S1 E30: Tribulation

As you're being seated, if you would take out your copy of God's word and once again join me in Mark's Gospel, Mark chapter 13.

Mark 13 · chapter mention

We're going to pick up in verse 14 this morning.

Mark chapter 13.

Mark 13 · chapter mention

If you don't have a Bible with you, there are some in the pew in front of you, or underneath your seat, perhaps.

We're going to be on page 911 in that Bible.

But while you're finding Mark, also turn back into the Old Testament and find your way to the book of Daniel for a moment.

As we look at Mark chapter 13, Daniel chapter 9 is going to influence and help our understanding of what Jesus is teaching in Mark chapter 13.

Mark 13 · chapter mention Daniel 9 · chapter mention Mark 13 · chapter mention

So if you would find Daniel chapter 9 this morning, that's probably more of a challenge for you than finding Mark was.

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

If you're using the Pew Bible, it's going to be page 802 in the Pew Bible.

As you're finding Daniel, let me just give you a little background on the book of Daniel.

Daniel was a young Jewish man who was taken into exile when the nation of Israel fell.

God had warned them that if they did not turn from their sin and their idolatry, that he would send someone to take them into exile, and that's exactly what he did.

And Daniel was a young boy, perhaps a young teenager when he was taken into exile, and he spent 70 years apart from Jerusalem under the reign of three different monarchs, three different kings.

And God gave Daniel the ability to interpret dreams.

People would have dreams and they would greatly trouble them, and then God would reveal the truth of those dreams to Daniel, and then he would go and reveal those truths to the kings, and the kings all prospered as a result of it.

This is the same Daniel who gets thrown in the lion's den, if you will remember.

As we come to Daniel chapter 7, 8 and 9, Daniel, the dream interpreter, has had a dream of his own.

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

And this dream has greatly troubled him.

He's not sure of the interpretation.

He's not sure of what it is.

There are a lot of interesting things that are involved in it.

And he begins to cry out to God because he thinks he understands what it is, but he begins to cry out to God for his people and for understanding.

And God responds to Daniel in the most unusual way.

He sends the angel Gabriel to him.

And Gabriel begins to explain to Daniel the dream that he has had.

And he says, Daniel, we need you to understand that this is about the end of time.

The dream that you have just had is God revealing to you what the end of time is going to look like.

And so Daniel chapter 7, chapter 8, and chapter 9 is prophetic, pointing to a time in history when Christ the Messiah will return and set all things right.

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

I want you to see Daniel chapter 9 because it speaks to our text in Mark chapter 13 this morning.

Daniel 9 · chapter mention Mark 13 · chapter mention

Look at verse 24 with me, if you would, just for a moment.

I don't have time to unpack this completely, but I just want you to see this for a second.

Daniel chapter 9, verse 24.

Daniel 9:24

This is the angel Gabriel interpreting the dream that Daniel had to Daniel.

Seventy weeks or 70 periods of time have been decreed for your people and your holy city.

To finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place.

So Gabriel says there are seventy periods of time, seventy weeks, seventy periods of seven.

So that's 490, all right?

All of our college students knew that.

70 times seven, four hundred and ninety, all right?

So there is a period of four hundred and ninety years that you need to be concerned about, Daniel.

And at the end of this period of time, the transgression will be over, there will be no more sin.

Atonement for iniquity will be made.

We will bring in an everlasting righteousness to seal up the vision and prophecy will be done forever, and we will anoint the most holy place.

Does that sound like anything that happens in human history?

Sin is no more.

It can only describe one thing: Christ returning, re-establishing his kingdom, making all things right.

Continue in verse 25.

So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven weeks, seven periods of seven, and sixty two weeks.

It will be built again with plaza and moat, even in the times of distress.

So there will be a period of seven weeks.

Seven times seven is forty nine.

And he gives a point of departure from the decree to restore the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem has been destroyed.

The nation of Israel has been exile for 70 years.

He says there will be 49 years, and then the temple will be rebuilt.

Jerusalem will be rebuilt.

