What does it mean for followers of Christ to live for him with one eye on the future horizon and the other upon our present suffering? We look through the reading of God’s word. If you please join me in prayer. Father, of all mercy in your word, your endless glory shine forth. And we ask them that you would reveal them to us this day, all through the marvelous working of your Holy spirit, that you would bring us your words life and transform us through them, that we may reflect the brilliant glory of Christ Jesus, our savior, in whose name we now pray. Amen. Beginning in verse one. As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Look, teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. And Jesus said to him, Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. And he said, On the mount of opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, Tell us, when will these things be and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?
And Jesus began to say to them, See that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name saying, ‘I am he, ‘ and they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet, for a nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places. There will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains. Verse 32. But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake, for you do not know when the time will come. It’s like a man going on a journey when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come. In the evening or at midnight, or when the rooster crows or in the morning, lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you, I say to all, Stay awake.
The word of the Lord. There’s a commandment of the Lord that has been broken, and no serious Christian would deny that, along with the rest of the Ten Commandments. No pushback there. But what about developing elaborate times tables, prophetic pronouncements, making predictions on when Jesus will return? Is this breaking the command of Jesus or not? To me, it falls under the category of frequently ignored commands by Christians. If you’re looking for other examples, just consider speaking in tongues for those who like that to be a normal part of the church, leaving aside what does that mean, just simply focusing on what the apostle Paul clearly tells us in 1 Corinthians 14. If there is no interpreter of tongues, the speaker should be quiet in the church. That has not stopped large groups of people from doing just the opposite. Keeping with that example, I’ve also seen this other pattern. When you point it out, people get upset with you. It brings us then to what I consider probably one of the most broken commands of Jesus today, predicting the second coming of Jesus. Yes, pointing it out certainly can upset people. When it comes to talking about the end times or the one Greek word that so many people do know, eschatology, the study of the end, there’s a lot of smoke and there’s a lot of heat that comes with it.
The very point that Jesus is making gets subverted because he’s telling his disciples, Don’t be distracted in my mission by getting caught up in the details that only the Father knows. And because Jesus has told us to be faithful and ready, we must not be distracted from our calling. Now, I recognize that here amongst us, we come from lots of various Christian backgrounds. For some of you, all this is going to seem very routine. For others, it might be a bit disorienting. To all of us, charity. So that you know, almost every serious commentator of Mark 13 will tell you that this is one of the most debateed chapters in the New Testament. My hope this morning is that we keep ourselves from the tendency to isolate and withdraw ourselves from the world, a bunker mentality, and instead, that we would keep ourselves fully engaged with the world around us because of the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. So first is the warning, to the bunker we must not go. I’m going to say this from the start. If you would like to prepare yourself through getting through some type of disaster by having extra things and that sort.
There is certainly wisdom to that. No problem. Preparing for contingencies, not a bad idea. But if you want to build a Holocaust surviving bunker so that you can somehow shoot your hungry neighbors and they come knocking on your door, it would be far better for you, for your soul, if you simply died in the disaster. And then just leave the door open to the bunker. Okay, Jesus is in Jerusalem and he’s teaching in the temple. It’s the final week that he is here, it’s approaching. And marks their turn, often 13, often called the Olivet Discourse. It’s the longest section of teaching in the gospel of Mark. And it says that he came out of the temple and one of the disciples makes the response, Look, teacher, look what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. He’s talking about, of course, the temple of Herod, the second temple. Even at this time, the temple was still unfinished, but Herod the Great had began building the temple and rebuilding this massive building project. It took over 45 years. It would become completed just a few years before it was destroyed. This is during this building time, but even now it’s amazing.
The gold all over the temple is offset by this beautiful white limestone block. It’s gleaming in the distance in the sun. There are many records of people who actually saw it, who praised its beauty, were captivated by its wonder. Some of you may have been there or seen pictures of the Western Wall in Jerusalem and just amazing structure. But it’s only the substructure. That temple is actually built on top of it. The only thing left is that incredible wall and some of the stones in it are the size of a bus. It’s amazing, but that’s just a substructure. Jesus says this incredible statement to the disciples. See these buildings? There’s not going to be left here one stone upon another. It’ll all be thrown down. That would have just been mind-blowing to consider. All of their lives, they would have gone to the temple for the great feast. They would have seen this enormous monolith structure in all the splendor and beauty. It just would have been overwhelming for them to think, how could someone tear this thing down? Jesus goes on opposite the temple there. As Peter and James and John and Andrew, they come and ask them privately.
