Mark Part 17

Mark

“BE ON GUARD, STAY AWAKE!”

MARK 12:41 to 14:9 – “BE ON GUARD, STAY AWAKE!”

In our lesson this morning we are going to look at a subject that fascinates a lot of people – end times. To set the stage for you, Jesus’s public ministry has ended. He has finished teaching the people. He now focuses the remaining time that He has on instructing and preparing His own disciples. Jesus sits down with them on the side of the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem and He tells them what will happen at the end of time. He hasn’t even left yet and He talks about His Second Coming, which is interesting. Sandwiched in between Jesus’s eschatology lesson to the Twelve you have these two stories from Jesus’s day. It just so happens that the central characters in both these stories are women.

So, Jesus has just concluded His public remarks with a scathing word of judgment on the Jewish religious leaders. This is where we left off last time… “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation” (Mark 12:38-40).

So, Jesus’s rebuke here is followed in Mark’s narrative by an observation that Jesus makes here in the Temple. He is sitting there and He is watching the various people.

READ Mark 12:41-44

And the story ends abruptly right there. No further commentary. No application. So, Q1, what does Jesus say about the poor widow’s giving? She put in everything she had. It is just an observation. Jesus does not say that the rich have a bad attitude while hers is to be commended. He does not say anything about motives, good or bad. And He certainly does not say that she will be blessed by God for giving all. That is what the rabbis taught – “If you want God’s blessings then you need to give your money. Do that and He will bless you.” Jesus does not teach His disciples that they need to be like the widow and give sacrificially. No. None of that is here. Jesus merely observes and comments on what He sees. This widow’s action is evidence that Jesus’s previous rebuke is valid. The Jewish religious system is taking advantage of its widows. It shows how their system is, in Jesus’s words, “devouring” them.

John MacArthur makes this observation: “The religious establishment of Jesus’s day, instead of helping the widows in need, were perfectly content to rob them of their livelihood and inheritance. The system was corrupt, and the darkness of the scribes’ greed makes the widow’s sacrifice [here in the passage] shine even more brightly.”

So, that is really what is going on here. The poor widow in this story is not a spiritual example for us to follow. She is a victim of a corrupt system that Jesus has been calling out His entire ministry. So, what does God want His people to do instead? Well, in Exodus Chapter 22 God told the Israelite nation NOT to mistreat its widows (along with various other groups). But that is exactly what is happening here. Instead of taking care of this poor widow who is obviously destitute, who has serious financial needs; instead, the scribes gladly take her last penny. And they don’t appear to feel bad about it one bit. It hurts Jesus to see abuses like this taking place in God’s house. That is NOT the heart of God. Now you see why Jesus comes down so hard on the scribes and Pharisees.

So, now we come to Mark Chapter 13. They have been in the Temple.

READ Mark 13:1

One disciple points to the massive Temple structure built by Herod the Great -- magnificent. In Jesus’s day it was one of the most impressive structures in all of the world. It is comprised of massive blocks of limestone. Some of these stones are as large as 40 feet by 12 feet by 12 feet – huge! These stones had been quarried from limestone pits all around Jerusalem. They had been transported to the Temple Mount and perfectly fit together. The stones were then trimmed with gold. It is a glorious structure that the Jews are proud of.

READ Mark 13:2

Q2, true or false? In these verses Jesus prophesies about the Temple’s destruction. True. Every commentary I read said that. Jesus predicts the demise of this beautiful temple. History tells us that it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. That is about 40 years or so after Jesus’s statement here. The Temple’s destruction will be God’s judgment on Israel, on Judaism, and on their very corrupt religious system.

READ Mark 13:3-4

Q3, what did the four disciples ask Jesus as He sat on the Mount of Olives? What had Jesus just been talking about? He had been talking about the Temple’s destruction, right? “These things,” what are they talking about? They want to know when the stones of the Temple will be thrown down. “When is this going to happen, Jesus?” You have to look at things in context and that is what He has just been talking about. So, obviously their follow-up question is “when is this going to happen?” He doesn’t say, “70 A.D.” He does not tell them when.

