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I know that's a little different.
We usually read the scripture reading right after this song.
But I just need to give you all a heads up.
This is going to be an interesting one today, all right?
I don't know if you got a peek at the passage.
It's going to be an interesting one.
And I'm so sorry.
I didn't realize that we have the fourth graders and fifth graders in here.
Because it's going to be a longer one, too.
I'm so sorry.
But last week, of course, was Easter Sunday.
And, you know, Jonathan, of course, he preached on Mark's account of the resurrection of Jesus.
But to conclude our series and Mark's gospel today,
we thought it'd be fitting to cap it off with a sermon on what happens next,
what happens after the resurrection.
So we're going to turn our attention to a teaching that Jesus actually gave before his crucifixion.
But it was a prophetic teaching about what was going to happen after his resurrection and his ascension into heaven.
It's Jesus' longest teaching in the gospel of Mark, Mark chapter 13.
Now, if you are new here, you have to know that the length of our passage this morning is way longer than we typically select to preach on.
And again, it's going to be a longer sermon.
And I also promise you that we're not one of those churches that's always preaching about the end times and Judgment Day and the end of the world.
But we still are a church that's committed to preaching what we call the whole counsel of God.
We're still a church that wants to preach all that God's spoken and revealed in the Scriptures
because we believe that all Scriptures are breathed out by God.
They're inspired by God and that they're useful for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training us in righteousness
so that all the servants of God might be equipped for every good work.
So this means we're not going to shy away from passages that are unpalatable or unpopular or hard for people to swallow
or even hard for people to understand.
You know, passages like today, Mark chapter 13.
Thank you, Jonathan.
I hope you had a good spring break.
But all this is to say we're going for it today, okay?
We're going for it.
I won't be able to address all 37 verses in what most Bible interpreters call the most difficult chapter of Mark's gospel.
But I do want to take it on as a whole and help us all get a better hold of it.
But more importantly, I hope that the way I preach will help this text get a better hold of us.
And for this to work, this is why we have this insert in our liturgies this morning.
If you could take that out.
For this to work, I'm going to need you to pay extra close attention to the passage today, okay?
So grab those liturgies.
And as the Bible teacher, Paige Benton-Brown, she likes to say,
I want to see tops of heads, all right?
I want to see your heads down, your noses and your eyes in the Word of God, immersed in the Word of God.
It's extra important for us as we address this long, dense, and difficult passage.
Okay?
That's my beginning stuff.
Why don't we all stand now?
And I'm going to read all 37 verses for us.
This is the gospel of our Lord.
As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him,
Look, teacher, what massive stones, what magnificent buildings.
Do you see all these great buildings, replied Jesus?
Not one stone here will be left on another.
Everyone will be thrown down.
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple,
Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately,
Tell us, when will these things happen?
And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?
Jesus said to them,
Watch out that no one deceives you.
Many will come in my name claiming I am he and will deceive many.
When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed.
Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.
There will be earthquakes in various places and famines.
These are the beginning of birth pains.
You must be on your guard.
You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues.
On account of me, you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them,
and the gospel must first be preached to all nations.
Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say.
Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
Brother will betray brother to death and father his child.
Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.
Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
When you see the abomination that causes desolation standing where it does not belong, let the reader understand.
Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out of it.
Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak.
Look how dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers.
Pray that this will not take place in winter because those will be days of distress,
unequaled from the beginning when God created the world until now and never to be equaled again.
If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive,
but for the sake of the elect whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.
At that time, if anyone says to you, look, here is the Messiah, or look, there he is, do not believe it.
For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive,
if possible, even the elect.
So be on your guard. I have told you everything ahead of time.
But in those days, following that distress, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.
The stars will fall from the sky and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.
At that time, people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory,
and he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds,
from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
Now learn this lesson from the fig tree.
As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.
Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near right at the door.
Truly, I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
But about that day or hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
Be on guard. Be alert. You do not know when that time will come.
