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Transcript 425D — Luke 21:34-36 and the End-Times
HC: Good evening, Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: I was listening to the radio tonight, and there was some discussion of the last days and the Biblica1 prophecy about it, in conjunction with Revelation. And in Luke 21:36 it says, "Watch ye therefore and pray always that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man." And as he starts Chapter 21, he's talking about the things that we will be facing in the last days, and they do relate somewhat to Revelation. So I was wondering if verse 36 could be related to Revelation and some of the things that were foretold there.
HC: The question that is being raised is concerning Luke 21:36, where Christ is speaking about His return. Let's read these three verses, beginning in verse 34, "Take heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, so that that day comes upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all those things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."
Now the caller is raising the question, does this relate to some of the things we read about in Revelation, or in other parts of the Bible that speak about His return? One of the best commentaries on this particular passage, I think, is Matthew 24. Throughout Matthew 24 Jesus is talking about His return. And the big warning that He is hold forth there is, watch out for false prophets. Again and again in Matthew 24 He calls attention to this. This is highlighted very specifically.
For example, in Matthew 24:24 it says, "False prophets and false christs will arise with signs and wonders, to lead astray if possible even the elect." Now the elect are the born again believers. That means that these false prophets will be working where the elect are. They will be working in the church, where the true Gospel ought to be proclaimed. Because it says that even the elect would be deceived if that were possible, it indicates that these will come with a gospel that looks so holy, that is so identified with the name of Jesus and the blood of Christ and the resurrection, and all of these holy things, that even the true believers could be snared if that were possible.
And of course the first evidence that something is afoul is the fact that they are featuring signs and wonders: "False prophets and false christs will arise with signs and wonders, to lead astray if possible even the elect." Now in John 10:8 we read, "All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers." Now I won't develop this right now, but in the Bible thieves and robbers have to do with those who come with other gospels, those who come as wolves in sheep's clothing, to harass the flock and try to snatch out of the flock anyone possible to make them follow other gospels.
But notice what it says in verse 8: "All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not hear them." In other words, those who were the true believers, who were truly born again, did not get snared by these false prophets, by these false gospels. Anyone of course who was in the congregation, and bear in mind that congregations are filled with people who are unsaved, and everybody in the congregation isn't necessarily born again, who was not born again was tantalized, intrigued by these other gospels, because they were so exciting. They brought signs and wonders. They brought a "here and now" thing that was far more marvelous than the true Gospel. After all, the true Gospel means to walk by faith, to repent of your sins and walk patiently by faith, not by sight, It means to have nothing to do with signs and wonders, because Jesus said that "an evil and an adulterous generation seeketh for a sign." Our trust is in what the Bible declares, that we are saved and that we are children of God and that we're looking for an eternal place with the Lord in the New Heavens and the New Earth, and so on, not with some kind of a dramatic thing that is going to be here and now.
And so anyone who isn't saved is going to be attracted into these other gospels. But the sheep will not be snared. Now this is what Luke 21 is talking about. It's speaking about the fact that there will be those who will be overcharged with drunkenness and the cares of this life. Now drunkenness in the Bible is also a synonym for running after other gospels. We find this in Ephesians 5:18: "Don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit." It's not talking there in the first instance about physical drunkenness. The whole context has nothing to do with physical drunkenness. The context of Ephesians 5 is that of those coming with false doctrines, with another gospel. Don't get involved with that. "But be filled with the Holy Spirit." That is, those who are true believers, who are born again, are filled with the Holy Spirit, language that means we have been qualified to be a witness. The fact is, in Ephesians 5:19 it goes right on, "addressing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." That's what the true believer's role is, not to be attracted by these other gospels.
We become worthy only by becoming saved. Luke 21:36 says, "Pray that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things." We're not worthy because of any personal worthiness. We're not worthy because there is something intrinsically marvelous about us. Isn't God lucky, so to speak, that we are on this earth and that He can save us? No, no, no. The Bible says that we're wretched sinners. We're under the wrath of God. We deserve to go to hell. We are like a worm in God's sight.
Now we become worthy only because we have become covered by Christ's righteousness. His righteousness has been imputed to us. So we have become a child of God. We have become a citizen of God's Kingdom. And now we are counted worthy. We're counted worthy all because of what Christ has become for us. Now we are counted worthy. It means, in other words, that you are saved. "Pray that ye are counted worthy" pray that ye are saved, so you will escape this. You see, if you are saved, if you're born again, then as the church is assaulted by other gospels you will not be snared, you will not be caught.
Now remember in Matthew 24 that we started out to understand Luke 21:34-36 by examining Matthew 24, and remember in that context it says repeatedly, "Watch." Watch, be ready, because you don't know the time of Christ's return. Watch.
Now the only way we're watching, that we're ready, is to be saved, is to be born again. For the unsaved, those who are being snared into other gospels, those who are being caught up by these moneychangers in the temple, to use Biblical language, for them Christ's return will come as a snare, verse 35 or Luke 21: "For as a snare shall it (that is, the day of the Lord, Judgment Day) come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth." They are not ready.
Oh, they're talking about Christ's return. And they sense that it's time for something to happen. But they're not thinking in terms of personal judgment, the fact that they're facing hell, because they have been deluded. They have been blinded into believing that all is well with their soul because they are all tied up in these other gospels that look so glorious. But in actuality they're not in the true Gospel. And we can only be saved by being related to the true Gospel, We cannot be saved by being related to a false gospel, by imbibing and drinking from a false gospel. If we're going to be saved, we have to realize that the true Gospel is circumscribed by the Bible. It alone and in its entirety is the divine Word.
So the prayer of anyone today must be, "Oh Lord, may I know that I'm a born again believer. May I know that regardless of when you come, whether it's to take me in breath three breaths from now, or tomorrow morning, or next month, or whether it's the fact that you are going to come on the Last Day and rapture me, be as it may, may I know that I'm a child of God."
Now how can I know that I'm a child of God? When I know in my heart that I want to be obedient to everything that is in the Bible. I have this ongoing earnest desire to be submissive to anything and everything that I find in the Bible, because the Bible is the voice of God, my Lord, God my Savior.
If that earnest desire isn't there in our hearts, and if that earnest desire isn't translating into a life of substantial obedience to God, then we are not saved. And one of the commands that God gives us is that we are to look for divine truth only in the Word. We're not to add to the words of this book.