WHAT WILL BE THE SIGN?
TEXT: Mark 13:1-13
Mark 13:1-13 KJV And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! [2] And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. [3] And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, [4] Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled? [5] And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you: [6] For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. [7] And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. [8] For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows. [9] But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. [10] And the gospel must first be published among all nations. [11] But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. [12] Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. [13] And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
I. INTRODUCTION—SOMETHING WE SHOULD THINK OF MORE OFTEN
-Our minds are constantly dwelling on one matter or another. You have heard the old statement that the squeaky wheel gets the grease and that is the way that our mind operates. We are by nature survivors and your brain will focus on the immediate things around you in an effort for preservation.
-We think of bills that need to be paid, jobs that need to be done, the needs of our children, and while all men and women need to survive, when our mind moves into the mode of survival there are important thoughts and activities that are often neglected. In fact, if you can just give consideration to what your mind has been on in the last week for a moment, would the coming of the Lord have been a thought that you had? Was there any day in the past two weeks that you have thought, ‘The Lord might come today, am I ready?’
-Periodically there should be some very serious thought given to the fact that the Lord and His return could take place at any moment.
A. The Olivet Discourse
-This passage of Scripture in Mark 13 is commonly referred to as the Olivet Discourse. It is also given in Matthew 24-25 and in Luke 21. This message of Jesus in Mark is the longest one that appears in his gospel. Mark is a book that sort of hits the high points and then moves on.
-This area of Scripture, especially when paired up with Matthew and Luke, there is much insight that can be gleaned concerning the endtime. In fact the careful student of the Bible can make a number of correlations between these three segments of Scripture and the book of Revelation. Even Paul would have a strong connection to the Olivet Discourse with his epistles to the Thessalonians.
-It is a difficult and challenging segment of Scripture to get your mind around because more often than not there is a temptation to want to look at each individual description the Lord gave to us and label an event that would seemingly fit. If this is done often enough, it won’t be too long before an attempt will be made to place on the Rapture.
B. Date-Setters Will Always Be Wrong
-Many have predicted the return of the Lord and they have been doing so for centuries. Perhaps the most recent one was when some New Agers found a connection with the Mayan calendars and predicted that December 12, 2012 (12/12/12) was to be the end of the world. They were wrong.
-Just prior to that a man named Harold Camping who had a large following made several predictions about the Rapture taking place on May 21, 2011. He then adjusted his date to October 21, 2011. Some people who were under the influence of his ministry sold their homes and quit their jobs just days before they were to be raptured. When it did not happen, they were left without jobs and homes and it turned some of them toward a very cynical approach toward God and the church.
-They all would have done well to have done their homework because Camping had been guilty of the same miscalculation in September 1994.
-When I was still in my 20’s, Edgar Whisenant wrote a little book concerning eighty-eight reasons the Lord would return in 1988. Either the church got left or the Lord did not come back to which we could believe the latter. He was a NASA engineer and self-described Bible student who used a mathematical and symbolical approach to reading the Bible. He ended up adjusting his date also to 1989, 1993, and 1994.
-There have always been those who set dates on either the Rapture or the end of the world. The Jehovah’s Witnesses along with their leader, Charles Taze Russell, picked the years 1874, 1878, 1881, 1910, 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975, and 1984 all to no avail.
-Going back even further to William Miller in the mid 1800’s he predicted the coming of the Lord and was wrong. He was a Baptist minister but after his death, his prophecy notes fell into the hands of a group that would later become the Seventh Day Adventists.
-One thing that we can be certain of. . . Date-setters are always going to be wrong about the return of the Lord. What date-setting does is give the church a black-eye and has led to many a soul becoming cynical and hardened against the Truth that is displayed in the Bible.
-We do not find anywhere in this passage where the Lord desires for us to become focused on a date to say the Lord will come on a particular day. In fact, we shouldn’t really care about the identity of the anti-Christ and the false prophet except to say that the Lord has prepared them to do His will as it unfolds in the prophetic time-line.
-Instead, the Lord desired for his disciples to respond to the obligations that He was calling them to do. If you are using a KJV, there are some sixteen imperatives that Jesus expressed:
• Take heed—v. 5
• Be ye not troubled—v. 7
• Take heed to yourselves—v. 9
• The Gospel must be published—v. 10
• Take no thought beforehand—v. 11
• Do not premeditate what to speak—v. 11
• Endure unto the end—v. 13
• Pray—v. 18
• Believe him not—v. 21 (the false teacher)
• Take ye heed—v. 23
• Learn a parable—v. 28
• Take ye heed—v. 33
• Watch—v. 33
• Pray—v. 33
• Watch ye therefore—v. 35
• Watch—v. 37
-All of those matters have a sense of spiritual sense about them and this is what we are to do in the endtime.
