Luke 21:34, commentary and pictures

Christ spoke to His disciples for believers in every age, but especially for those living just before His return, about the destruction of Jerusalem and the events leading to His coming at the end of the world. Take heed to yourselves makes watchfulness over one's own heart and conduct each person's own work, requiring examination of fitness of character for heaven. Hearts become overcharged not only by intemperance in eating and drinking and indulgence in liquor, tobacco and narcotics and worldly pleasures, but also by being intoxicated with the spirit of the world and swallowed up with business, selfish gain, and the cares, riches, pleasures and anxieties of this life. That day is the day of Christ's coming, the day of God and of judgment, which will come unexpectedly as a snare upon all who dwell on the earth and as a thief in the night, with no second probation afterward. Escape therefore requires sober watchfulness joined to continual prayer and holy conduct, being clothed with Christ's righteousness, repenting and obeying His words while mercy still lingers, and letting life and character show that the Lord is coming.

Setting in Christ's Discourse

The warning belongs to Christ's discourse about Jerusalem's destruction and the events leading to His coming at the end of the world, connecting that destruction with world events just before the Son of man returns. It was spoken to the disciples with a vast congregation listening, for the benefit of followers in every age. Those living in the last scenes of earth's history and before His return are particularly in view, and the call is to guard against being caught unprepared when that day comes.

Christ did not satisfy curiosity about the secret time of His coming but commanded heed to His words, faithful performance of individual duty, and giving His warnings to others. That day will come as a snare upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth, so believers must watch and pray always to be counted worthy to escape all these coming things and to stand before the Son of man. Since 1844 believers are to wait and watch without setting a definite day or hour, recognizing from prophetic reckoning that He is near and at the door but the day and hour are unknown.

Its predictions are being fulfilled and His words will not pass away though heaven and earth pass away. It is a present message about the condition of the world just before the second coming, given so that the fearful destruction soon to come upon its inhabitants will not find them unprepared. This warning is to be given now with power, and there is no excuse for failing to give it or for passing it by unheeded. The growing prevalence of drunkenness and crime belongs to the conditions portrayed just before the second coming and calls for serious attention.

Its call to watch and prepare is connected with Christ's sacrifice in taking humanity, joining divine and human nature, standing in Adam's place and enduring the test Adam failed in Eden to reach humanity and unite people to God. Its message of the second advent announcing the kingdom of glory rests on prophecy like the message of the first advent announcing the kingdom of grace. Daniel's words about the last days are to be understood because the time of the end is come and the visions of the prophets are unsealed, and this solemn warning points to the Lord's coming in glory as near at hand.

Meaning of the Terms

Take heed to yourselves makes watchfulness over self each person's own work, requiring every person whatever experience or supposed intelligence to review conduct and course of action, examine fitness of character for heaven, and guard the heart against excess in eating and drinking, against drunkenness, and against being weighed down by the concerns of ordinary life lest that day come unexpectedly as a snare upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth, with sober watchfulness joined to constant prayer that believers may be accounted worthy to escape all things to come and stand before the Son of man. Cherishing the precious graces of the Holy Spirit in the heart is the way this self-watchfulness is done, following Christ's example of the necessity of prayer. Vigilance is required because that day can arrive suddenly and catch the unprepared.

Surfeiting means intemperance in eating or in seeking for pleasures, including indulgence in games and worldly pleasures, gratification of perverted appetite, elaborate food preparation and kitchen duties at the expense of God's work, and holiday feasting, gluttony and dissipation that harm body, mind and moral life and can even lead to loss of souls. Those who serve God must not become absorbed in kitchen duties, and indulging appetite and worldly pleasure dulls attention to God, makes people careless and presumptuous, turns them from serving God, and causes them to ignore His appeals.

Drunkenness includes wines, liquors, and the narcotic tobacco, which benumb the senses and affect the perceptive organs of the brain, and indulgence in liquor, tobacco and narcotics with feasting and gluttony, while excessive eating and drinking weaken moral judgment, making sin seem less sinful and allowing crimes and base passions to take control, a corruption that will exist at the second coming and that leaves disease, enfeebled intellects and polluted morals as a legacy, groaned under as accumulated woe from sins of former generations even while the present generation indulges with scarcely a thought or care. Being overcharged in this way means being absorbed in the business and pleasures of the world, in feasting and gluttony, and in indulging perverted appetite by defiling use of liquor and narcotic tobacco, a condition already found even among professed people while destruction fast approaches.

