WWUTT 2222 Wars and Rumors of Wars (Mark 13:1-16)

After Jesus left the temple, he was sitting on the Mount of Olives. Some of his disciples came to him and asked him about when the temple would come to destruction and what would be the sign of his coming.

And that's what we read in Mark 13, when we understand the text.

Introduction to the Olivet Discourse in Mark

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily study in the Word of Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness. Find all our videos and other ministry resources at www .tt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Gospel of Mark, we are on to the Olivet Discourse today. We had read the Olivet Discourse as Matthew records it in chapters 24 and 25. This is Mark's account in Mark 13.

It's outlined somewhat the same, but a little bit shorter. So let me read here verses 1 through 23. We'll get at least halfway through the chapter today. Reading from the Legacy Standard Bible, hear the word of the Lord.

And as they were going out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Teacher, behold, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. And Jesus said to him, Do you see all these great buildings?

Not one stone will be left upon another, which will not be torn down. And as he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew were questioning him privately.

Tell us, when will these things be and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled? And Jesus began to say to them, See to it that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name saying, I am he, and will mislead many.

And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places.

There will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pains. But see to yourselves, for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be beaten in the synagogues. And you will stand before governors and kings for my sake as a witness to them.

And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all the nations. And when they lead you away, delivering you up, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given to you in that hour.

For it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit. And brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all because of my name.

But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be, let the reader understand. Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.

And the one who is on the housetop must not go down or go in to get anything out of his house. And the one who is in the field must not turn back to get his garment. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days, but pray that it may not happen in the winter.

For those days will be a time of tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation, which God created until now and never will. And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved.

But for the sake of the elect whom he chose, he shortened the days. And then if anyone says to you, behold, here is the Christ or behold, he is there. Do not believe him for false Christ and false prophets will arise and will show signs and wonders in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect.

But as for you, see, I have told you everything in advance. And then after that, Jesus goes into the coming of the son of man in verses 24 to 27. And then he gives the parable of the fig tree in verses 28 to 37, very similar to what we see as an outline in Matthew chapter 24.

Although the way that it's structured in Matthew 24, Jesus is cautioning the disciples about three ways that they could potentially be deceived. Don't be deceived when you hear of rumors of wars or you experience earthquakes and famines.

These things are the beginning of birth pains. This is supposed to happen. It's the way the world is. That's not going to be the sign of the end. Don't be deceived either when somebody else comes along and says that they are the Christ.

Don't be deceived by them. And also don't be deceived when after all of these things have taken place, you've still not yet seen him come. And so you're going, well, maybe he's not returning, or maybe it's already happened somewhere and we missed it.

And then you start behaving as one who is in the world rather than one who is expecting the coming of the kingdom of God. So those are the ways that Jesus lays out the Olivet discourse in Matthew 24. Mark doesn't quite follow the same outline, but all of those elements are there.

Some of this is kind of intermixed with one another, but you still have some clear warnings regarding the way things are generally going to be, wars and earthquakes and famines and so on and so forth.

And you have a warning about not following after those who claim to be the Christ or somebody who's going to say, here is Jesus. He has come. No, unless he is coming, looks like this. And the portion that we're going to look at tomorrow versus 24 and 27, then it's not really the Christ.

So don't be fooled by them. Don't be led astray. The elect won't be. The elect will not be deceived by this. But the destruction of the temple is going to happen in those very days. And Jesus then tells them when that happens, here's what you are to do.

So let's look at this together. We'll go through this a little more quickly than we did the Olivet discourse in Matthew, since we've already done this once. So we're going to split chapter 13 between today and tomorrow.

So in chapter 13, verse one, and as he was going out of the temple, one of the disciples said to him, teacher, behold, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. Now, this is a pretty hard transition.

We've seen a lot of smooth transitions from Mark. This is a rare, hard transition. So there isn't really an event that happened before this discourse, before this exchange between Jesus and his disciples.

Whereas in Matthew, you have Jesus issuing the seven woes to the Pharisees, and then he removes his presence from them, leaving the temple, just like as depicted in the book of Ezekiel of God leaving the temple and then therefore leaving Jerusalem to destruction at the hands of their enemies.

So that Matthew kind of creates that, or he kind of paints that as being God leaving the temple with Jesus walking out of the temple after he has issued those rebukes. Mark doesn't quite give the same picture.

That is what's happening here, Jesus going out of the temple, but it's not been given that same sort of picture as we see in the Old Testament. Instead, it's just the disciples talking about the buildings, what wonderful buildings, what great stones.

And Jesus says, do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another, which will not be torn down. And as he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, so the Mount of Olives right outside Jerusalem, it's over the Mount of Olives that they would travel and go back to Bethany during this particular week.

Remember, all of this is leading up to Jesus' crucifixion, which is going to be in a day or two from now. All of this is happening on Tuesday. And so at the end of the day, they're done with Jesus' teaching of the temple.

He's left the temple. He's up on the Mount of Olives. And here, according to Mark's account, this was not all the disciples who came to Jesus and asked him these things. It was only Peter, James, John, and Andrew.

