Our Lord Jesus while carrying His cross to be crucified looked among the crowds that followed and saw women weeping for Him. He then repeated an Old Testament metaphor to them that directly relates to end time events.
Luke 23:27-31
27 And there followed Him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented Him.
28 But Jesus turning unto them said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.
29 For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.'
30 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us'; and to the hills, 'Cover us.'
31 For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?
(KJV)
Anyone think they can rightly interpret what our Lord Jesus said there just by itself?
If you are a 'workman' in all of God's Word, then you should know our Lord Jesus was quoting from Isaiah 54 with that "Blessed are the barren" metaphor. So it requires one to go back to the Old Testament Book of Isaiah and study it. If one treats the Old Testament Books like they're all past history, then it means to miss a lot of our Lord Jesus' teachings in The New Testament, same with quite a number of Messages by His Apostles also.
Isa 54:1-3
1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.
2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
(KJV)
Those Isaiah 54 verses are of a future time when Christ's Salvation will literally manifest upon this earth at the gathering of His Church to Jerusalem, of both believing Israel and Gentiles.
Our Lord connects this "Blessed are the barren" with yet another symbolic analogy of one who 'travails with child'. It too was originally a symbolic metaphor used in the Old Testament for anguish and sorrow because of God's coming judgments.
1Thes 5:1-7
1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
(KJV)
Notice how Apostle Paul refers to the 'as travail upon a woman with child' metaphor for those in spiritual darkness as to the future event of Christ's second coming.
Jer 30:5-7
5 For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.
6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
(KJV)
There's the travail with child metaphor used upon 'men' in relation to the time of Jacob's trouble (i.e., great tribulation). With that example, one should well know that's being used in the spiritual sense for end of days events just prior to Christ's return.
Isa 13:6-9
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
(KJV)
There it is again, this time directly associated with the day of The LORD event that will end this present world. That's the day when Christ comes "as a thief in the night", as per Paul in 1 Thess.5 and Peter in 2 Pet.3:10.
By the Luke 23 example, it points out that our Lord Jesus wants us to understand these symbolic spiritual metaphors in relation to end time events. He put them in His Word to help us understand so as to remain spiritually sober watching for His second coming.
So, what is that "Blessed are the barren" and the travailing as a woman with child metaphors mean in relation to the end of days? Anyone want to try and tackle this?
Luke 23:27-31
27 And there followed Him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented Him.
28 But Jesus turning unto them said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.
29 For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.'
30 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us'; and to the hills, 'Cover us.'
31 For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?
(KJV)
Anyone think they can rightly interpret what our Lord Jesus said there just by itself?
If you are a 'workman' in all of God's Word, then you should know our Lord Jesus was quoting from Isaiah 54 with that "Blessed are the barren" metaphor. So it requires one to go back to the Old Testament Book of Isaiah and study it. If one treats the Old Testament Books like they're all past history, then it means to miss a lot of our Lord Jesus' teachings in The New Testament, same with quite a number of Messages by His Apostles also.
Isa 54:1-3
1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.
2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
(KJV)
Those Isaiah 54 verses are of a future time when Christ's Salvation will literally manifest upon this earth at the gathering of His Church to Jerusalem, of both believing Israel and Gentiles.
Our Lord connects this "Blessed are the barren" with yet another symbolic analogy of one who 'travails with child'. It too was originally a symbolic metaphor used in the Old Testament for anguish and sorrow because of God's coming judgments.
1Thes 5:1-7
1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
(KJV)
Notice how Apostle Paul refers to the 'as travail upon a woman with child' metaphor for those in spiritual darkness as to the future event of Christ's second coming.
Jer 30:5-7
5 For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.
6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
(KJV)
There's the travail with child metaphor used upon 'men' in relation to the time of Jacob's trouble (i.e., great tribulation). With that example, one should well know that's being used in the spiritual sense for end of days events just prior to Christ's return.
Isa 13:6-9
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
(KJV)
There it is again, this time directly associated with the day of The LORD event that will end this present world. That's the day when Christ comes "as a thief in the night", as per Paul in 1 Thess.5 and Peter in 2 Pet.3:10.
By the Luke 23 example, it points out that our Lord Jesus wants us to understand these symbolic spiritual metaphors in relation to end time events. He put them in His Word to help us understand so as to remain spiritually sober watching for His second coming.
So, what is that "Blessed are the barren" and the travailing as a woman with child metaphors mean in relation to the end of days? Anyone want to try and tackle this?