After Darkness, Light

This sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To access other sermons or to learn more about us, please visit our website at graceedmonton .ca.

John Calvin, Post-Tenebrous Lux, and the Theme of Darkness and Light

Sometime between the year 1530 and the year 1533, a young man named John Calvin came to saving faith in Christ. Up until that point, for the first at least 21 years of his life, he was a devoted Roman Catholic.

But at that decisive moment, when God effectually called him to trust in Christ, he threw away all semblance of self-righteousness, all personal merit, and he cast himself upon the grace of God by faith in Jesus Christ.

And if you know anything about John Calvin, one of the things that you will know for certain is that almost immediately after his conversion, God placed in Calvin's heart an insatiable desire to study the Word of God, to know the Word, to expound upon the Word.

In fact, at his conversion, he said this, he said, Scripture is like a pair of spectacles which dispels the darkness and gives us a clear view of God. And with an interest in seeking that clear view of God and of making that knowledge widely known, Calvin gave himself to the study of Scripture.

And I find his example just tremendously encouraging and challenging. And we'll get into that in a second. But it was always Calvin's intent to live a solitary life of study. As a matter of fact, when Calvin was first saved, he didn't consider himself a pastor, but he wanted to be a theologian and a scholar.

And he wanted to stay really out of the limelight. And he wanted to read and to write to his heart's content. And I'm sure there's many of us in this room that can probably relate to that. Just to be locked in a room full of good books and the good book, God's holy word, and to just study to your heart's content.

That was Calvin's intent. But one night as he was traveling, he had to travel from Basel in France to Strasbourg, which is just a short distance straight north. He found himself having to travel through the city of Geneva in Switzerland.

And if you look on a map, what you'll find actually is that if you were to go from Basel to Strasbourg, Geneva is in exactly the wrong direction. What had happened was King Charles V had sent his troops in that particular area and were blocking the route.

And so in God's providence, instead of going directly north, he had to first go south to Geneva and then the roundabout way to Strasbourg. And as he was in Geneva, he was only in Geneva for one night, there was another reformer named William Farrell.

And William Farrell had heard about John Calvin. Calvin had started to make a name for himself. People came to know some of his works that were known at that time and known today still as Calvin's Institutes.

And so knowing that there was this brilliant theologian in Geneva, William Farrell came to John Calvin and implored him, instead of going to Strasbourg, to stay in Geneva. He said that Calvin's efforts were better spent not serving in the ivory towers of academia, but serving Christ's people in the local church.

I'm so grateful that William Farrell came. And he was so insistent on this that he even issued a curse against John Calvin. Imagine being in that position where you have your books, you have your plan for your life.

And this man said to him, Calvin writes, he proceeded to utter imprecations. Whenever anyone utters imprecations about you or toward you, you're in trouble. Imprecations that God would curse my retirement in the tranquilities of my studies, which I sought if I should withdraw and refuse to give assistance when the necessity was so urgent.

By this imprecation, Calvin says, I was so stricken with terror that I desisted from my journey, which I had undertaken. Now what a church growth strategy that is. When someone comes to visit just for a day and you say, let God curse you if you leave us here now.

So what did Calvin do? But Calvin stayed, with some interruptions, but stayed in Geneva and pastored there for over 25 years. And his ministry in the word of God is something that I find just spectacular.

Probably something that my wife would think would be crazy if I would ever try to replicate this. But he would preach twice every Sunday and then two times a day, every weekday, every second week. And so what he would end up with is one week he would preach two services on a Sunday and then wouldn't preach again until the following Sunday.

But then the alternating week he would preach, by my knowledge, from Sunday to Sunday 14 times every second week. So an amazing pace. And there he devoted himself to the systematic expository preaching of God's word.

He preached 123 sermons on Genesis. He preached 200 sermons on Deuteronomy. 186 sermons on Corinthians. His church went through Ephesians and just under 50 sermons. He preached 353 consecutive sermons on Isaiah.

He had a faithful and a patient church. And he was certainly a faithful expositor in that respect. And he kept up this frenetic pace for such a lengthy period of time that on one particular month he found that he had only preached in that particular month 20 sermons and 12 lectures.

So 32 speaking engagements in 31 days. And he said, how I lamented. I have scarcely done anything. I'm almost ashamed to live thus useless. But it was in the midst of this ministry of the word. You're wondering where am I going with this?

It was in this midst of this ministry of the word that Calvin coined the phrase. A phrase that I have come to know and love. Post-Tenebrous Looks. Post-Tenebrous Looks. Translated from the Latin to English.

