Jesus v. Jerusalem

Most people don’t realize that many if not most of Jesus’ parables were intended not as general morality tales, but as particular pronouncements of coming judgment and change. Jesus was warning Jerusalem to repent and to accept its new King (Jesus) or else fall under ultimate condemnation of God.

In fact, much of Jesus’ teaching in the Gospels pertains primarily to that pre-AD 70 crowd, and without reading it in this light, we misunderstand it. And when we misunderstand it, we misapply it.

The section of Luke covered in this commentary requires this understanding. The parables Jesus tells during His final journey to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51–20:26, and beyond) almost all pertain to the rebellion, faithlessness, judgment, and coming destruction of Jerusalem, and the salvation of a tiny remnant of His elect people.

From the Foreword:

Joel McDurmonʼs work is original. He goes where few commentators have gone before. As he shows in page after page of tightly argued points, there is a unity to the prophetic message of the gospels and the rest of the New Testament. Itʼs about new wine in new wine skins. Everything about the old covenant was planned obsolescence. Jesus was always in view, from the first promise of a savior in Genesis 3:15 to the revelation that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” in Revelation 19:10. So much of modern-day prophecy commentary is an attempt to rebuild what was never meant to be rebuilt. The parables, as Joel makes abundantly clear, serve to show that the breaking down of the dividing wall was on the horizon for them and the world with the result that there would be “one new man” in Christ (Eph. 2:11–22). The destruction of Jerusalem and the dismantling of the templeʼs stones were a foregone conclusion because Jesus had always been the reality over the shadow (John 2:19). - Gary DeMar

About the Author:  Joel McDurmon, M.Div., Reformed Episcopal Theological Seminary, is the Director of Research for American Vision. He is the author of: Manifested in the Flesh: How the Historical Evidence of Jesus Refutes Modern Mystics and Skeptics,The Return of the Village Atheist, and Zeitgeist Refuted: Is Jesus an Astrological Myth? He also serves as a lecturer and regular contributor to the American Vision website, joining their staff in June of 2008.