WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:02.240 Reading from the book of Mark. 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:11.199 When you see the abomination of desolation standing where he not ought where he ought not to be, let the reader understand. 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:14.240 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:22.960 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, nor take anything out, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:30.079 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days, pray that it may not happen in winter. 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:38.159 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. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:42.640 And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:46.719 But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days. 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:52.320 And then if anyone says to you, Look, here is the Christ, or look, there he is, do not believe it. 00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:58.479 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, the elect. 00:00:58.640 --> 00:00:59.600 But be on guard. 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:02.079 I have told you all things beforehand. 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:03.439 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:04.640 Please be seated. 00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:10.879 Good morning. 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:14.239 Thank you for joining us this morning. 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:15.519 My name is James Rathman. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:18.239 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:30.400 I always look forward to gathering with you all on Sunday mornings, and it's a joy to be back together again to sing praises to our Lord and remember his grace and mercy towards us. 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:38.159 This morning we are continuing through Mark chapter 13 in our sermon series through Mark. 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:44.640 But before I enter the text today, I want to make an announcement that I'm uh excited and joyful to be able to make. 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:53.120 Over this past weekend, we did our examination of the deacon nominees for uh deacons. 00:01:55.120 --> 00:02:10.639 And so uh I wanted to announce who those are and who the session of our church has uh uh examined and would like to recommend to you to uh vote to nomin vote to confirm as deacons on December 8th. 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:15.120 So we'll have a member meeting after church for Redemption Church Denver members. 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:22.960 And uh at that meeting we will vote to confirm uh uh these men to be to be deacons. 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:29.360 So uh the your nominees are uh Jonathan Peterson. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:42.879 Yeah, great, Alan Brannon, Ryan Balline, and Tom Bressy. 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:48.000 That's great. 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:50.960 This is the first time we've done this so far. 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:53.039 Well good response, everyone. 00:02:53.199 --> 00:03:17.199 Um uh they we were we were all uh uh impressed and thankful for uh the nomination of these men for their willingness to uh step into this role for their pursuit of uh all that we asked them to become proficient in for the examination uh that the session um performed, and uh are are happy to present them uh to you to be confirmed as deacons. 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:22.800 So uh with that, let's pray and we'll move into our text for the day. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:29.120 Father in heaven, your loving kindness indeed never ceases. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:32.319 Your compassion never fails. 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:36.000 Your mercy is new every morning. 00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:38.639 Great is your faithfulness. 00:03:39.919 --> 00:04:04.719 Lord, we praise you that you have shown us your grace and mercy while we were your enemies, that your love was so great that when we were rebelling against you, you came to provide a way of escape from your wrath and to send your Son to die on our behalf so that in him we might live and have new life. 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:08.319 Lord, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:10.080 The old has passed away. 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:12.080 Behold, the new has come. 00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:43.680 Father, we praise you that by faith in your son, that we are made new creations, that our old lives, our old way of being, those ways of living that have tended towards death and destruction, where we sat as objects of your wrath, Lord, that you have made us objects of your mercy and grace, and that we look forward to an eternity of growing in understanding and experience of what it is that Christ has purchased for us on the cross. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:59.519 Lord, we pray that we might grow in greater understanding of that this morning, that you are the one who loves your people and seeks to shelter us from the wrath that we justly deserved, so that we might find peace and grace and mercy in you. 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:02.240 We lift this up in Jesus' name, amen. 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:06.879 So this is our fourth sermon covering Mark chapter 13. 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:16.879 Mark chapter 13 is referred to as the Olivet Discourse because it is Jesus' discourse with his disciples on the Mount of Olives. 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:21.600 The Mount of Olives is just outside the temple in Jerusalem. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:30.160 And the discourse begins when Jesus and his disciples exit the temple and they go across to stand on the Mount of Olives. 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:37.519 And then when they're exiting the temple, Jesus' disciples turn to him and they say, Look at these beautiful buildings and look at the beautiful stones. 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:41.120 What an incredible temple complex that we're looking at. 