Sermons

Mark 13:14-27 – God’s plan for Israel

Intro: “What is Israel’s future in the face of Satanic evil?”

This week it seems that all the world has affixed its attention back on the country Israel.

• It’s always perplexing to consider how within the context of broad world dynamics, Israel once again takes center stage.
• Being such a proportionately small geography filled with for the most people known for having an unflamboyant temperament.

The Jews are special to Christians bc/Old Testament history is built on the history of Israel who are God’s chosen people.

• More importantly, our redemption history is apexed in Christ, our Jewish Messiah, born in Israel, bar-mitzvah’d in Israel, crucified in Israel, resurrected in Israel, and ascended to heaven from Israel. Jesus, the Son of God, was born a Jew and as Christians, we give our full devotion to him.

Last Saturday morning at 6:35, the terrorist group known as Hamas (Hebrew word meaning “violence”), launched a missile strike from the Gaza strip (the southern, eastern tip of Israel) leveling innocent Jews or live on the other side of Gaza.

• This was later found to be a coordinated measure strategically followed by a cyber-attack (approximately one hour later) against the “touch sensitive” barrier wall/fence, there to separate the Jews from neighboring Palestinians.
• The cyber-attack dropped the boarder defenses, making Jewish military there, especially vulnerable.
• The boarder guard was already scheduled to be lighter due to their observance of a Jewish holiday.
• Hamas, heavily armed, entered the breeched fence through 80 exposed holes, killing every Jewish guard they encountered and progressing their terrorist attack into neighboring towns.
• Hamas infiltrated homes, slaughtering whole families, house to house, to include, raping women, kidnapping girls with intent to force them into being sex slaves, along with beheading defenseless victims, to include babies.

At least 1,400 people are known to have died with thousands more injured or kidnapped (to include some US citizens).

• The attack was menacing, where grenades were thrown inside homes, to evacuate innocents, for the express purpose of gunning them down.
• Those fleeing in their cars were also barricaded, stopped, and gunned down.
• Video footage taken by Hamas were shared to document numerous body bags and coverings over dead men, women, teen-agers and children were strewn everywhere.
• One such video portrays Hamas attackers coming by hang gliders, with purpose to slaughter young Jewish adults at an outdoor dance party, completely unaware of their fate.

These were not casualties of war, this was not a legitimate act of war, not a cycle of violence (Arabs and Israelites), and certainly not moral equivalence.   

• Hamas supplied their own video footage to document their killings.
• There was no hiding this and there was no real delay in taking full responsibility.
• Their celebrations over mutilated bodies along with bragging speeches and explanations and declarative invitations to world jihad were all on meant to be viewed with a clear agenda to incite more of the same.
• This placard of their Islamic religion communicates that their intent was to go into Israel and kill them off all infidels along with all others who would refusing to convert.

According to their belief system, this self-declared jihad, slaughtering victims while possibly being martyred in the process is the sure way to guarantee their heaven.

• Islam’s heaven is defined as promising 72 virgins for perpetual gratification forever.
• Practically speaking, Saturday was antisemitism with no conscience, that is certainly inspired and empowered by Satan.

So, what are the geo-political implications?

• I’m no expert to say anything definitive here.
• Prophesies of Gog and Magog could reference alliances that perhaps are existing between nations such as Russia and China to the Middle East.
• God’s Word refers to nations from the east that will form these very alliances when the end comes, leading to Armageddon (see Genesis 10; 1 Chronicles 1 and 5; Ezekiel 38-39; Revelation 20).

^ESV  Ezekiel 38:1-2 The word of the LORD came to me:

² “Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him (Eze 38:1-2 ESV)

 

^ESV  Ezekiel 38:14-16 “Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord GOD: On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely, will you not know it?

¹⁵ You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army.

¹⁶ You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. (Eze 38:14-16 ESV)

 

 

^ESV  Revelation 20:7-8 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison ⁸ and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. (Rev 20:8 ESV) (Rev 20:7 ESV)

This week, alliances were publicly made between Hamas with other organized terrorist groups, as with Hezbollah.

• Saturday’s event was dramatic under any circumstance, with any number of geopolitical implications, but my question is how this event intersects with Scripture’s Kingdom of God?
• How do we understand the times we are in, on the level of doctrine?
• Viewing this attack on Israel through your understanding of Israel’s role in the Bible sets this one-time terrorist attack apart from others in the past.
• As horrible as a terrorist attack is from an individual or group like the cartel is, God’s Word clarifies how this attack is fueled by a dark false religion with far reaching tentacles.
• When terrorism is fueled by false religion, it will span geography and even political alliances.

