Hello and good morning Ahwatukee,
Can you tell me when many came claiming to be Christ in Luke 21:8, if supposedly Luke 21:9-12 came immediately afterwards, which you believe occurred two thousand years ago?
It doesn't say "immediately." Here is the scripture"
============================================
"He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.
9When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”
10Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
11There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
12“But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.
===============================================
Many claiming to be the Messiah, wars and rumors of wars, nation rising against nation, earthquakes, famines, disease, fear events in the heavens, etc.
Before all of this, i.e. before everything above takes place, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. This is exactly what happened to Peter, Paul and the apostles. "Before all this" does not give a time frame between verses 9 thru 11 and verse
The events of the first paragraph are future events which take place after the second paragraph, not immediately, but in the future. You are assuming immediacy.
Verse 12 = Fulfilled by Peter, Paul and other apostles
Verses 9 thru 11 = Future events
The Lord gives us many correlating events throughout the bible. We know that the 10 horned beast in Daniel 7 correlates with the 10 horned beast in Revelation 13. By putting these data together we have a clearer understanding of the situation.
Likewise, when the angel in Revelation 17:8 informs us that the beast shall rise from the bottomless pit which is in Revelation 9:2, we then recognize that the bottomless pit is another description for the sea from which the beast shall rise from in Rev 13.
These are not the only two books relating to the end times.
I understand that the word "Abussos" translated Abyss can refer to the depth of the sea. However, when taking into consideration the angel that smoke comes out of the Abyss when the angel opens it, this would be indicative of the opening being on the land and not the sea. To be clear, if the Abyss is under the sea smoke would not be able to billow out of it, but would dissipate in the sea water. It would be able to darken the sun and the sky.
However, whether you believe that the Abyss is referring to the depths of the ocean or to a shaft that opens up on the land that leads down into the earth, is not something to contend about. If you want to believe that the Abyss is referring to the depths of the sea, that is your prerogative. In support of the Abyss being a shaft opened on the land, I would offer the following:
"When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down
on the earth."
Nearly every book in the bible has data on the end times, of which Luke 21, Mark 13, and Matthew 24 are very clear in stating.
As such, when Luke 21:25-26 describes men's hearts failing them due to seeing chaos running rampant while earth's environment deteriorates, I then realize this event to correlate with that in Revelation 8.
As such, I then recognize all the data in Luke 21 to regard the end times, and not data spread across two millennia.
There will be groups of individuals calling for an end to the way industry is now destroying the earth, and all the injustices associated with it, who will be brought in before magistrates, so that they may be silenced.
This is how I see Luke 21:9-12.
Regarding "data being spread across two millennial" you need to understand that many times the order of events are not sequential. For example:
=====================================
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
23But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
24Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.
25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
26The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
=====================================
In the scripture above, Paul first mentions that Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection, with those who belong to Him to follow, however not immediately. Two thousand years will have passed by before that happens. Then in verse 24 it states that "the end will come." According to your interpretation of the previous scriptures, Paul would be saying the end comes immediately after the resurrection of the those who belong to the Lord. It also states that the end will come when all the Lord's enemies are destroyed with the last enemy being death. That said, death isn't destroyed until after the millennial kingdom at the great white throne judgment when both death and Hades personified are thrown into the lake of fire, as revealed in Rev.20:14.
So, there are generalizations used and are not always referring to a chronological order.