After darkness, light. After years of spiritual darkness. Years of the Roman Catholic Church obscuring God's word in the dark and dead language that was the Latin mass. The light of God's written revelation was finally allowed to shine forth.

And so Calvin worked relentlessly so that light would go out. And so rather than reciting the Bible in an unknown tongue to a lost and confused people, the Bible was read and preached in the heart language of the saints of God in every place.

Rather than the gospel being hidden under a veil of godless self-righteousness and the sale of indulgences, it was released to be understood and believed on by the priest and the plow boy alike. Post-Tenebrous Looks.

After darkness, light. And the reason I bring this up is because that phrase, after darkness, light, is really the theme of today's text. We're returning. We heard our brother read just a moment ago the book of Mark now, the gospel of Mark now in chapter 13.

And we're continuing to study this Olivet discourse. And what we will find in today's text is that we are going to deal with really what are some bleak and disturbing, or sorry, the bleak and disturbing prevalence of darkness in this world.

But it's a bleak and disturbing darkness leading up to Christ's second coming. It would appear, as we study, that the world is going to get worse before it gets better as we await Christ's final return.

However, what we will also see is that this dismal darkness that is characterized by moral and spiritual confusion is going to be consumed by the blinding light of Christ's parousia. Parousia. There we go.

His second coming. Christ's parousia. His second coming. This tribulation. The tribulation of this confused and godless world will give way to the return of Christ and of everlasting joy in his presence.

Darkness and then light. And so what we're going to do today, I mentioned it just before we prayed, is we're going to dive into this text. It's going to be a teaching-heavy sermon. So I acknowledge that up front, but I think it's going to be a very enjoyable teaching-heavy sermon.

And what we're going to do here is we're going to find that Christ teaches us how to prepare for the darkness of the end times with our hope set on his luminous return. So we're going to look really simply, for those of you guys who have been studying the mechanics of expository preaching, you'll notice my headings.

I'm taking some things and I'm learning. We're going to be looking at only three words for each of the points. We're going to look together at what it means to prepare for Christ's coming by understanding, by being watchful, and then by being hopeful.

And so we'll dive into the text. I'll warn you up front, the first point is heavier than all the rest. They're not all this long, but we need to spend a good period of time here just setting the stage for what's to come.

So let's read verse 14 together. But when you see the abomination of desolation, standing where he ought not to, not to be, let the reader understand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

So the first word that I want us to explore together now is this word understanding. Preparing for the end times, preparing for the last days, preparing for Christ's return demands understanding. This was at the forefront of the mind of Christ and his apostles when these words were uttered and when it was written here in the Gospel of Mark.

In verse 14 we read this reference to the abomination of desolation, and then Mark adds these inspired words in parentheses, let the reader understand. If we're to be prepared for the second coming of Christ and the difficulty that will precede it, we must be wise as to what is to come.

And so it begs the question, first of all, what are we to understand as we look to Christ's return? What are we to understand? What is it, dear Christian, as I think it's interesting, a reader of this text, not just a hearer there on the Mount of Olives, but what is the modern reader to understand?

Here Christ makes reference to this abomination of desolation. It's really a combination of two Greek words that would refer to something or someone as detestable or repugnant. You might say an abomination is something that is sacrilegious.

And then desolation, something that brings grief, something that is devastating, something that brings about ruin. And Christ says that this abomination of desolation will stand, he says, where he ought not to.

Now if we were to go to the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 24, what we would find is that Matthew is a bit more specific where he says the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place, and so standing in the temple.

So certainly what we find is that Christ takes these words, abomination of desolation, directly out of the book of Daniel. And what we'll find in order to understand this passage really and truly is we need to have a sound understanding of the Old Testament.

So many people don't understand this text because they don't understand the Old Testament, and they don't understand the Old Testament texts that refer to it. And so what I want to do is I'm going to give you three references and consider this homework for this week to go back and look at these three passages.

I'll recite the references slowly. In Daniel, look at Daniel chapter 9 in verse 27, Daniel chapter 11 in verse 31, and Daniel chapter 12 in verse 11. And what we'll do is we'll look just briefly at one of those references together, one that I think fits best with the context of what Christ is saying here in Mark chapter 13.

And so Daniel chapter 11 in verse 31 says this, forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering, and they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate.

Now what is Christ referring to as he harkens back to Daniel chapter 11 and in this abomination of desolation? First of all, I think that what we need to do is understand the historical context. This passage that we read in Daniel chapter 9, 11, and 12, chapters 9, 11, and 12 was really partially fulfilled in an event that took place in 168 BC.

