Judgment Immanent
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Preliminary comments:
Disciple marveled at the temple, and the large stones
Jesus said would be destroyed.
Question asked: when will this happen, what will be the sign.
14 “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. 15 Let no one on the roof of his house go down or enter the house to take anything out. 16 Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. 17 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 18 Pray that this will not take place in winter, 19 because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again. 20 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. 21 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect—if that were possible. 23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.
24 “But in those days, following that distress,
“ ‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
25 the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
26 “At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 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.
28 “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. 29 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. 30 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
1 As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”
2 “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?”
5 Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 6 Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8 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.
9 “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. 10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. 11 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.
12 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 13 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
14 “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. 15 Let no one on the roof of his house go down or enter the house to take anything out. 16 Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. 17 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 18 Pray that this will not take place in winter, 19 because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again. 20 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. 21 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect—if that were possible. 23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.
24 “But in those days, following that distress,
“ ‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
25 the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
26 “At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 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.
28 “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. 29 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. 30 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Mark 13:1-
Mark 13:14-
Introduction
Introduction
We are currently working our way through , which is a text that has no small number of differing opinions as to its meaning, and as to the times to which the various pieces of the text refer.
As we come to this text of Scripture, we need to come to it as we do to all texts of Scripture, and attempt to learn from the text directly, within its context, and in light of other Scripture, what the meaning is of the words that are written. We need to understand first of all the meaning that would have been true to the audience to whom the words were said or written, and then understand how that meaning to the original audience has bearing on our own lives.
Now it is very clear to most of us that there are those texts where the meaning is clearly visible and easily perceived. But there are other texts where the meaning is not so easy to discern. This text before us is such a text!
As we come then to this text, I would like to drive us deep into the Scriptures in order to honestly evaluate some key biblical texts, and then to see how those texts shape our understanding of the text under consideration this morning.
Let me encourage you this morning: go with me through these texts, and give honest, prayerful evaluation to what is presented.
I’ll begin this morning by considering just briefly verse 30. Our focus is not on verse 30 this morning, but I believe that it’s important to just consider this verse before I continue.
If you have your Bible with you, please turn with me to would like to draw your attention in particular to the curses that were promised to Israel in the event that they broke covenant with God. What would God do to them; what would be the punishment brought upon them if they failed to obey all the commands that He gave them to live by?
30 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
Very often, we find that Christians are well-versed in the blessings that were promised to Israel. They can recall that in , God made promises to Abraham. They can recall that God made the promise to bless Abraham and make him great, and into a grea
Remember the context here. The disciples have asked Jesus what would be the sign that the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem would come about. That’s what they’ve asked for.
Jesus then proceeds to outline the various signs that will be evident to them, the things that they are to watch out for as they look towards this day when the temple will be destroyed.
And then He says in verse 30, that this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
From the context, it is very clear that the “all these things” that he refers to there are the various signs and events that He has just outlined. That is the entire flow of what Christ is saying.
Now for many interpreters of the Scriptures, this produces a slight problem.
Perhaps one of the reasons that this produces a problem for some is that when they read about things like the sun being darkened, and the moon not giving its light, and the stars falling out of the sky etc. they can only think of that in terms of the end of the world.
They automatically assume that those things are taking place at the end of the world, or that such events are going to be taking place at the final judgment, and that’s the only place where those descriptions have any relevance. But since those events have not taken place - the sun is still going strong, the moon still shines at night, stars are still there up in the sky - the assumption is that either Jesus got it wrong, or that the meaning of some of His words (in particular “This generation”) needs to be re-interpreted, and that these must be events that will take place in the future.
What I’m going to outline for you this morning however, is the position that this is certainly not the case, and that what is stated in these verses did in fact take place. In order to do that, we simply need to understand what the Scriptures teach us concerning the meaning of those words, or those heavenly events.
The position that I will outline today accepts that what Christ said here would take place within that generation, did indeed take place within that generation. That is what Christ said would happen, and that is what happened.
Just to elaborate slightly on this point, I think it’s pertinent that we understand the normal meaning of the word “generation” that is used in verse 30.
The word is the Greek word γενεά (Genea) - which has the typical meaning of referring to a generation. According to one Bible dictionary:
people living at the same time and belonging to the same reproductive age-class
That would be like us speaking of the Millennial generation; or the Baby-boomers; Generation X...