Now, remember the disciples at this point still believe that Jesus is going to establish His kingdom on earth. That is in their minds. Yes, they know that He has been talking about His death, but they have not been able to fully process that. They don’t really know what all of that means. They still think He is going to establish His kingdom.

So, Jesus uses their question as a springboard to talk about what will happen in the end times. What Jesus does is He mentions WHAT will happen. He does not say WHEN it will happen – much like the book of Revelation. Many of the things Jesus is getting ready to share with His disciples are future even for us sitting here in this room today. These things WILL happen. We believe they will. But we just don’t know when. 

READ Mark 13:5-6

Q4, what did Jesus warn the disciples to watch out for (here in this passage)? There will be people falsely claiming to be Jesus. One of the signs that we are getting close to the last days is the rise of false teachers. They are all over the place in our world today, aren’t they? Some religious leaders have even claimed to be Jesus Christ Himself. Sun Myung Moon, Jim Jones, Charles Manson and David Koresh immediately came to my mind. But there are a whole host of others over the past few centuries, who are much lesser known, who also claimed to be Jesus and who did, in fact, lead many people astray. Well, Jesus goes on in v 7…

READ Mark 13:7-8

Q5, what does Jesus mean regarding end time events by, “These are but the beginning of the birth pains”? What does He mean? They are signs of His coming. They are just warning signs, right? That the end is coming. In v 7 I want you to notice that He says, “This must take place, but the end is not yet.” So, when you see all of these things taking place – we can see them happening right now in our world today – it only means that we are getting close to the end. We are not quite there yet. We are getting close. These are warning signals that the time is approaching.

READ Mark 13:9-10

So, Jesus is telling His disciples what they can expect. He doesn’t paint some rosy picture of their lives here on earth. This sounds like a preview of the book of Acts, doesn’t it? Some theologians think that Jesus is talking here about the Tribulation, but I see this as a description of the church age. Persecution of Christians has been going on since the early days of the church. And it continues today. Jesus’s warning to us, the church, is “Be on your guard.”

READ Mark 13:11-13

Whether we like it or not, persecution is part of the Christian life. If you identify yourself as a Christian, you can expect it. Q6, how will the disciples know how to respond to their accusers when they undergo persecution? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is going to speak through them, right?

 Jesus says in v 13, “You will be hated by all for My name’s sake.” Now, physical persecution may or may not happen to you or me. At least for now it appears that we in America, in the 21^st Century, have been spared the severe persecution that we see taking place in other parts of the world. But who knows? It could still happen. Jesus says here, “Don’t worry about it even if it does happen. God will give you the words to speak at that time that will serve as a witness for Him (through the Holy Spirit).” That definitely applied to the disciples. And it has applied to many Christians throughout history and even today. Who knows about us? It remains to be seen.

Have you ever heard of Foxes Book of Martyrs? It is not an uplifting read. It will depress you. Its writer, John Foxe, who was a Protestant during the Reformation of the 16^th Century, chronicles the martyrs’ deaths. Most of his book details the persecutions and deaths of many great men and women of his own day, in England in the early 1500s. The whole point of this book was not to depress his readers. The boldness, testimony, the final words uttered by these dear saints were written down, preserved for us to encourage future believers who may go through similar persecution one day. Like I said, it is a heavy read. Some of the names are familiar, but most of the people in this book you have never heard of before. Their witness is astounding and the Holy Spirit is the one who gave them the words to say.

Jesus’s words at the end of v 13, “But the one who endures to the end will be saved,” reminded me of His promises to the seven churches of Asia who endure to the end. You read about those promises in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3. To the church at Smyrna (I will just give you a couple of examples) He says, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). And then to the church at Sardis He says, “The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life” (Revelation 3:5). These are just two of many promises made by Jesus Himself to all of us if we faithfully endure to the end. Jesus encourages His disciples and us to stay the course no matter what happens.

Now, Jesus shifts gears and at this point begins to describe the events of the Tribulation. You can read the details about this period in Revelation Chapters 6 thru 18. Most of the book of Revelation deals with this period. You have to remember that here in Mark Chapter 13 the vision of the future events that John is going to receive on the island of Patmos (that we are so familiar with in reading Revelation) is still 50 to 60 years in the future. So, as the disciples listen to Jesus on the side of the Mount of Olives here in this chapter, they are hearing all of this for the very first time. Put yourself in their place.

