21:29–31 The end of history and the glorious coming of the Son of Man has been introduced. Jesus now tells a parable involving a fig tree. “The fig tree loses its leaves in the winter, but it is one of the first trees to bud in the spring.”260 Actually, one could learn this lesson from any tree. When the fig tree begins to leaf, it is evident that summer is near. It takes no great wisdom to recognize this. Similarly, when people see the things occurring that Jesus has just mentioned, it should be obvious that the kingdom of God is at hand. In context this reference is to the consummation of the kingdom of God, since the kingdom is already present in Jesus’ person (Luke 17:20–21).261 The things that signal the coming of the kingdom must be the matters referenced in 21:25–26, where we see the world falling apart in the skies and in the seas. These same events are those that will provoke believers to raise their heads in expectation (v. 28).

21:32–33 Jesus then makes a declaration that serves as one of the more difficult things to understand in the Gospels: this generation will not pass away before all the things he has said take place. If we restrict this statement to the destruction of Jerusalem, then these words are quite fitting, since Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70. The difficulty is that this statement comes after Jesus has predicted his coming (v. 27)—and he did not return within that generation. We might be tempted to revisit the view that Jesus is mistaken, but we have already seen that this solution is implausible even in Luke. In fact, verse 33 almost seems to anticipate the problem, assuring us that the present world order (“heaven and earth”) will not persist forever, but Jesus’ words will, which certainly means that everything Jesus says will come true (cf. Luke 16:17; Ps. 119:89; Isa. 40:8). Nothing he says will be falsified. Another solution is to argue that the word “generation” refers to the Jewish people, but we have no contextual indication here that the Jewish people are in view. Indeed, the word “until” shows that this is a temporal statement. Further, it is questionable that “generation has an ethnic sense.262

I suggest again, therefore, that the text should be read on two levels: the judgment of Jerusalem functions as a type of the final judgment. If Luke wrote after AD 70, it is quite implausible to think that he would preserve words of Jesus that were clearly mistaken. If he wrote before AD 70, as suggested in the Introduction, the events in AD 70 would have provoked readers to take another look at what Jesus had said. Since he rose from the dead in accordance with his prophecies and Jerusalem was destroyed just as he predicted, readers would recognize, as we saw with Isaiah 40–66, that this prophecy would be fulfilled in a more complex way than was originally anticipated. Thus “this generation” also refers to the generation in which the cosmic phenomena in the sky and the seas take place, but it first applies to the destruction of Jerusalem and the demolition of the temple in AD 70.

21:34–36 The coming of the Lord is a call for vigilance and perseverance. There is a hint here that his coming may be delayed. Disciples must be attentive, for other things might capture their hearts. They might fall into living for pleasure, which would include drunkenness and drugs and other things that dull the senses (cf. Luke 12:45; Rom. 13:13; cf. Isa. 5:11–13). Drunkenness here may also be a metaphor for a life contrary to God’s will; Paul speaks of drunkenness in this wider sense and contrasts it with living a sober and alert life (1 Thess. 5:4–8). The “cares of this life” might crowd out devotion to the things of God (cf. Luke 8:14), and the day of the Lord, the day of Jesus’ return, might come upon people like a trap. In other words, people might show by their lives that they unready or unprepared for his coming (cf. 2 Bar. 32:1). If this occurs they will be not rewarded but punished. Jesus assures his hearers that this day is coming; no one on earth will be exempt from it. Believers must, therefore, stay alert (cf. Mark 13:33), and a key way of keeping alert is through regular prayer (cf. Luke 18:1; 22:40, 46; Rom. 12:12; 1 Pet. 4:7), for in prayer believers recognize they need help to stay true to the Lord. They pray for strength from above to escape the things that will strike the wicked. To escape these things probably refers to avoiding the judgment reserved for the wicked (cf. 2 Bar. 83:8). Conversely, those who persevere, pray, and stay alert will stand vindicated before the Son of Man (cf. Luke 9:26; Rev. 6:17).

21:37–38 The eschatological discourse about the temple and Jesus’ coming has ended, but Jesus continues teaching in the temple (cf. Luke 19:47), instructing the people about the will of God. In this sense he functions as an example of one who perseveres until the end. He leaves the city, perhaps for safety reasons, and lodges at night with others on the Mount of Olives (cf. 22:39). Early in the morning he is back in the temple, and people flock to hear his teaching. Even though opposition is about to break out against Jesus that will lead to his death, his teaching continues to attract others (cf. 19:48).