Mark 13:1-37
Jesus Christ and the Temple of Doom
a. Full Preterist- All prophecy was fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem.
B. Partial Preterist- Prophecies such as the destruction of Jerusalem, the Antichrist, the Great Tribulation, and the beginning of the Day of the Lord were fulfilled c. AD 70 but other prophecies are yet to come
Futurists- Futurists believe that New Testament prophecy has yet to be fulfilled and wasn’t fulfilled in A.D. 70
“Main things are the plain things. Plain things are the main things.”
V.1-4
•The temple area covered about 1/6 of Jerusalem
•The square footage of the temple courts could hold twelve football fields (Edwards 387).
• Josephus says that some of the stones used to build the temple were sixty feet long.
• Archeologists have discovered one temple stone in Jerusalem that’s forty-two feet long, eleven feet tall, fourteen feet deep, and over a million pounds (Edwards 387).
•Joshephus (Jewish War, 5.5.6.), “It appeared to strangers approaching as a snow-capped mountain. Whatever was not overlaid with gold was purest white.”
Religious significance
1. The temple was viewed as the house of God
Luke 2:49 "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"
2. This is where the worship of God and the sacrifice for sin took place
Ps 84:10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere;
Why would God destroy the temple?
1. As a punishment for rejecting the Messiah
Luke 19:41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace-but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you."
2. God was showing that the way He was approached had changed
John 4:21 Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
The disciples couldn’t help but think that the destruction of the temple meant the end of the world
Matt 24:3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
Two questions
1. When will the temple be destroyed?
2. When will the end take place?
Jesus emphasizes
1. "Don't be deceived" V.6, 21-23
2. "Don't be disheartened" V.7-13
“Live in a spirit of preparation not a spirit of panic”
V.9-12 “Persecuted”-Acts
V.10 “And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.”
1. Roman empire which from the disciple’s view was the world
Acts 2:5 "Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven."
Romans 1:8 "I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. "
1Timothy 3:16 "He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory."
2. Or from our perspective the global "world" (kosmos).
V.11 "words given you" - No lazy Bible teachers!
The Holy Sprit can only remind us of what’s already in our minds
V.13 “He who endures to the end shall be saved.”
1. Such perseverance is a sure sign of salvation
Heb 10:35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For in just a very little while,
"He who is coming will come and will not delay. 38 But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." 39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.
2. Those who endure persecution for Christ’ sake shall receive a great reward.
Matt 5:11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
V.14-16 “Abomination that causes desolation”
Future or past?
F.F. Bruce, "When the temple area was taken by the Romans, and the sanctuary itself was still burning, the soldiers brought their legionary standards into the sacred precincts, set them up opposite the eastern gate, and offered sacrifice to them there, acclaiming Titus as imperator (victorious commander) as they did so. The Roman custom of offering sacrifice to their standards had already been commented on by a Jewish writer as a symptom of their pagan arrogance, but the offering of such sacrifice in the temple court was the supreme insult to the God of Israel. This action, following as it did the cessation of the daily sacrifice three weeks earlier, must have sensed to many Jews, as it evidently did to Josephus, a new and final fulfillment of Daniel's vision of a time when the continual burnt offering would be taken away and the abomination of desolation set up" (Bruce, p. 224)
"Flee"-
Eusubius- "The whole body, however, of the church at Jerusalem, having been commanded by a divine revelation, given to men of approved piety there before the war, removed from the city, and dwelt at a certain town beyond the Jordan, called Pella. Here those that believed in Christ, having removed from Jerusalem, as if holy men had entirely abandoned the royal city itself, and the whole land of Judea; the divine justice, for their crimes against Christ and his apostles finally overtook them, totally destroying the whole generation of these evildoers form the earth. (Eusebius, History of the Church 3:5.)
V.17-20
Eusebius quotes Josephus
"I am going to relate a piece of wickedness, such as is not recorded either by Greeks or barbarians. It is horrid to relate, and incredible to hear...I would cheerfully pass by this occurrence, if I had not innumerable witnesses still living...A woman...named Maria, the daughter of Eleazar, of the village Bathezor...distinguished for her family and wealth...The tyrants had already robbed her of all her possessions...But as to the relics of her property, and whatever food she provided, the ruffians daily rushing in, seized and bore it away. A dreadful indignation overpowered the woman...But as no one either through resentment or pity would slay her...the famine now penetrated the very bowels and marrow, and resentment raged more violently than the famine. Urged by frenzy and necessity as her counsellors, she proceeded against nature herself. Seizing her little son, who was yet at her breast, she said, "wretched child! in the midst of war, famine and faction, for what do I preserve thee"...as she said this, she slew her son; then roasting him, she ate one half herself, and covering over the rest, she kept it. It was not long before the murderers came in, and perceiving the fumes of the execrable food, they threatened immediately to slay her if she did not produce what she had prepared. She answered she had reserved a find portion of it for them, and then uncovered the relics of her son. Horror and amazement immediately seized them. They stood mute with the sight...After this, they indeed, went trembling away, cowerdly at least in this one instance...Forthwith the whole city was filled with the dreadful crime, and everyone placing the wickedness before his eyes, was struck with a horror as if it had been perpetrated by himself. Thenceforth, the wretched people overcome with hunger, only strove to hasten death; and it was happiness yet for those who died before they heard and saw miseries like these."
(Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 86).
V.24 Similar teaching
2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
V.30 “this generation”
1. The generation that sees "all these things" occur
Dr. Darrell Bock,
“What Jesus is saying is that the generation that sees the beginning of the end, also sees its end. When the signs come, they will proceed quickly; they will not drag on for many generations. It will happen within a generation.”
2. “This generation = “This race” = The Jewish race.
3. The contemporaries of Jesus
4. An illustration of multiple fulfillment. As Mounce asserts, “Biblical prophecy is capable of multiple fulfillments. In the immediate context, the “abomination of desolation” (v. 15) builds on the defilement of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, is repeated when the sacred temple in Jerusalem is destroyed by the Roman army in A.D. 70, and has yet a more complete fulfillment when the eschatological Antichrist exalts himself by taking his seat in the “temple of God” proclaiming himself to be God (2 Thess. 2:3-4).”
V.32-37 “No one knows about that day or hour”
Jesus. The God-man.
1. No matter how secure life seems, nothing is permanent except our life with God.
2. Don't get so caught up in the future that you fail to live in the now
Acts 1:6 So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." 9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."
The Bible not only tells us what to do why we wait but how to do it
2 Peter 3:11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. 14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.
“Let us live in a spirit of preparation not a spirit of panic”