WEBVTT 00:00:04.426 --> 00:00:05.948 Good morning, how's everyone. 00:00:05.948 --> 00:00:12.960 My name is Kelly, i'm one of the pastors here And it's just so great to get to see you guys and get to share with you this morning. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:27.384 I want to kind of start with a little story and kind of going back to my childhood, when I was five years old And that time in my life I was really wanting to learn how to swim And I had not learned that yet. 00:00:27.384 --> 00:00:32.311 And our neighbor up the street, mr James, had a pool, a neighborhood pool. 00:00:32.311 --> 00:00:33.594 He just let all the kids come. 00:00:33.594 --> 00:00:49.706 And so one Saturday morning I had just been talking about it and talking I want to learn how to swim And my older brother, who was about, i think, 12, and my sister, who was 14 at the time, said OK, we'll teach you, so let's go before everybody gets there. 00:00:49.706 --> 00:00:57.942 So we got up that Saturday morning, went up the street, went to the pool and they walked to the edge and they grabbed my hand and said are you ready to learn to swim? 00:00:57.942 --> 00:01:05.992 And they tossed me into the deep end, five years old, and in the middle of my anger and fear. 00:01:05.992 --> 00:01:08.381 And getting to the other side, i got. 00:01:08.381 --> 00:01:23.748 You would never have seen a more angry five year old kid in your life, but I just I learned to swim And this is a little bit like what it's like when we come to Mark, chapter 13. 00:01:23.769 --> 00:01:40.543 We've been in the series on Mark and we're in chapter 13 now, and so it's just a little bit deep and not a little a lot complex passage, and it's the words of Jesus, a prophetic word about the end times, and it just as an introduction to you. 00:01:40.543 --> 00:01:46.814 I want to read this from from another preacher, which I'll comment on later in the passage. 00:01:46.814 --> 00:01:49.344 But you ready, here we go. 00:01:49.344 --> 00:01:57.000 Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters in Christ, today we gather to explore the profound teachings found in Mark, chapter 13. 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:09.979 This chapter provides a unique perspective on the end times, encouraging us to remain faithful in our faith, prepared for trials and watchful for the signs of Jesus return. 00:02:09.979 --> 00:02:20.975 In a world filled with uncertainties and challenges, this passage holds timeless truths that will inspire and equip us to navigate the storms of life. 00:02:20.975 --> 00:02:29.312 So let us delve into the rich tapestry of Mark 13 and discover the wisdom it offers for our journey of faith. 00:02:29.312 --> 00:02:30.854 And that's really true. 00:02:30.854 --> 00:02:36.848 So let's pray and ask God to help us open our ears and hearts and minds. 00:02:36.848 --> 00:02:41.955 Father, we're just thankful for your word this morning as we get ready to read it. 00:02:41.955 --> 00:02:43.984 Father, i pray that you would apply it. 00:02:43.984 --> 00:02:48.492 Let us hear every word of Lord and let it go deep into our souls and our spirits. 00:02:48.492 --> 00:02:53.367 Help us to understand, lord And Lord, we ask you to change us. 00:02:53.367 --> 00:03:00.269 As we even read through the passage, lord, we ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. 00:03:00.269 --> 00:03:05.830 So, if you're there, mark 13, we're just going to begin in verse one. 00:03:05.850 --> 00:03:10.000 This is a pretty extensive passage, but follow along as I read. 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:20.000 And it says and as he came out of the temple, he, being Jesus, one of his disciples said to him look, teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:29.794 And Jesus said to him do you see these great buildings that will not be left here, one stone upon another that will not be thrown down? 00:03:29.794 --> 00:03:44.731 And as he said, on the Mount of Olives, opposite the temple, peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately tell us when will these things be And what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished? 00:03:44.731 --> 00:03:49.425 And Jesus began to say to them see that no one leads you astray. 00:03:49.425 --> 00:03:55.495 Many will come in my name saying I am he, and they will lead many astray. 00:03:56.700 --> 00:03:59.826 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. 00:03:59.826 --> 00:04:07.385 This must take place, but the end is not yet, for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. 00:04:07.385 --> 00:04:11.693 There will be earthquakes in various places, there will be famines. 00:04:11.693 --> 00:04:14.927 These are but the beginning of the birth pangs. 00:04:14.927 --> 00:04:27.014 But be on your guard, for they will deliver you over to councils and you will be beaten in synagogues and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. 00:04:27.014 --> 00:04:31.069 And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. 00:04:31.069 --> 00:04:42.774 And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you're to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. 00:04:42.774 --> 00:04:55.545 And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father, his child and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. 00:04:55.545 --> 00:04:59.072 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 00:05:00.060 --> 00:05:05.492 But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be, let the reader understand. 00:05:05.492 --> 00:05:09.245 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 00:05:09.245 --> 00:05:18.980 Let the one who is in the house top not go down nor enter his house to take anything out, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 00:05:18.980 --> 00:05:35.894 And, alas, for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days, pray that it may not happen 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. 00:05:35.894 --> 00:05:41.730 And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. 