What do I know with Isaac Carroll
What do I know with Isaac Carroll
Stay Alert: Jesus Warns About the Coming Days in Mark 13
From the ominous "abomination of desolation" to the watchful eye of the fig tree, Mark 13 unfolds like a prophetic roadmap that spans centuries. Jesus sits with his disciples on the Mount of Olives, directly facing the temple, and delivers one of Scripture's most profound prophecies about what lies ahead.
The mysterious "abomination of desolation" stands at the heart of this discourse, creating two theological streams that flow through Christian interpretation. Did this prophecy find fulfillment when Roman forces desecrated the temple in 70 AD, prompting early believers to flee Jerusalem for safety? Or does it point to a future third temple where the Antichrist will establish himself? Both views offer compelling perspectives, reminding us that faith thrives in the tension between what we know and what remains veiled.
As cosmic signs darken the sun and moon, as stars fall from heaven, Jesus paints a vivid portrait of his triumphant return. He'll gather his elect "from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven." Yet amid these grand apocalyptic images, he offers the simple, grounding parable of the fig tree – when its branches become tender and leaves sprout, summer approaches. Similarly, when these signs appear, his return stands "right at the door." The generation witnessing these harbingers will see everything fulfilled, though "no one knows the day or hour."
This tension between knowing the season yet not the moment compels us toward spiritual vigilance. Four times Jesus commands us to "stay alert," likening himself to a master returning home unexpectedly. Will he find us asleep or watchful? The question hangs in the air, as relevant today as when first spoken. Listen closely as we unpack these prophecies, acknowledging both their mystery and their message. Subscribe now for our continuing journey through Mark's Gospel as we move next into chapter 14.
May God bless you and lead you always.
Welcome to the podcast. I'm Isaac Carroll, and this is what Do I Know? All right, in today's Bible study we're going to be back in Mark, 13th chapter, and we're going to pick up at verse 14. Before I do, let's recap for a second what's led us up to this point. All right, jesus tells the disciples that the temple and all the buildings that will be destroyed, and not one stone, be left upon another. All the buildings that will be destroyed, and not one stone, be left upon another. When they get to the Mount of Olives, which is directly across from the East Gate Temple, some of his disciples come to him privately and they ask him what would be the sign that this was going to take place. Jesus then tells them about the future events that are going to happen and what to expect when the time of the end is close. It says that they would be hated by all people. He tells them that the gospel would be proclaimed to every nation and then the end would come. He ends the narrative by saying that the one who perseveres until the end would be saved.
Speaker 1:All right, let's pick up here at verse 14. Now, when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be let the reader understand, then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, whoever is on the housetop must not go down nor go in to get anything out of his house, and whoever is in the field must not. Must not go down nor go in to get anything out of his house, and whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those women who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days. Moreover, pray that it will not happen in winter, for in those days will be such a time of tribulation as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation, which God created until now and never will again. And if the Lord had not shortened those days, no life would have been saved. But for the sake of the elect whom he has chosen, he shortened the days. And if anyone says to you Look here is the Christ or Look there he is, do not believe it, for false Christs and false prophets will arise and will provide signs and wonders in order to mislead, if possible, the elect. But beware, I have told you everything in advance. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from heaven and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken. And then you will see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory, and then he will send forth His angels and he will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heaven. Now learn the parable from the fig tree. As soon as its branches have become tender and sprouts its leaves, you know that summer is near. So too, when you see these things happening, recognize that he is near, right at the door. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Speaker 1:All right, let's stop here at verse 31 and discuss a couple things before we move on. All right, jesus says the abomination that causes desolation Spoken about in the book of Daniel. All right, so the question of the abomination that causes desolation. From all I've studied and read, in truth, I believe, if you accumulate everyone together, there's two camps ultimately on this subject. Now, even in the camps they differ on opinion on things. But to kind of sum this up. There's actually two camps One that believes this has already happened they only differ on how and those who believe the third temple will be built and the Antichrist will be the abomination that causes desolation. Now, after studying both, I can kind of see both sides. Let me explain.
Speaker 1:We know that the temple was desecrated and ultimately destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. It is believed that the early Christians in Jerusalem understood the sign and they fled to Pella, a city in the Decapolis, during the Roman siege of Jerusalem. It is believed, because of the warning that Jesus gave, they had the chance to flee and to escape and carry on the Gospels. Now, this is historically true, but there's still a lot of questions to be answered, and that's where you get both sides. The abomination that causes desolation has already happened. Now the other camp believes that in the end times there'll be a third temple built and the Antichrist is going to be the abomination that causes desolation and he'll be standing in a place that he should not be, which is in the temple. They believe this is a future event. Like I said, there's two camps One believes it's already happened and then one that believes it's going to happen in the future. But I guess if we had all the answers or we understood all the answers, then we wouldn't need faith. I'm not here to say that this has already happened or this is an event that's going to happen in the future. I'm just here explaining the two sides, that kind of view, this prophecy by Jesus.