And so that intertestamental period between the Old Testament and between the New Testament. And in 168 BC, Antiochus Epiphanes IV, where we read, invaded the Jewish temple. And there while he was in the Jewish temple, he erected a pagan altar in the most holy place.

The very most holy place that was found in the temple. And with that pagan altar, he put a pig on the altar. Now kids, if you were a Jew in Old Testament Israel, were you allowed to eat bacon? No. And do you know why you weren't allowed to eat bacon?

What's that, sorry? Not quite. It wasn't used as a sacrifice, but any adults want to help? It was ceremoniously unclean. It was absolutely unclean. If you were to be a Jew, a faithful Jew, you could never be a pig farmer.

If you were to be a faithful Jew, you were never having bacon with your eggs in the morning. And so what happened when Antiochus Epiphanes IV slaughtered a pig on a pagan altar in the most holy place, was he desecrated the temple.

It was one of the most unclean animals in the Jewish mind. Sacrificed in the most holy place. But we know that this is only a partial fulfillment of Daniel chapter 12 because here Christ references this abomination here again.

But speaking now of future events, and this is one of the most debated passages in all of scripture, what is this abomination of desolation? What I want us to do is consider this, that there really are four options for what this abomination of desolation could possibly be.

This abomination of desolation could be, some might argue, a statue of Caligula. Now you heard me last week say that Caligula had attempted to erect a statue of himself in the temple in AD 40, shortly, a few short years after Christ.

And one of the areas I realized as I went back and did more study this week is I misspoke, so I need to clarify the facts. The statue of Caligula never actually made it inside the temple. It was his intent, and as they were preparing to bring the statue into the temple, many of the Jews, many of the peasant Jews, blocked the way into the temple.

And it was really fighting words for the Jewish people. And so based on that opposition and on some information from some of the local leaders, eventually Caligula gave up on trying to get his statue in the temple.

And so what you might say is option one could be Caligula's statue. But what I would say is that was almost an abomination of desolation. Nevertheless, some people would argue that's what Christ is speaking about here.

Others would have argued, or have argued, that during the final death throes of the fall of Jerusalem, in this battle between Jerusalem and Rome, the zealots, shortly before AD 70, while they were engaged in the heat of battle, entered into the temple precincts, entered into the holy place of the temple.

And because they were not authorized to enter into this holy place, they desecrated the temple. Honored theologians like R .C. Sproul are people that hold this particular view, that this desecration firstly speaks of the zealots entering into the temple, and that it was more fully satisfied or more fully fulfilled in what came next.

R .C. Sproul would not only point to the zealots entering the temple, but the third option as well, that the abomination of desolation was fulfilled ultimately when Titus, the future emperor of Rome, entered into the temple, into the holy place, and there as he stood in that holy place, he ordered the destruction of the temple.

And I think that this view needs to actually be seriously considered. Here was a pagan, the future emperor of Rome, the persecutor of the Jews, who was an abomination by all accounts, who made the temple literally, physically, completely desolate.

In fact, his complete destruction of the temple embodied the common use of that Greek word for desolation, which meant a deserted wilderness. Titus turned the temple into a deserted wilderness, and we heard about that last week, how it was almost unrecognizable as a city.

So we have, just to recap, we have option one, Caligula, option two, the zealots, option three, Titus, and then there's a fourth option. And some would argue that this abomination of desolation is something that is yet to be realized, that this abomination is ultimately fulfilled in what scripture calls the man of lawlessness, or in the common vernacular, the antichrist.

Certainly most futurists would hold this position. So if you already hear men like John MacArthur, Stephen Lawson, John Piper, men that we love and appreciate, they would say this abomination of desecration is a future antichrist.

And for us as readers to understand, to understand what is being said, we have to choose an option, or at least I would say a combination of options. And as I noted last week, I think the most faithful interpretation of this text, if we look at it in its context and try to interpret it rightly, apart from any system trying to influence us, and if we want to take what I would consider to be the safest approach, it is to appreciate that this passage describes both that which preceded the fall of Jerusalem, that which occurred before AD 70, and in addition to, all that will precede the final return of Christ.

And we see this, I'm not being novel here, this is a position that's widely held, but it's also a position that we see over and over again in Old Testament prophecy. And a perfect example is in the life of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's something that's often referred to as prophetic foreshortening, where we see a passage that, in fact, has multiple fulfillments. And a crystal clear example of that is the servant song, or all of the messianic prophecies in the Old Testament.

Many would have read those prior to the day of Christ and would have anticipated the coming of a Messiah. But very few would have recognized that those prophecies would be fulfilled not in one coming, but in two comings.