00:05:41.730 --> 00:05:46.629 But for the sake of the elect whom he chose, he shortened the days. 00:05:48.264 --> 00:06:01.980 And then, if anyone says, do you look, here is the Christ, or look there he is, do not believe it, for false Christ and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, the elect. 00:06:01.980 --> 00:06:04.125 But be on guard. 00:06:04.125 --> 00:06:07.291 I have told you all these things beforehand. 00:06:07.291 --> 00:06:18.711 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. 00:06:18.711 --> 00:06:35.709 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 elect, from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven, from the fig tree, learn its lesson. 00:06:35.709 --> 00:06:41.913 As soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 00:06:41.913 --> 00:06:48.211 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 00:06:49.440 --> 00:06:54.997 Truly, i say to you this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 00:06:54.997 --> 00:06:59.331 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. 00:06:59.331 --> 00:07:07.653 But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 00:07:07.653 --> 00:07:13.733 Be on guard, keep awake, for you do not know when the time will come. 00:07:13.733 --> 00:07:24.449 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeepers to stay, doorkeepers to stay awake. 00:07:24.449 --> 00:07:40.189 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning, lest he comes suddenly and finds you asleep. 00:07:40.189 --> 00:07:45.730 And what I say to you, i say to all stay awake. 00:07:45.730 --> 00:07:54.307 And by the look on your faces this morning, those last few verses were pretty appropriate because you look like you're about to fade out right now. 00:07:54.307 --> 00:08:01.000 So, as I said, a long passage, complex passage. 00:08:01.903 --> 00:08:06.000 Let me just kind of give you a few observations for the text before we get into it. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:23.952 And this is now day three of Passion Week and Jesus has been going through and discussing and talking with you know, the people in the temple, including those who were opposing to him, and this will be his final extended teaching in the gospel, this gospel of Mark. 00:08:23.952 --> 00:08:34.000 It's by far, as I said, the longest block of teaching we find here in the gospel And it really highlights, i think, because it's the longest, that it may be the most important. 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:40.980 All three synoptic gospels Matthew, mark and Luke include it, and so I think the Lord wants us to pay attention to this. 00:08:40.980 --> 00:08:50.980 Traditionally it was known as the Olivet Discourse because it's staged up on the top of Mount Olive, the Olive Mountains in there. 00:08:50.980 --> 00:08:53.788 It was given by the Lord. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:59.980 So what we have here is a prophetic, i guess a prophetic teaching Unveiling the Future by the Lord Jesus. 00:08:59.980 --> 00:09:05.000 And I want you to understand he doesn't go into all the details that you could find in the scriptures. 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:06.980 There's so many things that connect to this. 00:09:06.980 --> 00:09:11.967 He gives basically a big picture for us And it's important. 00:09:11.967 --> 00:09:15.980 These are the last things Jesus teaches And that's the subject of eschatology. 00:09:15.980 --> 00:09:30.951 Eschatology is the teaching about last things And it's important for us to know because the church, if it's going to be pure in the early church, what made the church was pure is because they were looking forward to Jesus coming again. 00:09:30.951 --> 00:09:37.024 So this is our hope, and when you have this hope that Jesus comes, then guess what You want to be ready for it. 00:09:37.024 --> 00:09:40.327 And that's really what this passage is all about. 00:09:40.327 --> 00:09:53.667 You know, i was just thinking about our culture, and anytime you kind of mention things about end times, messages or last days subjects, everybody is interested, everybody's interested. 00:09:53.667 --> 00:09:55.124 It's kind of uncanny. 00:09:55.124 --> 00:10:02.370 They'll ignore other things, but this subject seems to catch the attention of even non-Christians. 00:10:02.370 --> 00:10:04.484 So we all want to know. 00:10:04.484 --> 00:10:06.529 We all want to know about the end. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:12.000 Just thinking back to scriptures, the prophet Daniel gives a prophecy of the end times. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:22.974 When we went through that book of Daniel and at the end of it God told Daniel Daniel, seal up the book until the end of time, when many will rush here and there and knowledge will increase. 00:10:22.974 --> 00:10:24.927 Well, that's certainly true, isn't it? 00:10:24.927 --> 00:10:32.793 And we see there that the angels want to know, because it says how long will it be until these shocking events are over. 00:10:32.793 --> 00:10:36.624 One of the angels says that, asks that Daniel wants to know. 00:10:36.624 --> 00:10:39.250 He asks how will all this finally end? 00:10:39.250 --> 00:10:47.788 And God says to him go your way, daniel, shut the book, you can go your way. 00:10:48.400 --> 00:10:50.970 But history is kind of littered with this idea. 00:10:50.970 --> 00:10:55.960 Church setters, date setters, i mean everybody wants to find out what the date of the end times is. 00:10:55.960 --> 00:11:01.653 And we get this verse in the end of this passage and Jesus himself says it. 00:11:01.653 --> 00:11:05.495 But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows. 00:11:05.495 --> 00:11:12.495 No one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the son, but only the father. 00:11:12.495 --> 00:11:17.671 I Don't know, you don't know, only the father knows. 00:11:17.671 --> 00:11:20.469 So don't set dates, don't set dates. 