Speaker 1:And Jesus goes on from there and he starts talking about false prophets, false Christs who were going to come and deceive many. He follows this by saying in those days, referring to the time of the false prophets, which would be after that tribulation he was speaking about. Jesus was differentiating between the two times. Let's read that again in verse 24. 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 fallen from heaven. The powers that are in the heavens will be shaken and they will see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory and he will send forth His angels and he will gather together His elect from the four winds and from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. Jesus is speaking about the time of the very end, where he rides forth and fulfills the prophecies that have been spoken about, about his second coming, as in Revelations 19 and 11, that I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse. All right, so we have Jesus talking about a couple of different things giving the disciples some signs and some things to see to let them know and not just them us, so all the who follow after. These words were given to us so that we would understand the times of the end and things that we to be aware of, to be warned not to go after things that are not of Christ, because he warned us beforehand that these things would happen.
Speaker 1:All right, let's continue at verse 32. But about the day or the hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven or the son. The day or the hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the sun, but the Father alone. Watch out and stay alert, for you do not know when the appointed time is. It is like a man away on a journey who, upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigned each one a task. I also commanded the doorkeeper to stay alert. Therefore, stay alert, for you do not know when your master of the house is coming, whether in the evening or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning, so that he does not come suddenly and find you asleep. But I say to you, I say to you all stay alert, all right. That concludes Mark, the 13th chapter.
Speaker 1:One thing I didn't speak about verses 28 through 30. It reads like this Now learn the parable of the fig tree. As soon as its branches has become tender and sprouts its leaves, you know that summer is near. So too, when you see these things happening, recognize that it is near, right at the door. Truly, I say to you that this generation reminds me of what this parable means. Jesus is saying that when you see these signs, these ladder signs taking place, that take notice, he says. You know it's just like a fig tree. When you see the branches become tender, they sprout leaves you know that summer is near. So too, when you see these signs, that this is going to happen soon, and that the generation that is at that moment will not pass away until all the things in the end will take place. All right.
Speaker 1:So what is a generation? Well, I guess it's dependent on how you read Scripture. Genesis 6.3 says To the Lord my spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal. His days will be 120 years. Or you can look at Psalms 90, verse 10. Psalms 90, verse 10, where it says the length of a man's day is 70 years, or 80 years if he's strong. So a generation could be 120 years, which is a person's life. Or it could be like a generation that we have today.
Speaker 1:Look at society. We have boomers, then we have the generation X, then we have all the way to the present, which is called generation beta. Now, not a flattering name for a generation, if you ask me, but be that as it may. The boomer generation that was before I believe the last year of the boomers was 1964. And that that generation, the boomerer generation, it's coming to an end. So I think the youngest boomer of this day would be 61. A generation there that is coming to an end, and then the generation X. That generation will follow after. So we can look at it that way. So there's several ways of looking at how a generation is perceived, but we know that the generation that's living at that time will not pass away until all the things are complete. So we have a general idea, when these things happen, that we have a certain amount of time before the end comes.
Speaker 1:Now Jesus says that no man knows the day of the hour. So whenever someone starts saying on this day, you automatically know that it's not biblically true, that whoever's saying this is not being biblically accurate because no man knows the day of the hour. Now some people get into the argument. Well, jesus isn't God because it says only the Father knows the day of the hour and the Son doesn't. And it always frustrates me when people do this because it's like they're looking for a reason to have conflict. It says that Jesus left heaven to humble himself as a man. To be a man is to suppress his divine nature that he could have used, but he suppressed that divine nature to put his face on the Father. That doesn't change the fact that Jesus is God or the fact that him and the Father are one.
Speaker 1:It's hard to rationalize something we don't understand, and the divinity and power of God is something that it's a concept we can describe but we really don't understand. There's no way for us to understand when Jesus talks about heaven. He can describe things, but we can only get a sense of what he describes. There's no way we can really comprehend what it is because we've never seen it. Same thing with the divinity of God, the triune God. It's almost impossible for us to understand something we can't really comprehend. Alright, I'm going to end this one here. We'll be in Mark, the 14th chapter, in our next Bible study. Until then, I love you guys. God bless you, goodbye.