Luke 21:5-38
I have often told the congregation of Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church in the past and, in more recent times, the pupils in Kilskeery Independent Christian School when I speak at their assembly gatherings, that we must come to the Bible as does a detective attending the place where a crime has taken place.
That is, with great care we must, as does the detective, seek to avoid disturbing anything at the scene and observe everything that is there. Nothing is unimportant to the detective. No smudge in the dust, or scrap of paper or any item visible to his eye.
With such care and attention we come to the Word of God and strive to note every word, its tense, be it present past or future! By so doing we will avoid hasty conclusions about what it is the Lord is saying to us.
Remember, “Every word of God is pure. . . ,” Proverbs 30:5. It must be considered invaluable and cannot be carelessly skipped over or ignored if we are to rightly divide the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15).
The passage before us, Luke 21:5-38, is a parallel to that of Matthew 24. The introduction to both passages indicate that.
“And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down,” Matthew 24:1-2.
“And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down,” Luke 21:5-6.
As with the statements of any witnesses of a scene or an event, there are differences, though since this is the inspired Word of God, there are no contradictions!
One witness reports slightly more of what was said on the occasion reported.
I believe that I am correct in saying that Luke’s account of the Saviour’s words, which we are going to study, gives details of the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army and the dispersion of the Jewish nation which followed, whereas, Matthew does not refer to that event.
Many have taken the two accounts as being exactly parallel in order to deny the understanding of prophecy set forth by those who hold to the position of Historic Premillennialism. Such try to apply the whole of Luke 21 to the events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
That involves a serious error and utterly distorts the prophecy of the Saviour and robs the people of God of the information Christ would have His people understand regarding the closing days of this age, just prior to His return in power and great glory.
FUTURE ANTICHRIST REJECTED
In truth, the reason for promoting the notion that the whole prophecy in Luke 21 refers only to AD 70 is in order to reject a future Antichrist and the attempt to establish the notion of the ‘A-millennialist’ that the ‘Pope’ or series of popes, is the Antichrist referred to in Revelation 13:18.
“Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”
It seems some believe that the words “it is the number of a man” can be ignored and the prophecy applied to a whole series of men! Likewise, the emphasis by Paul upon ‘a man’, singular, is also ignored and set aside.
This same emphasise on a’man’ is seen in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-5.
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?”
Surely the Lord says what he means and means what He says!
Tamper and Trifle
Few crimes would ever be solved if a detective viewed the evidence at the crime scene as some ‘tamper and trifle’ with the evidence set forth in God’s Word!
Let us come to Luke 21 and the first verse of the section we are studying.
“And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down,” verses 5-6.
The “some” spoken of here are the disciples of Christ, as the parallel passage in Matthew 24 indicates. “And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple,” Matthew 24:1.
1. It is obvious that the high regard, the adulation, that the disciples had of that highly cherished Jewish institution, the temple, was something that the Saviour wished to rectify!
It was no longer viewed by the Lord as once it had been. He had but a short time before spoken of it in derogatory terms.
“And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves,” Luke 19:45-46.
The Elders, the Pharisees and Scribes, had so corrupted the truth of God and the order He had ordained for the worship in the temple, that it had become ‘anathema’ in His eyes and judgment was drawing near.
The view of the disciples of the temple and its regimen was such that they were blind to how far its use and functions had departed from that ordained by the Lord and they were unaware of how offensive it all was to the Lord!
TODAY
There is a parallel spirit all too evident amongst those who belong to Protestant denominations which have departed far from the days when they honoured the Word of God and taught their members of its truth!
There is a need today for ‘blinded’ Christians to be induced of the truth of the corrupt and apostate state of the ecumenical churches to which they belong.
The Saviour’s words, describing the future events that will overtake the temple, should be applied by faithful ministers today to the denominations that have surrender to apostasy.
“As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down,” verse 6. The disciples ‘beheld’ the temple with pride and joy and they said that in ignorance of the future God had in store for it!
The follies of men are repeated again and again! We stand today amidst a people who admire the stones of edifices that are under the judgment of God because the purpose for which they were built is no longer how they are used!
2. The Saviour wished His disciples to know what lies ahead for Israel.
“And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?” Verse 7
This question of ‘when’ and ‘what’ was not ignored by the Saviour. No, he immediately began to answer them. It is for this reason that I find it utterly inexplicable that so many Christians are careless about the subject of prophecy.
I say careless because it is topic that is not seriously studied or else the ‘waffling’ of a ‘You-tuber’ would not be so readily swallowed, hook, line and sinker, with barely a reference to the Word of God!
Future
The disciples were being informed of future events in order that they might share the truth of Christ’s warning with others. We have Luke’s record here for all to read and study since the days of its publication, early in the second half of the first century.
It was certainly before AD 70 otherwise we would expect him to have commented on the devastating destruction of Jerusalem and the martyrdom of Paul the Apostle.
The Saviour’s disclosure of the judgment that would befall Jerusalem prompted the obvious question. “Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?” Verse 7.
3. Please note the very first words of the Saviour as He begins His response to the questioning of His disciples.
“And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them,” verse 8.
Please note the warning: “Take heed that ye be not deceived.”
The devil is a liar from the beginning. He is the author of deception. His agents scatter and disperse the seeds of deception everywhere and all the time.
The problems of the early church, even in the days of Holy Ghost power, were created by the infiltration of lying ‘creepers’. Jude indicates what it was he was concerned about. “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ,” Jude 1:4.
‘Ungodly deniers” of God truth! There never has been a day in which such activities have not been taking place and there never was a denomination or a church that was not targeted by such deceivers.
Corinth
Paul was engaged in combatting such in Corinth, a church which was all but destroyed by such deceivers, aptly and succinctly described by Pail in these words.!
