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MARK: WORKING MESSIAH FIFTH DIVISION: WHEN WILL THE MESSIAH ESTABLISH HIS KINGDOM? 10:1-13:37 FIFTH SECTION: THE END 13:3-37
(The corresponding PowerPoint® presentation is Mark 5th Division 5th Section THE END or click here on Mark Fifth Division End PP or on the same title on the Mark studies home page.)
Watch Out, Don’t Worry, Understand, Beware, Learn, Know, Watch And Pray!
The Outline:
I. The Beginning Of Birth Pains 13:3-13
II. The Unequalled Days Of Distress 13:14-24
III. The Son Of Man Comes In The Clouds 13:24-27
IV. The Summer Of The Fig Tree 13:28-31
V. The Day And Hour Unknown 13:32-37
Review Questions To Aid In The Study Of Mark 13:3-37
Collision Course Things were coming to a head in Jerusalem. Opposition from the leaders to Jesus was at a pitch. They had religious group after group try to catch him in his words. He in turn pointed out the ignorance and hypocrisies of these men. There would be no turning back. Jesus and those in power were on a collision course.
At the beginning of chapter 13 Jesus informs his disciples of the coming disasters on Jerusalem and its Temple. As they gazed on those magnificent buildings Jesus told them not one stone would be left on top of another! To the disciples Jesus’ words sounded apocalyptic. This brought questions from them about the end of the world.
Fortune Cookies I enjoy a good Chinese meal and I often read the paper slips hidden in the cookies because they are usually complementary, nothing else. They say things along this line, “You are a wonderful person”. I guess the restaurants want to keep my business. But these slips of paper often do say or imply something about the future, something we are all interested in. Evidence of this is found in newspapers that carry astrology pages, in the shops where people will read your palm, or those establishments where they will read tea leaves or the coffee grounds left in the bottom of the cup, trying to predict your future.
Eye Foot Coordination Psalm 32:8 is an encouragement to all who have put their faith in the God of the Bible. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye (NKJV). Our future is in the Lord’s hand and it is taken step by step. I was standing on the quay side in Porto, Portugal watching the Logos 2 sail into the harbor of Matosinhos. I had walked out to the end of they quay where there was a larger round platform, but it was spattered with sea bird droppings. I chose my steps carefully as I advanced across the platform. It was then that it dawned upon me that my feet where being guided by my eyes. God above looks down upon our world and sees things we can’t see. His eye can guide our feet from stepping into puddles of trouble.
But now let’s turn to the questions that the disciples asked Jesus about the future.
When And What? As Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple with four of his disciples, Peter, James, John and Andrew they asked him two questions. One question was a “when” question and the other was a “what” question.
Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled (13:4 NAS95? Jesus’ response was unusual in a sense. Jesus told them what would happen but not exactly when it would happen. If you were planning to meet with someone for a business meeting or for an outing of some kind you would fix both the event and the date and time. Jesus did tell them about the events that would take place but he said, for example, that the day and hour of the return of the Son of Man only the Father knew.
However what Jesus told his disciples about the end was in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets. They foretold many things to come, even many things about the Messiah, but they did not put exact dates and hour to those events. Jesus did do something else. He simply told his followers to be alert and to watch. So, to try to work out when things will happen exactly is a dangerous hobby!
The main themes in the message of Jesus about the signs of the end are the following and divide the main part of chapter 13 in five sections:
1. The Beginning Of Birth Pains 3-13 2. The Unequalled Days Of Distress 14-23 3. The Son Of Man Comes In The Clouds 24-27 4. The Summer Of The Fig Tree 28-31 5. The Day And The Hour Unknown 32-37
The first two sections of Jesus’ answer are the longest.
I. The Beginning Of Birth Pains 13:3-13
Frightening and Comforting The first section verses 3-13 are warnings and instructions about the times leading up to the end.
1) Jesus warns about deception in verses 5 and 6. 2) He tells them of wars, earthquakes and gamines to come in verses 7 and 8. 3) He warns them of the persecution to fall on them as his witnesses. They would be given words by the Holy Spirit as explained in verses 9 to 11. 4) He spells out the details of rejection within families and by all men, as well as the perseverance of those saved, in verses12 and 13.
