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01/31/2010 - Watch Out!, Mark 13:28-37

Whenever there's a catastrophic earthquake like the 7.0 quake that rocked Haiti it seems like there's always a piece on the news that talks about the San Andreas Fault. I saw it again this time. The San Andreas Fault runs about 800 miles through the state of California. It was discovered back in 1895 by a geology professor named Andrew Lawson who named it after a small lake just south of San Francisco.

The fault is actually so long that's its divided into three segments. In the north the fault was responsible for the worst earthquake ever to hit this country and that was the quake that destroyed San Francisco in 1906. More recently it caused the 1989 San Francisco quake that became known as the "World Series Earthquake" because it occurred just before the start of game three between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A's. Anybody remember that one? That quake measured 7.1 and when it was over and the damage was assessed it became the most costly natural disaster ever in United States history up until that time.

In the central segment seismologists have discovered that the fault consistently produces earthquakes about every 22 years that measure 6.0 on the Richter scale. The last one to occur in that region was back in 2004 in the town of Parkfield.

But the greatest concern is over what might happen in Southern California if the tectonic plates slip. If an earthquake occurs along the San Andreas Fault in the southern segment it could affect the lives of millions of people living in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, and even down into Tijuana, Mexico. It would be a disaster of unimaginable proportions.

A recent study showed that the San Andreas Fault has been stressed to a level sufficient for "the big one" to hit at any time, which would be an earthquake greater than 7.0, the size of the one that hit Haiti.

In that study the author writes, "The information available suggests that the fault is ready for the next big earthquake, but exactly when the triggering will happen and when the earthquake will occur we cannot tell. It could be tomorrow or it could be ten years or more from now. We just don't know."

The big one's coming. At least that's what the experts say, but nobody knows when that quake is coming. Just like nobody knew when the quake in Haiti was coming or when any natural disaster is going to occur. And something just as catastrophic as an earthquake was going to hit the city of Jerusalem. And in Mark 13 Jesus has been giving his followers signs that point to the triggering of that event because before it happens he wants his friends to get out of town as fast as they can. They will need to run for their lives.

But he couldn't tell his disciples exactly when it would occur because even Jesus didn't know the day or the hour when it would happen. He just knew it was coming. Imagine that? Jesus doesn't know something. I thought Jesus knew everything.

This morning we continue our journey through the gospel of Mark and more specifically our journey through Mark 13, this difficult passage in which Jesus is predicting what's about to happen to the magnificent Temple in Jerusalem.

If you have a Bible please open it to Mark 13 as we finish up the chapter that's known as the Olivet Discourse. It's called the Olivet Discourse because Jesus is sitting on top of the Mount of Olives overlooking the Temple Mount and the city of Jerusalem when he gives this teaching. And the teaching he gives is in response to two questions that he's been asked.

Look at Mark 13:1, As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!" ²"Do you see all these great buildings?" replied Jesus. "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down." ³As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, ⁴"Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?"

Jesus makes a shocking, scandalous, subversive statement. He says the Temple and all that it stands for is coming down. This magnificent building which was the centerpiece of the religion of Israel, the heart and soul of how people worshiped God, the place were sacrifices were made and prayers were prayed, where confessions were uttered and sins were forgiven was going to be destroyed. How could that be? The Temple was where God lived. It was God's house. It was where heaven and earth intersected. It was the most sacred place on the planet. For it to be destroyed was unthinkable.

But that's what Jesus said and so the disciples have two questions. I'm sure they have a lot more questions than just two, but these are the ones they voice, "When will that be? And what will be the sign that it's all about to happen?" These are the two questions that we have to keep in mind if we hope to understand the things Jesus says in the rest of the chapter.

The answer that he gives actually breaks down into three parts. In verses 5-13 Jesus first tells them not to panic but to stand firm. He says that there will be false Messiahs who will work wonders and make outrageous claims, but don't listen to them. There will be wars and rumors of wars. There will be earthquakes and famines, an increase in domestic violence, and widespread persecution of Christ followers. And sure enough history reveals that all these things happened just as Jesus said they would.

