The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 2 — Section 179

city An<l tC'mple from the eschntologicn.l So Godet, who picturesquely likens our glnbo portion of tlle snme prophecv. Ritlierto just before the second advent to "o. ship the Lord's words referred solely to the fall creaking in every timber nt tbo moment of of Jerusalem and the ruin of the Jewish Hs going to pieces." He suggests thr\t race. Now begins a sho1t prophetic de- "om· wholo solar system shall tlieu undergo scription of the end and of the coming of unusual commotions. The moving forces the Son of man in glory. (Svvrtum-), regular in their action till then, Y ,,rs. 25-27.-1'he prophecy of the comi11g shall be, as it were, set free from their laws of /he Son oj man in glory. The signs which by an unknown power, and, at the end of ,hr:ll precede this adt•cnt. And there shall be tllis 'l'iolent hut short distxess, the worl<l. sig::is in the si:n, and in the moon, and in the shall see him appear" (see 2 Pet. iii. 10-12, stars ; and upon the earth distress of nations, where it is plainly foretold that tremendous with perplexity; the sea. and the waves physical disturbances shall precede the roaring ; men's hearts failing them for fear, second coming of the Lord). The Son of man and for looking after those things which coming in a cloud. The same luminous are ooming on the earth : for the powers cloud we read of so often in the Penta.tench: of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall the flames of tlle desert•"'anderings; the they see the Son of man coming in a cloud pillar of cloud and fire; the same bright with power and gTea.t glory. The Lord con- cloud enveloped the Lord on the Mount tin "Jes his solemn prophecy respecting things of Trnnsfigura.tiou; it received him as ho to come. Now, the question of tlle four was taken up (Acts i. 9). Nothing is so.id disciples-to which this great discourse was in this place as to any millennial reign of tlic answer-was, When were they to look Christ on earth. 'fhe description is that of for that awful ruin of city and temple of a. transitory eppearnuce destined to effect which their loved Master spoke? But they, the work upon qu"ick and dead-an appear- it m'U,St be remembered, in their own minds ance defined more particularly by St. Paul cfosely connected the temple's fall with some in 1 Cor. xv. 23 and 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17. glorious epiphany of their Master, in which Vere. 28-36.-Practical teaching arising they should share. He answers generally out of the foregoiHg prophecy respecting the their formal question as to the temple, fall of Jerusalem and the " last things." describing to tllem the very signs they a.re Ver. 28.-And when these things begin to look for as heralding the temple's fall. to come to pass, then look up, a.id lift up He now proooeds to reply to their real query your heads; for your redemption draweth respecting the glorious epiphany. The nigh. There is no doubt that the first temple's ruin, that belonged to the period reference in this verse is to the earlier part in which they were living; but the glorious of !he prophecy-the fate of tlie city and epipllany, that lay in afar distance. "See," the ruin of the Jewish power. "Your re- he said, "city and temple will be destroyed; demption" would tllen signify "your deliver- thi, catastrophe some of you will live to ance" from the constant and bitter hostility see. The ruin will be in-eparable ; a new of the Jewish authority. After A.D. 70 and epoch will set in, an epoch I call 'the times the fall of Jerusalem, the growth of Chris- of the Gentiles.' 'fllese once despised tianity was far more rapid than it had been peoples wiU have their turn, for I shall be during the first thilty or forty years of its tueir Light. Ages will pass before these eristence. It had no longer to cope wH11 'times of ilie Gentiles' shall be fulfilled, the skilfully ordered, relentless opposition but the end will come, and then, and not of its deadly Jewish foe. Yet between the till then, will the 8on of WBn come in glory. lines o. yet deeper meaning is discernible. Listen; these shall be the signs which shall In all timeij tue , arnest Christian is on the herald this glorious advent: Signs in the watch for tlie signs of the ad vent of his Elln and in the moon, and in the stars.'' St. Lord, and the restless watch serves to keep lllattbew (xxiv. 29) supplies more details hope alive, for the watcher knows that thnt concerning these " sigus.'' The sun would advent will be the sure heral<l. of his re- be darkened, and the moon would not give dernpf.ion from all the wearinc~s and pain- her light ; the stars would fall from heaven. fulness of tliis life. 'fbese word~ are evidently a memory of Ver. 29.-And he spake to them a parable. lan=ge UJied by the Hebrew prophets to "It is certain," went on the Lord to s11y, erp~ess figuratively the downfall of king- "that summer follows the season when the doms. So Isaiah (xiii. 10) speaks thus of fig tree and other trees put forth their green the destruction of Babvlon, and Ezckid Rhoots. It is no less certain that these (n.xii. 7) of the fall of Egypt (sec too tliiugs-thc fall of Jerusalem, o.nd later the Isa. xx.xiv. 4). It is, however, µrobable end of the world-will follow closely on the that our Lord, while using language and signs I have just I.old you about." 1ignres familiar to HeLrew thought, fore- Yer. 32.-Verily I say unto you, This shu.dowed o. literal fulfilment of his words. geneze.tion shall 11ot paBS away, till all be OH. xxL 1-38.J THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 187