00:11:20.509 --> 00:11:29.793 I remember back a few years ago, back in 1988, i got this thing in the mail called 88 reasons why the Lord will return, in 1988, by Ed Wison. 00:11:29.793 --> 00:11:30.931 I still remember his name. 00:11:30.931 --> 00:11:31.799 I kept the book for a long time. 00:11:31.799 --> 00:11:35.389 You know it's just kind of like okay, yeah. 00:11:35.389 --> 00:11:42.886 But you know people will go to great leagues to find out these things and I want you to understand what Jesus is telling us. 00:11:42.886 --> 00:11:45.092 He wants to, wants to move us off of this. 00:11:45.092 --> 00:11:49.248 I don't know wrong focus to something else. 00:11:49.248 --> 00:11:50.370 We're gonna see what it is. 00:11:50.951 --> 00:12:06.849 But even after his resurrection We find an ax 1, verse 7, right before his ascension, and his disciples come to him a final time and they ask these things and he replies The father alone has the authority to set those dates and times. 00:12:06.849 --> 00:12:12.250 They are not for you to know And you see, there are some things we're just not meant to know. 00:12:12.250 --> 00:12:16.370 So the Bible says the secret things belong to the Lord, our God. 00:12:16.370 --> 00:12:18.059 There's children forever. 00:12:18.059 --> 00:12:26.669 So it's it's something that we need to to think about, but it's not something we need to make it a right Right off as a hobby horse or something we focus on all the time. 00:12:26.669 --> 00:12:42.340 Here's the thing Jesus doesn't dodge this question by these disciples, but he asked us to consider a vastly, vastly more important question and that is are you living fully and Faithfully for Jesus in the here and now? 00:12:42.340 --> 00:12:54.384 Because we don't know, we don't know the end date of human history and guess what we should be ready for Christ coming all the time, today and every day. 00:12:54.384 --> 00:13:04.330 So let me give you this kind of and kind of just want to go through it, and seven what I just call movements, then they're in just the order as Jesus gives them. 00:13:04.330 --> 00:13:12.886 They're concerning the future as they're given to us by him and I've just kind of numbered these To give some thoughts, put some thoughts, hang your thoughts on. 00:13:13.528 --> 00:13:19.245 And the first, let's begin with the occasion for these words of Jesus, what I call a disturbing prediction. 00:13:19.245 --> 00:13:20.971 A disturbing prediction. 00:13:20.971 --> 00:13:23.787 This is in Mark, chapter 1, verse 1. 00:13:23.787 --> 00:13:30.312 Mark begins this chapter with Jesus Guess what walking out of the temple for the final time. 00:13:30.312 --> 00:13:47.522 And it says, as he came out of the temple and if you recall When Jesus had been, he had come into the temple on Tuesday of the, the other day, the prior day, a Jewish Temple there that morning. 00:13:47.602 --> 00:13:59.759 And 11 chapter, chapter 11 or 27, if you want to reference and see when he's walking around in there the false teachers come up to Jesus and they basically try to challenge his authority. 00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:09.486 And And Jesus receives after that to tell a story about them and he ends up calling them a tenant farmers Over a failed vineyard. 00:14:09.486 --> 00:14:18.980 He goes on to say you don't know the power of the scriptures, and then he also talks about how much of a hypocrite they all are, and he actually gives examples. 00:14:18.980 --> 00:14:21.148 He names names if you will. 00:14:21.148 --> 00:14:24.519 And So he has a scathing rebuke for these. 00:14:24.519 --> 00:14:28.572 He's mentioned, and you can read about it more fully in Matthew 23,. 00:14:28.852 --> 00:14:32.081 But as I read that, i see Jesus was bold, wasn't he? 00:14:32.081 --> 00:14:36.969 he didn't meant words and he told truth as it needed to be told. 00:14:36.969 --> 00:14:45.993 And so, following this rebuke, jesus, as it says here, he comes out of the temple, he makes his exit from the temple and this is the end of his public ministry. 00:14:45.993 --> 00:15:02.033 He's walking out, he's leaving it for the last time and And we should see, i think, in this short phrase, more than simply a physical walking out, what he's doing, he's, it's a metaphor for for God departing a failed religious system. 00:15:02.033 --> 00:15:03.942 He's acting that out. 00:15:03.942 --> 00:15:04.783 So don't miss that. 00:15:04.823 --> 00:15:13.799 This is Jesus is making a statement here that God has left the building, Along with the glory that was formerly there. 00:15:13.799 --> 00:15:19.259 So if you want to see a fascinating parallel to this, i give you another couple of places. 00:15:19.259 --> 00:15:24.998 Under Ezekiel, chapters 10 and 11, it talks about the departed glory of the temple. 00:15:24.998 --> 00:15:37.100 Under Solomon's temple, you see, there were two temples Solomon's temple, which was destroyed, and this is the second temple, and Jesus is walking out of it Saying good, god's glory is out of here, I'm out of here and he's walking out. 00:15:37.100 --> 00:15:47.500 So just as Jesus is walking out, some of his disciples walk up to him and and it's almost like And it's almost like I just kind of see it as a, as a naive, a little coming. 00:15:47.500 --> 00:15:54.437 It's like they're on a field trip or something and say they, they walk up to him and say, do you see how beautiful these buildings are? 00:15:54.437 --> 00:16:00.467 and Look, teacher, what wonderful store stones and what wonderful buildings. 00:16:00.749 --> 00:16:05.686 And I guess outwardly, the, the temple must have been a Pretty awe-inspiring. 00:16:05.686 --> 00:16:11.166 I don't think we have any idea what disappeared to be, because it was really admired. 00:16:11.166 --> 00:16:13.912 It was admired in the ancient world, around the world. 00:16:13.912 --> 00:16:17.929 Jesus, josephus Compared it to a beautiful snow-capped mountain. 00:16:17.929 --> 00:16:24.210 Antacitus, the Jewish historian, a Roman historian, called it immensely opulent. 