He describes them as the beginning of birth pains before the new baby is delivered which will be a whole new way of relating to God that doesn't depend on the Temple and on the priesthood and on sacrifices and burnt offerings. It's the way that we relate to God now, directly, because of Jesus' once and for all sacrifice for our sins on the cross.

So in the first part of the discourse Jesus says, "Stay cool! Don't panic! A lot of tough stuff has to happen." But then in verse 14, the second part of the discourse, everything changes. Something's going to happen that will signal them that it's time to run. He calls that thing "the abomination that causes desolation" which is a cryptic phrase taken out of Daniel 7.

In Luke's version of the Olivet Discourse Jesus is a little less vague when he says in Luke 21:20-22, "When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. ²¹Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. ²²For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written."

In that passage the abomination that causes desolation is described as the Roman army that will surround the city. And that's exactly what happened in AD 70, about forty years after Jesus spoke these words.

Jerusalem was surrounded by Titus and 60,000 Roman soldiers. But the tragedy was that instead of fleeing the city to the mountains like Jesus had said, Jewish worshipers from all over the world streamed into the city to celebrate the Passover that year. And the Romans were more than happy to open the gates and let them in because then they were trapped like rats. And after a siege that lasted almost five months, 1.1 million people died inside the city walls of disease, dehydration, starvation, and the sword. It was horrible!

And it all came to a head on the 9^th day of the Hebrew month of Av, August 30, AD 70, when the Temple was set on fire and destroyed. And after the fire burned itself out and the stones cooled, the Romans pried them up and flipped them down into the Kidron Valley in order to retrieve the Temple gold that had melted down between the cracks. And that's where you can still find some of those same stones today. Literally not one stone was left on another everyone was thrown down just as Jesus said.

So sitting on top of the Mount of Olives Jesus first tells his followers, "Stand firm!" Then after they see the abomination of desolation, the armies surrounding the city, he tells them to, "Run!" And they must have run pretty fast because apparently none of the disciples died in that event.

And then he uses apocalyptic imagery lifted right from the Hebrew prophets Isaiah and Daniel to picture the judgment that God is bringing on the nation and the vindication of Jesus as the Son of Man. Everything will happen just as he said it would and that will validate his claim to be Messiah, the King of King and Lord of Lords. Then the gospel will be taken not just to the borders of Israel, but beyond those borders even to the ends of the earth.

Now look at the third part of his answer beginning in verse 28, "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near."

Jesus takes us to the fig tree again. Just the day before he had cursed a fig tree, which had leaves but no figs. In other words, it appeared to have fruit, but didn't which was a picture of the nation of Israel at that time and more specifically of the Temple. It was an impressive, opulent building with lots of religious activity going on. It looked alive on the outside, but it was dead on the inside and that's why Jesus cursed it.

Now he uses the same image of a fig tree in leaf to say that summer is coming. In other words, the things I've talked about are not in the way distant future they're near. They're close at hand so be ready.

Look at verse 29,Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. ³⁰Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

One reason I believe that Mark 13 is speaking of the destruction of the Temple that occurred in AD 70 and not some future judgment is because of what Jesus says in these verses. It's near, right at the door. In fact, it will come within the lifetime of that generation. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

And that generation didn't pass away, but lived to see all these horrific events which takes us back to the parable of the wicked tenants that Jesus had given earlier that day in Mark 12. If it's true that Jesus was the last in a long line of prophets that had been sent to Israel over the centuries, if he was indeed the son of the vineyard owner himself who came as the last possible messenger to get Israel to repent, then it only makes sense that the generation that rejected Jesus would be the generation on which God's judgment would fall. And it did.

And then he backs up his warning with his most solemn statement of assurance, Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. For better or for worse we can count on the words of Jesus. What he says is true.

Then he says something even more remarkable in verse 32,"But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

What does he mean by that? Well, up until now I've always read that verse in the context of the Second Coming of Christ. And it may apply to that event as well. But in the context of Mark 13 it applies to the day and the hour when judgment would fall on the Temple and the corrupt religious system that it had become. Even Jesus didn't know exactly when that would be, only the Father in heaven did.

So he closes by saying in verse 33, Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. ³⁴It's like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. ³⁵"Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. ³⁶If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. ³⁷What I say to you, I say to everyone: 'Watch!'"

