QT 1/12/2024 Mark 13:1-8, The church age is rapidly coming to a close

Mark 13:1–8 (ESV) —

1 And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” 2 And 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.”

3 And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” 5 And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.

 

NOTE: The Mount of Olives discourse is a difficult passage to understand unless all three gospels are looked at together. There are actually three questions (sign for end of age, sign for fall of Jerusalem, and sign for Jesus return), they are not answered all in one gospel, but are answered in all three gospels together. The prophecy of the huge temple stones being thrown down (verse 2) was fulfilled in 70AD, when the temple was burnt and the stones were all toppled and rolled in order to find the gold that had melted and seeped into the cracks. Verses 5-7 depict the characteristics of the church age, currently almost 2000 years old. Basically, Jesus says there will be cults and there will be wars throughout the whole period. Life will not be easy, but just "uneasiness" and death are not signs of the end times.

 

Verse 8 answers the question about the sign for the end of the age (church age). The sign uses a Jewish idiom, "nation against nation, and kingdom against kingdom." The idiom refers to war that is non-regional and does not have to involve borders, or wars that occur between multiple nations that are far away from each other, essentially world wars. The first of those wars occurred in 1914. Again in 1939 with WW 2. We might add the Arab and Israeli wars of 1948 and 1973 when multiple nations took sides supporting one of the factions. In that period, we should add Korea and Vietnam, 1950 and 1965, as multiple nations in and outside of the region took part. We should also add 1990 when a coalition of nations attacked Kuwait and Iraq. And again in 2001, when a coalition of nations attacked Afghanistan (and Islamic nations supported Afghanistan). Most recently when a coalition of nations supporting Ukraine against Russia and its supporters in 2022. Most recently is 2023 with the many nations supporting Hamas, and others supporting Israel. So, my short list is 1914, 1939, 1948, 1950, 1965, 1973, 1990, 2001, 2022, and 2023. At this point, the birth pangs do not appear to be getting worse (years apart): 25, 9, 2, 15, 8, 17, 11, 21, and 1, but I probably have not included all cases (and some cases could be arguably added together). The thing that is most striking is the involvement of US in most of these cases is what makes the battles non-regional.

 

PONDER:

1. We do not know the time and date of Jesus return, but we are to watch for the signs and to understand the seasons. Are we watching?
2. Are we sharing our faith with others?

 

PRAYER: The time is coming and is not far when the church age will end. Are we living for Jesus or for the world? Lord I want to be living for you.