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:47.040 And Jesus says to them, Not one of these stones will stand upon another. 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:50.560 He prophesies that the temple will be destroyed. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:58.000 And the disciples are rightly surprised by this declaration of wrath against the temple of God. 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:03.040 And they ask him two questions: When will this take place? 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:07.040 And when will all the things that you have talked about come about? 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:11.680 So the two questions are really when will the temple be destroyed? 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:16.639 And then when will you return and the end of the world take place? 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:34.000 To the disciples, those are really one question, because they can't imagine a world in which the destruction of the temple meant anything other than the destruction of the world, the final coming judgment of God against the world. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:39.920 But Jesus, in his answer, explains to them that these are really two questions. 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:50.079 That the destruction of the temple and therefore the ending of the old covenant with God's chosen people is not the end of the world. 00:06:50.319 --> 00:07:05.680 But it is actually like birth pains, which will bring about the birth of a new age of being, a new Christian church that will be founded on the cornerstone that was rejected, the cornerstone being Christ. 00:07:05.839 --> 00:07:40.160 And the new temple that will be built is not a temple made out of stones like the old temple was built out of, but it is a living temple, it is a living body made out of the people of God, so that the church will become the new temple, not located in one place in Jerusalem, not that we might turn and face one city when we pray, but that the Spirit will move out into all nations and all peoples, as Christ gathers all things to himself, and all things and all people are united in Christ. 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:48.480 Now, this message comes with these warnings of the coming destruction of the temple. 00:07:56.800 --> 00:08:02.399 So he explains to the disciples that this will take place, the temple will be destroyed within your generation. 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:06.160 And this prophetic word is fulfilled historically. 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:28.319 In the year 70 AD, the temple is destroyed by the during the Jewish wars with Rome, where Rome encircles Jerusalem, lays Jerusalem under siege, and then finally destroys the temple complex such that it will never be built again and has never been built again. 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:42.240 In the thousand years, the of uh of the temple being the center of the worship of the people of God and sacrifices being made in the temple will be permanently ceased. 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:53.519 Now, the time that is leading up to the destruction of the temple will be a time of great persecution and difficulty that the disciples will face. 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:56.320 And now this is described throughout the book of Acts. 00:08:56.399 --> 00:08:57.600 We see this take place. 00:08:57.759 --> 00:09:12.480 After Jesus' resurrection, he ascends into heaven, and before he ascends to heaven, he explains to his disciples that they will take this message of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sins that are offered in him, and they will spread it to the whole world. 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:17.600 They will go from Judea to Samaria and to the ends of the earth. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:24.879 But while they do that, they face intense persecution from both the Jews and the Romans. 00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:33.279 They are ostracized and beaten, they are flogged in synagogues, and Jesus warns them that all of this will take place. 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:39.519 But this is all leading up to a moment in which the temple will finally be destroyed. 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:47.200 In our text today, we hear two phrases that, if you grew up in the church, will sound familiar. 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:48.960 Maybe familiar. 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:50.879 Depends on the type of church. 00:09:51.200 --> 00:09:57.200 The phrases are the abomination of desolation and the tribulation. 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:01.200 The abomination of desolation and the tribulation. 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:03.279 Now we all know what those mean. 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:04.879 I'm just kidding. 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:07.360 There's no expectation that you would know what those mean. 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:12.240 I think even when we're when those phrases have become familiar, it's sort of like, okay, what are we talking about here? 00:10:13.039 --> 00:10:26.159 The abomination of desolation is has often been taught throughout the past century in American evangelicalism as an event which will take place in our future, our future. 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:33.919 And the tribulation is something which will take place in our future, something we are gazing and looking forward to and anticipating. 00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:45.360 But what the text shows is that these are events which will take place in the disciples' future and actually have taken place in our past. 00:10:46.559 --> 00:11:01.679 This is a particular warning that Jesus gives to the disciples of an event which they are to look out for so that in their looking out for it, they would avoid the wrath of God being brought upon Jerusalem by the Romans. 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:11.120 And instead of thinking we ought to stand and defend our homeland from the invading Romans, they ought to think God is on the Roman side. 00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:20.720 And he is using the armies of Rome to bring his wrath and destruction upon this generation who rejected Jesus. 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:34.159 So we'll begin and we'll move through the text and look at what these phrases mean in particular and how it is that they relate to this particular prophecy, and finally, what does that mean for us? 