It's like a man going away.
He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task,
and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back,
whether in the evening or at midnight or when the rooster crows or at dawn.
If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to everyone, watch.
This is the gospel of our Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
You can take your seats.
Let's pray.
Lord God, this passage is a hard one, but we confess that your word is true,
and that your word is good, and that your word is life.
So would your Holy Spirit guide us this morning, not just to understand your word,
but to trust it and to live by it?
For Jesus' sake and for the world, we pray.
Amen.
All right, so let's just dive right in.
You need a little bit of a helpful background as we get into Mark chapter 13,
and what you have to remember is that what happens in chapter 11?
Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey.
He enters the temple, and then what does he do?
He clears it out, right?
He clears it out.
He calls it a den of robbers.
He creates quite a stir.
He overturns the money changers' tables, and he drives out all the buyers and sellers.
And then from then on in chapter 12, you have a bunch of religious leaders who come to question
him and test him and challenge his authority in and around the temple.
So you might say that coming into chapter 13 here, the temple had become a hostile place
to Jesus.
And you might even say that one key to understanding Jesus' whole teaching in Mark chapter 13 is
to understand that he has come to make that temple obsolete and to challenge people to
place their hopes somewhere else and not in that temple.
So now we come to chapter 13, verse 1, and it says, as Jesus was leaving the temple, again,
this place had been so hostile to Jesus, and that in many ways Jesus had just undermined
and discredited as Jesus was leaving this temple, one of his disciples, totally missing the point
of all that's just been happening at the temple, one of his disciples says to him, look, teacher,
what massive stones, what magnificent buildings.
And he might as well have said, teacher, what a beautiful temple.
Aren't we so lucky to call this temple ours, to be Jewish worshipers at this most magnificent
house of worship?
How befitting it is that we, who have the greatest religion and culture in the world, also have
the greatest temple in the world.
I mean, look at those stones, look at these magnificent buildings.
And for sure, these were massive stones.
Think like shipping cargo containers, all right, 400 tons each, beautifully stacked on one another.
And for sure, the building was magnificent.
King Herod and Jewish people from all over the world had put tons of money into this reconstruction
of a temple.
Its foundation was twice as big as the original temple that Solomon had built.
And as the ancient historian Josephus recounts, it was covered all over with plates of gold
of great weight.
And at the first rising of the sun, it reflected back a very fiery splendor and made those who
forced themselves to look upon it to turn their eyes away, just as they would have done
at the sun's own rays.
So in one sense, the disciples, that disciple wasn't wrong.
This was an impressive sight to behold, probably the greatest house of worship in the known world.
But is Jesus as impressed by this temple as his disciple?
No.
No, because he, like the prophet he is, he sees the temple for what it really is and what
it will ultimately be, a mere architectural structure, merely built by deep pockets and
a vain king, King Herod.
Just a place ruled by a Jewish religious establishment whose hearts were far from the Lord and a house
of worship filled with religious people who couldn't even recognize the Messiah right in
front of them.
That's what the temple was to Jesus.
And so Jesus saw in this temple something ultimately doomed to crumble into a pile of rubble.
In fact, the whole reason Jesus came, we know, from the other parts of the Scriptures was
to be a better, more ultimate temple, right?
The perfect place where the fullness of God dwelt.
The perfect and true meeting place between God and humanity.
Not centralized in one little place in Jerusalem, waiting for people to come and convert to join
him, but a person who by his spirit would go out with his disciples to the world.
And so he responds in verse 2.
He says,
Do you see all these great buildings?
Not one stone here will be left on another.
Every one will be thrown down.
And you have to understand how rattling this would have been to his disciples to hear this.
Because to the Jewish people, the temple was the centralized dwelling place of God, the
very heart of the kingdom, the core of God's holy city.
The temple was the religious, political, and cultural center of Jewish life.
It was the place from which God was going to establish his rule and reign over all the
nations and vindicate his own honor and his people's honor.
