Luke 21:11, commentary and pictures

Christ answered the question when the temple would be thrown down stone by stone by foretelling great earthquakes in different places, famines, pestilences, and fearful sights and great signs from heaven before the coming of the Son of man. The warning mingled the destruction of Jerusalem with the end of the world in mercy to the disciples, and it was not spoken of Jerusalem alone but reaches past that calamity to the close of this earth's history and its final destruction. It was given not for the disciples only but for those who will live in the last scenes, to instruct them, help them prepare for the great conflict, and call them to discern the signs. The earthquakes felt so far are very limited, premonitory convulsions warning of more frequent and terrible shocks when cities are buried and palaces become ruins, joined by sickness, destructive fires, tempests, tidal waves, tornadoes, and unexplainable diseases. These multiplying judgments in rapid succession are only the beginning and drops from the vials of wrath, proving the end is near while God still holds back final judgment so the warning and call of mercy can save many, using calamities to awaken men and women to their danger and to lead His people to press together in humility.

Setting and Meaning

The verse belongs to a discourse that mingles the destruction of Jerusalem with the great day of Christ's coming and the end of the world, blending the description of the two great crises in mercy because the disciples could not have endured the future opened as it really was, leaving them to study out the meaning for themselves. It is part of Christ's answer to when the temple would be thrown down stone by stone and what sign would mark it. Its surroundings warn to take heed not to be deceived by many coming in His name saying I am Christ, and place with it wars and commotions with nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom, yet the end is not at once.

Persecution of His followers comes before these signs, for they will be laid hold on, delivered to synagogues and prisons, and brought before kings and rulers and councils for His name's sake. Their trials will turn to them for a testimony, with strength and comfort and wisdom from God, Christ giving them a mouth and wisdom which all their adversaries cannot gainsay nor resist. Even if their bodies are killed, their life remains secure with Christ.

Many of its judgments came upon Jerusalem, but it was not spoken of Jerusalem alone. It reaches past that calamity and that great calamity coming upon Jerusalem to the close of this earth's history, to the final conflagration and destruction not of nations merely but of the whole world. This is in the day when the Lord rises out of His place to punish the world for iniquity, when the earth discloses her blood and no more covers her slain, the great and final visitation of God's wrath.

The whole discourse was given not for the disciples only but for those who will live in the last scenes of this earth's history and upon whom the ends of the world are come. It was foretold while Jesus was upon the earth in order to give instruction to those who should afterward believe, to help them prepare for the great conflict. In this age those foretold signs are to be discerned, and discerning them calls God's people to reach a higher standard.

Its war and rumors of war and sword, with famine and pestilence, first shake the powers of earth, meaning those who rule on earth, earthly rulers and nations. The shaking of angry nations in Europe is such an earthly upheaval, the shaking of nations, not the shaking of the heavenly bodies. This earthly shaking is distinct from the later shaking of the powers of heaven at the voice of God. The powers of heaven are the sun, moon, and stars, which will be moved from their places by that voice but will not pass away.

Its fearful sights in the heavens include supernatural displays that signal the power of miracle-working demons. By them evil spirits will deceive rulers and people throughout the world. False Christs will claim the worship due to the Redeemer, perform apparent healings, and claim revelations from heaven that contradict Scripture.

Fulfillment as End-Time Signs

The verse foretells great earthquakes in divers places, and famines, and pestilences, and fearful sights and great signs from heaven, with signs and wonders in the heavens and disasters by sea and by land preceding the coming of the Son of man. Persecution of His followers comes before these signs, and their trials will turn to a testimony, for they receive strength and comfort and a mouth and wisdom which adversaries cannot gainsay, and even if killed their life remains secure. The earthquakes felt so far are very limited, premonitory convulsions warning of more and greater terrible shocks to come. When the earth shakes and opens, cities and villages with their inhabitants will be buried and lordly palaces erected at great expense turned into heaps of ruins as the earth's crust is rent by outbursts of elements concealed in its bowels. Earthquakes, volcanoes, and fiery eruptions from underground heat and explosions will become more frequent and terrible just before the second coming, warning that the world's destruction is near.

With them come plagues of sickness, disasters by sea and by land, and destruction by fire and flood. Unusually destructive fires, tempests, tidal waves, tornadoes, floods, and railway accidents destroy immense property and thousands of lives in a time of weeping and lamentation and woe. The pestilences include cholera and unexplainable diseases and diphtheria gathering its harvest of little ones, coming because the powers of darkness have not been restrained from vitiating the air with deadly miasma, affecting vegetable life and bringing disease and mortality. These judgments mark God's withdrawing His Spirit from the world and from wicked cities become as in the antediluvian days and as Sodom and Gomorrah. He is about to punish presumptuous wrongdoers who refuse His commandments and disregard His warnings.

The burning of costly mansions and stately buildings supposed to be fireproof illustrates how in a short time earth's architecture will lie in ruins under these final judgments. Meanwhile people eat and drink, marry, buy and sell, plant and build as in the days of Noah and Lot until sudden destruction when the Son of man is revealed. Their fulfillment can now be seen throughout the world, multiplied and in rapid, quick succession with great loss of life and property, causing thousands of deaths. They are only the beginning and only drops and sprinklings from the vials of wrath upon land and sea and air, faint representations of what will be in the near future. They terribly shake the religious world, testifying that the threatened judgments are being permitted, the plagues already begun, and proving the end is near, a decisive event soon to come, Christ's coming nearer than first believed, and the great controversy nearing its end.

The San Francisco earthquake is presented as such a fulfillment and warning of Christ's soon approach and the near day of judgment. The verse belongs to the grand work in the battle prior to the last closing conflict, when the two armies stand distinct and separate and many convinced of truth join God's commandment-keeping people. In that time many are imprisoned, many flee for their lives from cities and towns, and many become martyrs in defense of truth. Brought before kings and rulers and councils to meet false, absurd, and lying accusations, they stand firm as a rock to principle because God's express command must be obeyed. Intelligent knowledge of the Word is given to prepare them to contend for Jehovah's law, to reestablish it, make up the breach, and restore the tables of stone to honor, and when in strait places they do not confer with flesh and blood.

Divine Purpose and Response

Earthquakes and other destructive calamities in divers places, with tornadoes, fire and flood bringing great loss of life and property, are to be expected before the Lord's coming as warnings that His approach is soon and the day of judgment is near. They testify that the end is near, that the threatened judgments are being permitted to take effect, and that the plagues have already begun to be poured out. In them men and women should recognize their time of visitation, for they prove that Christ's coming is nearer than when first believed and that the great controversy is nearing its end.

They only appear to be capricious outbreaks of disorganized, unregulated forces, for God's purpose can be read in them. They are not merely disorganized events occurring in various places, but one of the means by which He seeks to awaken men and women to a sense of their danger. These judgments of earthquake, pestilence, famine, tempest, tidal wave, and destruction by fire and flood, multiplied in rapid succession, also serve as a time of mercy. God holds back full judgment while the warning and final call of mercy go to the world, so that many hearing the truth for the first time will be saved.

Amid great upheaval of war, bloodshed, want, privation, famine, pestilence, confusion, suffering and hardship, God's people press together. They set aside personal difficulties, and humility and clearer judgment replace pride and unreasonable passion.