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:42.240 If this already happens, it's just like some nice-to-know stuff rather than need-to-know stuff. 00:11:42.879 --> 00:11:44.720 Mark 13, 14. 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:56.720 But when you see the abomination of desolation, standing where he ought not to be, let the reader understand, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:10.799 Okay, so as I've explained, the text up to this point has been a warning about these seasons, the season of suffering that is coming upon the disciples of Christ. 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:17.600 And the first warning that Jesus gives about this season of suffering is don't be led astray. 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:25.440 After I ascend into heaven, people will come and they will claim to be the Christ and to operate in the power of the Christ. 00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:38.159 And they will be the ones who will lead you astray, and they will trick you into thinking that the final resolution that you're looking for can be accomplished by these political means. 00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:47.279 Or the final resolution that you're looking for can be accomplished by us gathering together and finally overthrowing Rome, who is occupying our land. 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:50.240 And he's saying, don't be led astray by them. 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:53.519 Keep your eyes fixed on Christ. 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:58.080 When I return, you won't have to wonder if it's me returning. 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:03.279 In Matthew, he says, when Christ returns, it will be like lightning striking from one end of the sky to the other. 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:04.320 Everybody will see it. 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:07.440 It will be announced in such a way that it's it's unavoidable. 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:08.399 You will know. 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:13.360 So don't be deceived into thinking I've returned by these people that are just trying to lead you astray. 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:17.600 And secondly, he calls his disciples to endure. 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:27.360 They must have a spirit of endurance and patience with joy during this time of intense persecution in the first century. 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:34.559 They must keep their eyes fixed on Christ, and they shouldn't be surprised when they face these trials of various kinds. 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:50.240 But they should know that Jesus himself, while he was with them, warned them that these things took place, and he himself suffered so greatly at the hands of sinners, they can be encouraged by his fortitude, a fortitude which he will give to them by his Holy Spirit. 00:13:50.480 --> 00:13:57.360 They shouldn't be afraid when they're called before kings and councils, when they're called before synagogues and at different committees. 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:18.320 They instead should trust that the Holy Spirit will work through them, provide them exactly the words that they need to be able to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, that Christ is King, that He is Lord, that His death means the forgiveness of sins, and that they are salvation in no other name other than Jesus Christ. 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:22.159 And they will cut it will require great endurance to be able to do that. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:31.360 Now, those first parts of this discourse with the disciples are warnings and encouragements for how to make it through a season. 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:37.120 But there's a shift here in the text where he's not saying you're just going to need these particular qualities. 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:42.000 Look out, don't be led astray, endure through these persecutions, don't be surprised by them. 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:46.720 And then he switches here and he says, Now I'm going to tell you about an event. 00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:50.399 And there is one event that's going to take place. 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:54.320 And when this event takes place, what you need to do is run. 00:14:55.440 --> 00:14:58.080 You need to run as fast as you can. 00:14:58.399 --> 00:14:59.600 Out of the city. 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:04.960 You need to flee Jerusalem, get into the mountains, you need to get out of Jerusalem. 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:07.279 So that's what their eyes are looking for now. 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:11.039 I thought a fun title for the sermon would be run, exclamation point. 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:12.960 Like Jeb. 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:16.240 Exclamation point, remember? 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:17.679 No? 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:20.879 No political jokes this week. 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:25.679 Run, exclamation point, because that is the call. 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:27.840 Here's an event, you need to run. 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:30.799 So what are they looking for? 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:38.320 That they will see and then know, okay, this is what Jesus was talking about, we need to run. 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:44.399 When you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be. 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:07.600 Abomination refers to false worship, wrong worship within the temple. 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:10.159 Desolation is the land laid desolate. 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:22.320 So when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be, here it's personified in Matthew, it's where it not ought to be. 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:30.480 But then Mark and his relaying of this gives us this little aside which says, Let the reader understand. 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:35.200 And when uh someone says that, then you just immediately do understand. 