And remember, this is the second temple, okay?
So it's not Solomon's original temple.
This is the temple that was built after the Israelites had been returned to Israel after
their exile in Babylon.
So it's not just the central place of God's presence, but it's a sign, right?
It's a sign of God's favor.
It's a sign of God's commitment to them that he would indeed keep his promise to them of
an everlasting kingdom in the line of David.
And now here the disciples were.
They'd believe they'd identified the Messiah as Jesus of Nazareth, right?
And they believed that the everlasting kingdom was soon to be inaugurated and that such a
grand temple was well-suited for such a long-waited Messiah.
But then Jesus tells them that not one stone of it will be left on another.
Jesus prophesies that this site that's so central to all of Jewish life and carrying all their
hopes and dreams, this architectural structure that had been in construction for over 50 years
up to this point when they're pointing out these stones.
And it wouldn't be completed for another 30 years.
Jesus is saying, it's all going to come crashing down.
And so in verse 3 and 4, four of the disciples approach Jesus because they absolutely need
to know more details.
And they ask him in verse 4, actually they don't ask him, they command him, tell us, when
will these things happen?
Specifically, when will the temple be destroyed?
And they ask, and what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?
All right, and these are some super loaded questions.
Because see, in the disciples' minds, yes, their question is about the end of the temple,
but as Jewish students of the scriptures, in their minds, the end of the temple was also
the same thing as the end of the world.
Remember, the temple was a central feature in their world, so for the temple to be destroyed,
for the dwelling place of God and his people to be torn down, that would signal the end of
the world.
And not only that, but notice how they phrased their second question, what will be the sign
that they are all about to be fulfilled?
There's this prophecy in the book of Daniel, Daniel chapter 12, and it's about the end of
the world.
And Daniel has this vision of a man asking a very similar question, and this man asks,
how long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?
And then Daniel hears the answer.
Another man cries out, it will be for a time, listen, when the power of the holy people has
finally been broken.
All these things will be completed.
When the power of the holy people has finally been broken, all these things will be completed.
So in short, the disciples understand Jesus' prophecy about the temple to be more than a prediction
about some building, they understand it to be a prophecy about the last days.
And that's why the disciples don't just ask, when will this happen?
When will the temple be destroyed?
But when will these things, plural, happen?
What will be the sign that they will all be fulfilled?
They have a lot of things in mind when they're thinking about the destruction of the temple.
And it's even clearer if you look on page 805 in your pew Bibles, if you'd like,
in Matthew's account of this discussion.
Matthew chapter 24, verse 3.
In Matthew's more expanded account, he puts it like this when they ask the question,
when will this happen?
And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?
So that's what's on their mind when they're asking this question.
And that's where the difficulty of this passage really comes in.
It's in how to understand Jesus' response to this loaded question.
When Jesus responds to their questions with a list of a whole bunch of things that will happen,
the question is, when did or when does that actually happen?
Like what time period was he referring to?
Especially since we know that the temple was destroyed in 70 AD.
And you know what?
First, I was going to share with you the view that I felt most comfortable with.
But then yesterday morning, I listened to one more talk about this chapter.
And it was with a different view.
And I was like, I don't know, maybe I'm wrong.
I'm not quite sure.
And so I spent yesterday afternoon trying to figure out how to concisely summarize
maybe three of the most popular views for you.
But then I realized that it was going to take way too much time
and distract us from what I think Jesus is most importantly wanting us to have our attention focused upon.
So all I'm going to say, and we can talk about this offline,
come to my equipping class the last Tuesday of every month.
We can talk about that more.
But all I'm going to say is that some people,
some people think that what is predicted from verses 5 to 31,
all right, again, tops of heads, tops of heads, verses 5 to 31.
