A Blossom Bible Podcast
A Blossom Bible Podcast
Mark 13:1-2 Intro to End Times Prophecy
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Jesus delivers a profound prophetic message known as the Olivet Discourse, predicting both the temple's destruction and His eventual return to establish God's kingdom on earth.
• Jesus predicts the complete destruction of the Jerusalem temple, fulfilled in AD 70 when Roman soldiers tore it apart stone by stone
• The Bible contains over 200 specific prophecies about Jesus's first coming that were fulfilled with perfect accuracy
• Biblical prophecy gives us proper perspective, showing that material things we value highly are temporary
• Jesus describes a future tribulation period worse than anything the world has ever experienced or will experience
• We must distinguish between true prophets (whose words come to pass and align with Scripture) and false ones
• The principle of imminence - that Jesus could return at any moment - should motivate us to stay spiritually vigilant
• Jesus commands us to "watch" and be ready, living in a way that pleases Him whenever He returns
Watch and be ready, because you do not know when the master of the house is coming. Live in such a way that you're always doing what pleases the Master.
All right, mark, chapter 13, lucky number 13. All right, Mark, chapter 13, verse 1. All right, well, we are going through the final week of Jesus' earthly ministry. We've seen him facing off with the religious leaders. We saw him recently railing on the establishment, pointed out their corruption, and here in chapter 13, we move into what is known by many as the Olivet Discourse.
Speaker 1:A little change of gears here, something that Jesus wanted to share with his disciples, and it all comes about here in chapter 13, verse 1. As they're leaving the temple, you can picture it he's just had a pretty fiery exchange with the religious leaders. He called them brood of vipers and woe to you, whitewashed tombs and all these different things. He goes out having just kind of really put the establishment in their place and one of his disciples hits him with an observation, maybe wondering is it all bad right? Notice verse one. Then, as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here. So again, maybe it's just trying to kind of redeem the whole structure. He's went off on the religious leaders and as they leave the temple temple one of his disciples says but teacher, you check out these stones, these big rocks that the temple was made of. Amazing, one of the wonders of the ancient world. We talked about it last time these giant stones of the temple, some of them as big as cars, right, so notice as they leave. This disciple says look at this temple, though, jesus. Is it all bad? Is it all for nothing? And Jesus answered in verse two and said to him do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another that shall not be torn down, and from here Jesus goes 21. But the subject here? Jesus brings up the future destruction of Jerusalem and in this chapter, a more distant, his second coming to establish his kingdom.
Speaker 1:Now, as you know, I'm in no rush to get through this book, so we'll take as long as we need to get through chapter 13. But what I want to do is I want to take the next about four minutes. I timed it out and I want to read chapter 13. So you can kind of get it as a whole before we jump into it. So follow along if you can. It's going to be a little bit of reading, but I know you can do it. We can do it together, right, if you can. It's going to be a little bit of reading, but I know you can do it. We can do it together. Right, verse 3.
Speaker 1:As he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, peter, james, john and Andrew asked him privately Tell us when will these things be?
Speaker 1:What will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled? Jesus, answering them, began to say Take heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name saying I am he and will deceive many. But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled, for such things must happen. But the end is not yet, for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginning of sorrows. But watch for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils and you will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before rulers and kings for my name's sake, for a testimony to them, and the gospel must first be preached to all the nations. But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand or premeditate what you will speak For. Whatever is given to you in that hour, speak that, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. Now, brother will betray brother to death, and father, his child and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. You will be hated by all, for my name's sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
Speaker 1:So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, standing where it ought not, let the reader understand, and we'll take time to understand that later on then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down into the house nor enter to take anything out of his house, and let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and those who are nursing babies in those days, and pray that your flight may not be in winter, for in those days there will be tribulation Such has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time. Nor shall ever be, ever shall be. And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake, whom he chose, he shortened the days.
