Knowing The Word in Luke 21:34-38, Watch Yourselves

Bishop and Anglican theologian J.C. Ryle wrote, “There is no sin so great but a great saint may fall into it: there is no saint so great but he may fall into a great sin.” The followers of Jesus are to watch themselves so as not to give in to temptation. The end of all things will come upon all who dwell on earth, but those standing “before the Son of Man,” meaning those who persevere in their faith, will possess ultimate salvation.

The daily routine of Jesus’ last week was to teach in the temple and then leave the city for Mount Olive in the evening. Perhaps this refers to Jesus and his crew going over Mount Olive to Bethany to lodge with Lazarus and his sisters, or he could be sleeping in the Garden of Gethsemane, a plot of land outside Jerusalem on the western slope of the Mount of Olives owned, perhaps by the gospel writer Mark’s family.

Luke 21:34-38

34 “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

37 And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. 38 And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.

Prayer

Christ, whose glory fills the skies,

Christ, the true, the only light,

Sun of Righteousness, arise,

Triumph o’re the shades of night;

Day-spring from on high, be near;

Day-star in my heart appear.

Dark and cheerless is the morn

Unaccompanied by thee;

Joyless is the day’s return,

Till thy mercy’s beams I see;

Till thy inward light impart,

Cheer my eyes and warm my heart.

Visit then this soul of mine;

Pierce the gloom of sin and grief;

Fill me, Radiancy divine,

Scatter all my unbelief;

More and more thyself display,

Shining to the perfect day.

Charles Wesley