What does the Future Hold?
| It's really hard to do Mark 13 in a short devotion. So here's a sermon that I think will put it all in perspective. I realise it's a lot, but if you give yourself 15 minutes to work through it, you will have a useful understanding of a very difficult passage and a challenging topic. (Mark13:1-37) |
Call to Worship
I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
And everyone who calls on the Name of the LORD will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance,
as the LORD has said, even among the survivors whom the LORD calls.
(Joel 2:30--32)
Intro To Reading
We need to do a long intro to the readings...
- Throughout the Old Testament we have the idea of the "Day of the Lord" a time where God balanced the scales and rebooted society. Sometimes the "day of the Lord" came for a foreign nation and sometimes for Israel itself. Ultimately, it took on a greater scope: the belief that one day, the whole world would need to be recreated.
Our call to worship (Joel 2:30-32) is an example of this.
- To understand this section clearly, we need to remember a historical event in Israel's history. In 167 BC the Greek Emperor Antiochus Epiphanes slaughtered a pig in the temple and set up a statue of Zeus in the precints. This action was called "the abomination that causes desolation and it led to the revolt led by the Maccabee brothers.
- The ongoing persecution of Israel led to a desperate hope for the "day of the Lord" to come and people developed a whole culture and style around this and we call this apocalyptic literature. This literary form was marked by a search for signs and portents and coded language when they talked about their oppressors. This is why it is SO important that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey - because Messianic and Apocalyptic fervor were at a fever pitch.
- Why does Jesus choose this moment---just days before His crucifixion---to speak about the "end times"? One way to understand this is through a historical analogy.
Consider World War II.
The war began when Hitler invaded Poland.
The tide of the war shifted when the United States and Russia entered the conflict.
The decisive moment---D-Day---was the Allied landing in Normandy,
but the war itself did not end until V-Day, eleven months later, when Germany finally surrendered.
In the same way,
the spiritual war began when Satan tempted Adam and Eve.
The turning point came when Jesus, God incarnate, entered the world.
The decisive battle---D-Day---was His death and resurrection, which sealed the victory.
But the conflict would continue until His return---the final "Day of the Lord," or V-Day.
Jesus is preparing His disciples for the time between these two events---the period in which we now live.
- We also need to consider is Jesus' understanding of the End-Times and there are three things we need to note:
- The end times begin at Jesus' ascension and end when He returns.
- They are like a pregnant woman's labour - a cycle of contractions and relief.
Throughout history and the throughout world the church will experience contractions and relief, times of suffering and persecution, with times of growth and peace. This will sometimes be global, but sometimes localised to a time or space. - One of the contractions will bring the birth of the New Heaven and Earth, heralded by Jesus' return, but we don't know which one it will be....
- The last point we need to consider is that Jesus is doing three things in Mark 13. I've colour-coded them in the reading
- He's warning the disciples about persecution, about being ready, not being deceived, about trying to guess when the final end will come. He also promises the help of the Holy Spirit. (Red)
- He's talking about one of the earliest contractions, the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD (Blue)
- He's also talking about the final contraction. (Green)
As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!"
"Do you see all these great buildings?" He replied. "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked Him privately, "Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?"
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. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.
"You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of Me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of Me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
"When you see 'the abomination that causes desolation' standing where it does not belong---let the reader understand---then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that this will not take place in winter, because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when GOD created the world, until now---and never to be equaled again. "If the LORD had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom HE has chosen, HE has shortened them.
At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Messiah!' or, 'Look, there He is!' do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.
"But in those days, following that distress,
'the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'
"At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And HE will send His angels and gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
"But about that day or hour no one knows, 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 is like a man going away: He leaves His house and puts His servants in charge, each with their 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!'" |
Intro
When Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate, one of most important statements He makes is: "My Kingdom is not of this world."
This leads to two important and, in our times, unpopular conclusions.
- We are in a war.
- Between good and evil
- Between darkness and light
- Between God and Satan
(And we're stuck, because we're not able to win by ourselves.)
- This world is not our home - there's a new world coming.
When sin entered our world it came into our dna, our earth, our relationships, our personalities and character and even into our laws of physics (the second law of thermodynamics about "Entropy" is that things slow down to a resting state - everything degrades - things rust, societies crumble, stars burn out, society degrades.
But the Bible promises a new world coming.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics,
entropy is the measure of disorder in a system.
This law states that in a closed system, things naturally move from order to disorder, from energy to decay,
unless external energy is added. So, Jesus is on His way the cross.
There He will add the Spiritual Energy necessary for us to be "born again".
But this will also pave the way for His victorious return where He will recreate the world.
Let's look at the world He's preparing His disciples for...
Let's start with the contraction
The contraction Jesus is talking about is the fall of Jerusalem AND the temple in 70AD
This is triggered about the disciples being so impressed by the temple buildings.
Jesus knows this will not last.
He predicts the judgement on Israel and Judaism for its failures.
- It was meant to be a light to the nations
- They had become proud, exclusive and corrupt
- By 70AD they were fighting Rome and each other and they'd been persecuting the church for 40 years.
So what is the "abomination that causes desolation" - Scholars offer different solutions
But the most likely is the fact that Jerusalem and it's religious system basically collapsed in on itself.
The historian Josephus records the sad fact that when tensions with Rome were rising the people in the countryside poured into Jerusalem trusting its walls and ramparts rather then running like Jesus warned them too. The result was that Jerusalem was overcrowded during the siege leading to all kinds of suffering and horror.
This is one of those moments where a contraction or "day of the Lord" occurs in a specific time and place.
Let's look at the final end
"In those days
following that distress the sun will be darkened..."
These are clearly world-ending moments.
- Sun, moon, stars - this isn't just a nuclear war...
- Christ will return and gather the elect - (judgement day - and "a new heaven and a new earth")
But there are all sorts of contractions on the way...
- wars and rumours of wars,
- Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom.
- There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines.
So what are Jesus' warnings and promises?
- Don't be deceived by false teachers and false messiahs - they'll be impressive and even perform miracles
- There will be persecution - even imprisonment and flogging
- We will be witnesses in all this AND the Holy Spirit will help us
AND the gospel must go to all nations - Traditional loyalties will be betrayed
- We must stand firm to the end
- We can read signs of the times - sometimes for the contractions maybe for the end - but it is as general as seasons...
"this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened."
- Either Church generation OR referring to the Jerusalem prophecy - Don't get caught up in predictions
- Be ever-ready..
Conclusion
Questions:
- Have you met the Game-Changer?
- Have you had your D-Day? Have you put your trust in Him? Is your sin forgiven?
- Are you ready to push into the last phase of the battle?
- Are you ready for His return?
- Are you excited about a new world?
