GOSPEL OF MARK - CHAPTER 13
Jesus Warns His Disciples About the Future 13:1-37
The Temple at Jerusalem Will Come to an End 13:1-2
v1 As Jesus came out of the Temple, one of his disciples said, ‘Look, Teacher. What wonderful stones! What wonderful buildings!’ v2 Jesus said to him, ‘You see all these great buildings! Not a single stone will remain upon another stone. Men will throw every stone down.’
Commentary
Verse 1
Herod the Great began to build the Temple in about 20 BC. It was not complete until AD 63. It was a magnificent building. Herod had made it out of white stone. Some of the foundation stones were enormous. Gold covered the front of the building and it reflected the sun. The Temple was the place of worship for Jews from all over the world. The Jews could not imagine that anything could happen to their Temple. It gave them a feeling of security. The Temple was there. So they believed that God would never leave them.
Verse 2
Jesus’ words came true in AD 70. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem completely. The place where the Temple had been became no more than a field. ‘Future visitors would not believe that the city had ever been there’ (Josephus, ‘The history of the Jewish war’).
The Beginning of Troubles 13:3-8
v3 Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the Temple. Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him a question in private. v4 ‘Tell us, when will this be? What will be the sign that all these things will come true?’ v5 Jesus began to say to them, ‘Watch out! Be careful that nobody makes you believe their wrong ideas. v6 Many men will come. And they will say that they have my authority. They will say, “I am (he).” They will turn many people from the right way. v7 Do not be afraid when you hear about wars and possible future wars. This must happen first. But the end is not immediately. v8 Nation will fight against nation. Kingdom will fight against kingdom. The earth will shake in various places. There will be lack of food. This is only the beginning of the “birth pains”.’
Commentary
Verse 3
To sit was the usual way for a master to teach his disciples. From the Mount of Olives, there is a wonderful view across the Kidron Valley to Jerusalem city.
Verse 4
The disciples wanted to know when Jesus’ prophecy about the Temple would come true. The idea that men would destroy Jerusalem was terrible. So, the disciples may have thought that the end of the world was coming. The Messiah will stand on the Mount of Olives after he has defeated all his enemies. The prophet Zechariah wrote about that (Zechariah 14:4). They were therefore also asking about the sign of the end of the world.
Jesus gave the disciples three signs that will happen before God’s final judgment:
---1. False Messiahs - Verses 5-6
Some people will say that they are the Messiah. The Greek words for ‘I am’ are the name that Jesus used for himself. ‘Before Abraham was, I am’ (John 8:58). ‘I am’ is the name that God gave for himself (Exodus 3:14). Judas from Galilee and Theudas tried to lead people against the Romans (Acts 5:36-37). In AD 132, Bar Cochba called himself Messiah. There have been other people until the present day who make false statements about their authority from God. Some false Messiahs say that they know the time of the end of the world. Jesus says that only God knows that (Matthew 24:36).
---2. Wars - Verses 7-8
Wars between nations will happen during all the time between Jesus’ first and second coming. But the disciples must not be afraid. God loves them and he is in control of events. Wars will not be a sign of the immediate end.
---3. Earthquakes or a Serious Lack of Food - Verse 8
Less than 40 years after Jesus’ prophecy, an earthquake destroyed Laodicea. In AD 62, Mount Vesuvius in Italy threw out hot melted rock that buried Pompeii. The Christians for whom Mark was writing would know about this. There was a serious lack of food in the time when Claudius was the great ruler in Rome (Acts 11:28).
Jews used picture language of a woman in pain because she was beginning to give birth to a new life. It was the sign of the troubles for the Jewish nation that would bring about a new beginning (Micah 4:9-10).
All these signs would come before the end of the world. They were not the end itself. Paul had to warn the Christians in Thessalonica to do their work. Some were neglecting their duties. They expected that Jesus would return very soon. Some even said that he had already come (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3).
Jesus Says the Disciples Will Suffer 13:9-13
These verses describe the trouble from enemies that Jesus’ disciples must expect. But Jesus encourages them by promises of God’s help and protection.
v9 ‘Watch out! People will hand you over to the courts. They will strike you in the Jewish meeting places. You will stand in front of rulers and kings because of me. There you will be a witness to me. v10 And people must preach the gospel to all nations first. v11 They will arrest you and take you to court. Do not be anxious before then about what you will say. Say whatever God gives you to say at the time. It is not you who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit. v12 Brothers will hand over brothers, whom the authorities will kill. A father will hand over his child. Children will hand over their parents for death. v13 Everyone will hate you because of me. But God will save the person who lasts to the end.’
