The Book of Mark #79 chapter 13:7-13
The Book of Mark
The Grim Reality of the Last Days (pt 2)
Mark 13:1-13
 
We began working our way through the first 13 verses of Mark 13 last week by looking at four characteristics of the last days according to Jesus Himself.  First, in verses 1 and 2, He says there will destruction and the immediate application of that was the destruction of the temple in Jerusalwm which occurred less than forty years after Jesus offered this prophecy. 
 
But more than physical destruction, there is implied the destruction of Judaism and it’s corruption and man-made traditions.  I think that is pictured in the phrase that Jesus “sat opposite” the temple, placing Himself in vivid contrast to what took place in that temple day by day, as we saw with the widow who was victimized by the teaching of the religious leaders of the day.
 
Next Jesus talks about deception.  In verses 3-6, He says many will come claiming to teach and preach and minister in His name and some will even claim to be the Messiah.  And we spent some time with what is perhaps the ultimate deception of all that will come through the Muslim faith when everything the Bible teaches is turned upside down. 
 
It seems to me that every spiritual indication we can discern is that the ultimate world conflict that climaxes at Armageddon will be between Christ and the Muslims.  We are watching that coalition of nations come together in our day and time. 
It roots all the way back to the conflict between Sarah and Hagar and Ishmael and Isaac and it has continued to build and stew and foment for centuries and the plan of attack by Satan is to offer a counterfeit Christ who will deceive the world into following him and in regard to that Jesus offers this simple warning, “Take heed that no one deceives you.”
 
Next Jesus talks about
 
3. Disaster
 
verses 7-8
 
There, in a sentence, we have a synopsis of human history. Wars and conflicts between nations and kingdoms have been a reality through every year of history. And we’re not getting any better. We’re not evolving too well, are we?
 
And Jesus accurately foresaw that the world would never know peace, never improve morally or socially spiritually as time went on.  In fact, just the opposite is true.  The world is not winding up, it is winding down.  With every generation, there is this continually decline as conditions grow more and more worse. 
 
By the way, sociologists and those who study such things tell us that as many as 95% of societies throughout history have engaged in war. And as technology has increased, so also has our killing power. Think about the discussion and decisions that go into trying to keep nuclear power out of the hands of leaders the little madman in North Korea and others like him. 
And it’s amazing to read the theories of why people make war. There’s the Marxist theory which has to do with economic inequality. There’s the evolutionary theory which has to do with the survival of the fittest. There’s behavioral theory that there’s some people who have an inherently violent bent.
 
There’s the demographic of expanding population that leads to conflict. There’s the rationalistic theory that says some people just don’t have enough information. Then there’s the political science theory, a quest for security, and on and on and on. As we just studied, James says you war because you lust and have hatred in your hearts. 
 
Back up to some of the earliest records available to mankind and you’ll discover that in 763, during the great war in China, thirty-six million people died. In the Mongol Conquest in the thirteenth century, thirty to sixty million died.  Twenty million died in World War I and so it goes.
 
And Jesus says this is what human history will look like.  And it will continue to escalate. Take a look at Revelation 6, 9 and 16, and you’ll see the wars at the end of time on earth will result in massive death all over the globe. 
 
And war is not all that Jesus includes in this category of disasters.  He says there will be earthquakes and famines.  Luke’s account says great earthquakes.  The language actually translates as mega quakes.  And I didn’t take the time to research how many millions have died down through history as a result of earthquakes. 
 
And we are now commonly seeing seismic tremors and earthquakes right here in Oklahoma.  Rechter scales register a half million earthquakes a year in the world, with a hundred thousand of them able to be felt.  We live on very shaky ground.  It seems to me all the smart people in the world who keep looking at fracking wells and other such causes as the culprit should maybe spend a little time reading their Bibles. 
 
Luke 21 also adds there will be plagues, terrors and great signs from heaven. As far as plagues go, how about the black death in the 1300's in Europe?  It was carried by rats and killed 100 million people, 60 percent of the population of Europe.  How about 40 million plus in the great influenza epidemic of the early twentieth century?  No doubt, this old world is a dangerous place.
 
And notice, Jesus says, “These are the beginnings of sorrows.”  The language used speaks of a woman in labor as the contractions begin.  They are separated, and mild, but begin to intensify to a great degree as the delivery time approaches.  And Jesus uses that analogy to describe what will happen as history draws to a close. 
 
And He describes what we are now seeing in human history as just the beginning.  This is just the mild contractions. Wait till you see what’s going to happen just before the very end.
 
What will eventually be delivered is the time known as the Tribulation.  It’s described, beginning in verse 14 of this chapter and in greater detail in Revelation 6 through 19.
These are the amazing predictions by our Lord or destruction, deception and disaster.  Then we find a fourth and that is  
 
4. Distress
 
In verse 9 and following, the Lord turns from things that effect the whole world to conditions that effect believers. And remember, the disciples have asked about the establishment of the kingdom on earth.  When will Jesus take over and run things the way they are supposed to be?  So what Jesus is about to say is the last thing the disciples want to hear.
 
