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I've got a series of questions
that I want to ask you. And before I ask you these questions,
I just want to give some clarity that none of these are trick
questions. I'm not trying to trap you in
anything. So just think, answer in your head honestly what you
would say about these things. And they're pretty obvious too.
It won't tax your minds too hard. So first of all, do you believe
that God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning?
Do you believe that God created the heavens and the earth out
of nothing? Do you believe that God spoke
his creation into existence? Do you believe that as judgment
for sin, there was a worldwide flood that destroyed all humans
and land animals other than those saved on the ark. Do you believe
the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by God with fire
and brimstone for their wickedness? Do you believe that God, through
Moses, parted the Red Sea for the Israelites to walk across
on dry land and brought the sea back on the Egyptians who tried
to follow and they drowned? Do you believe that God caused
the sun to stand still to extend the daylight so the Israelites
could defeat the nations who fought against them in Joshua
10? Do you believe that Uzzah died
instantly just for touching the Ark of the Covenant? Do you believe
that Jonah was swallowed by a large fish and spit back out on land? Do you believe that Elijah called
fire down from heaven to burn the offering and the altar at
the contest with the servants of Baal? Do you believe that
the Old Testament prophets were given messages from God that
accurately predicted details of the coming Messiah? Do you
further believe that Jesus was born of a virgin? Do you believe
that Jesus healed diseases, cured blindness, and other infirmities? Do you believe that Jesus raised
Lazarus from the dead? Do you believe that Jesus accurately
predicted his own death and resurrection? And do you believe that it happened
just exactly as Jesus said it would? And just to clarify, do
you believe that Jesus rose from the dead. Now, again, not trying
to trap you in anything. I hope that everyone here answered
yes to all of those questions. All of these things that I mentioned
and asked you about, these are all supernatural and or you might
say miraculous things that the Bible declares to have happened.
The Bible tells us each of these things have happened. They are
all amazing things that have happened. Well, there are a lot
of people in the world who would say no to many, maybe all of
those questions that I asked. They would say that believing
that those things literally happened would be weird. It's just not
logical. There has to be a more logical
explanation. So something like a Big Bang
and evolution make more sense to the mind that wants to cancel
out God. It was just a local flood that
got exaggerated in the coffee shops, they may say. Sodom and
Gomorrah were probably destroyed by a volcano, they would say.
The Israelites crossed the Red Sea during a dry spell, and somehow
the Egyptians drowned in three inches of water. The sun didn't
really stand still. It just happened to be the weekend
of daylight saving time, and they didn't realize their clocks
had changed. Now, I've never actually heard that argument,
but it wouldn't surprise me. They saved a lot of daylight
that day. Uzzah was actually electrocuted
by a potato battery someone had put in the ark. Now, that one
somebody did actually try to experiment with because, There's
got to be some logical explanation, and so maybe a potato battery
in the ark is what actually killed Uzzah. Jesus didn't actually
die. He just fainted and revived,
or his disciples stole his body. And most of the rest of these
questions that I asked you about are just fairy tales. Never really
happened. Well, the world will try hard
to de-supernaturalize the past miracles of the Bible. It didn't
actually happen. It's just made up. It's fairy
tales or things were exaggerated, but hopefully you trust the Bible. Hopefully you believe what God
has said that God's word is more believable, more trustworthy
than the thoughts of man. If you can believe Genesis 1.1,
then all the rest of those things that I asked you about They're
easy. If God created the heavens and
the earth, he can do anything he wants in his creation. He
can do all of the rest of those things easily if he can create
the heavens and the earth. Well, strangely, many professing
Christians will do some similar things to what I mentioned as
the world does when it comes to things of the future. like
the things that we read about in the book of Revelation, parallel
prophecies in the Gospels that have to do with things leading
up to and including the coming of Jesus Christ. There are many
who doubt a literal fulfillment of those prophecies because they
seem weird. They're nothing like anything
we've ever experienced. And they just don't seem like
they could actually be. There must be some other explanation. Well, some things that we look
at today about the return of Christ are definitely supernatural. They are unlike anything that
we have ever experienced. And so some have spiritualized
it, others have naturalized it to try to explain it in a way
that makes more logical sense. About a hundred years ago Harry
Emerson Fosdick spoke of people who proclaim that Christ is coming
and they say it was certainty that Christ is coming but he
says when they say Christ is coming they mean that slowly
it may be but surely His will and principles will be worked
out by God's grace in human life and institutions. And so that's
what some have meant by Christ is coming. When we see things
about the return of Christ in the Bible, they will say, well,
what that really means is that one day we're gonna get this
all figured out. Life is gonna get better, be
it through better politics or better technology or a mixture
of the two, things are gonna get better. And that is the return
of Christ. Others will claim that Jesus
already came back. And all of the prophecies of
his coming were fulfilled already by the year 70 AD. It was just
a spiritual coming. It was unseen. And that's why
the things that what we see it says will happen. Well, they
didn't actually happen. It was a spiritual happening.
