Mark 13:1-37

Jesus has just been challenged by the differing classes of temple ruler (scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians) and He has walked away the clear victor.

As Mt. 12:6 has it, ‘Something greater than the temple is here’. The discourse which will follow in vv. 5–37 will fill out the nature of that ‘something greater’.

The Destruction of The Temple

Mark 13:1–4 “And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?””

The temple will be totally destroyed

This, the only place in Mark where Jesus explicitly predicts the destruction of the temple (it has been threatened symbolically in the fate of the fig tree; see the introductory comments on 11:11–25), is the only basis recorded by Mark for the charge which was to be brought against Jesus at his trial (14:57–58) and would remain in the minds of those who mocked him on the cross (15:29–30). While Mark (unlike Matthew) brands the charge as false (14:57)—and no doubt in formal terms it was, since 13:2 does not say that Jesus will destroy the temple—there is no doubt that these words of Jesus played a significant role in his eventual rejection and condemnation, and may well have been in large measure responsible for his loss of the popular goodwill which we have noted hitherto

R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 2002), 494–495.

See Acts 6:13–14 (People’s opinion of Jesus) “and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.””

Jesus was not the first to predict the temple’s destruction. God’s declaration to Solomon at the temple’s dedication envisaged such a possibility if Israel proved disobedient (1 Kings 9:6–8 “But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’”

R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 2002), 495.

The disciples were in awe of the building, but Jesus comes with realism. The splendor of the building is a massive irrelevance.

The temple has been destroyed. The Western Wall was merely a platform, and I believe a military wall —a Roman fortification — and not part of the temple itself.

The disciples ask when and what will be the sign

5 And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mk 13:4–8.

The disciples may be vulnerable to being led astray. Jesus tells them that many signs will come, but they are birthing pains, not dying pains. That is, this is pain with a purpose, and it’s worth it. The temple is being destroyed, but something much better is taking its place.

Persecution may happen, but again, God is bringing His kingdom.

The prediction of the destruction of the temple from which it takes its cue is plain enough, but as the discourse develops its language becomes increasingly allusive, drawing on themes of OT apocalyptic and political prophecy which are not as familiar to most modern readers as they would have been to at least a proportion of Mark’s original readers

R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 2002), 498.

Jesus does not go into detail about the particular signs; he focuses instead on the scope and severity of the persecution that is coming. It will take place in many different settings—among Jewish authorities (councils and synagogues, v 9) and Gentile authorities (governors and kings), but also in family settings (v 12). The hatred and animosity extends all the way to the most severe sentence (death, v 12) and to the farthest extent (“you will be hated by all for my name’s sake,” v 13).

Jason Meyer, Mark for You, ed. Carl Laferton, God’s Word for You (The Good Book Company, 2022), 199.

To that extent it has apocalyptic characteristics in content, even if not in literary form, and its use of familiar language from prophetic and apocalyptic parts of the OT is appropriate to that orientation. But it is not ‘an apocalypse’, and to label it as such is to risk seriously distorting the focus of a discourse which is concerned more to damp down premature eschatological excitement than to encourage it, and whose focus is as much on the pastoral need to prepare disciples for difficult times ahead as it is to explain the future course of events. A discourse which is constructed primarily around second-person imperatives addressed to the disciples does not look like what is normally understood by ‘apocalyptic

R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 2002), 498–499.

Purpose, Promise, and Perseverance

Purpose:

Mark 13:9–10 ““But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.”

The disciples are to bear witness

Synagogues and also before rulers and kings — Jewish persecution and Gentile realms as well.

Proclaimed to all the nations — If we have in view here the immediate context of Jesus’ death and the destruction of the temple, we should see this as the gospel going out to all nations before the temple is destroyed. This is likely the view of Mark writing from the late 60’s AD - the gospel had made its way around the world with its hope for the gentiles included. (See Rom 15:19;23 for examples of speaking about ‘all the world’)

Promise:

Mark 13:11 “And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.”

God will aid them and tell them what to speak

Perseverance

Mark 13:13 “And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

These pains are worth it.

The interim period is not to be a time of passive waiting but of proclamation, of the experience of persecution, and of faithful endurance εἰς τέλος.

R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 2002), 513.

For the crucial verses 24–27 this view corresponds with my own conviction that the apocalyptic language of these verses, drawn almost entirely from identifiable OT texts, relates, as did those texts in their own contexts, not to the collapse of the physical universe and the end of the world but to imminent and far-reaching political change, in the context of the predicted destruction of Jerusalem. On this view the ‘coming of the Son of Man’ is language not about an eschatological descent of Jesus to the earth but, as in the vision of Daniel from which it derives, about the vindication and enthronement of the Son of Man at the right hand of God, to receive and exercise supreme authority. In other words, what is being described in vv. 24–27, as in the OT passages from which their language is drawn, is a change of government: the temple and all that it stood for is out, and the Son of Man is in -{see Mark 14:61–62 “But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”” ]

R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 2002), 500–501.

