THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE - Chapter 21 - Verse 34

Verse 34. Lest at any time your hearts be overcharged, &c. The meaning of this verse is,

"Be continually expecting these things. Do not forget

them, and do not be secure and satisfied with this

life and the good things which it furnishes. Do not

suffer yourselves to be drawn into the fashions of

the world; to be conformed to its customs; to partake

of its feasts and revelry; and so these calamities

shall come upon you when you least expect them."

And from this we may learn—what alas! we may from the lives of many professing Christians —that there is need of cautioning the disciples of Jesus now that they do not indulge in the festivities of this life, and forget that they are to die and come to judgment. How many, alas! who bear the Christian name, have forgotten this caution of the Saviour, and live as if their lives were secure; as if they feared not death; as if there were no heaven and no judgment! Christians should feel that they are soon to die, and that their portion is not in this life; and, feeling this, they should be looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God.

Overcharged. Literally, be made heavy, as is the case with those who have eaten and drunken too much.

Surfeiting. Excessive eating and drinking, so as to oppress the body; indulgence in the pleasures of the table. This word does not include intoxication, but merely indulgence in food and drink, though the food and drink should be in themselves lawful.

Drunkenness. Intoxication, intemperance in drinking. The ancients were not acquainted with the poison that we chiefly use on which to become drunk. They had no distilled spirits. They became intoxicated on wine, and strong drink made of a mixture of dates, honey, &c. All nations have contrived some way to become intoxicated—to bring in folly, and disease, and poverty, and death, by drunkenness; and in nothing is the depravity of men more manifest than in thus endeavouring to hasten the ravages of crime and death.