It's allegory. Or it refers to something other
than what it says happened. Maybe it's about some kings and
some nations and changes of that sort. Well, I believe that we
should believe the Bible. God has done amazing things in
the past. and He is still capable of doing
amazing things in the future. He has kept His word in the past.
We should trust Him to keep His word in the future. So we are
in Mark chapter 13 this morning. We're in the midst of the Olivet
Discourse. It's still Tuesday of the week of the Passion Week
of Jesus, the week that concludes on that Friday with Jesus on
the cross and going to the tomb We're on Tuesday here in Mark
13. Last week we fast forwarded to Thursday through Sunday for
Easter. We're going back a couple of
days now to Tuesday. So after all the opposition that
Jesus faced in the temple, while he was trying to teach, he has
left the temple. You remember some of the disciples
commented on, look at these big stones, these big fancy buildings.
And Jesus commented, that's not going to continue. This temple
is going to be destroyed. Jesus and his disciples are now
sitting on the side of the Mount of Olives looking toward Jerusalem
like the perspective of this picture up here on the screen.
They would have been seeing Jerusalem from the first century from their
perspective of where they sat. Now Jesus saying that that temple
that had been under construction for so many decades, was so big,
so impressive, so fancy, that Jesus would say that it is all
going to come down, that was pretty shocking news to the disciples. Some of the disciples want a
little further explanation. Peter, James, John, and Andrew
ask Jesus, they want to know, when will these things be? And
what will be the sign when all these things are going to be
fulfilled? Matthew gives a little more detail
on this instance, this time, records that they also asked,
what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the
age? Now we've looked at Jesus' beginning
to that answer of what would not be signs that the end had
come. He says, when you see of wars,
we see wars, you hear rumors of wars, there's earthquakes
and famines. When Jesus followers are being
persecuted and martyred, those things are going to happen. They're
like the birth pains. They may progress as time goes
on, but those things do not indicate that the end has come. But, he said in verse 14, when
you see the abomination of desolations standing where it should not
be, let the reader understand. Then those who are in Judea must
flee to the mountains. Jesus says, when that happens,
all these things are going to be happening. Life is going to
be hard for Jesus' followers. Expect that. Life is going to
be hard on this earth. Expect that. But when this happens,
when you see the abomination of desolation standing where
it should not, and great tribulation follows that. Tribulation that's
worse than has ever been seen on the earth. More details about
that can be found in the books of Daniel, Revelation, and Matthew
and Luke. Mark just gives a very abbreviated
account. but that will be the sign. Abomination,
desolation, tribulation that's worse than it's ever been, that
will be the sign of Jesus's coming and of the end of the age. And
that's the time that we're looking at now, this morning, Mark chapter
13, verses 24 through 37. Mark 13, verse 24. Jesus says, but in those days,
after that tribulation, here Matthew records that Jesus said,
but immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be
darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars
will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the
heavens will be shaken. So Jesus says at the end of that
tribulation that he talked about that we looked at up through
verse 23 last time we were in Mark, there's even more tribulation. Now this is, again in Mark, just
a very brief summary on parallel passages in the book of Revelation.
