Be On Gaurd (Mark 13:14-27)

You may have noticed that I am limping and wearing an ankle

brace. You may also have noticed this

chair behind the podium. Don't worry, if I need it, I'll

use it. The limping and ankle brace and

a chair are because this Wednesday I severely sprained my

ankle. Wow, severe ankle sprain you

say? How did you incur that injury?

By walking? Yep, impressive.

Kids don't try this at home. I was walking early in the

morning to memorize scripture and pray, as I do almost every

morning when I can walk. It was dark.

It's about 5:30 AM. It was even darker than normal

because Wednesday was very overcast.

So normally that early, there's a little bit of moonlight,

Starlight, you can see a little bit.

But Wednesday morning, you could see nothing.

And I was looking at my phone to try to help me memorize a verse

of Scripture. And my left foot stepped right

onto the edge of a sidewalk pavement and a couple of inches

down into the grass. And my whole weight went

straight down. Didn't catch myself, fell

straight down. Instant pain.

I started crawling. That was smart.

Well, how am I going to get home?

I guess I'll wait a minute. No, no, no, no, no.

So I called my wife. Thankfully, she could come pick

me up right away. Got seen by an orthopedist.

That is a severe sprain, thankfully not broken.

Well there's there's technically something called an avulsion

fracture for all you medical people, but they just say it's a

sprain. So Lord willing, couple of weeks

of a brace, resting it and elevating it as much as

possible. I should be back to normal I

hope. Why did I fall and sprain my

ankle? Because I couldn't see where I

was going. Lord willing, when I heal up and

return to my early morning walking ways on mornings like

that, I will now wear a headlamp.

I have already bought 1. I mean, come on, You see, if

you're ever out early in the morning, you see some of these

walkers, these runners, they've got their little neon vest.

Some, some people have headlamps.

I'm going to be a headlamp guy on those kind of mornings.

I've got it. I've got the batteries.

It's ready for the 1st morning I need it so that I can see where

I'm going. In your life as a whole, can you

see where you're going? Where are you going?

Do you have a desired destination in this life?

Do you have any sense of a destination beyond this life?

If so, what's going to get you there?

Where are you going? Can you see where you're going?

How are you going to get there? This morning we continue our

series in Mark's Gospel with our second of three sermons on Mark,

Mark 13 · chapter mention

chapter 13. If you don't have a Bible,

please raise your hand and someone will bring you one.

If you don't have a Bible at home, you can feel free to keep

it, read it. We'd be happy for you to take

that as a gift from us. Don't be shy.

If anybody needs a Bible, put up a hand.

So this morning, Mark 13 verses 14 to 17.

Mark 13:14–17

Excuse me, 14 to 27. Mark 1314 to 27.

In these verses Jesus continues teaching his disciples about

both their immediate future and their ultimate future.

This is during the last week of Jesus life.

It's about 30 AD and for most of our passage Jesus teaches about

what some of his disciples will endure in the lead up to the

destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70AD.

But then he turns their attention and ours to the more

distant future. It's a future that still hasn't

arrived, but it will. Please follow along as I read

Mark 13 verses 14 to 27. But when you see the abomination

Mark 13:14–27

of desolation standing where he ought not to be, let the reader

understand. Then let those who are in Judea

flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the

housetop not go down or enter his house to take anything out,

and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his

cloak. And alas, for women who are

pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days,

pray that it may not happen in winter.

For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been

from the beginning of the creation that God created until

now, and never will be. And if the Lord had not cut

short the days, no human being would be saved.

But for the sake of the elect whom He chose, He shortened the

days. And then if anyone says to you,

look, here's the Christ, or look, there he is, do not

believe it. For false Christs and false

prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders to lead

astray, if possible, the elect, but be on guard.

I've told you all things beforehand.

But in those days after that tribulation, the sun will be

darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars

will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will

be shaken. And then they will see the Son

of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.

And then he will send out the angels and gather his elects

from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of

heaven. In this passage, Jesus

prophecies the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70

AD and his own personal return to earth at some later,

unspecified time. Verses 14 to 23 are all about

the destruction of Jerusalem in the Temple, and verses 24 to 27

are all about his personal return from heaven to earth.

So in this passage Jesus teaches us where his first disciples are

heading, which is into a major trial and catastrophe, and where

this whole universe is heading, which is to his personal return.

