Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Mark 13:14-37

Focal Passage: Mark 13:28-29

Theme: Signs of the coming of our Lord.

Before I went on vacation we looked at verses 1-13 of this chapter.

As Jesus and the disciples are leaving the Temple complex, He prophecies the destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem.

In regard to that destruction the disciples asked Jesus three questions: [1] When will these things be?

[2] What will be the sign of your coming?

and [3] What will be the signs of the end of the age?

In verses 1-13 Jesus instructs them that many things will happen in the years to come that are not signs that the end is immanent, but they encourage us to keep on watching for real signs of the end times.

The passage reminds us that throughout the Church Age there will be signs that are not signs, but the make us keep looking for the more specific signs of Christ’s coming.

Jesus says these signs include false prophets, wars and rumors of wars, inter-nation rivalries and antagonism, earthquakes, and famines.

Don t worry when these things happen, He tells them, because the end is not yet.

What these event are, are signs of a continually degenerating world that has been affected in every way by sin.

The first really true sign that the end of the age is near will be the preaching of the gospel in every corner of the world.

“And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.”

(Mark 13:10, NIV84).

Watch were the Gospel is making inroads into people-groups where it has not gone before — particularly in what missiologists call the 10-40 Window.

It’s a rectangular area of North Africa, the Middle East and Asia approximately between 10 degrees north and 40 degrees north latitude where the Gospel has least penetrated the peoples of that window.

Approximately 5.11 billion individuals residing in approximately 8,716 distinct people groups, 5,984 of which are considered “unreached” with the Gospel.

Verse 14-32 begins the next section of The Mount Olivet Discourse.

It is perhaps the most challenging section of the discourse to understand.

The conundrum is this: Is Jesus referring to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD or to a distant event that takes place during an end-time Tribulation period shortly before His Second Coming.

Or Does Jesus predict the destruction of Jerusalem, and in that event, give us a prophetic picture of a greater event which foreshadows the immediacy of his coming?

I believe that latter.

I. WHEN YOU SEE ... FLEE!

1. in response to Jesus’ prophet warning, the Apostles ask Jesus when will Jerusalem and the Temple be destroyed?

2. Jesus responds to the question in such a way that the answer fits more than one event in history

a.

He refers a past event that answers two of the disciple’s questions:

1) Question #1 is “When shall these things be?” i.e. the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple

2) Question #2 is “What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?”

b.

He answers their question by referring to The Abomination of Desolation

"But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains."

(Mark 13:14, NIV)

c. the disciples new immediately what Jesus was referring to

3. such an abomination had already taken place once in their history

A. THE FIRST FULFILLMENT

1. OK, I know a lot of folks are not great history fans, but I’ve got to share with you some Jewish history if any of this is going to make sense

a. Jesus says, When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, ...

1) that is a reference to the prophet Daniel’s vision in chapters 9-12 of the Book of Daniel

“His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice.

Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation.”

(Daniel 11:31, NIV84)

b. the word abomination refers to something which has become odious and thus despised such as water polluted by dead fish

1) it’s a behavior so reprehensible that it’s a “big stink” in the nostrils of God

c. the word desolation refers to a ravaging act so astounding that we are appalled by it

2. when Jesus utters his warning, this event had already happened once in Israel’s history

ILLUS.

The story begins with Alexander the Great – the great Greek general who had conquered most of the Mediterranean world and the East.

Under his rule, the Jews of Palestine were treated fairly and given a certain amount of self-governance.

After Alexander’s death, however, the Jews entered an era where they experienced some of the bitterest suffering in their long history.

After Alexander’s death, his four top generals divided up Alexander’s empire.

In 175 B.C. Antiochus IV ruled over the area that we call the Middle East.

He was what we would call an egomaniac.

He delighted in referring to himself as Antiochus Epiphanes — Antiochus the Brilliant One.

The Jews developed a clever nickname for him — they called him Antiochus Epimanes, — Antiochus the Dullard.

Antiochus did not care for the name and his relationship with the Jews quickly deteriorated.

He killed them by the tens-of-thousands and sold more thousands into slavery.

Eventually he forbade the Jews to read their Scriptures, to observe the Sabbath or to perform the rite of circumcision.

To show his contempt for their faith, he came to Jerusalem and sacrificed a sow on the altar of burnt offering, cooked the meat and forced the Jewish priests to eat it, and then poured the broth over all the buildings.

Lastly, he then ordered that an altar to Zeus to be erected in the Holy of Holies.

3. this was the Abomination of Desolation which Daniel refers to

a. Antiochus’s act was reprehensible and the Jews were appalled

B. THE SECOND FULFILLMENT

1. Jesus said that something similar was going to take place again in the near future

a. when you see . . .

flee

b. they would know it when they saw it

c.

Luke’s gospel gives us a little more help here:

“When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near.”

(Luke 21:20, NIV84)

2. in 66 AD the Jews of Israel revolted against the Roman government in an effort to gain independence

a. Rome was determined to keep the Jewish province by force

b. this was just 30-35 years after the resurrection and many thousands of Jewish Christians were living in Jerusalem and Judea

1) they saw what was taking place and did exactly what Jesus said to do — they fled

vv.

14c-18 “ ... then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:15 And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house:16 And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment.17

But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!18

And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter.”

2) it’s an amazing story and full of the providence of God

ILLUS.

The Jewish revolt that led to the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70 began with the Roman military garrison in Jerusalem, plundered the Temple and executed over 6,000 Jews.

With that a full-scale rebellion erupted.

The Jews crushed the local Roman garrison and the forces of King Agrippa.

That report went up the chain of command to Cretius Gallus who was the Roman Governor of Syria.

Cretius led the Roman 12th Legion to put down the rebellion.

They advanced on Jerusalem and surrounded it.

They set fire to the suburban districts that are outside the walls.

After that, the Romans begin to lay siege to the wall of upper city.

Inside the city, the Jews were divided, many of the leading citizens wanted to sue for peace.

The Zealots did not, and they attack and killed most of Jerusalem’s leading citizens, and then installed a puppet-High Priest to rule the temple and offer sacrifices.

After five days of tunneling, the Roman army was on the verge of undermining the wall and setting fire to the gates of the city.

Then suddenly, for no apparent reason, Cretius gives up and retreats from the city.

At that point, two things happen.

First, the Jewish Zealot army pursues the 12th Legion and annihilates them, inflicting one of the greatest military disasters Rome had ever suffered to that point.

Second, the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem and Judea use the window of opportunity, and all flee across the Jordan River to the city of Pella.

(Doing exactly what Jesus had told them to do).

After Cestius Gallus’s defeat, Nero orders Vespasian to take over.