And so you see multiple events that are fulfilled in one prophecy. I would suggest that this is the same. And I want to briefly argue for that. I'm building the foundation here. Firstly, the context of Christ's words in this passage follows his reference to the destruction of the temple.

If you remember back to last week, it was the disciples in verse 2 who were looking at the temple and it was Christ who responded to them in regards to the destruction of the temple. When the disciples asked when this destruction of the temple would occur in verse 4, this again is coming in response to that question.

And so, as we look at this, the immediate context cannot be ignored. Christ has the destruction of the temple in view as he speaks about the abomination of desolation, as he speaks about people entering the city, as he speaks about fleeing to the mountains.

And certainly the suffering that occurred in Jerusalem from AD 66 to AD 70 could be described as among the worst that the Jews have ever experienced in all of human history. Now, some people would quickly point me to the Holocaust as an example.

Well, Shane, what about the Holocaust? I would say, yes, the Holocaust is terrible. But one commentator writes this. I think we don't put enough emphasis on the fall of Jerusalem. One commentator writes, the savagery, the slaughter, the disease, the famine, mothers eating their own children were monstrous, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now.

And according to Jesus, will never be equaled again. There have been greater numbers of deaths, six million in Nazi death camps, mostly Jews, an estimated 20 million under Stalin, but never so high a percentage of a city's population so thoroughly and painfully exterminated and enslaved as during the fall of Jerusalem.

And so for one event happening in one city when almost an entire population of over a million people are wiped out, he's saying certainly there are very few things that consider. But second, there is a clear distinction made between, and I want you to see this with me, I've circled them in my Bible.

In verse four, Christ speaks about these things that were the disciples asked, tell us when these things will be. But then in verses 18 and again in verse 24, Christ speaks about those days. For in those days, there will be much tribulation.

And in verse 24, but in those days after the tribulation, and he carries on. And what most of us don't read or notice as modern readers is that expression, those days, was actually packed with eschatological meaning.

It was pregnant with eschatological meaning. And what you would find, and this is another homework assignment if you want to go back this week, is get an online concordance, blue letter Bible, or Logos, or Biblia, or something like that, and search those days.

And see how frequently in the Old Testament, and then in the New Testament, that expression is used particularly to an eschatological reality, to an eschatological future. And so, it's not surprising that when we get to verse 27 in the context of this passage, that Christ speaks about his ultimate return in this context.

This passage had an immediate fulfillment in view for the disciples in that day. Many had to escape Jerusalem before its collapse, but it has application for every Christian, and especially the last generation of Christians as we await the imminent return of Christ.

And so we see that it refers to that day prior to AD 70, and it does refer to a future eschatological event. And then thirdly, my last argument for this, is that we have the New Testament epistles that shed light on this event.

And we'll just look to a couple in 2 Thessalonians 2, and verses 3 through 8. Paul says this, he says, let no one deceive you in any way. He's speaking to a church, if you remember the context, he's speaking to a church who believes that Christ might have already returned.

And he's saying, no, no, no, no, no. Christ has not yet returned, and this is how we will know that when he does return.

He says,.

Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. Now let me say, that man of lawlessness, that son of destruction, I think, fulfills the abomination of desolation.

Now someone says, where do you get that, Shane? We'll continue to read.

He says,.

Who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God. The abomination of desolation in the holy place. Proclaiming himself to be God.

Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things. And you know what is restraining him, so now that he may be revealed in his time. Now notice this.

He says,.

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

And so you've got this lawless one who is already at work. Was at work prior to AD 70. Is at work today. But at some point, the restraining forces will be pulled back and he will have at least some borrowed time to wreak havoc.

And John writes this in 1 John chapter 2 in verse 18. Children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.

And so what Paul is saying here is that the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. John has told us that there are many antichrists.

Already.

They deny, in his letter, he speaks about them denying the Father and the Son. They deny that Christ came in the flesh. They refuse to confess Jesus Christ. But they set themselves against him. And I would suggest.

That they,.

Like the destruction of the temple, serve as prototypes of the ultimate man of lawlessness that we find in passages like 2 Thessalonians 2 or the beast that we read described about or described in Revelation chapter 13 who receives the worship.

Of the world.

Until Christ ultimately comes. And so what we see here is that this passage is speaking both about a past and a realized event and about a future event. We're speaking about the man of lawlessness, the antichrist.

And R .C. Sproul who himself is a realized, has a realized eschatology, who is a partial preterist, he speaks even of the man of lawlessness. And he says this, this is an individual embodiment of wickedness.

