Watch! Be on Your Guard! Part 2

Mark 13:5-23
Gerrit Buddingh’ | Sunday, July 04, 2021
Copyright © 2021, Gerrit Buddingh’

We are examining the Olivet Discourse. In it, Jesus is replying to two questions. The first is, when will the temple be destroyed, and the second is, when will he come again in great glory. It is not always clear which question he is answering. This is because the very downfall of Jerusalem and the destruction of its temple are themselves a foreshadowing of events leading up to his second coming.

However, there can be little doubt that the words of Jesus’ prophecy received a partial fulfillment in the days when Jerusalem was captured by the Romans, the Jews there massacred, and the survivors dispersed throughout the Roman Empire. But many of the signs Jesus gives have also continued on. Jesus calls these symptoms “birth pains” of the end times. He says in Luke 21:9 that “these things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”

May God give us grace to grasp that the next great redemptive event is, in fact, the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. On that day, every hint and trace of sin will be purged from the created order. Jesus will send the wicked to eternal punishment in hell, while he will gather to himself all his glorious holy people, the bride of Christ, to dwell with him and his elect angels in the new heaven and the new earth, where dwells no sin, but only righteousness forever.

So while these omens begin the lifetimes of the apostles, they also characterize the entire period of time between Christ’s first and second comings. Last time we examined “Jesus’ Predictive Prophecy,” “Our Human Pretension Plummeting,” and “Pretenders Abounding.” Today we will look at “Peace Constantly Threatened,” “Persecution Looming,” “The Gospel Preached,” “The Great Pretender Coming,” “The Persevering of the Saints,” and “Divine Protection.” Then, later, in part 3 we will consider “The Parousia [Christ’s Coming].”

Peace Constantly Threatened

In Mark 13:7–8, Jesus warns his disciples that, in addition to the potential deception of fraudulent messiahs and false preachers, there will be wars and rumors of war. Now it is easy to think of major wars as indicative of the fact that we are at the end of the age. But they have been happening in every generation since Jesus spoke these words to the disciples.

This should be of no surprise, for there is something profoundly rotten in the makeup of human beings. The total depravity in us as human beings is the root of all war, and this makes wars and rumors of wars inevitable in every age. Keep in mind that people will never solve the problem of war. The League of Nations failed, and the United Nations is failing as well. So wars and rumors of wars are not by any means the sign that we are necessarily at the end of the age.

It is also important to realize that Jesus’ outlook upon this period of time before his second coming is not one in which there will be a gradual cessation of conflict between nations, brought about by the ever-increasing success of gospel preaching until the whole world is brought under the Lordship of Jesus. No, true peace is not and never can be the achievement of man, for it is only a gift from God. So there will be no lasting peace on earth until the Prince of Peace comes again to reign unopposed.

Similarly Jesus also states in verse 8 that other cataclysmic events will take place. There will be earthquakes in various places, along with famines and other troubles. These, he says, are just the beginning of birth pains, but not their conclusion.

Between this prophecy of Jesus in or about AD 29 or 30 and the destruction of the temple in AD 70, there would be major earthquakes in Crete and in Rome and in Phrygia and in Pompeii and Herculaneum. And more recently, there have been twenty earthquakes measuring between 8.2 and 9.5 on the Richter scale since 1903.

Luke 21:11 tells us that that Jesus also says that there will be famines and pestilences and fearful events. During the reign of Emperor Claudius (AD 41–54), several serious famines occurred that affected Near Eastern communities. One in Judea in AD 44 is spoken of in Acts 11:28. And famines are still a regular problem today in various parts of our world.

In Luke 21:11, we also learn that Jesus says there will be pestilences, that is, devastating diseases. The Black Plague was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in North Africa and Eurasia from 1346 to 1353. It was the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causing the deaths of 75–200 million people.

Then there was the Spanish flu, also known as the 1918 influenza pandemic. Lasting for about two years, it infected about 500 million people, a third of the world’s population at the time. And presently we are at the tail end of a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.

Again, Jesus is saying these calamities are not the specific signs of the end. Rather, they are only the beginning of labor pains. Jesus cautions us about these events so that we will not be terrified. The reason we do not have to fear is because God is in control.

And while these things are not necessarily harbingers of Jesus’ immediate return, they do instruct us to be watchful and each make our own calling and election sure.

Persecution Looms

Jesus also tells his disciples then and us who are his disciples now that persecution is part of a Christian’s life. He warns in Mark 13:9, “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them.”