Drunkenness also means more than drinking liquor, for a person can become intoxicated with this life with reason perverted so things appear unnaturally, be drunken with the spirit of the world as alcohol deprives of reason so actions become wild, inconsistent and unreasonable and calm judgment for one's own best interest is lost and eternal interests are bartered for things of time, have the mind bewildered and clouded by worldly concerns and deceitfulness of riches eclipsing heaven's attractions, and be swallowed up and drunken with business and worldly enterprises and with selfish grasping for gain, selfishness and worldliness so mind and affections are absorbed, vision is obscured by love of money, and a person cannot think rationally and intelligently about God. To be surfeited in this sense is to be in a feverish state, constantly anxious, hurried and unduly excited, with excessive labor and care destroying physical and mental vigor, while idleness brings equally great peril because do-nothings rust from inaction, so the call is for a sensible, straight, safe course of steady employment keeping high and holy themes first rather than devoting all skill and energy to worldly pursuits until no vigor or clear intellect remains for service. The remedy is making the kingdom of Heaven first, letting truth reach deep into the heart to develop fruit in private and public life, and bearing the testimony that the Lord is coming not only by lips but by life and character woven into everyday experience, lest the idle, worldly and selfish be passed by and the work be given to humble men connected with God.

The cares of this life include love of money and desire to be counted as well off as neighbors, burying means in more land and worldly enterprises instead of rendering God His dues, ambitious worldly enterprise to work and accumulate and add to what is already possessed, absorbing business and pleasures, feasting and gluttony, eating and drinking, planting and building, marrying and giving in marriage, riches, pleasures, honors, dress, and anxious overwork over earthly possessions that lessens the prospect for eternal life. Worldly cares, riches and pleasures can be used to entrap the soul, and worldly pursuits with anxious desire for gain can absorb people until they forget obligations to God and others and stop watching, while hearts crowded and overcharged in this way are those who refuse to hear Christ by not hearing and practicing His Word and who in these last days will not receive warning. Heeding now means cutting down possessions instead of increasing them and letting means flow into God's treasury, getting things into as compact a compass as possible because of the move to a better heavenly country. When professed believers enter deeper into worldly enterprise, truths fail to impress, the sword of the Spirit falls tamely, meetings accomplish no lasting good because traffic is carried into them, and reformation must begin with ministers as watchmen who are converted, aroused, walking with God, preaching Christ and His righteousness and warning the careless.

These indulgences are devices Satan and his agents have artfully invented and put into active operation to hold men in destructive power until too late, distorting the view of temptation, diverting toward temporal concerns and blinding to good, diverting the mind from heaven and heavenly things to gain control of thoughts and purposes, putting to sleep with exciting amusements such as horse racing, games, theaters, card playing, gambling and all similar excitement, inventing excuses to keep people from meetings where truth is heard, filling the mind with unimportant matters so heard truths are not treasured, keeping minds in careless indifference, watching for a weak spot to wound the soul by betrayal into sin, and leaving the human family careless and presumptuous serving idols instead of God unless stirred awake.

Nature of That Day

That day is the day of Christ's coming and return, the day of God, the day of the Lord, the day of judgment, the day of trial, and the day when men stand face to face with eternity. It is the day of Christ's coming that will come upon the careless unawares as a thief and find them not ready, like the foolish virgins, so readiness must be present and daily with a living and complete connection with God. It is the day men stand face to face with eternity, when worldly things, pleasures, riches and honors will no longer seem important and the righteousness once despised will be seen as alone of value, and to ignore the warning is to be found unready as a guest without a wedding garment when probation is fast closing and the end is near. Escape requires constant watching and prayer and holy conduct and godliness, with diligence to be found in peace without spot and blameless, so as to be counted worthy to escape all that is coming and to stand before the Son of man and to receive the promised new heavens and new earth where righteousness dwells.

It will come upon the careless unawares and unexpectedly as a snare upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. That day will come as a snare upon everyone living on the whole earth, and with the signs fulfilling while the churches generally slumber in unpreparedness, believers must watch and pray continually so they may be counted worthy to escape these coming troubles and to stand before the Son of man. The warning applies to the present time and to people throughout the whole world, and it is especially urgent for Christ's followers in this time, for if the church follows the world's course it will share the world's fate, and its greater light brings greater responsibility. It is Christ's solemn warning to His disciples that the people of God must heed in order to prepare for His coming, joined to His command to watch and pray always, calling for studying, believing and obeying His words instead of deceiving the soul, for repenting and being converted and forsaking sins that they may be blotted out, for laying hold of the hope in the gospel while probation still lingers and mercy's voice is still heard, and its warning must not be passed by unheeded. That day is the day of the Lord coming as a thief in the night, when the heavens pass away and the earth and its works are burned up and dissolved by fire.

