Mark 13:1–14:1 The future is secure

Mark 13:1–14:1

Horoscopes, crystal balls, palm reading, tarot cards, runes, tea leaf reading, gypsy fortune tellers, clairvoyants – all these speak of a deep-seated desire to know our future. Most of us realise that’s impossible, and so laugh at the con artists I just mentioned – but the desire is still there. What’s going to happen in the future? Who wouldn’t like to peer into their future and see what’s happening? Especially if it’s good! Happy marriage, healthy, happy kids, still Christian... whatever it is, it would make it easier, wouldn’t it. Ah, I’ve made it. The anxiety disappears. I’ve made it, I’ll be alright.

Or even if it’s bad, if the way you’re currently heading is heading straight for disaster, wouldn’t you like to know now, so that you can change it? Avoid it? Dodge it somehow? Change the course of your life like Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol”: a miserable old man sitting alone with his bags of money to a cheery old man shouting “Merry Christmas everyone!” and spreading joy and good cheer wherever he goes.

And that’s what Jesus says here. Hey, the future is secure. But for the Jewish nation, the future in wait is a terrible one. They did not listen to Jesus. They did not repent. And we know from history that what Jesus said would happen did happen. This is not “Back to the Future” where Marty manages to save the day, or A Christmas Carol where Scrooge repents. No, this is the reality where Scrooge snarls “go away” to the ghosts showing him the truth – and where the Jewish leaders crucify their saviour and King.

1. The Temple will fall

The discussion about the future starts because of the disciples adoring their Temple building. They were proud of their spiritual heritage. It seemed immovable, secure, indestructible – like their relationship with God. They were God’s chosen race, God’s favour would forever rest upon them.

Really? We’ve just heard Jesus say 12:9 “What will the owner (God) of the vineyard (Israel) do? He will destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.”

We saw the last couple of weeks how the Jewish leaders have rejected Jesus. The slithered up to him to attack him with clever questions designed to make him look foolish – but instead Jesus challenged them, exposing their hypocrisy, showing them that they did not love God, but themselves, and calling them to repentance. But instead of repenting, they fall silent, and ask him no more questions – when they should have been pleading for mercy “How can we be saved Jesus?”.

But, no, the elders, chief priests and scribes, representing Israel, have rejected the cornerstone, the foundation stone, the very basis of their religious life! Jesus says in 12:10 Have you not read this Scripture: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 11 this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes’?”

You know, my great-granny was once a little bit foolish. She decided that she wanted to more space downstairs, so she decided to lower the basement floor. So she merrily started digging away the foundations! As you can guess the house started leaning alarmingly to one side. And still does. If you go into the corner of the lounge in the old house on the farm, you’ll notice the floor slopes away to the corner. Thankfully she had the presence of mind to stop digging, unlike one poor fellow I heard who carried on digging until his whole house collapsed!

If you dig away the foundations, the house cannot stand. Israel has rejected its foundation, and the Temple cannot, will not, stand.

13:2 Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.
Of course, the disciples’ next question is “When?!”

That’s devastating news. Imagine you’d just received a report – there will be a colossal earthquake in Notodden. “When! When!” we’d all cry out- both terrified and a little bit transfixed by the horror that is to come.

Jesus’ answer, like much prophecy, does two things at once. He talks about the immediate future that happened in AD70 when the Temple was destroyed AND he talks about the final judgement that is still to come.
For we, like Israel, have rejected our cornerstone, and heaven and earth will be shaken, and only what is holy and good and pure will be left, only that built on the unshakeable foundation of Jesus and his grace and truth. Only what is in Christ will stand at the end.

The question is: will you? Where do you stand? Have you rejected the cornerstone? Or do you rest on him? Is your life built on him? If so, remember that He is unshakeable. All that rests on him is unshakeable. You are, in him, eternally unshakeable. Your future is secure. Do not worry about the future. You belong to him.

The Temple may fall – but Jesus will stand, forever.

So,

2. Do not be lead astray

Only Jesus is unshakeable, so don’t be lead away from him. Jesus starts off with all of Christian history in mind in verses 5-13 (the “birth pangs” of the new Creation), then zooms in to the destruction of Israel in AD70 in verses 14-18, then uses the destruction of Israel as a warning of the final judgement to come in verses 19-27.

The world before Christ’s return is marked by three things: false religion, human conflict, and natural disasters.

First, false religion: 5 See that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. And 21 And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. 23 But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.

Jesus warns us of the dangers to come: people pretending to be him (false christs) and people pretending to speak for him (false prophets). We have seen this throughout church history, and I’ll spend a little bit of time on this:

· men like Origen, who, amongst other things, claimed that Christ death would reconcile all people, even those who rejected him. Therefore there is no final judgement, and no hell. Today many continue with this false teaching, most notably Rob Bell in his book “Love Wins”. Jesus spoke more about Hell than any other topic. I’d rather listen to his words of truth, however uncomfortable, than the pleasant-sounding lies of Origen and Bell!

· Arius (Arianism denies that Jesus is God, like Jehovah’s Witnesses today),

· Macedonius (who denied the Holy Spirit is God), and

· Sabellius (who said that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were three appearances of the same person (i.e. like God is wearing three different masks) rather than three persons in one Godhead),

· Marcion, who thought the God of the Old Testament was a different God;

· and Gnostic philosophies, arising 150 or so years after Jesus’ resurrection, like Docetism (which claimed that Jesus’ physical body was an illusion, i.e.: he was not fully human, merely appeared human);

· and others like Antinomianism (which divides the spirit and matter and says therefore that what we do in the body doesn’t matter, so we can sin as much as we want in the body because our spirit is saved).