That would be like us speaking of the
This was the clear meaning under normal circumstances, unless the context specifically precluded that meaning. In the NT, 90% of the usage of this word clearly has this basic meaning, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
This was the meaning that Christ intended when He used the word. Some examples:
16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children,
39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet;
Many other examples can be given, but the point is simply this: the basic meaning of the word is that it refers to those who are there at that time.
And so what Christ says over here in verse 30 of the text, is that this generation - standing there before him - will be witnesses to all that happens; all these signs that are being unfolded.
The weight of the evidence favours this natural reading - really a literal reading - of the words that are recorded here.
With that in mind, let us turn our eyes to the text before us, and consider what it is that Christ says will unfold, and see if we can understand what was meant when these words were said.
1. Signs of the Heavenly Bodies (v.24-25)
1. Signs of the Heavenly Bodies (v.24-25)
The first aspect that we need to consider from the text is the signs relating to the heavenly bodies.
In verses 24-25, we read these words:
24 “But in those days, following that distress,
“ ‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
25 the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
Now the first thing that we need to recognise from this text is that what Christ speaks of here will take place “following that distress.”
The Distress that he speaks of is the “tribulation” that he has just spoken about. The abomination that causes desolation would be in the place where it ought not to be. There would be great tribulation and hardship. Jesus says that in those days the people in Judea should flee to the mountains in order to escape - I discussed the meaning of that last week.
But now he speaks of these other heavenly signs. In Matthews account, we find that Jesus said that these signs concerning the heavenly bodies would be seen “immediately” after that tribulation...
“Immediately after the distress of those days
“ ‘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.’
This was something that would happen immediately after the distress - without delay or a long period.
But the real focus of our attention is what Christ says is going to happen. In order to understand these words of Christ, I want us to turn in our Bibles to the Old Testament.
As we do that, let me just say up front - what we are going to see is that the language that is used here is a prophetic picture of divine wrath.
We’re going to see in a moment that these words speak of God’s judgment on nations, groups of people, that are localised.
In other words, in the normal Scriptural prophetic usage of these terms that Jesus uses here, the prophets are referring to local acts of God’s judgment on a people.
Judgment concerning Babylon...
Begin by referring to verse 1
9 See, the day of the Lord is coming
—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—
to make the land desolate
and destroy the sinners within it.
10 The stars of heaven and their constellations
will not show their light.
The rising sun will be darkened
and the moon will not give its light.
11 I will punish the world for its evil,
the wicked for their sins.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty
and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
12 I will make man scarcer than pure gold,
more rare than the gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;
and the earth will shake from its place
at the wrath of the Lord Almighty,
in the day of his burning anger.
Isaiah 13:
What we must realise is that judgment on Babylon most certainly took place, and is today an event of the past.
The fall of the Babylonian empire took place in the year 539B.C.
Consider then also God’s judgment against the nations opposed to Him, and in particular His judgment on Edom...
1 Come near, you nations, and listen;
pay attention, you peoples!
Let the earth hear, and all that is in it,
the world, and all that comes out of it!
2 The Lord is angry with all nations;
his wrath is upon all their armies.
He will totally destroy them,
he will give them over to slaughter.
3 Their slain will be thrown out,
their dead bodies will send up a stench;
the mountains will be soaked with their blood.
4 All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved
and the sky rolled up like a scroll;
all the starry host will fall
like withered leaves from the vine,
like shriveled figs from the fig tree.
5 My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
see, it descends in judgment on Edom,
the people I have totally destroyed.
Isaiah 34:
Note: Also consider Obadiah - judgment against Edom, but also referred to as “the nations”.
Consider the judgment of God on the Egyptians, in ...
Note First two verses refer this specifically to the Egyptians / Pharaoh.
6 I will drench the land with your flowing blood
all the way to the mountains,
and the ravines will be filled with your flesh.
7 When I snuff you out, I will cover the heavens
and darken their stars;
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
and the moon will not give its light.
8 All the shining lights in the heavens
I will darken over you;
I will bring darkness over your land,
declares the Sovereign Lord.
Having considered these, we now can turn our attention to the prophet Joel, chapter 2...
Consider the following:
Joel was written to Israel - the Elders and all those who live in Israel ()
speaks of a nation having invaded God’s land.
speak about the grounds that do not produce cops, due to God’s judgment.
13 Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn;
wail, you who minister before the altar.
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
you who minister before my God;
for the grain offerings and drink offerings
are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Declare a holy fast;
call a sacred assembly.
