal star Betelgeuse will go supernova. He is using established, biblical imagery for the fall of a great political and religious order. The "heavens" in prophetic language often refer to the ruling authorities, and the "earth" to the people being ruled. The sun, moon, and stars represent the various levels of that authority structure. When God judges a nation, its lights go out.
Consider how the prophet Isaiah used this exact language to describe the fall of Babylon: "For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light" (Isaiah 13:10). Was this a literal astronomical event in 539 B.C.? Of course not. It was the political and social collapse of the Babylonian empire. Ezekiel uses similar language for the judgment on Egypt (Ezekiel 32:7-8). This is standard prophetic vocabulary.
Jesus, the great prophet, is taking up this language and applying it to the greatest judgment in redemptive history up to that point: the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem. The entire old covenant world, with its priesthood, its sacrifices, and its temple, was the "heavens and earth" that were about to be shaken and removed (cf. Hebrews 12:26-27). This was a world-ending event, not the end of the world.
And what was the result on the ground? "Anguish among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves." The Jewish historian Josephus, an eyewitness to the siege of Jerusalem, describes the civil war, the famine, the fanaticism, and the sheer terror within the city in terms that perfectly match this description. The "roaring of the sea and the waves" is a classic Old Testament metaphor for the tumult of rebellious nations (Isaiah 17:12; Psalm 65:7). The land of Judea was in utter chaos. Men were "fainting from fear and the expectation" of the Roman armies and the internal collapse. The entire social and political cosmos of first-century Judaism was coming apart at the seams.
The Coming of the Son of Man (v. 27)
It is in the midst of this covenantal collapse that Christ's vindication occurs.
"And then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN A CLOUD with power and great glory." (Luke 21:27)
Again, our rapture-chart-addled minds immediately picture Jesus floating down from the sky to land on the Mount of Olives. But we must let Scripture interpret Scripture. Where does this image of the Son of Man coming on the clouds come from? It comes directly from Daniel 7.
"I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him" (Daniel 7:13-14).
Notice the direction of the coming. The Son of Man is not coming from heaven down to earth. He is coming on the clouds up to the Ancient of Days in heaven to receive His kingdom. This is a scene of vindication and enthronement. It is a heavenly event, not an earthly one. Jesus is referring to His ascension and His session at the right hand of the Father. From that position of authority, He orchestrates the events on earth.
So how did they "see" this? They saw it in the effects. They saw it in the judgment. When the Roman armies, whom Jesus called "His armies" (Matthew 22:7), surrounded Jerusalem, when the temple was torn down stone by stone just as He had predicted, when the old covenant system was definitively dismantled, the world saw the vindication of Jesus Christ. They saw that He was indeed the one who had been given all authority in heaven and on earth. The destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 was the visible, historical confirmation that the Son of Man was reigning in power and great glory from the right hand of the Father. It was a coming in judgment, just as God is often described as "coming" on the clouds to judge Egypt or other nations in the Old Testament (Isaiah 19:1).
The Christian Response to Crisis (v. 28)
Given this proper understanding, the final verse is not a call to escapism, but a summons to confident hope in the midst of turmoil.
"But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." (Luke 21:28)
For the faithless Jews trapped in Jerusalem, the shaking of their world was a sign of their utter destruction. But for the Christians who had heeded Jesus' warnings and fled the city when they saw the signs (Luke 21:20-21), this same event was the sign of their "redemption."
What redemption is this? It is not the final redemption from our mortal bodies at the Second Coming. It was their redemption from the old covenant order and the persecution that came from it. For the first forty years of the church's existence, the primary source of persecution was from the unbelieving Jews. The apostles were arrested, beaten, and killed at their hands. The Judaizers plagued the Gentile churches. The entire old system stood as a rival to the new kingdom of Jesus Christ.
The destruction of the temple in A.D. 70 was the final, public divorce. It was God's definitive statement that the old wineskin was done. The Christians were vindicated. Their Lord was proven to be the true King. Their redemption from that old world, that old aeon, had fully and finally arrived. They were now free to inherit the world, to take the gospel to all nations without the anchor of the temple system dragging them down.
Therefore, when the world is shaking, when the nations are in an uproar, when men are fainting from fear, what is the Christian posture? It is not to faint with them. It is to "straighten up and lift up your heads." We are to stand tall. We are to look up. Why? Because we know that the turmoil of nations is not the sign of chaos winning. It is the sign of our King's dominion. He is putting all His enemies under His feet (1 Cor. 15:25). The shaking of earthly kingdoms is simply the process by which He establishes His unshakable kingdom (Heb. 12:28).
Conclusion: Your Redemption Draws Near
The principle of this passage applies directly to us today. We are not waiting for the fall of Jerusalem. That is in our past. But we live in an age where the pagan heavens and earth are being shaken once again. The secular order, built on the sand of human autonomy and rebellion against God, is trembling. We see anguish, perplexity, and fear all around us.
And what should be our response? The same as that of the first-century disciples. We are not to be dismayed. We are not to be caught up in the panic of the talking heads on the television. We are to straighten up and lift up our heads. We are to see the turmoil not as the death throes of hope, but as the birth pangs of a greater Christendom.
Every time a corrupt institution of man shakes, it is a sign that our King is on the move. Every time a secularist idol is smashed, it is a sign that our redemption is drawing nearer. Our redemption is not an escape from this world, but the redemption of this world. Christ is reigning now. He is coming now, in providence and in power, shaking the things that can be shaken so that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. The gospel is the power of God for salvation, and it is the power that will ultimately fill the earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
So do not be afraid. When the sea and the waves are roaring, when the powers of the heavens are being shaken, do not look down at the chaos in fear. Look up to the throne in faith. Straighten your backs. Lift up your heads. Your King is coming, and your redemption is drawing near.