00:16:24.210 --> 00:16:25.452 So this was a. 00:16:25.452 --> 00:16:28.245 This was an incredible, incredible place. 00:16:28.245 --> 00:16:39.712 According to Josephus, it had stones that were them formed the temple that were Measuring 37 and a half feet long, 12 feet high and 18 feet deep. 00:16:39.712 --> 00:16:44.067 Some of the stones weighed more than a 100 tons. 00:16:44.067 --> 00:16:57.580 And if you've ever had the chance to go to to Jerusalem and stand at the wailing wall, they have some of these massive Stones which are really not the, the original temple, but it's the, the superstructure, but they're still incredibly large. 00:16:57.580 --> 00:17:00.177 This must have been an amazing place. 00:17:00.197 --> 00:17:17.275 And While they're owing in over, eyeing over it his disciples, jesus turns around and he makes a startling prediction Do you see, these great buildings, there's not gonna be one stone Left upon one another that will not be thrown down. 00:17:17.275 --> 00:17:24.484 And, as Matthew 23, 38 ads, see, your house is left to you desolate. 00:17:24.484 --> 00:17:31.292 God has walked out And there's a judgment on what was, what was there? 00:17:31.292 --> 00:17:33.423 So Jesus? 00:17:33.423 --> 00:18:00.913 and then, at this point, jesus and his disciples make their way, they come away from the temple Mount, they walk down the the incline to the Kidron Valley and they go up the other side, which is on to the Mount of Olives, and There they have a commanding view of the temple, there, sitting themselves down right across from it, 300 feet higher, and so they have a panoramic view of the temple complex, the whole thing. 00:18:00.913 --> 00:18:10.412 And this is where Jesus sits down, and, as you know when, when a teacher sits in that day It was it was a sign that he was getting ready to teach, and this is what he does. 00:18:10.412 --> 00:18:22.287 Josephus, the Jewish historian, said that from such a vantage point one could look across the Kidron Valley and could see Directly into the entrance of the holy of Holies. 00:18:22.287 --> 00:18:24.491 What a, what an incredible view. 00:18:24.491 --> 00:18:26.626 So they have this big picture of it. 00:18:26.686 --> 00:18:36.950 And so Jesus, disturbing prediction, has left the disciples with a second thing, a burning question, and that is in verses three through thirteen. 00:18:36.950 --> 00:18:56.269 Says there, and, as he said, on the Mount of Olives, the opposite the temple, peter and James and John and Andrew Ask him privately, tell us when these things will be and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished, these things referring back to when is the temple going to be destroyed? 00:18:56.269 --> 00:19:01.002 when is the the thing gonna fall to pieces and Everything fall apart? 00:19:01.002 --> 00:19:02.847 so it's a two-fold question. 00:19:02.847 --> 00:19:03.911 Think about it. 00:19:03.911 --> 00:19:07.059 When, in other words, jesus give us a timetable? 00:19:07.059 --> 00:19:09.826 and He also asked, they ask what? 00:19:09.826 --> 00:19:13.554 give us a sign so that we'll know that we're close to the end? 00:19:13.554 --> 00:19:18.351 It's the same question everybody asked today when and what. 00:19:18.351 --> 00:19:22.707 And, by the way, to me the odd thing is that they didn't ask why. 00:19:22.707 --> 00:19:38.692 Why it was the temple even being destroyed in the first place, because they had failed to carry out and be obedient to the, to the mission that God had called the Jewish people to, he called Israel to, and so that's why it's a judgment. 00:19:39.760 --> 00:20:03.730 And Jesus responds to the prophetic, to their question, with this prophetic answer describing Signs that all begin to occur even in their own lifetimes, especially in verses three through four, thirteen all of these things, these things Underline, those words, indicate maybe just the opposite of what you might expect, but he says at the very end of that the end is not yet. 00:20:03.730 --> 00:20:06.306 The end is not yet. 00:20:06.306 --> 00:20:08.843 So it's interesting me. 00:20:08.843 --> 00:20:14.644 A lot of times we'll point out things in the world around us and we'll go hmm, i've heard people say to me Do you think this? 00:20:14.644 --> 00:20:15.685 we're close to the end? 00:20:15.685 --> 00:20:24.191 all these things going on around us, all this chaos and and Violence and everything in the world, do you think this is the end? 00:20:24.191 --> 00:20:28.606 Well, let me just Bring us back to what he told these disciples. 00:20:28.646 --> 00:20:32.506 In verses four through eight, he mentions Several things that were going on. 00:20:32.506 --> 00:20:34.171 Number one, spiritual deception. 00:20:34.171 --> 00:20:37.106 Number two, global conflict. 00:20:37.106 --> 00:20:40.097 Number three, natural disasters. 00:20:40.097 --> 00:20:45.204 And number four, social disorder Any different than now. 00:20:45.204 --> 00:20:53.579 And so he's trying to get them to see, you know, to get their focus on some other things. 00:20:53.579 --> 00:20:55.663 These are all going on, these are gonna happen. 00:20:55.663 --> 00:21:02.446 And in verses nine through thirteen, jesus predicts persecution and even martyrdom for one's faith. 00:21:02.446 --> 00:21:04.243 Still going on. 00:21:05.361 --> 00:21:21.986 Yeah, so this has been going on from the time he predicted it to even our day, and describing these things as what he calls them, the beginning of birth, pangs, and and I think this is a really helpful picture, a Word picture here for us for several reasons. 00:21:21.986 --> 00:21:38.863 First, is that when you talk about the beginning of the pains at the beginning, it implies that the, the famine, the war, the earthquakes they do have some connection to the end, but they don't necessarily mean that we're at the end, right? 00:21:38.863 --> 00:21:58.064 so You know, it made me think back to our days when we had, you know, we had five children, and those times when My wife was pregnant and there were things that that were called False labor pains, false labor pains. 