NT Text: Luke 21:27
OT Source(s):
Source: Beale & Carson (eds.), Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (2007)
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Promise-Fulfillment
Anchor Text: Zech 12:10 — They Shall Look on Him
Significance: Luke's parousia saying — "they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" — is the Lukan parallel to the Olivet composite preserved fully in Matthew 24:30. Like Mark, Luke retains the Danielic cloud-coming (Daniel 7:13) but compresses out the explicit Zechariah mourning-clause ("all the tribes of the earth will mourn") that Matthew alone spells out. The Zechariah 12:10 connection is thus carried by the shared synoptic tradition behind all three Gospels rather than by a separate verbal echo in Luke 21:27 itself: the dominical saying that fuses Zechariah's looking-and-mourning with Daniel's Son-of-Man arrival underlies Luke's "they will see the Son of Man," and the seeing presupposes the looking-upon that Zechariah supplies. Read in concert with Matthew's fuller form and the matching composite at Revelation 1:7, Luke's announcement testifies to the single figure who unites the two prophecies — the cloud-coming Son of Man is the One who was pierced. Luke himself glosses the moment with hope: "stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near" (21:28). The returning Lord is the crucified Lord; to see Him is to behold redemption embodied, and the believer's response is not fear but lifted-up, longing joy in the One whose wounds secure that redemption.