Every day Jesus taught at the temple, but every evening He went out to spend the night on the Mount of Olives. Sermons
I. PREPARED TO GIVE ACCOUNT TO HIM. We know that we shall have to do that (Romans 10; 2 Corinthians 5:10); and we must expect, when we do stand before the Judge, to account to Jesus Christ for (1) the relation which we have voluntarily sustained to himself - how we have received his invitation, and with what fullness we have accepted him as the Redeemer, the Friend, the Lord of our heart and life; (2) the way in which we have served him since we called ourselves by his Name - i.e. how closely we have followed him, how obedient we have been to his commandments, how earnest and faithful we have Showed ourselves in his cause; in tact, hove true and loyal we have proved to be as his servants here. II. CONFORMED TO HIS LIKENESS, Will not our Lord expect to find those who professed to be his disciples, who had access to so many and such great privileges, stand before him such as he lived and died to make them.t We know what that is. "He gave himself for us, to redeem us from all iniquity;" he has "called us to holiness;" he came and wrought his work in order that he might make us to be in our spirit and character the children of God, bearing our heavenly Father's image. He will therefore look to those who stand before him as his redeemed ones for: 1. Purity of heart; the abhorrence of all that is evil, and love for that which is good and true and pure. 2. A loving spirit; a spirit of unselfishness, of devotedness, of generosity, of tender solicitude for the well-being of others. 3. Reverence and consecration of heart to God. III. READY FOR THE HEAVENLY SPHERE, To "stand before" the king meant to be ready to fulfill his royal behest, prepared to do at once and to do effectively whatever he might require. To stand before our Divine Sovereign means to be ready to do his bidding, to execute his commandments as he shall employ us in his heavenly service. We naturally and rightly hope that he will entrust us with the most honorable errands, will appoint us to elevated posts, will charge us with noble occupations that will demand enlarged ability and that will contribute great things to his cause and kingdom. We may be sure that the devoted and faithful discharge of our duties here will prove the best preparation for celestial activity and usefulness, lie that is faithful in a few things now will be made ruler over many things hereafter. He who puts out his talents here will be found worthy to stand before the King, and to be employed by him in broad and blessed spheres of service there. If we would be "accounted worthy" to do this, we must "watch and pray." 1. We must spend much time with God - in the study of his will and in supplication for the quickening influences of his Spirit. 2. We must often examine our own hearts, observing our progress or retrogression, ready for the act of penitence, or of praise, or of reconsecration as we find ourselves declining. We must also observe the forces that are around us, and distinguish carefully between the hostile and the friendly, between those which make for folly and for sin and those which lead up to wisdom and to righteousness. - C.
The Mount of Olives. It will not be difficult to conceive how our Lord passed this sleepless night on the Mount of Olives.I. NIGHT FOREBODINGS OVER THE DOOM OF THE CITY WHICH HAD REJECTED HIM. Can we wonder that His thoughts that night were sad? Meet the facts fully and attentively, of — 1. Christ's grief over the apostate city. 2. Christ's grief over the doomed city. He knew the inseparable connection between sinning against Christ and impending doom. II. NIGHT REFLECTIONS UPON HIS PROPHECIES WHICH FORESHADOWED THE END. Desecration of the Holy City; slaughter and dispersion of God's people; dire international struggles; decadence of faith, etc. III. NIGHT ANTICIPATIONS OF THE CLOSING EVENTS OF HIS EARTHLY CAREER. He clearly read each incident of His nearing anguish, and He carefully confronted it all. Nothing could divert Him from His goal IV. NIGHT PREPARATION FOR THE SURRENDER TO HIS NEARING DEATH. 1. Why this readiness to meet death? He would save others; not Himself. 2. For whom this readiness to die? For false friends and hating foes. (W. H Jellie.) The life of the Lord Jesus on earth was a true human life; and it is only as we fully recognize this fact that we can find in it an example for our guidance. Here is a brief but instructive record of one important portion of His ministry on earth — itself a type of His whole course. The day was given to work — the evening to quiet rest, meditation, and prayer. Both were necessary to the fulfilment of His mission, and both arc essential to the completeness of our Christian character. Here are two elements of Christian excellence, apparently apposite, yet both must be blended in one who would attain to the fulness of the stature of a perfect man in Christ Jesus. Many have tried, are trying, to separate them. There have been ages, there are still individuals and parties in whom there is an excess of the devotional — an excess, because it is to the exclusion of the active part. Man can never pray too often or too earnestly; but if his whole ideas of religious duty be confined to the reading of so-called spiritual books, the attendance on the public worship of God, or the performance of certain acts of private devotion — if the whole time that is not spent thus is regarded as something removed from the sphere of religion — if the ordinary work of the world be looked on as something that is fitted to lower the tone of the soul, and to interfere with spiritual earnestness — if even active service for Christ be depreciated, then the true character of a Christian life is altogether forgotten. There is the opposite danger, and it is perhaps that into which we are most prone to fall. Ours is the age of activity — from every side come to the Christian calls for earnest labour, for the overthrow of error, for the enlightening of ignorance, for the diffusion of the Gospel, for the relief of suffering and poverty, for the advancement of the numberless institutions which seek the advancement of Christ's kingdom. Demands of this character are incessant; and if obedience to them be the whole of our religion — if such engagements prevent heart-searching, God-seeking, quiet, meditation, and earnest prayer — ii they draw us away from that self-communion which is the true prelude to communion with God — if all is bustle, excitement, outward struggle, there is sure to be weakness.I. It will not need much argument to prove that ACTIVE LABOURS FOR CHRIST ARE AN ESSENTIAL PART OF CHRISTIAN DUTY. The life of Christ is the model for all true human lives. In the perfection of His self-sacrifice, in His readiness for all kinds of service, in His eagerness to search out opportunities for blessing man, in His indifference to every motive or feeling that would have held Him back in His ministry of love — in the resolve so early announced, that He must be about His Father's business, our great Master inspires and guides us. His own teachings indicate clearly that His followers are not to be recluses dwelling apart from their kind, but men taking their place in the world's associations and movements, that they may affect them for good. They are the salt of the earth, and that salt must be applied to the mass which it is to season and preserve, else where were its value? Surely it argues no want of charity to say that all these pleas argue an absence of true love to Christ. Men complain of want of opportunities, want of adaptation, want of intellect, when their one grand deficiency is want of heart. Love will quicken languid feelings, multiply the few talents, ennoble that which else were mean, breathe courage into trembling hearts, and make the foolish wise to win souls. Difficulties that to sluggards seem insuperable, will but stimulate its ardour and reveal its strength. II. THE CHRISTIAN MAN MUST HAVE HIS TIMES FOR RETIREMENT AND PRAYER. This is the other lesson taught by the brief record of the last week of our Lord's ministry on earth. Now as the crisis draws near and the cross is in immediate prospect, still more does His spirit crave that retirement in which, with strong crying and tears, He can make His supplication to His heavenly Father. To us the spectacle is alike sublime and mysterious, yet full of instruction. The glories which belong to the God cannot make us forget that He has become in all respects like to us, and that as our elder brother He teaches us our need, and shows us where we must seek for strength and succour. For we, too, need our times of rest for meditation, self-examination, and prayer. Soul and body in this follow the same law. Science tells us, and experience confirms the truth, that food is not more needful for the body than rest. Want of sleep will exhaust and kill as well as want of food. So with the soul. Asleep in the full sense it ought never to be, but rest, cessation of conflict, labour, and trial, it does need. Constant excitement, unrelaxing toil, unceasing struggle, would have the same effect on it as on the body. We feel, in our bodily life, need for even more than the night of sleep. Who can tell the blessing to the world, even as a mere physical good, of the Christian Sabbath? Our Good Shepherd knows our need, and therefore He has still waters to which He leads His flock — "waters of testings," where our spirits, exhausted by work or warfare, may find the refreshment they require. He calls us, therefore, to rest and prayer, that we may find the " renewing of the Holy Ghost." Thus the earnest worker is prepared to be the most importunate pleader with God, and the fervent prayer, in its turn, fills the soul with the inspiration of a burning zeal and the confidence of an assured faith. (J. G. Rogers, B. A.). People Jesus, DisciplesPlaces Jerusalem, Judea, OlivetTopics Abode, Abroad, Day-time, During, Evening, Forth, Habit, Hill, Lodged, Lodging, Mount, Mountain, Named, Nights, Olives, Olivet, Oliveyard, Rest, Spend, Teach, Teaching, TempleOutline 1. Jesus commends the poor widow.5. He foretells the destruction of the temple, and of the city Jerusalem; 25. the signs also which shall be before the last day. 34. He exhorts them to be watchful. Dictionary of Bible Themes Luke 21:37 4933 evening Library June 3 MorningWatch, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.--MATT. 25:13. 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. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 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. … Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path Sunday after Ascension Day When Shall These Things Be? The Nearness of the Kingdom St. Luke xxi. 36 Sermon for the Second Sunday in Advent Evil Habits and Injurious Indulgences. Remaining Books of the Old Testament. Submission. Epistle Lxiii. To Dominicus, Bishop of Carthage. Of Meditating on the Future Life. The Lessons from Olivet At Night, Jesus Abode on the Mount of Olives The Present Distress of Nations. That the Ruler Relax not his Care for the Things that are Within in his Occupation among the Things that are Without, nor Neglect to Provide July 18 Evening Two Forms of one Saying The Great Assize Observing the Offerings and Widow's Mites. The Epistle to the Colossians. The Four Gospels. Elucidations. Look we Then, Beloved, what Hardships in Labors and Sorrows Men Endure... Links Luke 21:37 NIVLuke 21:37 NLT Luke 21:37 ESV Luke 21:37 NASB Luke 21:37 KJV Luke 21:37 Bible Apps Luke 21:37 Parallel Luke 21:37 Biblia Paralela Luke 21:37 Chinese Bible Luke 21:37 French Bible Luke 21:37 German Bible Luke 21:37 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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