What should you do in light of Jesus teaching?

Very simple, watch out and wait. Watch out and wait.

Watch out is the main point of verses 14 to 23.

Wait is the main point of verses 24 to 27.

Sermon will have two points. Each point will have 3 sub

points. The first point will be much

longer point #1 watch out. That's Jesus's main take away

for us in verses 14 to 23. Watch out.

Watch out for what? First, watch out for the sign

Jesus promised. Watch out for the sign Jesus

promised. If you were here last week,

you'll remember that in verse 4 of this chapter 4 of Jesus,

disciples asked him when the temple will be destroyed, which

he's just predicted, and what's the sign that it is about to be

destroyed. Then as we saw in verses 5 to

13, Jesus tells them a whole bunch of things that are going

to happen that will not be signs of the temples coming

destruction. These things are all going to

happen, but they're not going to be a sign that the destruction

of the temple is near. Now here in verse 14, he finally

comes to the sign they're asking for, verse 14.

But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he

ought not to be, let the reader understand.

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

The point here is that this abomination of desolation is the

sign that the temple's about to be destroyed.

Judea is the region that the city of Jerusalem is in.

Jesus is addressing those who will be present there at that

time, and he's saying when you see this, it's time to get out.

When this happens, this is the sign.

This is go time. But what is the abomination of

desolation? The phrase comes from the Old

Testament prophetic book of Daniel.

Daniel uses this phrase three times in print.

Prophecies, predictions about the future Daniel 927-1131 and

12/11 The phrase describes someone who does unholy anti

religious things in and to God's temple.

For instance, one of those passages Daniel 1131 talking

about a coming ruler. 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. These prophecies found an

initial fulfillment in 168 BC. That is just about 200 years

before Jesus is teaching his disciples here.

Antiochus Epiphanes was the king of the Selyucid Empire, which

included Judea and its territory.

Antiochus adopted the Greek title Epiphanies, which means

God manifest. He viewed himself as Zeus

Incarnate. He invaded Judea.

He tried to force the Jews living in Jerusalem and Judea to

adopt Greek customs and worship Greek gods.

In 168 BC he came to Jerusalem. He plunder the temple.

He took away all the sacred vessels of the temple to sell

off and finance his war campaigns.

When he entered the temple, he set up an altar to Zeus over the

top of the altar of burnt offerings to the Lord, and he

sacrificed a pig there, an unclean animal.

It was a deliberate, knowing, informed effort to give the most

possible offense to the Jewish people and to the God of Israel

and the resistance that that got rid of him and cleared out the

temple and restored at the true worship was led by the Maccabees

and came to be memorialized in the festival of Hanukkah every

year. So for 200 years before the

before Jesus talking to his disciples, all observant Jews

would have celebrated how God delivered his people from this

original abomination of desolation.

That's what they would have thought about year by year, how

someone desecrated the temple and God preserved his people and

God purified his own worship. And so we got the temple back

and true worship back. So when Jesus disciples heard

him quote this phrase from Daniel, they would have thought

of some kind of gross act of sacrilege committed against the

Lord and especially against the temple.

I have to be transparent. I am not certain what the

abomination of desolation is. I'm sorry, I did my best.

It had to be something occurring close enough in time to the

destruction of the temple to serve as a warning sign to get

out of Jerusalem. Scholars disagree about it.

There are a lot of theories. I think the most likely

candidate is that in 68 to 69 AD, the Zealots, who were the

kind of resistance party against the Romans on behalf of the

Jews. At that time, they were leading

the Jewish opposition to Rome. They appointed their own high

priest who did not have proper Levitical descent, and he

started doing worshippy stuff in the temple, or rather false

worshippy stuff in the temple. That would seem to fit Jesus

language of verse 14 where he says he is standing where he

ought not to be. Only a Levitical priest has the

right to stand there and minister in the temple.

This guy doesn't. He's standing where he ought not

to be. And that would have been a big

deal. It would have circulated, you

know, that the news of it would have circulated quickly.

So I'm not 100% committed to it. I think that's what it could

have been. Regardless though of any

uncertainty about who or what this was, Jesus is practical

point to his first followers is clear when you see this happen,

run away, get out of the city. He gives more specific

instructions on that in verses 15 to 18.

And we have to remember that this wouldn't have just been

like, you know, two people walk in and, you know, try to like

take over the temple. This is the entire force of the

Roman army coming to destroy Jerusalem and destroying the

temple, the grandest, biggest structure as part of that.