00:21:58.064 --> 00:22:01.073 And when things start out, you think, okay, we're gonna have a baby. 00:22:01.073 --> 00:22:03.259 Well, it could be two or three days later. 00:22:03.259 --> 00:22:05.628 I mean, you know, it could be a long time. 00:22:05.628 --> 00:22:11.619 The pains are not always indicative of the timing, right? 00:22:11.619 --> 00:22:14.268 So this is kind of what Jesus is getting at. 00:22:14.288 --> 00:22:17.980 The second thing that the labor pains analogy gives us is birth. 00:22:17.980 --> 00:22:32.026 It is one of the most painful experiences that I think women can go through, i will say, unless you've had a kidney stone, and although that's another story, no one to talk about that. 00:22:32.026 --> 00:22:40.213 But here's the thing when that, when the end does come, it will be very painful for all of humanity. 00:22:40.213 --> 00:22:47.813 And These sorrows that he talks about are experienced all through history. 00:22:47.813 --> 00:22:56.029 They just get more frequent and more painful, and that's true with the birth, birth process. 00:22:56.029 --> 00:23:02.263 The pains increase in frequency and intensity, until Jesus returns in his power in glory. 00:23:03.567 --> 00:23:15.998 Well, there's a third thing I want you to see from these this analogy of the birth pains, the fruit that comes from it, the fruit of all that labor pain Guess what? 00:23:15.998 --> 00:23:17.989 It's something beautiful, isn't it? 00:23:17.989 --> 00:23:25.778 All that pain culminates in joy and just celebration of a new life. 00:23:25.778 --> 00:23:41.411 And so this picture that Jesus gives us here, it looks beyond the pain that we experience in the world that those disciples were going to see to a kingdom that was going to come out of it, and the kingdom of Christ. 00:23:41.411 --> 00:23:45.353 And here's the thing about waiting for birth. 00:23:45.353 --> 00:23:52.512 You know, unless you get a C-section or something like that, you don't know when that birth is going to be. 00:23:52.512 --> 00:23:58.411 No doctor can predict that, no man can predict that, only God. 00:23:58.411 --> 00:24:00.438 There's a time to be born, he says. 00:24:00.438 --> 00:24:03.229 And so this is the same thing. 00:24:03.229 --> 00:24:09.512 When Jesus looks at the end, he's talking about this as an analogy to the birth pain. 00:24:09.664 --> 00:24:16.115 So Jesus is teaching that the destruction of the temple is a paradigm of something bigger. 00:24:16.115 --> 00:24:22.638 It says something that is future and a pattern. 00:24:22.638 --> 00:24:27.734 The way we should think about the end of the age is it illustrates the same thing. 00:24:27.734 --> 00:24:29.571 This is what he's getting at in these verses. 00:24:29.571 --> 00:24:31.349 So what am I saying? 00:24:31.349 --> 00:24:36.715 The destruction of the temple is a turning point in the history of salvation. 00:24:36.715 --> 00:24:38.607 Don't miss this. 00:24:38.607 --> 00:24:42.656 Don't dismiss or make light of the fact that the temple is going away. 00:24:44.207 --> 00:24:45.873 You say, what does that have to do with me? 00:24:45.873 --> 00:24:53.457 Well, everything, if you want to be a follower of Christ, because it means the kingdom has come to you, because something else has gone away. 00:24:53.457 --> 00:24:55.625 That's old and he's brought something new. 00:24:55.625 --> 00:24:56.469 And guess what? 00:24:56.469 --> 00:25:02.875 God does not dwell in temples made of hands that people made. 00:25:02.875 --> 00:25:04.866 Bible says that. 00:25:04.866 --> 00:25:06.413 Where does he dwell? 00:25:06.413 --> 00:25:11.351 He now dwells in us, and that's a wonderful thing, right? 00:25:11.351 --> 00:25:14.106 So this is a good thing, he says, don't? 00:25:14.106 --> 00:25:29.433 he just kind of warns his disciples then, when you see all these things around you and going around you, don't be let astray, don't be alarmed, don't be anxious, but be on your guard and endure to the very end. 00:25:29.433 --> 00:25:32.729 So, which means Christians? 00:25:32.729 --> 00:25:37.438 Christians should be the most stable people in all the world. 00:25:37.438 --> 00:25:49.631 When you see all your friends and family and neighbors talking about these things, you should be the person who carries the peace, because you have Jesus and you know where this is headed and where it's going. 00:25:49.631 --> 00:26:00.506 When everything seems to be falling apart, when everyone is stressed out, you know the believer should carry that testimony within them, and this is what Jesus is getting at Everybody. 00:26:00.546 --> 00:26:03.232 Everybody wants to know the future so they can prepare for it. 00:26:03.232 --> 00:26:03.634 You know why? 00:26:03.634 --> 00:26:04.096 I think that is. 00:26:04.325 --> 00:26:05.313 I thought about this this week. 00:26:05.313 --> 00:26:06.643 Everybody wants to know. 00:26:06.643 --> 00:26:09.224 I want to know this. 00:26:09.224 --> 00:26:11.813 It's because I mean, you think about it. 00:26:12.964 --> 00:26:30.573 Whole ministries are based on the subject of the end times, whole websites are devoted to it, books, reams of books, have been written about it, books are being given about it, and there's this wild numbers of speculations, many of them that don't even don't even consult the Bible. 00:26:30.573 --> 00:26:36.951 But here's the thing Why do we want to know the end? 00:26:36.951 --> 00:26:40.118 Because we fear. 00:26:40.118 --> 00:26:58.073 We fear what may come our way, and if we can control it, then we won't have to fear it, and I think that's what's driving so many of these initiatives like I mean you think about some things in the world, like climate change and Bill Gates and all those things he's doing, gender issues. 00:26:58.073 --> 00:26:59.028 It's fear. 00:26:59.028 --> 00:27:02.853 If I can control it, then I won't have to fear it. 00:27:02.853 --> 00:27:06.109 But the Christian has nothing to fear. 00:27:06.109 --> 00:27:08.448 He has nothing to fear. 00:27:10.744 --> 00:27:15.174 The fact is, i would say, we are living in terrible times. 