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Open your Bibles to Mark 13:24-27.
•We are continuing our study of the Gospel of Mark.
•We are in our sixth week of the Olivet Discourse.
•And for some of you, this is the week you’ve been waiting for.
This morning we come to what many believe is one of the most difficult portions of the OD for the interpretation I’ve been advocating these past five weeks.
•I’ve been teaching a Partial-Preterist interpretation of the OD.
•Preterism means “Past-ism.”
It simply means that a prophecy has been fulfilled in OUR past.
•And, with regard to the OD, Partial-Preterism means that that the OD has been fulfilled up to v30 in the destruction of the Temple/Jerusalem in AD70 by the Romans.
But in the text before us, there is some strong language that, to many, sounds like the end of the world.
•And so, many have interpreted these verses to be a reference to the bodily Return of our Lord Jesus Christ at the end of history.
•There is cosmic language in our text this morning.
There is language about the sun and moon not giving their light and the stars falling from heaven.
•And then there is language about Jesus sending forth His angels to gather His Elect from all the world.
Because of this kind of language, many people automatically assume that it has to do with the end of the world.
•And I get that.
If these verses are taken in isolation and removed from their context, they indeed sound that way.
I think that’s a fair thing to admit.
•And most of us have had our minds conditioned by Dispensastionalism and the Left Behind books.
And so, when we hear the kind of language in this passage, we instinctively think its the end of the world.
•I personally believe that many think this way because most of us are not very familiar with the OT.
Particularly, with OT prophetic language and symbolism.
•But keep this in mind: Jesus’ original audience, His disciples, were Jews.
And they would’ve been familiar with this language.
•And Jesus’ words in these verses are packed FULL of OT prophetic language.
•And I believe that once we see where Jesus is getting His language from, the meaning of His words will become incredibly clear and simple to us.
So then, as I’ve been doing, I plan to show you how the words of Jesus were indeed about the coming destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem in AD70.
•But that’s not all I want to show you.
•As I’ve been saying all along through this chapter, there are beautiful things in this text.
•There are terrifying things for those who do not trust in and love the Lord Jesus.
But there are beautiful things for us who do love Him.
This text teaches us to fear the judgment of Christ.
•But it also reminds us that He has been enthroned as Lord of all, that He will save all of His People from every corner of the earth, and that we, His Church, are that People.
•There are many things in this text that cause us to bow down and worship the Lord Jesus Christ.
•And I hope to show you some of those things this morning, by God’s grace.
If you would and are able, please stand with me now for the reading of the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God.
Mark 13:24-27
[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.
(PRAY)
Our Heavenly Father,
We come before you this morning and are excited for what you have for us in your Word.
Your Word is truth.
And we have assembled to be instructed in the truth and to be changed by it as your Spirit works through it.
But we have not only come together to learn.
We have come to worship.
And your Word leads us to worship.
And so, we ask that you would reveal wondrous things to us in your Word.
Lead us to worship.
Lead us us to stand in awe of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Give us a sight of Him in His glory that knocks us to the ground in worship.
Glorify yourself in us today, Triune God.
We ask these things in Jesus’ Name and for His sake.
Amen.
1.)
To begin, we will consider the CONTEXT of our passage.
•And, while this is always important to do, it is especially important for us to do this morning.
•We absolutely cannot forget the context of the OD.
If we do, we will think that Jesus is talking about things that He isn’t and completely miss the point of His words.
1.
Jesus has been constantly rejected by the religious rulers of Israel throughout His earthly ministry.
•They have been plotting how to kill Him since chapter 3 of Mark’s Gospel.
•They have opposed Him at every turn.
They have debated with Him and looked for opportunities to have Him arrested and executed.
•Jesus has worked miracles that symbolize the judgment that will come on them for rejecting Him (Withered Fig Tree).
•Jesus has done physical acts that symbolize God’s anger with Israel (Two Temple Cleansings).
•Jesus has also told judgment parables against Israel (Parable of the Wicked Tenants).
Parables that tell of how God will punish the nation for rejecting Jesus.
•The judgment of Israel for their rejection of the Son of God is hanging over them.
2.
All of that leads up to Mark 13:2.
•There Jesus, as He is leaving the Temple for the final time, says, “Do you not see these great buildings?
There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
•Jesus prophesies that the Temple in Jerusalem will be destroyed.
And it will be destroyed because the Jews have rejected Him in order to cling to their false religious system of works righteousness.
3.
In response to this shocking prophesy, some of the disciples come to Jesus in v4 and ask,
“Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?”
•In context, there is only one thing Jesus has been talking about: The destruction of the Temple.
•And so, the disciples are asking about that.
And they want to know WHEN it will happen, and what the SIGN will be when it is about to take place.
•Again, the destruction of the Temple is the only thing they could be asking about.
That’s the only thing Jesus has been talking about.
And His words prompt their question.
•And in v5, Jesus begins to answer their question, as He has done so many times before when they ask Him to elaborate on things He has said.
•The disciples’ question about the destruction of the Temple kicks off the entire OD.
And Jesus is answering their question “WHEN and what will be the SIGN?”
•So then, vv5-30 are Jesus’ answer to their question.
4.
And that brings us to v30 itself.
The Time Text of the OD.
•There Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”
•THIS GENERATION=The generation then living when Jesus spoke.
That’s how the phrase is used throughout the Gospels.
•ALL THESE THINGS=All the things Jesus has said up to that point in the Discourse.
•Jesus very clearly says that everything He has said up to v30 will happen within that generation.
And those things have to do with the destruction of the Temple and the theological and historical ramifications of that event.
•So then, our Lord has given us the interpretive grid we are to use.
Everything He says in vv5-30 was to be fulfilled within the lives of the generation He was speaking to in the First Century.
2.)
With that said, let’s dig into our text now:
[24] “But in those days, after that tribulation,
•Let’s stop there.
This is important.
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