So what are they escaping? They're not just escaping from

like a religious dispute where a couple of people are in some old

building. They're escaping from total

annihilation, an army coming in and totally wiping out the city

versus 15 to 18. Let the one who is on the

housetop not go down nor into his house to take anything out,

and let the one who's in the field not turn back to take his

cloak. And alas, for women who are

pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days,

pray that it may not happen in winter.

Houses in Judea had flat roofs. Houses were often cramped and

poorly ventilated. So it might actually be cooler

up on the roof where a breeze can blow.

It's kind of like a bonus room. People would spend a lot of time

up there. You could even sleep there.

So what does Jesus mean by not go down if you're on the

rooftop? What does he mean not go down?

I think he means don't go back down into the house.

There would have been an inside staircase and an outside

staircase. This is so urgent.

You don't even use the inside staircase to go down and get

anything. You're upstairs, you go outside,

you run. I think that's what Jesus is

saying. It is just possible that houses

were so close together that he envisions people fleeing rooftop

to rooftop kind of 1st century parkour.

I just had to say it is distracting is in my head.

I didn't mean to. Some scholars think that's what

that means. I think he probably just means

go down the outside staircase. Anyways, that one's for free.

The flight is so urgent you don't even go get your

belongings. That's the point about the

instruction to being in the fields, right?

If you're working in the fields, you might, you might put put a

heavy cloak down at the edge of the field and go walk as you're

doing your work. Quarter mile, half mile,

whatever it is. Well, well, don't go back to

quarter mile or half mile to get your cloak.

Just run. That's why it's so hard for

pregnant women and nursing mothers.

If you're escaping from a siege, it is hard to get babies to go

anywhere quickly. All parents of infants know

this. If there's that type of

hardship, you're in that much worse of a position.

Why pray that it may not happen in winter?

Because in that region, it just about only rained in winter.

You'd have dry drought, no rain almost at all.

And then you'd get kind of rain that would lead to flash floods,

which means a empty Creek bed could become an impassable river

instantly. You don't have to be fleeing,

trying to afford a raging river. So in these verses, he Jesus

tells his disciples the sign to watch out for and what to do

when it comes. And the sign did come.

Roman armies in circle Jerusalem and then laid waste to it.

The sign came. Then came destruction.

Jesus's words came true 40 years later.

What are we supposed to learn from that?

Jesus's predictions are certain. They're not guesses.

They're not estimates. They're not projections based on

curves and trend lines. They're certain.

Jesus promises are true. Jesus knows the future because

Jesus controls the future. To us, the future is a lot like

the darkness of 5:30 AM on a day with heavy cloud cover.

We can't see what's coming. We can't see where we're going

unless God reveals it to us. God's Word is our headlamp.

What else are we to watch out for?

Second, watch out for trials and mercy.

Watch out for trials and mercy. That's the substance of Jesus

teaching in verses 19 and 20, Verse 19.

For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been

from the beginning of the creation that God created until

now and never will be. Verse 19, in those days, what

days is Jesus talking about? He's talking about Rome's siege

against and conquest of Jerusalem.

He's talking about the years from 66 to 70 AD.

And he's saying that this is going to be a worse ordeal, a

worse trial than anything they can imagine.

Jesus expression here that the tribulation is worse than

anything before or after. It's a fairly common prophetic

idiom. You see it in the Old Testament.

It's a hyperbolic way of saying it's going to be really, really,

really, really bad. We're not meant to to sort of

take this as literally as possible and try to weigh up and

count well the number of people died or the amount of suffering.

Can we quantify? Was this worse than the

Holocaust? No, it's, it's just saying this

is going to be awful. Also, we know from history that

the events of the Roman war against Jerusalem were truly

horrific. The historian Josephus, who

wrote a history of the events, reports that around 1,000,000

Jews were killed. Something like 6000 were

crucified. The siege created such a severe

famine that some people resorted to cannibalism.

But there was mercy amid the severe trials.

Look at verse 20. And if the Lord had not cut

short the days, no human being would be saved.

But for the sake of the elect whom he chose, he shortened the

days. When Jesus says that God has cut

short the days, he means that God set a limit to the trial in

advance. He sovereignly limited the

length and intensity of what Rome would do to Jerusalem.

He did that to preserve some people alive.

