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Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
There is this old joke in youth and young adult ministry and that is
if you want to grow a youth group or a young adult group you should talk about sex or end times
and if you want to make this group explode in growth then talk about sex in the end times.
So, sorry, today we are not talking about sex
But the idea of the return of Jesus will come up...
And I tell you this because as we read Mark 13, your brain might might immediately go to the books like, Hal Lindsay’s “the late great planet earth” or the even more popular “Left Behind” books
And there is no doubt that those books are great fun…the danger is that every time you study the Bible and the return of Jesus is brought up you will all of the sudden overlay a theory onto the text…And thats not a great way to study the bible
The actual text of the Bible supersedes all theology and all theories
I want to tell you that as a pastor I have seen this a bunch of times and I actually really like the field of Eschatology or the study of end times but we have to be very careful to stick to the words of scripture rather than overlaying the words of fictional book series onto scripture!
If Jesus wanted us to know exactly how he will return, he would have told us plainly.
If Jesus wanted us to know exactly how he will return, he would have told us plainly.
Let me give you a great example of why we need to be careful with biblical prophesy
And some of this we found already in the book of Mark.
Here is one example…
Many times at christmas we look back on the Old Testament prophecy of Jesus and it is all so clear to us and many times we think. How could anyone have missed this?
When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’ ”
Now this verse has two implications.
1. Solomon the immediate successor of David will build the temple
2. There will be a future king who will eventually rule forever in the line of David
And everyone from this time on started looking and waiting for that king in the line of David
But because of this the Pharisees rejected Jesus because their theology told them that the messiah would basically slay the Goliath of Rome, not be slain by Rome!
This verse made them think that the messiah would be the same kind of conquerer that David was…
Saul has slain his thousands, David his tens of thousands!
Because the Pharisees had a theology of what the messiah would be and stuck to that more than the biblical text, many of them missed out on the messiah so much so that they were complicit in his death.
And that is the deal with biblical prophesy when it is still yet to come, it is intentionally vague until you look back at it....
So why would it be any different with the return of Jesus?
So I say this to almost disarm us before we move into the text this morning. Jesus is God and he will be returning....How it will all go down…well thats up to him
There will be some people who will know instantly
By my fear is that what about the people who get so deep into some theory about how Jesus will return that when he comes back the response is....Well let me give you three reasons why this is all wrong!
SO I WANT TO CAUTION YOU!
In the church I have seen people who have gotten so into the camp of their theory of Jesus returning that they reject everyone and anyone who doesn’t hold their theory.
if that is you, it puts you in a very bad place…Omniscience, and Omniscience is God’s job not yours!
If Jesus wanted us to have an exact idea of how his return was going to take place he would have told us!
I have thoughts on this, but even I hold those loosely
So lets get into it today.
Palm Sunday is traditionally the week where we look at Jesus’ entry int Jerusalem
And that happens in Chapter 11, Jesus enters Jerusalem and it is remarkable because in Mark’s account, nothing happens
Mark’s account is so different because there are not huge crowds at the temple....There is not pomp and circumstance
Its almost like Mark is saying Jesus wont be confessed as God at the temple..
Only on the cross does he get that confession…So at the end of chapters 11-13 where Jesus is facing off with the temple and the temple establishment, Jesus lives forever and the temple is destroyed within a generation
Chapter 12 we will cover in the podcast…so check that out if you want to know more about what is happening there
So lets start digging into chapter 13
As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”
Ok we will get to more than one verse here but what we have to know is this
There is the original temple which was built by Solomon, that was destroyed by the Babylonians…Then Zerubbabel made the next temple and then the temple that they are referring to here is commonly referred to as Herod’s temple.
One of the seven wonders of the ancient work was the temple of Artemus, but Herod’s temple was WAY Bigger than that even...
Herod was the great builder of Palestine, so he refurbished the temple and he just kept adding on to it...
Some of the stones in this temple are larger than stones found in the Pyramids
According to Josephus, some of the stones were thirty-seven feet long by twelve feet high by eighteen feet deep!
Humble fishermen from Galilee would have looked at this temple and seen one stone bigger than their house…its amazing.
In addition to that the stone was very light colored almost white…So if it was a sunny day you would have to turn your eyes away because it would have been so bright to look at
I remember when they made the Walt Disney Concert hall in Los Angeles. The outside was polished stainless steel and on hot days the reflection off the sun off the building actually melted cars that were parked across the street...
