loudandclear

Mark 13:1-23

¹ As Jesus was leaving the Temple that day, one of his disciples said, “Teacher, look at these magnificent buildings! Look at the impressive stones in the walls.”

 ² Jesus replied, “Yes, look at these great buildings. But they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!”

 ³ Later, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives across the valley from the Temple. Peter, James, John, and Andrew came to him privately and asked him, ⁴ “Tell us, when will all this happen? What sign will show us that these things are about to be fulfilled?”

 ⁵ Jesus replied, “Don’t let anyone mislead you, ⁶ for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many. ⁷ And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. ⁸ Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in many parts of the world, as well as famines. But this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.

 ⁹ “When these things begin to happen, watch out! You will be handed over to the local councils and beaten in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell them about me. ¹⁰ For the Good News must first be preached to all nations. ¹¹ But when you are arrested and stand trial, don’t worry in advance about what to say. Just say what God tells you at that time, for it is not you who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

 ¹² “A brother will betray his brother to death, a father will betray his own child, and children will rebel against their parents and cause them to be killed. ¹³ And everyone will hate you because you are my followers. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

 ¹⁴ “The day is coming when you will see the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing where he should not be.” (Reader, pay attention!) “Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. ¹⁵ A person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. ¹⁶ A person out in the field must not return even to get a coat. ¹⁷ How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. ¹⁸ And pray that your flight will not be in winter. ¹⁹ For there will be greater anguish in those days than at any time since God created the world. And it will never be so great again. ²⁰ In fact, unless the Lord shortens that time of calamity, not a single person will survive. But for the sake of his chosen ones he has shortened those days.

 ²¹ “Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah,’ or ‘There he is,’ don’t believe it. ²² For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones. ²³ Watch out! I have warned you about this ahead of time!

(((Chapter 13 of Mark is full of Jesus talking about the end of things on earth as we see it now.  We must note that He never tells us the way things will go so that we could map out how, when, and where all the crazy end of the world stuff is going to go down.  He even ends this chapter by explaining that He (the Son) doesn’t even know…only the Father does.  So we will not speculate on timelines, but only on what we can learn and apply from Jesus’ teaching about the end of things as we know it.)))

(((Jesus begins by talking about the Jewish temple in Jerusalem being destroyed.  This would be a cataclysmic thing for the Jewish people at the time because that was the center of their entire faith (where they worshiped and presented atoning sacrifices to God)  The temple was destroyed in 90 AD.)))

(((Jesus then warns his disciples and us today to be on the watch for false Christs or people that come to deceive people into thinking that they are the Messiah.  Today, we need to still be on watch for cults and other teachings from people who claim to have God’s authority but their beliefs are not based on Jesus or the Bible.)))

(((Jesus also explains again that being His follower will have its cost.  He explains that the religious leaders would hate them and persecute them.  He says that in the end “all men will hate you because of Me.”  Jesus clearly explains that being a Christ follower will not make us popular, and He promises that it will do otherwise.)))