They say, Tell us when these things will be. What will be the sign these things are about to be accomplished? Again, they’re amazed. The Southern wall of the temple was 165 feet tall. This is not a small structure. Enormous. Nothing like this for hundreds of miles. Keep in mind the question that Jesus is answering. When will the temple be destroyed? This is what Jesus is answering, and he continues. Nation will rise against nation, Kingdom against Kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places. There’ll be famine. These are but the beginning of the birth pain. Now, we come to a major interpretive moment in this chapter. Jesus is talking about the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. It’s the same in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. That’s the topic he’s addressing. If you miss this, you will be headed down a very different direction. For Jesus, the temple has become synonymous with the very opposition that he is facing. Jesus has squared off against the temple. That’s what’s taking place. The entire system it represents, Jesus is saying it’s about to come crashing down. Why? Because as he tells his disciples in Matthew, one greater than the temple is here.
The very person to whom the temple foreshadows and speaks of is in present in front of them, and they do not see it. In fact, they consider Jesus’ words blasphemous. It’s part of the charge against him that’s going to come shortly for crucifying him, for talking about tearing down the temple. This actually took place. The entire Jewish system came down with the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. If you’ve heard the name Josephus, he’s a Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus. He had been a Jewish general at the very start of the war against Rome, and then he defected to the Roman side, and he recorded the entire history of the destruction of Jerusalem in the temple as it happened. We actually have his historical writings. The Roman general at the time was Titus, who then became Emperor, but he completely destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD after a protracted siege. He set up the Abomination of Desolation, which Jesus speaks of here, the Roman standard in the temple itself. And so Jesus depicts with such accuracy the things that are taking place that Josepha records that many will try to say that the material in the Gospels had to come after the fact, because otherwise, Jesus would have predicted it ahead of time.
And they don’t believe that. For us, it’s like, well, no kidding. Jesus told what was going to happen. He said, this is yet to come. And it was such an accurate depiction of what actually happened to the temple. A quick list of the would be messias during this time, from the death of Jesus to the temple’s destruction in 70 AD. Judas, the son of Hezecaia, Simon of Porea, a Throngres, the shepherd of Judea, Thuidas, an unnamed Egyptian prophet, Meneham son of Judasus of Galilee, John of Giscalia, Simon bar Giora, All of these were recorded would be false messias at the time. If you’re wondering, too, about earthquakes in the region, earthquakes in 33 AD, 49, 60, 63, and three recorded in 68 AD from various sources. All of that was taking place. Many of you probably heard of Masada. Masada, the great last standout for the Jews who had been fighting the Romans, and they went to that great fortress, and it finally fell to the Romans in 74 AD after a mass suicide. All of this is what’s taking place in the near future, and Jesus is speaking about it. The question then comes, is all of chapter 13 about the destruction of the temple, or does it include other information about Jesus’ second coming?
So where are we at in terms of the history? And some, of course, have argued that this all one event, right up to 70 AD, that Jesus is talking about is certainly just one event. Others will say that Jesus moves between a near horizon and a further horizon. Where does this happen? Again, disagreement. But most who would say that there’s two in line here would see verse 32 as the transition to the distant future. And there in verse 32, Jesus said, But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Now, that’s an incredible statement. How would Jesus not know? Jesus is speaking as his role as the Messiah on earth at the time. In his human role, he was to submit himself to the will of the Father. He’s the perfect example to us, to all of his followers who call upon his name to do the same, that we are to submit it as Jesus did to the will of the Father. Jesus is saying it is the Father’s prerogative, certainly not ours. Now, strangely enough, I have heard people.
I’ve actually read this. Jesus said, We do not know the day or the hour, but we can know the year, the month, and the week. I kid you not. No, that’s not what he’s saying. If you’re in the car with your parents and you’re fighting your sibling in the back seat, they’re like, Keep your hands to yourself. You sit there and you get a pen. I didn’t touch him with my hands. That’s the same idea. No. Jesus is saying, He’s taking out the whole predictive element out. It’s not for you to know. That is the Father’s prerogative. There’s an entire Christian cottage industry that’s been made about predicting the end, developing a complex system, interpreting the Bible to get to the secret, hidden meanings of the dates. It’s just the opposite of what Jesus is saying. He takes all the predicted time tables off the table. In verse 30, he said, Truly, I said to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Now, this is largely understood as the fulfillment in 70 AD, which from the time that Jesus is speaking is about 35 years away. From the time Jesus is speaking to the destruction of the temple is about 35 years.
