Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 21:28

"But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads; because your redemption draweth nigh." — Luke 21:28 (ASV)

Look up.—The Greek word, literally, bend up, or turn up, meets us here and in Luke 13:11, and nowhere else in the New Testament, except in the doubtful passage of John 8:7; John 8:10.

Redemption.—The word, familiar as it is to us, is, in the special form here used, another of those characteristic of St. Paul’s phraseology (Romans 3:24; Romans 8:23; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:7, and others). It occurs also in Hebrews 9:15; Hebrews 11:35. In its primary meaning here it points to the complete deliverance of the disciples from Jewish persecutions in Palestine that followed on the destruction of Jerusalem. The Church of Christ was then delivered from what had been its most formidable danger.