The Beautiful Word

Good morning and welcome to Dishman Baptist Church. Please open your Bibles with me to Mark 13, Mark 13. As I was sitting down to write the sermon for today I was listening to a Rend Collective album and the first song was titled I Choose to Worship. It is such a blessing to be among you all, to know that this morning that is your choice - that we are gathered here together to worship our glorious Heavenly Father and the finished work of His Son. We recognize that there are many places you could be this morning and we are blessed that you have chosen to join with us this morning as we endeavor to lift His name high and to turn our eyes on His beautiful face.

If this is your first time with us - welcome. Please take a moment to fill out a contact card that is in the seat back in front of you. This will help us to know whether we can contact you. It will also help us to know how you heard about the church. Just to let you know where we are, we are halfway through the Passion Week of Christ as Mark has chronicled it. We’ve been studying the prophecies of Christ in Mark 13 that are an answer to his disciples question as to when the prediction regarding the Temple will come true. There are many different views of these passages - some say that they are solely about the destruction of the Temple, and the subsequent destruction of Jerusalem, in 70 A.D. Others maintain that this passage is all about the end times. The position that we have taken is that this is a both/and passage. It is about both the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. and the end times that we are waiting for. We’re going to continue to see these elements brought out as we close out this chapter this week and next.

I was planning to complete the chapter this week but there are significant statements in each of these closing parables that bear a deeper look to expose their magnificence to our hearts, minds and eyes. This week, as you can see by the title this morning, we’re going to focus in on Jesus statement that His words will never pass away. Next week we’re going to look at the statements to be aware and not to get caught sleeping when He comes back. Those are the big ideas that I want you to take away from this week and next week - that His word will never pass away and then ask yourself the question as to whether or not you might be asleep. But there is much work that we have to do to develop those two ideas so let’s read our passage for this morning and then see what our Lord has to say to us through His Word this morning.

Mark 13:28–31 CSB

“Learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, recognize that he is near—at the door. “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

The main idea of this text is found at the end and we’ll look at that under the outline of His powerful Word, His eternal Word, His inerrant Word, His sufficient Word and finally His beautiful Word. And yes I will confess that I believe when Jesus is speaking of His words that He is talking primarily about the words that we have chronicled for us within the pages of our Bibles.

Jesus continues His answer to the disciple’s question with this simile - learn this lesson from the fig tree. We have recently seen that Jesus used the fig tree as a representation for the Jewish religious system and the lack of fruit that system had produced. In chapter 11 Jesus curses a fig tree for not having any fruit and in this instance the fig tree represents the Jewish system embodied in the worship that took place in the Temple. This is the case in other places in Scripture as well. Here though, Jesus is using the fig tree the way we might point to a birch or to the rise in temperatures as spring approaches. In Israel most of the trees are evergreens and the olive trees, that Jesus would have been surrounded by on the Mount of Olives, are a part of that group. In the case of Israel, the fig tree has been called “the most characteristic springtime tree.” The buds of the fig would begin showing up in March or April and would be an indicator that spring is on its way.

When we lived in the Washington D.C. area, one indicator that spring had come and summer was on its way was when the cherry trees around the lake near the Jefferson Memorial bloomed and the cherry blossom festival happened. Jesus here warns of another event as He says that just as the fig tree blooms and it indicates that summer is near that when you see “these things” happening that the moment is close at hand. This is a challenging moment in the text as the question is what are “these things” that Jesus is talking about? Remember that the original question of the disciples was “tell us when will these things happen? And what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?”

So does “these things” refer back to the original question regarding the destruction of the Temple or do they refer to the cataclysmic events that Jesus described in verses 24-27 which would culminate in the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds and the dispatching of His angels to gather the elect from the four winds. Making a determination is made even more challenging by the lack of an article in the text - what it says is eimi engys (aimee engoose) which translates out as is near. The word eimi is in the third person singular which could mean either he or it depending on the translator’s predisposition to the text and what the text is saying.