00:27:15.174 --> 00:27:41.731 We are Second Timothy 3 says it like this where men and women love themselves, love themselves most, love money, are boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, and much, much more. 00:27:41.731 --> 00:27:45.413 And you probably see that, just like I do. 00:27:45.413 --> 00:27:53.375 The birth pains are getting stronger and more frequent, stronger and more frequent. 00:27:53.375 --> 00:28:03.027 Jesus is basically saying to these followers, as he is to us in verse 7, stop whining in fear. 00:28:03.027 --> 00:28:09.151 Literally, that's what it says Stop whining in fear, don't get sidetracked by these things. 00:28:09.151 --> 00:28:33.925 Keep your wits about you, you of all people, christian, because you're the witness to this world in a terrible, in terrible times, and I think it's easy for us to get sidetracked and to misinterpret the turbulent affairs of history, because it can get confusing confusing for all of us, in fact. 00:28:33.925 --> 00:28:43.453 The signs of the times, though, may be the greatest time for you and me to share Christ, since even non-Christians are paying attention to these things. 00:28:46.484 --> 00:29:00.875 So now we move from a disturbing prediction by Jesus regarding the destruction of the temple, and then he goes on to make these prophetic statements about the times as something more specific, because it's, thirdly, the trigger for the end. 00:29:00.875 --> 00:29:04.233 The trigger for the end in verses 14 through 18. 00:29:04.233 --> 00:29:12.451 He says but when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be, let the reader understand. 00:29:12.451 --> 00:29:19.836 Then let those who are in Judea flee, and this kind of pulls together how Jesus' prophetic word functions in this passage. 00:29:19.836 --> 00:29:24.154 And whenever you see and interpret the Bible, here's the thing the Holy Spirit. 00:29:24.154 --> 00:29:43.291 Through the Bible, the biblical text, he has a message that is meant for that context, in other words of those disciples in that day, as he always does, and he also has a message for us, in our context, and so he's speaking a word to us, and this is true in every passage of the Bible. 00:29:43.291 --> 00:29:53.329 When you try to understand the Bible, so to approach this correctly, we first need to see what it meant to them, to see how it applies to us. 00:29:53.329 --> 00:29:54.489 Does that make sense? 00:29:54.489 --> 00:29:59.034 So who or what in the world is this abomination of desolation? 00:29:59.034 --> 00:30:08.470 You heard the phrase, i'm sure, and he puts in parentheses there let the reader understand And Jesus didn't write that. 00:30:09.905 --> 00:30:17.990 This is an editor who is rewriting the words of Mark and he inserts this phrase let the reader understand. 00:30:17.990 --> 00:30:18.511 What is that? 00:30:18.511 --> 00:30:26.892 Well, it's a cryptic statement and it kind of is a way of communicating about something or someone without naming names. 00:30:26.892 --> 00:30:28.115 You put it that way. 00:30:28.115 --> 00:30:33.998 If you said you know, i don't know, do you kind of get what I'm saying? 00:30:33.998 --> 00:30:49.538 You kind of know what somebody's talking about, because they know the situation as well as you and you don't want to say too much, and this was likely intended to give the reader just enough information to help them put together what's going on. 00:30:49.538 --> 00:30:51.030 So, do you get this? 00:30:51.030 --> 00:30:52.348 You know what I'm talking about? 00:30:52.348 --> 00:30:54.406 And you think about. 00:30:54.406 --> 00:31:03.134 This was a time when believers were literally living in holes in the ground because they feared for the life because of the persecution that was occurring. 00:31:03.134 --> 00:31:11.873 And so if, really, if I name names, i might put my life at risk, and so I'm just kind of going to give you a hint. 00:31:11.873 --> 00:31:16.476 So the editor here is like a spiritual whistleblower, if you will. 00:31:16.476 --> 00:31:20.413 He's trying to give them hints without giving himself away. 00:31:21.045 --> 00:31:31.934 So, and here's where it helps to compare scripture with scripture, which gives us some clues, and let me give you just a couple of these, which will hopefully point us in the right direction. 00:31:31.934 --> 00:31:35.253 One of these is Matthew 24, 15 and 16. 00:31:35.253 --> 00:31:36.490 You want to write that reference. 00:31:36.490 --> 00:31:49.036 It says so when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel standing the holy place, let the reader understand and let those who were in Judea flee to the mountain. 00:31:49.036 --> 00:32:00.154 And so what we're reading here is about the same as Mark's, except he adds this one important piece of information that it was spoken of by the prophet Daniel. 00:32:00.154 --> 00:32:01.577 So what do we do? 00:32:01.577 --> 00:32:03.750 We go back and look at the prophet Daniel. 00:32:03.750 --> 00:32:21.032 Daniel And I'll give you some more references Daniel 927, 1131, 1211, as well as Jewish history, all speak of a person who would ultimately defile and profane the Jewish temple. 00:32:22.625 --> 00:32:41.656 And this was literally fulfilled in 167 BC, when the Syrian general Antiochus came in and he erected an altar of Zeus on the altar of burnt offering And he sacrificed a pig on it, which led to the Jewish Maccabean revolt. 00:32:41.656 --> 00:32:44.093 And you go back in history and you see all this that happened. 00:32:44.093 --> 00:32:50.428 This was a famous event that happened, but that person in that event was called the Abomination of Desolation. 00:32:50.428 --> 00:33:03.252 And then I'll just read it to you from Maccabean It says now, on the 15th day of Chislev, in the 145th year, they erected a desolating sacrilege on the altar of burnt offering. 00:33:03.252 --> 00:33:07.015 They also built altars in the surrounding towns of Judah. 00:33:07.015 --> 00:33:09.711 This is what happened back in 167 BC. 00:33:10.451 --> 00:33:11.755 Abomination of Desolation. 