Come when it may, it will surprise false teachers who are saying peace and safety, and sudden destruction will come upon them. The day of God will come unexpectedly upon people like a concealed snare suddenly catching its prey, and to the unready it comes as a prowling thief, so habitual watching is the only safety and all must be ever ready so that that day does not overtake them as a thief. The day of the Lord is coming swiftly and silently as a thief in the night, yet few realize it and many are saying peace and safety, and unless they are watching and waiting for their Lord they will be taken by that day as in a snare. It will come upon people unawares as a snare when they are wholly engrossed in business, at ease, full of amusement, and absorbed in buying and selling, and farmers, merchants, lawyers, tradesmen and even ministers wholly engrossed in business, ease, amusement, buying and selling will be caught so at the revelation of the Son of man, just as Noah's contemporaries ate, drank, married and were given in marriage until the flood destroyed them, just as Lot's family counted warning of Sodom's destruction as enthusiasm, and just as Jerusalem was warned because it rejected truth. This absorbed, indulgent condition in feasting and gluttony and perverted appetite is already the condition of the world, found even among God's professed people, while lawyers, mechanics, farmers, traders and even ministers cry peace and safety when destruction is fast coming upon them, and the delay gives sinners more time to repent but many mistake it for proof He will never come and ridicule those who prepare.

Readiness must be gained during this life, for there is no second probation, and the character formed now will be revealed in the judgment. The verse therefore calls for watchfulness and preparation, including putting on Christ's righteousness before probation closes, because the time to prepare is this life and the days of probation are closing.

Call to Readiness

The call is to sober watchfulness joined to watching and praying always to be counted worthy to escape all the coming things and to stand before the Son of man, because indulgence, drunkenness and the cares of life can weigh down the heart and leave that day to come as a snare upon all the earth. To pray always is to remain continually in a spirit of prayer, with watchfulness, prayer and faithful work keeping readiness for the coming. That readiness includes holy conduct and godliness, diligence to be found in peace without spot and blameless, and faithful work with given talents to bring souls to the Master. Escape from the judgments coming upon the earth requires being clothed with Christ's righteousness and the robe of His righteousness, put on before probation closes. Readiness must be gained in this life, for there is no second probation and the character formed now will be revealed in the judgment.

God-given faculties are not to become narrow by dwelling on commonplace matters, but the chambers of the mind and soul temple are to be opened to let Jesus in as an honored guest and let in the sunshine of the righteousness of Christ. Those lying asleep in wickedness and deception in the shadow of death are to awaken from spiritual slumber, to feel need of the Holy Spirit and the presence and help of Jesus Christ every moment as personal Saviour, to humble the soul before God and seek Him earnestly at once, confessing sins and exercising faith for pardon. Fitness of character for heaven is to be examined in probationary time, uniting with God as laborers together with Him to mold character after the Divine likeness and work out salvation with fear and trembling. Character is not transferable and must be ready now and daily, for carelessness and indifference and giving body, soul and spirit to the world leave a person unready for His appearing. While probation still lingers and mercy's voice is still heard, Christ's words are to be studied, believed and obeyed instead of the soul deceiving itself and losing blessing. Repenting and being converted and forsaking sins that they may be blotted out, laying hold of the hope set before us in the gospel, and diligent work for repentance now are required while repentance is still possible.

The warning applies especially to those who know the testing truths for this time but are not making ready for His return, and spiritual slothfulness in the face of it is never excusable. Taking heed means the testimony that the Lord is coming is borne not only by the lips but by the life and character, with its principles woven into everyday experience. Those who receive the message are to apply its truths in practical life, showing purity, modesty, humility and contrition, as truth purifies the soul and exposes the heart's thoughts and intentions. Keeping Christ in view and centering affection on heavenly things guards the heart during the precious hours of probation, in view of the promised reward and the sacrifice made for humanity.

