What It's Not

Good morning and welcome to Dishman Baptist Church. Please take your Bibles and turn with me to Mark 13, Mark 13. Happy New Year. I hope everyone had a good new year’s celebration. We had a very nice breakfast on Friday morning during which we shared some of the blessings that God bestowed upon us during 2020 and thank you to those of you who came out to support that. For the last several weeks we have been looking at the birth of Christ - the advent - and now this morning we return to our study of the Gospel of Mark.

Just to remind us where we are in the book - Jesus has entered Jerusalem for the final time for the Passover festival. Passion week, as this week is called, started off with Jesus triumphal entry into the city on the back of a colt to the cheers of the crowds and the proclamations of Hosanna and Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

Then there was the cleansing of the temple as Jesus exhibited a righteous anger for the holiness of the temple and, more importantly, the worship of His Father that was supposed to take place there. He cast out the money changers and the animal vendors striking at the very heart of the perversion of the Jewish religion by those who were entrusted with keeping it pure. This was on Tuesday and following the cleansing of the Temple Jesus withdrew again to Bethany.

The cleansing of the Temple on Tuesday led to a series of confrontations on Wednesday between Jesus and the Jewish religious leadership. They questioned Him regarding His teaching and by what authority He acted, the legitimacy of taxes, the truth of the resurrection and finally the primary commandments and which might be most important. In each of these Christ reveals their hypocrisy and the poverty, the utter insufficiency of their religious views to save themselves let alone those they were tasked with guiding.

Their question of authority revealed their view that they were the authority and not the God whom they served.

The question on taxes revealed that they had taken things of God’s (specifically His worship) and given them over to Caesar.

The question about the resurrection reveals that they truly didn’t even believe the words of the Scriptures that they claim to hold dear and instead were more reliant on their own traditions.

The question of primary commands - while at the very least a better, more insightful question than the rest - revealed that you can be close and even grasp the basic tenets of the faith without actually taking the complete and final step necessary to be saved.

Each of these questions has great bearing for us as well as we can sometimes be guilty of the exact same sins and lack of understanding that is revealed here in the case of the Pharisees, Sadducees and the rest of the Jewish religious establishment. At the end of chapter 12, Jesus pronounces a final judgement on these teachers as He compares and contrasts the faithlessness of the scribes with the faithfulness of a poor widow even in the case of her giving her very last bit of money to live on to the very system that should have been caring for her and instead was extorting her and leaving her destitute.

Just before Christmas and our advent break we looked at the very beginning of this chapter as Jesus, having pronounced a judgement on the religious leadership, pronounces a judgement on the Temple and by extension the entire Jewish religious system that had been so adulterated that it no longer resembled or represented the true system put in place by Moses and was incapable of providing the salvation the people needed. All of this took place on Wednesday and now here we are on Wednesday evening of Passion Week as we resume our study of this book. We’ll be looking at Mark 13 verses 3-13 today. Let’s read through our passage and then look to see what God might have for us now in 2021.

Mark 13:3–13 CSB

While he was sitting on the Mount of Olives across from the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” Jesus told them, “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and they will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, don’t be alarmed; these things must take place, but it is not yet the end. For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains. “But you, be on your guard! They will hand you over to local courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues. You will stand before governors and kings because of me, as a witness to them. And it is necessary that the gospel be preached to all nations. So when they arrest you and hand you over, don’t worry beforehand what you will say, but say whatever is given to you at that time, for it isn’t you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of my name, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.

At the close of his apocalyptic book Revelation, the apostle John pens the words “He who testifies to these things says ‘Yes I am coming soon.’ Amen! Come, Lord Jesus.” And ever since people have been waiting for that event to take place. And in reality men have been looking for His return ever since He first rose into the sky off that mountain in Galilee. You will remember in Acts 1 the disciples continued to stand and look into the sky and had to be told by the angels that “this same Jesus, who has been taken from you into Heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen Him going into Heaven.” Paul wrote a book, two of them, to the church in Thessalonica to dispel concerns and misinformation about the return of Christ.

Our passage this morning is Christ’s most extensive teaching on His return and the conditions that could portend that event. It is precipitated by the question of four of His closest associates, Peter, James, John and Andrew, who take Him aside after they leave the Temple. Having heard what He said regarding the destruction of the Temple they ask “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the signs when all these things are about to be accomplished?” I’m sure as Jesus looked at them and opened His mouth to answer they all leaned in a little closer thinking their curiosity was about to be satisfied and we would do the exact same thing.