Commentary
Verse 9
The ‘courts’ and Jewish meeting places refer to trouble from the Jews. The Sanhedrin in Jerusalem was the chief court. But the Jewish meeting places were also courts of law. They could whip a man if they had shown him to be guilty in such a court. ‘Rulers and kings’ refers to trouble from Gentiles. In such situations, the disciples would have the opportunity to talk about their faith in Jesus. Peter spoke with courage to the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:1-13). Paul stood in front of Felix and Festus (Acts chapters 23-25). In Rome, he spoke about Christ to the soldiers who guarded him (Philippians 1:12-13).
Verse 10
They must make sure that as many people as possible hear the gospel. They must include everyone, Gentiles as well as Jews. The end will not come until they have completed their task.
Verse 11
They must not worry when they have to stand in court. The Holy Spirit will give them the right words to say.
Verse 12
To be loyal to Jesus can cause disagreements in a family. Jesus had warned about that (Luke 12:51-53). Trouble can come even from close relatives. ‘Brothers’ can mean brothers by birth or close relatives. To be loyal to Jesus might cause pain and troubles. Some disciples would suffer death for their faith. In the early church, the Jews killed Stephen. Herod Antipas made his soldiers kill James the brother of John (Acts 7:54-60; 12:2). In many parts of the world today, Christians suffer trouble from enemies. Authorities put them in prison and even kill them.
Verse 13
People hated Christ. Therefore, they will hate those who obey him (John 15:18-19). There was a reason why Jesus emphasized this. Some Jews believed that God always helped good people to avoid pain and troubles. Some people today think that Christians should not have any problems. But it is not true. Christians will not always be healthy and successful. Christians suffer difficulties in the same way as other people who do not obey God. And they suffer for their faith as well.
But everything that happens is in God’s control. This knowledge should encourage Jesus’ disciples to remain loyal. ‘To the end’ has three possible meanings:
---1. ‘Until God has finished his work on earth’. Some Christians will still be alive when Jesus returns (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3).
---2. ‘Until the end of life from natural causes.’
---3. ‘Until other people may even kill Christians.’
God will give a welcome into his eternal kingdom to those people who remain loyal (Revelation 2:10).
Jerusalem Will Fall 13:14-23
v14 ‘You will see the “awful thing that causes disgust”. It will stand where it does not belong.’ (The reader should understand what this means.) ‘Then anyone in Judea should escape to the mountains. v15 Nobody on the roof should go down into his house in order to take anything out. v16 Nobody in the field should go back in order to get his coat. v17 How awful it will be in those days for pregnant women! How awful for mothers who still have babies at their breasts! v18 Pray that this will not happen in winter. v19 Those days will be worse than any other days from the time that God created the world until now. And there will never be any days like them again.
v20 If the Lord had not cut the time short, nobody would live. But he has made the time shorter because of the people whom he has chosen. v21 Then someone may say to you, “Look, here is the Christ!” or “Look, there he is!” Do not believe it. v22 False Christs and false prophets will appear. They will show signs and miracles. They will try to cheat the people whom God has chosen, if possible. v23 But watch out. I have told you everything before the time.’
Commentary
Verse 14
‘The awful thing that causes disgust’ are words from the book of Daniel (9:27). In 168 BC, the Greek king Antiochus Epiphanes defeated the Jews. He then put a Greek altar in the Temple in Jerusalem. He put an image of Zeus, the chief Greek god, in the Holy Place. In AD 40, the mad ruler Caligula planned to put an image of himself in the Temple. Fortunately, he died in AD 41, before he could carry out his plan. When Titus destroyed the Temple in AD 70, the Roman soldiers put their military flags there.
Jesus may have meant any future time when people will be completely loyal to anyone or anything other than God. The Jews expected a power that was completely evil. Paul called this power ‘the man of sin’. This ‘man of sin’ would set himself up in God’s temple and he would demand worship (2 Thessalonians 2:2-4).
‘The reader should understand what this means’. Perhaps Jesus meant when Jerusalem and its Temple would be destroyed by the Romans. Mark may have believed that, anyway. Perhaps this is why he did not explain clearly. It might have been dangerous for the Christians to speak about such an idea. They were already suffering because of their faith.
Because of what Jesus had said, Christians left Jerusalem. The writer Eusebius says that they went to Pella. Pella was a city on the other side of the River Jordan. Other people crowded into the city at Jerusalem. They thought that its strong walls and its Temple would protect them from the Romans. But, in AD 70, Titus camped outside the city for five months. He waited for the people to starve to death. The Jewish writer Josephus described the terrible troubles of all those people in the city who could not get food.
Commentary
Verses 15-16
When the first signs of trouble came, people must hurry to escape. They must not wait to collect their goods from the house. They must not return from the fields to collect a coat. This reminds us about Lot’s wife. When she looked back, she died (Genesis 19:26).
Verse 17
Jesus thought especially about the troubles of mothers with tiny babies and with children who were not yet born. It would be very hard for mothers to watch their babies die of hunger.
Verse 18
People who were trying to escape in the winter would find very little shelter from the weather. Food would be difficult to find. The river bottoms that dried up in the summer would be full of water. They would not be able to cross over them.