Last-Day Parallels and Signs

The last days repeat the days of Noah, when men had ample warning and time to repent but repeated indulgence strengthened the inclination to sin until they were eating and drinking, planting and building, marrying and giving in marriage, and knew not until the flood swept them away. So now men are occupied with worldly business and pleasures, with feasting and gluttony, with liquor and the narcotic tobacco, while failing to prepare for the coming of the Son of man and the day of God. That absorbed, indulgent condition is already the condition of the world, found even among professed believers, while lawyers, mechanics, farmers, traders, and even ministers are wholly engrossed in business, at ease, full of amusement, absorbed in buying and selling. The day will overtake them unexpectedly as a snare, as the flood overtook Noah's generation, calling all who believe in the soon coming to show faith in conduct and be sanctified by truth.

As Lot's family counted his warning of Sodom's destruction as enthusiasm and were unprepared, and as Jerusalem's people ignored Christ's warning because they rejected truth, so many absorbed in ordinary business and earthly concerns will disregard warnings of the end and be overtaken suddenly. The unready will be found not ready like the foolish virgins, for that day of Christ's coming will come upon the careless unawares as a thief, and readiness must be present and daily with a living and complete connection with God. The unfaithful servant does not deny the second coming but says the coming is delayed, removing from minds the conviction that the Lord is coming quickly, going off watch, echoing and spreading the delay message, confirmed in worldliness and stupor, going downward not upward, ceasing to look for and hasten unto the day of God. He becomes like the evil servant who puts off that day to a distant period, becomes careless, adopts the maxims and practices of the world, smites fellow servants, censures those better than himself, disparages brethren from fear they may stand higher, alienates from the people of God and unites with the ungodly and with worldlings in gatherings for pleasure, eating and drinking with the drunken and partaking of their spirit. Presuming delay leads to sloth, self-indulgence, neglect of watchfulness and secret prayer and then of other religious duties opening the way for all sins, neglect of the Lord's goods, and a lulled carnal security, forgetfulness, indifference and sloth in which earthly passions and corrupt thoughts take possession of the mind.

The verse describes a time of widespread backsliding and worldly business and pleasure-seeking like Noah's time, when people pursue business, pleasure, wealth and status while forgetting God and the future and the future life. As the close of earth's history approaches the same selfishness, violence, crime, and excessive indulgence of appetites and passions prevail, and that indulgence is the cause. The leading sins of the present age resemble those that helped bring judgment then, with growing drunkenness and crime and excess in eating, drinking and dress as marked sins and signs of the soon coming that waste time, money and strength and bring suffering and decay. Fitness for Christ's coming therefore requires reform in habits of life, with hygienic reform given a prominent essential place rather than neglected or trifled with, so that those looking for the Lord keep the brain clear and the body as free as possible from disease. Excessive eating and drinking weaken moral judgment, making sin seem less sinful and allowing crimes and base passions to take control, a corruption that will exist at His second coming.

Indulgence in food and drink can so burden and dull the mind that reason and conscience fail, as when Herod and his guests were so dulled by feasting and drunkenness that their silence helped bring about John's death. The delay of Christ's coming gives sinners more time to repent, but many mistake the delay for proof that He will never come and ridicule those who prepare for His appearing. While destruction is fast coming upon them they cry peace and safety.

Daily Life Application

Fitness for Christ's coming requires reform in habits of life, with hygienic reform given a prominent and essential place rather than neglected or trifled with, so that those looking for the Lord and fitting for the everlasting kingdom keep the brain clear and the body as free as possible from disease. Shunning the excesses of the age and pursuing purity of body and spirit is necessary to be fit for the inheritance of the saints, because self-control including temperance in eating and drinking matters during probationary life. Indulgence in food or drink and preoccupation with daily cares can weigh down the heart and leave a person unprepared when that day comes, and overindulgence in eating and drinking brings evils that darken life. Awakening people to the evils of the age and urging them to reform self-indulgent, unhealthful habits belongs to preparation for the Lord's coming, and resisting intemperance lessens its harmful effects so spiritual discernment can distinguish truth from error and the body can be presented as a living sacrifice.

Hearts overcharged with cares of this life include love of money and desire to be counted as well off as neighbors, leading to burying means in more land and worldly enterprises instead of rendering to God His dues. Anxiety and overwork over earthly possessions lessen the prospect for eternal life, and growing riches, selfishness, and love of the world can shut out heavenly light and hinder the cause from advancing. Heeding the warning now means cutting down possessions instead of increasing them and letting means flow into God's treasury, getting things into as compact a compass as possible because of the move to a better, heavenly country. God's stewards must awaken, practice sacrifice, and use their means to relieve burdens and support God's work, making the kingdom of Heaven first and letting truth reach down deep into the heart to develop fruit in private and public life with noble integrity shining forth. Love of money and earthly possessions can absorb affections, displace concern for Christ's kingdom and the spread of truth, become ruling traits, and so swallow up mind and affections in business that a person cannot think rationally and intelligently about the things of God, with vision obscured and selfish grasping for gain eclipsing the heavenly inheritance.