00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:39.200 So congratulations, you know precisely what he's referring to. 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:47.279 Well, of course, this is a bit of a clue, and the clue is made more explicit in Matthew's gospel, where he says, as it is written in Daniel. 00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:51.840 So cross-references, they help you out. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:17:01.600 So the let the reader understand is a uh Jesus is saying to his disciples, you know the phrase, abomination of desolation. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:16.240 You know what I'm referring to, because you know, I you've grown up uh uh trained in in the scriptures, and you would know that this is a reference to the prophecy that's described in Daniel. 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:22.960 And in Daniel, he uses this very phrase, the abomination of desolation, or the abomination that makes desolate. 00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:35.839 In Daniel chapter 11, verses third verse 31, we see the phrase come up, and I'll I'll read this verse, and and you you'll think, okay, that doesn't explain anything. 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:37.039 But wait, we'll explain it. 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:51.759 In Daniel 11, 31, it says, Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering, and they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. 00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:54.400 This is that same phrase. 00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:59.039 So what is being prophesied in Daniel? 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:04.799 This is also used in Daniel verse 9, uh excuse me, chapter 9, that phrase. 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:15.200 The phrase is also used in Daniel chapter 12, but it's referring to this event which uh will take place in the future for the readers of Daniel. 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:20.640 But it takes place in the past for the disciples when they are hearing Jesus relay this. 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:37.519 And this event takes place around 170 BC, and which is uh our uh the intertestamental period in between the close of the Old Testament and then the uh Christ appearing. 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:54.319 And Daniel has this incredible vision where he he is is shown the prophecy of of what will happen uh politically in uh the region that they live, in the region of Jerusalem. 00:18:55.279 --> 00:19:12.319 And it's one of those uh it's one it's one of those prophecies that maps so precisely onto world history, you would think it would be the only thing anyone would ever talk about. 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:24.400 Like, like, look, here is a here's a text that is plainly written centuries before these events take place, and it maps precisely onto the events exactly as they happened. 00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:41.759 It it's such a it's such a profound testimony to the authority of the Word of God, such that many commentators will even say Daniel was written after these events because the the prophecy is is so plainly about them. 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:44.640 People will say the same thing about Revelation as well. 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:49.200 It must have been written after AD 70 because it seems so inspired by those. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:57.440 Whereas rather the Bible speaks prophetically about things that do happen. 00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:00.640 So, what is this event referring to? 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:13.759 Daniel uh describes the rise of uh of what it what it is is the rise of Alexander the Great, who creates this vast empire. 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:20.559 And then when Alexander the Great dies, that empire immediately splits into four rival empires. 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:43.599 And the two of those, the the Seleucid and the Ptolemaic empires, become the ones that are uh most relevant to the Jews in Israel and Jerusalem, because they are Jerusalem becomes like the border between the Seleucids in the north and the Ptolemaies in the south. 00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:50.079 And right in the middle on the eastern side of the Mediterranean is Jerusalem. 00:20:50.880 --> 00:21:04.160 So what Daniel foresees in chapter 11 is that the Seleucids will uh there will be a new ruler of the Seleucids whose name is Antiochus Epiphanes. 00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:06.000 Antiochus IV. 00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:11.599 He gives himself the name Epiphanes, meaning God appearing. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:13.599 Uh like, you know. 00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:17.359 Epiphany, that's the sign for Epiphany. 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:34.480 And what happens is the the leader of the Seleucid Empire, he uh mounts an attack down past Jerusalem into Ptolemy, which is down in Egypt, and he's defeated uh by the Ptolemaic Empire. 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:45.359 And so he marches back up, and after his defeat, he decides that he is going to launch another attack, but this time he's going to destroy Jerusalem on his way to destroy the Ptolemaics. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:58.799 And so he uh it what it says here is forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering, and they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. 00:21:58.960 --> 00:21:59.680 Now, what happens? 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:07.119 Is uh Antiochus Epiphanes wages war against Jerusalem. 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:12.160 He surrounds the city and lays siege to it. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:19.359 He moves into the temple and removes all of the worship that was taking place within the temple. 00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:29.599 He sets up a statue to Zeus, who is not God, and he makes sacrifices of pig's blood on the altar within the temple. 00:22:30.240 --> 00:22:39.599 So the city is laid siege by an enemy force, and then the worship in the temple is desecrated. 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:45.440 This is the abomination of desolation. 00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:50.640 And it happened before, when it was prophesied under these exact terms. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:23:10.400 And so when he says to the disciples, the abomination of desolation, which will uh when you see the abomination of desolation take place, what he's saying is, when you see an enemy army come and lay siege to Jerusalem, as has happened before under this same term, and when you see them make desolate the temple, run. 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:13.680 Don't stay and fight. 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:19.359 Don't defend your homeland, run, because this is God's doing. 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:33.039 Matthew and Mark are writing to uh particularly Jewish audiences who would have had a familiarity with the Old Testament prophecies, such as in Daniel. 00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:45.359 And so he writes that both of them, uh Mark says, let the reader understand, and that's sufficient to conjure the image of the abomination of desolation of smog. 00:23:45.920 --> 00:24:02.319 And in the uh in Matthew, he says it just as it is written in in Daniel, but Luke, uh the Gospel of Luke is written primarily to Greek audiences who would not have this familiarity with the scriptures. 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:11.680 And so when he relays it in his text, he in his gospel, he relays it in such a way where it's much more plain to just our understanding. 00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:18.559 And I saved this for last uh uh because it's the most plain uh way to understand it. 00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:30.799 But in Luke 21, 20 through 21, Luke writes, but when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:33.440 See, that's how he handles that phrase. 00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:40.000 When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:44.960 Then let those who are in Judea who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 00:24:45.920 --> 00:24:58.400 So what they're looking for, what they're being warned about, is when you see armies surrounding Jerusalem, to say the abomination of desolation is to say the same thing as that. 00:24:59.039 --> 00:25:11.039 When you see the armies surrounding Jerusalem flee Judea and run into the mountains, because that means something horrific is coming. 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:12.640 This is God's judgment. 00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:17.440 And Jesus makes it clear that they are to run uh quickly. 00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:23.759 When they see this happening, drop everything you're doing, because the wrath of God is coming against this place. 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:39.200 In Mark 13, 15 through 18, Jesus says, Let the one who is on the housetop 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. 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:48.160 And alas, for women who are pregnant, and for those who are nursing infants in those days, pray that it may not happen in winter. 00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:59.680 Jesus is saying, When you see this, if you are resting on your rooftop and you see the armies beginning to surround Jerusalem, don't even go down and get your cloak. 00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:03.359 Run across the roofs, get out of the city. 00:26:03.759 --> 00:26:05.920 Something terrible is coming. 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:13.279 If you're out working in the field and you hear that Jerusalem is beginning to be surrounded, don't even go back to your home. 00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:14.799 Just run. 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:17.359 Get out of the city. 00:26:17.599 --> 00:26:19.759 Its destruction is coming. 00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:26.640 And then Jesus, of course, is always conscious of those who would be in most need, in greatest peril. 00:26:27.039 --> 00:26:36.319 And he considers the women who are nursing infants or who are pregnant and the difficulty that they will face, the terror that is coming towards them. 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:42.000 And of course, it would be most difficult for them to run and to get out of there. 00:26:43.920 --> 00:26:47.519 You guys, you remember what it was like getting your kids out the door this morning. 00:26:48.799 --> 00:27:01.680 So what he's saying is it would be better to be a refugee that brings nothing, that has no supplies, that has nothing that they can help themselves with when they're on the run. 00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:08.319 It would be better to be that than to be stuck in Jerusalem for the wrath that is coming. 00:27:08.799 --> 00:27:13.200 And the wrath that is coming is that great tribulation. 00:27:14.720 --> 00:27:17.279 He explains this in Mark 13, 19. 00:27:17.519 --> 00:27:26.799 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. 00:27:27.920 --> 00:27:38.079 This is how horrific the sack of Jerusalem will be, and its destruction under the hands of the Romans. 00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:58.640 Now, many hear this phrase, and they hear, for in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now and never will be, and they think this must be language that refers to the second coming and the final judgment of the world at Christ's second coming. 00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:00.640 Because did you listen to the phrasing? 00:28:00.720 --> 00:28:03.839 I mean, it's never has been, never will be again. 00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:44.720 For example, in Exodus chapter 11, when the uh Passover takes place and all the firstborn sons of Egypt uh are are killed by the angel of death, it says in Exodus 11, 6, then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again. 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:56.960 Now at the second coming in the final judgment, there is a uh we imagine that there might perhaps be a cry over the whole world, and and that would include the land of Egypt. 00:28:57.200 --> 00:28:59.839 And yet it says here that nothing like that will ever happen again. 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:07.440 We see that this is this is typical prophetic language to describe God's judgment coming. 00:29:07.759 --> 00:29:20.640 In Ezekiel chapter five, describing the Babylonian exile, God says, And I will do among you what I have never done, and the likes of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations. 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:24.079 And yet here, this is something like it is happening again. 