So we are back at the both/and proposition that this saying of Jesus refers both to the events that took place in 70 A.D. in direct answer to the disciple’s question as to when these things would happen and to the events that He had just described related to the end of the age.

The next phrase in the text does offer a bit of clarification - Jesus says “Truly I tell you, this generation”. Now stop there for a second. The word truly is a strong affirmation - we might recognize it as the word amen. Jesus often uses this when He is making an emphatic and definitive point. Jesus uses this phraseology when He says to the thief on the cross truly I tell you today you will be with me in paradise. And to Nicodemus during their night visit in Jerusalem “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” and later “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Jesus makes the definitive statement that this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things take place.”

Again He reiterates the exact question of the disciples that prompted this teaching but here He adds the qualifier all. Again the question this raises is whether He is speaking only about the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem or all of what He has described throughout the passage. The determination for what Christ is referring to again hinges on the interpretation of one word - generation. Is Christ referring to the generation of disciples alive at the time or is He using generation as a metaphor for the church saying that the church that He is about to institute by His sacrificial death on the cross will not pass away until all of the events He is speaking about occur.

Several times throughout Mark Jesus has referred to this generation - in Mark 8:12 He said “why does this generation demand a sign? Truly I tell you no sign will be given to this generation.” Later in Mark 8:38 He said “For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” And then in Mark 9:19 “He replied to them, “You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you?” Each of these times He refers to a the substantive generation of those standing in front of Him. In the instance of Mark 8:38 regarding being ashamed of Him and His words I think the case could be made that that particular instance could apply to more than just those standing in front of Him or those alive at that time but the principle of what Jesus is teaching there is timeless for all whether or not the word generation is taken as those immediately in front of Him or those who would make up the church in the years to come. It would seem out of character for Jesus to use the word generation in a way that might be confusing to His disciples or for Mark to recount this in a way that his readers would not understand. I think it is more likely that Jesus is using the term generation here in reference to those standing in front of Him.

Which points to the fulfillment of this saying being the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 A.D. An interesting side point is that only one of the disciples who pose this question would have been alive at the time that destruction took place. James dies at the hands of Herod in Acts 12. Andrew is traditionally believed to have died in Greece in 60 A.D. and Peter is believed to have been martyred by Nero in Rome in 64 A.D. Only the apostle John would have been alive to see the fulfillment of this question.

But there are also those who believe that “all these things” refers to all the events that Jesus describes in this passage and thus this generation cannot refer to the Jewish generation who was alive to witness the destruction of the Temple because they clearly will not experience the great tribulation to come described in verses 24-25 or witness the visible return of Christ described in verse 26.

As interesting as all of this is from an academic or knowledge standpoint - the real point of the text and thus the most important part of our sermon is the last statement that Jesus makes here and it is one of His most important statements for us as believers. He says that Heaven and earth will pass away - now you may want to circle that in your Bibles - mark these words Heaven and earth will pass away. Not might pass away, not even could pass away but that they will pass away. All of the climate activists can pack in their theories and efforts because this sin-tainted world is destined for destruction either way. Peter even tells us in 2 Peter 3:10 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed.” John writes at the end of his great apocalyptic book “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” So this world is destined to perish no matter what we do - now that doesn’t mean that we should neglect the planet or that we should exploit it to the extent that we ruin it. Rather it means that this planet exists for two purposes - and really it is the same purpose with different facets - to glorify God and to provide a place for Him to exhibit that glory to its fullest extent - I’ll explain that more in just a moment.

But look at the hope that is delivered - but my words will never pass away. Every word that Jesus has spoken has been spoken to endure and to be proven true. That is because His Word is powerful, eternal, sufficient and beautiful.

His Powerful Word

We can recognize the power of His Word that is inherent in this very statement. Can you imagine the level of power His word must contain if it is powerful enough to outlast the heavens and the earth. Serving in the Navy I was given an up close and personal understanding of just how powerful our planet is and how small we are. I remember coming home from my first deployment. We were transiting the Atlantic Ocean in December and the weather was rough. The entire battlegroup except the carrier was diverted to a southerly route because the northern Atlantic was too rough for our ships. As it was, on the route we took, I remember standing in an area called a break - it was an enclosed portion on the exterior of the ship that led from the front of the ship toward the midships and the after portions. Anyway, I remember standing in the break and we could count seconds - we would see the sky for 10 seconds as we went down a wave and then the sea for ten seconds as we climbed the next one.