Professed believers whose hearts are overcharged are entering deeper and deeper into a spirit of worldly enterprise, ambitious to get gain, with the prevailing spirit to work, to accumulate, and to add to that which they already possess, while spirituality and devotion are rare. Because they are thus overcharged, truths spoken fail to impress the heart, the sword of the Spirit falls tamely upon hearers, and conference meetings accomplish no lasting good because a spirit of traffic is carried into them and the exalted work of God is made to connect too closely with common things and merchandise. The verse calls for soul-work, for ministers to arouse and manifest life, zeal and devotion by walking with God, to be converted before they can strengthen their brethren, not to preach themselves but Christ and His righteousness, with reformation first beginning its purifying work with ministers as watchmen upon the walls of Zion to warn the careless and unsuspecting and portray the fate of the hypocrite. It applies to ministers whose attention is divided by worldly cares: they fail to recognize the sacredness of their work, give themselves only partly to God, and pray little.

Camp meetings are meant to help believers recognize the danger of being weighed down by cares of this life, seek the Lord earnestly, confess backslidings, and put away sins, and failing to use these opportunities brings great loss. Worldly preoccupation can lead people absorbed in cares of this life to neglect their duties and influence their children, the church, and others in harmful ways, and their words and conduct will be revealed in the judgment. Being absorbed in cares can make people unready for the future immortal life, and the conduct of Christians is watched by those around them, especially their families, who need to see whether they are preparing for that future and training their children for Heaven.

The evil begins with neglect of watchfulness and secret prayer, then neglect of other religious duties, opening the way for all sins that follow. Letting cares and perplexities fill the heart causes neglect of God and His Word and its warnings and leaves no time to pray except as a mere empty form without power or saving power. Those called to be heirs of salvation, dependent on God for all strength, must instead stir their whole souls to earnest, energetic, agonizing wrestling with God for blessing, much more so because even Jesus prayed with such earnestness. To be surfeited is to be in a feverish state, constantly anxious, hurried and unduly excited, and excessive labor and care that produce it destroy physical and mental vigor, while idleness brings equally great peril because do-nothings rust from inaction. The verse calls for a sensible, straight, safe course of steady employment that escapes alike the entanglements of worldliness and the evils of having no occupation, keeping high and holy themes first as Christ's purchased property with work to do for Him, keeping minds uplifted while getting ready for the future life because the Lord is coming with power and great glory, which leads to seeing the salvation of the Lord, having hearts all light in the Lord, talking of His love, telling of His power, and revealing Him to all around.

No one is to say the warning does not apply to himself because he is a Christian, for the heart alone is read by God. Even those in positions of responsibility must take the warning personally, seek God in earnest prayer with humble, broken hearts, and be saved from perishing. It applies to the unfaithful servant who professes to serve Christ and does not deny the second coming but says His coming is delayed, removing from minds the conviction that the Lord is coming quickly and leading others into presumptuous, careless delay. Those who disregard the warning go off watch, echo and spread the delay message, are confirmed in worldliness and stupor, go downward not upward, cease looking for and hasting unto the day of God, and let earthly passions and corrupt thoughts take possession of the mind, smiting fellow servants who strive to do the Lord's will and joining the carnally minded who profess Christianity yet oppose Christ and His work. If the church follows the world's course, it will share the world's fate, and its greater light brings greater responsibility, so believers must show faith in conduct, be sanctified by truth, love Jesus and His service more than the world with works testifying which is loved most, or be passed by while God gives the work to humble men connected with Him.

Being overcharged crowds the heart so it refuses to hear Christ by not hearing and practicing His Word, identifying in these last days those absorbed in eating, drinking, planting, building, and marrying who will not receive warning. Guarding the heart against excess, drunkenness, and cares of earthly life is needed because these can leave people unready when the day comes unexpectedly and suddenly, and the warning belongs to the signs of the end and calls for watchfulness in view of Christ's return during the time given to prepare for salvation. Continual watching and prayer and daily control by the Spirit of God are required, with holding earnestly to heavenly things with faith that works by love, and diligent study and love of truth, or Satan controls and entangles with earthly treasures to hinder standing firm against deception. Readiness for that day calls for watchfulness and a pure life.