00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:40.480 The uh nation is being reconquered again, and the the temple will be destroyed even more absolutely than it was destroyed during the Babylon by the Babylonians, as related in Ezekiel. 00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:47.599 And so what we see here is that this is ordinary prophetic language. 00:29:48.799 --> 00:29:58.720 Or another way of saying it is that this is prophetic language that the Bible uses to capture the extraordinary judgments of God. 00:29:59.759 --> 00:30:12.640 And this is an extraordinary judgment of God against his people who rejected him finally when he came in the flesh. 00:30:14.240 --> 00:30:19.039 And so he cuts off their place of worship forever. 00:30:19.599 --> 00:30:24.319 And they are a people who are judged. 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:30.079 Now, this great tribulation that he describes, make no mistake, it was horrific. 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:42.079 In the first century, uh Jewish historian Josephus, who is like kind of a um uh he was a Jew, but he he also aligned himself with the Romans. 00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:44.240 He's a very pragmatic individual. 00:30:45.599 --> 00:30:54.319 But he writes the history of this war, of the Jewish wars with the Romans, which took place between 67 and 70 AD. 00:30:55.839 --> 00:30:58.400 And he says this of these wars. 00:30:58.480 --> 00:31:07.599 He says, the misfortunes of all men from the beginning of the world, if they be compared to these of the Jews, are not considerable as they were. 00:31:08.480 --> 00:31:17.519 The misfortunes of all men, from the beginning of the world, if they be compared to these of the Jews, are not as considerable as they were. 00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:22.559 Rome's sack of Jerusalem is unthinkably horrible. 00:31:24.400 --> 00:31:32.400 He says elsewhere, neither did any other city ever suff ever suffer such miseries from the beginning of the world. 00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:36.559 It is a terrible event. 00:31:37.519 --> 00:31:46.799 The wrath of God coming against this nation by the hand of the Romans is a tremendously horrific event that takes place. 00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:50.880 There are several stories that um I could relay. 00:31:51.200 --> 00:32:10.079 Uh and there there are stories that I read in Josephus's Wars of the Jews, um that I I honestly thought I I don't um want to read this in church. 00:32:11.039 --> 00:32:16.559 Uh if my kids were sitting here with us, I wouldn't want them to hear this story yet. 00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:19.519 So I'm going to read one that isn't those, that isn't that one. 00:32:19.759 --> 00:32:21.599 You can ask me after class. 00:32:24.240 --> 00:32:27.839 This is describing the siege of Jerusalem that takes place. 00:32:31.599 --> 00:32:34.319 In the uh the starvation that was taking place within it. 00:32:34.400 --> 00:32:40.880 It says, for when they saw any house shut up, this is when so what happens is Rome lays siege to Jerusalem. 00:32:41.039 --> 00:32:43.680 They're all stuck inside, nothing gets in, nothing gets out. 00:32:44.400 --> 00:32:48.400 So they begin starving inside Jerusalem. 00:32:48.559 --> 00:32:56.720 And it says, For when they saw any house shut up, this was to them a signal that the people within had gotten some food. 00:32:56.960 --> 00:32:59.839 You know, because why would they be closed in there like that? 00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:02.559 So the people in there have gotten some food. 00:33:02.640 --> 00:33:13.680 Whereupon they broke open the doors and ran in and took pieces of what they were eating, almost up out of their very throats, and this by force. 00:33:14.640 --> 00:33:24.400 The old men who held their food fast were beaten, and if the women hid what they had within their hands, their hair was torn for so doing. 00:33:25.119 --> 00:33:39.039 Nor was there any commiseration shown either to the aged or to the infants, but they lifted up children from the ground as they hung upon the morsels they had gotten, and shook them down on the floor. 00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:53.200 But still were they more barbarously cruel to those that had prevented their coming in, and had actually swallowed down what they were going to seize upon, as if they had been unjustly defrauded of their right. 00:33:55.599 --> 00:34:04.880 You can uh imagine the images of this terrible torment and suffering that is taking place within Jerusalem while it is under siege. 00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:27.199 Uh children, uh, these are people like you and me that are driven to these unthinkable horrors, breaking into neighbors' homes, grabbing their children with food in their hands and shaking them so that the food falls out that they might take it from them. 00:34:27.440 --> 00:34:41.119 And then if they're breaking into one another's homes and they find that the food that they were looking for was already eaten, then they would they would beat the people who ate the food as though some injustice was committed. 00:34:43.280 --> 00:34:47.119 These are horrible, horrible events. 00:34:47.760 --> 00:34:52.159 This is an unthinkable tribulation, which takes place. 00:34:56.639 --> 00:35:12.320 We can see then, as we look at the history of what is coming, that Jesus' language, although ordinary in its prophetic genre, does describe events of unthinkable horror. 00:35:15.599 --> 00:35:21.840 In Mark 13, 20, it says, And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. 00:35:22.480 --> 00:35:26.480 But for the sake of the elect whom he chose, he shortened the days. 00:35:27.679 --> 00:35:33.360 This is a difficult one to interpret because there's a couple of meanings available to us. 00:35:33.760 --> 00:35:45.119 It could be that there are elect who don't run, and they go through this terrible suffering, and for their sake he preserves them and cuts short the days of this siege. 00:35:45.920 --> 00:35:52.000 It could be that there are, that it is just merely a reference to the elect that are in the world. 00:35:52.880 --> 00:36:01.519 And you can, we know, we know this principle from scripture that God upholds the world for the sake of his people in it. 00:36:02.800 --> 00:36:11.440 In Genesis 18, when God is speaking with Abraham and describes to him that he is going to destroy Sodom. 00:36:12.480 --> 00:36:16.800 Abraham negotiates with him and says, Well, what if there's 50 righteous men in Sodom? 