STUDY THEME: ONE SOLITARY LIFE: THE LIFE OF JESUS 6-10-01

UNIT 6: THE PERFECT SACRIFICE: “SIGNS OF THE END”

MARK 13: 1-4, 5-8, 9-14, 21-23, 24-27. (MATT. 24:1-25:30. LUKE 21:5-36.)

PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO MARK 13.

The final week before Jesus crucifixion was a busy week. Monday He cleansed the temple. Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in conflict with the various influential religious groups. Mark records these in Ch. 11 and 12. Having completed his discussions and debates with the religious leaders, Jesus left the Temple to return to Bethany by way of the Mount of Olives. Going across the Kidron Valley to the top of the Mount of Olives they came to a place from which they could look back into the entire Temple complex. They paused there.

1. PLEASE READ MARK 13: 1-4.

Jesus had concluded His teaching in the Temple with the final words of Matt. 23:38-39“Behold, your house is left to you desolate. For I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, ‘Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord,” a quotation of Ps. 118:26. Jesus was speaking of His return to earth to establish His millennial kingdom. Jesus was speaking in His disciples’ ears. He had denounced the nation and said in Matt. 23: 38 it would be desolate.

If Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed how would there be a nation for Messiah to rule? His disciples drew His attention to the Temple itself, as Mark tells us, to the stones of the building, as Luke declares, to the precious stones and the glory and beauty of the building. The disciples were obviously in awe of the size and beauty of the temple. Which temple was this? This was Herod’s temple. For all his wicked ways, Herod the Great did one thing that the Jews appreciated. He began the building of the Temple.

Herod began to rebuild, or remodel, the temple in 20/19 BC, a project that was finished in A.D. 64, long after Herod the Great’s death, and only a few years before the Temple was destroyed in A.D. 70. However, enough of it was finished for the disciples and most Jews to stand in awe of its size and beauty. Josephus wrote that the huge stones wee 37 ft. long by 12 ft. high by 18 feet deep. The marble stones were covered with gold. No wonder the disciples were so impressed. The Temple was considered an architectural wonder of the ancient world. To the Jews nothing was as magnificent and formidable as their Temple. Thus the disciples wee shocked and disturbed by Jesus’ predication that this Temple was to be destroyed..

As the disciples had made the journey from the temple to the mount of Olives, questions had been forming in their minds. The two sets of fishermen brothers, the four disciples Jesus had first called, Peter and James and John and Andrew—put their questions into words. They asked, “When shall these things happen, and what shall be the sign when all these things are about to be fulfilled.”

Matthew’s account indicates that they asked another question in Matt. 24:3, which was implied in the questions of Mark 13. “And what shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the world?” The disciples probably could not think of their temple’s being destroyed without thinking of the end of the world. From the perspective of two thousand years, we see the two events as separate. But the disciples may have expected the fall of the Temple to coincide with the end of the world. As in Jeremiah’s day so again the destruction of the Temple, by a foreign power would be God’s judgment on rebellious Israel. Notice Mark did not deal with the attitude of the disciples. He focused on Jesus’ response to their questions.

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Jesus’ response to their questions included statement about both the destruction of the Temple, and the end of the world. When the Romans took the city of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 after a long, bloody siege, they totally destroyed the temple. Thus parts of Mark 13:5-37 were fulfilled in the first century. Other parts have yet to be fulfilled and await the return of Christ. Also keep in mind that some aspects of the destruction of the Temple foreshadowed events of the end of the world. Sorting these out is one of the challenges of Mark 13. As we seek to help people live in expectation of Christ’s return and of the end of the world, we will focus on “Signs of This Age,” “Signs of Christ’s Return,” and “Responses to the Signs” in the rest of this lesson.

2. PLEASE READ MARK 13: 5-8.

Before answering the disciples’ questions, Jesus warned them not to go elsewhere for answers. They were to watch out for deceivers who did not have true knowledge about future events. People, Jesus said, will even dare to claim to be Him. They will solemnly declare “I am he” meaning the Christ. These deceivers will seek to impersonate Jesus as if they were fulfilling His prophecies. Such people are not limited to the first century. They will lead many people astray.