They actually had to dull the stainless steel so that it would stop melting cars…
If you have ever been to LA and seen the concert hall on a bright day, you need sunglasses...Looking at the temple would have been like that
So we also have to understand that while the disciples are with Jesus…Philippians 2 tells us that Jesus humbled himself to our likeness…
Jesus did not overwhelm humanity with his majesty and glory…So the disciples are just walking with Jesus who is a famous guy in his own right but they are looking at the temple and just in a state of awe
so then Jesus says this to them
“Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?”
Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.
“You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
“When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that this will not take place in winter, because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.
“If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.
“But in those days, following that distress,
“ ‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
“At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
“Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’ ”
And I know what some of you are thinking…Pastor Dave I invited a friend today, what on earth are you talking about?
SO just bear with me through this and I promise that what Jesus said still matters today
So Jesus mixes two things into this long narrative that I am going to try and untangle for us because I think that these points matter
Point 1: Destruction of the temple
Point 2: His own imminent return
So can you see how people might start running wild with a huge verse like this
Not one stone upon another
Not one stone upon another
So the first thing that Jesus says is, “there will not be one stone standing upon another!” Jesus is saying that this temple will be destroyed
This is just inconceivable! Herod made the temple as impregnable…no one ever thought that the temple would ever be destroyed
This is so fantastic that what Jesus is saying that Peter, James and John were like…Jesus when will this happen?
“Jesus’s first reply is watch out that no one deceives you”…And this is impotrant…Jesus is the truth and we need to follow him…and in times of war…in times of temples getting destroyed people can buy into a lot of false narratives...
In times of distress, it is hard to peace together what is true…So keep your eyes on Jesus
Then what Jesus does is give them a bit of a road map to what things are going to happen
and the Big thing that Jesus tells them to watch out for is the “Abomination that causes desolation.”
Now what on earth is the Abomination that causes Desolation? Sounds scary right?
This abomination will actually proceed the temple destruction so what is the deal with that?
The book of Daniel mentions this same thing too...
So first and foremost let’s just break down the phrase, Abomination that causes Desolation
The word Abomination means a loathsome thing a horrible thing…
and it causes desolation and that word literally means de-population or devastation
So Jesus is saying there is some horrible thing that will cause this entire place to be depopulated
This is exactly what happened in 70Ad When there was the siege of Jerusalem
The siege of Jerusalem was a 5 month long siege after the Jews revolted in 66ad and basically started a war with the Romans…
there were some battles that happened but this eventually lead to a massive siege of Jerusalem beginning in April of 70ad…This battle desolated the city but something started it
So what started the revolt? Well many have argued that it was an abomination that happened in the temple!
And there are two options for what this could be
Many think it was when the Roman army erected their standards in the temple courts…Their standards were flags with symbols on them and those symbols depicted a Roman god. This is an abomination!
Before this, the Emperor Caligula tried to enforce his statue being placed in the temple…If you know anything about Caligula…He had a reputation for trying to produce an heir to the throne with his own sisters which was detestable in Roman culture…But this was an abomination too!
Either of these could have cause a major revolt
This had happened before in Jerusalem’s history. This is the story of Hanukkah there was a revolt because of the abomination that causes desolation…In that case it was a Greek king, Antichaus IV sacrificed a pig on the alter and had a statue of Zeus. This caused a war!
So what Jesus is saying is that when this abomination happens, not one stone will be left upon another…Head for the hills
When will this all happen? Within a generation
Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
So let me tell you why this matters so much in the gospel of Mark
The destruction of the temple happens in September of 70AD, this is well documented
And one of the things that scholars fight about is the date of when things were all written down and there is a scholarly battle that has been raging for like 100 years about the date of authorship of the book of Mark…The earliest dates are 64ad and the latest date is 68ad....2-6 years before the temple would be destroyed
The reason why this is so impotrant is that if we were looking at Matthew or Luke’s gospel, well they knew when they were writing that the temple had fallen…Mark and Peter probably still couldn't fathom it.
So why does Jesus even bother telling his disciples the future and what does it mater to us today?
Jesus presides over all of human history
Jesus presides over all of human history
The reason why Jesus would tell his disciples this is that he wanted them to see that not only is this temple going to fall, but he is the new temple
And Jesus sits on the throne and presides over all of human history!
Jesus standing there telling his disciples what is about to happen
We could take a long detour here but let me just make one point. The the disciple John got a vision of heaven and wrote the book of Revelation, he talked about the throne room of God and he said that he saw this scroll....But no one was worthy enough to open the scroll
And the scroll represents all of human history
I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
John just stands there and weeps because he sees no one is found worthy
And that is so key to this and I want to pause for a second and flush this out
That means for us there is no political system that will operate in a way that will bring about God’s purpose on earth…
So, I think democracy and freedom are great, and I think that the whole world should have it but even if it did, you and I know we’d still be a mess, right?
