EXEGETING LUKE 21 & COMPARING MATT. 24

I just want to express my appreciation for the responses so far. I want to think about everything more, but I’ve been praying and feeling a bit better. Hopefully I will be able to offer some genuine reflection.

Truly, the matter is in the hands of God who is perfectly just.

Hello Thomas . . I did not want to antagonize with that question . . but rather show that God gives everyone the same free gift and option to be with him. And the gift itself could not be more loving and caring. God as Jesus Christ literally endured in the flesh the worst that mankind can devise to show that he wants the least of us with him in eternity . . . if we only accept his gift. When I understood this, I understood that no one will be in hell by accident or mistake. They must reject God/Holy Spirit . . the unforgivable sin. I have faith that God will judge with perfect righteousness . . and we should not assume we know who will be in hell or with God.

Hi Thomas . . if I can ask you a question . . what should God do with those who reject his offer of grace and eternal life given to all of us when he came himself/his son to be crucified to cover our sins?

Difficult Questions Hello Reginald and others, I have been reading the Bible, mostly the KJV and the 1611, for several years or more, and I’ve tried to find and accept as much of the truth in it as possible. I know that there is no way around the way of Christ, and I’ve struggled to find and follow and really establish my faith on firm and fertile ground. I definitely have a lot of life plans that seem to demand my attention and also health problems as well, all interfering with my ability sometimes to do what I set myself out to do. Nonetheless, I pray a lot for guidance in finding and establishing whatever walk with Christ I can find or that Christ illuminates for me. I know my heart is often desperately wicked, and I’ve struggled a lot with darkness throughout my life. I’ve often felt like a piece of wicked trash that self-righteous people would gladly ostracize, hurt, or even kill. I grew up in a sick family environment and treated my family in shameful ways that repaid the ways in which I felt shamed from them. I have great difficulty trusting anyone or having very healthy close relationships. In my spiritual journey, I started with Al Anon believing in a very generic god of my own understanding, somewhat pagan and Germanic and aspirational in nature. I explored Christianity in bits and pieces and read the Bible from time to time. I found someone online with whom I began to have a relationship, and she introduced me to more of the Bible and Christianity and such. We started with a very Marcionite view on the Bible and such, and I could easily accept a version of Jesus that wasn’t associated with an OT god that seemed to just have wave after wave of punishments and genocides for vast swathes of humanity, and indeed all but eight in the case of the Flood. As I read the Bible more and more for myself, getting more into the KJV, my perspective changed and became more complex and found the Marcionite perspective unjustified by consistent scripture, and I found myself understanding the need for God to reveal his judgment and nature towards humanity throughout his dealings in history. I saw more and more how wicked and dark and hopeless humans are at solving their own problems or living lives that weren’t hypocritically self-righteous and arrogant. There is one basic doctrine that most Christians believe that I continue to struggle with accepting, however, and that is the notion of Eternal Hell. It drives me completely insane, drives me to despair, wickedness, hatred of God and man, and makes me think that not only is the world basically a nightmare, but eternity and God are nightmares too. It triggers my deepest fears of myself and others being treated like trash destined for the garbage heap. It makes me think that creation itself was a mistake and it would have been better if most people were never born. Existence itself seems like a mistake, and the worst mistake of all, if that’s the end of existence. But it also makes me wonder about whether I can trust God. As I struggle with this, I have explored ways of understanding the fire as consuming of sin and refining of the soul, meaning that the anguish of everlasting punishment results in the everlasting ultimate reconciliation to God. But I’m not saying that it has to be that way, and I don’t want to believe a lie or a false idol of a universalist god either. Some thoughts come to mind as I struggle with this: If God is all-powerful and all wise, shouldn’t he be able to convince any weak creature to follow him? If he doesn’t do that, doesn’t that mean that he doesn’t have the power to save everyone? If he doesn’t save everyone as an all-powerful God, then how can we say he wants to or can save anyone? If the true end of most of creation is to be forever in their sins, does that mean sin won and that God didn’t get what he wanted? Sometimes free will is given as an answer, but that sometimes seems like a magic word that doesn’t really explain anything. If we all have the same free will, then with the same information living in the same fallen world, shouldn’t we all be able to come to the same conclusion of our wills were all the same? Does that mean that some wills have more freedom than others? Is there some other factor? I’m reminded of the passages of the Bible in which we are said to be slaves to sin and blinded by fallen realities, and Jesus said that the truth shall set us free. So that makes me wonder if our wills are even that free at all until Jesus sets us free. But even if we really did all have free will, wouldn’t an all-powerful God be able to use his wisdom to persuade any weak creature to follow him? Anyways, my life sometimes threatens to implode over these questions and I fear losing my life for lack of faith. I often feel like I’m holding onto Jesus’s clothing for dear life waiting for comfort or answers, wanting his power to come to me. I am sometimes comforted by scripture, but I often wonder about how strong my faith is when I read and listen to the parables of the thorns and rocky ground. I feel pathetic. Any response from you guys would be appreciated. Thomas

It seems to me that Jesus describes what will happen from the lifetime of the disciples until his second coming. Obviously, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple was a time of tribulation, but there will also be great tribulation before the second coming of Christ. Thank-you for the great comment.

Very good article and it will cause me to rethink my conclusions regarding Luke 10-19 and 5-14. Is the tribulation described therein ONLY for the generation of that time? Luke recounts the question posed to Jesus as follows " . . . Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?" Matthew also say "these things" . . but elaborates. ("Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" ) So . . my understanding of Jesus' response is that he answers both about the destruction of the Temple/Jerusalem AND his coming at the end of the world. Which statements refer to which? Do any statements refer to both? It is clear to me that the abomination of desolation only relates to the destruction of the Temple because of Luke 21:20 (which is very specific) and Daniel who says that "he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." So . . my reading of Daniel is that Jerusalem was made desolate and will remain desolate until the Second Coming. No spiritual significance to the "Temple Mount" or the physical city now called Jerusalem remains for the Believer. No holy third temple where new abominations of desolation will show up. The Temple and Jerusalem were destroyed forever by God and they are NOT holy. This is why he is bringing New Jerusalem with him (Revelation 21). My current understanding of these sections of Luke and Matthew is that Jesus starts by discussing the lead up to his Second Coming and also possibly the lead up to destruction of Jerusalem/Temple . . then talks specifically about the destruction of Jerusalem . . . . then finishes with his "coming in a cloud with power and great glory." The reason I have thought this is because history tells us that all of what he describes has happened to believers SINCE the destruction of Jerusalem/Temple. Of course, this reading could be wrong . . and maybe I should hope it is . because what the Lord describes is very difficult tribulation.

if this is technical, can you please define what would be considered non-technical - honest question, thanks