Can I tell you that King Artaxerxes made a decree that the nation of Israel could return and they could rebuild the temple?

Guess how many years it took for him to do it?

Oh, come on.

Seven times seven is forty-nine.

Took them forty-nine years, and the temple was rebuilt.

So then there are sixty-two weeks.

Look at verse 26.

Then after 62 weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing.

And the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary, and it will end, and the end will come with a flood, even to the end that there will be war, desolation, uh desolations are determined.

So we've had 49 weeks, now we have 62 weeks.

What is 62 times seven?

434, they all said confidently.

What would happen after 434 years?

The Messiah will be cut off.

He will be killed.

Now, anybody want to take a wild guess how many years it was between the building of the rebuilding of the temple and Jesus Christ coming into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, being executed, being crucified, being resurrected and ascended into heaven.

Anybody want to take a wild guess how many years that was?

434.

Verse 27.

And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week.

But in the middle of the week, he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering, and on the wing of abomination will come to one who makes desolation, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.

How many weeks are we looking for?

Seventy.

We had sixty-two weeks, that's three or four hundred and thirty-four.

How many weeks total is that?

A lot.

After the Messiah is cut off, there's one week left.

A period of seven years that will take place.

And in that period of seven years, there will be one who raises up.

He will be the Antichrist.

Halfway through that period of years, after making a covenant with the nation of Israel, he will break that covenant.

He will set himself up to be worshipped within the temple.

He will desecrate the temple, and then persecution will break out.

This is known as the Great Tribulation.

A period of seven years that takes place just prior to Christ's returning.

Between Jesus' first advent and his crucifixion and his ascension into heaven, and this period of tribulation is known as the church age.

This is where we are in history today.

This is where we live today.

Jesus is answering a question in Mark chapter 13.

Mark 13 · chapter mention

When will the end come?

How will we know it is coming?

And as we turn our attention back to Mark chapter 13, he answers the question by pointing them back to Daniel chapter 9.

Mark 13 · chapter mention Daniel 9 · chapter mention

To the abomination of desolation.

I just wanted to give you that background because Mark 13 will make a whole lot more sense when we understand the tribulation.

Alright?

Eschatology is the study of end times.

Literally, it means the study of last things.

It is the study of how the world comes to an end.

It is the study of how Christ returns.

And as we talked about last week, many Christians are fascinated by this.

Some of them are overwhelmed by this.

We are weighted down by this fact that judgment is coming and there is going to be a time of tribulation, and so many things are going to take place, and we're worried about when it's going to happen and how it's going to happen.

But Scripture teaches us not to be concerned with these things because in the midst of those, Christ protects us.

It is not in an endless cycle of repetition.

It is heading somewhere.

It is heading to a conclusion where God sets all things right.

As we read the Bible, we can break it up into three primary categories.

There is creation, there is the fall, and then there is redemption.

The Bible is broken up into those three categories.

The first category, creation, is just the first two chapters of the Bible, Genesis 1 and 2.

God created.

When God created, he created everything.

He created it good.

He created the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, the planets.

He created man.

He created them in his image, and it was good.

Genesis chapter 3, the fall.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

Man rebelled against their creator.

God condemned them because of their sin.

They were cast out of his presence.

Sin came into the world.

The creation fell.

Their relationship with God was marred.

Their relationship with each other was marred.

The creation even was marred.

When you get to the book of Revelation, we see that God is going to make all things right.

He is going to give us a new heaven and a new earth, creating it just as he had it in the beginning.

The redemption, we've had the creation, first two chapters, the fall.

Guess what part is the redemption?

Everything from Genesis chapter 3 to Revelation chapter 22 is the story of God redeeming his creation, the whole thing.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention Revelation 22 · chapter mention

And God points to it how he's going to carry it out.

He doesn't tell us exact times or timetables, but he says he is going to do it through a Messiah, through a Savior, someone who would come and sacrifice himself for our sin.

In the Old Testament, he points us towards that, through the prophets, through the law, through the Old Testament system, through the tabernacle and through the temple and through the sacrifices.

They all point to Christ.

