A lot of stuff has been going on that’s a little uncomfortable for many of us who profess to be Christians. Even for the world, in general, it seems there is this undercurrent of being unsettled, as if something huge is going to happen, as if the other shoe is finally going to drop, so to speak. And it’s not just this year, but it’s actually gone on for quite some time.
This is a short introduction on Biblical prophesy, focused on salvation and end times judgment: It comes down to obedience and disobedience to God. Its roots are in the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy, where Scripture spells out the covenant agreement the nation of Israel had with God, and, as part of that agreement, the blessings it would receive if it obeyed God, and the troubles it would experience if it disobeyed.
And that principle – the blessings and the curses – holds true today: obey the Lord, and life is relatively easier than what those in and of the world may experience. (This not to say life is problem-free, but you know by faith, with the Father at your back, Jesus in your heart and the Holy Spirit leading you – by the promise of Scripture and faith in the one true God – you will overcome whatever problem or challenge you are facing. See John 16:33.)
A couple things I want to stress as we go through this passage in Mark:
- Let’s not have the “Henny Penny/Chicken Little” mentality … you know, something hit the chickens in the head, and it went around telling people that the sky is falling, and some people panic … in the end, at least with Henny Penny’s story, those who panicked got eaten by the fox.
- Let’s not make this study of Jesus’ teaching of the end of the age complicated. It’s not. As Bible scholars Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart wrote in “How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth”:
“The aim of good (Biblical) interpretation is simple: to get to the plain meaning of the text. And the most important ingredient one bring to that task is enlightened common sense.”
Read Mark 13:1-37 online (NIV)
Quick background
Remember the initial context: Jesus told His disciples about these things in response their reaction to the beauty of the temple. And He tells them the building – and all of Jerusalem – will be destroyed. And then, in response to Peter, James, John and Andrew, Jesus gives them a look at what will happen to the city AND also a glimpse at the end of the age.
Teaching Point No. 1:
Terrible things will happen, but even worse things will happen as the end of the age draws nearer. Reviewing Mark 13:1-37 again:
- v6: many will come in his name and deceive many
- v7: you will hear of wars and rumors of wars
- v8: nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom
- v8: earthquakes in various places and famines
- v9: you will be handed over to local councils and flogged in the synagogues
- v10: the Gospel must be first preached to ALL nations
- v12: brother will betray brother and father his children; children will rebel against their parents and put them to death
- v13: men will hate His followers because of Him and what he stands for
- v14: the abomination that causes desolation – the desecration of the new, rebuilt temple by the anti-Christ – will be the start of the worst of times ever
- v22: false Christs and false prophets will appear and do signs and wonders that will deceive people
- Be aware, be informed Biblically … know God’s Word and fellowship with like-minded believers, such as your discipleship group, to make sure you know what God is teaching in His Word.
- Know what is true so you will be able to test whatever people tell you about Jesus, faith, salvation.
- Read your Bible, every bit of it, even the parts that you may not understand right away, and especially those passages that make you uncomfortable.
We know the signs, but we don’t know the specific time.
Many people have tried – and failied – to predict Jesus’ return and/or the rapture. One group of believers once gathered in a church expecting the end to come. On the appointed day, a newspaper account said, one of them stuck his head out the door and said, “We’re still here!” One so-called pastor says we’re already in the tribulation.
No one on this side of heaven knows when ... so don't go believing anyone who says so, and don't go trying to predict it yourself.
Review, once again, Jesus' very words:
Mark 13:32-36
For some people, verse 30 – I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened – might create some confusion. But remember the original context, and to whom Jesus was talking: Peter, James, John and Andrew. And Jesus had said the temple in Jerusalem would fall. In fact, the abomination of desolation Jesus refers to here is the Roman sacking and destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. (The first was in about 160-167 B.C. when the Greek ruler of Syria, Antiochus IV sacrificed a pig – an unclean animal – on the temple altar. … and there is yet one more to come, in the middle of the 7-year tribulation foretold in Revelation.)"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. It's like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch."Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back-whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: 'Watch!' "
Application:
That moves into the next teaching point ...
Teaching Point No. 3:
Related to No. 2, don’t be deceived; be alert, be on guard constantly
Mark 13:5-6
“Jesus said to them: "Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and will deceive many.” (That context is pretty obvious.)Including verse 5, Jesus repeats this warning SIX times in this passage, with slightly different reasons why we need to be alert:
- v9: You must be on your guard. (Because of our beliefs, we may be persecuted; but when that happens, be ready to speak the truth that the Holy Spirit gives you.)
- v23: So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time. (The warning of how bad things will be at the end of the age.)
- v33: Be on guard, be alert! (Because, while you have signs pointing to Jesus’ return, you really don’t know when He is coming back. So be ready.)
- v35: “Therefore keep watch … ” and
- v37 “What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!.’” (Again because you don’t know when He is coming back. Watch your own walk -- you don't want to be doing something that Jesus would frown upon when He comes back.)
If anything, remember that we are one step closer to his return than we were an hour ago.
Which leads to …
Teaching Point No. 4:
While we wait expectantly, we go about the Father’s business.
And what business is that?
Mark 13:10
(Jesus said:) "And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. ... "
Matthew 28:16-20
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."This seems to summarize points 3 and 4:
Acts 1:6-8
So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”So, again, don't get so caught up in the signs of the end, if it's around the corner. "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority," Jesus said. Instead, go about the Father's business of living and sharing the Gospel of salvation through Jesus with the power of the Spirit who lives in you.
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
And even if you think people will not listen to you, tell them anyway:
Ezekiel 3:17-21 (the Lord's very words given to the prophet):
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.Application:
“Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning, and you will have saved yourself.”
To drive the point home even further, review part of last week’s study:
Colossians 1: 21-23
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation — if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.If you walk with Jesus, if you call Him Lord, if you call yourself a Christian and continue to stand firm and live in Him — you, reconciled with God through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross — then you are a minister of the Gospel, one appointed to share that good news of eternal salvation through Jesus, and Jesus alone.
Then, for those things yet to come, followers of Jesus will not have to suffer through it. Revelation 3:10, in the letter to the church in Philadelphia, Jesus said:
"Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth."
In response to that grace, that love, our reaction, our mission, ought to be following the two greatest commandments:
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
And if you truly obedient to God: that you live Him with everything that you are, and that you love people, too, just as he does, then telling them the bad and good news, and the saving good news through Jesus, should be the driving force of everything you think, everything you say and everything you do.
As a minister of the Gospel, love the Lord with your full worship of Jesus, realize He is Lord and has all authority in heaven and earth, and love others as yourself by going out to make disciples, teaching them everything He has taught us, because, while life in this world is scary without Jesus, it will be absolutely horrible in eternity without Him.
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