Adam, Zac, Hayley, Jessica, Cassidy, Micah, Megan & Kati,

Watchfulness in Tribulation and Triumph

Part 1 (13:1-23)

This part of Mark has always frustrated and concerned me because, even after my initial reading this morning, I’m left thinking “this generation will not pass away until all these things take place??? (13:30) – but that generation did pass away and they haven’t taken place! What am I missing?”

The Culmination of the Temple section

There are a few things I was missing, the most important of which is context. Mark isn’t just randomly throwing in an end-times prediction into the middle of his gospel. Rather, chapter 13 is the culmination of the section on the temple that began in chapter 11 with Jesus entry into Jerusalem. When Jesus leaves the temple in verse 1, it is His final and decisive leaving – He’ll never go back. Then He sits on the Mount of Olives, “opposite the temple” and tells his disciples it’s all going to be torn down. His judgment on the temple – and God’s judgment – is going to be fulfilled in their lifetime. As we learn from the history books, in AD 70: “Caesar ordered the whole city and the temple to be razed to the ground … All the rest of the wall encompassing the city was so completely leveled to the ground as to leave future visitors to the spot no ground for believing that it had ever been inhabited” (War 7.3, Josephus).

Alternating between “these things” and “those days”

The second important thing to understand is that Jesus is alternating back and forth between two things – the imminent destruction of the temple and the end of time – and signifying them by the phrase “these things” versus “those days”. It really helped me to understand why Jesus is doing this: the way the disciples phrase their question (asking about signs) implies that they are thinking the destruction of the temple will usher in the end of time. This was likely a common misconception: “The connection between the two events was not unique to Jesus and his disciples, but widely accepted by the Zealots and undoubtedly others up to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. Josephus, who wrote extensively about the Jewish Revolt in AD 66, leaves no doubt that Jewish defense strategies were motivated by religious considerations, in hopes that Messiah would come in the heat of battle over the temple.”

The end is not yet

Jesus goes on to say that false messiahs will come – but don’t be led astray, wars and rumors of wars will come – but the end is not yet, earthquakes and famines will come – but these are just birth pains. His emphasis here is that the destruction of the temple and the surrounding suffering will not usher in the end of time – the end is not yet.

What the end will look like

Verse 14 marks a turning point, a contrast between the previous section (immediate future) and what the disciples are expecting and asking about (the end of time). The previous section is marked by verse 7 “when you hear … do not be alarmed” (immediate future) compared with verse 14 “But when you see … flee to the mountains” (the end of time). The end of time is described as worse than anything ever before or ever after, marked by unprecedented suffering. He uses “those days” in verse 19 and 24.

Conclusion about “these things”

Then in verses 28-29, He tracks back from His discussion on the Son of Man’s return and links it back to the destruction of the temple: “when you see these things, you know He is near, at the very gates”. He wraps up the thoughts in 30-31 about “these things” (the destruction of the temple and the “birth pains” surrounding it): this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

Conclusion about “those days”

And then switches back: “But concerning that day” and concludes that we need to stay awake and live obediently because no one but the Father knows – not even the Son – when that day will come.

“At the very gates” for 2,000 years?

The most difficult thing with this interpretation is the “nearness” and “at the very gates” of verse 29, since we know that there are thousands of years between the destruction of the temple and the end-times. It seems like this would leave Jesus standing “at the very gates” for a very long time. But in light of 32-36, I think this is exactly the point Jesus is making – after the destruction of the temple in AD 70, His return is imminent, it could happen at any time, so we’d best stay awake and live holy. Does this mean we should go live in bomb shelters or flee to the woods? No, we don’t do that until we see the abomination of desolation in the temple (probably the man of lawlessness in Thessalonians) – v14. Until then, we should “be on guard” and “stay awake”. Peter (whose recollections of Jesus’ teachings Mark is recording here) casts it even more clearly (“live holy and godly”) in his second letter, perhaps even referring to Mark 13 when he speaks of “His promise”:

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to His promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Jimmy just asked me what I was doing, so I told him I was emailing some people, telling them that Jesus is coming back – but we don’t know when; it could be any time. He said, “because He’s not dead anymore?”  “Yep, because He’s not dead anymore, He could come back any time.”

Dear Jesus, thanks for promising to come back and thanks for warning us about the end times. Help us wait eagerly for You and live ready, expecting that You could come this week.

-- peter