00:33:11.755 --> 00:33:19.958 And the point that Jesus is making, he's hinting at this, is that this, what he's just described to these disciples, is like that. 00:33:19.958 --> 00:33:26.805 So in the context, for these first readers, this is sort of like a sign that need to be watching for. 00:33:26.805 --> 00:33:36.744 The question is, who is this person who is just really leads up to the destruction of the temple, who is called the abomination of desolation? 00:33:36.744 --> 00:33:38.898 Now, who is this? 00:33:38.898 --> 00:33:39.785 now Jesus. 00:33:39.785 --> 00:33:43.255 And again we compare scripture with scripture. 00:33:43.255 --> 00:33:46.170 The Luke's Gospel helps us here. 00:33:46.170 --> 00:33:47.372 Luke 20, 21,. 00:33:47.372 --> 00:33:53.805 It says but when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 00:33:53.805 --> 00:33:56.805 Then let those who were in Judea flee to the mountains. 00:33:56.805 --> 00:34:07.805 And then in Luke 19, verse 43, for the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you, and then and him you in on every side. 00:34:07.805 --> 00:34:09.528 And so what we know? 00:34:09.528 --> 00:34:16.518 we have the benefit of looking back from our side, back to Jesus day, and we know this is exactly what happened. 00:34:17.202 --> 00:34:25.338 In 70 AD, the Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem and leveled Jerusalem and the temple to the ground. 00:34:25.338 --> 00:34:43.478 So, as one writer put it, jesus words would be fulfilled when the Romans, the human means of divine wrath, erected scaffolds around the walls of the temple And its buildings, fill them with wood and other flammable material and set them on fire. 00:34:43.478 --> 00:34:47.590 The intense heat from the fires caused the stones to crumble. 00:34:47.590 --> 00:34:53.668 After it was further dismantled and sifted to find all the melted gold, the rubble. 00:34:53.668 --> 00:34:54.773 The gold was from the temple. 00:34:54.773 --> 00:34:57.804 The rubble was thrown down into the Kidron Valley. 00:34:57.804 --> 00:35:01.704 Only the huge foundation stones remained largely intact. 00:35:01.704 --> 00:35:08.804 Those stones, however, were not part of the temple itself, but supports for the retaining wall. 00:35:09.835 --> 00:35:10.804 So he's given this second. 00:35:10.804 --> 00:35:13.402 This is the abomination of desolation. 00:35:13.402 --> 00:35:13.784 And who was it? 00:35:13.784 --> 00:35:21.804 Well, we know now that it was the Roman general, emperor Titus, and that's a historical fact just like the other. 00:35:21.804 --> 00:35:25.804 So Jesus is building for us a pattern for the next one. 00:35:26.831 --> 00:35:38.793 Here's where the passage gets difficult to follow, because he's still talking about the abomination of desolation, and even though the destruction under Titus fits in some ways. 00:35:38.793 --> 00:35:42.420 In other ways you look at this passage and it just doesn't fit. 00:35:42.420 --> 00:35:54.764 It doesn't fit Jesus' teaching about the destruction of the temple that he's just told the disciples about 70 AD sort of morphs. 00:35:54.764 --> 00:36:08.358 It transitions, it moves into something about the future, and sometimes we can't detect it so easily when he's talking about their day and a future day. 00:36:08.358 --> 00:36:14.021 So it functions sort of as a symbol of something that's still coming. 00:36:14.021 --> 00:36:14.804 It's still coming. 00:36:14.804 --> 00:36:16.070 It's still coming for us. 00:36:17.286 --> 00:36:22.744 The destruction of the temple in AD didn't totally fulfill Jesus' prophecies on all of it discourse. 00:36:22.744 --> 00:36:28.257 Rather, they're almost like a spurgeon said, they're like a rehearsal for what's to come. 00:36:28.257 --> 00:36:30.572 That's what's going on. 00:36:30.572 --> 00:36:34.804 So who then is this future abomination of desolation? 00:36:34.804 --> 00:36:36.271 I don't know. 00:36:36.271 --> 00:36:40.775 I think I can tell you maybe at least a little bit of a hint. 00:36:40.775 --> 00:36:45.784 To do that we have to see it in 2 Thessalonians 2, 3 and 4. 00:36:46.487 --> 00:36:52.632 And this is why I say you have to compare scripture with scripture to understand scripture, a real important principle. 00:36:52.632 --> 00:36:56.536 We have our description of the person, and he's someone you may have heard the name of. 00:36:56.536 --> 00:36:59.414 He's called the man of lawlessness. 00:36:59.414 --> 00:37:07.789 The man of lawlessness, and this is a description of his character, because he openly what Defies the law. 00:37:07.789 --> 00:37:12.074 And so here it is in 2 Thessalonians, 2, 3 and 4. 00:37:12.074 --> 00:37:36.235 No one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first And the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called God or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 00:37:36.235 --> 00:37:45.278 He's like all the others in some ways, but this is the abomination of desolation, the end times. 00:37:45.278 --> 00:37:57.764 The man of lawlessness is none other than the Antichrist And, as you know, through history we've had many people who could be termed, many who are called Antichrist. 00:37:57.764 --> 00:37:59.831 But this is the Antichrist. 00:37:59.831 --> 00:38:05.175 This is the Antichrist because he is literally controlled by Satan. 00:38:06.166 --> 00:38:11.755 And you think about this person's coming on the scene and he's going to be coming in the future. 00:38:11.755 --> 00:38:16.728 He's slick, he's charismatic, he's brilliant, he's arrogant. 00:38:16.728 --> 00:38:22.954 And the most amazing thing is that the world will pay attention to him. 00:38:22.954 --> 00:38:27.684 They will demand he will demand it to be worshiped. 00:38:27.684 --> 00:38:29.170 He'll crave that. 00:38:29.170 --> 00:38:35.197 He will displace all the others who oppose him to make himself preeminent. 00:38:35.197 --> 00:38:40.637 And this is really amazing because you think of the whole world and all of its religions. 