If he hadn't, they could have literally killed every single

person there. So when Jesus says no human

being would be saved, he's using saved in the sense of being

preserved alive, having your life saved.

Why did God limit this suffering?

Jesus says for the sake of the elect whom he chose, God showed

temporal mercy to some for the sake of those who would inherit

eternal life. God showed kindness amid

horrific circumstances to some for the sake of those whom he

determined to show everlasting kindness.

God is sovereign over history. God sets limits to even the most

severe suffering, and one reason he does so is to show mercy to

his chosen people. Even when God afflicts us

sorely, He cares for us compassionately.

In judgement, He mingles mercy. Even when he treats us severely,

He mixes in kindness. If you were a first generation

Christian living through the siege of Jerusalem, you would

have been sorely tempted to think God has forgotten me, God

is against me, God hates me, and you'd be wrong on all counts.

Amid the horrific hardship, God was providing just what you

needed to be sustained to survive.

And to live to trust in him another day.

Notice how Jesus does not sugarcoat any of this.

Jesus is the most perfect practitioner of truth in

advertising. He's not hiding any hard news

from his disciples. Instead, he's opening their eyes

as wide as he can get them to go.

If you're not a believer in Jesus, you need to know that

following Jesus will not deliver you an easy or pain free life.

If you decide to follow Jesus, you will continue to suffer

natural hardships like, oh I don't know, spraining your

ankle. You will also then begin to

suffer new spiritual hardships that come to you because you are

a Christian. When you sign up to follow

Jesus, he tells you that it will cost you.

He warns you to count the cost in advance.

He tells you what you're in for. And His promise is He is himself

enough to see you through. He is Himself worth all that

suffering. What these first generation

believers in Judea would face is an extreme example of what all

believers face. As the Apostle Paul teaches in

Acts 1422, through many tribulations we must inherit the

Kingdom of God. Every Christian's life will be

weighed down with trials and suffering.

Every Christian will pass through hardship after hardship

on their way to heaven. The whole point of Christianity

is that the joyful reward that's coming to every believer

infinitely outweighs all the suffering you will experience.

Now. That is the wager on which

Christianity stands or falls. That is what makes it worth it

to be a Christian or not. Not anything you will experience

in this life. So there are many blessings and

joys and consolations, but you do not find your reward here.

What makes it worth it is what's coming.

What else does Jesus tell us to watch out for #3 watch out for

false hopes. Watch out for false hopes.

Like anybody promising that your reward is here and now, or that

your full deliverance is here and now, those would be false

hopes. This is Jesus warning to us in

verses 21 to 23. Look first at verses 21 and 22

and then if anyone says to you, look, here's the Christ or look

there he is, do not believe it. For false Christs and false

prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders to lead astray

if possible, the elect. These false prophets and false

messiahs would have tried to convince people that the

unsettling events currently taking place meant that Jesus

had actually returned when he hadn't, right?

That's that phrase. Look, look, here he is.

Here's the Christ. Look, there he is.

They're trying to say he's already come back, but he

hasn't. These false prophets were

promoting false hopes. It's very much like the false

prophets in Jeremiah's day that Chris helped us consider last

Sunday night. These false prophets promised a

deliverance that was not coming then and now.

They promised a present rescue from present distress.

That's not what Jesus promises. These false teachers performed

signs and wonders in an effort to lead astray if possible.

The elect false teachers worked real miracles.

Satan has real spiritual power. Not every supernatural work is

from God. And these false teachers

performed real miracles in an attempt to deceive.

They tried to look as much as they could, like true biblical

prophets, in order to trick people, to cheat them, to scheme

them. I recently fell for a scheme.

I received a text message that said it was from the North

Carolina Department of Transportation.

It informed me that I had a small fine assessed because of a

toll that I had not paid. I was particularly susceptible

to this scheme because I actually had had a toll get

billed to me by mail recently. It was like 8 bucks.

I had a little trouble paying. It was the most annoying thing

in the world. I spent 1/2 hour trying to pay

an $8 fine and I thought, you know the toll where they bill

you by mail? And I thought, wait a minute

when I got this text like did did I actually not pay that

after all? Now they're saying there's going

to be a a fine or a penalty or something and it's going to get

bigger and bigger. OK, OK, well I guess I'll just

go pay this. So I tap the link, I input my

payment information, it doesn't seem to work.

