The Signs Of The Times Part 3

The Signs of the Times Pt. 3

Mark 13:14-23

The question I have been asked as a pastor. by far more than any other is, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

The Lord created man in His image as we read in Genesis 1:28.

Genesis 1:28, “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

The Lord gave humans control over the earth, and they began to rule the earth just as the Lord said to, but soon, Adam and Eve sinned and by doing so, they gave up the right to their dominion.

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God's command and ate of the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they forfeited all God-given dominion and authority to Satan.

In fact, Paul calls Satan the “god’ of this world in 2 Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 4:3 even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,

2 Corinthians 4:4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. NKJV

When Jesus died on the cross and rose again, the penalty for sin was paid and He restored the relationship Adam lost due to sin.

But for now, Satan still has some dominion of the earth.

We are currently living in what is known as the Age of the Gentiles and we are living in the Church Age at the same time.

The Age of the Gentiles began around 604 B.C. when Babylon took the first Jewish captives into the 70-year captivity.

The Church Age began on the day of Pentecost, after Jesus' ascension to heaven. The Church Age and the Time of the Gentiles have been running concurrently since the Ascension.

Both will end when Jesus Christ physically returns after the 7-year Tribulation, when the "fullness of the Gentiles is come in".

Please open your Bibles to Mark 13 as we continue in a verse-by-verse study of the Gospel of Mark.

Last time we were in Mark, we learned how Jesus predicted some trials for those who were left behind.

Jesus said in Mark 13:9; the trials that will happen will be, “for My sake, for a testimony to them.”

Then Jesus said the Gospel must first be preached to all the nations before the End of the Age comes.

Jesus taught how the Holy Spirit will give us the words needed during persecution.

Then Jesus talked about open opposition during the End Times, even within families.

We ended saying, man wants to try to fix and make the earth perfect, but man is flawed by sin, so Jesus will bring the current age to an end in order to create a New Heaven and a New Earth.

After the rapture of the Church, the human race will try to fix the mess this world turned into, so they will open themselves up to a New World leader who appears to have all the answers.

Today, the passage is on the Abomination of Desolation from the Book of Daniel, and the Lord will speak about things that will occur at the midpoint of the Tribulation.

I. When you see it, flee.

Read Mark 13:14a

In our mini-series on End Times, we have learned a little about the church being raptured before the Great Tribulation occurs.

Like a lot of the Jesus’ predictions this has a 3-part fulfilment.

The first fulfillment of the Abomination of Desolation from Daniel refers to the Hellenistic king Epiphanes IV, who treated Israel with violence and contempt and they rebelled against him.

When he went into Jerusalem in 167 B.C. to combat the rebellion, his forces entered the temple, set up an altar for Zeus, and he offered swine as a sacrifice on the altar.

The second fulfillment of the Abomination of Desolation is when Titus and the Roman army in 70 A.D. brought desolation as they defeated Jerusalem and entered the holy of holies.

After the Temple was burned down, many Christians fled.

The Church historian, Eusebius, said when the Romans came against Jerusalem, “the church at Jerusalem . . . left the city, and moved to a town called Pella.”

The third fulfillment was written about 20 years later, by John as he received a vision from Jesus, which became the Book of Revelation. John gave a very specific breakdown of that book.

Revelation 1:19 Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. NKJV