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Past Ponderings

Sunday, April 22, 2018

PONDERING...How Should We Live At The End (Part 2)? (Mark 13:14-37)

How Should We Live At The End (Part 2)? (PM Lesson Outline)
GIST: We should live prepared for earthly despair, heavenly provision, and the ultimate and glorious coming of King Jesus!
SCRIPTURE: Mark 13:14-37
14 “But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, 16 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 17 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! 18 Pray that it may not happen in winter. 19 For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be. 20 And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days. 21 And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. 23 But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.
24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
28 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is 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. 35 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— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

We began this discussion this morning. Tonight, we’re going to continue looking at Jesus’ teachings on the future destruction of the temple and the end of the world. We’ll try to address some of the more difficult images in the passage this evening. Nonetheless, my aim is still to be practical. Jesus did not present this to us as a puzzle to be solved, but rather as a warning and an encouragement as we face these things. Gist for tonight? We should live prepared for earthly despair, heavenly provision, and the ultimate and glorious coming of King Jesus!

I. Promise of Earthly Despair & Heavenly Provision (14-23)
As Seen In The Destruction of The Temple.
Abomination of Desolation? We have references to the prophecies of Daniel here (see Dan 9:27, 11:31 and 12:11). It is widely accepted that this prophecy was fulfilled by “Antiochus Epiphanes around 167 BC. [when he] built an altar to the god Zeus in the Temple sanctuary and sacrificed pigs on it” (A Ransom for Many). Jesus is using this familiar imagery to warn the disciples that something worse than that will happen. Evil will be where it shouldn’t be. Specifically, this seems to be talking about the temple (see Matthew’s account 24:15 15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place…”) There has been much speculation of what exactly this event might have been, but the bigger picture is that there would be evil in the place of God. Hold on to that thought for just a second.
It Will Be Bad. The results will be devastating. In fact, this warning is pretty straight forward. When this happens--RUN! It’s going to be terrible. And it was. From about AD 66-70, it got very bad.
“The Jews rebelled against Rome. For a while it even looked as if they might prevail. But then the Romans hit back; and meanwhile the Jewish factions began to fight one another. The party called the Zealots took over the Temple and as the Roman legions approached the city, and the threat of destruction grew nearer and nearer, they permitted all sorts of outrages within the Temple precincts. They allowed criminals to wander into the Holy of Holies; there was murder in the Temple Courts; finally they enthroned a clown as High Priest. The enthronement by the Zealots of the clown named Phanni as High Priest is recorded by Josephus in his Jewish War. Perhaps that is the specific event that Jesus refers to in v.14. We can’t be sure. History also tells us that many people saw the disaster that was looming and fled the city while they had the chance. The Church in Jerusalem remembered Jesus’ warning and fled to the hills, to Pella across the Jordan; and they were kept safe. Meanwhile, the Romans arrived. They laid siege to Jerusalem; and in that siege the most appalling events took place. Hunger stalked the city. There’s an account of a mother who killed, roasted and ate her own child. The defenders fought among themselves. Finally, with the Temple in flames, the Romans broke in to the city. The priests continued the routine of sacrifice until the last possible moment when the sanctuary was destroyed. The remaining defenders were slaughtered; and then at the command of the new emperor Titus, the magnificent Temple was levelled to the ground, never to rise again.” (A Ransom for Many)

But Don’t Lose Hope! Again, I’m borrowing from Wilmhurts here because he’s so clear. “Terrible times are coming – so bad that if they continued for very long, death would come to everyone in the land – but even in those terrible times, Jesus says, God is still in control (v.20). He will make sure that he protects his people. The Church will survive the disaster. There will be people out to distract you, false leaders trying to lead you astray (v.22), but don’t be put off. Don’t lose sight of me and what I have told you. I have warned you: be ready, be on guard (v.23).” (A Ransom For Many)

Broader Implications.
1. Heads up, there will be great evil where it should not be. Don’t be shocked---but get out of Dodge! When you see SIN parading in the name of Jesus, or the Church, HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT! The results can be nothing but devastating. Think of the examples we have seen of this, not only in history, but also in our lifetime. How many atrocities are done in the name of Christianity? How much false hope and self-centeredness takes on the cloak of Christianity? Think of Westboro and the prosperity Gospel.
2. Greater persecutions and tribulations are coming. Progressively, times of trial and great persecution will come and continue to intensify until Christ returns.
3. God is still in control and protecting His people! Yet, even in the midst of this, God is still 100% sovereign. He will be working and saving souls until He returns. On that note, because it has been brought up in some conversations lately, I do want to make a short aside, as well. Though there are some interpretative views which say the Holy Spirit be removed from the earth during at “Great Tribulation”, I don’t see any evidence for this in Scripture. People have always and will always be saved through the work of the Holy Spirit convicting of sin and bringing to faith. Even in the midst of tribulation, people will be saved by Jesus!
4. False Christs will come; don’t be surprised and don’t believe them--you’ll know when He’s coming!-->

II. Promise of the Coming of King Jesus!
You Won’t Miss It! (24-27) There are, of course, speculations here. Will the fulfillment of this be physical or metaphoric? Will literal stars fall, or are these representations of powers falling? Why not both? Often Biblical prophecies have dual-fulfillments. We know in Revelation, it is clear that great nations will fall as part of this continuing pattern before Christ’s return. However, I think this can be taken as a speaking of the effect Christ’s return will have on the physical world, as well. The clear message here is: When Jesus returns, you’ll know! He is going to come descending from the clouds. Why? To end it all. To gather His people. Sin will be destroyed once and for all, and those of us who know Him, who have been known by Him, will be with Him forever.

So, Pay Attention; He Is Coming! (28-30) A few quick observations on this point.
1. Don’t doubt. He is coming!
2. These signs will come even within this generation? This point has been one of much debate, and I do not want to be presumptuous and claim to have it all figured out. It seems to me, however, to be referring to what we call progressive parallelism. These things are not going to just happen once, but will continue to happen with increased intensity until He returns.
3. Jesus’ words are true because He is God! This claim is huge! He is telling His disciples they can trust what He’s saying using language that would typically only be used of God and His Word. He’s not mincing words here!

Don’t Try To Guess the Day; Be About His Work! (32-37) Again, just a few observations here.
1. Jesus didn’t know something? This has perplexed many. In fact, it has been used to point to the fact that Jesus isn’t divine. But...didn’t He just say He is? How does He not know something? This is the complexity and beauty of the incarnation. He was fully God and fully man. In His human nature, He chose to keep things from Himself. I know this is very hard for us to wrap our minds around. However, just like baby Jesus did not know how to speak when He was born, so as an adult, there were certain things He, essentially, kept from Himself. This is a picture of the Trinity.
2. This is not a puzzle! And I think that is part of why this information was withheld. It is not about the when, but the who and the why! So don’t fall victim to them temptation of viewing passages like this as codes to be broken. They’re not. Instead-->
3. Be busy about His work! Don’t let Him find you sleeping.

TAKEAWAYS
I think I’ve spread the takeaways throughout our discussion tonight, so this will be a recap of sorts :D.
1. Heads up, there will be great evil where it should not be.
2. Greater persecutions and tribulations are coming.
3. God is still in control and protecting His people!
4. False Christs will come; don’t be surprised and don’t believe them.
5. Jesus is coming back!
6. Don’t waste time trying to solve puzzles He told you weren’t meant to be solved.
7. Instead get busy sharing His gospel.

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