Some people think that all that's predicted there,
about all the wars and the earthquakes and the famines and persecution and false prophets
and the gospel being preached to all the nations
and the tribulation and the abomination that causes desolation,
leading people to flee to the mountains,
and the destruction of the temple and the sun and the moon,
darkening stars falling from the sky,
the son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory,
and the angels gathering all God's people from the ends of the earth,
and this whole generation not passing away before all these things happen.
Some people think that this is all in the future.
You might call that the futurist view or the dispensationalist view,
particularly conservative American evangelicals,
Moody Bible Institute, Dallas Theological Seminary,
guys like Billy Graham, Chuck Swindoll, John MacArthur, Charles Stanley, Tony Evans.
You may have heard of Hal Lindsey, right?
And those famous New York Times best-selling books,
the Left Behind series, Tim LaHaye, that's this view, right?
And while I probably would consider myself a theologically conservative American evangelical,
while I also grew up being taught this view,
today I would say I actually find this the least compelling, the least compelling view.
Because the temple was destroyed,
and a lot of this stuff already did happen by 70 A.D.
And Jesus says in verse 30 that the generation that he's speaking to
would not pass away until all these things happened.
And some people think, well, maybe he's talking about generations upon generations,
not just, you know, beyond the time of Jesus' disciples,
but the best Greek and New Testament scholars feel that that's kind of a dishonest reading,
a twisting of the word generation, beyond how the word generation is used in the rest of the Bible
and in the rest of classic Greek literature.
So it seems to me that you have to at least admit that a lot of this stuff has already happened
by 70 A.D. at the destruction of the temple.
Now there's another camp, they're called the Preterist Camp.
I wasn't going to say that, but Jonathan dared me to use that word in this sermon, all right?
But they think that all these things mentioned in verses 5 through 31,
that they already happened by 70 A.D., by the time the temple was destroyed.
Even the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds with great power and glory
and his gathering of all people from the four winds.
And honestly, as I studied this passage this week,
I actually became a lot more sympathetic to this view
for a variety of reasons I can share with you later.
The top commentator on the Gospel of Mark, his name was Richard France.
He was a scholar out at Oxford.
He held this view.
So does N.T. Wright, R.C. Sproul, Kevin DeYoung.
But that part about the Son of Man already coming,
even if we take that spiritually and figuratively
and believe in another physical coming of Jesus,
it doesn't sit right with me.
I think it takes kind of some gymnastics to hold this view as well.
And then there was the view that I was taught in seminary
that some of these things did happen leading up to the destruction of the temple,
but other things, like the Son of Man returning, hasn't happened yet.
That's the view I was probably going to teach and promote,
but honestly, I'm not really sure that one's right either.
I think it takes maybe a less intuitive kind of lumpy,
back-and-forth reading of this text.
All right, so that's the end of the sermon.
No, but I think from time to time you need to hear
that the pastor doesn't know.
And that's the truth.
That's God's word to you this morning.
The pastors don't know everything.
And this was just a brief and broad sketch
of some of the most popular views out there,
but again, I guess what I need to admit here is,
as your pastor, I'm not really sure exactly
what Jesus was referring to here in Mark chapter 13.
But also as your pastor, I want you to hear
that that doesn't mean what Jesus is saying here isn't important,
or that we can just ignore his teaching about the end of the age,
or that there is nothing we can hold onto and glean
from these portions of Scripture
that are more difficult to interpret and get consensus upon.
Actually, in this very difficult passage about the last days,
there is still a ton of relevant, significant,
and even profound truth here
for us to trust and apply in our lives.
The end times aren't some speculative Christian teachings
that Christians are meant to bicker over
or raise alarm about to manipulate people.
Jesus' teaching on the end
has incredible significance for the present.
And if you're here today
and you're having trouble seeing the relevance
of this apocalyptic end-of-the-age conversation
between Jesus and his disciples,
maybe you're here,
you're not even sure if you believe in God.
And maybe you're not even sure you can believe
there was a beginning or that there will be an end,
even if the AI robots take over and wipe us out,
or we wipe ourselves out with wars and nukes
and consuming so much that we make this world uninhabitable.