Jesus gives these warning so that we will not be surprised and can respond appropriately when suffering overtakes us. The persecution outlined by Jesus in verses 9–13 specifically targets us especially because we are Christians. Jesus is saying that his followers will experience persecution by governing authorities and rejection and betrayal even by family members. And this has been happening ever since he said it. You will be handed over to the local councils. You will be arrested and tried in the lower courts on account of your faith, in an effort to stop you from following and worshiping Jesus.

Jesus also says in verse 9, “You will stand before governors and kings.” In Luke 21:12 we find that Jesus adds, “on account of my name.” The governors and kings are the non-Jewish secular authorities. The governors included the procurators and proconsuls, and what we would call the appellate courts, and Caesars and presidents and Supreme Court judges are among the kings.

To “stand before them” means to be tried before them. Just examine the book of Acts. There we find such cases as Peter and John’s appearance before the great Sanhedrin in Jerusalem (Acts 4); the apostles standing before Gamaliel (Acts 5); Stephen’s prosecution in front of the high priest (Acts 6) and his resulting death by stoning (Acts 7). Recall also Saul’s breathing out murderous threats against Christians, ferreting them out in order to arrest and imprison them (Acts 9). This Christophobia is also seen in nice countries like Canada, where several ministers have recently been arrested and imprisoned for the crime of holding indoor and outdoor services.

But while a lot of Christians in the Western world still do not face a lot of persecution, Christians in other parts of the world are facing severe trials. If you come from a strict Muslim family, you are likely to be rejected by your family and even killed for choosing to follow Jesus. The same is true if you come from a Hindu family in India. You could be rejected and martyred for choosing Jesus. In China, you are allowed to practice Christianity only in the state-sponsored church or lose your job or even be imprisoned to make athletic shoes for the god Nike. Your church might be one of the more 1500 destroyed or shut down since November 2000. In the Sudan, you might be killed or literally enslaved. In Indonesia, you might perhaps be given a choice by Muslims: Convert to Islam or die. Or your church might be bombed during a worship service. And in Nigeria, Christians are regularly raped, kidnaped, held for ransom, and even killed by Muslims while the government does nothing to protect them.

But Jesus says, “Watch out. Don’t be alarmed. Be on your guard. Stand firm, when you see this happening, and the Holy Spirit will help you.”

In verses 12 and 13 of today’s passage, we are also warned that Christians will even be hated by their own family members because of their love for Jesus. They will even have some of us put to death.

In Luke 12:51–53 Jesus says, “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” In Mark 13:13, Jesus also warns that there is coming a great large-scale apostasy. He is quoted in Matthew 24:10 as adding, “At that time, many will turn away.”

Unfortunately, it is also a sad fact of history that not all professing Christians stand strong in the faith. There have been many who prove false and desert Christ. This happened over and over again in the first century when professing Christians were arrested during the Roman persecutions. Some were ratted out by other attendees of their own churches, and even by their own family members. This also happened in the twentieth-century Soviet Union and its satellite countries. And similar things are happening today in Muslim countries as well as in Cuba and Venezuela and communist China.

Additionally, many supposed Christians will become apostates. They will betray their profession of faith. They will betray their friends and families in order to save their own necks, or simply in an attempt to gain their own independence and freedom from Christ and his church. In 1 John 2:19 John writes, “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” They go away from the church, only to then hate and persecute the very church to which they once belonged.

But people who become apostates are really not the true elect of God. They are those who once professed to be Christians, by giving mental assent, but they never were truly born again of the Holy Spirit. We may not be able to discern them up front, but in the end, they do not persevere.

The question is, will you remain faithful to Christ? Let us pray that none of us will ever betray another Christian, and that we each will have the strength of true faith to persevere to the end. So I call on you to make your calling and election sure. Don’t enjoy ambiguity. Decide decisively for Jesus. Then you can be certain that he will not abandon you. For he promises, “Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given to you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit” (Mark 13:11). You can be at peace, confident that God the Holy Spirit is in you, strengthening and helping you in the trials to come.

Thus, you need not worry beforehand what you will say. Not only will the Holy Spirit give you the words to say when you are called upon to bear witness for Christ, but the Spirit will ensure that you, as one of God’s elect, will stand firm to the end and be saved.