Summon the elders
and all who live in the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
15 Alas for that day!
For the day of the Lord is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
13 Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn;
wail, you who minister before the altar.
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
you who minister before my God;
for the grain offerings and drink offerings
are withheld from the house of your God.
Then look down at Joel 2:1-11...
1 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy hill.
Let all who live in the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand—
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was of old
nor ever will be in ages to come.
3 Before them fire devours,
behind them a flame blazes.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,
behind them, a desert waste—
nothing escapes them.
4 They have the appearance of horses;
they gallop along like cavalry.
5 With a noise like that of chariots
they leap over the mountaintops,
like a crackling fire consuming stubble,
like a mighty army drawn up for battle.
6 At the sight of them, nations are in anguish;
every face turns pale.
7 They charge like warriors;
they scale walls like soldiers.
They all march in line,
not swerving from their course.
8 They do not jostle each other;
each marches straight ahead.
They plunge through defenses
without breaking ranks.
9 They rush upon the city;
they run along the wall.
They climb into the houses;
like thieves they enter through the windows.
10 Before them the earth shakes,
the sky trembles,
the sun and moon are darkened,
and the stars no longer shine.
11 The Lord thunders
at the head of his army;
his forces are beyond number,
and mighty are those who obey his command.
The day of the Lord is great;
it is dreadful.
Who can endure it?
As you read these words, you get the clear picture of the judgment of God coming upon Israel because they have failed to obey Him. They are not keeping the commands of God, and there is just judgment on them.
But as part of that description of God’s judgment, you see the earth shaking, the sky trembling, the sun and moon being darkened. The stars no longer shining.
Then go down to
28 “And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
32 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,
as the Lord has said,
among the survivors
whom the Lord calls.
Verse 31 there speaks of the sun being darkened, the moon turning to blood. Signs in the heavens.
Then go across to ...
At this point, Christ has already been crucified, and has ascended into heaven. The Holy Spirit is then sent down at Pentecost, and the disciples of Jesus began to speak in the languages of other God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven ().
Some people then make fun of the disciples, stating that they must be drunk. But then Peter gets up and speaks, and says these words:
Acts 2:15-
15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 “ ‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says that the prophecy that was spoken through the prophet Joel was fulfilled then.
The Sun turning to darkness.
The Moon turning to blood.
Later on in that chapter (verse 37), the cried out: “Brothers, what shall we do?”
They were fearful - because they recognised that the power of God was upon them.
2 Clouds and thick darkness surround Him;
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
3 Fire goes before Him
And burns up His adversaries round about.
4 His lightnings lit up the world;
The earth saw and trembled.
5 The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
The point that needs to be made from all of these references is that the very clear use of those words concerning the heavenly bodies is a picture of the divine judgment of God on that particular people against whom the words are spoken.
In all of the above cases, the judgment that was spoken of, actually came to pass.
In all of the above cases, sun was darkened, the moon did not give its light, the earth was shaken, the stars fell etc.
These were all a picture of the wrath of God!
Now, back to the words of Jesus in the current text.
The context, as you well know, is the destruction of the temple. That’s the question that has been posed to Jesus, and that is what Jesus is answering.
And so the judgment that is being spoken of here is against the Jews, and in particular the religious leaders.
This is certainly not out of place when we recall some previous incidents and words of Christ.
Do you recall when Jesus cursed the fig tree, because it wasn’t bearing fruit? The picture there was of religious people who were far from God. In essence, they were going to be coming under God’s judgment and curse, because they were all show, with no fruit.
Do you recall when Jesus cursed the fig tree, because it wasn’t bearing fruit? The picture there was of religious people who were far from God. In essence, they were going to be coming under God’s judgment and curse, because they were all show, with no fruit.
In Mark’s Gospel, the account of the cursing of the fig tree was a sandwich text, and right in the middle of that fig tree account, Jesus went into the temple and condemned those in the temple because they had turned this “house of prayer” into a “Den of Robbers.”
In that whole account, it’s significant to note that when He said those words, He was in fact quoting the prophet Jeremiah ().
The significance of that (if you will recall from when I preached that passage) was that was a chapter filled with severe prophecies about the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, which eventually came to fulfillment when the Babylonians came in and destroyed the city and the temple.
Do you recall then, just after that, the parable that Jesus told the Sanhedrin - the parable of the tenants. The man planted the vineyard, put tenants there to farm it. When the master sent his servants to get some of the fruit, they seized one and beat him; they struck another on the head; they had another killed. Then the master sent his Son, and said: “surely they will respect my son...” But instead they killed the son.