Here in the Valley we were just exposed to another of nature’s powerful marvels with the wind storms that whipped through earlier this week. Roofs were ripped off of buildings, trees were knocked down and some areas have been without power for days - and some are still without.

And that is only here on earth. The power contained within just one star is more than our minds can fathom. And yet all of these will pass away but the Word of God will remain. And this of course has to be because this word has the power to create, to calm, to command and to convict.

The Power to Create

Of course we understand that the words of Christ will outlast the creation because it was these words that created all in the first place. In the beginning God spoke and the universe exploded into existence. Genesis 1 is a testament to the creative power of His word as out of nothing all things come to exist. There is no power that is comparable to this. A great testimony to this power is the testimony that God Himself gives in Job 38 as He answers Job. In verse 11 He says “when I declared (when my words told the sea) “You may come this far, but no further; your proud waves stop here”. The very ocean that so cowed me as I rode its mighty waves is told by the Lord you may come no further, your waves stop here. His word commands the morning and tells the dawn when to happen. He tells the sun when to set and the stars when to shine. He orders all events by the very power of His Word.

And even more amazing is that He speaks each of us into existence. He speaks the word into the womb and creates life - He knits us together by the power of His word and He knows each of us intimately. And even as He speaks each of us into existence, He knows every moment of our lives, He knows how much hair we will have or wont have, He knows how old we will be and He knows the manner in which we will die. His word brings all of that to pass.

He also creates the very elements that so awe us - He tells the wind where and when to blow. He commands the sunny summer days and the winter storms. This same word that has the power to create the storm also contains the power to calm it.

The Power to Calm

To say that the year 2020 was a storm in many people’s lives would be an understatement. Christian - where are you seeking your peace? The same voice, the same words that are powerful enough to create all things - even the storms - is the same voice that we should look too for calm when we need it. Earlier in Mark we saw this in action as the disciples were rowing across the sea of Galilee and Jesus came walking to them on the water. They were being beaten and battered by one of the storms that frequently assail that sea, and yet Jesus is walking easily through the storm, on the sea itself. And when He gets in the boat, the storm calms. Another time the Gospel writers tell us of Jesus sleeping soundly in the boat while a storm tosses it so that the disciples, experienced seamen as some of them were, despaired for their very lives. Jesus is woken up and He speaks to the wind and calms it.

That same word that calms the physical storms can calm your emotional, your mental and your spiritual storms as well. Paul tells us in Philippians 4 not to worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the result? Do we present our requests and then still have concern as to whether they will be met? Is there still anxiety that is left? And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Our good and gracious Father desires to calm the storms in our lives - in His timing and when they have served His purposes. We’ll come back to this in a moment.

He not only has the power to create and to calm through His word, He has the power to command.

The Power to Command

Do you recognize that the first words that God delivers to mankind and the last words that He offered as He ascended into Heaven were commands. His first words are captured for us in Genesis 1:28 “Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it.” His last words are to be “His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth”. And of course we understand that if He has the power to create then He also, as sovereign, has the power to command. We tend to choose to focus on the nicer aspects of God’s words to us though and tend to minimize or mitigate the commands into suggestions. Without getting too far ahead of myself into next week’s text - how are you doing on the command to be His witness? We’re in the middle of a pandemic that has killed over 3 million people now - how many of them died without Christ? How many of them, even now this moment are being tormented for eternity apart from Christ and how many of them perished without ever being witnessed to? Now is our inaction their excuse? No. They are responsible for their actions. Do I believe that God leaves it all up to free will and that we choose Him? No. A resounding no. But if you think we don’t have to witness to people because God has already chosen His people and the elect will come to Him - then I’d like to know how you determine who those people are. 3 million people, 150,000 people die every day even before Covid and how many Christians fail to share their faith? We are very good at talking about our faith - to other Christians - but how many have actually shared with an unbeliever in the last month? The last six months? The last year? Ever? The God who has the power contained in His Word to create and to calm has commanded us to go forth. That’s just a preview for next week - and the God who has the power to create, to calm, to command also has the power to convict. Maybe some of that is happening right now.

