Daily Devotions
Luke
Luke 21 : 8-19 "MISUNDERSTANDING CONCERNING JESUS AND HIS TEACHINGS!"
Day 259 – Luke 21
Text: Luke 21 : 8-19
MISUNDERSTANDING CONCERNING JESUS AND HIS TEACHINGS!
How do we understand the prophetic statements of the Lord Jesus Christ? He was misunderstood on so many counts before! Great care must be taken, or we would end up misunderstanding Jesus once again.
1. The sign-miracles of Jesus were misunderstood.
a) Some saw Him as a Miracle worker and thus they came to Him in search of a personal miracle.
b) Others saw Him as a Teacher, an outstanding one to be sure, but no more than that.
c) Still others extended to Him the honour of being a prophet of God, but were not quite sure about His prophetic role and ministry.
d) Of course, there were those who opposed Him, and denounced Him as one associated with Beelzebub.
2. The Teachings of Jesus were never fully comprehended
a) The plain teachings of Jesus were never grasped in their depth.
b) The parables were never fully comprehended either. They were given because the plain teachings were sometimes rejected!
c) The basic theme, “The Kingdom of God”, seemed too hard to comprehend, despite the fact that Jesus used every means possible to draw people into that Kingdom.
3. The Person of the Lord Jesus was never fully understood
a) There was much confusion as to His real identity.
b) There were those who saw Him as the son of Joseph and nothing more.
c) There were others like His Disciples who saw Him as the Messiah, the Anointed of the Lord.
d) There were those who rejected Him violently and were prepared to kill Him because of a heart filled with wickedness!
4. The Philosophy of Ministry of Jesus
a) The Pharisees and other religious teachers never understood or appreciated why Jesus could spend so much time with sinful people.
b) They could not understand why Jesus was so fierce in His opposition to the Temple business arrangements.
c) They could not understand why they could never see eye to eye when it came to ministry details.
If there was so much misunderstanding concerning the Person and Teachings of Jesus in ordinary, straightforward doctrines, one can expect even greater difficulties when the subject of prophecy is broached! In order to understand Jesus’ prophetic statements, we would need to have a good grasp of how Jesus saw “the end times”.
THE ESCHATOLOGY OF JESUS
We may indeed speak of eschatology of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had a definite theological framework. Let us try and put together at least a skeletal framework of the eschatology of Jesus, before looking into the details of some of His prophetic statements.
1. We may say that Jesus had a “Biblical Theological” approach.
a) The basis of His teaching was the Scripture (Old Testament).
b) He cited the Scriptures as authoritative and consistently.
c) He expounded the Scriptures in contrast to the Jews who depended on their traditions for authority.
d) Jesus above all lived out what the Scriptures taught!
2. The Prophetic Statements of the Lord Jesus Christ
a) Jesus took the same theological position as that of the Old Testament prophets.
b) Isaiah was one of the foremost prophets of Israel, and in his ministry, he made prophecies concerning the nations (Cf. Isaiah 13-24).
c) Israel proclaimed judgment against all the nations who indulged in sin. From Babylon to Israel, Isaiah prophesied that God would judge every nation that refused to repent of its sinful ways!
It is vital that when we consider the prophetic statements of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have a good grasp of His eschatology!
A WRONG COMPREHENSION AND APPLICATION OF THE PROPHETIC STATEMENTS OF JESUS
A wrong comprehension of the eschatology of Jesus would have disastrous results! That almost goes without saying! Let us be careful of a wrong approach. The following must be avoided at all costs! Three observations may be highlighted!
1. Taking the words of Jesus out of context!
This is one of the greatest problems of people who carelessly cite the words of Jesus!
2. Isolation of thoughts.
The teachings of Jesus must always be considered as a coherent whole. It is wrong to interpret the sayings of Jesus in isolation.
3. Improper application of prophetic statements to modern day situations.
It is so tempting to apply the prophetic statements of Jesus to modern day situations! We must avoid this approach!
4. Avoid the simplistic approach.
We cannot reduce the teachings of Jesus into neat little sayings. The teachings of Jesus were profound and we would wrest the things He taught to our own destruction if we tried to over-simplify things!
Let us be deeply challenged to set aside time to prayerfully study the Lord’s Word. Any approach that does not see us carefully meditating on His Word would be unsatisfactory and dangerous! The eschatological teachings of Jesus were indeed complex. Let us determine that we would think through every statement He made!