It gives a lot more detail. Where we are here in Mark would
align with Revelation chapter six, verses 12 through 17. And
there in Revelation, we see that it's just one judgment coming
after another. These are in the seal judgments
in Revelation chapter six. It was at this point that all
of the powerful people of the world, the kings, world leaders,
flee to the mountains in terror. They plead for the rocks to fall
on them, to kill them, Because they no longer want to face the
wrath of God. Now that's their solution rather
than repentance. Rather than turning in trust
to the Lord Jesus Christ, they just want it to be over. They
want to die. That's how bad it is on earth. It's a terrifying thing to think
about. What Jesus is saying is going
to happen in these verses. That the sun no longer gives
its light. When we got up this morning,
it was cloudy and kind of foggy, but we knew the sun was there.
There was light. The sun coming up in the morning
is like the most dependable thing there is. It happens every day. We know when it's going to happen.
It's so dependable. But Jesus says on that day, the
sun is no longer going to give its light. Now, scientifically, does that
mean the sun's light goes together with its heat? Is the sun no
longer going to give heat? And if that's the case, then
isn't everybody going to freeze instantly on Earth, or it won't
take very long? And questions like that, I don't
know. But God does. And so we don't
need to know. We don't need to know how to
answer all of these potentials and maybes. God knows. God's
word says on that day, the sun will no longer give its light.
Things will be happening in the heavens that no man has any control
over. And nobody's going to be making
any phone calls to say, okay, what are we going to do about
this? Nothing can be done about it. This is not something that
can be recovered from. Okay, we'll figure something
out. We'll fix this. It's not going
to happen. Nobody's going to go and relight
the pilot light on the sun. When it goes out, it's out. This
is getting to the end. Now again, there are a lot more
details in the book of Revelation, but the next main event that
Mark focuses on is in verse 26. Then they will see the Son of
Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. Matthew
says that this is something that will be seen by the whole world.
Everyone is going to see Jesus come back. No one will be able
to miss it. Now that, I believe, obviously
has not already happened. Jesus has not already come back.
Jesus is coming. And the world will see it. This coming and how Jesus describes
it is very different than his first coming. Approximately 2,025
years ago, Jesus came humbly, quietly, born as a baby in Bethlehem. He was announced by angels, which
is pretty impressive, but it was just to a small handful of
shepherds out in a field. His first coming could have easily
been missed. And he was missed by most of
Israel, most of the world. But when he comes again, no one
is going to miss it. He's not coming humbly as a baby
in Bethlehem. He's not coming secretly or just
in people's hearts. But he's coming with great power
and glory. in the clouds for all to see. Now this is why Jesus said in
the previous verses about the false Christ, if someone says,
hey look, the Messiah, he's over here, come here and see him,
or there he is over there, don't believe them. Because when Jesus
actually comes back, no one is going to have to point him out,
and no one is going to go looking for him. He will be obvious. he will be clear and no one is
going to miss him. Now, if the sun isn't shining,
he will probably be the only light that's in the sky. He will
be seen. Jesus is coming back. Verse 27,
Jesus says, and then he will send forth the angels and will
gather together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest
end of the earth, to the farthest end of heaven. Jesus had said
that before he returned, back in verse 10, that the gospel
must first be preached to all the nations. By the events of
verse 27, it has been. The gospel has been preached
everywhere to all the nations. And all who have believed the
gospel, Christ select those who belong to him, those who are
his, that he will preserve wherever they are, Those who have survived
the great tribulation will be gathered to their Messiah. Now that also means, on the other
side, that those who don't belong to Christ are separated out. And they will receive their final
payment for their sin, which is to spend all of eternity in
hell. But those who do belong to Christ and go on to be with
Him, enjoy the peace, the comfort, all the joys that come with their
union with Christ. And that is our hope. That is the eternal, final hope. Jesus is coming back. Our hope
is not that this world will get better. Our hope is not that
any human government will get things figured out and we'll
finally have some peace on this earth through man. It's not going to happen. That
is not our hope. This world is bad because of
sin. You watch the news, see what's
going on in the world. There's a lot of bad going on
because of sin. It's going to get worse. because
of God's judgment against sin in the world. But our hope is
Christ. Our hope is not in this world.