“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works,” 2 Corinthians 11:13-15.
Intensify
God’s Word tells us that the campaign of satanic lies will intensify as we near the end of this age. That is specifically stated in 2 Timothy 3.
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away,” verses 1-5.
I have often stated that the word “perilous” in the opening verse of this portion is the same Greek word that is divinely used to describe the activities of the man of Gadara, who was possessed of a legion of devils in Matthew 8 and Mark 5.
“And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way,” Matthew 8:28.
The word translated “fierce” is the same word translated ‘perilous” in 12 Timothy 3:1.
Life was perilous in the presence of this exceedingly ‘fierce” man! This poor tortured soul, who was a torture to any who encountered him. Consider the words of Mark.
“Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones” Mark 5:3-5.
This is the state that the world in general, but ‘Christendom’ in particular, will be reduced to in the last days of this age.
Already
Such times are breaking forth all around us. The ‘mill pond’ that once was Northern Ireland, when I was a boy, has become a storm-tossed blitzkrieg of immorality, lawlessness, murder and terror!
Just as I write this, there is this press report of a horrendous crime.
Man guilty of murdering woman and children in fire
The report reads: ‘A man has been found guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s sister and her three children in a house fire in Bradford.’
The trial heard that the guilty man was ”motivated by jealousy and fuelled by drink and drugs’.
Such reports of horrific and appalling crimes, perpetrated by both men and woman, and often targeting infants, is increasingly common.. They are largely the result of drug -induced outbreaks of human depravity, accelerated by the pharmakeia of sorcery and witchcraft induced by drugs!
In a day when even the military might of the United States of America struggles to control the ‘drug barons’ whose merchandise fuel so much of today’s lawlessness, Revelation 18:23 makes interesting reading. It refers to the latter-day restored and dominant city of Antichrist — BABYLON.
“And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (the use and the administering of drugs) were all nations deceived.”
That is the same Greek word that appears in the Saviour’s warning! How up to date is the inspired Word of God!
COMMON
As I have stated, deception is common today. There is not a pulpit in the ecumenical churches which is occupied by anyone other than a ‘deceiver’!
You may immediately say, ‘But what about those men who are truly saved, they believe the Bible. Do you say they are deceivers?’
Yes, I do. They may not deceive to the same degree as the Bible-denying modernists and liberals that make up a large portion of the three main denominations here, but they are guilty of deception!
By staying in apostate denominations they rebel against God’s truth and disobey the Lord and thus deceitfully encourage others to do the same.
God commands His people to get out of the ‘Sodom’ of ecumenical apostasy. Heed Paul’s words to the Corinthians.
Separation
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty,” 2 Corinthians 6:14-18.
Please note those five little words: “ and I will receive you.” That means the Lord is not in the place where the unseparated Christians, in disobedience, were!
FOOLISH
I recently heard of a Free Presbyterian minister bestowing high praise on a Presbyterian Church in Ireland minister, Martin McNeely, who had died. The man in question was, I understand, an evangelical, but it has to be said he was a ‘mild’ one.
Listed amongst his hobbies was ‘Half Pace Hurling’, which would be linked to those supporting the Gaelic Athletic Association, an organisation of which many members have manifested backing for the IRA!
A newspaper headline stated that Martin McNeely was also ‘a keen DJ’! (Belfast Newsletter-28th November 2025)
Amongst others who heralded this minster was a priest with whom he was photographed. They were photographed together at an ‘All Saints GAC’ function in Ballymena.
The photograph shoed Rev McNeely with the club President, ‘Fr’ Paddy Delargy, at the official opening of a new suite at their club house in 2021. It was mounted on Facebook.
PITY
Out of pity I will not name the Free Presbyterian minster, for I don’t feel that any admonition of mine will have the least impact upon him for good. He has proved himself incorrigible in the past and again attempting to disabuse him of his error would be futile!
This minister has said of the late Rev McNeely that ‘In days when so much is dark, both in church and in our land, we desperately need men like him. Men who are genuine, fearless and Christlike.’
The man who said that once swore obedience to this oath:—
‘Will you maintain with all the strength God shall give you the position on Biblical separation from apostasy as taken by the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster in 1951 at the time of its secession from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland?
As God helps you will you expose and resist the continued apostasy from Christ manifested within Irish Presbyterianism, Methodism, Episcopalianism and other visible church bodies; exhorting God’s people to obey the teaching and commandment of 1 Timothy 6: 3-5?’
Faithful adherence to this oath would not permit a man to speak admiringly of an minister who disobeyed God’s Word and refused to separate from the ecumenical, pro-Romanist apostasy of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, and who furthermore, encouraged those in his congregation to remain, in defiance of God, in the apostasy.
To hail such a man as one that ‘we desperately need’ and a man who was ‘genuine, fearless and Christlike,’ borders on being, if is not altogether, blasphemous!
I don’t think that he had the wit to recognise that when he said that this ecumenical Presbyterian defier of God’s Word, was ‘Christlike’, that he was stating that Christ was a disobedient defier of His Father’s command in 2 Corinthians 6:14-16, and that He refused to separate from sin. Furthermore, he implies that the Saviour was ready to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, to have fellowship unrighteousness and to have communion with darkness, and to have part with an infidel! This Free Presbyterian minister displays a disturbing ignorance of the implications of what is he saying!
I believe that his statement should be examined by the officers of Presbytery for I do not believe such sentiments are in keeping with the ordination oath of a Free Presbyterian minister and the professed witness of our denomination.
If Rev McNeely was ‘Christlike’ and Ulster is in desperate need of such men, then the woeful day spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, has dawned.
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah 5:20.
We will return to verse 8 in our next study.
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)