And they also point to a time when that Christ will return and fix all that is broken.

In the New Testament, we're introduced to this Messiah.

His name is Jesus of Nazareth.

He left heaven, came to earth, lived a perfect life, fulfilled the law completely, sacrificed himself in our place.

God punished him so he would not have to punish us.

He died, he resurrected, he's ascended into heaven.

He's seated at the right hand of the Father, and Revelation tells us one day he is returning again to make all things right, to set all things anew.

This is the substance of Jesus' conversation with his disciples in Mark chapter 13.

Mark 13 · chapter mention

This is the substance of him helping them to understand as they're asking, how are these things going to take place?

We've been in Mark chapter 13.

Mark 13 · chapter mention

This is our third week in the chapter.

The first two verses, Jesus is answering a question, or he's helping them to understand what is about to happen.

They've just all come out of the temple.

They've been there teaching, and Jesus has been questioned over and over and over again.

And as they're leaving the temple, you remember one of the disciples looked at the temple and he said, Look how magnificent these buildings are.

Aren't these wonderful buildings?

And in response, Jesus said, I tell you, not a single stone will be left on one another.

This temple is going to be destroyed.

This temple is going to fall down.

It is going to collapse.

That's verses one and two.

That actually took place some 40 years later, when that temple was completely destroyed.

Last week we saw in verses 3 through 13 that Jesus was preparing them because they were asking him, when is this going to happen?

How are we going to know when this is going to happen?

And Jesus said, I want you to understand, you don't need to know when it's going to happen.

You need to understand how to live until it happens.

Because there will be destruction that takes place, there will be persecution that takes place.

There will be deception that takes place.

So prepare yourselves to live until this all takes place.

And then we get to our text for this morning, verses 14 through 23, which I have no idea how, by the way, I'm going to get through in the next 15 minutes, but we're going to give it a shot, okay?

Called the 70th week of Daniel.

Because of Daniel chapter 9, we know it as the tribulation.

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

He says, When you see this, you know I'm coming back.

If you're willing and able, would you stand with me as we read from God's Word?

Mark chapter 13, we'll pick up in verse 14.

Mark 13 · chapter mention

Jesus answering the question, What are the signs?

But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be, let the reader understand, then that those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.

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 coat.

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 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.

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 any one says to you, Behold, here is the Christ, or behold, here he is, do not believe him.

For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show signs and wonders in order to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

But take heed.

Behold, I have told you everything in advance.

Heavenly Father, open our hearts and our minds to your truth.

Father, sometimes we we start talking about tribulation and we start looking at numbers and in the book of Daniel, and we look at the book of Revelation, and we become flabbergasted and we don't think we can understand what it means.

Father, help us to understand exactly what you mean.

And help us not to be worried about times and dates and timelines.

Lord, let us learn what you taught your disciples even in this context.

Be prepared, stand ready, take heed.

It's not about when, it's about are you ready?

Lord, let us learn today we pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you.

You may be seated.

Jesus is answering the question back in verse 4.

Master, when is this temple going to be destroyed?

When are these things going to take place?

When is the end of the world going to happen?

And now he comes to answering that directly, and he says, here's what you need to know.

There's going to be a period of severe persecution that takes place in the world.

It's going to be a time of great, great disaster and catastrophe.

It will be a spiritual displeeting time.

But here's what you need to know.

You need to be spiritually discerning, faithfully enduring, and confidently hoping in the mercy of God.

This is what you need to hold on to.

Don't stress over it.

Just know it exists.

Know I'm in control, and know that we will win.

As they're leaving the temple, Jesus is answering these questions of his disciples.

As we saw last week, there is a near fulfillment of the destruction of the temple in A.D.

70.

That actually happened.

But I believe the words that Jesus is speaking here point to a further fulfillment that goes all the way back to Daniel chapter 9.

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

Jesus does not choose the phrase abomination of desolation randomly.

That was a phrase that they would have understood because it is repeated in Daniel chapter 9, and again in Daniel chapter 11.

Daniel 9 · chapter mention Daniel 11 · chapter mention

There is a point in time where something horrible is going to happen within the temple.