So be on your guard! There’s lots of false teaching about. Know the Bible. Signs and wonders are no guarantee of truth. Are you impressed by the conmen in white suits on “Christian” TV because they do miracles and wave the Bible about and occasionally throw the name of Jesus about? Their words are poison, not truth. Man-centred salesman, selling you the lie of “Your Best Life Now” which is all about money and status rather than picking up your cross and following our Lord Jesus, claiming that you can be “Dreaming with God” or say “Good Morning, Holy Spirit” while, like Macedonius, treating the Holy Spirit like the Force from Star Wars whom we can channel to do our bidding, rather than the Almighty God.

Do not believe them, says Jesus! 22 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. 23 But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.

Be on your guard, Jesus has told us these things beforehand. Know his word, and you will be fine. Did you notice that “the elect” will not be deceived. Why? Because the elect know the voice of the Master. We love the Bible, we love hearing his voice, and so we will not be swayed from the truth. And that love is something we are given by the Spirit.

I’ve spoken a fair bit about dangers inside the church, but, of course, there are those outside the church who claim to speak for God: Muhammed, who claims to be a prophet of God, but contradicts what Jesus says. So who’s right, Jesus or Muhammed? Muhammed may have been a great and mighty man, but he never healed the sick, nor raised the dead, nor died for his followers – and today he is still in his grave, whereas Jesus is risen from the dead and seated upon the throne of heaven.
Likewise Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormons, who also claimed to speak for God. There are numerous “prophets”, many on “Christian” TV claiming to speak for God but contradicting the teaching of Scripture. And men like Sun Myung Moon founder of the South Korean “Unification Church” who claimed to be Jesus and taught that obedience to him would lead to salvation.

And then there’s the continuous wars, fighting, conflict between people groups all throughout history, nation rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom. We are a bloodthirsty race, fighting, fighting, fighting. Wars and rumours of wars (v7) aptly describes our history.

And then there’s the natural disasters: earthquakes, famine.

Does all this make you anxious?
Don’t be. Jesus has told us this beforehand. He has not lost control of the world, but is leading it towards its final end. He is Lord of history, allowing a limited amount of evil in order to cause men to repent, but storing up punishment for every evil act. One day it will all be dealt with. And what a glorious, terrifying day that will be. Do not be lead astray, for

3. Judgement will fall

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.

The tribulation, literally “troubled times”, is how the Bible talks about the world we live in. But there will come an end, when the world will be shaken, and Jesus returns.

How do we know this will happen? Because v 14-18 happened exactly as Jesus said it would. In AD70 the Roman army smashed a Jewish rebellion, and destroyed the Temple, planting their standards at the Temple altar, proclaiming allegiance to the Roman Emperor-God. That is the “the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be”. The Roman flag in the ruins of the Temple.
In the following nearly 2000 years the Temple has never been rebuilt (Jesus is the new Temple! There’s no need for it).

The rest of v14-18 describe the terrible suffering in those first Jewish wars, when Roman armies invaded Palestine. This took place only a generation after the death of Christ (v30 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place), and the Jewish Christian church would have shared in the general suffering. Tradition says that the Christians fled to Pella in Transjordan (the mountains), taking Jesus’ warning to heart. V20 possibly means that the Romans could have wiped out the church, and therefore if God had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved.

AD70 warns us of the judgement to come. Jesus words will not pass away (V31). They were true of AD70, they are true of the judgement to come.

So do not be fooled. One day, at an hour we do not know, not even the Son know, but only the Father (V32) – so all you idiots trying to figure it out and proclaiming set dates can stop right now, that’s not the point! – one day he WILL return. So be on your guard.

28 From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.

Look at our world. Read the newspapers. What do you see? Wars and rumours of wars. Earthquakes and famines. False teachers performing miracles to lead astray the elect, if that were possible. See the signs. And know that he is near, at the very gates.

Judgement will fall. It has done so in the past, according to the word of the Lord. And it will do so again.

So what are we do to?

4. Stay awake!

33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

What does it mean to “stay awake”? It is this: to live as servants of the king, each busy with his own work. We are called to obedient service, service like the disciples are called to. For they were called to live as Christian people in a hostile world, and called to proclaim the gospel no matter what the consequences.

Let’s have a look at what Jesus commands the disciples to be busy with:

9 But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. 10 And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. 11 And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. 12 And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. 13 And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Endure to the end. Trust Christ. Do not give up. They would receive revelation from the Holy Spirit, which, by God’s grace, they wrote down for us, so that we too will not be anxious but know what to say. (Remember Jesus is speaking not to us but to the twelve. There is no excuse here for lazy Christians not knowing the Bible, but expecting the Spirit to give us the words. The Spirit gave His words to the disciples, and we are to use those inspired words to endure to the end.)

Stay awake by reading the Bible, praying, telling others about Jesus, and living like a loved son or daughter of God. You are a servant of the Master. Live like it! Every moment of every day, that is your identity. You belong to him. You are his.

To sum up then:

Do not be anxious. Our future is secured by the blood of Jesus. If you belong to Jesus, the day will come when he will gather you from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. You will meet him face to face. Secure. Safe.

But if you do not belong to him, the opposite is equally as sure. You will be shaken, and there will be no rescue.

The Temple will fall, did fall. So do not be lead astray by false teachers – only Christ holds the truth, no-one else, and only he can hold you secure against the judgement to come. And it will come. So be on your guard and stay awake! Stay awake by reading the Bible, praying, telling others about Jesus, and living like a loved son or daughter of God, secure, unshakeable, in Christ. Amen.