-The end is going to be sudden and we must be faithful. . .
Mark 13:35-36 KJV Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: [36] Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
II. MARK 13—WHAT SHALL BE THE SIGN?
-I am borrowing an outline from John MacArthur’s New Testament Commentary on Mark 9-16.
A. Mark 13:1-4—The Destruction of the Temple
Mark 13:1-4 KJV And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! [2] And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. [3] And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, [4] Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?
-The Lord was now leaving the area for the last time in his life. It was only a few days prior to his Crucifixion and the Olivet Discourse would be given beginning late Tuesday night into late Wednesday night.
-The disciples were in awe of this temple. It had been built by Herod the Great and was actually the third temple that was in the history of the Jews. Solomon’s Temple had been first but was destroyed by the Babylonians. Zerubbabel’s Temple was the one that replaced it but it had fallen into such a state of disrepair that Herod the Great decided to rebuild it.
• The courtyard had been greatly enlarged to about four hundred by five hundred yards.
• There were large crowds of worshippers that would fill the area during the times of the festivals.
• A huge platform had been built where the land would fall off in the southeastern corner.
• An enormous retaining wall was in place to keep it steady.
• Massive stones had been used in this construction, some of which are still present today.
• Around the Temple were huge porticoes (porches) and colonnades (walkways) and it had the appearance of a huge mall-like courtyard.
• The whole Temple area covered about 1/6 of the city of Jerusalem.
• It was an architectural wonder of the city and of the world at the time.
-It was breath-taking in its beauty and the disciples were awed by it. What manner of stones and buildings are here! The Lord’s response back to them was so startling that it was troubling!
-Jesus noted. . . “You see these buildings. . . there will come a day when they will be violently destroyed and every one of the stones that hold it up will be scattered in disarray!” That prophecy would be fulfilled in A.D. 70 when the Roman general, Titus, would do it in such a way that even today, no one is absolutely sure where the original Temple existed. The general area is known but the exact location was utterly wiped out.
-The truth of the matter is that the Temple had been destroyed spiritually long before it had been physically. The Lord had made an effort to cleanse the Temple of the moneychangers when he began his ministry and he would do so once again but the glory had long departed from the Temple.
Ezekiel 11:23 KJV And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.
-This is the observation of the prophet Ezekiel in 594 B.C. He had seen the Temple, literally the “sanctuary” of the Lord (Ezekiel 8:6) being defiled in such a way in Ezekiel 8 that the glory of the Lord had departed.
• Wicked abominations—v. 9
• Creeping things, abominable beasts, and idols in the sanctuary—v. 10
• Corrupted elders—v. 11
• Elders doing terrible things in the darkness—v. 12
• They said, “The Lord doesn’t see us”—v. 12
• At the door, the women weeping for Tammuz (the real mother of the Trinity)—v. 14
• The priests had their backs to the Temple and the altar and were seeking spiritual direction from the east (sun worship that came from Egypt)—v. 16
-If it happened back then, it can happen in our day too! The Lord will let us bring anything we want to in the place of worship and we may continue to water down here and there and ease up here and there but it will not be spiritually healthy for us to do so! That is why the New Testament epistles are filled with words commanding vigilance, sobriety, and discernment! The glory is something that we cannot lose in this local assembly no matter what it costs us!
-Jesus told the disciples that what they had believed would stand forever was going to be done away with! The glory had departed from it and once the glory departed it would be destroyed. Our days are filled with story after story of churches that have departed for things they once held to be true. Make no mistake about it, Paul was right when he said:
2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 KJV Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, [2] That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. [3] Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; [4] Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
-Your body is a Temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Has the glory departed from the Temple?
B. Mark 13:5-6—The Deception of Many
Mark 13:5-6 KJV And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you: [6] For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
-The Lord speaks of the destruction of the Temple. . . Now He moves on to the deception of many. It is important to bring to our attention that when the disciples asked the Lord about what the days would look like when his return would be that he did not start out with the signs of the end but rather with the condition of the mind. . . namely that men could be deceived.