The Temple was God's house. And God the Father, the owner of the house, is coming back in judgment. So they better stay awake and be alert and watch out!

These were clearly words for that generation, but they're also words for our generation too. What I say to you, Jesus says, I say to everyone: "Watch!"

Jesus Christ is coming back! He's coming back to judge the earth. And when he does there will be no signs or advance warnings this time around. No abomination of desolation to alert us that he's on his way. He could come at anytime. He could come today. And the judgment that fell on Israel and on the Temple is a foretaste of the judgment that will one day fall upon this whole world. And the scriptures paint that as a good thing because God is a loving and a just God and his judgment is always right.

And when he comes he will make the crooked paths straight and he will put this broken, messed up world back together again finally and forever. The coming of Christ is what the apostle Paul calls our blessed hope.

And as Christ followers we need not be afraid of God's judgment on this world. If we believe in Jesus we've crossed from death to life and instead we're told to look forward to his return.

Paul puts it this way in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸Therefore encourage one another with these words.

The return of Jesus is meant to comfort us and encourage us and give us hope. And so we wait and we watch and we live our lives in a way that pleases the King who is on his way, not caving in to the pressures of our culture, but remaining true to Christ and his great kingdom mission.

And all the while we wonder why so long? Why have twenty wide centuries passed since the first coming of Jesus? When's he coming back? What's he waiting for? I don't know the answer to that. Jesus may not even know the answer to that. But this week I did find some encouragement in these words by Tom Wright from his commentary on this passage. And I want to close this three part teaching on Mark 13 with his timely thoughts.

He writes, "Travel with me, back in time, to Jerusalem. The year is AD 58 nearly thirty years after Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. Many people in the holy city came to believe in Jesus in the heady days nearly a generation ago, and many of them are still here, older and more puzzled perhaps, but still waiting and hoping and praying.

"How easy it is for Jerusalem Christians to become weary! If the gospel was producing exciting results, it was doing so across the sea, and they only heard about it every once in a while, and didn't always like what they heard like Gentiles claiming to worship Jesus but not keeping the Law of Moses. Their lives dragged on day by day. Friends asked them, sometimes unkindly, when this Messiah of theirs was going to reappear, and could he please hurry up because much more of these Romans banging around would bring on a world war, and anyway look what's happened to the price of bread, and if Jesus had really been the Messiah why has nothing much happened since?

"Thirty years is a long time. All you could do would be to retell the stories, including the sayings of Jesus in this passage. Hang on. Be alert. Prop your eyes open - physically, perhaps, spiritually for sure. Pray for strength to meet whatever comes. The Son of Man will be vindicated, and when he is you want to be on your feet.

"Now travel with me to San Francisco, or Sydney, or San Salvador, or Philadelphia, in the 21^st century. You emerge from the church on Sunday morning and there is the world going about its business, or as it may be its pleasure. Your friends think you're odd still going to church. Everybody knows Christianity is outdated, disproved, boring and irrelevant. What you need is more sex, more parties, more money, more fun.

"Anyway hasn't the church done some pretty bad things in its time? What about the Inquisition? What about the Crusades? Who needs Christianity now that we have computers and space travel? And anyway, they say, if your Jesus is so special, why is the world still in such a mess? They don't want to know about the freeing of the slaves, the rise of education, and the building of hospitals. They certainly don't want to know about the lives that are changed every day by the gospel. They want to wear you down, to make you think you're odd and stupid. Why study an old book, they say, that's never done anyone any good?

"The answer is the same for us as it was for the believers in Jerusalem nearly a generation after Jesus. Keep alert. This is what you were told to expect. Patience is the key. Pray for strength to keep on your feet. There are times when your eyes will be shutting with tiredness, spiritual, mental, emotional and physical, and when you'll have to prop them open.

"This is what it's about. Not an exciting battle, with adrenalin flowing and banners flying, but the steady tread, of prayer and hope and scripture and worship and witness, day by day and week by week. This is what counts. This is why patience is a fruit of the Spirit. Read the story again. Remind one another of what Jesus said. And stay awake."

FOR MORE INFORMATION about Valley View Community Church, feel free to contact us at info@valleyviewseek.org or call 610.631.2707.