21:1-4

Two mites=2% of a day’s wage.
In California, minimum wage is $12 per hour in 2019.
This would be the equivalent of $1.92.

NOTE-Jesus had just criticized those who devour widow’s houses.
Perhaps this widow’s house had been devoured, and now she is giving from the little that was left.

Jesus said that she had given more than all of them put together.
The valuing of her gift was measured not by how much she gave numerically, but by how much she sacrificed to give what she gave.
NOTE- From the widow, we learn not to wait to give until we have more, but to give sacrificially even from the small amount that we might have.

21:5-6

The 1st Temple had been destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army.
The 2nd Temple had been rebuilt by Zerubbabel and Ezra but had been remodeled and expanded by King Herod during the time of Jesus.
Herod started his remodeling of the Temple and the expansion of the Temple Mount area in 19 B.C. and it was completed in 63 A.D., taking more than 80 years.
It was destroyed in 70 A.D., only 7 years after being completed.

The Temple had white marble columns and was covered on the outside with gold plating.
Also, the ceiling was inlaid with gold.

The Temple was highly revered among the Jews.
Some people even swore by the Temple.
To speak against the Temple was likened unto committing blasphemy.

When the Jews rebelled against Rome, and Rome finally attacked Jerusalem, some of the Jews ran into the Tempe for safety.
Tradition tells us that a drunken Roman soldier threw a torch into the Temple, setting it on fire.
All the gold melted down between the stones and the Romans dismantled the Temple to get the gold.
The Temple was so thoroughly dismantled, that it is impossible for archeologists to determine its exact previous location.
Jesus’ prophecy was fulfilled completely.

21:7

Matthew 24 gives us a more complete record of what Jesus said.
He answered these questions when He was on the Mt. of Olives, across the Kidron Valley, and looking back at Jerusalem. It is known as The Olivet Discourse.

Matthew 24:3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

Jesus will address two issues:
The soon coming destruction of Jerusalem, and His eventual second coming

Spurgeon-“We must regard the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple as being a kind of rehearsal of what is yet to be.”

21:8-11

These events describe both the time just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the time during the Great Tribulation just prior to the physical return of Jesus to the Earth
1st Century-The Romans were frequently at war with other nations: Jews, Samaritans, Syrians.
There were false Messiahs in those days.
The earthquake in Pompei occurred in 63 A.D.
Acts 11:28 speaks of a famine in Israel.
There was a comet that looked like a sword that occurred just before the destruction of the Temple.

Great Tribulation-Revelation describes these same kinds of occurrences just prior to the physical return of Jesus to Jerusalem.
The Antichrist will declare himself to be God when he enters the 3rd Temple which has not yet been built.

Both descriptions considered here are the first indications of what Jesus predicts.
They are the labor pains that indicate something more will happen later.

21:12-15

The persecution of the Jews would happen before the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D.
It will happen again in a bigger way during the reign of the Antichrist during what is called The Great Tribulation, or The Time Of Jacob’s Trouble.

God’s people (both Jews and Christians then, now, and in the future), are not to plan what to say, but to depend upon God’s Spirit to fill them and speak through them during those times of persecution.

Meditate beforehand- To practice a speech.
They were not to practice their response, but God would fill them and they would offer strong testimonies regarding Jesus.

NOTE- Though persecution will happen at the time of the end, every way of persecution should not be interpreted as a final sign that the end has come.
Both Jews and Christians have been persecuted for centuries.

John 15:8 If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.

21:16-19

The threat of death causes many to be tray even their own family.
Patience-hupomene.
Not passive waiting, but active endurance

Not a hair…possess your souls-Speaks not of physical safety, but of eternal safety.
Many Jewish Believers were killed, as well as Gentile Christians.

21:20-24

This clearly addresses that destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D.
History tells us that the majority of the Jewish population initially ignored the fact that the Roman armies eventually encircled them.
They expected their Messiah to rescue them when the Romans came.
NOTE-History tells us that many Christians fled, having remembered the prophecy of Jesus.
Million Jews were killed, and 97,000 were taken captive.
When the city was destroyed, nit one Jew was left in the city.
The Romans renamed the city Aelia Capitolina.
Jews were banned to enter the city except one day per year: the day it was destroyed.
They were allowed to come in and mourn.

It is easy to understand why Jesus wept over the city.

V. 24-And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
Guzik- After thousands of years of exile, a Jewish state was miraculously established in Israel again in 1948. It was not until 1968 that Israel controlled Jerusalem, but still today they yield the rule and the administration of the most central piece of Jerusalem – the Temple Mount – to Gentile rule (the Palestinian Authority). It can be argued that prophetically speaking, Jerusalem is still trampled by Gentiles.

When that time ends, I believe that is when we enter into the final seven-year period of history known as the Great Tribulation period.

21:25-28
These signs then occur after the time of the Gentiles are fulfilled, during the Great Tribulation period.

History record nothing like this ever happening in 70 A.D.
Jesus is looking forward to the time of the Gentiles ending, and the Great Tribulation.
Revelation describes these events in great detail.

Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near:
Jesus speaks to those who will be alive during this time.
The Great Tribulation period will not last forever.
It is a time pre-determined by God.
For those alive during this time, it would feel like it would last forever.

Jesus said that unless those days were shortened, no flesh would survive.
Jesus here tells those who are alive during that time what they should be looking for.
These are Tribulation Saints, not the church.

The Great Tribulation will end with the physical return of Jesus to the Earth, accompanied by His people.

21:29-33
Those who would be alive and see these things could rightly anticipate the return of Jesus.
As a budding tree indicates that summer will come soon, so these signs would indicate that Jesus would return soon.

This generation- The people alive during the Great Tribulation period.
Jesus was not talking about any other people group.

“Genea can mean three things:
(1) the descendants of a common ancestor (The Jews)
(2) a set of people born at the same time
(3) the period of time occupied by such a set of people, often in the sense of successive sets of people.

It cannot be said…therefore, that genea necessarily means generation.” (Pate)

V. 33- No mere man could ever say this.

21:34-38
Jesus here seems to insinuate or hint at two things:
Those who will go through this awful time of the Great Tribulation
Those who are counted worthy of escaping it.

This seems to translate into two events:
The rapture of the Church (those counted worthy by faith, of escaping this time of judgment)
Those who are caught up with the affairs of a self-serving life and who will face judgment.
The Rapture of the church indicates that the times of the Gentiles have ended, and that the judgement of God has begun on Earth. It is also the time when God opens the eyes of the Jewish nation and they once again turn to God on a national level.
Those who miss the Rapture of the church are destined to go through the Great Tribulation.

Vs. 34, 35- Worldliness keeps people from looking for the coming of Jesus.
Worldliness and the cares of this life make us unprepared for the coming of Jesus for His church, at the Rapture.
This snare will happen to the whole Earth, not just upon Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

V. 36-Watch and pray- If we watch and pray, it means we are ready.

Vs. 37, 38-Jesus taught publicly during that week, but camped out on the Mt. of Olives.