Think about this attack not only in terms of killing and maiming but also with the immediate broadcasting from its named leaders.

• This was meant to be felt and celebrated by people around the world who together subscribe to their same antichrist ideology.
• Modern technology with real time video leveraged all this by broadcasting hardhearted their hardhearted pride fueled by satanic lies.

John Calvin is attributed for saying that Satan has his antichrist in every age because he does not know the future.

Islam has its own doctrine and version of the end times.

Islam’s antichrist, their Twelfth Imam is surprisingly like the Bible’s depiction of end times. Islamic prophecy predicts a figure they call Mahdi who will return and that this return is preceded by horrendous world events and chaos where he will come to rule over the Arabs and the world for seven years. His appearance will be accompanied by two resurrections, one of the wicked and one of the righteous. According to Shiite teachings, Jesus will accept the Mahdi’s leadership, and the two great branches of Abraham’s family will be reunited forever [referenced from internet sources. We know bible’s record of the 2 lines of Abraham and Ishmael: Jews and Arabs; Gen. 17].

Unpanicked Christians will be quick to identify that now is not necessarily the end of days (we do not know the day or hour) but we likewise ponder a question.

• How should we feel about Israel’s attackers and how should we approach our world in terms of its evil?
• Let me recommend that we need to protect our hearts from the temptation to return evil for evil (on a heart level).
• We should be angry and sin not.
• A first and practical step in doing so is to identify the driving force behind this conscience-seared hatred.
• Sourced in Satan himself and his satanic doctrine that he promotes through false religion.
• Identifying the Hamas source of hatred makes a terrorist no less a terrorist and makes their evil no less evil and makes them no less culpable for their sheer unadulterated actions.
• Evil will have consequences under God’s wrath to be sure and we must rest in God’s justice.
• Discerning false religion (cf. 1 John 4:1-6 “test the spirit of antichrist”) should help you to do what seems to be the most unnatural thing to do, which is to shepherd your heart.

Second, Christians need to remember that God has a plan for his people the Jews.

• The Bible promises there is always a remnant, and that this remnant will succeed in the end.
• What happened Saturday is a harbinger God’s plan in the end.
• A glimpse into the Apocalypse.

As Christ’s church, we too are part of God’s believing remnant, so as believing Israel goes, we likewise will go.

• Believing Jews will endure the worst possible circumstances on earth and like the believing Jews, in the end, we too will be victorious.

[Question] “How is Israel grounded in God’s plan?”

• How does Israel’s faith not fail, in the worst of circumstances?

Mark chapter 13 is a storm [Preview of coming attractions, Matthew 24]. 

• Spiral of circumstances predicting life and death scenarios for Jesus’ disciples and his disciples in the end.
• Trouble forewarned by false Christ’s who must be avoided, catastrophic events to be endured, and very personal family persecution.

Promised for Christians in every age.  These dynamics point to the end, the future when things will be far worse.  And, these dynamics remind us that we live in dangerous world cursed by sin. 

This is the world we are called to endure and a world we are called to win (vv. 10, 13).

[TRANS] Verse 14 makes an enormous shift, where Jesus now speaks to the end of the age, future events dominating the end of the world. 

• Jesus takes his disciples through events to set an expectation.
• Asking his disciples to ponder following X of Christ through the worst possible circumstances!
• I cannot over emphasize how utterly bad things will be according to these descriptions. Jesus is saying that this is as bad as it will ever get. 

Verse 19 says as much.  “For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of creation that God created until now, and never will be” (v. 19). 

[Question] “How bad will things be?” 

• Worse than when God flooded the entire earth with water!
• Worse than and of the past or future world wars!
• This is Tribulation on a world scale!

[TRANS] What’s expected of believers in the Tribulation? 

1. What believers are expected to do through the worst possible circumstances.

 

1. Flee Antichrist.

[Illus] Throughout history people have always thought at one point or another that it was the end of the world. 

• I am certain Jesus’ disciples assumed it was over in AD 70 when Rome sacked Jerusalem.
  • Rome surrounded and starved its water and food supplies and then wiped it out.
  • Christians have always assumed it was the end.

