Thus have we seen it--the Lord of Israel, the Lord of the earth and its fulness, rejected by earth's citizens; and He Who once visited them with a day of peace taking His seat at the right hand of power, waiting to visit them with a day of judgment. Luke 20: 42. This was the bearing of the preceding chapter, and this present one shows us more fully all the results to Israel and Jerusalem of this rejection of their King; that is, "the times of the Gentiles," the season of Jerusalem's depression, with the close of those times in the return of the Son of man.
This chapter corresponds, in its general purpose, with Matt. 24, 25, and Mark 13. But, among other distinctions, we may observe the little circumstance which opens it. And it is very peculiarly in the way of Luke.
This poor widow stands in contrast with the nation generally. Our Lord gives her this place. At least, in contrast with those who may be judged a sample of the nation in its worldly wealth and religious self-importance. And as the Lord of Israel here looks at these two together, so had the prophets of Israel before Him. They see the nation in apostasy, and the remnant in the midst of it; like the two at the mill, or in the field, as we have already seen. For, in the last days, when the things of Israel become the subject of divine notice again, these two will once more be manifested.
It was easy for the blessed Lord to pass from the rich benefactors in this scene, to the widow with her two mites. We know His mind too well to think that it could have been otherwise. His Spirit in His prophet (Isa. 66: 1, 2) shows a wonderful thine, somewhat similar to this. He sees the contrite and broken-hearted man, and turns to such, rather than to all the gorgeous works of His own hand. The heavens and the earth are and were and shall be both His delight and His glory, but "to this man" will He rather look. The deepest affections are stirred there.
What comfort is this! And how easily do our own affections understand it? For that which sympathizes with our mind or taste is really nearer to us than that which serves our interest. The one who, abroad, in the affairs of life, promotes our advantage, is not so near to our hearts as the one who can sit with us, and enter into the enjoyments of our mind and taste. And so with our God. That which secures His glory, like the heavens and the earth, is passed by for the humbled sinner that trembles at His word. There the divine mind meets its dearer object.
Who would have it otherwise? But who can measure the consolation that comes to us from this?
It has often been observed with what propriety the Lord, when quoting Isaiah 61, breaks off with the words "to preach the acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4: 19-21); because the words which immediately follow in the prophet being, "and the day of vengeance of our God," the Lord could not of them, as of the preceding words, say, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears," His ministry being one of grace and not of judgment to Israel. But now, in this chapter, the Lord, as it were, continues His quotation from the prophet, and goes on to reveal "the day of vengeance," in order, as He tells us in verse 22, "that all things" (not some merely, as before) "which are written may be fulfilled."
This day of vengeance upon Israel as a nation extends, in some sense, all through these present "times of the Gentiles." The crisis in the latter day is the character of the whole period. They are all "days of vengeance," as the Lord here calls them, though there is to be a special season and visitation at the close--"the day of vengeance" as the prophet calls it. Isa. 34, Isa. 63. And it is the whole period which our Lord here, I judge (rather than in the corresponding chapters in Matthew or Mark) gives us to look at--that dreary and evil season, the portion of Jerusalem during "the days of vengeance," or "the times of the Gentiles." And accordingly, instead of pointing at "the abomination of desolation" (as is done in Matthew and Mark, and by which is described the last enemy of Jerusalem), our evangelist has the more general expression, "when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed about with armies;" introducing "all the trees," in the parable, in connection with "the fig-tree"--these being still further marks of the more general character of this Gospel, and of the more extended view of Jerusalem's sorrows which the Lord is here taking. Indeed, it is only Luke who has the expression, "the times of the Gentiles."
And this being so, the Lord here looking through the long vista of Jerusalem's griefs, the strong impression left on the mind, after reading this chapter, is this - that the Lord's great purpose was to guard His saints against the thought that the kingdom of Israel was to be entered at once or in quietness. He tells them that they were to count on no such things at all, for before the kingdom could arise there were to be judgments and sorrows. "The time draweth near," some would say; "I am Christ," others would say;" or the same seducer might utter both (v. 8); but the Lord here warns His disciples against such. The citizens had already hated their offered King; and, as enemies, they must be slain, ere the kingdom could fully appear. And to leave on the hearts of the disciples the clear and full impression of all this, so that they might stand in an evil day, and not be seduced by any false prophet of peace, was the great purpose of the Lord in this discourse with them.
I believe that Daniel, in like manner, looks through the whole time, "the times of the Gentiles," as being one and the same in character; and calls it "the war." Dan. 9: 26. The end, it is true, will be special, and will be manifested "with a flood," as he speaks; but the whole is a war, and desolations are determined, till that which is also determined be poured upon the desolater.
But it is very significant, that, while Matthew and Mark give us more particularly the last great Jewish sorrow, or "Jacob's trouble," and Luke more widely the whole age of "the times of the Gentiles," John does not notice this remarkable prophecy at all. The Lord's solemn entry as the King into Jerusalem goes off quite in another direction from what it does in any of the previous Gospels. The Greeks, representing the attendant and obedient nations in the latter day, come desiring to see Him, and this leads Him out at once to other thoughts. His soul then passes through a trouble; and shortly afterwards He forebodes, not the judgment of Israel, according to this prophecy, but the judgment of the world and of the prince of the world. And at length, in the riches of His grace, as Saviour of the world, He tells of Himself being lifted up on the cross, and of His being the Light of the world, and the One Who spoke according to that commandment which the Father had given Him, and which is life everlasting. See John 12.
This is all strikingly characteristic of the four Gospels, and aids the conclusion that this prophecy, not found in John, is about Jewish matters, and connected with the return of "the Son of man" to the earth. For that is not the Church's prospect. The saints now wait for the descent of "the Son of God" from heaven to the air. 1 Thess. 1. It is the Jewish election, who, by-and-by, will have to wait for the days of the Son of man.
