Mark 13:24-37
Who Do You Say that I Am • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Who is new to FCC or has come into official membership at FCC in the last five years? If you can’t figure out how long five years is think of was it before or after Covid. I have been here for a while and I’m going on my fifth year, something’s have become more normalized and routine and some things still thrown me for quite a loop. A curve ball comes at me every time I try to find something on the radio.
I was used to my local channels and some national channels as well. And I had them programmed on my car. I could effortlessly switch between a few different options with a push of a button. Or I could push the seek eventually a familiar channels would present itself.
And then I moved here and as I was going through the scan or seek function on my car, I was landing on stuff that I was on accustomed to. The French language. What are these stations. What are they saying? Where am I? It’s really disorienting when you go through the whole channel system and can’t find anything that you’re normally looking for.
It reminds me of those old-time radios that you had to turn a dial on to find a station. This is our record player that we get out of our garage and put in our house during Christmas that we can place some old Christmas records. It also has a radio function and it has one of those dials that you have to twist and turn maneuver to make a station come in clear.
Trying to understand the Olivet Discourse is a little bit like trying to find the perfect spot on a radio for it to be clear.
Everything in Mark 13 is a little fuzzy as Jesus talks about future things, but there is something that is comes in loud and clear that isn’t muffled or muted.
Mark 13 is a unified teaching that Jesus shares with His disciples. It is known as the Olivet Discourse. So for us to understand the second half of this passage we should review what we learned last week from verses 1-23.
We noted last week, that there are a ton imperative verbs in this sermon. Jesus gives so many authoritative commands for His disciples to obey that center on the idea of being on guard, so that they can faithfully bear their witness to a watching 1st century world.
From that we said that we who live in the 21st century as followers of Jesus, we…
Christians need to be on guard so that we can faithfully bear our witness.
Christians need to be on guard so that we can faithfully bear our witness.
The three main verbs we focused on were…
Be on guard. Don’t be anxious. Speak
So that is where we have been and now we focus on the second half of Jesus teaching and the commands continue today…
This is a confusing passage and it takes quite a bit of work to understand it. It’s like fiddling with knobs on a radio; once you get that station dialed it, it’s clear as day. I am hoping after our time in the passage today, we will be able to all hear the message of Jesus clear as day.
Let’s read.
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.”
Did you get the message?
You and I must “stay awake.” We have been entrusted with the Gospel of Jesus and we are called to share its beautiful life changing message with others, so
After becoming awakened, we must now stay awake and do our duty until He returns.
After becoming awakened, we must now stay awake and do our duty until He returns.
14 …“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
You and I can’t hit the snooze button on the Lord’s return. It can happen at any moment and we must stay awake and alert until that day comes.
There will be a lot in this passage that we won’t explore and there will be a lot of questions unanswered. But our job is not to speculate about future things or even map out detailed charts of end times, our job is to…
Guard what has been entrusted to us and stay awake.
Before we get into the weeds of this passage, I want to show us the structure of how it breaks down. Not everyone is in agreement with this, but although complicated, this is what makes the most sense to me as I have been pondering this passage for weeks now.
Mark 13:1-4 - Set’s the Scene
Mark 13:5-23 - The Temple will be destroyed (70AD) - Followers will be persecuted, watch out.
Mark 13:24-27 - The Son of Man will come and bring eventual judgement to the entire cosmos.
Mark 13:28-31 - Parable Concerning the Temple (70AD) - Learn the lesson, the season is ripe for payback.
Mark 13:32-27 - Parable Concerning the Son of Man second coming. Stay awake and do your duty.
The whole creation will experience an unprecedented reckoning when Jesus returns. (24-27)
The whole creation will experience an unprecedented reckoning when Jesus returns. (24-27)
Look what Jesus says,
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.
This verbiage is hard for us to understand with our 21st century sensibilities. How can a sun be darkened and still exist? We know the moon reflects light, it doesn’t give light. How can stars fall from heaven and how can you shake powers in heaven? What is going on? This doesn’t make sense in many ways.
Jesus is using the cosmic, dramatic language that the OT prophets like (Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel and Amos) used to symbolized impending judgement.
When judgement comes, things will no longer be the same and will no longer be as they were. A reckoning will change everything.
And what Jesus says next shows the event that will initiate that reckoning; His very own return.
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.
Here Jesus is using and modifying a very familiar passage of Scripture found in the book of Daniel that reads like this.
13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
This is a vision of an enthronement ceremony of someone (ie. a Son of Man) who was presented to God and then given authority to rule over an everlasting Kingdom made up of people from every nation.
In Jesus teaching in verse 26, Jesus looks further into the future and says that that Son of Man would not just be presented in the clouds of heaven to that Ancient of Days, but that He would be presented to all the inhabitants of the world.
26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
There is a shift that we need to see. In verses 1-23 of this chapter, Jesus had been talking specifically to those that were with Him on the mountain that night, but now He isn’t addressing them in the 2nd person plural form “you,” He is using a third person plural form of a word meaning “they.” Now He is talking to His disciples about a different set of people who will see “the Son of Man” coming in the clouds with great power and glory in the future.
This will not be happening right after the destruction of the temple in 70ad for them to behold, this will happen in the distant future and others will witness it.
His coming will be comprehensive to people from every part of the globe and not just those located around Jerusalem in a few decades.
He says,
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.