-Times have not changed from the 1st century. If the Lord knew they would be deceived in the ancient days, our modern times do not make it any less a danger. One of the most crucial aspects of your salvation is that you are not deceived.
-If you are prone to wonder why I make such a big deal about you reading the Bible and our church making sure that we honor the Word, it is because it is the only stable thing in our world. You cannot afford to be lazy in your thinking and in your devotion to the Word.
-Twenty-one years ago (1994), Mark Noll wrote a book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. In that book he lamented how that the evangelical church world had left their moorings and had moved from thinking to “feeling” in their ideas about doctrine. Here are some quotes from his book:
The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind. (p. 3)
Despite dynamic success at a popular level, modern American evangelicals have failed notably in sustaining serious intellectual life. (p. 3)
-Noll quotes Os Guiness from an interview that was from 1992.
It has always been a sin not to love the Lord our God with our minds as well as our hearts and souls. . . We have excused this with a degree of pietism and pretending that this is something other than what it is—that is, sin. . . Evangelicals need to repent of their refusal to think Christianly and to develop the mind of Christ. (p. 23)
-It is certainly clear that there are some Scriptural parameters that make very clear warnings against the trap of just being intellectual for the sake of being intellectual:
Matthew 11:25-26 KJV At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. [26] Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.
1 Corinthians 1:26-28 KJV For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: [27] But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; [28] And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
-Those who would be intellectual about the Bible, the Gospel, and spiritual matters more often than not slump off down into the black hole of hubris. But we would be entirely wrong to believe that this was a command against Christian learning!
-But just as I make my appeal from Scripture to warn you of an intellectual approach, I also make my appeal from Scripture to tell you there is a knowledge and learning and wisdom and spiritual growth that we ought to attain to:
1 Corinthians 1:30-31 KJV But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: [31] That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
Philippians 2:5 KJV Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
-Why do we need a mind that is submitted to Jesus Christ?
Colossians 2:6-9 KJV As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: [7] Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. [8] Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. [9] For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
-Why is your mind of such importance?
Mark 13:5-6 KJV And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you: [6] For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
-Our world is filled with false teachers who are driven to deceive men who are believers. . . saints. . . ministers. . . elders. . . False teachers take great advantage of those who lazy in their thinking and discerning. For the most part we want someone else to do our thinking for us.
-Jesus said that we could not afford to live in that particular mindset. He urged us to be aware of the false teachers and deception that would come our way.
-DO NOT BE DECEIVED: Matthew 24:4; 1 Cor. 6:9; 15:33; Gal. 6:7; Eph. 5:6; 2 Thess. 2:3; 1 John 3:7
-THERE ARE FALSE TEACHERS: 1 Tim. 1:7; 4:2; 6:3; 2 Tim. 4:3; Titus 1:11; 2 Peter 2:1
-They are greatly desiring for you to follow them right off into Hell. They will promote:
• An easier way.
• A Cross-less path.
• No desire for discernment.
• Health, wealth, and prosperity.
-2 Peter 2:1-22 gives us the profile of a false teacher:
• Will bring in heresies
• Deny the Cross
• Driven the world’s values
• Speak evil of the Truth
• Will pursue money and wealth through their merchandise
-It will be rough on a false teacher at the judgment. For those preachers of righteousness, those ministers of the Truth, I encourage you that you will not regret a single instance of calling people to a higher way of life and living!
-The work of false teachers foreshadows the coming deception of the anti-Christ. Some people claim they will miss the Rapture and get out of here at the Second Coming. However, they never factor in the ability the anti-Christ will have to deceive the people who are on this earth. There is no way they will be able to withstand the deception of this man of sin.
C. Mark 13:7-8—The Devastation of the World
Mark 13:7-8 KJV And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. [8] For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
• The Destruction of the Temple—vv. 1-4
• The Deception of Many—vv. 5-6
-The Lord moves to the devastation of the world. Our world continues to move in that direction at this very moment. Wars. . . Rumors of wars. . . Nation against nation. . . Kingdom against kingdom. . . Earthquakes. . . Famines. . . Troubles. . .
-All of these are very self-explanatory because if we are even remotely aware of current events we can see these things working themselves out.
• Constant turmoil and upheaval in the Middle East
• Recently an earthquake in Nepal at Mount Everest
• Famines in Zimbabwe, Sudan, and Darfur and ongoing problems of world hunger
• In the last few weeks, widespread damage from thunderstorms and tornados across the US
-But there are a couple of notations that Jesus spoke of. He said. . . but the end shall not be yet. He also said. . . these are the beginning of sorrows.