The Lamentations of Jeremiah are the proper utterances of the heart, in sympathy with Jerusalem and her children, all through these "times of the Gentiles." The city still sits solitary. The mountain of Zion is still desolate. The crown is fallen, and the joy of the heart is gone. The punishment of iniquity is not yet accomplished in that land and among that people. Rachel still weeps. But the Lord will not cast off for ever (Lam. 3: 31), and Rachel has been told this, "Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy." Jer. 31: 16.
But there is another expression, also peculiar to our Gospel, which happily leads to other prospects. Speaking of the consummation of these Jewish sorrows, the Lord says, "When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."
To say, "The time draweth nigh," before any trouble could come, would be deceit, as we have seen; but now when the day of vengeance is at its height, to say "Your redemption draweth nigh," would be holy and seasonable comfort to the faithful. And, in like manner, the prophets connect "the day of vengeance" with the "year of My redeemed," as the Lord here does. Isa. 63: 4. Judgment on the apostate nation, deliverance and joy to the remnant, are both to be looked for. For though the Lord make a full end of all nations, yet will He not make a full end of Israel. The promised "times of the restitution of all things" will surely follow the threatened "times of the Gentiles." And those promised times of restitution, called here by the Lord "your redemption," will be the true Jewish or earthly jubilee, which pre-eminently was the time of restitution or redemption. See Lev. 25.
In Israel the land and the people both belonged to the Lord; and in the year of jubilee He dealt with them as His own. For forty-nine years He allowed confusion to prevail. Lands might be sold, and the people themselves go to the creditor. But this was to be only for a season, for God's claim was paramount; and every fiftieth year He would assert it. Israelite might traffic with Israelite, and corrupt the primitive order, or God's world, making the whole system man's world; but all this corruption and disturbance was to have an end, and this end came in the returning year of jubilee. Then the Lord arose, as it were, to act on His own principles, and assert His own rights; to undo all the mischief which man's trafficking had introduced, and to replant the land and the people according to their beginnings under His own hand. His hand was then uppermost, and His order and purpose would show themselves openly. And what joy it is to see this, that the moment we get things again under God's hand, the moment we find ourselves in His world, it is a jubilee we are keeping, a season of joy, a time for the restoration of grace, a time for making a happy return, every one to his family, and every one to his possession.
How blessed (to speak according to the figure or symbol of this ordinance) thus to have the Lord the Landlord of the earth again. "Happy are the people that are in such a case." And this jubilee was introduced by the day of atonement. Lev. 25: 9. That was the day that was to open the millennial age. For it is nothing but the work of the Lamb of God that can lead to any joy or deliverance among us. The precious blood is all our title. And thus it is that the jubilee and redemption are connected; so that when the Lord here says, "Your redemption draweth nigh," it was as looking out to this jubilee of Israel and the earth. The jubilee was God's redemption of His land and people. Supposing that no kinsman could be found able or willing to do this previously, God Himself, in the fiftieth year, would exercise both His rights and His resources in behalf of His oppressed land and bondaged people. And thus this jubilee was "the year of My redeemed" (as spake the Lord by the prophet), or, the season of "redemption," towards which the eyes of the expectant, suffering remnant are here directed by their blessed Master.
We learn, then, that "these things shall come to pass;" these "days of vengeance," these "times of the Gentiles," will run their course, but "redemption" is to be behind them all. The "smoking furnace" will pass first, because the Lord's rights and claims have been denied by the rebellious citizens of this world, because there was no "son of peace" in man's "city of confusion;" but, as surely, the "burning lamp" will follow. Gen. 15. A cry from the citizens, that they would not have Him, followed the Lord; and on His return He must therefore visit them, in His sore displeasure, ere He proclaim the jubilee. But the jubilee waits to crown and close the work.
This is food for hope; and God is the God of hope. To be without hope is to be without God. Eph. 2: 12. We cannot have faith without having hope; because the truth we believe is God's truth; and God, being Love, will not reveal truth to us without making that truth of such a character as will inspire hope in us. He must give this shape to His revelations. He Who called Israel out of Egypt called them into Canaan. And so with us; "Being justified by faith, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Rom. 5: 2.
This is most sure. God is the God of hope as well as of salvation. But the style of this chapter suggests (what has struck me generally throughout Scripture) that the food which hope gets in Scripture is comparatively little--rich indeed, but small in quantity. This, however, is only a further witness of the perfection of the divine oracles. Because God Himself is our present lesson. We are called to learn Him first, and then the inheritance or glory He has to give. And this is so right. For when we thoroughly know the excellency or goodness of a person, we can easily assure ourselves that we shall be no losers by him. His character warrants our hope, and is the security of our expectations. Nay, we wrong him, if we do not hope from him. Had man, however, been the author of the Scriptures, they would have been very different from this. They would have been filled with descriptions of the promised joy. Just as touching the life and character of Christ: had man been the author of such a history, he would have dealt largely in description and encomium. But the way of those who have spoken of Him under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost is the very opposite. So as to our prospects. Look at Job's history. Long account we get of his sorrows and the exercise of his faith, but the joy and honour in which all those sorrows resulted are given us in one short chapter. Bright, to be sure, is the exhibition there of his final condition, but comparatively small, and soon disposed of. And in this manner, generally, the testimonies of God give us large and repeated account of the evil of this world, and of our consequent trial of faith in it, but feed the hopes of our hearts more sparingly. For, as I suggested before, it is rather Himself we are to know now, and on Himself to feed now.
Our present chapter is after this pattern. We have sorrow and trial occupying the scene largely, but the, prospect at the end presented shortly, and soon filled up--"Lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."
