Is it just me, or have you also noticed a preoccupation lately with the Biblical Prophesy and Armageddon? Some say it’s because we feel so unsettled during times of war that we can’t resist the temptation to speculate about the end of the age. But I believe that’s been true of Christians for 2,000 years.
The Apostles themselves believed that they were living in the End Times –which explains their delay in writing the Gospels. Each generation since then has wondered if theirs was the one.
When World War I broke out, a Christian leader named C. I. Scofield speculated that it was the start of Armageddon. The same was said during World War II. Even today many view Adolf Hitler as a prototype of the coming Anti-Christ.
During the first Gulf War, it seemed like a meeting had been called, and ministers jointly decided that it was a great time to preach about the End Times. Frankly, I don’t see that it’s changed much even now.
Identifying the “antichrist” seems like a preoccupation of ours for as long as I can remember. Do you remember how Henry Kissinger’s name, if applied to a certain formula, would render the numbers 666? And since the beginning of the nuclear age, speculations have grown exponentially.
Personally, I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I think it’s good for Christians to look forward to the second coming. Jesus Christ did promise to return, and times of crisis, especially wars and disasters, remind us of his promise. On the other hand, living our lives too far in the future can lead us to neglect life in the now. Let’s face it, • obsessive living is rarely healthy.
Mark says that, on his way to the Temple, Jesus cursed a fig tree because it failed to produce any figs. I’ve heard it argued that, when Jesus cursed the barren fig tree, he was symbolically judging the Jewish temple. The barren tree was a symbol of the Jewish Temple. Just as the fig tree had leaves but no fruit, so too the temple was impressive looking, but it wasn’t producing the fruit of the Spirit in Israel.
Once Jesus arrived at the Temple, he caused a huge scene by overturning the tables of the money changers and caused the sacrifices to stop for a time. But was He actually cleansing the Temple, or was He judging it? The Temple had, after all, become what God never intended. Therefore, was Jesus preparing the Jews to see himself as the new hope for forgiveness?
After driving them out of the Temple, the religious leaders confronted Jesus and demanded to know the source of His claim to authority. This led to a series of debates, and in each debate Jesus prevailed over the leaders. One was the debate over whether Jews should pay Roman taxes, and another was the debate over which of God’s commandments was the greatest. With each humiliation, the resolve of those leaders to kill Jesus only increased.
It’s worth noting that the common thread in these events from chapter 11 on has been the Temple. In chapter 13 of Mark, Jesus continues talking about the impending doom of the Jewish temple. In fact, I almost titled today’s message “Jesus Christ and the Temple of Doom”, but that did seem a bit much. So instead, I’m going to look at how we can live in the now – as in “Now Living.”
Mark 13:1-13 is the beginning of the longest teaching block in all Mark’s gospel, which should tell us that Mark considers it important. The immediate question is, “What is Jesus talking about here?”
It seems like Jesus starts this sermon talking about one thing – the Temple – and ends it talking about something entirely different – the End of the Age. Because of the proximity of these passages, many readers get confused.
One common argument is that the whole sermon is about the Jewish Revolt and the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. The anticipation of this event appears to be where Jesus is going with this, but consider the words of Mark.
Mark says that, as the debates were finished, they left the temple. Then Jesus and his closest disciples went to the Mount of Olives. So was this one continuous conversation?
Remember the temple was massive, possibly the largest and most elaborate religious temple in the entire ancient world at this time. Jesus’ disciples are awestruck by the sight. That led Jesus to predict the temple’s destruction and to say that “not one stone will be left on another.”
In 70 AD, the Roman general Titus and his army totally leveled the temple. The Roman soldiers were led to believe that gold was hidden in the temple. So the soldiers literally tore it apart stone-by-stone looking for the treasure. The Jewish historian Josephus wrote that the temple burned for months, until nothing was left but a pile of rubble. So it makes sense that Jesus must’ve been talking about the events of 70 AD. Christian author R. C. Sproul believed that this whole sermon is, therefore, about that future event.
The problem with this view is that other features of this sermon don’t fit the events of 70 AD. For instance, later in the same sermon in v. 24, Jesus said that “. . . the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven . . . .” Then in v. 26, Jesus says, “At that time you will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.” Clearly that didn’t happen in 70 AD. To understand it, we must carefully consider Mark’s words.
The statement about the temple’s destruction was made, “as He came out of the Temple.” But the End Times sermon was made, “as He sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the Temple.” In those sentences, only a period separates these two talks which is why so many get confused. I suspect that, if the scholars had begun a new paragraph between them, a lot of confusion could’ve been avoided.
I don’t think that a Jew or Greek of that day would’ve misunderstood this because anyone familiar with the geography would’ve known that the locations are miles apart, and a considerable time must’ve passed between those discussions. In that space of time, the whole focus of Jesus’ message could easily change. He was no longer talking about the Temple but about the obsession the disciples were having over the implications of its destruction.
