end not by and by--or immediately, not yet ([Mt 24:6]; [Mr 13:7]): that is, "Worse must come before all is over."
12. brought before, &c.--The book of Acts verifies all this.
13. for a testimony--an opportunity of bearing testimony.
18. not a hair ... perish--He had just said ([Lu 21:16]) they should be put to death; showing that this precious promise is far above immunity from mere bodily harm, and furnishing a key to the right interpretation of the ninety-first Psalm, and such like. Matthew adds the following ([Mt 24:12]): "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many," the many or, the most--the generality of professed disciples--"shall wax cold." But he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Sad illustrations of the effect of abounding iniquity in cooling the love of faithful disciples we have in the Epistle of James, written about this period referred to, and too frequently ever since ([He 10:38], ; [Re 2:10]). "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness, and then shall the end come" ([Mt 24:14]). God never sends judgment without previous warning; and there can be no doubt that the Jews, already dispersed over most known countries, had nearly all heard the Gospel "as a witness," before the end of the Jewish state. The same principle was repeated and will repeat itself to the end.
20-21. by armies--encamped armies, that is, besieged: "the abomination of desolation" (meaning the Roman ensigns, as the symbols of an idolatrous, pagan, unclean power) "spoken of by Daniel the prophet" ([Da 9:27]) "standing where it ought not" ([Mr 13:14]). "Whoso readeth [that prophecy] let him understand" ([Mt 24:15]).
Then ... flee, &c.--Eusebius says the Christians fled to Pella, at the north extremity of Perea, being "prophetically directed"; perhaps by some prophetic intimation still more explicit than this, which still would be their chart.
23. woe unto--"alas for."
with child, &c.--from the greater suffering it would involve; as also "flight in winter, and on the sabbath," which they were to "pray" against ([Mt 24:20]), the one as more trying to the body, the other to the soul. "For then shall be tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world, nor ever shall be"--language not unusual in the Old Testament for tremendous calamities, though of this it may perhaps be literally said, "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened" ([Mt 24:21], ). But for this merciful "shortening," brought about by a remarkable concurrence of causes, the whole nation would have perished, in which there yet remained a remnant to be afterwards gathered out. Here in Matthew and Mark ([Mt 24:24]; [Mr 13:22]) are some particulars about "false Christs," who should, "if possible"--a precious clause--"deceive the very elect." (Compare [2Th 2:9-11]; [Re 13:13].)
24. Jerusalem ... trodden down ... until, &c.--Implying (1) that one day Jerusalem shall cease to be "trodden down by the Gentiles" ([Re 11:2]), as then by pagan so now by Mohammedan unbelievers; (2) that this shall be at the "completion" of "the times of the Gentiles," which from [Ro 11:25] (taken from this) we conclude to mean till the Gentiles have had their full time of that place in the Church which the Jews in their time had before them--after which, the Jews being again "grafted into their own olive tree," one Church of Jew and Gentile together shall fill the earth ([Ro 11:1-36]). What a vista this opens up!
25-28. signs, &c.--Though the grandeur of this language carries the mind over the head of all periods but that of Christ's second coming, nearly every expression will be found used of the Lord's coming in terrible national judgments, as of Babylon, &c.; and from [Lu 21:28], , it seems undeniable that its immediate reference was to the destruction of Jerusalem, though its ultimate reference beyond doubt is to Christ's final coming.
32. This generation--not "this nation," as some interpret it, which, though admissible in itself, seems very unnatural here. It is rather as in [Lu 9:27].
34-37. surfeiting, and drunkenness--All animal excesses, quenching spirituality.
cares of this life--(See on [Mr 4:7]; [Mr 4:19]).
Chapter 22
Lu 22:1-6. Conspiracy of the Jewish Authorities to Put Jesus to Death--Compact with Judas
1-2. (See on [Mt 26:1-5].)
3. Then entered Satan, &c.--but not yet in the full sense. The awful stages of it were these: (1) Covetousness being his master--passion, the Lord let it reveal itself and gather strength by entrusting him with "the bag" ([Joh 12:6]), as treasurer to Himself and the Twelve. (2) In the discharge of that most sacred trust he became "a thief," appropriating its contents from time to time to his own use. Satan, seeing this door into his heart standing wide open, determines to enter by it, but cautiously ([2Co 2:11]); first merely "putting it into his heart to betray Him" ([Joh 13:2]), suggesting the thought to him that by this means he might enrich himself. (3) This thought was probably converted into a settled purpose by what took place in Simon's house at Bethany. (See [Mt 26:6], and see on [Joh 12:4-8.) (4]) Starting back, perhaps, or mercifully held back, for some time, the determination to carry it into immediate effect was not consummated till, sitting at the paschal supper, "Satan entered into him" (see on [Joh 13:27]), and conscience, effectually stifled, only rose again to be his tormentor. What lessons in all this for every one ([Ep 4:27]; [Jas 4:7]; [1Pe 5:8], )!
5. money--"thirty pieces of silver" ([Mt 26:15]); thirty shekels, the fine payable for man- or maid-servant accidentally killed ([Ex 21:32]), and equal to between four and five pounds of our money--"a goodly price that I was priced at of them" ([Zec 11:13]). (See on [Joh 19:16].)
6. in the absence, &c.--(See [Mt 26:5]).
Lu 22:7-38. Last Passover--Institution of the Supper--Discourse at the Table
7. the day of unleavened bread--strictly the fifteenth Nisan (part of our March and April) after the paschal lamb was killed; but here, the fourteenth (Thursday). Into the difficult questions raised on this we cannot here enter.
10-13. when ye are entered the city--He Himself probably stayed at Bethany during the day.
there shall a man, &c.--(See on [Lu 19:29-32]).