But once it has been accepted that in 14:62 Jesus could use the language of Dn. 7:13–14 to speak of his imminent vindication at the right hand of God, there is no basis for continuing to insist that in 13:26 the same language must refer to the parousia.

R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 2002), 503.

Abomination and Tribulation

Mark 13:14–23 ““But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that it may not happen in winter. For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be. And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days. And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.”

Abomination of desolation comes from the book of Daniel (9:27; 11:31; 12:11)

Abomination being a sacrilege.

Most students of the Bible read Daniel’s prophecy as a prediction of the desecration of the temple by a ruler named Antiochus Epiphanes (167 BC). The Jewish historian Josephus documented the sacrilege committed by Antiochus; he built a pagan altar on God’s altar and sacrificed a pig on it (Antiquities of the Jews, 12.5.4). This was an “abomination … standing where he ought not to be” (Mark 13:14). Using this phrase would have had a profound and startling effect on any Jew. It would make them think of Antiochus’ sacrilege and make them wonder, Could such sacrilege happen again

Jason Meyer, Mark for You, ed. Carl Laferton, God’s Word for You (The Good Book Company, 2022), 200.

The historical view says that the desolating sacrilege refers in some way to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70. It could be the moment when the Roman general Titus entered into the temple sanctuary, or when the Roman soldiers set their standards up in the temple and offered sacrifices while acclaiming Titus as emperor. Another strong possibility would be the actions of the Jewish Zealots and others who, in AD 67–68, made themselves priests and were thus standing where they should not be.

The eschatological view, meanwhile, says that Jesus is talking about an antichrist figure, probably the same person as Paul’s “man of lawlessness,” who will come shortly before the return of Jesus (2 Thessalonians 2:1–10; see also “antichrist” in 1 John 2:18 and the “beast” in Revelation 11:7; 13:1–18). Paul says the “man of lawlessness” will be where he ought not to be: “he takes his seat in the temple of God” and claims what he should not claim, “proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

Jason Meyer, Mark for You, ed. Carl Laferton, God’s Word for You (The Good Book Company, 2022), 201.

Josephus on the appointment of Phannias

In The Jewish War, Josephus describes the event:

In this passage from The Jewish War, Josephus describes how the Zealots selected a new high priest by lot from one of the priestly tribes. The lot fell to Phannias, the son of Samuel from the village of Aphtha, a man Josephus deemed unworthy and ignorant of the high priesthood. Josephus states that Phannias was brought from the country against his will, dressed in sacred garments and a "counterfeit diadem," and instructed on his duties, making it appear as if the Zealots were "acting a play upon the stage.

Eusebius Quote:

3. But the people of the church in Jerusalem had been commanded by a revelation, vouchsafed to approved men there before the war, to leave the city and to dwell in a certain town of Perea called Pella. And when those that believed in Christ had come there from Jerusalem, then, as if the royal city of the Jewsand the whole land of Judea were entirely destitute of holy men, the judgment of God at length overtook those who had committed such outrages against Christ and his apostles, and totally destroyed that generation of impious men.

4. But the number of calamities which everywhere fell upon the nation at that time; the extreme misfortunes to which the inhabitants of Judea were especially subjected, the thousands of men, as well as women and children, that perished by the sword, by famine, and by other forms of death innumerable — all these things, as well as the many great sieges which were carried on against the cities of Judea, and the excessive sufferings endured by those that fled to Jerusalem itself, as to a city of perfect safety, and finally the general course of the whole war, as well as its particular occurrences in detail, and how at last the abomination of desolation, proclaimed by the prophets, Daniel 9:27 stood in the very temple of God, so celebrated of old, the temple which was now awaiting its total and final destruction by fire — all these things any one that wishes may find accurately described in the history written by Josephus.

5. But it is necessary to state that this writer records that the multitude of those who were assembled from all Judea at the time of the Passover, to the number of three million souls, were shut up in Jerusalem as in a prison, to use his own words.

6. For it was right that in the very days in which they had inflicted suffering upon the Saviour and the Benefactor of all, the Christ of God, that in those days, shut up as in a prison, they should meet with destruction at the hands of divine justice.

7. But passing by the particular calamities which they suffered from the attempts made upon them by the sword and by other means, I think it necessary to relate only the misfortunes which the famine caused, that those who read this work may have some means of knowing that God was not long in executing vengeance upon them for their wickedness against the Christ of God.

The Jewish historian Josephus describes the horrors of the Roman siege of Jerusalem in great, graphic detail (The Jewish War, books 5–6). He comments that outside the city, the Romans crucified so many Jews that they ran out of wood for crosses. Inside the city there was also extreme suffering: disease, murder, starvation, and even cannibalism. Josephus makes the startling claim that 1,100,000 people died during the siege (The Jewish War, 6.9.3). Many scholars believe that these numbers are exaggerated, but they do give some indication of the terrors of this event.

The eschatological view, however, would read this “tribulation” as a future time of unprecedented suffering. All tragedies and travesties, including the siege of Jerusalem, pale in comparison with this future tribulation: “Such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be” (v 19).