Jesus had some very frightening things to share with his disciples. He bit the bullet and told them but his words were comforting as well. He said, “Do not be alarmed…” and “Do not worry before hand about what to say. It is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.”
If It Started Like This Where Would It All End? It was upsetting enough to hear the temple would be torn down. Now Jesus added other catastrophes both personal and worldwide, wars, famines, earthquakes, persecution, trials, family rejection and ostracism. Where would it all end?
II. The Unequalled Days Of Distress 13:14-24
Super Intense The second section verses 14-23 tell us that there is coming a period of unparalleled distress. Jesus puts it this way, …those will be days of distress unequalled from the beginning when God created the world, until now – and never to be equaled again (13:19 NIV). There will be days of distress but there is a time at which it all intensifies to a degree never before seen, nor ever again to be seen. If what proceeds this period is the beginning of birth pains then this is the actual birth! The pains of birth!
Abomination Jesus introduces this unusual period with a sign. Jesus calls it the abomination that causes desolation. In verse 14 he begins the second section with the words, When you see …(NIV). But were those four men to see that sign in their own life time? Probably not. Why? A few words later – Mark interjects, ... let the reader understand (13:14 NIV). These events could take place long after the apostles passed from the scene. The abomination that causes desolation is mentioned three times in the prophecy of Daniel in 9:27; 11:31; and 12:11. The passage refers to a powerful person who stops the daily temple sacrifice and sets up an abomination in the temple.
Disaster in 70AD In 70AD the Romans desecrated and destroyed the temple, and those were days of distress. But were those days of distress the days referred to here? Was 70 AD of the intensity mentioned here? Probably not. These days of unparalleled distress would be followed by the coming of the Son of man in the clouds with power and glory. This passage implies that there will be a temple. Reference is made to people living in Judea. When they see the abomination that causes desolation let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains!
Pray We find another command that the Lord gave right here, that of praying that it would not happen in winter (13:18). Because of the desolation and the suffering that there would be at that time the people were to flee to the mountains and those who lived at the time to pray that it did not occur in winter. We can imagine that because of the cold the ones that fled would suffer even more.
In The Clouds Later the Lord tells them not to believe those who say, "Look, here or there is the Christ, because many will come in his name lying about their identity. We should remember what the angels said to the disciples that day that they looked up into the clouds when Jesus went away from them to heaven. They said that Jesus would return in the same way in which he went from them. Dr. David Gooding shared a telling observation with us on one occasion. If someone tells you that they have found Jesus, their guru, who lives in Boston, or in Los Angeles, or in Seoul, or in London, or in Calcutta; you can know with a certainty that he is not the true Christ, because the true Christ will come in the clouds.
Be Alert There is one more thing. The Lord insisted that his followers pay attention and they be alert, because he has notified them of these things before they happen. It is clear that amongst very good and consecrated believers we are not all in agreement about the signs and times of the end. I don't think we have to be in agreement about every detail. It is impossible to know who is a hundred percent right, until those things happen. The Lord gives us many details so that we can know what is going to happen, but as far as when, we have to be alert! So, as far as future events go, Jesus has given us many details. As for the timing, he said, Be alert (13:33 NIV)!
We should ask two questions:
1. Do I know the details of future events? 2. Am I alert, looking, praying and waiting?
III. The Son Of Man Comes In The Clouds 24-27
Gurus Here And There And Everywhere There will be signs in the heavens. And as we said before, if a guru that lives in Boston, USA, says that he is the Christ, we know that does not agree with the Jesus told us he is coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
Cosmic Travel There is something else. The angels will collect his chosen from the four winds, from the four corners of the earth to the extremes of the heavens. No one will have to travel anywhere to meet the Christ. God will take charge of the trips at that time! It is apparent he will need neither cars, nor trains, nor airplanes.
