What does Luke 21:10 mean?

Jesus re-emphasizes His warning that the disciples will "hear of wars and tumults"—that is, war and instability (Luke 21:9). The Jews as a people were familiar with war, and at this time they regularly rebelled against their Roman occupiers, but this was also the time of the Pax Romana when nations did not fight other nations within the Roman Empire. To experience such a thing would have been terrifying to the disciples. In the church age, however, war will be normal.

Even when war becomes a regular event, that doesn't mean the end times are near. "The end will not be at once," Jesus says in Luke 21:9. This commentary is being written in 2024, while Russia is at war with Ukraine and Israel is trying to destroy Hamas. The Geneva Academy currently says there are currently more than 110 armed conflicts—some started over fifty years ago.

If we trust that Jesus is God, hearing about war won't terrify us. We will rest in God's plan for the world. We will trust that God will protect our eternal lives (Luke 21:19). We will rest, knowing that we should "not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do" (Luke 12:4). We will, "fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell" (Luke 12:5).