The Power to Convict

It is the very power of Christ’s Word that brings about the conviction of sin in the hardened heart of man. And this is most effectively heard through the preaching of the Word of God. That is the challenge in our churches today - there are too many who are not being convicted because they are subjected to the personal opinions of man rather than the convicting power of the Word. You can sit all day long and listen to cleverly worded platitudes and self-help talks and walk away still so deeply steeped in your sins that it was of little benefit. Yet when the Word of God is preached it is as Charles Spurgeon once said “A sermon often does a man most good when it makes him most angry. Those people who walk down the aisles and say, “I will never hear that man again,” very often have an arrow rankling in their breast.”

Paul writes in Romans 10 “So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.” I will tell you that there is not a man or woman who has been given the gift of faith without first experiencing the trial of conviction. Unless we are first convicted of our sins then the gift of faith, the wonderful, marvelous, inexplicable gift of grace through faith makes no sense to us.

Oh the power of this Word. It has no beginning. It has no ending. It is eternal.

His Eternal Word

We look forward to eternity - but we are not eternal. We are immortal but we are not eternal. We have a beginning, a tangible moment in which we came into existence. There is a time when we were not but there is no such time for the Word of God. In the beginning God. In the beginning the Word. There was never a time when it was not and there will never be a time when it will not be. Paul writes in Colossians 1:17 “He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.” He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. We understand this don’t we - we can’t have an eternal God without His word also being eternal. Regarding the eternal decrees, the eternality of the word of God, Martyn Lloyd-Jones said “I do not hesitate to say that nothing gives me greater comfort than to know that behind, me, little creature as I am passing through this world of time, there is this doctrine of the eternal decrees of God Himself.” That behind me, weak, frail and oft-failing Christian that I am there is the eternal truths of God’s Word that uphold all of us. We’re willing to accept the Bible as inerrant - the struggle we have is to accept the Bible as sufficient.

His Sufficient Word

How do you approach your Bible? How do you approach the very words of God? Martyn Lloyd-Jones once said of Scripture “Here in this Book is a message that would solve every single problem of the human race.” and in another place he said this “Here is the only book in the world that tells me the truth about myself.” And yet how often do we seek other solutions to our problems rather than seeking to find them in the word of God? Like I just said - we are willing to accept the Bible as inerrant and to accept what it has to say about sin and our need for a savior. What we are unwilling to do is to see what it says about debt, or our livelihood, our marriages, our kids, our anger, our porn addiction, our grief - the list could go on and on. We are more apt to look at secular experts for answers to those questions rather than to find our solutions, our answers in the very word of God. Paul says it in the verse that many point to as the very bedrock of inerrancy but also speaks to the utter sufficiency of the Word of God “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” Now look at that verse again - it is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training - it is sufficient to make man complete without equivocation or qualification. It doesn’t say most men (or women), it doesn’t say some men. It says that the words contained in this book are capable of addressing all of life, all of our concerns, problems, and situations to prepare and to mature us in Christ. And it all starts with the most beautiful part of His Word.

His Beautiful Word

Full confession - I don’t believe that you can separate the words of Christ from the person of Christ. He is after all the Word made flesh. He is the vehicle that God has spoken to us through in these last days according to the writer of Hebrews. All of Scripture is Christ’s word - and the most beautiful words of all is that we can have peace with Him through His shed blood on our behalf. That He humbled Himself to come and die, to pay the price that we could never pay so that we could have the gift that we could never earn. It is in this act, this Gospel that His power is most on display, that His eternality is most effectively demonstrated and that His sufficiency for us is most clearly seen.