That’s generally understood that Jesus is speaking of this upcoming event. The more cosmic dramatic and dramatic language that Jesus uses in 24 through 37 about the sun being darkened, the stars falling. That is all woven together text from the Prophet Isaiah, chapter 13, for the prophet Joel, chapter 2 and 3. Jesus is using the familiar language of the Old Testament to speak about the things that are about to happen. If you isolate these texts from their context, you can come up with some pretty creative ways to understand it that are wrong. The larger question to always keep in mind was, how would the disciples have understood this? They are steeped in the Old Testament. None of the later pieces that have been developed, at least over the last 100 years for us, would have been remotely on their minds. No talk of a millennium, no two or three stage process of Jesus coming. And even the part of the quote here comes from Daniel 7 in Mark 13 about the Son of Man coming in the clouds. That was not understood as the Son of Man ascending to Earth. But in Daniel 7, it’s speaking of him ascending to the throne of God.
He is taking on the enthronement of the Messiah. He is coming now into his place of glory that the Father has set aside for him the ascending of Jesus. That’s how that would have been understood. Now, there are no way we can touch all these details in one sermon, but depending on your background, none of what I said here is controversial, or otherwise, it might be hearing for the first time. I understand that. What is clear from Jesus is that he expects his people to be busy doing his work. In fact, when the disciples hunkered down in Jerusalem too long, the Lord sent persecution to get them moving. He said, You’ll be my witnesses here in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. And they were stuck on the Jerusalem piece, just hanging out there for a while. And so persecution comes to blow them out into Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth to fulfill what Jesus had called his people to do. Go, therefore, into the nations, making disciples of them to go. There’s no bunker down mentality for Jesus. They were to be sent to the nations. So why is Jesus telling all of this now to the disciples?
Because he has also promised to them that hard times are coming for his people. Now, there’s going to be a fairly immediate persecution of the Christians by the Jewish leaders that’s going to take place, which gets them out of Jerusalem. But there’s coming a greater persecution by the Romans that the apostle Paul is going to experience than others. In Matthew 24, Jesus has told his disciples, See, I have told you these things ahead of time. He gave them advantage It’s notice. And regarding the fall of Jerusalem, the Christians at the time left the city when the Romans started amassing troops in about 66 AD. They’re like, You know what? Jesus spoke about this. We’re getting out of here, and they did. The Christians left because they saw this as a fulfillment of the words of Christ. Well, what about this shift then in verse 32? What are we to make about that? Well, Jesus gives us an indominal hope and a victorious Messiah. His upcoming death is going to shake them to their very core because they are not seeing this happening. It’s only after he was raised from the dead that they’re able to piece all the puzzle together.
But Jesus had to tell them that ahead of time of the near and now the far. In verse 33, he tells them to be on guard, to keep awake. You do not know when that time will come. And again, most see this time as the second coming, that he has delineated between the first and now what is yet to take place. It’s like a man going on a journey and he leaves his home and puts his servants in charge. He says, Stay awake. You don’t know, and the master of the house is coming. It might be in the evening. It might be at midnight. It might be in the morning when the rooster crows, lest he suddenly come upon you and find you asleep. And what I say to you, I say to all, Stay Awake. I appreciate New Testament scholar William Lane, I put this in your bulletin. The primary function of chapter 13 is not to disclose esoteric information, but to promote faith in obedience in a a distress, an upheaval. What we are called to is faithfulness, and what causes us to be focused on the wrong things. Why would we shift off that?
Because it’s hard to faithfully. It’s hard to live a life of faith. It’s much easier to speculate and argue over esoteric things. It’s more exciting. It’s easier to do. I’ve often joked that if you want to write a runaway Christian bestseller, just title it something like Sex, Satan in the Last Days. You pretty much cover all the things that someone’s going to buy that book. Because that’s far more interesting than Loving your wife, faithfully serving in the place that God has put you, caring for and nurturing difficult children, serving in a place that may not get much recognition. That is hard. Jesus is calling us to be faithful to him, not to be worrying about the future and speculating about the end. A friend of mine, he wrote a book actually cataloged logging all the wrong predictions of the end from the first century forward. We’re not the only ones. The church, focusing in on the wrong things has been wrong for 2000 years. They haven’t figured it out. What’s amazing is since the 1960s, particularly in America, how many people have made an industry of making wrong predictions. Entire system of interpreting the end, referring to dispensationalism, it keeps churning out wrong predictions.