So he's sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, and those four are questioning him privately. So it was just these four disciples. Three of them were on the Mount of Transfiguration. Peter, James, and John.

Andrew is Peter's brother. And it's unlikely that Peter, James, and John would have told him about what happened on the Mount of Transfiguration because Jesus said, don't tell anyone what you saw until after he had risen from the dead.

So Andrew doesn't know. At least he's not been in the whole Transfiguration conversation, but he does get included in the Mount of Olives conversation. So they're asking Jesus about this and they say, tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?

And Jesus began to say to them, see to it that no one deceives you. This is the same way that Jesus begins his answer in Matthew 24 as well. He starts by warning them not to be deceived. It's going to be all sorts of things that are going to happen through which either you are going to assume this must be the end or someone's going to manipulate you or they will attempt to manipulate you and say, you see all this chaos that is happening?

Well, this is the sign of the end. And you've probably heard this going on even now. We're in an election season and things are just getting crazier all the time. It's not just happening in the United States of America, even though an election is happening for the next president of the United States this year in the United States, but we've got chaos happening all over the place and there are indeed wars happening in various places and not just wars between nations.

You see wars happening within nations like governments that are persecuting their own people. You've probably seen some of the news of things that are happening in the UK right now with speech laws being imposed upon people who either post various things on social media or even say things publicly that they are being punished for.

So you're seeing wars happen within borders, even not just between nations. So when stuff like this starts happening, when chaos just gets really bad, there's a temptation for us to want to listen to those conspiracies out there, the whispers of, well, this is it.

This must be ramping up toward the end. And Jesus is saying this is not going to be the sign of the end. So he goes on to tell them, many will come in my name saying I am he and will mislead many. We see that also whenever a lot of chaos is going on.

There are those that will try to come forward and claim to be the Christ or they know when the Messiah is coming. Here's the exact date that he's going to come and they get people all up into a frenzy and things like that.

There are people in the world right now claiming to be the Christ. They might not have a platform in which everybody hears about this, but there's always somebody, always someone starting a religious movement or something like that who claims to either be sent by Christ or is some sort of reincarnation of Christ himself.

There was somebody on social media just a week or two ago that had contacted me and was acting like a prophet for this other guy. I don't even remember his name. I would look it up for you and tell you exactly who this was, but I can't remember it now.

Anyway, this woman was contacting me saying, this is the guy right here. It was a common name. It was something like Justin. So Justin, here he is. Jesus has finally come to us. And when I went to his social media page, indeed, he's a guy that, you know, kind of has the blonde, the dirty blonde look with the beard and the long hair like most pictures that you see of Jesus.

In fact, they were even showing paintings of Jesus and comparing his face with them and saying, see proof, evidence that he is the coming of the Messiah. And he's got videos in which he's talking about himself being the coming of Jesus.

I mean, it's just total nonsense. Didn't have much of a following, but I guess because I'm labeled a pastor on social media, I probably got their attention somehow trying to push this message. Hey, let people know that the Messiah has come.

I told him, no, you're all heretics. I think I blocked most of them. But anyway, there's always somebody, always someone out there claiming to be the Christ or knowing when the Christ is going to come or any of these things.

And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, Jesus says, do not be alarmed. Those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. Now, some have taken these statements and have said that the ramping up of these wars is happening during a period of tribulation, during that seven-year period of tribulation after the church has been raptured, but before Christ returns again with those that he had taken to heaven with him and then brings judgment on the world, on the antichrist and deals with Israel and all those other things that will happen after that seven-year period.

So some people will say, even though Jesus has not set that up for that interpretation at all, you have to read that into this text because it's just not there. But there are some that will say these wars and rumors of wars are going on in the seven-year period of tribulation.

No, again, there's nothing that has alluded to that. So it's just the general understanding of wars that happen in the world. And just because things get chaotic, just because something happens locally for you that seems world shattering, that doesn't mean it's going to be the end of the world.

For nation will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom, Jesus says. There will be earthquakes in various places. There will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pains.

Now, there are places where birth pains are connected with the end, but there are also places where birth pains are talked about as just being the general state of fallenness in the world. The way that Paul uses it in Romans 8 would be one example.

All of creation groaning as in birth pains until the sons of God are revealed. And that is talking about the elect, all those who are going to come to faith in Jesus Christ. So there's going to be chaos in the world until ultimately Christ comes.

We live in a fallen world, that's just the way things are going to be. And we also have indication from scripture that things will get progressively worse. Remember the apostle Paul telling Timothy that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

While evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. So we see this like digression, there's a progression and there's a digression. A progression in the sense that more people in the world are going to come to Christ and those people who come to Christ are going to be sanctified.

They will grow in holiness and righteousness, but evil will increase in the world as well. And don't be alarmed when you see the increase of that evil, but continue to trust in these words. Because as Jesus says in verse 23, see, I have told you everything in advance.