Jim Jones led unwary people to Jonestown, Guyana, and death. David Koresh formed a messianic community in Waco, Texas that resulted in tragic deaths. In Los Angeles a group called Heavens Gate followed their leader in suicidal deaths. All too often the human ego becomes twisted and torn, resulting in exaggerated claims that can never be filled. Jesus told us to expect such claims and to ignore them because people who make such miraculous claims can never fulfill them.

Events in human history often lead people to make hysterical claims that the end is near. Jesus warned His disciples against misinterpreting contemporary events. Political fighting and international warfare are the most obvious moments when people fear the end is near. The disciples were not to be alarmed and thereby diverted from their work.

Rumors of wars raise false expectations. The last century with its two world wars, the Korean conflict, and Vietnam shows a dark side of human nature and international politics. But Jesus said that even such monumental events will not bring the end. Human actions, whether wonderfully good or terribly evil, do not force God’s hand to bring history to a close. Only God in His timing can and will bring the end of the world. He permits wars as a consequence of human rebellion and sin.

Natural disasters also may lead many to conclude that the end of the world is near. People may think events such as earthquakes—and famines may signal that the end cannot be far away. But ever century has had its natural disasters, yet none of them has brought the end. Natural disasters only show that the earth’s birth pains have begun. The newborn’s birth will be the end of time, but the entire process of labor must be completed. Such birth-pain events show that humanity’s efforts to bring about lasting peace and prosperity are only pipe dreams. The world will not get better and better. The world is marching toward God’s final actions, not toward human paradise. The intense suffering is preceding the birth of the New Age, the Messianic Kingdom. Each generation will have it’s own wars and natural disasters. Yet all these events fall within God’s purpose. Human history is heading toward the birth of the new Messianic Age.

3. PLEASE READ MARK 13: 9-14.

Jesus probably said the words of Vs. 9 several times, not just here in the Mount of Olives Discourse. His purpose was to prepare His disciples for suffering because of their allegiance to Him. Jesus warned His disciples to be alert against wrongful retaliation under persecution.

The disciples had asked in Vs. 4a “When shall these things be.” In Vs. 4b they asked in 4b “What shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled.” Jesus had answered, “Watch out that no one deceives you.” In other words, Jesus meant that signs we think point to the end are really only the beginning of the world’s end. Jesus then turned to the disciple’s second question. The startling answers Jesus gave to the disciples were that one, the gospel must first be preached to all nations.” Here Jesus turned the curiosity about times and signs into a mandate to missions.

In Vs. 14 Jesus marked one clear sign of the end—the abomination that causes desolation. In Daniel 9:27, 11:31, and 12:11, the term points to a definite historical event. Antiochus Epiphanes, the Seleucid ruler of the Syrian Empire, controlled Judah. In 168 B.C., he invaded Egypt but was told by the Roman delegates to quit fighting in Egypt once and for all. Angry to the point of insanity, Antiochus took out his vengeance on Jerusalem, sending Apollonius, his chief tax collector, to attack the city on the Sabbath.

They killed a large percentage of the male population, destroyed the city walls, enslaved women and children, and established a Syrian military fortress in the old city of David. Jews were forbidden to practice their religion. Having a copy of Jewish Scriptures or a circumcised child lead to a death penalty. In Dec. 167 B.C. a pig was offered to Zeus on the Jewish altar for burnt offerings. This is the “abomination that causes desolation” spoken of in the Book of Daniel 9:27.

Jesus took up the traditional language and applied it with broad meaning. Its first application would come when the Roman army camped outside Jerusalem in A.D. 68, leading to the city’s destruction in A.D. 70. Luke wrote in Luke 21:20 “When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed about with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.” The Roman fulfillment reached its peak when the army stood in the Temple where it did not belong and burned the holy site of God’s residence with the Jews. But that warfare was only the “beginning of birth pains”.

Living under Roman rule, Mark risked his life writing as he did. Any more explicit reference to Rome would cost him and the readers their lives. A more complete fulfillment will come at the end of history when the Antichrist appears in the last days. He is a final sign that the end is here. Paul explains this in 2 Thess. 2: 3-6 “Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition: Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.” And Vs. 9 “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.”

In LaHay's series of books on “Left Behind” the book “Indwelling” describes in great detail just how Satan comes into the Antichrist and enables him to do many miracles including his rising from the dead. It is fiction, yet it follows the Scriptures very closely.