And at that point, it is a demarcation line.

And so Jesus is helping them to see that there is something that is going to take place in the future.

He declares a particular time, and then he gives us a description of that time, tells us about the deception that will happen in that time, and then it and then finally, just what do we do with it?

So he tells us that there is a specific time that is going to take place.

He calls it the abomination of desolation.

Again, he's quoting from Daniel chapter 9, Daniel chapter 11.

Daniel 9 · chapter mention Daniel 11 · chapter mention

As Gabriel was pointing Daniel to the specific time in history at the end of time.

Abomination is a word that means to be profane, it means to be sacrilegious, to be blasphemous.

It isn't something that is opposed to God, it is an affront to God.

It is something horrific.

A desolation means emptiness.

It means ruin, abandonment.

In other words, it is pointing to a time when something will happen in the temple that is so abominable that the temple will be ruined and it will become desolate.

This happened twice already in history.

After Daniel made his prophecy and had his dream, there was a king by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes, who came about 160 years before Christ.

And he came into the temple into Jerusalem and he was conquering the Jewish people.

And in that time he set up an altar to Zeus within the temple, and he began to slaughter swine on the altar.

This was known as the abomination of desolation, because someone other than God was being worshipped within his holy temple, and they were destroying the altar in which sacrifices were made.

This happened again in AD 70.

This is the time that Jesus is pointing directly to when the Roman general Titus came into Jerusalem, put down an uprising, went into the temple, and set up an image of the Caesar, and told all people, This is your God, worship him.

The temple was destroyed in that time period, has not been rebuilt since.

But the words of Daniel chapter 9 that talk about sin no longer being and iniquity being taken away, they don't talk about the time that Antiochus Epiphanes or the time that Titus went into the temple.

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

It's pointing to a time in the future.

And this is the time that Jesus is pointing to here.

A time of that seven year period of tribulation that will take place here on earth.

Just before the return of Christ, just before all things are set right.

It will be A horrible period of time.

He describes it as severe days.

He's saying, in these days you will want to flee.

If you're up on the top of your house, he says, don't bother to go down into your house, just go down the outside stairwell and run.

If you're out in the field, don't go pick up your coat.

If this you see this happening, if you see the abomination of desolation happening in the temple, it's not time to bow your back.

It's not time to stand strong.

It is time to flee.

This is a bad time.

There will come a time in human history when one known as the Antichrist will rise up.

There are many antichrists, little a, those who are opposed to Christ, but there is a person that will rise up in the near future, in the future, I can't speak exactly when it will be, that will be the Antichrist.

He will be the one who will oppose Christ.

He will be the one who will, for a period of time, pretend to be a friend of the nation of Israel, and he'll build a coalition and he'll make a covenant with Israel to protect them.

But three and a half years into that covenant, he will break that covenant.

He will establish himself in the temple and say, Worship me.

And Jesus is saying, when you see that happen, the end is coming.

It's time to flee.

It's time to run.

He says it's time to have pity on those who are vulnerable, those who are pregnant or those who are nursing.

It's going to be difficult anyway to travel, but to do that with a small child will become even more difficult.

Pity those who can't travel easily.

He says it's a time of prayer.

Prayer that it won't happen in the winter.

Pray that it won't happen in the time when the rainy season comes, when the roads are washed out, and when the rains are coming, it will be even more difficult.

This period of persecution and desolation is described in the book of Revelation.

In the book of Revelation, it describes Jesus Christ going and taking a scroll out of the hand of God in Revelation chapter 5.

Revelation 5 · chapter mention

You remember?

John is there and he begins to weep.

There's no one here worthy to take the scroll, and one of the elders says, wait, hold on.

And there was a lamb standing as if slain who went and took a scroll out of the hand of God.

And on that scroll there were seven seals, and he began to break open those seals.

As you begin to read the book of Revelation, it is describing this period of tribulation as these seals are broken, and God begins to pour out his wrath against sin on the earth.

It goes from seal judgments to trumpet judgments that get progressively worse, and then to bold judgments that get even progressively more worse.