Speaker 1:If anyone says to you look, here is the Christ, or look, he is there. Do not believe, for false Christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders, to deceive if possible, even the elect. But take heed, see, I have told you these things beforehand. But in those days after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars of heaven will fall and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory, and he will send his angels and gather together his elect from the four winds and from the farthest part of the earth to the farthest part of heaven.
Speaker 1:Now learn the parable from the fig tree. When its branches already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near at the doors. Assuredly, I say to you this generation will by no means pass away. Till all things take place, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the son, nor the father. Take heed, watch and pray, for you do not know when the time is. It's like a man going to a far country who left his house and gave authority to his servants and each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch, therefore, that you do not know when the master of the house is coming in the evening at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster in the morning, lest coming. Suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all watch, good job, we did it.
Speaker 1:This is the prophetic word of the Olivet Discourse. Lots of stuff here and some stuff that will just kind of make your mind turn around and do backflips, but here it is, this word of prophecy, and I'm going to keep it pretty simple today. We're not going to go too far on any of this, but the word of prophecy, prophecy is one of those things that sells books, doesn't it? It's pretty exciting to us when we hear the word prophecy and we think of prophecy. We think of telling the future before it happens. The word basically means to speak forth the word of God. That's what prophecy means to say what God says. So we see the prophets. Then. They demonstrated this many times. They had their phrase thus saith the Lord, right, king James. They all spoke King James English and they would tell the people what God was saying. What God was saying Sometimes it was a message stop sinning, turn away from your idolatry. Other times it was something that was going to happen.
Speaker 1:The Bible is filled with prophecy. Now get this. That's one of the things that makes this book so special. God in it tells things that are going to happen. He tells it before they happen. He tells the future. Check it out. That's one thing that only God can do is tell the future. Nobody else knows the future but God. He's eternal. He sees the beginning, he sees the end, he knows it all. No big deal for him.
Speaker 1:Now the Bible is filled with prophecies, some over 200 prophecies just about Jesus, specific prophecies. Example of these prophecies Micah, chapter 5, verse 2, lets us know that the Christ will come from Bethlehem, born in Bethlehem. Daniel, chapter 9, lets us know the exact day that he would come in as the Messiah. We saw that just a few, a month or so ago, as he rode into Jerusalem. It was the exact day that Daniel had foretold down to the day. Zechariah, chapter 9, verse 9, says that he'd come riding on a donkey's colt right. Psalm 22 would predict the way that he would die. The psalmist says my hands and my feet are pierced, hands and feet pierced Over a hundred years before crucifixion was even invented. God said this is the way it's gonna go down. And so many more specific prophecies. God does it because, as eternal, he knows the beginning from the end. He sees it all. He knows the beginning from the end. He sees it all.
Speaker 1:In verse 2, chapter 13,. Verse 2, jesus is invoking that same prophetic word. Look at it. He points to this building, the temple, and he says do you see these buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down. Well, jesus was foretelling something that a lot of these disciples would actually see, or maybe read about in the news that less than 40 years later, in AD 70, the general Titus Vespasian would come into Jerusalem.
Speaker 1:Rome had put up with the Jews for a long time. Every so often they would rebel and riot, and finally Rome says that's enough. And so they send Titus, the general, into Jerusalem. They slaughtered so many people, they burned the place. But check it out. Check it out. Command is given to the soldiers, don't mess with the temple. We have invested a lot in this temple.
Speaker 1:Rome says it was beautiful, covered in gold, right, and they were given the order don't touch the temple. Well, somebody, some drunken soldier probably, threw a torch in the temple and it began to burn and the whole temple burned down. Well, as it burned, the gold started to melt and it went into the cracks and crevices there in the pavement. And so, rather than call it a complete loss, they took crowbars and they began to pull that temple apart, brick by brick, to get to the gold that had had melted and went down into the bottom. They tossed all these stones into the valley, and you can see them even today, today. And so, just like Jesus said, against the command of the general, that building was torn apart and not one stone was standing upon the other.
