Mark 13 - Disruption

Mark 13 - Disruption

Here are some elements that are prominent in Jesus’ sermon on the end times. There will be no predictions here about when these things will come about. But, these are strange days, and some of these themes feel eerily familiar.

Mark 13:1,2 talks about the disruption of destruction. They are referring specifically to the temple, which wasn’t, by old world standards, all that old. It was Herod’s temple, which had been in a building process for the last 40+ years. But it was impressive, and it seemed solid. And yet, impressive things that seem solid, in the end times, will be overturned. In fact, we aren’t sure what things in and of this world won’t be overturned.

Mark 13:3-8 talks about false teachers. The world will be characterized by lies. People will not know who or what they can believe. Rumors will run rampant. And, that sounds familiar.

Mark 13:9-13 says that there will be persecution. Yes, there will be strife in general, but there will be deep animus against faith and against the faithful. It does not appear in Jesus’ setting that the persecution was going to affect the Roman worship of pagan gods. You can have your gods, so long as they are not exclusive; so long as they come in multiples. But exclusive religions are going to suffer. That is, if you don’t profess that there are many ways to heaven, but instead insist, as does the Bible, that there is only One Way, then you are exclusive, and you will be resented and hated.

Mark 13:14-23 describes an incident that seems already to have happened in history, during the first century of the early church. And when it happened, it must have seemed like “the end.” And this has happened several times through history. The Church experiences these “stress points” at different times, in different places, and it easy to conclude that this is the end of all things. But it comes in waves. When the end comes, I believe we will know it (cf vv. 24-26).

Mark 13:28-32 contains the phrase, “He is near, right at the door.” And that is part of the picture. I have used the illustration of time, that we don’t stand in a long line, waiting for the years to drop off ahead of us one by one, until we finally come to the end. Rather, we each live our lives on the precipice, on the edge of His coming, and are to live our lives from that perspective. 

Mark 13:33-37 repeats the phrase, “Be on the alert.” And yet, it almost seems at times that we are sleep-walking through life, as though we can assume that tomorrow will be just like today because today seems so much like yesterday. Jesus has promised - and this is the most certain thing that we know about the end times - that He is coming again. This passage says it: ²⁶ “Then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN CLOUDS with great power and glory.” And so our job is to be awake; to be ready; and to be occupied in this mean time with things that are in keeping with Jesus’ coming.