Now, before I read v 14, let me ask you Q7, this entire section, v 14 thru 37, is Jesus’s message specifically to which generation of believers? These words are directed primarily to the Tribulation generation. I will defend why I say that. It is to those who get saved during that seven-year period that you read about in the book of Revelation. So, let’s read v 14 and following with that in mind.

READ Mark 13:14

Notice that the abomination of desolation is a person. It is a “he.” This is a reference to the emergence of a world leader during the Tribulation period. He is referred to the “antichrist” or the “beast” in the book of Revelation. So, there you have the answer to Q8. Jesus is referring to the antichrist. “The abomination of desolation” is a term from the book of Daniel. It speaks of a sacrilegious act by the antichrist in the Temple in Jerusalem. In 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2 Paul talks about the “man of lawlessness,” same guy, the antichrist, who “exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). Then you have Revelation Chapter 13 and it is talking about how the antichrist, the beast as he is referred to there, forces everyone to worship the image of the beast or be killed (Revelation 13:14-15). This is going to be a terrible time and will force everyone in Judea to flee to the mountains.

READ Mark 13:15-19

That is encouraging, isn’t it? Like I said, this is going to be a terrible time! Q9, the days when the abomination that causes desolation (that He talks about here) appears will be unequaled from what time period until now? Creation. V 19 says, “there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now.” So, there is the answer – from the Creation. There have been horrible times in human history, but NONE will be as bad as those that will occur during the seven-year Tribulation period. That is hard to believe, isn’t it? Because there have been some really awful periods.

OK, now that you are completely depressed…

The good news is that we won’t go through any of that. Praise God! My theology as I understand Revelation is that the church gets raptured, gets removed prior to the Tribulation. This is full disclosure on my theology. I view Revelation Chapters 4 and 5 as a picture of the raptured saints in heaven. We, the church, we Christians then are going to be in heaven while all the events that play out in [Revelation] Chapters 6 thru 18 are happening. We will not be there (on the earth). And then we come back with Jesus (to the earth) in Chapter 19. That is how I read the events of Revelation. I think it is chronological. That is how I see it. And most evangelicals, I think, hold to that.

So, this means that if you are saved right now and you are reading this, v 20 (which we are about to read) to the end of this chapter do not apply to you. They are words to a future generation, but there is still application for us. I will give you that application after we read these verses.

READ Mark 13:20

That leads to Q10, the Tribulation period will be such an awful time in human history that God in His grace will do something. What will He do? He will cut this period short. The Tribulation is not going to drag out for long. Seven years is all. The Lord will cut short the days for the sake of those who get saved during the tribulation. And many will. Read the book of Revelation.

READ Mark 13:21-23

Satan, just like he does in our day, will do everything he can to undermine God’s plans and purposes. He will even deceive believers, those who get saved during the Tribulation. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians that “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” We all know that part, but listen to this part – “and his servants [Satan’s servants] disguise themselves as servants of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). Jesus’s word to these future saints is to “be on guard.” That is the same word He gave to His disciples and us. The same devil at work in our world will be at work in theirs. He will probably ramp it up a little bit. 

READ Mark 13:24-25

You can read all about these cosmic disturbances in graphic detail in the book of Revelation. They take place just prior to Jesus’s return to earth.

READ Mark 13:26-27

Jesus returns! He will return to earth the same way He left, in the clouds. Later on, when Jesus gets ready to depart from the top of the Mount of Olives, there will be these two angels who will tell these same disciples as they watch Jesus disappear in the clouds that He will come back the same way He left, in the clouds (Acts 1:11). In Revelation, Jesus will tell John, “Behold, He [Jesus] is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him… Even so. Amen” (Revelation 1:7). So, those of us who have already died, we now return with Jesus. We are all going to be there! Isn’t that exciting? And those who have been saved during the Tribulation will be gathered by our Lord from all over the earth. That is what He is talking about here.

READ Mark 13:28-29

Remember, He is talking to the Tribulation generation when He says this. Just like you can tell when summer is near by the leaves of a fig tree (or really for that matter any other tree), these end time events that He has been talking about will warn that future generation that His return is imminent. So, get ready.