When the Roman army came to Jerusalem representing the “abomination that causes desolation,” it was time for the people of Judah to flee to the mountains. In the end time, flight will do not good. Only the second coming of Christ offers hope then. This final fulfillment gains the description of Vs. 19: “Unequaled from the beginning and never to be equaled again.” Mark 13:20 reads “And except the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom He hath chosen, He hath shortened the days.”

4. PLEASE READ MARK 13: 21-23.

In the final days deceivers will multiply, pointing to antichrists as Messiah. Christians, however, can ignore those who claim to be the Messiah. When deceivers say, “Look, here is the Christ!” people will come running. But their claim is only one more false sign. Such people will have impressive evidence, being able to perform unexpected miracles. Their purpose will be to deceive the elect.

Fortunately, that will not be possible. God has called His church to follow Him. In the last days, the true members of the church will continue to listen to and follow only the true Christ, the real Messiah. False messiahs may impress momentarily but will soon vanish unto the days of judgment before Christ returns. Certainly in this day and those days, the church must remain on guard, remembering and trusting Christ’s warnings.

5. PLEASE READ MARK 13: 24-27.

Christ’s coming will be unmistakable. People will need no secret signs known only by a blessed few. Signs will come in the skies fulfilling Mark 13:24-25. No one can miss these signs. Then the end will be here. The human race will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. Angels will come to gather his elect. They will not miss a single one of God’s people. From one end of the world to the far horizon, from the ends of the heavens, angels will gather God’s people to participate in God’s final resurrection morning.

We can be certain God will bring the end time just as Jesus promised. The generation in which Jesus spoke did see the “abomination that causes desolation” come, in the form of the Roman army. And the present world will come to an end. But God’s Word will remain as well as the people God has set apart to be His faithful church.

It is clear that Christ will come and will set up a literal kingdom on the earth and rule from David’s throne in Jerusalem. But the Bible plainly teaches that some other things must come first: the rapture of the saints in Rev. 4. The terrible 7 years of tribulation, the rule of the Antichrist and his overthrow at the Battle of Armageddon, must take place before Christ rules on this earth. The 2^nd Ch. Of II Thess, vs. 1-8 will help us get the order of events clear in our minds. The return of Christ in power to take vengeance on His enemies and occupy His throne.

Christ must come to take away His saints according to I Thess. 4:14-17 before he can return to earth. After the rise and reign of the antichrist through the tribulation period, Christ will return to destroy the Antichrist or man of sin and establish His own kingdom. The first period of Christ’s reign will be the Millennium or “thousand years.”

In Rev. 20, several things about this first period are made known. This thousand years begin with the binding of Satan in a bottomless pit so that for a thousand years he cannot disturb this earth. After the thousand years Satan will be released for a bit.

The thousand years will end with the judgment of the unsaved of all ages, before the Great White Throne Judgment of Rev. 20:11-15. From that judgment every unsaved soul will go with his resurrected body to a Hell of eternal torment both physically and spiritually, in the lake of fire.

In Vs. 28-31, which deal with reading the signs, Jesus answered the disciples first question regarding “When,” in a parable of the fig tree. Whenever the disciples see the events described in Vs. 14-23 they will know that the impending crisis of Vs. 14 is near in time, in fact, right at the door.

6. PLEASE READ MARK 13: 32-33.

To the question “WHEN?” Jesus said, “No one knows about that day or hour.” Jesus himself, He stated, did not know the time of the end. Jesus’ limitation was due to His humanity. But such limitations in no wise undermine Jesus’ deity and all of the attributes thereof. Jesus also said that the angels do not know the time either. Only the Father knows the exact day when the end will come. Meanwhile, we should be concerned about being ready. Jesus said we should ”Be on guard!” and “Be alert!”

“The rapture is coming,” said the evangelist. “When”, asked the husband. The evangelist replied, “It may be today and it may be tomorrow.” “Don’t tell my wife” the husband pleaded. “She will want to go both days.” Are you ready? Matthew 24:44 says “Therefore, be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”

NEXT SUNDAY WE WILL MEET IN THE UPPER ROOM IN JERUSALEM FOR THE INAUGURATION OF T HE LORD’S SUPPER WITH JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES.

A.V. DAUGHERTY 6-10-01.

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