What happened? OK, that's weird.

I guess I'll try to go online take care of this again.

Like my 8th effort to pay this $8 toll.

I go online and the online system does not find the toll in

question. The thing I'm trying to pay

doesn't exist on their website. Well you can probably guess what

happened next. In a day or two some charges

started getting posted to my debit card.

Multiple $600.00 payments to a credit card that was not mine.

Thankfully my bank caught it instantly.

I got a text right away. Do you recognize these charges?

I sure don't and I sure know where that's from.

Thankfully my bank had my back. You know it's the hassle, right?

You got to cancel your debit card, wait, get a new one in the

mail, go put it on all this stuff.

You pay for automatic bills and stuff online.

I still had our water bill I still had to finally fix the

other day because they I forgot to update it.

Whatever, I got schemes now. I don't know if it was because

of this incident, but I recently received an e-mail from my bank

about how to watch out against scams.

The e-mail informed me to beware of bank impostors, to look out

for false ticket sales and investment scams, and to talk to

friends and family. It warned me about people

claiming there's an urgent need to withdraw funds.

It warned of people promising get rich quick schemes, and it

suggested to me other people who I should be careful to look out

for. Quote while everyone is at risk,

young adults fall for scams more often while older adults lose

the most money. False teachers are scammers.

They look as much like the real thing as they can to try to

trick you into believing them. So guard your own heart and

mind. And like my bank e-mail told me,

watch out for others too. Jesus warnings are his security

system. He has your back.

He is trying to help you catch false teachers before you give

them your payment information, whether spiritually speaking or

frankly, literally. Brothers and sisters, watch out

for yourselves and watch out for each other.

Protect your own heart and mind against false teaching by being

devoted to learning the truth. When you hear something claimed

as true, figure out where that person says it comes from in the

Bible and go look it up. Grow in discernment.

Grow in testing all the teaching you hear against God's Word.

Grow in detecting spiritual scams and helping other people.

Watch out for them. Note that in verse 22 Jesus says

that false teachers will try if possible to lead the elective

stray. When he says if possible.

Jesus is saying that's these teachers intent.

But it isn't going to happen. God will not let any of his

people be LED astray into apostasy by attaching themselves

to a false prophet or false Christ.

God will preserve his people. So be confident in him, and at

the same time recognize that God uses means to preserve our

faith. Means like these warnings, means

like Jesus's security system to inform our faith of what to look

out for. In the very same verse, this

passage teaches both that God preserves us and that we must

preserve ourselves by heeding His warnings.

Both are true, but what is it that makes it impossible for the

elect to be LED astray? It's God's grace, It's God's

preservation, it's God's protection.

That's how we won't be LED astray.

In verse 23, Jesus concludes not only this warning, but his whole

discussion of the coming destruction of the temple.

This is a big bookend. It brackets the section that

started in verse 5 and goes all the way to verse 23.

Actually, look at verse 5. Flip back there the beginning of

the speech and Jesus began to say to them, see that no one

leads you astray. Then in verse 23 Jesus says be

on guard, I've told you all things beforehand.

He began to say, see that no one leads you astray.

Then he says be on guard, I've told you all things ahead of

time. He's told them all they need to

know about the coming destruction of the temple.

He's told them all they need to know for them to persevere

faithfully through that horrific trial.

Why does Jesus teach all this? It's to help his first disciples

and us to be on guard to watch out kids in the congregation.

When you study a passage like this, the main point is not to

figure out all the details that seem weird.

What on earth is the abomination of desolation?

That's a valid question. That's a legitimate question.

It's good to study your Bible and do your best to figure it

out. It's also a hard question, and

it doesn't really get you to the main point of the passage.

The main point of the passage is to be on guard, to watch out, to

live your whole life in such a way that you are ready for Jesus

to come back at any time. That's the main point.

Watch out for trials, watch out for temptations, watch out for

anything that could pull your heart away from Jesus.

Jesus told his disciples and us what would happen before it did.

So we should have strengthened trust in Jesus word.

That should strengthen our confidence in his word.

It should strengthen our submission to his sovereignty.

It should remind us that even in the midst of the worst trials,

Jesus knows us, Jesus cares for us, and Jesus will sustain us.

Jesus teaching in this passage also reminds us that trials are

not an accident and trials are not a sign that God does not

love you. Terrible things might happen to

you. None of them is a reason to

conclude that God doesn't love you.