In this period of time, the earth will be completely changed.

It will be altered geographically.

The sun and the moon will not function the same way they do today.

People will be killed by persecution.

They will be killed by pestilence.

They will be killed in many different ways, such that over a third of the world's population will cease to exist.

I'm not telling you these things to scare you.

I'm not telling these things to get you upset.

I'm just telling you, this is what the period of tribulation is going to be like.

It'll be a time when God is judging sin.

It'll be a time when God is calling the nation of Israel back to him, and it will be a time when God protects those who have trusted in him.

He says it'll be a time like no other before in human history.

He says, this period will not be like any other time.

Not time before, not time after.

Can you imagine how bad it's going to be with some of the things that we've seen in human history?

This will be worse than the flood.

This will be worse than Sodom and Gomorrah.

This will be worse than the horrors of World War I and World War II combined.

He said, this isn't just a normal human thing.

This is spiritual warfare which will be taking place.

He said, it is severe days.

And then he says it'll be shortened days.

He says in verse 20 that unless the Lord shortened it, no one would survive this.

But out of God's mercy, he spares.

God would be completely just and right to allow us to face the consequences of our sin.

He would be completely just and right to let us all spend eternity separated from him, but out of his love and grace and his mercy, he sent his son to die so that we might be covered by his blood, so that we might be raid right with him.

And God will shorten the days of the persecution, of the tribulation, because otherwise no one would survive.

Now, I believe the Bible teaches that God protects, watches over believers in the midst of all of this.

I personally, in my eschatology, believe that a rapture is going to take place prior to the tribulation, that Christ will come with a shout and a glorious trumpet blast, and those who are dead in Christ will receive their glorified bodies, and those of us that will remain will meet him in the air.

We will go to be with Jesus.

Then the tribulation will take place, and we will return with him to establish his kingdom here on earth for a millennium, and then he will create the new heaven and the new earth.

I believe the church is going to be raptured.

I can support that.

I don't have time to give you all of it today.

There are others that believe that the church is raptured somewhere in the middle of the tribulation.

Others that believe it is a post-tribulation.

I believe God protects us by taking us out.

Now, there are those who will become believers in the midst of the tribulation.

There will be those who have been attending church for years, who never trusted in Jesus Christ, and then when the rapture takes place, they will recognize I've just been part of a ritual, I've never trusted him completely, and they will become believers.

There will be others who will come to faith in Christ because of the witness of testimony because of the testimony of witnesses, they will become believers.

But during that period of tribulation, particularly the last three and a half years, it will be, pardon the expression, hell on earth for them.

And yet God will see them through it.

God will watch over them.

Why do we talk about these things?

Not so that we might panic, not that we might have pride or speculation, but so that we might be watchful, so that we might be discerning, so that we might be evangelistically urgent, because we don't know when this day is coming.

But it is coming.

And we need to tell as many as we possibly can.

That they do not have to go through it.

They don't have to experience life separated from God and eternity separated from him, that God loves them.

He talks about deception within these days, and I don't have time to unpack this, but this Antichrist will have this deception about him.

He will be trying to lead others to worship him.

There will be a false prophet who will point people to him.

There will be great deception that will be taking place.

And Jesus says he'll be trying to even deceive those who are saved.

As if that's possible.

The deception will be so great that there will be people who will be led away.

The hardest thing about the tribulation isn't the persecution.

The hardest thing about the tribulation will be the deception.

You say, how is that possible?

Because persecution can only take believers into an eternity with God.

Deception can take unbelievers into an eternity separated from God.

He will try to deceive as many people as he can.

He will try to pull them away from worshiping God.

He will try to pull even the church away.

But he says, verse 23, take heed.

Take heed, know these things.

Be aware of these things.

Stand ready.

Stand firm.

You say, how will we know the truth from the from that which is false?

I don't know about you, but when I'm on social media today, uh, if if a meme or something comes up or a picture comes up, I have to stop and look.

Is this AI, is this false or is this real?

And it's getting harder and harder to tell.