But we must be careful as we look at these verses this week and finish next week. Prophecy is always a bit difficult as there can be near and far fulfillments, implications and sometimes the prophecy seems to leave more questions that answers. So I’m going to be very careful as I go through this not to be definitive as we look at these different indicators. Rather any sort of prediction as to when this could take place, what we should take from these words of Christ’s are to heed the warnings and a challenge that are coupled with them. These warnings are given in the form of two imperatives - watch out, be on your guard and the challenge - the Gospel must be preached to all nations. Along with each of these commands Christ gives indicators that will not specifically point to His coming - first there are environmental factors, second there are social factors and third there are relational factors. Those will be our outline as we look further at this this morning - it’s not environmental, it’s not social and it’s not relational.

It’s Not Environmental

It should not surprise anyone to make the claim that the world we live in is not getting better but instead seems to be in a state of deterioration. Every year there seem to be more and worse environmental challenges that are decried by the public with lots of finger pointing and accusations as to why these things are happening. It would seem that weekly there are not only environmental events but also those who would seek to ameliorate the effects of this downward spiral. By the end of this point I’m going to deliver shocking news to those who are climate change activists and maybe give each of us some hope as we seek these events continue.

First though - Christ delivers a stark warning. Instead of answering His disciple’s question the way they might have expected, Jesus, in His characteristic manner, gets to the issue below the question and delivers a message to generations of believers - watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, saying I am he, and they will deceive many.

The concerning and deeply disturbing truth about this is that there are not many from among the heathens outside the church who are rising up, claiming divinity and trying to mislead the church. This warning bears the discordant note that even from among the believers and the church false Messiahs will arise. In the early days of the church this wouldn’t be as readily observable as this might be in our day as the church was simply forming - but shortly after Christ’s death a man named Theudas boasted of being able to perform miraculous signs that Josephus says “led many astray”. He convinced them to take all that they owned and follow him to the river Jordan which he would part for them to be able to walk through easily. This movement was short lived as soldiers were sent against them and Theudas was taken and then beheaded.

A little later an Egyptian who claimed to be a prophet deceived the populace and led thirty-six thousand people to the Mount of Olives and would have broken in to Jerusalem had Felix, the Roman procurator at the time, not met them with soldiers and fought them. This is probably the Egyptian that is referred to in Acts 21:38 when Paul is being arrested and the Roman commander asks him “Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt some time ago and led four thousand men of the Assassins into the wilderness?”

Throughout history false teachers have arisen, who while they may not have claimed divinity themselves, certainly claim to speak for Christ. Arius was a priest in Alexandria, Egypt during the mid-300’s. He purported the idea that Christ wasn’t of the same essence as God the Father and that He had a beginning. His teaching became very popular through the ingenious method of writing music and songs with lyrics that taught his erroneous doctrine and teaching them to the populace. This teaching resulted in the first council of Nicea and the production of the Nicene Creed that pronounced his teachings as heretical but there are still threads of his teaching that surface even today and lead people astray.

In modern times there have been examples like Jim Jones, who led his entire cult in a mass suicide in 1978, among others who claim to speak for the Lord. In 2010 and 2011 a man named Harold Camping spent millions advertising that Judgement Day was going to take place on May 21, 2011. There were people led astray by this prediction and they sold everything they had for an event that clearly didn’t take place.

Today the deceivers and deceptions are more insidious because they are harder to recognize. Their teaching is masked in just enough truth to be believable yet are just as damning as not believing at all. Today’s deceivers come with slick smiles and nice words - “God has already done everything He's going to do. The ball is now in your court. If you want success, if you want wisdom, if you want to be prosperous and healthy, you're going to have to do more than meditate and believe; you must boldly declare words of faith and victory over yourself and your family.” - that lead people astray. Men like Joel Osteen, Joseph Prince, Bill Johnson, Brian Houston have huge followings but their teaching is poison.

That is one of the greatest dangers of this pandemic. Right now there are millions of people who are deprived (or are depriving themselves) of being in good churches and getting good teaching. Instead they are being subjected to error filled teaching on television stations like TBN and CBN. They are suffering a slow spiritual death, or at the very least a stunted spiritual life, because they are trying to avoid a physical death. We have a dear lady in our church in this condition and it breaks my heart. I’m still trying to think of how to fix it.

Jesus now makes an interesting statement - when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, don’t be alarmed, these things must happen. For nation will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines.” There is nothing specific about any of these factors. According to a 2003 New York Times article entitled “What Every Person Should Know About War” in the 3400 years of recorded human history there have only been 268 years of peace - meaning only 8% of human history has been entirely peaceful. In 40 A.D. there were rumors of war as the Roman emperor Caligula attempted to build a statue of himself in Jerusalem. In 66 A.D., a few short years at best after Mark writes his Gospel, war actually broke out in Israel between the Jewish populace and the Roman garrison. There always seems to either be a rumor of war or the actual thing.