Terrible things might happen to you.

None of them is a reason to question God's goodness or his

promises or the reward He is preparing for you.

Instead, remember, God disciplines those whom He loves.

What does Jesus want you to do amid trials and false teachers

and all kinds of suffering, He wants you to watch out.

Watch out for threats and watch out for His mercy.

Now, when I've just been using this phrase, watch out all this

time, it could sound a little passive.

Most of the time when we think about watching, it's like

watching TV, watching a game. You might put the game on and

not even really pay attention to it.

You're watching a game, but you're not even watching it.

To illustrate what I mean by watch out, I will describe for

you two ways in which our family's dog, Rusty watches out.

Rusty's way of watching. Number 11 of Rusty's favorite

things to do is to sit in our front yard as close to the

street as possible, lie there perfectly still in content, and

watch people go by. He will sometimes escape from

his proper place in the backyard to go down to the very front of

the front yard so you can just watch people.

He's not barking, he's not hurting anybody.

He just wants to see who's there and maybe some nice neighborhood

kid will walk by and give him some pets.

That is Rusty's way of watching #1 Rusty's way of watching #2

every time a delivery person or tradesperson comes to our door,

Rusty detects them by scent or sound long before they get to

the door. He runs right behind the front

door and he starts barking his head off and he does not stop

barking if it's a delivery person until they've left,

gotten into their delivery truck and driven away.

Unfortunately, if it's a repair person, a tradesperson, he

doesn't stop barking for the entire time they're doing their

job. I'm so sorry.

I try to crate him. I I put him outside on a leash

around the basketball hoop. I do whatever.

He will not stop barking his head off.

He remains vigilant. It is not my favorite part of

his personality. Four times in this chapter,

Jesus uses the same Greek word bleppo as a command.

Verse 5, verse 9, verse 23, verse 33.

Same Greek word. It gets translated differently

depending on the context. It means watch out.

Watch out for danger and deception.

Watch out for false teaching. Be on guard.

So in verse 23, when Jesus says be on guard, he is exhorting you

to watch out. Like Rusty's second way of

watching. Not because a delivery person or

tradesperson is going to harm your family, but because false

teachers really can. Because false prophets really

will. I wish I could just let Rusty

know, hey, hey, boy, it's OK. You don't need to worry about

these people. They are friends.

We try that. But for us as Christians, we do

need to stay vigilant. Vigilant for trials and the

impact they'll have on us. Vigilant to spot signs of God's

mercy amid those trials, which he's announced we're going to

see. And vigilant against anything

that would lead us away from believing in Jesus and obeying

His commands. Be on guard and stay on guard

until Christ calls you home to Him or until He comes to you,

whichever comes first. Because if you believe in Jesus,

He is your destination .2 More briefly, wait, wait.

That's the main thing verses 24 to 27 would have us do.

Wait for what First? Wait for the new creation.

Wait for the new creation? Those that's in verses 24 to 25.

But in those days after that tribulation, the sun will be

darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars

will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will

be shaken. This language sounds like the

end of the world. It sounds like the dissolution

of the universe as we know it. One challenge in interpreting

this language is that lots of Old Testament prophecies use

language exactly like this to describe events that are not the

end of the world. One obvious example is Isaiah

1310. It's almost identical to our

passage, for the stars of the heavens and their constellations

will not give their light. The sun will be dark and it's

rising, and the moon will not shed its light.

What is Isaiah 13 talking about? It's talking about judgment on

the king of Babylon that happened in the 6th century BC.

That was an end for some. It was not the end for all.

So what does Jesus language here refer to?

To answer that question, we need to work on a couple others.

The first is when does all this happen?

Jesus introduces verse 24 with two phrases that mark its time

in those days after that tribulation.

The phrase after that tribulation tells us explicitly

that these next events he's about to describe do not

describe what happens to Jerusalem in the Temple in 70

AD. It describes something that

happens after, not the same event, but something later.

But what does that phrase in those days mean?

I think the rest of the passage clarifies by the content of what

Jesus promises in the following verses.

He's talking about His personal return to earth.

He's talking about people seeing Him.

He calls himself the Son of Man because he's fulfilling Daniel's

prophecy from Daniel Chapter 7. He's talking about people seeing

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

Him coming in power and glory. That is not metaphorical.

That is not some type of spiritual insights.