Verse 9
 
The very first thing He says is, “Watch out for yourselves!”  Be on your guard.  What a shock that must have been.  Things aren’t going to get better.  In fact, they are going to get worse.  This isn’t what they expected with the arrival of Messiah.  It’s not what they wanted. It certainly didn’t fit into their theology or understanding of Scripture. All this talk of persecution and distress for His followers wasn’t even on their radar. 
 
But it should have been because as early as chapter 8 He began talking with them about the cost of discipleship and how His life would be taken and how He would rise again.  He warned them about the scribes and Pharisees and how they would be handed over to the courts and scourged and beaten. 
 
But I think they probably thought, “Oh, we’ll we’ve already suffered that. Yeah, we’ve already faced the hostility of the Jews.”
 
We’ve already seen their hatred and animosity even though there is no record in the ministry of Jesus that they were ever hauled into court and scourged and flogged. Maybe they thought that was metaphoric talk and that was all past.
 
But it was going to get worse.  Soon they will gather in the Upper Room and there Jesus will tell them how the world will hate them because it hated Him and how they will be persecuted and even killed. And that’s exactly what happened at the hands of the Jews.  That is the reference in verse 9 to the councils and the synagogues.  
 
But it wasn’t just Jewish persecution.  There was Gentile persecution as well.
 
Verse 9b
 
Acts records all the details of that in chapters 16, 17, 18, 21, 24, 25 and 26 as well.
 
By the way, when you get to Revelation 6, 7, 13, 17, 18, you see the worst persecution just before the Lord comes. The big picture is, false religion has massacred Christians and it’s doing it right now as we speak in this modern world.
 
Why do they do this? They do this because they hate Christ. That’s why they do it. They resent Christ. They do it for My sake, verse 9. 
 
They’re thinking about the Kingdom and ruling and reigning and He’s telling them it’s not what you think.  Their ministry would be much different than they anticipated. 
 
Verse 9b
 
You will be persecuted, but it will be your opportunity to talk about Me.  Instead of denying Christ, all that suffering will put your faith on display. 
And what will happen is, you will in the midst of that suffering give a testimony.
 
And along with that warning comes a promise.
 
Verse 10
 
The gospel must first be preached to all the nations. In spite of the hatred, the gospel is going to go to the ends of the world. They will not stamp it out.  We are two thousand years after that and the gospel has for all intents and purposes covered the world.  It has spread all over the globe.  Just what Jesus said would happen has come to pass.  You can’t kill it.
 
If you and I had been sitting there listening as a curious bystander, we would have been tempted to think that what He said was ridiculous.  He’s sitting there with these twelve men, one of whom was going to betray Him in a few hours. That little group of nobodies and Jesus says, “From you the gospel will cover the globe.” What a prophecy that has come to pass.
 
There will be persecution.  There is a promise that the gospel will cover the globe and then a
 
A provision  
 
verse 11
 
I doubt that any of them really understood what He was talking about at that point.  But what a comfort it must have been when thye were out there in the thick of it and the Holy Spirit would fill their heart and prompt their mouth and they would speak just as Jesus said. 
 
And nothing could stop the Gospel as the power of God used them to fulfill this prophecy.  Virtually all of the Apostles were martyred. The last of them, John, ended up in exile. They were killed in a myriad of different ways including being beheaded and crucified, but that didn’t stop the spread of the Gospel. 
 
Then, if persecution by the Jews and the Gentiles wasn’t enough, Jesus said, “You will be persecuted by your own families.”
 
verse 12
 
We can’t imagine how hard it was for them to hear this. They had so much hope; so many dreams.  And to hear that even their own families wouldn’t embrace them and follow the Lord must have been excruciating, and yet, that is what the Lord said would happen.  . 
 
And even a casual reading of history will tell you He was right about all of it.  He was right about the destruction of the temple. He was right about the deception and we now see it escalating as the end of the age nears.  He was right about disasters of all proportions escalating. He was right about the distress of persecution and martyrdom and about the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth.
 
And then, He makes one final statement.
 
 Verse 13
 
So how will we survive? How can we handle this? How can we handle Jewish persecution, Gentile persecution, family hatred, family persecution, family execution? How can we handle it?
 
Well the truth is, the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
 
The proof is in the endurance.  False Christians won’t be able to handle it. Understand, He’s not saying we earn our salvation by enduring.  He is saying we prove our salvation by enduring.  Anything less than the real thing will collapse under these conditions. 
 
But authentic, God-given faith will endure because the Holy Spirit will provide strength. God will provide grace. Trouble, deception, persecution and suffering will burn up the chaff.  It will reveal the shallow, weedy, rocky ground of false profession. And under these kinds of pressures, superficial interest in Christ will have no endurance.  We have a salvation that’s a gift of grace and it’s authenticated in the midst of suffering.
 
So our Lord gives warning, promise, comfort and even heavenly hope in the face of the way history inevitably must go. That covers all of history until the time of the Tribulation triggered by the event of verse 14, which we’ll look at next week, if the Lord wills.
 
Let’s pray.