There is no candidate,
there is no political theory,
there is no system that will make the world right…
There is no leader, no group of leaders that will make everyone function the way that God desires for us!
There is no one under heave or on earth who is worthy to make history operate the way that God intends for it!
So, John weeps…because God’s purposes won’t be fulfilled!
There are a few scholars that point out that John is all of our spokesperson here…He is the embodiment of all of humankind that cry’s out to make things right!
And I think we all get this on a personal level.
We intrinsically know that there is-
No political leader-
No community leader-
No tech mogul-
No Nobel Prize winner-
No celebrity-
No romantic relationship-
No pastor…There is no one!
Who will ever be able to answer the chaos of life? Who is worthy?
Only the one who Presides over all of human history, who is still on the throne today!
This is why Jesus tells his disciples the future....
They are about to see their messiah on the cross and somehow they need to know that even though he is dying on the cross he is actually still on the throne
So I think that Jesus wants to give his church confidence that he is always on the throne and that he has all of our past and future in his hands!
So I think this is why Jesus warns the church that the temple will fall
Because as the world looks like it is falling apart, Jesus wants them to know he is still holding it all together!
He is presiding over human history
“At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
So Jesus is coming back to gather his people
Do we know when? Yes…Sometime after 70ad when the temple is destroyed...
It does seem like the gospel needs to be preached to all nations first
but Jesus is making a different point we want him to make…We want Jesus to give us specifics...
6 times in chapter 13 Jesus tells us to either watch or be on your guard
In fact this text says, Peter, James, John and Andrew were all sitting with Jesus listing to what Jesus is saying and they are like…Jesus what are the warning signs...
His response:
Watch out that your not deceived!
So what do you think is important to Jesus?
That we are ready for him when he comes right?
That we don’t get deceived by this world
Jesus knows that people can be deceived, Judas was and he was one of the 12
So the disciples want to know when will the son of man come in the clouds?
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
If Jesus doesn’t even know then should we spend countless hours months and years trying to figure it all out...
No…It is intentionally cryptic
Because if you live with Jesus now you will always be ready for his return.
He even tells us in this entire discourse that we are to be like the house sitter waiting for the owner to come back from vacation...
Always be ready!
And he says…we have to watch out for bogus Messiahs!
People who are claiming to be someone...
Jesus does say there will be a future Anti-Christ …
But its so cryptic that we cant point to someone...
I have been in churches before where they have put picture on the screen of potential people who they think might be a candidate for the anti-Christ…And I think this is totally inappropriate...
And I don’t think that the entire discourse of Mark 13 is intended for us to try and figure out who the anti-Christ might be…I think it is intended to put two temples before you
And ask which one will you choose?
Which one will you have your faith in
I think Jesus speaks about his own return here precisely because he is about to go and die and he knows that. he doesn’t want his disciples to fall away
Jesus calls us to watch so we can fix our eyes on him.
Jesus calls us to watch so we can fix our eyes on him.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Those with enough faith can endure any moment like the disciples would face...
Their messiah on the cross
We face these difficult moments all the time and all of this preaches two things that you need to hear and remember today
1. Jesus is still on the throne, he still is presiding over all of human history
2. and we need to keep our eyes on Him....Its not for us to get bogged down with how or when but to live with him now so we are always prepared
But we will always have this inextinguishable hope that Jesus will come back for his church and set everything right…he will make everything new
and it starts with us
Communion
In the act of Communion we remember that we sit at the kings table
And he presides over history not us
We are reminded to fix our eyes on him…not ourselves
As we take communion this morning, it is open to all who call on the name of Jesus for salvation
We believe it is a means of Grace. A time in which God wants to do something new in our lives.
So as we take communion this morning, Jesus offers us his life…He has taken on our sin
He wants to make you new
On that night, he took the cup and said this is the blood of the covenant...
And as we take it, we renew our own covenant with Jesus
Then he took the bread and he said, take this bread, it is my body...
And as we take this we remember that Jesus took our sins from us and forgave us…made us new
Lets pray
To admit that Jesus is on the throne presiding over human history is also to prepare for his return
So maybe your here and you simply need to confess that you believe that Jesus is the new and greater temple
Maybe your here and you need to start a new relationship with Jesus