Do you recall then, just after that, the parable that Jesus told the Sanhedrin - the parable of the tenants. The man planted the vineyard, put tenants there to farm it. When the master sent his servants to get some of the fruit, they seized one and beat him; they struck another on the head; they had another killed. Then the master sent his Son, and said: “surely they will respect my son...” But instead they killed the son.
9 “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Haven’t you read this scripture:
“ ‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;
Judgment was coming to Jerusalem. Jesus very clearly tells his disciples that these things are going to unfold. And I have little doubt that they recognised the fact that Jesus was pronouncing judgment on the Temple - broader than that, the religious construct and system.
With all this in mind, I want to take you to consider some other important facets concerning all that is unfolding here.
Firstly, I want to remind you that God’s covenant with Israel (through Moses, who was the Mediator) spoke of blessings for the people / nation of Israel in the event that they obeyed and kept the commands that God gave.
But that covenant also spoke of curses upon the Israelites in the event that they failed to keep the commandments that God gave.
Go with me then to the book of , in which the blessings and curses of the covenant that God made with Israel are outlined. I’m going to outline just some of the curses that are stated through this chapter, beginning at verse 15...
15 However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
Duet 28:15
20 The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. 21 The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess.
Deut 28:20
Deut 28:
25 The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. 26 Your carcasses will be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.
53 Because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you. 54 Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, 55 and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities. 56 The most gentle and sensitive woman among you—so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter 57 the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For she intends to eat them secretly during the siege and in the distress that your enemy will inflict on you in your cities.
Deut 28:53-
Now I shudder at the thought of all these things that are outlined by God in terms of the extent and the judgement and curses that will come upon Israel. But we must recognise that this is Scripture. This is God’s word. This is what God promised them would happen if they forsook Him and failed to honour Him.
Last week I outlined just some of the atrocities that took place in Jerusalem in AD70, that were recorded by the Jewish historian Josephus, who was a contemporary of that day - he spoke of the siege of the city by the Romans. He spoke of the cannibalism that was resorted to in the city of Jerusalem at that time.
None of that was out of line with what God had promised would take place.
But I would suggest to you that what was being prophesied here was in no ways
As we come to this chapter in Mark’s Gospel, we need to recognise the movement and progression that is taking place as there is a transition between old and new.
is a very well-known passage - it contains God’s promise to bring in a new covenant, due to
That Old Covenant, as we have just looked at from Deuteronomy, carried with it serious consequences for failure to obey and to abide by the stipulations of the covenant.
The fact is that the history of Israel showed that they failed dismally to keep the covenant with God. They repeatedly disobeyed God.
But further to that, right at this moment, the Sanhedrin are not only failing to uphold God’s law, but they are in fact rejecting God Himself by rejecting the Son.
- The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
To reject Jesus was not to merely reject another prophet.
Certainly that was bad enough. But to reject the Son of God was to reject the Father Himself.
God’s judgment was coming.
But God’s plan was not simply to keep having this repeat of failure of His people, and then having them return, and then failure again, and then having them return to Him.
In God’s wisdom, He used this Old Covenant system to demonstrate mans utter inability to maintain the righteous standards of God.
But then He also spoke of a New Covenant that would be entered into.
1 The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.
3 Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. 4 If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” 6 But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.
7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said:
“The time is coming, declares the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
9 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
10 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.
Are those not words of great encouragement to us?
To think that we are in this NEW covenant with Christ.
What a joy.
The great joy that this is relates to the fact that we have a great High priest who has entered into the very presence of God - not in some earthly shape / form of the dwelling place of God. Not as a picture - but truly into the very presence of God in heaven.
2. The Coming of the Son of Man (v.26)
2. The Coming of the Son of Man (v.26)
With that in mind, I want to take us just a step further as to why I believe that this was so significant, and why I remain convinced that what was being spoken of here by Christ indeed came to fulfillment in A.D. 70 or around that time.
As we do that, I’d like us to take a step forward into verse 26 of our current passage in :
26 “At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
This is another “problem” verse for those who say that
is a very well-known passage - it contains God’s promise to bring in a new covenant, due to
3. The Sending out of Angels (v.27)
3. The Sending out of Angels (v.27)
4. The Lesson from the Fig Tree (v.28-31)
4. The Lesson from the Fig Tree (v.28-31)