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Open your Bibles to Mark 13:5-8.
We are continuing our study of Mark’s Gospel.
This morning we find ourselves again in the Olivet Discourse.
(We’ll probably be in this chapter for another five or six weeks.)
Last week I set before you all the interpretive grid that I will be using as we walk through the OD.
If you weren’t here or haven’t listened to the recording, I strongly recommend you do so in order to get a better grasp of how I’ll be dealing with this text.
That first sermon is pretty foundational to how I will be teaching this difficult chapter.
But in last week’s sermon, I told you all that I am a Partial-Preterist with regard to the OD.
And that simply means that I believe that all of our Lord’s words in vv5-30 were fulfilled in the First Century in the time leading up to and the completion of the destruction of the Temple in AD70.
I also believe that v32 signals a subject change where our Lord then moves to speak about His Second Coming when He will return to judge both the living and the dead.
That is how I think the Discourse is divided.
And so, that is how I will be teaching it.
This morning, we will be considering our Lord’s opening words in the Discourse.
And here we read some very famous and well known verses.
Here Jesus speaks of wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, and famines.
And many people believe that these things are to serve as signs that Jesus’ Second Coming is imminent.
Many people interpret this section of the Discourse as having to do with the immediate future preceding the Second Coming of Christ.
That there will be wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, and famines that serve as harbingers of the End of Time.
But I aim to show you that that is NOT the case.
Rather, as our Lord says in v30, these things were to happen within that generation and serve as signs that the Temple will be destroyed within that generation.
But, even though I believe that is how we should understand these words, that DOES NOT mean that these verses have nothing to say to us today.
Hear me: All of Scripture is relevant to us.
It was all written for our instruction and benefit, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10.
Just because a prophecy has already been fulfilled, does not mean that there is nothing for us to learn from it.
Consider the OT prophecies that have already come to pass.
Though we are not looking for their fulfillment, nevertheless they teach us many things.
Fulfilled prophecies still teach us about God, His attributes, His character, His plan of redemption through faith in Christ, His love for His People, His hatred of sin, and many other things.
More than that, fulfilled prophecies continue to teach us about the moral and ethical principles that the People of God are to live by in order to please the God who has saved us through Christ.
There are many things that fulfilled prophecies speak to us today.
And so, they are still relevant to us.
And the Olivet Discourse is no different in that regard.
So then, even as I show you how these prophecies of our Lord Jesus have already come to pass, I will still aim to show you what application they make to us today.
The Bible is not merely a history book.
It is God’s Word to us.
And it speaks to us in our daily lives.
And fulfilled prophecies are no different.
I aim to PREACH the Olivet Discourse, not merely give a history lesson on fulfilled prophecies.
One final word of introduction before we dive in:
This sermon and probably many others I preach from this chapter will follow a general outline.
And this outline can be divided into two major headings:
1.
The prophecy and it’s First Century fulfillment.
2.
Ethics, principles, reminders, and doctrine that we are to apply from the prophecy, as well as foreshadowings of things to come and the place of these prophecies in the History of Redemption.
That’s basically how I plan to deal with these sermons.
The text before us speaks of things that have already come to pass.
But today it will teach us to be loyal to our Lord Jesus, to rest in God’s sovereignty, and to rejoice in the fact that God has declared that those who trust in Christ are His true Temple and People.
May God bless us as we consider the words of our Lord.
If you would and are able, please stand with me now for the reading of the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God.
Mark 13:5-8
[5] And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray.
[6] Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.
[7] And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed.
This must take place, but the end is not yet.
[8] For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines.
These are but the beginning of the birth pains.
(PRAY)
Holy God,
We come before you this morning eager to hear from you in your Word.
But, in our own strength, we will profit nothing from our reading or hearing of the Word.
As you have said, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.”
It is only by your Holy Spirit that we will benefit from your Word.
It is not within our power to change our own hearts or make us grow.
And so, we ask now that you would bless us with a fresh outpouring of your Holy Spirit this morning.
Please, teach us and change us.
Grant us faith to believe what we hear and mold our wills to obey what you have said.
Grant us a sight of our Lord Jesus Christ in His glory today.
And glorify yourself in us.
We ask these things in Jesus’ Name and for His sake.
Amen.
1.)
Before we jump into the exposition of our text, let me remind you of the context:
In vv1-2, our Lord, provoked by a disciple who spoke of the beauty of the Temple, prophesied and said, “There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
Our Lord Jesus has prophesied that the Temple would be destroyed.
And it would be destroyed because Israel had rejected their Messiah.
Because the religious leaders, as well as the people, had refused to submit to Jesus in faith.
And because of their rejection of Christ, the judgment of God was going to come upon them.
Judgment was coming upon Israel.
The Temple is the centerpiece of life in Israel.
It is located in Jerusalem, the capital city/representative city of the whole nation.
And so, judgment on the Temple means judgment on the nation.
God is finished with the Old Covenant.
He is finished with the ethnic people of Israel as an INTRINSIC covenant people.
Judgment is coming.
Jesus says so.
NOTE: As I said last week and will continue to say, this judgment is a picture.
It is a picture of the fate of all who would reject the Lord Jesus Christ: Utter ruin and damnation by God.
There are no other options.
Either you receive Christ by faith, or you will be eternally punished for your sins by a just and holy God.
There is only One Savior.
And you reject Him at your own peril.
Know this: Justice will be served.
Either it was suffered by Christ in your place at the Cross, or you will suffer it yourself in an eternal Hell.
But, either way, God will do justice.
You must trust in Christ alone to save you from your sins!
There is no other hope.
But in v4, the disciples ask Jesus about the destruction that He had just mentioned in v2.
They ask, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?”
This is what kicks off the whole OD.
Jesus prophesied that the Temple would be destroyed.
And then the disciples ask a two-part question: When?
And what will be the sign?
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