Revelation 7 speaks of 144,000 born-again believers who will be sealed before God executes his judgment on the earth. Whether this number represents only ethnic Jews or includes the whole church, it is clear that they are God’s people. Revelation 14 gives us the assurance that every one of these 144,000 will be saved. Not even one will be missing. For God saves everyone whom he has predestined before the very foundation of the world. God will never pour out his wrath upon his elect. That is a settled issue. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

This does not mean, however, that we will not experience the animosity of the devil and his followers. But rest assured that even though Satan and his demonic host and all the unbelievers of the world will make war against the Lamb, the Lamb will overcome them because he is the Lord of lords and King of kings, and with him are his called, chosen, and faithful followers.

Revelation 14:13 says, “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.” So be faithful unto death. Be free of fear. Live your life for God, and come what may, just know that the Lord is with you.

The Gospel Preached

In Mark 13:10 Jesus says that the gospel will be proclaimed to all nations. He is, in effect, giving us, his disciples, our marching orders. The gospel is to be being continually preached to all the nations. We must each bear witness to Jesus, not only so that the elect might come to faith, but also as a witness against all those who reject the gospel.

At first blush, this might seem to be a prediction of the evangelization of absolutely every nation on earth. But the word “ethnoi,” translated “nations,” does not necessarily have to mean each and every tribe and every nation across the globe. In the first century, ethnoi simply referred to the peoples of the Roman Empire, the world that the disciples of Jesus knew at that time.

We find this thought in Colossians 1:6, where Paul writes that the gospel is already bearing fruit all over the world in his lifetime. Similarly, Paul writes in Romans 10:18, “But I ask: Did they not hear? Indeed, they did: ‘Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.’” Paul will die during the forty-year period before AD 70. Thus, he can write this only if he means the known world of his day.

This evangelization began on the Day of Pentecost, shortly after Jesus’ ascension into heaven. God the Holy Spirit’s power is poured out on the early church and the gospel is preached by the apostle Peter to those gathered in Jerusalem from around the Roman Empire. Many believe in Jesus as Lord and return home, bringing the gospel with them.

We also find in Acts 8 that persecution furthers this process of spreading Christianity throughout Judea and Samaria. The gospel will then be preached in Syria and Ethiopia and Cyprus and Cyrene. Paul and Barnabas will take it throughout Asia Minor, and Paul and Silas will bring it to Macedonia and Greece. Finally, Paul and others will bring it to Rome and Italy, and it will reach all over the Roman world, and even to southern India.

So Jesus’ prophecy in verse 10 is fulfilled in significant degree before AD 70. Still, it also has reference to today, when there is nowhere on earth where the gospel cannot be heard via radio or television, and the Bible has been translated into every major language. Even if a people group does not have the Bible in their own language, many are busy learning English or Spanish or Chinese or Arabic or Russian as a second language, for which there are Bible translations.

The takeaway for us in our day is that the gospel must continually be preached far and wide. We are to be busy declaring the gospel to others both here and throughout the world, and as the world comes to Davis, making disciples of peoples from all nations.

The Great Pretender

Jesus tells us that before the temple’s destruction, there will appear the abomination of desolation in it, someone pretending to be God. The term “abomination of desolation” is taken from the book of Daniel, chapters 9, 11, and 12. This person will completely desecrate the temple and put an end to its sacrifices. Most Jews in Jesus’ day believed that this prophecy had already been fulfilled in 168 BC by a Greek ruler, Antiochus, who took the title Epiphanes, which means “Illustrious One,” or “God Manifest.” He marched into the temple in Jerusalem, set up a pagan altar there, declared himself God, erected a statue of the Greek god Zeus, sacrificed a pig on the altar of incense, and burned copies of the Jewish Torah.

Now, Jesus is saying, in essence, that Antiochus Epiphanes and his actions only prefigure what is going to happen. The year 168 BC had already happened well before Jesus spoke, so Antiochus Epiphanes does not fit Jesus’ prophecy. (GJB) However, the Roman army in AD 70 does, and so does the Antichrist setting himself as God in the temple that many believe will be rebuilt in future times. We just don’t know which is the case for certain. Perhaps it is both. Jesus says in verse 30 that the generation he is speaking to will not pass away until these things begin to take place. Certainly this is what happens in AD 70. Roman armies under General Titus surround Jerusalem to crush the Jewish revolt, take the city, and its temple is laid desolate.