Now I'm not saying AI is the Antichrist.

That's not my point.

But my point is this it's easy to deceive people now.

Can you imagine, with technology and so many other things, how easy it will be to deceive people in the future?

And people will be deceived into following this.

You know the best weapon against being deceived?

It's not figuring out what's false.

You know what the best weapon is?

Knowing the truth.

Saturating your life with the truth of God's word so that when you see or hear something that is false, immediately alarm bells go off and you go, No, that is not what the word of God teaches.

Don't worry about all the false things.

Worry about what is true.

Also know this: when Christ returns, nobody's gonna have to claim, I'm Christ, I'm the one, I'm he.

When Christ returns, everyone will know that he's come back.

Everyone will know.

Revelation chapter 1, verse 7 says, When he rises in the clouds, all eyes will see him.

Revelation 1:7

If somebody shows up and starts claiming to be Christ, they're not Christ because when Christ shows up, there aren't going to be any questions.

Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Christ.

There's a seven-year period coming in history.

It will be marked by the rise of an antichrist.

It will be marked by persecution and deception.

And praise God, it will be marked by God's mercy.

And Jesus said, You want to know when I'm going to return?

You want to know what the signs are going to be for it?

This is the sign.

Now, it's 12 o'clock.

And I'm not done with my sermon, but we're done with our time together.

Except for this.

What do you do with the information I just shared with you?

Do you go home going, do you go home worried about is it going to happen tomorrow?

Am I going to be in the middle of it?

Jesus tells his disciples, don't be led astray.

Hey, take heed.

Don't let anybody lead you astray.

Don't let anybody lead you astray with speculation.

Don't be worried about speculating when it's going to happen or the timelines.

God does not give us this information.

Jesus does not provide his disciples nor us with this information so that we can sit down and write out clever little timelines and figure it out and be arrogant and say, I've got it figured out, you haven't got it figured out.

Jesus says no one will know when it's going to take place.

Don't be misled by speculation.

Don't be misled by fear and trouble.

Don't be overwhelmed by this.

If you are a Christ follower, if you've trusted wholly in Christ, you have nothing to concern yourself with.

Because Christ will see you through.

If you're not a Christ follower, if you haven't trusted in Christ, I would encourage you to trust in him.

If you're not ready to do that, continue to pursue him, seek truth from him.

Because if all of this does take place soon, you're not ready.

You know, every generation has their own troubles, their own false teachings, all of it.

Some will tell that there's salvation without redemption.

Some will tell that there's hope without Christ.

Some will tell you there's truth without Scripture.

All of those are wrong.

But don't fear.

We know the truth.

Don't be led astray by speculation.

Don't be led astray by fear and trouble.

Don't be led astray by false prophets who might come.

Know what to expect.

Don't be shaken.

On large vessels that travel the ocean.

They have what's known as an emergency anchoring system.

So that when they get caught in a major storm out on the water, they're not just dependent upon the engines to keep them afloat.

When a storm hits a large vessel, they will drop an anchor that goes down deep into the depths of the ocean and anchors them to the ocean bed.

Now, on top of that water, on that ship, it might be tossing and turning, the hull might be creaking, the people might be vomiting up on the third deck.

But that anchor is going to hold.

It will not let go.

And life sometimes for us as Christ followers gets pretty turbulent.

And up on deck, it might make a lot of noise and it might toss and it might turn and you might even be sick.

But here's the great news.

We don't have to hold on to God.

He holds on to us.

He is our anchor.

And in the midst of all this trouble and trial, and in the midst of the end, he will hold you fast.

He will not let you go.

Take heed.

Hold fast.

Live ready.

Don't be concerned.

Trust.

Christ is coming back.

He is going to set all things right.

But the sign of him coming back is tribulation.

Tribulation for disciples can describe any kind of pressure that we go under.

Jesus isn't talking about normal pressure here.

He's talking about a very specific period of time in history that's coming.

The question is are we ready?

If you're ready, then tell somebody else how they can get ready.

If you're not ready, the only way to get ready is to grab the anchor.

And his name is Jesus Christ.