Instead of seeing the problem is with their system, they think, We just didn’t put the numbers in right. We got to figure out the week and half week and the half days and the 109 days. We got to figure out all the math right. No, your system’s broke. You’re not supposed to be figuring it out. That’s where you go wrong. Like the original disciples, if you are a follower of Jesus, the question before you is not when, it’s how. How do I now in light of the end? That’s what Jesus is focusing on. Jesus gives a very clear and certain answer. Everything is running according to the timetable the Father set. We can rest secure in his sovereign rule and reign over everything. And that timetable includes seasons and times of great persecution in the church in various places. And we are to be faithful at whatever post the Lord has put us. It does us no good to wish that we were in a different time or a different posting. We stand where the Father has put us right now. That’s the calling. Where you are, be faithful. We have the sure and true words of Jesus that will never pass away.
The destruction of the temple is a foreshadowing of that judgment which is yet to come. All systems that oppose Jesus will ultimately find their demise. We have the indominal hope of our victorious Messiah, who took the judgment we deserve on himself so that we would have abundant life in him. We are now a pilgrim people, reminded that we’re just passing through. We’re sojourners here. There’s a future horizon to fuel our efforts in the present harvest. And that means is that we are not to cultivate a spirit of fear, but of joyful expectation. One of the strange things is that as people get so caught up in the cataloging prophetic days and numbers and things of this nature, it makes people afraid. People get fearful about the And then what happens is those people out there are bad. People in here are good. Bad, good. And we’re just going to stay with the good people and avoid the bad ones. That is just the opposite of what Jesus has said. He goes, I have equipped you. I have empowered you. All authority has been given to me. Therefore, go. Don’t bunker. Don’t do the Holy huddle and try to be able to throw a few tracks over the wall?
We’re not to be afraid that, you know what? Non-christians do non-Christian things. Shouldn’t be a surprise to us. They believe unbelieving things until the Holy spirit captures their heart and regenerates them through the words of truth that you and I have been the privileged to be able to proclaim. Because that’s a part of the mission that we have been sent to, that God is using us in this great redemptive work throughout the world. If we are so focused in on the wrong things and squabbling and arguing about the things we’re not supposed to be squabbling and arguing about and avoiding the clear commands of Jesus in the going, we are being a disobed people. And the solution to that is always repentance, confessing that as sin and asking that the Lord would not only forgive us, but that he would renew us with a heart dedicated to the proclamation of the good news to our neighbors who need to hear this. They need to see this lived out. They need to know the love and the joy that Christians have in the hope given to us in Jesus. That’s what it’s being faithful to our savior means.
Throw away the timetable. Stop worrying that stuff. He’s going to come when he comes and he’s saying, Nobody knows. What post have you been given? Where are you standing? And are you bringing to it the glorious proclamation of a savior who went willingly to his death that we would have life, that he paid the penalty that we deserve, that he undid the entire system that promotes self-centered sinfulness and this idolatry of our own desires and ideas, breaking its back, giving us a new and glorified vision of Almighty God that we have been included in. That, again, is why the gospel means good news. If that doesn’t fill your heart with joy, I would just simply say, you need to repent. Or maybe really ask, do I truly believe this? Because if we truly believe the good news of Jesus, it is life-changing and upends everything. There is no border that’s too far away. There’s no person too far out of reach that the Lord might send us to with this great and glorious news. Throw away the predictions. Throw away all the efforts to figure it out. Just stay at your post. Be awake. Be expectant.
And if you have fallen into the apathy of the wait, allow then the Holy spirit to renew with this amazing spirit of the the living Christ dwelling in you to capture your heart once more. Pray with me. Father, as we come before you, we all confess we are so easily sidetracked. Father, we so easily measure on the minor things. And Lord, we would ask that you would forgive us for being off your mission, off track. And Father, we pray that you would be pleased to use us for the great good of the Kingdom. Lord, that you would give us eyes to see, ears to hear beyond our borders here. Lord, that you would even now bring people to mind whom you have brought to us that we can live and share the good news of Jesus with. And Father, that you would encourage those who have given up hope in their prayers for some who seem to be so hardened, calceterns. Father, fill us again with a renewed hope in your ability to change and regenerate lives. We pray and ask this all through Jesus Christ, our risen and ascended savior. Amen.
Discaimer: This sermon text was generated by an automated transcription service.