Luke 21 Round Two: Jesus Gets Crazy

Two coins and an earthquake of meaning. That’s the surprising arc of Luke 21, where a quiet offering exposes the heart of worship and Jesus’ words pull back the curtain on history, hope, and how to stand when the ground moves. We start with the widow who gives “everything she has,” exploring why Jesus measures devotion by trust, not totals, and how generosity becomes an act of worship that shapes our allegiance in a world obsessed with spectacle.

From there, we follow Jesus into hard truth: deceivers, wars, disasters, and pressure that squeezes disciples into the public square. Instead of panic, we talk about posture—how trials become testimony, how God gives words and wisdom under fire, and how “not a hair of your head will perish” reframes ultimate safety. We also dive into the contested terrain of prophecy with humility and clarity: AD 70 and the fall of Jerusalem, future horizons that echo Revelation, and the “already and not yet” pattern running through Scripture. Rather than reduce the passage to timelines, we lift out the thread Jesus emphasizes—watchfulness, sobriety, and prayerful strength.

Throughout, we keep the tone practical and pastoral. You’ll hear why the fig tree is a lesson in seasons, not stopwatches, and how to live awake when indulgence and worry dull the heart. Expect a candid look at three common views of Luke 21 and a simple framework for application with S.O.A.P. The takeaway is not a chart—it’s a compass: worship with your wallet and your will, witness with courage when pressure comes, and watch with your eyes up because your salvation draws near. If this helped you think and breathe easier, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review so more people can find the study. What part of Luke 21 challenged you most today?

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome & Why Luke Matters
• 0:41 Subscribe, Reviews, Text Updates, Newsletter
• 1:25 Luke’s Aim and Today’s Focus
• 2:09 The Widow’s Two Coins
• 3:18 Jesus Foretells Destruction and Deception
• 4:20 Persecution, Witness, and Endurance
• 5:20 Jerusalem’s Fall and Global Signs
• 6:12 Son of Man, Fig Tree, and Watchfulness
• 7:05 The Eschatological Problem Explained
• 8:31 Three Views of Prophecy
• 10:10 Holding Ambiguity and Trusting Jesus
• 11:33 Apply with S.O.A.P. and Prayer