[Illus] Many of our grandparents believed WWII with the rise Adolf Hitler possessed by Satan who killed 6 of the 9 million Jews Europe surely marked the end. 

[Illus] Growing up during the Cold War in the 1980’ Nuclear War was in the back of our minds.  Was Mikael Gorbachev the Antichrist? 

Would we “…pass away with a roar…burned up and dissolved?” (2 Peter 3).

[Illus] 9/11 in our recent history.

[TRANS] All prior events and persecutions, dating back to the Acts of the Apostle and the early church to present day are not on the scale of Jesus’ teaching beginning in verse 14. 

• Verse 14 is the The Great Tribulation, the middle point of the seven-year Tribulation.
  • The earth’s worst possible circumstances.
  • Jesus addresses believers who will be right in the middle of it and called to endure through it!

[Question] “Who are these believers called to endure this kind of trouble?”

• 1 Thessalonians 1:1:10; 5:9 tell us the church is not destined for future “wrath.”

 

• Revelation 3:10 uses the Church of Philadelphia as our model saying it will be, “kept from the hour of trial.”

 

• Romans 5:9, Ephesians 5:6, and Colossians 3:4 all echo this.

 

• 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 gives us the “rapture” – “being caught up together” as a major source of encouragement.

[Note] Believers have lost loved ones who’ve died in persecution, but these believers (both here and asleep) are spared from God’s “wrath.”

[TRANS] “So who’s left for the Tribulation?”  These are the 144,000 from the book of Revelation in chapter 14. 

[Note] John’s Revelation depicts them as “singing a new song before the throne…who had been redeemed from the earth. 

• Those had not “defiled themselves with women…It is these who follow the Lamb” (Rev. 14:1-7).

^ESV  Revelation 14:1-7 Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.

² And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps,

³ and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.

⁴ It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb,

⁵ and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless. (Rev 14:1-7 ESV)

 

• 12 thousand Jews from each of the 12 tribes of Israel (Rev. 7:4-5).

[Note] These Jews forsake Antichrist and become Christ’s evangelistic force proclaiming to Gospel and winning people from all the world (Rev. 14:6).

• Revelation 7:4-5 says these 144,000 Jews were “sealed.”

^ESV  Revelation 7:4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: (Rev 7:4 ESV)

 

• Revelation 3:21 calls believer in this age “conquerors” or “overcomers.”

 

[Note] These are people who will “see the abomination of desolation” (v. 14).   

[Note] Though Jesus is speaking to the Jewish disciples of his day, actually referring to the Jews during the Tribulation. 

• Why Mark inserts “let the reader understand.”
• The reader is supposed to tie together Jesus’ reference to “the abomination of desolation” together with Daniel’s prophecy.
  • Daniel 9:24-27 symbolizes seven years in terms of a 7-day week.
  • Puts “the abomination of desolation” right at mid-week, “half of the week.”
  • At 3 and a half years.

[Note] Daniel 7:25 says the Antichrist:

^ESV  Daniel 7:25 He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. (Dan 7:25 ESV)

[KEY] Both Revelation 11:2 and Revelation 13:5 both mark this moment at 42 months or 3 and a half years. 

^ESV  Revelation 11:2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. (Rev 11:2 ESV)

^ESV  Revelation 13:5 And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. (Rev 13:5 ESV)

[Note] The 7-year tribulation is fully described in Revelation 6-18. 

• There will be seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments.
  • Bowl judgments after the temple “abomination of desolation.”
  • Worst judgments being poured out by God!   

[TRANS] A devastating point but not without hope. 

• Jesus promises a “generation” that will not fail!
• Beauty of verse 30.

^ESV  Mark 13:30 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. (Mar 13:30 ESV)

[Note] Jesus uses “generation” (v. 30) as a synonym for “nation” broadening this to prophecy. 

• The Jews will be preserved by God until these things are fulfilled.
• Makes sense when consider role (past, present, and future) Israel has played as God’s nation throughout redemptive history!

[Note] Jews will stand strong and flee Antichrist when he blasphemes the temple!  What will this look like?  We don’t really know. 

• In 167 BC Seleucid King Antiochus conquered Jerusalem, sacrificed swine and set up an altar to Zeus.
• AD 40 the insane Emperor Caligula, thinking himself a god, almost succeeded in putting an image of himself in the temple.
• AD 70 Rome’s General Titus lead troops into God’s city destroying it, Temple and all!

[Note] All serve as partial fulfillment of what Jesus was pointing toward that still finds fulfillment in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10.

³ Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,

⁴ who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?

⁶ And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.

⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.

⁸ And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

⁹ The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,

¹⁰ and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. (2Th 2:3-10 ESV)

[Note] Believers “flee” Antichrist. 

• They run for cover, distancing themselves from any and all associations.
• They don’t go back into their homes for comfort, they don’t go back for their coat, and they pray for hurting vulnerable people like a “pregnant woman or a nursing mom in the cold” (vv. 14-18)

 

1. Discern truth from error.

[TRANS] Verse 19 says it’s as bad as it is going to ever be. 

[Note] Verse 24. 

• Solar system will be interrupted.
• Universe will be shaken.
  • Isn’t merely symbolic of great warfare.
  • Some see as a reference to the Roman/Israel of AD 70.

[KEY] No, this is the end of the world. 

• Cosmos steered by supernatural powers.

[Illus] The sun as stood still before, the world shook when Christ was crucified, now the universe shakes. 

[Note] “…and the powers in the heavens will be shaken” (v. 25). 

• Believers will reject “false christs” and “false prophets” (vv. 21-22).
• No matter how powerful they appear to be.

 

1. Recognize and worship the true Christ.

[TRANS] This brings us to verse 26.  “And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory” (v. 26). 

[Note] Another direct reference to Daniel’s prophecy (Daniel 7:13-14). 

¹³ “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.

¹⁴ And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. (Dan 7:12-14 ESV)

• [Note] This title – most popular for Jesus in the Gospels points to God’s appearance as a man.
  • God comes in the clouds and has dominion over all!
  • The “beast” loses and Jesus wins!

[Appl] This vision of Christ is our hope! Jesus is more powerful than everything this world has to offer. This vision of Christ supersedes all of the world’s dangers and struggles.  Jesus is victorious and his victory is our victory. Jesus’ supremacy is what dismisses all of the world’s damage and temptations. This exalted Christ is the one who rescues at the Rapture and also at the end of the Great Tribulation! 

[Note] Verse 27, as Jesus invokes battle, he also “gathers his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven” (v. 27).  Grace from a mighty Christ!

[Question] The Jews expected to persevere through the worst of circumstances. “How are they supposed to do that?” 

[Illus] Who, like me grew up as a kid watching the “Left Behind” reel to reels?  Did those scare you like they did me?  I did not like the lady running on the bridge surrounded by Antichrist’s agents and helicopters. 

[TRANS] Allow me to point out a very comforting word that I intentionally breezed past before.

2. Why believers will be faithful through the worst possible circumstances

 

1. God plans their survival.

[Note] Look back up at verse 20. 

• Verse 19 says these are the worst of days and verse 20 sweeps in with comfort.
  • The Lord literally “cuts short” or “curtails the days” of tribulation.
  • Be sure not to miss the Lord’s immediate and direct sovereign ruling hand on the exact number of days a person is going through something.

[Appl] God very intentionally and dynamically is involved.  I think people are turned off by the concept of God’s sovereign control thinking it to be robotic or God orchestrating his plans without feeling. 

This just is not the case!  Sovereignty for God is dynamic, personal, and immediate.  Think about it.  Because God is the ultimate Being, this is the only way he can be involved dynamically. 

Surely circumstances, even as great and terrible as these, are not in control. 

No, God is!  But, his control is affectionate and dynamic all the while!

[Note] “…no human being would be saved” (v. 20), apart from God’s sovereign intervention!  This is compassion.

1. God ensures their survival.

[Note] The comfort does not stop there, the end of verse 20 he calls these faithful believing Jews “the elect, whom he chose.” 

• Again, this kind of language can be felt as a turn off, but it shouldn’t.
• Jesus loved these believers just like he loved you before you were born.

[Illus] Remember how Jesus protected his disciples when they forsook him at Gethsemane and the Cross? 

John 18:4-9

⁴ Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?”

⁵ They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.

⁶ When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

⁷ So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

⁸ Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.”

⁹ This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.”

 (Joh 18:4-9 ESV)

[Note] Jesus shortens the days so his children will survive! 

 

Conclusion: Truth statements from Nathan Schneider.

1. It is right for believers to pray for God to executive his justice upon evil and evildoers (all the imprecations of the Bible, OT and NT).

