LUKE 21
The Lord would have us acquainted with the public history of things while we await the kingdom of God. In chapter 21 we have the public history, and chapter 22 brings before us the private history, what has place in the inner circle where the presence of the Lord is immediately known. God has made every provision for the maintenance of things publicly. Think of the extraordinary wisdom found with [p. 254] persons who spoke in the power of the Holy Spirit! We see a very marked example of that in Stephen. He had no opportunity to prepare his sermon, and that is what marked the preachings in the Acts. Nearly all the preachings that took place as recorded there were under circumstances which precluded any possibility of the preacher preparing his discourse; every one of these occasions was unexpected. In the case of Stephen we see this blessed and holy man of God so furnished by the Spirit that there was no possibility of refuting him. Everything was in wisdom, not a single word out of place. They were not able to resist Stephen, they could kill him but they could not resist the power of what he said. When we come before men we are either vessels of the Spirit or fools; we either weaken our message, or we are vessels of the Spirit. I have often pondered the preachings in the Acts; it would be a real study for those who give any sort of public testimony to see how men spoke who were in the power of the Holy Spirit. These preachings were very short, very much to the point, not a word out of place, no repetition, everything in the greatest sobriety — that is preaching in the power of the Holy Spirit. There is a certain public history and we know what to expect; we have no need to read current books to know how things are going. The Lord has told us exactly what will happen in the public history of things. Many pretenders will come, and say they are representatives of Christ and will deceive people; there will be a spirit of deadly opposition so that even natural affections will be overcome by it. There will be a restless condition of things in the world; there will be wars; empires and powers will be shaken. We are not surprised when great wars break out. The privilege of faith is to be familiar with the sanctuary, and the Spirit says of the saints, “Ye are the temple of God”. It is not merely that we have the privilege of going in, but we constitute the temple. The temple and the mount of Olives go together. While the Lord was filling the temple by day with spiritual light, He was resorting to the mount of Olives by night — that is the secret. It is a wonderful thing to be able to retire to a spiritual region on earth that corresponds with heaven; one would like to know something of resorting there. If we approached the public position from nights spent on [p. 255] the mount of Olives, there would be power. Before Stephen began to speak they looked on his face and saw it was like the face of an angel; he showed the company he had been keeping. He had come straight from the spiritual region suggested by the mount of Olives, and heavenly radiance suffused his very countenance. We could not have a better commentary on this chapter than Stephen, because we see in him a man faced with the most diabolical opposition, yet he completely triumphed. They could gnash their teeth at him but they could not answer him. Stephen gave a solemn testimony. It was not exactly the gospel, for the time had come when the official leaders of the people were no longer regarded as unwitting manslayers. They were looked at by Stephen as deliberate murderers; therefore he does not present grace to them, but glory. In chapter 2 Peter said, “I wot that ye did it through ignorance”, and he opens the city of refuge for them; he says, You have killed Him, but unwittingly, and he opens the door. But there is no city of refuge in chapter 7; the people had rejected the testimony of the Holy Spirit, and Stephen treats them as deliberate murderers of Christ. There is not a word of grace, but a last solemn testimony to a people who had forfeited all title to blessing. The reception or rejection of the testimony of the Holy Spirit was what decided whether a man was an unwitting manslayer or a deliberate murderer. If he were an unwitting manslayer he would bow to the testimony of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2 they say “What shall we do?” and Peter opens the city of refuge, but if the testimony of the Holy Spirit is rejected there is no city of refuge.
The Lord says, “It shall turn out to you for a testimony”, verse 13. We ought to think more of opportunities for testimony. Some seem to have grace and tact to lay hold of every opportunity that presents itself, but it is not characteristic of all of us.
The things that happen are to be taken as an encouragement. The Lord tells us that when we see these things happening we are to lift up our heads because our redemption is drawing nigh. There may be violent opposition, but it is not to depress the saints. Stephen lifted up his head; he went out wonderfully. If there is opposition it shows there is something worth opposing; if there were no living testimony being rendered to Christ in heaven there would be no opposition.
[p. 256] It is remarkable that the Lord reserves what is connected with the public position to the end. We cannot jump over things in Scripture and particularly in Luke, because he writes with method. We have to take up the Lord’s temple instructions step by step, then the different things spoken of will constitute the furnishing — we shall be furnished so that when we come to the public side we shall have men with some stamina in them, who have learnt what the Lord has said previously. Because of the breakdown of everything that stands publicly for God, they are prepared to see not one stone upon another.
“The powers of heaven shall be shaken”. That has been characteristic of the time in which the Lord has been absent; there have been constant shakes and overturnings in the sphere of government in the world. Empires have been overturned and others have risen up; man’s lawlessness has been active instead of submissive to what God has instituted. There are plenty of signs in the sun, moon and stars today. There are certain authorities that God has set up, and certain powers that are the powers of heaven. These things strike consternation to men’s hearts — look at Russia and China today. The sun, moon and stars are fallen to the ground.
We can sit here comfortably and talk about these things, but in other parts of the world this is being carried out literally. In some parts of the world many Christians have suffered recently, and some have even died for their faith; we cannot separate ourselves from the Christian company and, if in this country we are not exactly in the presence of these extraordinary upheavals, our brethren are elsewhere.
The Lord assumes that the saints are going right through in the expectation of redemption, and in the hope of being taken completely out of the whole sphere of the activity of evil. We are going on to redemption in the full sense of the word. It is those who have that spirit in the public position that can take up all the exercises of the next chapter in connection with the feast of unleavened bread and the Lord’s supper. We are told in the epistle to the Hebrews that everything that can be shaken will be shaken, so it is well to see that we are going on with that which cannot be shaken. The danger is that we may be turned aside from the abiding things, as the Lord says in verse 34, “take heed to yourselves lest possibly your hearts be laden with surfeiting and drinking and cares of life, and that day come upon you suddenly unawares”. We have to see that we do not drop down to a life of self-indulgence.
“This generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled”. The word is often used in Scripture in a moral sense — not a generation in the sense of thirty or forty years. That character of generation which was present when the Lord was speaking will not pass away till all that the Lord said is fulfilled. The same generation is present now, for Peter says, “Be saved from this perverse generation”. It is still a perverse generation and people have to be saved from it. Paul in Philippians 2 speaks of being blameless and harmless, “children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation”. The world continues a “present evil world”. Some say the world is getting better, others say that it is getting worse, but they are both wrong. Scripture does say that evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse, but that is in the sphere of profession. The world is the same as it always was; it is made up of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; and it always will be that.
The Lord has a generation: “It shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation”. His generation does not Change either; it is just the same. The new man is just the same today as he was on the day of Pentecost; he has not altered one of his features and never will.