That is seeing with your eyes something you have never seen

before. That's what he's talking about

in the rest of these verses. So he's talking about coming to

Earth. He's talking about bringing

people into his physical presence.

He's talking about accomplishing final judgement and bringing

about a new creation. He's talking about the final

end, the ultimate end, the end for everyone, the end for the

whole universe. This is the grand finale.

This is the goal of all of God's plans.

This is the culmination of everything.

So that's what the rest of these verses are about, which helps us

answer the question of what these cosmic phenomena mean.

On the one hand, we should not take them in a strictly literal

sense or a hyper literal sense. It's not like stars will start

homing in on Earth like giant homing missiles and then fall to

Earth and blast our planet to smithereens, right?

If you try to read this as literally as possible, stars

fall to Earth. Does that mean, you know, the

Orion constellations going to gather up and sort of come at us

and we'll know it's, it's, it's not that literal.

What's he saying? He's saying the whole created

order will bear witness to his coming.

He's saying the normal patterns that seemingly go on forever and

endless cycles will stop. Everything, even the cosmic

elements, will halt, will snap to attention, and will honor the

Creator who's returning to his creation.

It will be 1 giant sign to herald Christ's immediate

return. When you see the heavenly bodies

a stop working like they normally do.

Jesus is coming right now. That's his point.

But then what do we do with the phrase in those days?

In those days makes it sound like this happens right after

the destruction of the temple in 70 AD.

But of course, here we are almost 2000 years later and it

still hasn't happened yet. I think the best way to resolve

this difficulty is to recognize that Jesus is presenting in 2D

what will eventually happen in three DI think he's setting two

things side by side. Side by side that will actually

happen far apart in those days does refer to the prophetic

future. He's presenting God's plans as a

seamless fabric. 70 AD is not the second coming and final

judgement, but it does preview the second coming and final

judgement. It's part of the same prophetic

tapestry. You can picture it like this if

you're driving W through Colorado.

It's as flat as Kansas for hundreds of miles.

Eventually the Rockies shoot up over the horizon.

From far away it looks like a a flat wall of mountains.

Like if you walked up to it, it would look like a Hollywood set

of mountains. All in 2D.

But of course, once you get close enough, you see that one

peak is far behind another, separated by dozens of miles, or

in our case, separated by at least about 2000 years and

counting. You could call this prophetic

perspective, or you could use an image from photography and call

it prophetic foreshortening. Jesus is setting these events

side by side without intending to provide a precise timeline.

What's Jesus main point? It's that we are to wait for a

new creation. When he returns in person,

creation will cease its usual operations to bear witness to

his coming. And that would be a preparation

for his work of making all things new.

Second, wait to see Jesus's power and glory.

Wait to see Jesus power and glory.

That's what he promises in verse 26.

And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with

great power and glory. He's saying everybody will see

him. He's saying the second coming

will be unmistakable. That phrase coming in clouds

from the prophecy of Daniel 713, which talks about one like a Son

of man being invested with divine power.

Jesus came the first time in weakness.

He'll come the second time in power.

Jesus came the first time in humility.

He'll come the second time in glory.

Jesus came the first time to the cross.

He'll come the second time to claim his crown.

All those reversals, all those striking contrasts are because

when he came the first time, he came to save.

He came to humble himself. He came to become the servant of

all. God created us to know him, love

him, and serve Him. And yet each of us has refused

to serve Him. We would rather serve ourselves.

We would rather do whatever we can to get others to serve us.

We sure don't want to serve God as if he gets to decide all that

we do, as if he gets to set the terms for everything in my life,

as if whatever he says I'm supposed to not do or do, I'm

just going to have to do it because he says so.

Where's the fun in that? Yeah, that is the essence of

what the Bible calls sin, service of self.

Instead of being willing to serve God, and God is merciful

and just, He came. He sent Jesus to come to show

mercy to us by dying on the cross to pay for our sins, and

in that very act He, God satisfied His own justice by

Jesus suffering the penalty due for the sins of everyone who

would turn from sin and trust in Him.

Jesus paid the price to welcome you back into a right

relationship with God if you will simply believe in Him.

And then three days later, he rose from the dead.