He will draw away by deception those already inclined against the true God and will ultimately commit the sacrilege of thrusting himself upon humanity as its object of worship. He comes by the power of Satan as Christ came by the power of God and he works fraudulent works as Christ worked true ones.

Paul depicts this impostor as a parody or antithesis of the true Christ. Paul himself does not use the term antichrist but it is a fitting designation for this individual. In any case his fate is sealed.

He will be destroyed by the coming of Christ. And because we're interpreting all of this as apocalyptic literature in apocalyptic language, these passages we need to treat with some flexibility in our interpretation.

And so some would say that this abomination of desolation must come in a literal physical temple in a literal and physical holy place. Others credibly suggest that he will return to a prominent people.

Amongst.

A prominent position excuse me amongst the people of God who are the temple of God now made of living stones. The Puritans certainly believe this approach. And that's why when you read the Westminster Confession of Faith or the 1689 Second Lenten Baptist Confession of Faith they speak about.

The Pope.

Being the antichrist because they saw him.

Embodying.

The essence of the antichrist coming in the living temple being the church or the people.

Of God.

It's probably not a bad suggestion. But what we must know for certain.

Is that.

It is our.

Responsibility to seek to understand these things to the very best of our ability. That's the word of application for us now to understand. God commands it in his word.

He says.

Let the reader understand. If we were to turn to the book of Revelation an apocalyptic book most people most Christians.

Today.

Approach the book of Revelation as this locked book that cannot be understood that can be read for recreation.

But really.

Has no bearing in the believer's life. But that's not how God the inspired author of Revelation saw it. That's certainly not how John saw it. Revelation 1 verse 3.

It says.

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear and keep what is written.

In it.

For the time.

Is near.

So in order to first keep the word you must understand the word.

And let me.

Ask you do you feel that you have a sound understanding.

Of what it.

Means to be ready.

For.

The last.

Days.

And what is to proceed the coming of Christ. You may not be an amillennialist. You may not be a postmillennialist. You may not be a premillennialist but I'm more.

And more.

Convinced.

That you may.

Not be you are not to be with certainty a panmillennialist.

That is that it will.

All pan out in the end. It is our responsibility to read and to understand.

And to.

Think.

Deeply about these things. God has.

Given us a.

Bible that is.

Not only.

Authoritative it's not only.

Sufficient.

It's not only necessary.

But it is.

Clear. We must be.

Diligent.

To seek to study and to seek to understand. We must know the scriptures and the various positions. We must hold our positions I would say carefully and humbly ready to be tailored.

Further by.

Our learnings through scripture. We must be prepared to encounter.

Anyone who would.

Seek to deceive God's people and to rob God of his glory whether they be the man of lawlessness or one of his many forerunners. There have been many who have come and there are many more who are coming who will seek to deceive and to make desolate and to bring many souls to ruin.

And so.

This is just.

Verse one.

Let the.

Hearer understand. Now we're going to move a lot quicker I promise you through these remaining verses but let me ask you.

With that.

Understanding what are we.

To do?

Watchfulness in Fleeing, Enduring, and Guarding Against Deception

I think.

Verses 15.

Excuse me.

Through verse 25 show us our next word in preparation for the end times. Our next action and it is this.

It is.

Watchfulness it is to.

Watch.

It is to.

Beware.

Discerning the end times demands watchfulness. As a matter of fact we find that immediately in our text and we're.

Just going to.

Survey.

Rather than read through.

We're going to.

Survey briefly.

Here.

But in.

Verse 14.

B.

It says.

Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Let the one.

Who is in the housetop not go down nor enter his house to take anything out of it.

Let the one.

Who is in the field not turn back to take his.

Cloak.

And I'll ask for women.

Who are.

Pregnant and.

For those.

Who are nursing infants.

In those.

Days.

Pray that it may not happen in winter.

And then.

Notice here Christ says for in.

Those days.

There will.

Be such.

Tribulation. It has not been seen.

From the.

Beginning of creation.

That God.

Created until now and never will.

Be.

And then.

What I want.

To highlight.

Here in.

Verse 23 is this. But be on.

Guard.

Be watchful. Beware. That same word bleppo that we saw two times last week. The mark of faithfulness is watchfulness. Now these words that Christ spoke certainly had an important application for Christians prior to the fall of Jerusalem and they still have meaning for us.

Today.

Many Christians for instance in Jerusalem as they saw the trouble coming.

The great.

Jewish revolt was in full swing and they saw the Roman armies moving towards Jerusalem. They saw the offensive escalating against the.