Contrary to all of the hopes of the climate activists like Greta Thunberg, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Jay Inslee, it would seem that the cataclysmic events related to our environment have always taken place. The book of Acts tells of famines taking place in Judea and throughout the Roman world. In 63 A.D. an earthquake would strike the Italian city state of Pompeii resulting in extensive damage of the city that would later be completely destroyed in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. This earthquake also caused a tsunami that hit the Italian city of Ostia, much like the 2004 earthquakes off the coast of Thailand and the 2011 earthquake that caused such damage in Japan.

Notice the language that Jesus uses here - these things must take place. Nation will rise against nation, there will be earthquakes and famines. This is definitive language that points to the idea that God, in His sovereign design for the universe, has ordained these events to take place to further His divine plan for all things. It is hard to think of God ordaining a war - especially one like World War 2 that resulted in atrocities and great loss of life unlike any other in history - but He is sovereign of all things not just the things we like to attribute to Him. Isaiah 45:7 says “I form light and create darkness, I make success and create disaster; I am the Lord, who does all these things.

All except sin that is. That belongs to man.

But God ordains these events, even pandemics, as the beginning of birth pains. Ask any woman who has had a baby - the pain of birth starts long before the actual event happens. These are only vague indicators that there will be something more to come.

The important thing for us to gather from all of this is not to be deceived or misled by those who say they are Him, or even claim to be His representatives. That we should, through our own search of the Word, verify all things we’re being taught and be watchful not being carried away by the environment that surrounds us but is, even now, in the process of passing away.

It’s Not Social

Jesus issues a second warning that goes along with many other warnings that He has given during His three years of ministry. But you, be on your guard. This means to watch carefully - to be aware, beware of or mark. This warning is intended to make sure that the disciples remain aware of the circumstances surrounding them without getting themselves caught up in sign study or interpreting events. They would need to remain sober minded and prepared for the challenges that were certain to come their way - not get caught up in speculations about what might happen. Because what would happen to them was bad enough and in some cases worse than the what might happen to them in war or the natural disasters that Jesus had just described.

They will - notice the certitude of the language again - they will hand you over to local courts and you will be flogged in the synagogues. The local courts that Jesus is referring to are religious tribunals that were held in the synagogues. They were made up of members of the Sanhedrin - the group of men that Jesus had just spent the day humiliating before the people. This wouldn’t take long - following Jesus resurrection and ascension in both Acts 4 and 5 (probably within 2-3 years after Jesus death) Peter and John were repeatedly hauled before these men for their preaching and professions of faith. Acts 5 tells us that they were flogged for their testimony Acts 5:40 says “After they had called them in and had them flogged, they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and released them.”

This isn’t a surprise to us is it? Jesus promised that if the world hated Him it would hate us. Most of John 15 is a lesson in this truth. Not only would they be flogged and questioned but some would be killed - John 16:2 says “They will ban you from the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone kills you will think he is offering service to God.” Paul, one of the early tormenters of the church, would write “All who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” 2 Timothy 3:12. The entire epistle of 1 Peter and a predominant theme throughout 2 Timothy is the idea of suffering as a believer.

The Reformation was another time when suffering for Christ took a forefront in the lives of believers. Take note - Christ’s admonition here to be on your guard is not so that persecution or suffering can be avoided. Rather it is the idea of stealing yourself so that when persecution comes you can stand firm. Like Jan Hus who, when he was burned at the stake by the Roman Catholic church in 1415, could be heard singing hymns even as the flames consumed his body. Or like Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley. As they were being led to the stake Latimer told his compatriot “Play the man Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.” Throughout church history men and women have been willing to die for the faith - and many of them, just like many of the early disciples, were put to death by those within the synagogues and cathedrals who thought they were doing the work of the Lord.

Not that the civil authorities will be denied their opportunities as well. But even here the tenor of Christ’s warning changes a bit. Yes it is completely true, as John 15 again teaches, that the world will hate Christians but notice here that Christ doesn’t highlight the persecution that the disciples will face from the world rather He tells them that they will be His witness standing before the courts of the governors and kings. This is an important distinction that we should always remember in the public square. Martyrs though we might become, we are first and foremost ambassadors for our King and witnesses to Him. Christ tells them not to worry beforehand what they will say but rather to trust the Holy Spirit for our words.

Now this verse has been used by ill-prepared speakers for years to justify their lack of discipline in study and work prior to preaching but that is not what Christ is saying here. The very concept would negate what Paul writes in 2 Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the Word of truth.” or his own description of his ministry in Colossians 1:29 “I labor for this, striving with His strength that works powerfully in me.” What does he labor in - proclaiming Christ, warning and teaching everyone with wisdom so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. So this notion that you can step into the pulpit or any other opportunity to teach the Word of God without any prior preparation is ludicrous.