Or maybe you're here and you are a Christian
and you do technically believe
that there's a beginning and an end,
but honestly, you have trouble thinking that far ahead.
You're just trying to keep your head above the water, right?
And the end of the age just seems so far,
so distant that functionally,
it seems just as irrelevant to you
as to those here who aren't even sure they believe in God.
Well, I'm sorry, I don't have time
to give a comprehensive argument
about why you should believe in the end of the age,
but what I will say is that if we try to live
as if there is no grand story,
if we try to live as if there is no meta-narrative,
no rightful ending,
no one in control of the beginning or the middle
or the end of the story,
we will never live with a kind of confident hope,
comforting peace, and convicted purpose
that we all long to live with.
See, underlying the entire Christian faith
is the conviction that we are living in God's story,
a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end,
a good creation, a world gone wrong,
and God's redemptive action to judge the world
and yet at the same time save it
and transfigure it into something glorious and imperishable.
But without a grand narrative like the Christian narrative,
if we don't have a good beginning,
and if we're confused or divided
about how to understand the messy middle
that we all find ourselves in,
and if we don't know the end
or if there even is an end,
and whether or not it bends toward justice
like Dr. King used to preach
from his own Christian convictions,
then it's gonna be hard to live this life
with hope for the future,
peace in the present,
and convictions about the way
things were always meant to be
from the beginning.
So what I hope to show you from this passage
is more than just the details
about the end of the ages
that the Bible interpreters
disagree with each other about.
What I hope to show you
and what is clear from this passage
is that it's only when we entrust ourselves
to the end of God's story
that we'll ever live with confident hope,
comforting, peace,
and convicted purpose.
It's only when we entrust ourselves
to the end of God's story
that we'll ever live with confident hope,
comforting, peace,
and convicted purpose.
I think that's what Jesus most importantly
was trying to get across
to his disciples
who were asking him
about the destruction of the temple
and the end of the world,
and I think that's what he wants
for us this morning too.
Now notice how I phrased this
kind of main point that I just spoke.
I didn't say when we know the details
of the end of God's story.
I said when we entrust ourselves
to the end of God's story.
And that's absolutely key
to understanding this most important thrust
in Mark chapter 13.
Rather than focusing on all the details
and the events that Jesus speaks about
and rather than trying to predict
the future and the exact time
when the end will come,
which Jesus says in verse 32,
even he doesn't know,
a better way to read and understand
Mark chapter 13
is by focusing on Jesus' clear
and direct commands and promises, I think.
To focus on the when, I think,
is not the point
or not the main point.
And in fact, it shows that
we are totally missing the heart
and the mind
and the person of Jesus.
I want you to notice something here.
So this isn't the first time, right,
that Jesus has prophesied
about the future to his disciples.
He's prophesied many times.
We've seen him many times
constantly foretelling them
of his suffering, right,
and of his death.
And yet this is the first time
when they're actually curious enough
to ask him when.
When this prophecy would be fulfilled,
when it would happen.
Not when it's about his destruction,
but when it's about
their beloved temple's destruction.
And this should show us
not only how much Jesus' disciples
were totally missing the point
and how far their hearts were from him,
but it's a mirror for us, too,
to consider the ways
that we might be missing the point
and ultimately missing Jesus.
This is an opportunity
to consider the areas
where our hearts
might be less concerned about Jesus
and more concerned about things
like the temple
that won't last.
What are the things
that we think
are more important
than they actually are
to Jesus?
Notice also how the disciples ask,
they ask when,
but they don't ask why,
or how do you want us
to live and respond?
They were more concerned
with the bare facts
and the circumstances
around them
than God's purposes around them.
More concerned with factual knowing
than with faithful living.
And the application question for us is,
do we also care more
about our circumstances
than God's purpose for our lives?
Are we more concerned
with predicting the future
and setting ourselves up
for favorable circumstances
than we are
with a personal relationship with God
and living into his purposes?