-The beginning of sorrows could be likened to the pain that precedes childbirth (1 Thess. 5:1-3). There will be great suffering that will come during the period of the tribulation. If we are inclined to think that the earthquakes that have taken place in Nepal and the one several years ago that created the tsunami in Japan was something, it is nothing compared to what is coming.
Revelation 6:12-14 KJV And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; [13] And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. [14] And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
-Another earthquake after this one will destroy 1/10 of Jerusalem:
Revelation 16:18-20 KJV And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. [19] And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. [20] And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
-Now more than ever before, the Church needs to be making preparation to hear the voice of the Lord.
D. Mark 13:9-13a—The Distress of the Persecuted
Mark 13:9-13a KJV But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. [10] And the gospel must first be published among all nations. [11] But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. [12] Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. [13] And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. . .
• The Destruction of the Temple—vv. 1-4
• The Deception of Many—vv. 5-6
• The Devastation of the World—vv. 7-8
-The next portion of Scripture points out the distress of the persecuted. One of the illustrations the Lord used to his disciples in Matthew 10:16-17 was that he was going to send them out like sheep among wolves. He told them that they would have persecution in the world just as the world had rejected and persecuted him.
-When we look down through church history, it becomes very evident that the fact of persecution is a fact. A few years ago, I passed out copies of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs in a small paperback edition. That is just an abridged edition that was taken from a three-volume series that was written several hundred years ago.
-The persecution of the saints is an ongoing matter and it ought to motivate those who are not having to endure physical persecution in our day. However, we have to give consideration to the fact that the American church is facing a “soft” persecution of materialism, luxury, and consumerism. The devil does his best to rock the church to sleep in the lap of prosperity and he is doing a pretty good job of it.
-There are many who hardly can make it to church because of the prosperity that they enjoy. Remove the benefits of a job, take away the financial security that most of us enjoy, and eliminate the blessing of healthcare and it would put all of us in a place of increased faith and absolute trust in the Lord.
-Again we return back to the book of Revelation and we discover a very dire picture of what persecution will look like before the Second Coming of the Lord:
Revelation 6:9-11 KJV And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: [10] And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? [11] And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
-Amidst all of this persecution, the Lord told the disciples that when they were brought before their persecutors that they should not even take thought as to what they should say because the Holy Ghost will fill them with the right things to say.
-Some would take this verse and say, “See there, there is no need to study the Word of God because the Spirit will fill me with the things to say!” My counter argument to that would be that these men had spent 3 ½ years with the Lord and because they had been with Jesus, the things he had taught them would come from their mind. We cannot take this as an excuse of not knowing the Word!
1 Peter 3:15 KJV But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
-Be ready to give an answer!
E. Mark 13:13b—The Deliverance of Believers
Mark 13:13 KJV . . . but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
• The Destruction of the Temple—vv. 1-4
• The Deception of Many—vv. 5-6
• The Devastation of the World—vv. 7-8
• The Distress of the Persecuted—vv. 9-13a
-Lastly, this portion of Scripture gives the deliverance of believers. The Lord completed this portion of the passage by speaking to us about the necessity of enduring to the end!
-Great Christian character will not grow up overnight like Jonah’s gourd!
• It requires sacrifice.
• It demands commitment.
• It costs skill.
• It needs patience.
• It has resolution.
-You have started the race and therefore you cannot give up and quit at this point in the journey. Come what may, we are going on to the end of this thing! He that endures to the end will be saved!
-The greatest work of the Kingdom has come from men and women who all have felt like giving up. The path of the Christian walk is littered with the Ahithophel’s of dark counsel and the Judas’s of deadly betrayal. For some reason, they decided to quit at the time they were needed the most.
-This generation needs a group of preachers and saints who refuse to give up and determine to be in the number of the faithful. Jesus said that we should be aware that trouble is coming but he also promised that there was a reward that would come to the faithful!
III. CONCLUSION—GETTING OUR MINDS RIGHT
-The Lord never intended for words like these to cause us to live out lives of hopeless misery but rather that we should be aware of the trouble that was coming and still be faithful to the end.
-We have to get our minds right about our service to the Lord and segments of Scripture like these help us to do so. That is the grace of God in action that He would give us His Word as a help!
Philip Harrelson
May 7, 2015