Still, there are many theologians who interpret Jesus’ prophecy to predict a king even greater and even worse than Antiochus or Titus, a pretender who will stand in a rebuilt temple of God—the Antichrist of Revelation.

Whichever it is, we can all agree with Daniel that whoever the “Abomination of Desolation” may be, he is someone really evil—someone so terrible that he signifies a great catastrophe of judgment upon the earth. In Mark 13:17–20 Jesus says, “How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that this will not take place in winter, because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again. If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.”

Clearly, Jesus is not saying that he will rapture the church out of all these difficulties before he comes. Nor is he saying that things will get better and better and then he will come. Jesus says in Matthew 24:21, “For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.” Certainly, the Jewish people will experience a holocaust during the siege and destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. You can read what Josephus writes about the trauma of that time. But for Jesus, this is merely a foreshadowing or a type of the greatest human enemy of God’s people, the Antichrist.

John the apostle speaks of the antichrist in 1 John 2:18. He writes, “You have heard that the antichrist is coming.” There have been many antichrists in the history of the church, but they are all pointing to what? To one Antichrist who will come onto the scene immediately prior to the return of Christ. He is going to be against Christians, against the gospel, against the true God, against Christ. This will be a part of the great tribulation.

Realize, however, that none of this represents some kind of chaotic series of events unknown to God. No, it will all happen exactly as the Scriptures have foretold. Our takeaway from our text must be that the sovereignty of God governs. All history is predestined by him. Hence, we need not be afraid. Jesus states that God has predetermined this coming period of time and tribulation—its onset, its duration, and its intensity.

By deduction, this means that even our own trials and their length and outcome are planned by God. In 1 Corinthians 10:13 we read, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

But be warned. Jesus also said in Mark 8:38, “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” This is not the way you want Jesus to find you. But, praise God, Jesus adds in Mark 13:13, “He who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

The Elect Preserved

The lessons Jesus speaks to his disciples are not just for Christians living in the middle of the first century, but to us as well. We are to live in anticipation of Jesus’ return.

We have seen that although many, and arguably even most, of Jesus’ predictions in his Olivet Discourse are fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, it is also appropriate and proper to see the complex of events Jesus describes as a type or foreshadowing of the events immediately prior to his return. Jesus says that between his first coming and his second coming, history will be marked by relentless trouble, trouble that will eventually escalate in the period of the Great Tribulation.

While we may not be sure of all the particular events and trials that will precede his final, visible, glorious return, we do know that we are called to be faithful wherever Christ has placed us as we await his re-appearing.

This should caution us about drawing too many conclusions as we see the events in our own day. We should not read too much into the headlines, for we do not know when Christ’s final return will be. It could be today. It could be tomorrow. It could be years from now. But we should always be ready to meet our Lord if he comes soon.

So take note: Jesus promises that God’s elect people will survive, and he will gather them from the ends of the earth to be with him forever. Jesus will return in great glory to visibly claim his throne before the watching world. He will come to judge between the righteous and the wicked, and he will receive his own people, both the living and the dead, into his eternal kingdom. This should be a great comfort to us.

As the Heidelberg Catechism question and answer 52 puts it: “In all distress and persecution, with uplifted head, I confidently await the very judge who has already offered himself to the judgment of God in my place and removed the whole curse from me. Christ will cast all his enemies and mine into everlasting condemnation, but will take me and all his chosen ones to himself into the joy and glory of heaven.”[1]

Jesus said in John 10:28–29, “I give them [meaning the elect] eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.” And praise God, Jesus also says in Mark 13:31, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

The veracity of Jesus as God, his honor, his power, his grace, his covenant, his oath would be trashed if any of those for whom he died and who have put their trust in him should nonetheless be lost. Praise God, that cannot and will not ever happen.

This, however, leads us to the most important question. Who, then, are the elect of God, that Christ has redeemed and promises to gather to himself? Well, they are those whom God the Father has sovereignly elected unto salvation in eternity past and written into the Lamb’s book of life. God’s choice is in no way based upon you choosing Christ, but the other way around. You choose Jesus because he first chose you.

This entails God’s sovereignly regenerating you by the Holy Spirit’s unilateral action of making you spiritually alive and gifting you with persevering faith in Christ. It also means that he who began this good work in you will complete it. Jesus will perfect your soul at the end of your earthly life, and give you a renewed body when he comes again, gathering all his saints to himself.