The disciples totally missed the point.
And we will too
if we only see Jesus' response
as an answer to their
when will this happen question.
Jesus isn't interested
in just simply answering
their question
and puffing them up
with knowledge
about the details
of their future circumstances.
No, he is far more interested
as we will see
in how they will live faithfully
into and toward the future
as his disciples
even without knowing
the exact timing of the end.
I love how this commentator,
he was formerly the president
at Baylor,
David Garland,
he puts it this way
in his commentary
on this passage.
He says,
Mark's message
is more subtle
than to give us events
to enter onto our
end of time charts.
The message is simply this.
God's way,
God's Christ,
and God's people
will be vindicated
in a conclusive manner
that all will recognize.
That time is not yet.
The disciple is not called
to eliminate his ignorance
of the timing of the end.
He is called to cope with it
and respond to it appropriately.
The question the text addresses
is how does one live
in difficult times?
The end times drama
will run its course
scene by scene,
but the actors on the stage
have only vague clues
about where they are
precisely in the play.
Only the stage director knows.
He has given the actors
instructions about what to do
and what to say
when they see certain things happen,
but that is it.
They know how the play ends,
but they do not know
when the curtain will fall.
And I would add,
they don't need to know.
They don't need to know
when the curtain will fall.
They need to know
the father,
the play director.
Now, I don't have that much time left,
but I do want to draw your attention
to what I believe
were the most important things
Jesus wanted to get across
to his disciples,
far more important
than accurately timing
and predicting the future.
I want to draw your attention
to three commands
and a promise.
Three commands and a promise.
So first, notice the first thing
Jesus says in verse five.
He actually doesn't direct,
he doesn't directly answer
their question,
their when will this happen question,
but he gives them a command instead.
They ask him,
when's this going to happen?
And what does he say?
He says,
watch out
that no one deceives you.
Many will come in my name
claiming I am he
and will deceive many.
Jesus' first response
is not to answer their question
and tell them
when these things will happen,
like when the temple
will be destroyed
and when he will return
at the end of the age,
but his main concern
is that they watch out,
hold steadfast to him
and not be deceived
by fake Messiah figures
who will claim to solve
all the world's problems
if people would just trust
and hope in them.
And this isn't just because
he wants them to just know
the right things,
know the right facts
from the wrong ones,
but it's because he wants them
to know him.
He wants them to trust him.
The more important thing to Jesus
is his relationship
with his disciples.
That they don't fall away
after false messiahs
who do not love them
and cannot save them,
no matter how powerful,
no matter how charming,
beautiful, impressive,
and promising,
they seem to be
just like Herod's
shiny temple was.
They too will fall.
They too will crumble.
So that's the first command.
Watch out
and do not be deceived.
It's a command
to hold fast to Jesus
and not go after false messiahs.
It's relevant to them.
It's relevant to us.
Another command Jesus gives
is a word of preparation
and peace in verse 7.
Do not be alarmed.
Notice even when Jesus
begins to approach
this topic of when
in verse 7,
when you hear of wars
and rumors of wars,
do not be alarmed.
Such things must happen,
but the end is still to come.
Notice he's not saying
certain wars.
Look out for this special war
in Iran,
in Iraq,
in Palestine.
That's going to be the one
that's going to finally signal
the end to come.
He's just saying that wars
will definitely come.
There will be wars
on the way toward the end
and they shouldn't alarm us
or turn us into
alarmist future predictors.
They simply will happen,
but he says,
they're not the end.
The end, he says,
is still to come.
It's still to come,
verse 7.
Verse 8,
nation will rise against nation
and kingdom against kingdom.
There will be earthquakes
in various places
and famines,
but Jesus says,
these are just the beginning
of birth pains.
Meaning,
meaning that yes,
these indicate that
we are in the last days,
but these are just
the beginning
of the last days
and signs at the end
will eventually come,
even though
we don't know
the exact time.