READ Mark 13:30

“This generation” is the one Jesus has been talking to since v 20. It is the generation of those who will be around to witness all of these events, whenever that is. It will not be us.

READ Mark 13:31

Have you ever heard that verse before? Yes, it gets quoted a lot, doesn’t it? Q11, Heaven and earth will pass away, but what will remain forever? God’s word, right? Or His words. His words are contained in God’s word, in the Bible.

Heaven and earth as we know them will NOT last forever. At some point God will destroy them and replace them with a new heaven and a new earth – Revelation 21, right? You can read about it. That will all happen after the Millennial Kingdom, after the 1000-year reign of Christ. Second Peter Chapter 3 talks about the earth being destroyed by fire. So, heaven and earth WILL pass away. But God’s words, His promises, His plans, will NOT pass away. They WILL be fulfilled. I love this verse from Isaiah 40:8. It says, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”

READ Mark 13:32

So, Jesus finally gets around to answering the disciples’ original question from back in v 3, “when will these things be accomplished?” Jesus says, “No one knows, not even the angels in heaven…” Now, He is talking about that event that they asked about as well as all these other ones. “…not even the Son…” That is an interesting statement. Not even Jesus Himself while He was here in human flesh knew (when these events would happen). He probably knows now, now that He is back in glory with God (the Father). But, at that time He didn’t, not in His incarnation. “…but only the Father.”

Well, after He says that He gives this short parable beginning in v 33…

READ Mark 13:33-37

Q12, in this mini-parable why does Jesus say it is so important for the doorkeeper to stay awake? There are actually two things mentioned (in the passage). First, he commanded it, v 34. The other reason is that the master could come at any time. Jesus’s message to that future Tribulation generation is this: “You, servants, must remain alert and be diligent because your Lord is coming back soon.

Well, that is great. Those are all wonderful words for THAT generation. But what about us? How does this apply to us and our generation? Because we are not going to see all that stuff. We are already going to be with the Lord when all of that is taking place. So, what about us? Here is the application for us – listen carefully… Chances are very likely that you and I are going to die! Maybe the Rapture will come first. That would be OK with me. But either way, either our death or the Rapture, we don’t know when that will be. So, we had better be ready!

[Brief class discussion about whether we who are raptured can see what is happening on earth]

READ Mark 14:1-2

Meanwhile, while Jesus is teaching all this to His disciples, the religious leaders are busy plotting behind the scenes, looking for the right opportunity. Q13, why did they want to arrest Jesus secretly? Now, we know they wanted to kill Him. We have been told that. But why did they want to arrest Him “by stealth”? Because they were fearful of the people, what they might do, how they might react. Remember, Jesus is very popular. They were afraid of the people and did not want a riot on their hands. So, that is the reason.

READ Mark 14:3

We do not know anything about Simon the leper. John’s gospel tells us that this woman is Mary, Lazarus’ sister (of Mary and Martha fame). She is a close friend of Jesus.

READ Mark 14:4-5

Again, from John’s gospel we know that the one complaining the loudest is Judas. All Judas sees is money. That’s his focus, his priority and it will eventually be his downfall. Judas tries to act all spiritual and noble, like he is really concerned for the poor. In reality he is watching this expensive gift being poured out and, in his mind, being wasted. Matthew’s account says the other disciples chimed in with Judas: “And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, ‘Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor’” (Matthew 26:8-9). So, the ones scolding the woman are Jesus’s disciples!

Well, Jesus quickly comes to Mary’s defense.

READ Mark 14:6-9

We are talking about it today! So, when Mary anoints Jesus, He sees the spiritual significance of this. Q14, true or false? Jesus said the reason for this woman, Mary, pouring ointment or perfume on His head was to prepare Him for burial. True. V 8 tells us that. Jesus sees this as her act of worship. As it turns out, this will be her last opportunity to do something like this for Jesus before He goes to the cross.

In our lesson next time, a whole chain of events will be set into motion when Judas betrays Jesus to the Jewish religious leaders. Things may be quiet for the moment. But that is all about to change.