Our hope is Christ. And He is coming. And we are
supposed to know that. We are supposed to be watching
for His return. If you look at verses 28 and
29, He says, now learn the parable from the fig tree. When its branch
has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know
that summer is near. Even so, you too, when you see
these things happening, recognize that he is near, right at the
door. Now, the time of year that Jesus
said this was right about where we are here today. It was near
Passover. It was early to mid spring, kind
of like where we are today And Jesus could just say, look around,
look at those trees over there. It's easy to tell what season
it is just by looking at that fig tree. Oh, the fig trees at
that time were starting to bud and put on leaves, except for
that one odd fig tree that Jesus cursed just the day before. That, maybe it was that morning,
I can't remember now. But it looked like it was ready
and full and should have all kinds of fruit on it. But it
was odd. And all these leaves and no fruit.
It shouldn't have been. That could happen occasionally.
But most of the time, a regular fig tree at that time was just
beginning to bud to put on leaves. Now here for us in this time,
we had been surrounded by brown, dead-looking trees for several
months. Winter just drags on, doesn't
it? Seems like it lasts forever. The brown, the dead, the cold.
But when you look out the window now, you go outside, you see
the trees. They're green. The leaves have
started to come out. It must be spring. Because this is what trees do
in the spring. And that means we know summer
is near. Praise the Lord. Summer is near. Now Jesus' point is that it's
pretty easy to discern the time of year by the state of the trees. If that is the case, then everyone
who reads this should also be prepared to discern the coming
end of the age and the soon return of Jesus Christ. When these tribulation
things begin to happen, starting with the abomination of desolation,
then that is like the tree, showing what is coming soon. And even
seeing the abomination of desolation, seeing these kinds of tribulations,
seeing the sun, or not seeing the sun, when it no longer gives
its light, that should be an encouragement to believers during
that time. Believers during that time can
say, this is bad, but it means Jesus is coming very soon. Praise the Lord. For those who
have read these passages, have heard these things, and then
they see these things beginning to happen, and they have not
yet believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, they should know Look
at the sign. Jesus is coming soon. You've
heard this taught. He's coming soon. Now would be
a great time to repent and put your trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Everyone should be aware. Everyone
should be ready to see the signs. When they come, know that Jesus
is right at the door. He's coming very soon. In verse
30, Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away
until all these things take place. Now, this verse has been an occasion
for many heads to spin. What in the world have we been
talking about? What have we been missing, saying
all of this is still future, when Jesus said this to those
disciples almost 2,000 years ago, that this was going to take
place in this generation? I believe, if I'm remembering
right, it was C.S. Lewis who said that this is the
most embarrassing verse in the Bible because Jesus was wrong. Jesus thought that all of this
would happen and he would return while those disciples were still
living. And obviously, it hasn't happened. Even still, it hasn't
happened. kind of embarrassing. We better
come up with a cover story for that one because if even Jesus
didn't know. Others have determined that this
verse is the key by which everything else in this passage must be
interpreted. So we must find a way of understanding
all of this as happening by 70 AD because that's the only way
that generation of disciples could have lived to see it happen.
Something that we should ask and we need to determine. Does
our understanding of this verse determine the context of the
passage? Or does the context of the passage
determine our understanding of this verse? Now I believe, and
I would submit to you, Context is king. This is talking about the end
of the age. It's talking about the second
coming of Jesus, which hasn't happened yet. This is all talking about things
that when we look at history, it hasn't happened. A person really has to exercise
their doctrinal imagination to try to align this with things
from history, to find a way of explaining that Jesus has already
returned. There are a few small details
of some things, like when Titus invaded Jerusalem, a few things
that kind of could line up with the Abomination of Desolation,
but it wasn't. It didn't line up exactly. So it's a pretty big stretch,
I would say, to try to say that all of this has already happened
so that that generation would still be living to see it happen.