We can't know.
Just as a mother
having her initial contractions
knows the baby is coming
and even soon,
but does not know
the exact time
and hour
that the baby will come,
whether in half an hour,
or in 24 hours,
he's telling them
what to expect
and reminding them
that none of these hard things
is the end of the world.
Do not be alarmed,
but in fact,
these things,
these hard things
are the very way
of Jesus himself.
More than predicting,
more important
than predicting the future,
what he's doing
is he's preparing them
for a life
of faithfully following
in his footsteps.
Notice all these details.
Verse 6,
deceivers,
false teachers,
verse 7,
wars,
rumors of wars,
verse 8,
national and kingdom hostilities,
earthquakes,
famines,
verse 9,
disciples handed over
to local councils,
flogged in synagogues,
standing before governors
and kings,
verse 11,
arrested and put on trial,
verse 12,
families divided,
verse 13,
hatred from the world.
These are all things
that in many ways
could very much describe
Jesus' human experience,
can't they?
So when he says,
do not be alarmed,
he's telling them
that yes,
hard times will come,
but you don't need
to be alarmed.
No,
you're simply following
in the way of your Lord,
a road that involves suffering,
but that ends in glories.
He's telling them
that their stories
are being written
exactly how Jesus' story
was written,
and that that's an honor
and a privilege,
and that is exactly
how God intended
to write their stories
with a guarantee
of a better ending
to come.
Do not be alarmed,
he commands them.
The last command
I want to draw
your attention to
is toward the end
of the passage
in verse 32.
It's in verses 32 to 37.
It's a couple commands,
but I want to clump them together.
Be on guard,
he says.
Be alert,
he says.
Stay awake,
keep watch,
Jesus says.
And he gives this illustration
of servants not knowing
when their master
will come home.
Now I know that this
can sound pretty scary,
like a terrible way
to end this teaching,
right?
And when we read this,
you know,
I think a lot of us
can think,
like, wait,
do I have to be perfect
all the time
with every second
of my existence?
Am I supposed to live
with a kind of anxiety
like Jesus could return
at any second
and be like,
boo,
I caught you.
I caught you
not being faithful.
Is this saying
that I better stay awake
and be on edge
all the time?
Even be afraid
of Jesus' return?
You know,
for most of my life,
that's how I read
this passage.
And I said,
how is this good news?
When I gave some deeper thought
to this illustration
that Jesus gives,
I began to wonder
if it was actually
less about being on edge
and fearful
of the master
who could arrive
at any moment
and more about understanding,
appreciating,
believing in,
and taking pride
in the good job
and role
that I've been
graciously assigned
by my all-wise,
all-loving master,
a master who I definitely
want to be serving
in the first place.
Like, think of it that way.
Jesus is not saying,
be on edge
because you never know
when I might peekaboo.
No.
He's saying,
be vigilant.
Stay on task.
Do not grow weary
in doing good.
Do not grow weary
or lazy
or do not get distracted
from the good mission
and purpose
that God has called you to,
even if you don't know
how long you'll be
on this mission.
Even if you don't know
when the curtain's
gonna fall,
play your role,
play your part
and enjoy it.
Jesus is calling us
to keep living
in light of the end,
to stay awake,
to have our eyes open
and attentive
to his story
and how it ends.
Even when we don't know
the time,
the end will come.
Those are the three commands.
Now let's end
with this last,
with the promise,
right?
Because I'm probably
over time
but know this,
Jesus doesn't just
give us commands,
he gives us promises.
He gives us promises
to sustain and inspire
our obedience
to his commands
and if I had time,
I'd give you like
three more,
like verse 13,
the promise that
those who stand firm
will be saved
no matter what
they go through,
salvation's coming
for those who stand firm
in Christ
or verse 26,
the promise that
regardless of how we
interpret the events
discussed here,
the Son of Man
will come in glory
and power.
That's something
everyone agrees upon.