What He is saying is that the defense necessary to give before the kings and governors cannot be derived by human wisdom or knowledge but instead must be spiritual. We have a tendency to think that we can reason people into Heaven rather than allowing the Spirit to do His preordained work. This also doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be prepared for a witness encounter and think that whatever you should say will be available to you. You must do some work - some study to provide the tools necessary for the Spirit to use. Can the Spirit open your mouth and have a defense such as Paul gives in Acts 26 before King Agrippa that causes Agrippa to exclaim “Are you going to convince me to become a Christian so easily?” - yes. Is it not more likely that the Word hidden in your heart will be drawn out when the time comes and is necessary? We should all be preparing our hearts - not with a preplanned defense but rather with the ever powerful, ever sufficient Word of God, hiding His Word in our heart that we might not sin against God. And then when the time comes for us to give a defense we can say like Martin Luther “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. Here I stand, I cannot do other. May God help me. Amen.” Now whether or not he actually said “Here I stand, I cannot do other” is open to debate - but his life testifies to the fact that he stood on the truths of Scripture and we should do the same.

And our time may be coming. With acts like the Equality Act being advanced - and it will pass eventually - and the continued advances by the sexual revolution it will not be long before most protections are stripped away from speech. In Norway even speaking in your own home against LGBTQ people is considered a crime. And there is no reason to think those laws will not come here. Worse yet is the continued fracturing of the church over non-essential issues that break and divide. Right now most of this is only on twitter but it may soon come to a point where a refusal to acknowledge certain ideologies or views will cause greater division and even removal from churches.

Now many of you have probably noticed that I skipped over a verse. One reason is that the inclusion of this particular saying seems a bit off where it is in the text. Part of the witness given to kings and governors could be the spread of the Gospel to all nations - but the sense of the text seems to flow better if verse 10 is omitted. That is not to call in to question the legitimacy of the statement - instead it is to draw this statement out and highlight both its importance and its ambiguity. What exactly is meant by saying that it is necessary that the gospel be preached to all nations?

Now we have a good idea of how large the world is and how many people are in the world. But Mark’s original readers really didn’t have the global perspective that we do. For these believers in the first century this likely seemed as if it had already been accomplished - the gospel had been preached to the known world at that time. The point here is the responsibility of the disciples to be faithful in the proclamation of the Gospel in the face of intense and continuous persecution and suffering. Commenting on this verse Puritan Thomas Boston said “Though there is no universal atonement, yet in the word there is a warrant given to offer Christ to all mankind, whether elect or reprobate, and a warrant to all freely to receive him, however great sinners they are, or have been.” And this should be our goal and desire as well - that no matter what comes that we will be found faithful in our preaching and sharing of the Gospel. No matter what direction the persecution comes from.

It’s Not Relational

We’ve just completed the hardest sixty days of the year for the family unit. Sometimes it is immediate family, more often it is extended family but the holidays always seem to bring out two things - joy and family drama. The relationships that bring us the most joy in life are also capable of bringing the most pain and sorrow. Here Christ tells more of the deterioration of the family unit - even worse than our current societal picture would give, and it is pretty bad right now. That brother will betray brother, that fathers will betray their own children.

There have been times in church history when family members have done exactly this - they have betrayed their family members into the hands of the authorities to see them burned at the stake, hung, and tortured in other ways. And this seems to promise that it is something that has to happen as a part of the continued downward spiral of our environment, of our social order and even of the familial bonds that should bind us. Throughout Scripture the idea of family is a predominant picture of what the church is meant to be. The erosion of the social family unit mirrors the erosion of the spiritual family unit. Not only will physical brothers betray brothers, children will betray parents, fathers will betray their children but also spiritual brothers will betray their fellow believers and so on. Those who follow Christ must be willing to endure persecution from even their most intimate friends and family members. Some of you know this pain all too well. Some of you have been shunned or ridiculed by family members for your faith in Christ. But take heart dear believer - there is hope.

Yes we will be hated by everyone because of Christ’s name - but read what’s next. Circle that in your Bible. The one who endures to the end will be saved. This is not giving the idea that we can endure through our own strength but rather that he who is truly in Christ, who’s life is hidden in Christ with God, who has been buried with Him and raised with Him, who has confessed with his mouth and believed in his heart that He is Lord, who has confessed his sins and placed his trust in His sacrificial death on their behalf - he will endure until the end. Are you committed to that dear saint? Can you say with the Reformer Menno Simons “We will sooner endure, in our mortal bodies, misery, poverty, tribulation, hunger, thirst, heat, cold, bonds and death, and adhere to the word of the Lord, than lead secure easy lives with the world, and for the sake of a short and temporal life, ruin our souls.”

Conclusion

Watch out - for yourselves and your fellow believers

Be on your guard - prepare not so that you have a preplanned response but so that you bleed Bible, that your life is so ingrained in the Word of God that when you open your mouth what comes out is Scripture not reason.