00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:18.000 Would you destroy it then? 00:36:18.079 --> 00:36:19.119 And God says, No. 00:36:19.360 --> 00:36:21.199 If there are 50, I won't. 00:36:21.440 --> 00:36:23.199 Then they, you know, keep working down. 00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:23.840 What about 40? 00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:26.000 40, 40, give me 40, give me 40. 00:36:26.400 --> 00:36:32.960 And then they get all the way down to 10, and they don't go to one, strangely. 00:36:33.760 --> 00:36:46.400 But we see this principle in the text that God preserves even extremely wicked places for the sake of the few righteous within them. 00:36:46.960 --> 00:36:49.440 These are the pillars of the earth. 00:36:49.920 --> 00:36:56.880 We've often thought of that, that there might be these incredibly wicked places, and you wonder why has that not been destroyed? 00:36:57.039 --> 00:37:08.719 Why is there why is why does God not bring an end to this terror, these terrible reigns of wicked rulers, perhaps, sort of gathered together masses of wicked people. 00:37:08.960 --> 00:37:15.840 And perhaps there is one grandmother in that city who prays. 00:37:17.679 --> 00:37:20.480 And for the sake of the elect, he preserves it. 00:37:21.039 --> 00:37:24.880 These are the pillars of the earth, the righteous of God. 00:37:26.800 --> 00:37:29.920 And for the sake of the elect, Christ shortens the days. 00:37:30.400 --> 00:37:34.559 So there's this terrible warning of these things that are to come that the disciples are given. 00:37:34.639 --> 00:37:42.719 And he continues on and says in Mark 13, 21 through 22, and then if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ, or look, there he is, do not believe it. 00:37:42.960 --> 00:37:48.880 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, the elect. 00:37:49.039 --> 00:38:11.280 Now, this is something that he's already warned against, but in this context of the tribulation and the abomination of desolation, he returns to this warning of false teachers because he's describing a state in which people will be so vulnerable and so easily taken advantage of by lies because their whole world is coming to an end. 00:38:12.320 --> 00:38:19.199 All of what they've known is being destroyed before their eyes under the armies of Rome. 00:38:19.599 --> 00:38:21.519 That makes an extremely vulnerable people. 00:38:21.599 --> 00:38:26.239 And Jesus says in the midst of this, hold fast to me. 00:38:27.840 --> 00:38:29.599 Hold fast to me. 00:38:31.519 --> 00:38:35.199 And finally, Mark 13, 23, he says, but be on guard. 00:38:35.440 --> 00:38:38.639 I have told you all things beforehand. 00:38:41.199 --> 00:38:47.519 Let us look at the purpose of Christ sharing this prophecy with his people. 00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:52.960 He knows that the wrath of God is coming. 00:38:53.519 --> 00:38:55.199 He's explained it already. 00:38:56.159 --> 00:39:03.679 Do you remember the parable where Jesus describes the vineyard that is leased out to tenants? 00:39:06.960 --> 00:39:23.280 And when the owner of the vineyard comes back to collect from the tenants what they are what he is owed from the fruit of the produce of the land, the tenants say, We're not giving you anything that you're owed to the owner of the vineyard. 00:39:23.440 --> 00:39:34.880 So then he sends uh some of his workers to the vineyard, and and uh some of them are beaten, some of them are even killed by the tenants of the vineyard. 00:39:35.679 --> 00:39:43.519 And finally, the owner of the vineyard says, I will send my son to this vineyard. 00:39:44.559 --> 00:39:51.280 But then surely they will listen to my son, and they will not kill him as they killed the others, and I will get what I deserve. 00:39:52.559 --> 00:40:02.320 But when the tenants see the owner of the vineyard's son coming towards him, they plot against him and they kill the owner's son. 00:40:03.920 --> 00:40:07.440 And then Jesus asks, after sharing this parable, what will happen next? 00:40:07.599 --> 00:40:16.880 And the crowd responds, Surely he will go and destroy those tenants, and he will give it, he will give the vineyard to another people. 00:40:18.000 --> 00:40:19.840 Jesus says, You're right. 00:40:20.559 --> 00:40:22.800 That's exactly what will happen. 00:40:23.360 --> 00:40:30.639 Now, this was a prophecy of precisely what he is relaying in detail here and warning the disciples about. 00:40:31.199 --> 00:40:34.400 Jesus is the son of the owner of the vineyard. 00:40:34.559 --> 00:40:45.519 He is the son of God who came to his people, his chosen people, the Jewish people, and they rejected him and killed him. 00:40:46.719 --> 00:40:54.960 So God will take that vineyard from them, and he will give it to a new people. 00:40:56.639 --> 00:40:59.760 And that's precisely what he does when he destroys the temple. 00:40:59.920 --> 00:41:05.519 It is ordinary throughout scripture that the way that God shows his wrath against nations is by other nations. 00:41:06.079 --> 00:41:18.400 The way that God disciplines his own people in the Babylonian exile shown to us in Ezekiel is by using these great empires to crush and destroy them. 00:41:19.360 --> 00:41:24.320 God is able to use whatever means he desires to demonstrate his wrath. 00:41:24.480 --> 00:41:28.719 But what is Jesus doing here for his disciples? 00:41:29.920 --> 00:41:34.960 He is saying, I know that there is wrath to come. 00:41:36.079 --> 00:41:39.840 Listen to my words, and you will be spared from it. 00:41:41.039 --> 00:41:43.840 There is wrath to come from God. 00:41:44.880 --> 00:41:47.440 It is a just wrath. 00:41:48.559 --> 00:41:54.559 It is deserved, and it is an execution of the divine justice of God. 00:41:55.440 --> 00:41:57.039 Heed my words. 00:41:57.360 --> 00:42:03.280 You've been warned, and you will spare yourselves from the wrath to come. 00:42:04.639 --> 00:42:08.400 Is this not what Jesus' whole ministry is? 00:42:10.639 --> 00:42:20.000 Yes, this was a particular warning of a particular judgment on a particular nation, and he is warning his disciples to avoid that judgment. 00:42:20.079 --> 00:42:27.119 But there is a judgment coming, a more final, more complete judgment, of which this is a pointer towards. 00:42:28.320 --> 00:42:34.159 And this more final, more complete judgment falls on all nations and all of us as a part of it. 00:42:34.400 --> 00:43:00.320 And we stand as the ones who are under the just condemnation of the Lord, who did not honor God as God, who did not treat him according to his glory, who did not treat him with thankfulness and gratitude, but instead rebelled against him and treated ourselves as God, exchanged the glory of God for the images of created things, and dedicated our lives to the worship of things outside of him. 00:43:01.679 --> 00:43:09.920 But Jesus came that he might spare his people from the wrath of God to come. 00:43:11.199 --> 00:43:13.840 The wrath of God is coming. 