Speaker 1:How did he know that? Well, he was God for one right, but it's. It's God knowing what's going to happen, and he tells it in detail. So this would happen in some of their lifetimes. And we see here that Jesus goes from that point and he goes into the future. He gives a prophetic warning to the disciples. We'll probably look at it in more detail. But look at verse nine another time. But look at verse nine. Watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils and you'll be beaten in the synagogues. You'll be brought before rulers and kings, for my name's sake, as a testimony to them. So Jesus goes on to tell them what their lives were going to be like, and you know the story there as we moved into the book of Acts.
Speaker 1:Times were not always good. They were not good at all. For a lot of people in the early church it meant imprisonment. They were beaten, they were killed for what they believed. And Jesus warns them and says you'll be hated verse 13. You'll be arrested there. In verse 11. And he tells them endure to the end. Now, this is a warning for his disciples.
Speaker 1:But when we get to verse 14, we see something interesting happen. In verse 14, between verse 13 and 14,. In verse 14, between verse 13 and 14, it's almost as if there's a pause to the whole thing. If it was a movie, you'd press pause and go get a snack, and you'd come back a little later and you'd finish it up. It seems like in verse 14, this part has not happened yet. Now God can do that because he's eternal Right.
Speaker 1:The story continues, but there's a little bit of a break. Notice verse 14. He says when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, now this is something that has not happened yet. He says let the reader understand. He's not really talking to the disciples as much at this point. He's looking at us, right? Mark here puts in let the reader. This is for the reader, right? This is not necessarily for the disciples, this is for the reader. You've got to understand what this abomination of desolation is all about and we'll go over it. But it hasn't happened yet. It's sort of a little foreshadowing of it has happened at one point in the past, but this exact thing after the time of Jesus hasn't happened. It didn't happen in AD 70 when Titus came. Now he goes on and he explains even more. Look at verse 19.
Speaker 1:Very important, for in those days there will be tribulation such as not been since the beginning of the creation, which God created until this time, nor ever shall be. So Jesus says, he's explaining it, says it's going to get bad. It's going to get worse than it's ever been. It's never going to be as bad as it will be during this time, this time of tribulation. Now, the time in AD 70 was bad. I mean for the people who went through it, it was absolutely horrific. But honestly, and not to minimize it, honestly, there were things that have happened in history that were probably worse than that, worse genocide than that. So has something worse comes and sent. Yes, so this hasn't been fulfilled yet. There's going to be tribulation that nothing from before, nothing from after, even comes close to how hard it's going to be. Well, that time hasn't come.
Speaker 1:The bible speaks of this time as the great tribulation, and notice how even nature itself is part of this, verse 24. But in those days after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars of heaven will fall and the powers of the heaven will be shaken and they will see the son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. So some natural events the stars falling from the sky don't. Obviously that's not literally possible. But there's some really gnarly stuff. To go back to the California roots, I can't believe I said that gnarly stuff that happens during this tribulation. You can read the book of Revelation to get a taste of it. But unheard of stuff, earth-ending kind of stuff, hasn't happened before. We're still waiting for it. But notice, then they will see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. Jesus will literally come and establish his kingdom on earth. That's how the whole story ends on earth. That's how the whole story ends God will establish his kingdom forever on earth.
Speaker 1:Now some, some believers, even look at this portion of scripture and they say it did happen in AD 70. There's some that say we're not waiting for anything. It happened, and if that were true, I'd have to say that God's kingdom on earth doesn't look real promising, because I watch the news and Jesus is not ruling and reigning on planet Earth Not literally, that's for sure. And so this hasn't happened before. It will happen still in the future and we'll take some time to look at that. Been still in the future and we'll take some time to look at that. Now a couple of things I just want to go over here before we end our time is one a warning and two an encouragement. All right, so a little bit of a warning Now.
Speaker 1:Maybe you're not into prophecy, but for most people it's kind of electrifying. Like I said, if you're gonna write a book in the church, write on the last days and it'll sell, right, current events. Write it. It'll sell lots of copies, because we're drawn to that kind of stuff, aren't we? We're drawn to secret information. Even if we don't believe in fortune cookies, we're still very tempted to see what it has to say to us, right, no superstition there, but you know, hey, if you know something that I don't know, let me know. I want to know. Now. It's the same reason why we love conspiracy theories and we're all waiting for the JFK files, right, we look every day to see if they've been released. We like things that we don't know right now. We like to have that secret information, something that's beyond normal knowledge. And when someone tells us thus saith the Lord, now, I don't know why they would use King James English, but actually, nine times out of 10, that's not a real statistic, by the way I think people do say thus saith the Lord. Right, it sounds good. We love it when people say that kind of stuff to us, because what does God want to say to me Now?
Speaker 1:In the Bible, there are prophets and there are false prophets. True prophets speak the word and it lines up with God's word or it comes to pass. That's how you know a true prophet. Jeremiah 28, 9 says this as for the prophet who prophesies a peace, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet will be known as the one whom the Lord has truly sent. So a sign that a prophet is a real prophet is what they say comes to pass. If not, disregard is what we're told.
Speaker 1:Deuteronomy 18.22 says this when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is a thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not be afraid of him and notice this in Deuteronomy 18.20,. But the prophet who presumes to speak the word in my name, god's name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die right Now. We don't go killing false prophets. It's not something we can or really want to do at this point. But God here says the false prophet, don't listen to him. In that time period, a false prophet shall surely die, or even one that speaks in the name of other gods. Come, follow me to idolatry. God says worship these gods too. Anyone who comes saying those kinds of things, disregard. Right, there are false prophets.
Speaker 1:Now how do we know if they're true? Well, one, what they say comes to pass. But really, if it lines up with God's word, that's a wonderful thing. We have God's word. Signs up with God's word? That's the wonderful thing. We have God's word.
Speaker 1:And according to Hebrews, sorry, malachi 3.6,. False prophet Malachi 3.6 says this for I am the Lord and I do not change, file that in your mind, malachi 3.6,. For I am the Lord and I do not change. God doesn't change. There's no evolution of how God thinks right. What was true back then is true today. God's character doesn't change. Truth doesn't change. So we compare what God has said about himself already and about the future and about our lives, and that will tell us if somebody is true or false. We are safe I'm just from personal experience here. We're safe to be a little skeptical when someone says to us thus saith the Lord Right. It seems that that kind of talk is always a last resort for God Right.
Speaker 1:God tells us the truths of something in his word Due to Exodus, chapter 20,. We have the Ten Commandments Right. God said have no other gods before me, right. And the problem was that people didn't listen to that. People got their own gods. They served idols, things that God specifically said not to do. They didn't listen to that law, and so God sent prophets. But check it out. He had already told them point blank don't have any other gods before me. They wouldn't listen, so God sent someone else. We love to hear, thus saith the Lord, from other people. It's amazing, it's electrifying.
Speaker 1:God told you about me, but know this that if God wants to tell you something, he will tell you first. And knowing how God's conviction, the Holy Spirit, convicts, you'll know what God's telling you Because he'll say it over and over and over again to your heart, day and night. When you wake up, when you go to sleep, he'll be saying you know what that needs to change. If you don't listen, then maybe expect somebody to come to you with a message. You know, I think God might be telling you this. Okay, you know, but it'll only be what God's been telling you, because he has your number. Realize that God won't just come out of the blue with something that he's never said before. Now, I know this because I've been burnt right, I've been burnt over the years and we don't need to get into specifics, but I love the idea that God would tell somebody something for me. Don't fall into that trap. It's a real danger For a story that goes along with this, 1 Kings 13,.
Speaker 1:Go check it out. It's a great, great story there of somebody who didn't listen to what God had said. All right, now those are some warnings. But what does prophecy produce? And this won't take long, right, prophecy produces a right perspective. Look at verse two again. It's the whole deal of Jesus saying these buildings, not one stone, will be left upon another. We talked about it last week, but that's a great perspective to have.
Speaker 1:As God says, all this stuff is gonna burn. I mean that is kind of the last bit of the book of Revelation. None of this stuff now listen, none of this stuff that we hold on to so dearly is gonna be there in the end. None of this stuff and prophecy of God's future judgment setting all things right. It does a lot to kind of sort out what's really important in our hearts. What's really important Eternal things, a relationship with God, our love and ministry to other people. Those things are eternal. So we want to live for those things.
Speaker 1:But look at verse 7. There's also a confidence that it gives us here. He's talking to his disciples. He says you hear of wars and rumors of wars, but do not be troubled. Now, I think this is a message that God gives us. As we look at the last days and the things to come, we see our world falling apart and yet we realize that God has a glorious end in the future. So those things are important. But the last thing I want us to see here today is that it gives us an awareness. Look at verse 5. Jesus, answering them, began to say take heed, take heed. That's an awareness. Also, in verse 9, it says watch. Verse 23,. Again, again, take heed. Verse 33, 35 and 37 watch right. So put all those words together uh, watch, take heed, be ready, kind of thing. Uh, an understanding of the last days and what's going to happen should make us aware of things around us, the way things really are.
Speaker 1:We tend to zone out, and maybe it is getting close to lunch, maybe you're getting to that point right now. I'm almost done, but a couple of days ago I got to get a story in for going to say a couple of days ago, get a story in, for goodness sake. A couple days ago, I was walking out of my mom's house and I decided to check my pulse. I just felt a little high. I'm checking my pulse and I was standing on the path over there and I checked it. Oh, that's surprisingly good. And as I looked down I saw, about a foot away from my foot, about a three foot long snake. Now you know how much I love snakes, right, but I would never let myself get that close to a snake, even if it wasn't a bad snake, it was an okay snake. We let it live. But you know, I was so spaced out and in my own little world I didn't even notice. It was right there next to me and I never saw me move so quick. You know, surprise, and you know that's the way we can be in life. That's why, in Ephesians, paul says walk circumspectly, right, look around Now. I do look around now. I look all over the place now, because we've had a lot of snakes and that's the way I live around. This property is looking around circumspectly. But check it out.
Speaker 1:Jesus tells us these things not just so that people can write a book about it, not just to make people nervous, but to make people aware. There's a biblical principle called eminence, right, and the idea is that Jesus could come back at any time and notice. We won't look too much in depth, but Jesus tells a story about it there in verse 34. It says it's like a man going to a far country who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and each to his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch.
Speaker 1:Therefore, you do not know when the master of the house is coming, and that's a biblical principle. We're all God's servants and the key is to be ready for when he comes, that we're doing the right thing. You'd want that at your job, right? Don't you hate it when you're just having to be the one moment that you're goofing off or something Not that any of you would ever goof off, but you know you're on your phone and the boss comes around and you know there's that feeling of dread, like now what you know. Well, jesus here says it's like that. Well, jesus here says it's like that. You don't know when the master is coming. Live in such a way that you're always ready, doing what pleases the master, not just because of fear, but because isn't that what you want, isn't that what we all want? To be found doing what God has for us to do, not absorbed in some worthless thing. And so this whole idea that one day God's going to set all things right and Jesus says nobody knows a day or hour when it's going to come to pass in completion. But we want to be ready, and so that's as we study this more. That's where it should bring us to this point, where it really gives us an urgency to live for what really matters, not waste our time with things that don't matter, not live in ways that will be unpleasing or displeasing, I guess, to the Lord when he comes. So, God, we do look around in our world and we know that these things could happen 100 years from now, but we also know that there's nothing that we're waiting for, god. Some stuff seems like it's right at the door, and yet we want to be ready and we want to be pleasing you, god. We want these things to change our life, this idea that you can come at any time, god. I pray that as we take a few weeks and look at this passage, I pray that it be more than just something fascinating to know. But, god, you would change our hearts, god, that we would live for eternity. So, god, help these things to apply to our own hearts today. Thank you so much for the way that you love us, and we give you our week and everything before us In Jesus' name amen.