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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Luke 21:12 - 21:19
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Earlier signs:
v. 12. But before all these they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for My name's sake.
v. 13. And it shall turn to you for a testimony.
v. 14. Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate before what ye shall answer;
v. 15. for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
v. 16. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.
v. 17. And ye shall be hated of all men for My name's sake.
v. 18. But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
v. 19. In your patience possess ye your souls.
Here are some of the signs which concern the disciples of Christ in the interval between His ascension and the destruction of Jerusalem in particular, but which find their application to the treatment and fate of the believers of all times. The enemies would lay their hands upon them and persecute them, as was done to the apostles almost from the beginning, James being the first one out of their midst to suffer martyrdom; and Stephen had been stoned even before that. They would be delivered to the councils of the synagogues for judgment, whose sentence would commit them to prison, as in the persecution in which the unconverted Paul was so active. They would use the legal machinery to have the confessors of Christ hauled before kings and rulers on account of the name of Christ which they confessed, Paul himself experiencing this several times, before Felix, before Festus, before Agrippa and Bernice, before Nero. The history of the early Church is full of stories which fully substantiate every word of the prophecy of the Lord. And that the hearts of the enemies of the Gospel today are no different than at that time has been shown during recent developments, where attacks were not directed against a language, but against the confession of faith. But Christ's comfort stands today as it did then. All these things turn out for a testimony in favor of the believers and the truth which they profess. Not only do they receive credit and honor for their fearless confession of Christ, but their testimony has the effect which the proclamation of the Word of God always has: it influences the hearts and minds of men. To His disciples the Lord therefore gave instructions not to premeditate, to work out carefully in advance, their apology or defense. The best and highest efforts of mere human wisdom and skill will avail nothing unless the Lord Himself opens the mouth of His confessors and believers and gives them the proper wisdom from on high. Jesus and His Spirit, the Spirit of the Father, they are the invincible allies of all true believers, with whose aid they can cheerfully take up the apparently unequal battle against the powers of darkness in the persons of the enemies and detractors of the pure Gospel. More than once, as the example of John and Peter, of Paul, of Polycarp, of Luther, and of others show, the enemies have not been able either to withstand. or to contradict the testimony of the servants of Christ. All that make it their aim to oppose the preaching of the Gospel-truth may be overcome and silenced by a simple and unequivocal confession of the truth of the Gospel as it is contained in the Word of God. The disciples should therefore not be deterred or discouraged even by the fact that there will be dissension in families, that the bonds of both relationship and the nearest friendship will be torn asunder by questions concerning the Gospel. Parents, brothers and sisters, near relatives friends: they all will forget the duties and obligations of their station in their hatred of the Word of Salvation; they will deliver the Christians into the hands of their enemies, and in some cases they will not rest until they have caused them to be put to death. The believers will, in fact, be continually hated of all men on account of their confession of Christ's name. This is the cross of the Christians, the prospect which they must face. There is neither compromise nor mitigation. And yet, in the midst of these prophecies which might well make the stoutest heart quail, the Lord promises His disciples that not a hair of their heads should perish without His will, Mat_10:30. So long as the Christians are necessary for the service of the Lord, their bodies. are inviolable, the enemies dare not touch them. They may, therefore, in their patience possess their souls. By faithful perseverance, by undaunted continuance in the confession of Christ's Word and doctrine, they will preserve their souls. Even if they should lose the life of their mortal body, they will save their true life, that of the soul, by such faithfulness to the end. Their soul, and the eternal life of their soul, will then be for them a glorious prize or treasure, which they will carry off for eternal enjoyment in heaven.