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. Every day, we take one chapter of the Bible, dig deeper, and discover that the more we dig, the more we find. You can find out more at the Biblebreakdown.com. Now let's grow in God's Word together. Well, hello everybody, and welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. Man, so excited to be with you guys and just on this journey of just reading God's Word together. The more we dig, the more we find. And today is definitely going to be one of those. We're going to jump into God's Word where He is going to talk just a little bit about a widow and a whole lot about the future. And it's kind of scary stuff if you don't know Jesus. If you do, man, it's awesome. So before we do that, I want to ask you to do me a favor. I want you to subscribe to this podcast. It really helps me a lot. It kind of does the whole algorithm thing and all this good stuff. And so if you want mine, subscribe to this podcast, leave a review, rate the podcast as long as it's a five. If it's not a five, don't rate it. But that helps us to get the word out. Also, if you would like for me to text you the chapters we're going to be reading every day, as well as the latest episode, you can text RLC Bible to 94,000 and we can send that to you every single day, and you'll get that. Also, last but not least, is if you go to my blog at brandoncannon.com, you can get a newsletter sent to you once a week where we do some deeper dives into these different topics and just generally just try to help you make the most out of your relationship with God. Okay? All right. Now, don't forget that the gospel writer Luke he is trained as a physician, but he has been sent by a guy named Theopolis into the Judean countryside to affirm what he has heard about Jesus. So he has become a first century version of an investigative journalist. And I'm so curious about who he would sit down with as he would go through some of these things. And I don't know who he would have sat down with today because there's so many different people that might have heard Jesus talk about this. But what he's gonna do is he's gonna talk about this widow who gives some money that nobody else sees her but Jesus does. And then he's gonna talk about the end of days, the last days. Something that so many people like to look at the Bible for. And we're gonna talk about that at the very end. But first, let's jump into God's Word. So if you got your Bibles, your your New Living Translation Bibles, got them opened up to Luke chapter 21. We're gonna jump into this and we're gonna read this together and then we're gonna break it down as we go. So here we go. Verse 1 says this. While Jesus was in the temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts into the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins. I tell you the truth, Jesus said. This widow has given more than all of the rest of them, for they have given a tiny part of their surplus. But she, poor as she is, has given everything she has. Now what Jesus was doing is, is he was saying, it doesn't matter what everybody else sees, what matters is the heart. And whereas it seemed like it must have been people around at the time that were giving, like, I don't know, just gobs and gobs of money, just to make sure everybody else saw them. She kind of eased up there when nobody else was paying attention and put in a significant portion to her. And what we realize in this, Jesus is saying, is it's not the amount that made the biggest difference because she didn't have a lot of money to give. What mattered was the position of her heart that she gave the best she could. And I think that's an important lesson for all of us today. I mean, the the Old Testament was talking about Jesus one time. He said, God owns the cattle of a thousand heels. Well, as a farmer back then, basically it's God's got all the money, He's got all the things. He doesn't need our money. What he wants is our worship. And one of the ways that we worship is through giving our finances. When we give our finances, we're worshiping God by saying, I trust you. God, this these finances represent a portion of my life. I earned this money. And so when I give this to you, it is an act of worship. And that's what matters the most to the Lord. All right. Now the next part, we're reading verse 5 through the rest of the chapter, where Jesus is just going to get really real about this. We're going to read this and then we'll break it down together. So here we go. Verse 5. Some of his disciples began talking about the majestic stonework of the temple and the memorial decorations on the wall. But Jesus said, The time is coming when all these things will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another. Teacher, they asked, When will this happen? What sign will show us that these things are about to take place? He replied, Don't let anyone mislead you. For many will come in my name, claiming I am the Messiah, and saying, The time has come, but don't believe them. When you hear of wars and insurrections, don't panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won't follow immediately. Then he added, Nation will go to war against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes, and there will be famines and plagues in many lands, and there will be terrifying things and great miraculous signs from heaven. But before all this occurs, there will be a time of great persecution. You will be dragged into the synagogues and prisons. You will stand trial before kings and governors, because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell them about me. So don't worry in advance how you will answer the charges against you. For I will give you the right words and such wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to reply or refute you. Even those closest to you, your parents, brothers, relatives, and friends will betray you. They will even kill some of you, and everyone will hate you because you are my followers. But not a hair on your head will perish. By standing firm you will win your souls. And when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that the time of destruction has arrived. Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. Those in Jerusalem must get out, and those out in the country should not return to the city. For those will be the days of God's vengeance, and the prophetic words of the Scriptures will be fulfilled. How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. For there will be disaster in the land and great anger against this people. They will be killed by the sword or sent away as captives to all nations of the world. Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the period of the Gentiles comes to an end. And there will be strange signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And here on earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on a cloud with power and with great glory. And when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near. Then he gave them this illustration. Notice the fig tree or any other tree. When the leaves come out, you know that without being told that summer is near. In the same way, when you see all these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass until the scene from the scene until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear. Watch out. Don't let your hearts be dulled by carousing and with drunkenness and by the worries of this life. Don't let that day catch you unaware, like a trap. For that day will come upon everyone living on the earth. Keep alert at all times, and pray that you may be strong enough to escape the coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man. Every day Jesus went to the temple to teach, and each evening he returned to spend the night on the Mount of Olives. The crowds gathered at the temple early each morning to hear him. Now, I don't know about you, but that's some pretty chilling stuff right there, especially knowing it's coming from Jesus. And herein lies what's called the eschatological problem. All right, if you want to impress your friends, you next time you see a bunch of people, I want you need to sit back, put your hands on your chin as if you're thinking deeply, and say, Have you all considered the eschatological problem? Uh eschaton, which is where that word comes from, means uh end times. Ology, eschatology is the study of. So it's the study of the end times. And one of the things that is very interesting about this text is how many different people look at this text so many different ways. There's basically three ways to look at this text. You have one, which is that Jesus was prophesying about the temple destruction in 70 AD. And we know that what happened was is that Rome marched on Jerusalem, they laid siege to it, they built ramps up there, and they ended up destroying the temple and and everything in it, and there was literally was not one stone left upon another. That's one way, is that all of this was describing the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. And they usually use that by saying, first of all, it describes very pretty perfectly exactly what happened, but then also it said that this generation would not pass until they see these things fulfilled, right? That's number one way. Number two way, people look at this and say, no, no, no, this is you know very similar to what you find written in the book of Revelation and is intended to talk about the end of days. And it was the generation that sees the beginning of these things that would not pass away until it's all fulfilled. So, in other words, it's saying that once these things start to happen, it's all going to happen pretty quickly. That's the second form of eschatology when it comes to this particular chapter. And then the third is just simply, yes, it is the already, but not yet, which is saying that Jesus was prophesying about the near future, but also it had a parallel to the distant future. And that's a lot of the ways that God really wrote the Old Testament, because there's a lot of places in the Old Testament when the prophets would prophesy about things, it was they were prophesying about things that were coming up pretty quickly, but then also they were prophesying about things that were coming in the distant future. And you can really take your own stance on this, which way this is. The thing is, you gotta remember about the Bible, is the Bible is not intended to tell us everything about everything. The chief purpose of God's word was to talk about Him redeeming His creation, how everything started, how we fail, and how Jesus redeems us all. Even the book of Revelation, it says the revelation of Jesus Christ. It's not a revelation to give us a blow-by-blow account about how everything ends, it's in order to show us that Jesus is already there and how Jesus redeems all of it. And I will tell you, I spent a lot of time in my life when I was younger really dissecting all of this, and I was absolutely certain I knew it, you know, it meant and all this stuff, until finally one day I really stepped back and I took an honest look at other forms of eschatology, study the end times. And here's one of the things I noticed, and that is that there are three main ones, and that is everything in prophecy has already been fulfilled. The second one is that everything is yet to be fulfilled, and then the third one is yes, it's it's all a little bit everywhere. And can I tell you honestly, I don't know anymore. I used to tell you, I would have told you exactly what I thought, and that is that everything was in the future. I was what they would call a pre-trib, pre-millennial person. That means there's a lot of stuff there, and it pretty much just went along with the left behind books. Have you ever read those? Can I tell you I don't know anymore? Because as I've continued to study the Bible, I continue to realize that no matter how you line up with this, you gotta cheat at some point. You gotta let you gotta kind of, you know, you gotta bend at least one scripture so far out of whack that it almost breaks to where now you go, okay, that's not quite what that means, right? So here's the thing. I think that's on purpose. I think that God left some ambiguity here in the text so that in one way we can trust it, but in another way we have to trust Him and trust that in time God will make everything new. I think it's very obvious to see in this particular text that many of the things that Jesus says is eerily accurate to what was going to happen in the future at that point in 70 AD, when Jerusalem was destroyed and uh the temple uh was destroyed as well. I mean, it's very, very accurate. And what makes it even more amazing is this was written before it happened, and so it's awesome. But also you can see a lot of parallels to what uh the apostle John wrote in the book of Revelation. So I think that it's all of these things. I think it is talking about what happened in 70 AD, but it also leans towards something that happens in the future. And so here's the bottom line: don't put your hope in your ability to tell the future. Put your hope in the fact that Jesus is already there. Let me say that again. Don't put your hope in your ability to tell the future. Put your hope in the fact that Jesus is already there. Because even when it gets scary, even when we don't always know what's going to happen, we can trust that because Jesus is there, everything is going to be okay. Well, I'm curious what you got out of this chapter. I wonder how you might want to apply this. You can go and soap through this. If you remember, soap is scripture, applic uh, observation, application, and prayer. So I want you to read through this and what scripture stood out to you the most. And then I want you to say, why did it stand out to you the most? And I want you to write an application, and then at the end of that, I want you to write out a prayer and how you're asking God to seal that in your heart. Let me pray for you and we'll be done for today. Father, I'm so thankful that you're already in the future. Therefore, that means no matter what comes, no matter what happens, we never have to live in fear because you're already there and you're already for us. I pray you will fill us with such a sense of joy and peace that nothing will be able to shake our confidence in you. Thank you, God, for loving us the way you do. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. I love you. Hope you have a great day. I will see you next time for Luke chapter.