Mark 13 - How Can We Be Ready for Jesus' Return?

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The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times

A comment one of the disciples makes about the magnificence of the temple building turns into a discussion on the end times. For the Jewish people, the temple was always a sign of God's blessing. The beauty and the size of the temple was the pride of Israel. When Solomon built the first temple it was a sign of the rule of Israel after they defeated the nations. It was a dwelling place for God's name. 

So, when Jesus says not one massive stones in the temple will be left, the disciples think this may be a sign of the end of the age. Therefore, they ask him how they will know when these things are going to happen. So Jesus starts explaining what the signs will look like. 

One thing to know is that part of Jesus' prophecy is the literal destruction of the temple, which will happen in A.D. 70. But Jesus is also referring to the end times. Later, he will sum up his teaching by saying, 

"At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens." 

So while the immediate issue is the destruction of their temple, the bigger picture is the end of times which precede Jesus coming back in great and promised glory. 

The beauty of the ancient temple is well documented. The Jewish historian Josephus says that the temple was covered on the outside with gold plates that were so brilliant that when the sun shone it was blinding. Where there wasn’t gold, there were blocks of marble of such a pure white that from a distance, strangers thought there was snow on the temple. - Guzik

What will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled? The second question is answered in the remainder of Mark 13. This question was asked perhaps as they remembered the events surrounding the last temple’s destruction: the temple was destroyed in the context of national judgment and exile. If the temple will be destroyed, then what will become of Israel and the Jews? - Guzik

So what are some of the the signs that Jesus talks about which are a prelude to his return?

1. There will be someone claiming they are the returning Jesus, but they are all deceivers. Many people over the ages have claimed to be the Messiah. But they obviously have all been wrong. By and large they haven't been able to deceive many. When the true anti-Christ comes it is written he will have a very persuasive personality and many will follow him and think he is the Messiah.

2. Some of the other birth pains include: wars and rumors of war, nation rising up against nation, earthquakes, and famines.  Once again we have seen many of these events happen many times and it does not appear to be stopping anytime soon. After all, we have Israel/Hamas, Ukraine/Russia. We in the US have rumors with Russia,  North Korea, and China. 

So if these are the beginning of birth pains, it makes one wonder what trimester we are in? Are we in the eighth month? The ninth month? This is why many people think we are living in the end times. 

3. The disciples will be persecuted. We know many the disciples were martyred. We know Paul appeared before synagogue rulers, local authorities, and ultimately kings in Rome. 

Many Christians continue to be martyred every day in countries hostile to Christianity. 

The group also estimated that the number of Christians killed for their faith rose to 5,898 in 2022, up from 4,761 in 2021. Afghanistan, North Korea, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen saw the highest rates of persecution globally.

4. The gospel must be preached to all nations. The word "nations" also means "ethnicities", or as we now say, "people groups". In order for gospel to be preached to all nations, the bible needs to be translated into their language. Using this logic many groups do not have the bible translated into their own language, therefore the end is not yet near.  

According to Joshua Project, there are approximately 17,446 unique people groups in the world with 7,391 of them considered unreached (over 42% of the world's population)! The vast majority (85%) of these least reached groups exist in the 10/40 window and less than 3% of missionary work is done among these people,

5. Family members will betray each other., and everyone will hate you because of me. Many believers are ostracized by their families today.

6. When you see the abomination that causes desolation standing where it does not belong. Many have theorized what this might be referring to, but I have not seen anything very convincing. Here are some various viewpoints in regard to this. 

This mention of the abomination of desolation is taken from Daniel 11:31: They shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation. This described a complete desecration of the temple, prefigured by Antiochus Epiphanies in the time between the Old and New Testaments.

Essentially, the abomination of desolation speaks of the ultimate desecration of a Jewish temple, an idolatrous image in the holy place itself, which will inevitably result in the judgment of God. It is the abomination that brings desolation.

Paul elaborated on the future fulfillment of this in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4: That day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

For centuries, there was only a small Jewish presence in Judea and Jerusalem. Their presence in the region was definite and continuous, but small. It was unthinkable that this weak Jewish presence could rebuild a temple. Therefore, the fulfillment of this prophecy was highly unlikely until Israel was gathered as a nation again in 1948. The restoration of a nation that the world had not seen for more than 2,000 years was a remarkable event in the fulfillment and future fulfillment of prophecy.

Rightly, Christians get excited when they see efforts to rebuild the temple. At the same time, we should understand that the basic impulse behind rebuilding the temple is not of God at all – the desire to have a place to sacrifice for sin. Christians believe that all sacrifice for sin was finished at the cross, and any further sacrifice for sin is an offense to God, because it denies the finished work of Jesus on the cross.

So you can see why this subject is important for those who are watching the Israeli/Hamas war and thinking it somehow plays into the end times. Some think a land grab of Jerusalem is part of the end times scenario. While it is interesting to think about how what is happening in the Middle East and how it connects to the end times, I think we need to be careful about the meaning we make out of it. We all know fighting over the holy land between Moslems and Jews has been going on since the first century. 

I personally think we should be more focused on the gospel preached to every people group. I think we should focus more on reaching people for Christ than analyzing everything happening in the Middle East

The Day and Hour Unknown

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.

At the end of the day, Jesus' words here sober and humble us. Nobody knows the day Jesus will return. Does this mean it is a waste of our time trying to figure out the exact date Jesus is going to return? Maybe. I certainly think we need to be careful about becoming obsessed with it. Like I said, we should use our time energy figuring out how to reach more people than sitting behind a computer in a basement trying to figure some secret code which unlocks the answer to the date of Jesus' return.

Bottom line: Since we don't know when Jesus is going to return, he is going to return one of two times as it applies to us individually. It will either happen in our lifetime, or at the latest when we die. So what is the key to both scenarios? We need to be ready! If Jesus were to come back in the middle of the night tonight would you be ready? What does than mean? It's pretty simple are you doing the things he told you to do. 

There is one mission Jesus gave his disciples. To be and make disciples. No matter when Jesus returns, we should be ready by living our life as Jesus' disciple and also being an influence in someone else's life of discipleship. Everything else is speculation! 

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