00:38:40.637 --> 00:39:00.804 They all come together to kind of welcome this man to his new position, because he promotes what He promotes peace in the midst of chaos, something the world at that time will be desperate for, and here will be a person who says I have the answer And they're all going to listen to him. 00:39:00.804 --> 00:39:03.056 What a powerful delusion. 00:39:03.056 --> 00:39:05.230 What a powerful delusion. 00:39:07.465 --> 00:39:12.731 Well, you know the vast capability to be deceived for us. 00:39:12.731 --> 00:39:29.277 It seems to be easier and easier for us to be deceived, and I think it couldn't be better illustrated than with the advent of the sophisticated what you know as artificial intelligence. 00:39:29.277 --> 00:39:34.831 I was looking last night and saw last night for the first time. 00:39:34.831 --> 00:39:47.784 Hundreds of people attended a church service near Nuremberg, germany, and it was generated almost entirely by artificial intelligence. 00:39:47.784 --> 00:39:49.275 So what they had? 00:39:49.275 --> 00:39:50.804 they had this screen up at the front. 00:39:50.804 --> 00:40:01.804 They had a church service with about 300 people And the artificial intelligence service, which is called ChatGPT, was put on display. 00:40:02.806 --> 00:40:14.483 Chatgpt, if you're unfamiliar, is a software application that sort of mimics human thought and conversation And even voice, so that it can do it. 00:40:14.483 --> 00:40:35.659 But it's normally online And this place it was in a live setting with a screen up in front, and this ChatGPT has functioned instead of the preacher And so they're listening to a sermon that had come up 98% of it by this artificial intelligence service. 00:40:35.659 --> 00:40:41.777 So they displayed that had 40 minutes of prayer, music, sermons and blessings. 00:40:41.777 --> 00:40:53.876 And most notably I thought it was interesting this was during the week of a religious week And this was one of the emphasis And it was the week was entitled Now is the Time. 00:40:53.876 --> 00:40:56.130 Now is the Time. 00:40:57.025 --> 00:41:00.784 So I just think you know it's so easy for us to be deceived. 00:41:00.784 --> 00:41:09.804 We are deceived just by ourselves and the enemy's devices and schemes to get us off track and not know the truth. 00:41:09.804 --> 00:41:13.117 But it's going to be very difficult, he says. 00:41:13.117 --> 00:41:17.554 Even the elect could be deceived And I think it could be anything like this. 00:41:17.554 --> 00:41:22.251 So I actually. 00:41:22.251 --> 00:41:25.898 This is why I said I wanted to give you an introduction from another preacher. 00:41:26.278 --> 00:41:28.730 This morning I read that That was from ChatGPT. 00:41:28.730 --> 00:41:34.315 I didn't use it for my sermon, i just want to let you know that. 00:41:34.315 --> 00:41:37.648 But I asked my son last night. 00:41:37.648 --> 00:41:45.398 I said would you do me a favor and would you have ChatGPT write the message from Mark 13? 00:41:45.398 --> 00:41:48.871 He sent it back in like a minute. 00:41:48.871 --> 00:42:10.623 It took the ChatGPT about 15 seconds to write the full message And I was amazed and shocked, depressed because it was better than mine. 00:42:10.623 --> 00:42:16.434 Well, you know, i'm really teasing. 00:42:16.434 --> 00:42:22.998 It really was well done and it kind of gives new meaning to how should they hear without a preacher? 00:42:22.998 --> 00:42:30.384 you know, there's something about this technology that that is devoid of one thing the Spirit of God. 00:42:30.384 --> 00:42:34.413 So it's important. 00:42:34.833 --> 00:42:39.956 Here's the thing the man of lawlessness will coincide, coincide with some things that we should be looking for. 00:42:39.956 --> 00:42:44.159 Number one you could say you can write these down and this is all in second Thessalonians. 00:42:44.159 --> 00:42:46.784 Number one unchecked lawlessness. 00:42:46.784 --> 00:42:49.079 What does that exactly mean? 00:42:49.079 --> 00:42:49.820 Well, i don't know. 00:42:49.820 --> 00:42:51.896 It says it's a mystery, the mystery of lawlessness. 00:42:51.896 --> 00:42:55.003 In other words, why is all this lawlessness occurring? 00:42:55.003 --> 00:42:58.661 because of the man of lawlessness getting ready to be on the scene. 00:42:58.661 --> 00:43:03.661 It may not be now, but the precursors could be coming, could be here. 00:43:05.105 --> 00:43:19.039 Number two the time what he calls of the rebellion, or, your version may say, the apostasy, which is a notable departure from the biblical gospel by those who we might have thought were Christians but have proved not to be at all. 00:43:19.039 --> 00:43:23.148 In fact, they've left the faith. 00:43:23.148 --> 00:43:32.045 People that you admired, people you listened to and heard preach, great sermons who've walked away from the faith and no longer preach the gospel. 00:43:32.045 --> 00:43:44.302 D Edmund Hebert describes this as a worldwide anti-God movement that will be so universal as to earn for itself a special designation. 00:43:44.302 --> 00:43:50.139 The apostasy, lawlessness, rebellion. 00:43:50.139 --> 00:43:54.907 And then the third thing false signs and wonders. 00:43:54.907 --> 00:44:05.943 And the caution there for us folks is that we want to see something so bad that will ignore truth for the experience. 00:44:05.943 --> 00:44:09.771 Be careful, be careful. 00:44:10.472 --> 00:44:20.226 Jesus prophecy moves us now from this evil human figure to the fourth thing, an unparalleled time of terror, in verses 19 through 23. 00:44:20.226 --> 00:44:28.382 He says, for in those days there will be such tribulation as it has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now and never will be. 00:44:28.382 --> 00:44:33.981 And if the Lord did not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. 00:44:33.981 --> 00:44:37.739 But for the sake of the elect whom he chose, he shortened the days. 00:44:37.739 --> 00:44:44.121 The reference in verses 19 and 20 is to what The great tribulation, he says, in those days. 00:44:44.121 --> 00:44:53.155