By the time they reached the Mt of Olives, Jesus was trying to redirect their attention. The future of Israel wasn’t going to begin and end with the Temple – as the disciples seemed to think. Rather, it would begin and end with Jesus himself. The Temple was impressive and “in their face”, but it wasn’t what Jesus wanted them to see.
Are we really so very different? Don’t we often measure our own time as from one big event to another in brief chapters with a beginning and an end? And if one chapter goes badly, don’t we often despair that our whole future may be hopeless? Is that what God desires from us? Or does He desire us, rather, to be focused on the hope in the Second Coming of Christ?
With such a hope, no momentary set-back or loss can deprive us of confidence in what is to come. No sorrow needs to be permanent, no disappointment needs to be enduring, for, “. . . we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).
• Instead of the Temple’s fall being the end of the age, it was only the end of a chapter. Jesus calls false messiahs, wars, earthquakes, and famines “birth pains”, not even signs. In other words, these things are simply characteristic of the times we’re living in between Christ’s first coming and his Return. And although we can expect them to get worse as we draw nearer to his Second Coming -- like contractions in child bearing -- the existence of these things is simply part of the age that we live in.
I believe it was Jesus’ intention to focus His disciples on what really matters . . . “Take heed that no one leads you astray.” What matters isn’t the Temple or some crisis – either large or small. What’s truly important is, “The Gospel must be preached to all nations.” If you’re attending to that, all the rest will take care of itself. It’s just like that familiar expression, “I’m not worried about the future because I’ve read how the story ends.”
We know from history that many of the things in both prophecies did happen in the years before and during the Jewish rebellion. Many false messiahs did step up and claim to be the Christ. And we know from Roman historians that this period of history was full of conflicts, crisis, earthquakes, and famines. And during the Jewish war against Rome, the Christians were persecuted.
Jewish leaders persecuted Christians because of their faith and because they wouldn’t take up arms against Rome. On the other hand, Romans thought Christians were part of the rebellion. So Christians were caught in the middle. They were hated by all. They were arrested and tortured by authorities on both sides who tried to get them to turn on their friends and family members.
Jesus fore-knew all this and was warning his disciples against interpreting these things as signs of the second coming of Christ. Rather, these would be characteristic of the times – birth pangs – part of what it means to live between Christ’s first coming and second coming.
The closest we get to a sign of the end of the age comes in v. 10, where Jesus says, “The gospel must first be preached to all nations.” That still hasn’t happened yet, but we’re closer than we’ve ever been before. Verses 1-13 refers to the entire church age – with special reference to the events of 70 AD.
From these first 13 verses, we can find some Principles For Living in the Now: The first principle is:
1. No matter how secure life seems now, nothing is permanent except our life with God.
The sheer size of the Temple created the illusion of permanence. Archeologists have discovered one temple stone in Jerusalem that’s forty-two feet long, eleven feet tall, fourteen feet deep, and over a million pounds – that’s 500 tons!
The temple looked as permanent as the earth itself. Yet just a few decades later, it was torn down stone by stone, leaving only a heap of rubble that remains to this day. What looked secure was in fact on the verge of total collapse. It rather sounds like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – doesn’t it?
We try to build security for ourselves in this life through medical insurance, invest plans, and life insurance policies. We plan our weekly schedules in our Palm Pilots, and it creates an illusion of security, but it’s a fragile illusion. It doesn’t take much to shatter it in front of our very eyes. We also see here that,
2. We should beware of speculating about Christ’s return.
In v. 5 Jesus says “watch out.” The word he uses means “be prepared.” V. 7 says “don’t be alarmed” which means, “don’t be caught unprepared.” Some think these commands are permission to speculate, to chart out the last days even to the point of identifying the antichrist, setting dates, and pinpointing the battle of Armageddon. But that’s just the opposite of what these mean.
Jesus is telling us to be clear headed and sober minded in times of turmoil and crisis. He’s warning us not to let our imaginations get the best of us. We can’t live in the “what ifs” of the future, but we’ve got to live in the NOW that God has given us. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Give it to God. And thirdly,
3. Turmoil and opposition will not prevent us from fulfilling the Great Commission. The trumpet blast of the good news of Christ will ultimately reverberate to the ends of the earth. The Great Commission is Jesus Christ’s marching orders for his church.
Jesus has given us a task to do, a mission to follow His marching orders. This is what He said, “The Father sets those dates, and they are not for you to know. But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere-in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8).
Jesus also said, “I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age’” (Matt 28:18-20 NLT).
The second coming of Jesus will not come until that commission is completed by the Church. He didn’t give that commission to Israel; he didn’t give it to angels; and he definitely didn’t give it to our government. Until His Church completes that commission, we’ll continue preparing for the wedding day, but the wedding day won’t come when we expect it.
Instead of living in the future, God wants us to live our lives in the now. We need to live in the present in light of the future in the hope of our future in Christ. Only then can we live lives of full devotion to Jesus Christ.
Please join with me in prayer:
