Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign
[00:00:04] Speaker B: welcome to Hope for Today, a weekly Bible teaching program that will bring you hope for every day.
Thanks so much for joining us. This program is produced by Heralds of Hope, where our goal is to use media to make disciples.
We hope everyone will be a disciple of Jesus and if you already are, we hope you will be encouraged and grow in your relationship with Him. Last time we had our first lesson from Mark 13.
Today we continue this journey. Mark 13 is an incredible chapter in the Bible. No other book predicts the future so accurately as this book, and this chapter has many future events that are predicted.
That being said, all of Jesus prophecies are not immediately clear and obvious. It takes humility and wisdom on our part to read, understand and apply this teaching to our lives.
This will require effort, but since he is our Master, we are willing and thankfully he helps us. Turn to mark 13 and let's learn together as J Mark shares this lesson
[00:01:18] Speaker A: with us as Christ followers. The details of the future are hidden from us.
However, Scripture has many predictive prophecies that tell us how God will bring human history to its conclusion.
Predictive prophecy makes up about one quarter of the Bible, and so we ignore it at our own peril.
The Apostle Paul wrote this in 2 Timothy 3, 16:17 All Scripture is God breathed and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.
All Scripture is God breathed and profitable, so that should motivate us to study the Scriptures, including the prophetic portions.
Our goals on Hope for Today are to promote biblical literacy, solid exegesis, and clear application of the Scripture to our lives.
With that goal in mind, we continue our study in Mark's Gospel.
Today's text is Mark chapter 13 and verses 14 to 27 titled the Coming of the Son of Man.
Listen as I read that portion of scripture Mark 13, beginning with verse 14.
So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing where it ought not let the reader understand, 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 clothing.
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 the winter, for in those days there will be tribulation.
Such has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, nor 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.
Then if anyone says to you, look, here is Christ, or look, he's there, do not believe it. 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 of heaven will be shaken.
Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
And then he will send his angels and gather together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to, uh, the farthest part of heaven.
The details in this text alert us to the specific signs that point to the coming of the Son of Man.
The first detail is the, uh, abomination of desolation.
That sounds scary.
Where should we go in Scripture to learn more about this?
Thankfully, Jesus tells us that the prophet Daniel spoke about this.
So remember this Jesus, the Son of God, authenticates Daniel's writings as the Word of God. And here are the last two verses of Daniel, chapter nine.
And after 62 weeks, Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.
Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. But in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abomination shall be the one who makes desolate, even until the consummation which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.
Without going into much detail on Daniel's vision, let's make a few observations.
The entire period is precisely specified as 70 weeks.
And clearly, as you study Daniel, these are weeks of years.
And these 70 weeks are divided into three seven weeks, and then a period of 62 weeks and then a, ah, final week.
The beginning of these 70 weeks is stated to be from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem.
And then the end of the seven weeks plus the 62 weeks or a total of 69 weeks, will be marked by the appearance of the Messiah, the prince.
At a later time after the 69 weeks, Messiah the prince will be cut off and Jerusalem will again be destroyed by the people of another prince who is yet to come.
After these events, the 70th week will come, and the beginning of this final week is marked by the establishment of a firm covenant or a treaty between the prince who is to come and the Jewish nation. For one week in the middle of this final week, the prince will break the covenant, causing the sacrifice to cease and ushering in a time of great wrath.
Finally, with the full completion of the 70 weeks, there will be a time of tremendous and unparalleled blessing upon the nation of Israel. Verse 24.
And so, between the 69th and the 70th weeks, there is an undisclosed or undetermined amount of time.
Jesus use of the phrase abomination of desolation means the detestable thing of desolation.
It is a person, thing or event that defiles a holy place and that causes it to be abandoned.
It implies that God detests this thing or this action.
Now we know the Romans desecrated the temple in 70 A.D.
when they razed it to the ground.
And these facts remind us that many prophecies have a dual reference supporting this concept. We know that early Christians in Jerusalem fled the city in 70 A.D. in response to Jesus warnings.
Just as in the past, so in the future, Jesus warned about the timing of this coming destruction.
I conclude that the prophecy of Daniel's 70th week is still in the future because Jesus said that this desecration of the holy place will be followed by a time of tribulation unlike any previous season and greater than any that will ever occur after it. That's verse 19.
The warnings of, uh, verses 15 through 18 seem to relate more specifically to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
The predominant theme seems to be the need for haste.
While we may not know or understand all the details of the future, we can be assured that Jesus did not speak these words in vain.
The next detail that we note then, leading up to the coming of the Son of Man, is the great tribulation.
In verse 19 of our text. Jesus predicted the severe persecution that will accompany this time of tribulation.
He said, for in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be.
Daniel also speaks of this time in Daniel chapter 12 and verse 1. And the prophet Jeremiah refers to this event as the time of Jacob's trouble, Jeremiah 34:10.
This tribulation will follow the breaking of the covenant mentioned in Daniel 9:27.
I talked about that earlier.
The prince who is to come will break his covenant with the Jewish people during Daniel's 70th week, and he will set up an image of himself in the temple as God.
Paul refers to this character as the man of sin. In 2 Thessalonians 2, John refers to him as the Antichrist in his Epistles, and then as the beast in the book of Revelation.
During this time of unparalleled suffering, false prophets and many false messiahs will arise. They will offer a supposed way out of the troubles.
But Jesus warning to his disciples was, and don't believe them.
And Paul gave us a similar warning in 2 Thessalonians 2, 5, 12.
Just as there were Jewish false prophets between the time of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem, they will also persist in the gap between Daniel's 69th and 70th weeks.
That is the time in which we live.
False prophets create troubles, and false Christs offer a supposed way out of those troubles.
The false message of these deceivers will be accompanied by signs and wonders, so that if it were possible, they can deceive even the very elect.
John describes them in Revelation 13, Jesus warned his listeners, but take heed, I have told you all these things beforehand.
We have a saying, to be forewarned is to be forearmed.
Deception is all around us today.
Some is subtle and others is very much out in the open.
We must take Jesus warning to heart so we are not deceived.
And then a final detail of the coming of the Son of Man is coming in the clouds.
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 of the heaven will be shaken.
Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven.
Mark equates these cosmic disturbances with a time of unprecedented worldwide persecution of God's ancient chosen earthly people, the believing Jews.
Jesus states that the powers of heaven will be shaken and the normal processes of the universe will be out of balance.
Further, Jesus said, the Son of Man will gather his elect from the tip of the earth to the tip of heaven. As I understand the Scriptures, these elect are Jewish people who embrace Messiah because according to 1 Thessalonians 4, 13:18, the church, the bride of Christ has already been removed before this time.
The expression of Jesus coming in the clouds of heaven is found in numerous other places in Scripture at, uh, Jesus ascension. He was received by a cloud in Paul's teaching from 1 Thessalonians 4:17.
The church is caught up into the air to meet the Lord in the clouds.
Yes, the Son of Man is coming. He has given us specific signs to look for, and while we may not fully understand all the events or their exact timing, we are repeatedly warned to watch and to be prepared for his return.
We must heed those warnings.
[00:13:06] Speaker B: The Son of Man is coming.
Amen. Thanks, JMarc, for sharing this lesson with us. It is true we may not understand how the exact events and details of this chapter will all work out, but we can understand enough to know how important it is to be ready. Our lives are not pointless. Each person is valuable and the choices we make are very important. God help us take these things to heart and serve him with all we have.
If you have any questions or would like to contact us for any reason, please do.
Here is how you can reach us. Our email address is hopeheraldsofhopeuh.org or you can contact us via our, uh, website. Go to heraldsofhope.org there you will find Contact us under the Partner tab on the top right. Click on that to message us directly. We'd love to hear from you. As, uh, JMARC was sharing, I thought about the last verse here in Mark, chapter 13.
While some of these verses are hard to understand, the last one is not. It is very clear and to the point and it is a good reminder for me and you. Here it is, uh, what I say to you, I say to everyone.
Watch.
