Morning Light – Luke 21: Jesus at the Treasury

[Luke 21] Jesus at the Treasury: In this chapter, we find Jesus closely observing what various individuals give into the treasury of the temple. Would you tolerate your minister following the usher down the aisle, examining the amounts of each gift given at offering time? That is precisely what Jesus does in this chapter. He goes on to commend an impoverished widow giving into the very institution that was plotting His assassination. Jesus’ attitudes toward giving are very different than those which we find in Christian culture today, as we will examine in this chapter.

[Luk 21:1-38 KJV] 1 And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. 2 And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. 3 And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: 4 For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had. 5 And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, 6 [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. 7 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? 8 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. 9 But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end [is] not by and by. 10 Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: 11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. 12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute [you], delivering [you] up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake. 13 And it shall turn to you for a testimony. 14 Settle [it] therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: 15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. 16 And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and [some] of you shall they cause to be put to death. 17 And ye shall be hated of all [men] for my name’s sake. 18 But there shall not an hair of your head perish. 19 In your patience possess ye your souls. 20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. 21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. 22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. 24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. 25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. 27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. 29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; 30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. 31 So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. 32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. 33 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. 34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and [so] that day come upon you unawares. 35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. 37 And in the day time he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called [the mount] of Olives. 38 And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, for to hear him.

In v. 1 of chapter 21, we find Jesus in the temple, observing the adherents making their gifts into the treasury of the temple. Interestingly, Jesus does not criticize the people for giving into the institution whose leaders are colluding in His assassination. This is the very religious system that Rev. 2:9 and 3:9 term “the synagogue of Satan” and whom Jesus just a day before this drove out the money changers for corrupting His Father’s house. This is the same temple which was in fact the temple that Herod, a half-gentile built to garner favor with the people of Judea that the Romans had appointed Him over. It can only be that God was looking upon the heart of the people in their giving and not at the character of the institution and its leaders that are benefiting from the gift. I know for myself in earlier years I would complain about organizations that I felt did not deserve “the Lord’s money,” and God sternly silenced me. Leviticus 27 says that the things that are given to the Lord were to be considered as things that were “the devoted things.” That word devoted means “devoted to destruction.” What does that tell us about giving? It is a dread thing to mishandle either literally or by our attitude the things that are given to the Lord. Ananias and Sapphira found that out in the most tragic manner. Those that claim that God is not at all concerned about such things as money or financial issues would do well to consider the circumstances under which Ananias and Sapphira lost their lives before they make such a sweeping and inaccurate observation. When you give to the things of God, remember this – Jesus is still looking into the treasury. The challenge for us in our giving is to find by the leadership of the Holy Spirit, which treasury is Jesus looking into waiting on our specific gift.

While Jesus is watching, a poor widow casts in what amounts to her entire living. Can you imagine a ministry where the pastor is so concerned about offerings that he follows the usher down the aisle, examining each amount given before depositing it into the receptacle? What a scandal and what criticism would be leveled at a leader deemed so carnally minded or money-minded as to do today what Jesus did on this particular day. To make matters worse, Jesus does not decry the lack of wisdom of a poor widow giving everything she had. I have heard preachers say it was a sin for people on food stamps or public assistance to give offerings to God when they are living off the public dole. Yet, Jesus willingly accepts and, in fact, applauds this woman’s giving, not looking at her need but her generosity. Over and again, people moved upon by Jesus’ ministry, and personality gave all they had. Jesus never criticized the one giving or the institution receiving the gift, even when it was led by the very people who would cry out for His crucifixion. God so loved that He gave, and He delights when our hearts are giving hearts backed up by actual and sacrificial actions.