00:43:15.360 --> 00:43:18.400 But Jesus spares us from it. 00:43:20.079 --> 00:43:21.599 How does he do that? 00:43:22.320 --> 00:43:26.400 How can he reconcile an enemy people to himself? 00:43:27.360 --> 00:43:42.559 He does that by taking our place under the wrath of God, so that when God pours out his wrath upon Jesus Christ on the cross, the justice of God is satisfied. 00:43:44.079 --> 00:43:53.280 And the righteousness of Christ is given to us freely, just us who hear and heed his word. 00:43:54.159 --> 00:43:59.199 Jesus says to his disciples, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. 00:43:59.280 --> 00:44:03.119 No one Comes to the Father except through me. 00:44:04.480 --> 00:44:22.400 And so Jesus, in this warning, this microcosm of a warning for a particular group of people at a particular time, for this terror that is to come, we see that he is doing at scale for his disciples what he is doing in the course of his whole ministry for all of us. 00:44:23.440 --> 00:44:32.559 Which is saying, the wrath of God is coming, but if you heed my words, if you are in me, if you have faith and trust in me, that wrath is not for you. 00:44:34.639 --> 00:44:37.199 And how could you trust that it would not be for you? 00:44:37.440 --> 00:44:43.840 Because he laid his own life down so that we might be spared from the wrath of God. 00:44:46.159 --> 00:44:55.760 So it is not often that we stretch out to the very end when we consider our faith. 00:44:57.280 --> 00:45:09.599 We often consider our faith as just an ordinary balm for the difficulties of life, but I'm asking you right now to stretch your imagination to the end, to consider your death. 00:45:13.760 --> 00:45:20.880 If there is a God, if he judges justly, then you stand under his wrath. 00:45:21.199 --> 00:45:35.119 Your hope of escape, your hope of mercy is found in Jesus Christ, who just like he warns the disciples here, says, Heed my word, you've been warned. 00:45:35.280 --> 00:45:37.840 If the day is today, come to him. 00:45:38.480 --> 00:45:40.079 Come to Jesus. 00:45:40.480 --> 00:45:43.119 In him is rescue and salvation. 00:45:43.440 --> 00:45:51.519 He is tenderhearted, willing to lay himself down for you, taking on the death that we deserve, so that in him we might be saved. 00:45:51.840 --> 00:46:03.519 He is both just in that his righteous wrath is demonstrated, and the justifier, meaning he makes us right with himself, of the one who believes. 00:46:04.800 --> 00:46:05.760 Come to him. 00:46:06.400 --> 00:46:09.199 Come to Jesus and be saved from the wrath to come. 00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:11.599 He gives it freely. 00:46:12.159 --> 00:46:14.000 Such is the depth of his love. 00:46:14.239 --> 00:46:15.440 Sacrificially. 00:46:16.239 --> 00:46:18.480 How deep the Father's love for us. 00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:21.760 Are there any questions today? 00:46:22.559 --> 00:46:23.199 No questions. 00:46:23.360 --> 00:46:24.960 Do we have the questions on the screen? 00:46:27.760 --> 00:46:29.360 Did you see the text and it was there? 00:46:30.320 --> 00:46:32.400 I haven't got any texts in questions lately. 00:46:32.559 --> 00:46:35.599 I guess I'm preaching in such a way that answers all of your questions. 00:46:37.039 --> 00:46:38.639 Feel free to text in questions. 00:46:39.519 --> 00:46:40.079 Sure. 00:46:56.880 --> 00:47:05.360 There's a way to understand these things, which is that there's we're given images of judgment. 00:47:06.800 --> 00:47:07.519 Yeah, yeah. 00:47:07.599 --> 00:47:08.639 I'll repeat the question. 00:47:08.800 --> 00:47:16.960 How do we take the abomination of desolation and the tribulation and apply it to uh events, to current events? 00:47:17.599 --> 00:47:30.400 So the the first answer is uh carefully, and uh perhaps without not with too much confidence in our particular application. 00:47:32.719 --> 00:47:51.440 But we ought to understand that God does judge people, and that the way that we see God working throughout all of history is raising up nations and bringing nations down. 00:47:52.960 --> 00:48:04.480 And he does all of that, it's all in his hands, and he does it all with perfect justice, with an absolute and perfect justice. 00:48:05.440 --> 00:48:17.199 And so the way that God is guiding his politics and the the rise and fall of kings and kingdoms, that that is all still absolutely and completely in his hands. 00:48:17.519 --> 00:48:28.559 But we should see that the way that it is in his hands, as it is in his hands here in this event, is for the glory and the benefit, the protection and care of his people. 00:48:29.679 --> 00:48:34.400 He uses all of those things for the care and protection of his church. 00:48:35.199 --> 00:48:38.719 And so we ought to heed these warnings. 00:48:38.880 --> 00:48:56.239 Don't be led astray by things that are not Christ, endure suffering that is brought into your life, and expect that there are trials and tribulations which your life will be a part of, but know that finally in Christ, all of these things work together for good. 00:48:56.400 --> 00:49:05.599 They will only amount to being birth pains of a glory that is unimaginable and will swallow up these trials, and that our hope in Christ. 00:49:05.840 --> 00:49:20.239 And then in the midst of this, I want you to see the tenderness of Christ towards his disciples here, which is that he desires to protect you from the judgment that he brings. 00:49:21.280 --> 00:49:26.079 And that is the way that he works for his people and for the church. 00:49:26.480 --> 00:49:29.039 So there's something like an answer to that. 00:49:29.920 --> 00:49:31.119 Great question. 00:49:31.280 --> 00:49:32.480 Thanks, Amanda. 00:49:33.920 --> 00:49:35.599 Let's take communion. 00:49:36.400 --> 00:49:46.880 In 1 Corinthians 11, starting in verse 23, it says, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you. 00:49:47.360 --> 00:49:55.440 That the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you. 00:49:55.760 --> 00:49:57.679 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:49:58.000 --> 00:50:02.400 In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. 00:50:02.559 --> 00:50:05.440 Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. 00:50:05.760 --> 00:50:11.519 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 00:50:12.000 --> 00:50:18.719 Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 00:50:18.960 --> 00:50:23.440 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 00:50:23.760 --> 00:50:28.719 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 00:50:28.960 --> 00:50:34.480 That is why many of you are sick, are weak and ill, and some have died. 00:50:34.960 --> 00:50:38.320 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 00:50:39.679 --> 00:50:42.639 The Lord Jesus, on the night before he was betrayed, took the bread. 00:50:42.880 --> 00:50:44.639