He triumphed over death. He entered into a new, eternal,

indestructible life, a life that nothing can end, a life that

death cannot touch. And so now he invites, Now He

summons, now He commands everyone on this planet to turn

from sin and trust in Him. That's what it means to become a

Christian. That's what it means to be right

with God. That is the way you can be right

with God today if you don't trust in Jesus, if you simply

turn from sin and trust in Him. This second coming of Jesus in

power and glory is the conclusion to the true story

that Mark is telling. The end of the story will happen

outside of the story. We're still living in this

story. We're still waiting for it, and

it'll be more than worth it. Jesus's second coming is what

confirms all his teaching, what validates all his demands, and

what fulfills all His promises. Jesus's second coming will

finally put everything into perspective.

Sometimes people scoff at the Christian hope of Christ second

coming as if it's just delusional pie in the sky stuff.

As if we're just dreaming, making it up.

That's a nice story. It makes you feel better about

your sad life. But we're simply taking Jesus at

His word. He promised it, so we trust it.

We who wait for Christ's second coming are the ones who have our

eyes open. We're the ones you can see in

the dark. We can look through present

darkness and see an infinitely bright future.

We know where we're heading, and we know where this whole

universe is heading. It's those who deny Christ's

coming who are dreaming and refusing to wake up.

It's those who think that everything will simply go along

as it is who are deluding themselves.

So wait patiently to see Jesus's power and glory.

What will happen when you do? Third, wait to be with him

forever. Wait to be with Him forever.

Believer in Jesus, what will Jesus do for you when He comes?

He'll gather you into His presence.

Look at verse 27. And then he will send out the

angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of

the earth to the ends of heaven. There's so many features of

verse 27 and verse 26 before it that bear witness to Jesus's

divine equality with the Father. In other words, these two verses

bear witness to the truth of the Trinity.

How do they do that? In verse 26, Jesus comes with

the clouds in the Old Testament. That's something only God does.

Coming with clouds is a sign of God's divine power.

It's a sign of God himself revealing himself.

In verse 26, Jesus comes with power and glory.

Those are divine attributes. Jesus comes revealing that he

has the glory that God alone has.

And verse 27, Jesus sends out his angels.

Note the possessive pronoun. The angels belong to him.

They report to him. They do his will.

Who gets to command angels? God alone.

In verse 27, Jesus gathers his elect.

He's the one who chose them. He's their possessor and master.

He's their Lord and Savior. The elect are his.

And in verse 27, He comes to gather his elect to himself.

What does that mean? It means that fellowship with

Him is the goal of everything. It means a being with Jesus is

the goal of Oliver and emptive history.

In Old Testament prophecies, the Lord promises to gather His

people to himself. How does he do that?

In the person of His Incarnate Son, by his return from heaven.

Jesus possesses divine perfections that only God has.

Jesus performs divine works that only God does.

He does what God himself promises to do himself.

There's only one God, and that God eternally exists as three

persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who are

equal in every divine perfection and deserve equal honor, glory,

and worship. If you're a Christian, what are

you waiting for? You're waiting for Jesus to

gather you into His arms. You're waiting for Jesus to

bring you into perfect security in His presence forever.

You're waiting for Jesus to perfectly satisfy you in Him

forever. Whatever suffering you

experience will end forever, either when you die or He

returns, whichever comes first. When Jesus gathers you into His

presence, there'll be no more trials, no more threats, no more

dangers, no more disappointments, only perfect

satisfaction in Him that is worth waiting for.

If you trust in Jesus, you are not walking blindly through pre

dawn darkness like I was on Wednesday.

You know where you're heading and you know where this universe

is heading. God has revealed all that to you

and more. God has shown you where you're

heading and He's the one taking you there.

All along the way, He promises to care for you.

He'll care for you through instruction and discipline.

He'll care for you by preserving you.

He'll care for you by protecting you, and He'll care for you by

limiting your trials so that they do not destroy you.

One day. He'll care for you by gathering

you into His presence from wherever you may be.

If you're a believer in Jesus, where are you heading?

Into the arms of your Savior. What's keeping you on that path?

The sustaining grasp of the arms of your Savior.

How can you know He'll welcome you with open arms?

Because He stretched out those arms for you on the cross.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you

for lighting our path through trials, through tribulation,

through hardship, by revealing to us the glorious final end we

have to look forward to. Father, we pray you'd sustain us

in faith. Pray you'd strengthen us, pray

you'd encourage us with these truths.

And we pray for all those who have not entrusted themselves to

Christ that they would in faith and repentance, in Jesus name,

Amen.