What is going on here? First start at the end and notice the scope. Those gathered are not just ethic Israel, they are from “the ends of the earth.” This is a gathering of people from every tongue and tribe and nation and they are “His elect.”
“Who are the elect? With 2000 years of theology behind us, it is hard to hear this term and detach it in our minds from concepts like salvation, predestination, and election. We should be careful not to impose our 21st century perspectives on particular 1st century language. Sometimes too many layers of varnish can obscure the grain of the wood instead of protect and enhance it.” - Andrew Le Peau
The Old Testament contains a lot of synonymous terms to describe “the elect/the chosen” of God. Often times we can see them clustered together in the same set of verses.
We can see it in Chronicles and in the Psalms and especially in Isaiah, for instance let’s look at…
9 I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah possessors of my mountains; my chosen shall possess it, and my servants shall dwell there. 10 Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, for my people who have sought me.
Look at all those synonymous terms for the “people of God.” They are called “offspring from Jacob and Judah.” Those identified as “chosen” were God’s servants,” and “His people” had the distinguishing mark of being people who “sought Him.”
We see these synonomous terms again as look at some verses from Isaiah 45.
4 For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me…6 that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other….22 “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
The elect are people from all over the globe who have apprehended the promises of God by faith and have turned to Him to be their Savior.
God’s people were never intended to be an exclusive bunch of saved people, they have been brought into existence to make God's blessings flow all the nations.
That is how it was in the beginning when Abram was called by God. God said to Him…
3 … in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
That is what God said later on to Moses.
16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.
And that has always been the heart of God.
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah 2 that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.
And now all of us who call Jesus Christ our Savior have become…
9 …a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Those who are part of the new community that Jesus has created by means of His work on the cross are marked with a great desire to be like Him and sit at his feet and learn from Him on how to be more effective witnesses to the world.
So that was just a brief touch point on verse 24-27 that concern future events and the next set of verses seems to zero back in on the initial questions the disciples asked in verse 4 about the destruction of the temple and Jesus is telling them to…
Learn the lesson. The season is ripe for payback. (28-31)
Learn the lesson. The season is ripe for payback. (28-31)
The wages of sin is death. And in their has been a whole lot of sinning going on in the temple for some time now, and the time to settle the debt was upon Jerusalem. God was going to bring judgement on the temple.
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.
Here we have another “imperative” verb that carries the force of a command that Jesus says to those guys on the mountain with Him. He says, “Learn!” “Learn a lesson.”
What lesson? Well learn the lesson of a healthy fig tree. The Mount of Olives was full of not only olives but tons of fig trees as well. He probably points at one of the surrounding fig trees and says, “Notice the transformation this tree goes through throughout the year. You can tell what season it is depending on how it looks.”
He commands His disciples to “learn” about their surroundings because the time for God judgement to fall on the temple is ripe.
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.
The way I read these verse, Jesus is getting His disciples acclimated to the idea that God was going to put an end to the temple sacrifices within their life time. Judgement was going to come, and it was going to come soon. In fact He wants His disciples to look around at the current events and recognize that it is as if the one who is going to commit the abomination that causes desolation is at the very gates of the city. “He is near” is what Jesus says in verse 29. The “these things” refers back to the events of (5-23).
Jesus is getting His disciples ready for “these things” by having them discern their surroundings. With each passing day, the day of judgement was drawing ever nearer.
And likewise, we must be able to discern what is happening in our world today that is inviting the imminent judgement of God to come down. Each passing day the Lord’s return is nearer than it was before.
And that is why I think Jesus finishes this discourse by once again telling a parable about events in the distant future in verses 32-37 and then message to us is.
Stay awake and do your duty. (32-37)
Stay awake and do your duty. (32-37)
32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
Once again, I believe the “that day” reference is referring back to the events in verses (24-27), a future event, the return of Christ. And because only the Father knows when that day is coming everyone, then and now needs to…
33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.
Here is the main message for us as we await the second coming of our Lord. Be on guard. Keep awake. We can’t sleep on our duties to be proclaimers of the Gospel until the King of the kingdom comes again.
To get that point across loud and clear Jesus tells one final story.
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 are the “servants” that have been put in charge with the work of sharing the Gospel, so we can’t fall asleep at the wheel. This is a ball that we cannot drop.
The initial disciples had work to do and they did it and it cost them their lives. We too have work to do for the remainder of our lives, come what may.
So Jesus says to us, stay awake! Stay on task. The day of my appearing is fast approaching. Don’t let my coming catch you off guard and asleep. My return is imminent; I am going to suddenly come. A new day will dawn and the shadows will flee and everything will be brought to light.
He said to His initial disciples what He says to us today. Maintain your vigilance and stay awake. The sun is on the horizon and will soon will chase away the clouds of sin and sadness. He will drive the dark of doubt away and will give to His dutiful disciples more they ever dreamed of.
Stay Awake
Benediction
More important than figuring out accurate charts of the end times is our role of remaining faithful to our calling to proclaim the unadulterated message of the Gospel.
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age…
13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
Discussion Questions
What happens in your heart when you think of the 2nd Coming of Jesus?
We must stay awake and do our duty. What do you think our duty is? Are you doing it? (Is. 45:4, 6, 22; Gen. 12:3; Exo. 9:16; Ps. 67:1-2; 1 Pet. 2:9).
What can help us “stay awake” and “stay on task” until Jesus returns?
Read and reflect on the truth of Titus 2:11-14 and 2 Timothy 4:8.