Verse 19
These words come from the book of Daniel (12:1). They were true of the terrible troubles when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. Thousands of people died and the Romans took thousands more as prisoners into other countries. But these words also refer to a time of great troubles before the ‘last days.’
Verse 20
The words may refer to when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70. Or they may refer to the end of the world. But they mean the same. God will make the time of trouble shorter because he controls events in the world. He will not allow anyone to destroy the people whom he has chosen. ‘The people whom God has chosen’ were the Jews. But the members of the Christian church are now ‘the people whom God has chosen’ as well.
Verses 21-22
Jesus warns the disciples about false prophets who could even perform signs and miracles (Deuteronomy 13:1-3). ‘False Christs’ perhaps means those who oppose Christ. False Christs can also mean those who claim to be Christians. But they teach wrong things to disciples. They would teach them to do wrong things. John writes about ‘many false Christs’ (1 John 2:18).
Verse 23
Jesus had already warned his disciples (Mark 13:5). Now he repeated what he had said to them. They would have greater strength to oppose false ideas because Jesus had prepared them. And they would have greater strength to suffer troubles.
When the Son of Man Comes 13:24-27
v24 ‘In those days, there will be terrible troubles. After that, the sun will grow dark and the moon will not shine. v25 The stars will fall from the sky. The powers of the sky will shake out of their places. v26 Then they will see the Son of Man as he comes in clouds with great power and light. v27 Then he will send out his angels. He will gather the people whom he has chosen from all four directions of the earth. He will bring them from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.’
Commentary
Verses 24-25
The Old Testament prophets often spoke about signs in the sky that would come before God’s judgment day. There will be darkness because there will be no light from the sun, moon or stars (Isaiah 13:10; 34:4). ‘The powers of the sky’ means the sun, moon, and stars. Something like an earthquake will disturb them from their natural places.
Verse 26
Daniel wrote, ‘Someone who looked like a son of man came in the clouds of the sky’ (Daniel 7:13). Jesus spoke about his second coming in words like these. A ‘cloud’ is a sign that God is there (Exodus 13:21, Mark 9:7). The great honor and beauty with which Jesus will come is the great honor and beauty of God the Father.
The Need to be Ready for Christ’s Coming 13:28-37
v28 ‘Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches go soft, the leaves appear. Then you know that summer is near. v29 In the same way, you will see these things happen. Then you will know that he is near. He is right at the door. v30 I tell you the truth. People now alive will not have died until all these things have happened. v31 Heaven and earth will pass away. But my words will never pass away.
v32 Nobody knows about the day or the hour. Not even the angels in heaven know. The Son does not know. Only the Father knows. v33 Be careful! Keep awake! You do not know when the time will come. v34 It is like a man who goes on a journey. He leaves his house and he puts his servants in charge. Each servant has his work to do. The master orders the servant at the door to keep watching. v35 So keep watching. You do not know when the master of the house will come back. It may be in the evening or at midnight. It may be when the male chicken calls at dawn or in the morning. v36 He may come without warning. And he may find you asleep. v37 What I say to you, I say to everyone. “Watch!” ’
Commentary
Verse 28
They know that summer is near when the leaves begin to appear on the fig tree. To sit under a fig tree was a sign of peace when the Messiah came (Micah 4:4).
Verse 29
The words ‘these things’ probably refer to the signs in the sky (verses 24-25). They will know that the Lord will return very soon.
Verse 30
Many of Jesus’ disciples believed that Jesus would return during their life. In one way, Jesus did return very soon when he came at Pentecost. He had promised his disciples that he would not leave them without comfort (John 14:18). But the time when Jesus will return is still future. ‘People now alive’ may refer to the Jews. If so, Jesus was saying that there would always be Jews. But Jesus may have meant the kind of people who would be loyal to him. Then he was saying, ‘There will always be people who really believe.’
Verse 31
Everything will pass away. But what Jesus taught is always true. It is important for everyone, wherever they live or whatever their age. Heaven and earth may be of no more use, like clothing that has worn out. But God never changes (James 1:17). Jesus, too, is always the same (Hebrews 1:10-12; 13:8).
Verse 32
Only God the Father knows the exact time when the Son of Man will come again. Jesus was God’s Son, but, as a man, he himself did not know. Some people say that he will appear on a certain date. Or, they say that the world will end on a certain date. Those people are wrong because nobody can know that.
Verse 33
Jesus warns his disciples to be prepared.
Verse 34
He is like a man who has gone on a journey. But the man has not said quite when he would return. Like the servants in Jesus’ story, each disciple has his work to do. They are like the servants in the parable about the three servants (Matthew 25:14-30).
Verses 35-37
Jesus may come at any time of day or night. He, therefore, emphasizes the need to keep awake and ready. He will come suddenly. Jesus was not only warning the disciples. He was warning everyone.
|
|