14-18. the hour--about six P.M. Between three and this hour the lamb was killed ([Ex 12:6], Margin)
21-22. (See on [Joh 13:21], &c.).
24-30. there was--or "had been," referring probably to some symptoms of the former strife which had reappeared, perhaps on seeing the whole paschal arrangements committed to two of the Twelve. (See on [Mr 10:42-45].)
31-34. Simon, Simon--(See on [Lu 10:41]).
desired to have--rather, "hath obtained you," properly "asked and obtained"; alluding to Job (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6), whom he solicited and obtained that he might sift him as wheat, insinuating as "the accuser of the brethren" ([Re 12:10]), that he would find chaff enough in his religion, if indeed there was any wheat at all.
you--not Peter only, but them all.
35-38. But now--that you are going forth not as before on a temporary mission, provided for without purse or scrip, but into scenes of continued and severe trial, your methods must be different; for purse and scrip will now be needed for support, and the usual means of defense.
Lu 22:39-46. Agony in the Garden
39. as ... wont--(See [Joh 18:2]).
40. the place--the Garden of Gethsemane, on the west or city side of the mount. Comparing all the accounts of this mysterious scene, the facts appear to be these: (1) He bade nine of the Twelve remain "here" while He went and prayed "yonder." (2) He "took the other three, Peter, James, and John, and began to be sore amazed [appalled], sorrowful, and very heavy [oppressed], and said, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death"--"I feel as if nature would sink under this load, as if life were ebbing out, and death coming before its time"--"tarry ye here, and watch with Me"; not, "Witness for Me," but, "Bear Me company." It did Him good, it seems, to have them beside Him. (3) But soon even they were too much for Him: He must be alone. "He was withdrawn from them about a stone's-cast"--though near enough for them to be competent witnesses and kneeled down, uttering that most affecting prayer ([Mr 14:36]), that if possible "the cup," of His approaching death, "might pass from Him, but if not, His Father's will be done": implying that in itself it was so purely revolting that only its being the Father's will would induce Him to taste it, but that in that view of it He was perfectly prepared to drink it. It is no struggle between a reluctant and a compliant will, but between two views of one event--an abstract and a relative view of it, in the one of which it was revolting, in the other welcome. By signifying how it felt in the one view, He shows His beautiful oneness with ourselves in nature and feeling; by expressing how He regarded it in the other light, He reveals His absolute obediential subjection to His Father. (4) On this, having a momentary relief, for it came upon Him, we imagine, by surges, He returns to the three, and finding them sleeping, He addresses them affectingly, particularly Peter, as in [Mr 14:37], . He then (5) goes back, not now to kneel, but fell on His face on the ground, saying the same words, but with this turn, "If this cup may not pass," &c. ([Mt 26:42])--that is, 'Yes, I understand this mysterious silence ([Psa 22:1-6]); it may not pass; I am to drink it, and I will'--"Thy will be done!" (6) Again, for a moment relieved, He returns and finds them "sleeping for sorrow," warns them as before, but puts a loving construction upon it, separating between the "willing spirit" and the "weak flesh." (7) Once more, returning to His solitary spot, the surges rise higher, beat more tempestuously, and seem ready to overwhelm Him. To fortify Him for this, "there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven strengthening Him"--not to minister light or comfort (He was to have none of that, and they were not needed nor fitted to convey it), but purely to sustain and brace up sinking nature for a yet hotter and fiercer struggle. And now, He is "in an agony, and prays more earnestly"--even Christ's prayer, it seems, admitted of and now demanded such increase--"and His sweat was as it were great drops [literally, 'clots'] of blood falling down to the ground." What was this? Not His proper sacrificial offering, though essential to it. It was just the internal struggle, apparently hushing itself before, but now swelling up again, convulsing His whole inner man, and this so affecting His animal nature that the sweat oozed out from every pore in thick drops of blood, falling to the ground. It was just shuddering nature and indomitable will struggling together. But again the cry, If it must be, Thy will be done, issues from His lips, and all is over. "The bitterness of death is past." He has anticipated and rehearsed His final conflict, and won the victory--now on the theater of an invincible will, as then on the arena of the Cross. "I will suffer," is the grand result of Gethsemane: "It is finished" is the shout that bursts from the Cross. The Will without the Deed had been all in vain; but His work was consummated when He carried the now manifested Will into the palpable Deed, "by the which WILL we are sanctified THROUGH THE OFFERING OF THE BODY OF Jesus Christ once for all" ([He 10:10]). () At the close of the whole scene, finding them still sleeping (worn out with continued sorrow and racking anxiety), He bids them, with an irony of deep emotion, "sleep on now and take their rest, the hour is come, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners, rise, let us be going, the traitor is at hand." And while He spoke, Judas approached with his armed band. Thus they proved "miserable comforters," broken reeds; and thus in His whole work He was alone, and "of the people there was none with Him."
Lu 22:47-54. Betrayal and Apprehension of Jesus--Flight of His Disciples
Lu 22:55-62. Jesus before Caiaphas--Fall of Peter
The particulars of these two sections require a combination of all the narratives, for which see on [Joh 18:1-27].
61. And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter--(Also see on [Mr 14:72].)
62. And Peter went out, and wept bitterly--(Also see on [Mr 14:72].)
Lu 22:63-71. Jesus Condemned to Die and Shamefully Entreated
(See on [Mr 14:53-63]; [Joh 18:19], &c.; and [Lu 22:55-62].)
Chapter 23
Lu 23:1-5. Jesus before Pilate
(See on [Mr 15:1-5]; and [Joh 18:28-19:22].)
Lu 23:6-12. Jesus before Herod
(See [Mr 15:6].)