Persecution, the Gospel to the Nations, and Endurance

So then we go on to verse nine, but see to yourselves, for they will deliver you to the courts and you will be beaten in the synagogues and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake as a witness to them.

And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all the nations. And when they lead you away, delivering you up, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given to you in that hour.

For it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit. And brother will betray brother to death and a father, his child. And children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all because of my name, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.

And each one of these sections ends with that sort of a butt statement, but the one who endures to the end. Verse 23, but as for you, see, I have told you everything in advance. Now, everything that Jesus says here to his disciples about what they will face, this is specifically for them.

This pertains to them. So this is what you're going to go through. You're going to be arrested. You're going to be brought before kings and governors and so on. Whatever you say in those moments will not be you, but it will be the Holy Spirit.

Now, even though Jesus is saying these things to his disciples, and it is indeed what his disciples will go through. It is also what anyone who is a follower of Christ and a preacher of the gospel will go through in the days prior to Christ's coming.

So there's an already and a not yet about what Jesus is saying to his disciples here. His own disciples will endure these things. And we also go through these things. These things continue until Christ returns until the coming of the son of man, the gospel being preached to all the nations.

Now I said this when we were in the Olivet discourse in Matthew 24, that even during the time of the disciples, the apostles who go out with the gospel to the world throughout the Roman empire, even in their lifetimes, this was fulfilled because the gospel indeed went out to all the nations, all the world.

The book of Acts ends that way with the apostle Paul in Rome. And it's showing that the gospel made it.

To all the world.

Paul got to the capital city of Rome, preaching the gospel there for a couple of years. And then it goes throughout the entire Roman empire. So it could be said, even in the disciples' lifetime, even in the lifetime of the apostles, that this was fulfilled with the gospel going out to all the nations.

But then there was more gospel outreach that went beyond the time of the apostles. And we see the gospel still going out into the world, reaching people who have never heard it before. And we need to be out there preaching the gospel so that those who are going to be saved will hear it and put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

It's talked about in Romans 10, how are they to believe unless someone tells them? And how can someone tell them without a preacher who is sent? And so we're still out there in the world preaching the gospel.

And the gospel goes out into all the nations before Christ comes. And we who endure in the midst of whatever we will face for the gospel of Jesus Christ, the one who endures to the end will be saved. That's a hearkening back to the parable of the soils that we had read previously in Mark's gospel.

The Abomination of Desolation and the Destruction of the Temple

So then the next section, we won't get through all of this section. We'll come back to this tomorrow. But Jesus saying in verse 14, when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be, let the reader understand.

Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. And the one who is on the housetop must not go down or go get anything out of his house. And the one who is in the field must not turn back to get his garment.

Now this section in particular, this is talking about the destruction of the temple. And that was gonna happen 40 years after these things that Jesus shares with these disciples. They surely talked about this because Mark was written prior to the destruction of the temple in AD 70.

And so Jesus is prophesying here about that which is gonna take place. The very thing that he had said in verse two, do you not see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.

So here he is telling his disciples about that particular day. Wars and rumors of wars, chaos, earthquakes, famines, all of that stuff is gonna happen. That's not the sign of the end. But then the destruction of the temple is also not going to be the sign of the end.

And it's after all of that happens, the destruction of the temple that we can then expect the coming of Christ. We'll review that tomorrow. The destruction of the temple, the coming of the lawless one, the abomination that causes desolation and then the coming of Christ in verses 24 to 27 or the coming of the son of man as talked about there.

So we'll pick up the Olivet discourse tomorrow. But in the meantime, let us not lose our hope. Even though we see things getting extremely chaotic in the world, don't let your circumstances determine your faithfulness or your hopefulness in Christ.

We have been told things can get pretty rough for us. Things can get bad. We're experiencing or we have experienced, at least here in the United States of America, a time of relative peace. You could still be persecuted.

Just going downtown and preaching the gospel. But we don't have the government coming against us. We might lose those freedoms. We could lose them soon. And we need to hold fast to Christ, not dependent upon the comfort that we experience in our nation, whatever nation that you live in, not depending upon the government to give us peace.

Only Christ can give us peace. And it is a peace as talked about in Philippians 4 that surpasses all understanding, guarding your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. This world will perish, folks, but Christ endures forever.

And there is the promise for us of an eternal kingdom in which we will live with him for all eternity. Turn to Jesus Christ. Look to him daily. Turn from sin and anything else that would keep you attached to your flesh and to this world.

All of those things are coming to destruction for Jesus is coming soon. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read here. Always good to be reminded that we look to Christ. We hold fast to his promises.

We are heavenly minded, being raised from the dead and seated with Christ in the heavenly places, as talked about in Ephesians and in Colossians 3. And so may we live as citizens of the kingdom of God in this world, telling others, warning others of the judgment that is to come.

And only by faith in Jesus Christ can a person be forgiven their sins and given entrance into his eternal kingdom. Thank you for loving us and teaching us daily in your Holy Spirit. It is in the name of Jesus that we pray, amen.

Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog, sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers and offering commentary on the church and social issues. You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com.

Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's word, when we understand the text.