February 10
Mark 13: Jesus Teaches About the End
Genesis 43; Mark 13; Job 9; Romans 13
It is no coincidence that this chapter on the temple and the “end times” comes after Jesus’ cleansing of the temple (chapter 11) and his parable of the tenants (chapter 12). Both of those accounts portray Jesus as the authoritative king and Great High Priest who is shutting down the old temple. Now Jesus reiterates this message (2): no stone of the temple will be left unturned.
When? And what will there be a warning sign of this catastrophe (3-4)? Jesus’ prophecy about the stones of the temple would be fulfilled in 70 A.D., when General Titus’ army leveled Jerusalem. Yet Jesus’ answer has two horizons: that of his initial hearers (the disciples) and us, as well. I can only take space to remark on a few points:
The phrase in v. 14 about the “abomination of desolation” - “let the reader understand” - has often been used by liberals to point out the untrustworthiness of the Bible. But Jesus is not referring to Mark’s writing, but to the writing of Daniel (end of chapter 9) before him, where he gets this phrase from.
Good Christians differ on what this paragraph is referring to, often within the same church. But a few clear truths can be discerned:
The first is that Christians will go through tribulations (20). Yet God is sovereign over their length and depth. Secondly, there will be false Christs along the way, claiming to be the returned Jesus. (The implication that Jesus would go away was also not yet comprehended by the disciples.) So Christians should be “on guard” and should not be taken by surprise by these things (23).
Now, back to Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree (see comments on February 8 from Mark 11). Jesus cursed a fruitless fig tree from every producing fruit again, as a picture of fruitless ethnic Israel. Yet here Jesus refers back to that and asks us to learn another lesson from it. Though cursed, that fig free will again blossom. I interpret this teaching using the principle of letting clearer passages inform less clear passages. In Romans 11, Paul clearly speaks of ethnic Israel being enfolded back into God’s people at the end. Thus Paul and Jesus are using different metaphors to describe the same future: before the end a mass evangelization of ethnic Jews will happen, to Christ through the gospel.
Until then, Christians’ relationship with Jews will have a strange bipolarity. On the one hand, they will be our enemies, persecuting us out of their unbelief in the gospel. Yet we are to still treat them as beloved of God, since God’s promises are irrevocable (Romans 11:28-29).
Therefore, Christian: be on guard. Stay awake. Endure to the end.