In verse 5, after Jesus commends the woman, there are those standing by remarking on the beauty of the temple, and it’s stones and architecture. In other words, they are saying, “yes, look what the woman gave and look at what has been accomplished with these gifts…” Jesus is not distracted by the beauty of this magnificent structure, simply stating that no matter what the heart is of the people to give, or the plans the leaders have for building and adorning this great institution, that not one stone would be left standing one upon another. Men are always seeking for permanence where God is seeking for none. Years ago, the Father asked me a question about the nature of the church and how we try to guild our churches in the glory of yesterday’s accomplishments to distract from the fading accomplishments of today. He told me to consider the perishable nature of the local church. He asked me to answer whether I could suggest one church that was over 20 years old that was walking in a greater glory in its maturity than it did in its beginning years. In the beginnings of Azusa street multiplied millions were reached for the gospel, but that testimony does not stand today where it is nothing more than a parking lot. The Pensacola revival is nothing but a shell of shattered disappointment in Brownsville today. The people remaining after the Brownsville Revival have struggled for years under the debts and burdens of what is left of that once great and sweeping movement. We need to learn to handle everything loosely and be ready to move when the cloud of God’s spirit takes us from one wilderness encampment to another. You don’t want to be left holding the bag when the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night have vacated what you thought was the move of God in your day.

In verse 8, Jesus warns of the time when many would act in His name and claim, “I am Christ.” The word Christ means “anointed.” Many today claim to work in Jesus’ name, and many, many claim they are anointed, but Jesus flatly states that we are not to follow these. We are not to foster outward dependence of the people upon US but inward dependence of the people on God who dwells in their hearts by faith through the Holy Spirit. That subtle difference is the metric of disparity between a ministry that Jesus is saying you SHOULD and whom Jesus is saying you SHOULD NOT follow. Pastors, leaders, and ministers are to take a dependent and needy people and not ingratiate them to ourselves, but to train and teach them to be dependent upon God in them, Christ in them as Paul teaches in Col. 1:26,27. This emphasis is the difference between a true and a false ministry.

Not only are we not to follow those who are putting their focus on who God is in them rather than who God is in you – Jesus also says that the character of these ministries we are not to follow after are those who say “the time is near…” in other words those with an alarmist message. When is the last time you read something or heard a message where the emphasis was geared to alarm you about what some person or group is doing that you should be concerned about and in so doing should look to the speaker or writer as a source of reliable and needful information if you expect to “REALLY” know what is going on? Jesus says we should not go after or follow such influences. When you look at who Jesus says we should not be following, you would have to rule out far more ministries, churches, and pastors than would be comfortable to do so.

Furthermore, Jesus addresses the fact that wars and commotions in the earth are not current events that we are to be overly concerned with. When we see such things, we are to realize that as Jesus says, the end is not yet. Some take this to mean we are to ignore such things altogether, and that any inquiry after future events in God’s timeline is just the hallmark of immaturity or a sign that you are just not “with it” in the current seeker-sensitive climate of the church. That is not what Jesus is saying in this passage. He isn’t saying there will be no end, but that it isn’t YET. That implies that Jesus was a millennialist in His thinking. There will be an end. There will be a climactic culmination of human events that the church will be around to witness the advent of. Jesus is saying that there will be many cataclysmic things and great upheaval and even brutal persecutions through history, but we are to remain (v. 14) settled in our hearts and steadfast in our testimonies. We are not to bunker down in our basements with our generators and freeze-dried navy beans waiting for the advent of the anti-Christ. Please note the promise in v. 18 that no matter how hated we are in society the promise of God is that not one hair of our heads will perish and in our patience possess we our souls.

Jesus then (v. 20) describes the fall of Jerusalem that comes to pass approximately 35 years from the date on which He is saying those things. After Jesus is crucified and rejected by the Jews, they raised up a revolutionary by the name of Bar Kopa who they did dub “king of kings and Lord of lords” as his title, and Bar Kopa successfully drives the Romans out of Judea for ten years. However, the Romans come back in force, and brutally subjugate the city and expel every Jew from the newly constituted province of Palestine. The Romans will outlaw the use of the names Jerusalem, Judea, or Jewish altogether and scatter the Jews throughout the empire in an attempt to stamp out the children of Abraham entirely. Jesus sees these things coming and says, “woe to those that are with child” (v. 23) during this great distress. This begs the question when we read these things 2000 years later, are these things that have already happened or going to happen? The answer is YES, there have been things that were prophesied that have in fact come to pass, but there are also dimensions of fulfillment of events that have yet come to pass. You cannot say none of this has happened, neither can you say with any accuracy it has already happened. We are warned in 1 Thessalonians against the teachers who insist that the day of the Lord and the coming of Christ is passed. This is not true – there is still a climactic fulfillment of God’s purposes yet to be fulfilled in our lifetime, and perhaps beyond our lifetime, our posture is to be “even so come quickly, Lord Jesus”.