Now there's another, there are a few ways of looking at that
verse. One other natural way that this generation can be understood
is that Jesus is referring to the generation who is alive when
the fig tree starts to put on some leaves. that generation
that is alive when the signs of the end begin to happen. And
if that is the case, then what Jesus means is once this starts,
it's not going to take hundreds of years for it to finish. Once
this begins, it's going to happen quickly. Like in seven years,
it's going to happen. So watch and be ready because
it's coming. The next section of verses, we
see that we are not to wait for the signs to begin, to begin
to get ready. We should always be ready. Verse
31, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass
away. So Jesus is telling us to not
take his words lightly. It is going to happen. His words
are more sure than the earth that we're standing on. It's
going to happen. Verse 32. But of that day, or
hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the
Son, but the Father alone. Take heed, keep on the alert,
for you do not know when the appointed time will come. is
like a man away on a journey who, upon leaving his house and
putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task,
also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert. Therefore,
be on the alert, for you do not know when the master of the house
is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster
crows, or in the morning, in case he should come suddenly
and find you asleep. What I say to you, I say to all. Be on the alert. So while there
will be signs of the end of the age, signs of the second coming
of Jesus, there are no signs that we should be watching for,
for it to begin. It seems to happen often that when
there is some big event in the news, or some change in leadership
of some nation, or there's the death of a Pope, or some new
technology, or a potential war, or earthquakes, you hear people
start to talk like, I wonder if this new leader might be the
Antichrist. Or maybe this thing that's happening
is setting things up for the rule of the Antichrist, or this
new gadget there is obviously the mark of the beast. So now
we know, get ready, Jesus is coming. According to Jesus, we
are to always be ready. We are to be on the alert. We are to think of ourselves
as though we have been given the task of watching and waiting
so that we can open the door as soon as our master returns.
Because we don't want to leave him outside and we don't want
him to find us sleeping. We are to be ready and we don't
know When any of these things are going to begin, it could
be another thousand years, or it could be today. Nobody knows. So we are to always be ready. Now this last section, especially,
seems to have the idea of the imminent return of Christ in
it. Now, I believe that that fits well with the belief of
the pre-tribulational rapture of the church. That is a view
that is instantly written off as heresy by some. But I think
there are some good biblical reasons to believe it, or at
least that it's a good possibility. At the very least, I think we
should be able to admit there is some mystery involved when
it comes to the study of the end times. I've told you what
I believe, and I don't think anybody, including myself, has
it all figured out. Nobody will have it all figured
out until it happens, and then we can say, oh, that's what it
means. That's what Jesus meant. I get
it now. There are a lot of details, a lot of timeline that we don't
know for sure, but we should trust what the Bible says. God's
Word is trustworthy. We don't need to try to fix it
to make it more believable. I was thinking of how the part
of the reason that those disciples weren't prepared for what was
coming later that week was because they could not imagine something
like Isaiah 53 happening to their Messiah. God said what was gonna
happen clearly to the Messiah when he came, but it didn't fit
their expectations. I don't think that's gonna happen.
When Jesus predicted that he would die on the cross, Peter
took him aside and rebuked him. That'll never happen to you.
He couldn't imagine something like that happening to the Messiah,
even though God had said, this is what's going to happen. So
we need to align our expectations as well as we can with what the
Bible says is going to happen. And we need to keep the main
things, the main things. In this passage, what is the
main thing? The main thing is that everyone
is to be ready to meet Christ. Verse 33, Jesus says, take heed,
keep on the alert, for you do not know when the appointed time
will come. Verse 37, Jesus says, what I
say to you, I say to all, be on the alert. Now, however it
may happen to you, you will meet Jesus one day. And it could be
today. None of us are guaranteed another
day on this earth. So are you ready? Have you turned from whatever
else you could be trusting in for your well-being, for your
eternity, and have you turned to put your trust in Jesus Christ
alone? Because of His death on the cross
for your sin, and because of His rising from the dead in victory
over Satan and sin and death, And if your answer to that question
is yes, you have put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone,
you are ready to meet him. So get your hand on the doorknob,
be ready to open the door for Jesus to come in. If your answer
is no, there may not be much time. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ while you can. you may not get another chance. We all will see him soon, one
way or another, by death or by his return. We will all meet
him, either as judge or as our savior. It could be today. Are you ready?
The Return of Christ (Mark 13:24-37)
Series Mark
| Sermon ID | 5225231738161 |
| Duration | 37:55 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Mark 13:24-37 |
| Language | English |
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