 

1. It is right for government to protect its citizens (Rom. 13; Gen. 9).

 

1. It is right for believers to leave individual vengeance and justice to God (Rom. 12:9; Deut 32:35).

 

1. It is right to pray for our enemies to be converted.

 

1. It is right to pray for peace.

 

1. Israel is not responsible for Hamas’ evil (…no moral equivalence).

 

1. God promises to curse those who curse Abraham’s descendants (Gen. 12:3; Deut. 30:7).

 

1. Israel is also not experiencing the kind of divine protection they once enjoyed…they live in the time of the Gentiles, and they currently live outside the umbrella of covenant protection (Deut. 28-29).

 

1. Israel will experience worse tribulations in the future (Jer. 30:7 “Jacob’s trouble”).

 

1. God will ultimately save and restore Israel as he brings her through this future time of trouble.

 

[Question] “How can we apply these truth statements individually today?”

1. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

 

^ESV  Psalm 122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! “May they be secure who love you! (Psa 122:6 ESV)

 

1. Pray for the salvation of Israel through these trials.
2. Pray that God’s justice would be executed against evildoers.
3. Pray that God would open hearts to think about eternal things.
4. Pray that Israel would have safety from her enemies.
5. Pray for wisdom as to how you can answer questions from unbelievers about what’s going on and what the Bible says about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion –

Mark 14:26-38 — Peter?  Jesus? – Not my will, but what you will?

Was there any doubt that Jesus would survive?  Save?  He fell to the ground at Gethsemane – He submitted to the Father! – he was slain before the foundation of the world.

Jesus endured a greater wrath – greater tribulation –

has an Islamic Antichrist named the Mahdi who is predicted to rule in Jerusalem in the temple.  Their theology puts “Jesus” in support of Mahdi!  Every generation goes through its version of danger and trial but until the very end comes, nothing compares to what will it will be.  This is what Jesus speaks to here.

Practically speaking Jesus predicted a kind of people who will endure and persevere through and ultimately be rescued from this level of cataclysmic disaster!  The question is, “Who are they?”  Last week we learned from verses 1-13 that Jesus was speaking directly to his Jewish disciples about what they would be facing in their lifetime.  Basically what would happen after Jesus rose and ascended to heaven.  This was recorded in the Book of Acts.  False Christ’s arose; cataclysmic events took place and then persecution even to death.  This would be their path.  They were tasked with the mission to “proclaim the gospel to all nations” (v. 10) and in doing so they set the stage for all of the Christian generations to follow.  We too have felt these dangers – these effects of sin as believers in our world.  Even so, these things described are not at the same level as what Jesus describes for the future. 

Interpreting the end in these terms means Christ returns on either end of a literal 7 day Tribulation.  Christ’s first coming where believers are caught up together in the air with those who’ve gone before and then Christ’s return where he plants his feet down on the Mount of Olives splitting it in half. 

The prediction of the 7 year Tribulation originates in Daniel 9:24-27.  Daniel symbolically refers to the time period as 70 Weeks and as one week.  Matthew 24:15 is Matthew’s account of Jesus’ same speech shows Jesus directly connecting Daniel’s prophesy with this prediction.  He’s says to refer to Daniel for when the Abomination of Desolation takes place and it is right at the midpoint of a symbolic week.  Daniel 9 says it’s at “half of the week.”  Jesus uses the “tribulation” as the midpoint of what I believe is a direct reference to the 7 year time period of “wrath.”  Matthew 24:15 which is the same Olivet Discourse ties “the abomination of desolation” to the Daniel’s prophesy.

These are those who are preaching the Gospel, reaching the world for Christ!  Listen, these Jews are the most striking example of believers who will not give up on Christ no matter how bleak and rough the circumstances become! 

[Appl]  Personally I grew up with the big reel the reel “Thief in the night movies” and as a young 7 something year old was scared to death, not knowing if I’d make it under those kinds of circumstances!”  Jesus doesn’t expect believers to feel that way, in that situation or any other.  We actually are supposed to be set free from these kinds of misgivings and fears in our world.  We are “aliens” and “strangers” whose citizenship is sealed up and elsewhere right?  So, this morning let’s answer this question of fear under the worst circumstances with the way Jesus assures these future champions.

The chief sign of being in the middle of the tribulation is “the abomination of desolation.”  We do not know exactly what this looks like but rest assured it will be an unspeakable blasphemy and so much so that the Jews abandon the temple.  Daniel’s prophesy points to this abandonment of the daily sacrifices.  This actually happened historically on several occasions.