There's a glorious end
to the story
and Jesus wins
or this other promise
in verse 31,
heaven and earth
will pass away
but Jesus' words
will never pass away
that all that Jesus
has ever said
is true
or will come true
and we can bet
our lives on it
with even more confidence
than we have
that the sun
will rise tomorrow
or that the earth
will continue
to spin in orbit.
I'd love to say more
about all these promises
but I want to pick
one in particular,
the promise in verse 10,
the promise that
the gospel
must first be preached
to all nations
and I want to get
your attention
on this promise
because I think
it illustrates the point
that I'm making
all along
in this chapter of Mark
that we miss out
on so much
if we read Mark 13
as just a puzzle
to try to figure out
the details
and the timing
of the last days.
You know,
for so many years
reading the Bible,
I always just read
verse 10
as a mere sign,
as a mere marker
of when the world
would end,
of when the end
would come
and I've seen
so many like missionaries
and mission agencies
base their whole strategy
off of this, right?
Try to reach this nation
and that nation
so Jesus can finally
come back, right?
But revisiting this text
this week
opened my eyes
to the better emphasis
that I think
that Jesus had
on his heart.
See, verse 10
isn't simply a marker
in time for us
to look at our maps
and say,
okay, how many more
people groups
does the gospel
need to go to
and how long
will that take
so we can predict
the day when Jesus
will come back?
No.
Verse 10
is Jesus' promise
that no matter
what tribulation
may come
that his disciples
will always have
good news
to hope in
and to share
with the world
because his good news
will never fail
to be good news
worth believing in
and living by
and sharing.
And so verse 10
is Jesus' insistence
to his disciples
in these last days
that the most important
thing
is the preaching
of the gospel,
the preaching
of the good news
about Jesus.
It's a promise
that his disciples
filled and empowered
by the Holy Spirit
will not fail this task
but will be incredibly successful
even in spite
of tribulation.
He was saying
just as certainly
as the world
will seem like
it's falling apart
and just as surely
as you will be arrested
and flogged
and hated
just like me,
just as surely
Jesus says
will the good news
still find its way
to the world
from Jerusalem
to Samaria
to the ends
of the earth
all throughout
the Roman Empire
and beyond.
And just like
the suffering
of the cross
could not hold me
down in the grave
nothing,
nothing
is going to be able
to sour
or stop
the good news
about me
and my kingdom.
And that is his promise
to the church.
This was to be
the disciples'
heartbeat
after Jesus'
resurrection
and ascension
into heaven
and this is to be
our heartbeat
as well,
Christ's church
as we await
Jesus' return
in the last days
of history.
No matter
how many millennia
these last days
will last,
no matter what
kinds of difficulties
we face,
no matter who wins
the 2024 elections,
it's not the end
of the world
until Jesus says so
and we will always
have good news
because while kingdoms
may rise and fall
and even the greatest
temples in the world
and even while the Messiah
himself might be slain,
he is risen
and he is returning
and this is good news
for us,
it's good news
for the nations,
the good news
that the greater temple
who was torn down
yet raised
in three days
to pay for our sins
and bring resurrection life
into this world,
this is the gospel,
the gospel of Jesus
and this gospel of Jesus
is the only possible source
of confident hope,
comforting peace
and convicted purpose.
So Christchurch,
is that what we're
going to be about?
Proclaiming the gospel
to all the nations,
is it a must to us
as it was for Jesus
and for his disciples?
The gospel must first
be preached
to all the nations
because if it's true,
how could it not be?
How could it not be
a must to us?
Christ has died,
Christ has risen
and Christ will come again.
Let's pray.
Lord, I thank you
for my brothers and sisters
in this room
who endured
a longer sermon
than normal
but I pray
that they will come away
with that confident hope,
that comforting peace
and that convicted purpose
that you desire
for all those
who would entrust themselves
to your story
as the perfect story writer
who's shown us
the way in Jesus.
In his name we pray.
Amen.