Luke 23:30 Commentary and Bible Study

These words however tell us that the danger he has spoken of may not be limited to what will happen in Jerusalem. That appears from the fact that the same language as is found here, is used to describe the end of the world. In Revelation we read, ‘And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; ¹⁶ And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: ¹⁷ For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?’ (Revelation 6:15-17). This refers to a time in which earlier verses say that the heaven has departed like a rolled-up scroll, and every island and mountain have moved out of their place, which clearly describes the end of the world. The kings of the earth hide themselves from the face of the Lamb because he has come to judge the earth. It may well be that the judgment of God on Jerusalem in AD 70 was in its turn a prophecy of what would take place at the end of the world.Again, the words invite us to consider what could possibly be the cause of such fearful behaviour. Like the previous saying about mothers who are barren and do not have nursing children counting themselves blessed, so this saying conjures up in the mind an impression of a fear unlike any other, which is capable of driving people to do what they would never otherwise do. Who has not seen terrifying response to the prospect of being buried under a building during an earthquake and the relief of escaping such a fate, and yet here are those who are voluntarily begging the rocks to fall on them, because they are aware of a fear even greater than this. They fear meeting their Judge, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is about to despatch them to a lost eternity; they fear having his eye upon them, for they know what they are and what they deserve.