Charles Spurgeon Commentary Luke 21:10-11

"Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be great earthquakes, and in divers places famines and pestilences; and there shall be terrors and great signs from heaven." — Luke 21:10-11 (ASV)

Someone says, perhaps, "All this we have experienced countless times; yet Christ has not come." Exactly so, for these signs are not sent to satisfy our curiosity, but to keep us always on the watch. Whenever we observe these earthquakes, and wars, and famines, and pestilences, then we are to think, "Behold, He comes," and watch all the more earnestly.

You know how it is often with a man who is very sick. It is reported that he cannot last long; you visit many times, yet he is still living. Do you therefore conclude that he will not die?

No, but you expect all the more certainly that he will soon be gone. So it is with Christ's second advent.

He instructs us to note the signs of His coming. And yet, when some of those signs appear, He does not come. All this is to keep us still alert, watching for Him. Even in His own day, when He spoke in such a way that His servants expected Him to come at once, He also added words from which they might fairly judge that He would not come immediately.