Such people reveal themselves in this life to be elect by personally believing and resting in Christ alone for salvation. They publicly witness to the inner work of the Holy Spirit by regeneration through publicly covenanting to follow Jesus as Lord at their baptism. His Lordship over them is then revealed through their faithful service to him as his obedient slaves.

In verse 27 we find that God will send his angels to gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth, and through heaven itself. Thus, we who are his people, are called to be ready. We are called to persevere in the faith out of love for Christ and his kingdom rule over us. We are to persevere in righteousness. It is perseverance in Christ that counts, not the accumulation of worldly trinkets or titles. Our prayer should be that of the psalmist: “Turn my eyes away from worthless [perishable] things; preserve my life according to your word” (Ps. 119:37).

So, as followers of Christ, we are called to persevere through trials, through persecution, and through tribulation. But how can we do this? How can we handle personal persecution from individuals who hate us, or governmental persecution and possible imprisonment or execution, or family hatred and opposition?

The truth is, we cannot on our own. But we are not left on our own. God the Holy Spirit is in us and with us to help us, to strengthen us, and to carry us through. The one who endures to the end will be saved. This means too that false Christians will not abide. They will not be able to handle the heat. Only by your perseverance to the end will you gain your life. Superficial faith will collapse under persecution. John writes, “They went out from us because they were not part of us” (1 John 2:19). The chaff will blow away; the authentic will remain.

The Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 17, section 1, puts it this way: “They, whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.”

The apostle Peter writes, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Pet. 1:6–7).

In the end, we are not preserved by our own strength or power, but by God the Holy Spirit who lives and works within us. Otherwise, we would each fail. It is God who enables us to persevere. He works both within and without to save his elect, his chosen people. We recently read in Revelation 17:14 that the world’s rulers “will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”

In light of this, the apostle Peter warns, “The day of the Lord will come like a thief.” Then Peter adds, “What kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives” (2 Pet. 3:10–11). The Christian’s perseverance is not just a mere hanging on to the end. No, this perseverance is evidenced in ongoing righteous living. Enduring faith is not false or disobedient towards God’s kingdom rule and laws.

False preachers who teach antinomianism present the greatest threat in the church of Jesus Christ. Many of these false teachers, Jesus said, would “perform signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, the elect (Mark 13:22). Note, though, that qualifier: “if possible.” Jesus’ point is that the false signs will be so convincing that they may momentarily even fool God’s elect people. However, in the end, the elect will not be pulled away. John Calvin commented, “However frail and slippery the condition of the godly may be, yet here is a firm footing on which they may stand; for it is not possible for them to fall away from salvation, to whom the Son of God is a faithful guardian. . . . The permanency of our salvation does not depend on us, but on the secret election of God.”[2]  Oh, the glorious wonder of God’s sovereignty. None of the elect will be lost!

Conclusion

In conclusion, since “The end of all things is near” (Mark 13:7), and history as we know it is coming to an end, while Jesus has not come for two thousand years, the reason he has not come is that the elect have not yet all been saved.,\ Some may still need to be born and hear the gospel and be saved. But know this: Jesus is coming. The sure hope of the second coming of Christ must regulate our lives. It must regulate how we live as Christians.

As for unbelievers who refuse to submit to Jesus as Lord, Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:5, “They will have to give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” Two words summarize the book of Revelation, as our pastor has written. What are they? God wins. God wins in the end. If you are against Jesus Christ, you will stand before him as your Judge. You will lose. If you oppose him, you will lose your life in this life, and you will lose your life at your death, and you will lose your life in the life to come.

Now, while suffering is part of what Christ calls the Christian to, you must not imagine that you are suffering for Christ and with Christ if you are not in Christ. So I ask: Friend, have you wholeheartedly entrusted yourself to Jesus alone as your Savior and Lord? If not, whatever the trouble you may be experiencing here on earth, you are not suffering with Christ and have no hope of reigning with him in glory.

So I urge you, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ today and be saved. Next time, we will examine in part 3 “Jesus Returns.”

 

[1] The Christian Reformed Church recently modernized the language. More traditional versions read: “In all my sorrow and persecution I lift up my head and eagerly await as judge from heaven the very same person who before has submitted Himself to the judgment of God for my sake, and has removed all the curse from me. He will cast all His and my enemies into everlasting condemnation, but He will take me and all His chosen ones to Himself into heavenly joy and glory.”

[2] Calvin’s Commentary on the Bible, https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/cal/matthew-24.html, Matthew 24:24.