Jason Meyer, Mark for You, ed. Carl Laferton, God’s Word for You (The Good Book Company, 2022), 202–203.

The Second Coming?

Mark 13:24–27 ““But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 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.”

Most of this OT language comes from prophecies that would usher in political and governmental change. The images are cosmic, but they are talking about imminent changes. They are cosmic and earth shattering, in a sense, but they are in the lives and times of those to whom the prophecies are proclaimed.

Most prophetic language targeted pagan, gentile nations, but Jesus is using this language against the temple and Jerusalem.

From now on it will not be the national shrine which will be the focus of the people of God, but the Son of Man to whom has now been given, as Dn. 7:14 predicted, an everlasting and universal dominion which embraces all nations and languages.

R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 2002), 531.

The Gospel of Mark The Coming of the Son of Man within ‘This Generation’ (13:24–31)

The reliability of the word of Jesus is no less than that of the word of God himself. For the fixed order of the created universe as a guarantee of permanence cf. Is. 51:6; 54:9–10; Je. 31:35–36; 33:20–21. This verse is not therefore speaking of a future passing away of heaven and earth as something which may be contemplated, still less as part of what Jesus is predicting, but rather, as in Isaiah and Jeremiah, using the unthinkableness of such an event as a guarantee for the truth of what Jesus has declared. In Mt. 5:18; Lk. 16:17 the same imagery is used for the permanent validity of the law; Jesus

Combination view — 70 AD but also the second coming. Also, Jesus’ destruction at the cross and His resurrection

The temple: the building may look great but it is diseased on the inside. White washed tombs, washed the outside of the cup, like its rulers.

Mark 13:28–31 ESV

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.

Unknown Day and Hour

Mark 13:32–37 ““But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 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. 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— lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.””

Not just the destruction of the temple and not just the second coming.

Look at Mark 13:35 and you will see the times when the disciples must be awake and not be asleep in case they miss the coming of the Lord: evening, midnight, when the rooster crows, and in the morning.

Jesus has been talking about the destruction of the temple. We know from other texts (Mark 14:58; 15:29; John 2:19) that Jesus also spoke of his own body as the temple, saying that it would be destroyed and rebuilt in three days. This is key for our interpretation of the remaining chapters of Mark

Jason Meyer, Mark for You, ed. Carl Laferton, God’s Word for You (The Good Book Company, 2022), 210.

Mark.

Mark 14:17 gives us evening as an explicit time frame. We are coming to the betrayal and arrest of Jesus. I think we are supposed to read this as an abomination, the sacrilege of 13:14. The temple of Jesus’ body is about to be woefully mistreated. This will bring tribulation and woe on those who have caused it:

“For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” (14:21)

Mark 14:32–42, the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane, contains the most explicit connections with chapter 13. Jesus repeatedly tells his disciples to stay awake and to keep watch (14:34, 37, 38, 41), and repeatedly finds them sleeping (v 37, 40). The language is exactly the same as in Mark 13:34–37. Finally, when Jesus is arrested, all the disciples flee (14:50)—which is exactly what Jesus said people would do when the desolating sacrilege occurred (13:14).

In Gethsemane, the disciples have shown that they are asleep—they are not alert to the realities taking place around them. They have not been ready for Jesus’ coming. The chief priests and scribes, too, have not understood his coming. As they condemn him for blasphemy, Jesus tells them that they will see him coming with the clouds of heaven (14:62). At the same time, Peter is also in a trial of sorts, before the servant girl of the high priest. Peter takes an oath and calls down a curse on himself in denying that he knows Jesus. The rooster crows (14:72). Peter breaks down and weeps. It is as though he has been asleep and his master has taken him by surprise.

Then it is morning (15:1). Jesus is delivered over to be crucified. Everyone still seems to be asleep, not recognizing the coming of the Lord. In 15:33, darkness comes over the whole land—just as Jesus predicted in 13:24. As Jesus dies, the curtain in the Jerusalem temple is torn in two (15:38). The end of the temple is here.

The way that Mark presents the cross and resurrection of Jesus is so significant. What we must realize is that we are not waiting for the end times; we are in the end times. They began with the first coming of Christ. Christ has come. He died and rose. He sent his Spirit. The last days are here. The presence of the future has broken into this present world.

Are we awake to the presence of the future? We should heed Paul’s call:

“Awake, O sleeper,

and arise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14)

Jason Meyer, Mark for You, ed. Carl Laferton, God’s Word for You (The Good Book Company, 2022), 210–212.

37 The conclusion of the discourse explicitly widens its application beyond the original audience of four (v. 3) to ‘all’ (cf. Peter’s question in Lk. 12:41, whether the parable of the burglar, and perhaps also the preceding parable of the watching slaves, applies πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἢ καὶ πρὸς πάντας). While the question of the date of the destruction of the temple was directly relevant only to a limited audience, the changed perspective of the concluding verses has widened the relevance of the discourse to all disciples, all of whom must live with the prospect of an unexpected parousia. The discourse thus concludes with a rousing imperative, γρηγορεῖτε.

R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 2002), 546.