IV. The Summer Of The Fig Tree 13:28-31
The Life Of The Temple Then Jesus told them a parable. It is a story that represents a reality. It is the description of a fig tree in summer. The leaves come out and it is the sign that the summer is near. I believe that the fig tree represents Israel, and that the summer is the time of the end of which Jesus is speaking. The leaves would represent the life of the temple, but as in the time of Jesus, a "life" without fruit. Not much later Jesus cursed a fig tree that represented to Israel and its temple life at that time (11:12ff). Jesus used the same figure for Israel and its temple for a future time. And since Israel has returned to its land after almost 2000 years, what remains to be established is the "life" of the temple, because the temple has not yet been built.
The Temple Generation At the same time one does get the impression that when the temple has been built and the life of temple has begun, that everything will happen in that generation that lives at the time. Jesus puts a great emphasis in the truthfulness, reality, and power of his words, saying that heaven and earth will pass away, but his words would never pass away.
V. The Day And Hour Unknown 13:32-37
The Father’s Reserve Then Jesus makes reference to the time, to the day and hour, of his coming. Nobody knows but the Father. It was at the beginning of the 1990's that while boarding the subway in one of the largest cities of the world, a man spoke to me having seen the Bible that I was carrying. We were going to a meeting on Sunday to preach. That man surprised me when he told me that Jesus would return to earth on the 23rd of November of that year. We showed him this passage in Mark 13, and we explained to him that nobody knew the hour or day of Jesus' return. His answer was that if we were "in the spirit" we could know, just as the apostle John was "in the spirit" when he received his vision of the Revelation of Jesus Christ on the island of Patmos. We insisted that the words of Jesus were very clear. His idea of being "in the spirit" did not give us the right to believe that we could know something, if Jesus had said that we could not know it. Besides we told him that the revelation to John was something very special being an apostle, and being one through whom God revealed the Scriptures.
Watch! Jesus made a comparison with the owner of a house. The owner left his servants in charge assigning to them different tasks and he said to the door man to be alert. Jesus was going to leave his followers in charge of his spiritual house, and so to each generation of his servants. So he told them to watch. Jesus insisted that his exhortation was not just for those present but for every follower. We must watch! We will not be prepared for his return if we don't watch. If we watch we don't need to know when Jesus will return because we will be prepared for him whenever he comes.
Alexander The Great Wants To Know The Future Alexander was poised to conquer Asia in the spring of 334 B.C. and wanted to consult the god at Apollo’s shrine at Delphi. However, he arrived on an inauspicious date on which it was not lawful to give out oracles. He took the prophetess by force and as he tried to drag her into the temple she said to him, as though giving way to his insistence, “You are invincible, my son.” When he heard that, he released her and said he wanted to hear no more, because he now had the oracle he looked for. Even Alexander the Great heard what he wanted to hear about the future. It behooves us to listen to all Jesus had to say about events to come, and as he exhorted us, watch, pray and wait! (Selected Lives And Essays, Plutarch, Vol. 2, Walter J. Black, Inc., 1951, 14.)
Always At Work Let’s return to the question, "When will he do his work?" We see that he is always doing his work, since the creation, until he comes for a second time. He never left his creation alone. He will never leave us alone. He IS ALWAYS DOING his WORK!
Review I. The Beginning Of Birth Pangs 3-13 Stress and distress build. II. Unequalled Days Of Distress 14-24 There will be a time of unprecedented agony. III. The Son Of Man Comes In The Clouds 24-27 Jesus will cut the agony short with his return. IV. The Summer Of The Fig Tree 28-31 Events in Israel and temple life lead up to his return. V. The Day And Hour Unknown 32-37 We just do not know! So notice: watch and pray!
Questions to aid in the study of Mark 13:3-37 1. The disciples asked Jesus two questions about the future, when and what. Which of the two questions did he answer? What did he leave unanswered? 2. What actual commands did Jesus give his disciples in this talk? Please list them. 3. What did he warn them about? 4. How did he comfort their hearts? 5. How were Jesus’ followers to prepare themselves for the time of the end? 6. What is the Lord doing constantly? ©Copyright 2006-2046 John (Jack) W Rendel. All rights reserved. |
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