Mark 13

Steve Schwetz: Power, action, drama. That's how the gospel of Mark reads according to our teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee. Welcome to Through the Bible. I'm your host Steve Schwetz and our study of Mark continues in chapter 13 with the all of it discourse. We already studied this event in the book of Matthew, but now we're going to see it a little differently through Peter's eyes as recorded by his spiritual son Mark. Dr. McGee has told us that Matthew was written for Israel, the religious man. And Mark, well, that was written for the Romans or what Dr. McGee refers to as the strong man. So while the stories are the same, we'll see a slightly different emphasis. You know, it's an interesting study of course. So why don't you go ahead and grab your Bible? And while you do, I'll share a few letters from listeners of Through the Bible's program this time in Europe. The first one comes from Antoni in Poland. He writes, to be honest, I was skeptical. I clicked your link out of curiosity and then I wanted to close it quickly, but something made me stay because it was concrete. There was no empty talk. I like it when someone sticks with the text and doesn't drift off. There's a logic and continuity here and that is what kept me interested. I'm not religious, so I look at it objectively, but this is the first time I have seen the Bible make sense. Some things made me stop and think. I won't make a big deal of it. I'll just continue listening. It's good that nobody is trying to convert me by force. This approach feels more honest. If someone wants to, they can come to their own conclusions. For now, I am just observing and checking things out, but I am no longer rejecting it. Well, isn't that an interesting letter? You know, I never tire of hearing about how God's at work through his word. Here's another one. This is one from Inez who's in Portugal. About 2 months ago, I happened to hear your program. Since then, I haven't wanted to miss it. I'm learning so much. The teaching is clear, enlightening, and unlike anything I've heard before. It 's hard to put into words how much it is meant to me. The presenter speaks the truth and I always keep a notebook nearby because I don't want to miss the wisdom and practical advice being shared. I even told the pastor of my church about the program and he said he plans to start listening too. Well, this week our world prayer team, we're traveling on our knees through Europe. So if you'd like to join us in praying specifically for listeners like Antoni and Inez for the follow-up workers as well as for those who answer their phones and texts and emails, sign up right in our app or at ttb.org. And if God is using our studies to teach you something new or to change your heart as you seek to follow him, you know, we'd love to hear your story. Email us, won't you? Bible Bus at ttb.org is the address or write to us at box 7100 Pasadena, California 91109. In Canada, box 25325 London, Ontario N6C 6B1. You can also drop a note in our app or call and leave a message anytime at 1-800-655-Bible. Let's pray as we begin our study. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word that tell us us what we can expect in the days to come. Help us to hear the message that you have for us so that instead of living in fear and anxiety, we can joyfully anticipate the return of Jesus. It's in his amazing name we pray. Amen. Open to Mark 13 as we go through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Not a day, friends, as we come here to this 13th chapter of the gospel of Mark. Again, I want to repeat that Mark's account here is one of action. We've emphasized that. With the emphasis upon miracles, the last chapter we saw that there weren't many, but there was action. Now we come to this chapter and there's no miracles, but there's a great deal of action, but it's future action, you see. The action hasn't come to a standstill. There's more action here than any preceding chapter, but it's in the future. This chapter records the eschatological events which will end this age and the catastrophic events of the great tribulation are given and the second coming of Christ is graphically described. And my friend, this is action geared to divine power. And that's greater than atomic power by the way. Now we'll notice as we go through this chapter and it actually is not as long as some others that we've had that we will call attention to some of the things we've had before because the all of it discourse that's given in Mark is much briefer than the one given in Matthew. In fact, this is an abridged edition. It's a truncated edition. That's been true of Mark all the way through except in some notable instances where he gives the longest account of certain things than any other gospel, but his policy is to abbreviate everything. And here we have that brought out. Now you have in this chapter and we have majored on alliteration. So here we go. In the first four verses, we have the presentation of questions by the disciples to Jesus on top of the Mount of Olives. Verses five and seven, panorama of this age. And then verses eight through 13, we have persecution preceding the great tribulation. Then verses 14 to 23, prophecy of the great tribulation. Verses 24 27, proclamation of the second coming of Christ. Verses 28 to 33, parable of the fig tree. And verses 34 to 37, program for God's people. Now that's a lot of P's in that pod, wouldn't you say? And so that's what we have in this chapter here. Now let's look at this and I 'm reading verse one. And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here. Now I think that this is an illustration of how misunderstandings can arise in putting together gospel records or passages of scripture. Actually, the question arises here immediately, what's back of all of this? Why did they say this? Well, actually you'd have to go to Matthew to find that out. We been through Matthew, so let me just make a passing reference to it. He pronounced a coming desolation upon the temple. And the disciples were puzzled because there was a grandeur and glory about that temple and the surrounding buildings and they wanted to make sure that he'd noted it. They said, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here. And Jesus answering said unto him, see us thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. And he asked them the question. They say to him, do you see these buildings? They want to make sure that he hadn't missed it. And now he says to them, do you really see them? And this is a great truth by the way and a great spiritual lesson is here. Here in downtown Los Angeles, just in the past few years, there's gone up a 40-story building, 42-story right across the way in a block and a half, two 50-story buildings and catty-cornered across the street a 60-story building. And down the street, the greatest downtown shopping area in America. Several skyscrapers there, a big shopping mall, a great department store, two hotels. My friend, I want to tell you you could ask that question today. Don't you see all these buildings? But the question is, do we really see these buildings? We see their beauty, we see their strength, their stability and their permanence. Looks to me like they're here for a long time unless we have a good earthquake or a bad earthquake, so in how you look at it. And that made determine that they'll come down. But actually all these buildings are temporary and they're passing away. A true perspective would allow us to see that not one stone is going to be left upon another, only they didn't build them of stone. They were mostly concrete and steel, but it's all coming down. Paul stated this great spiritual truth in 2 Corinthians 4:18, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. My friend, that is a great truth. Did you know that Nebuchadnezzar walked through great Babylon in in his day and that was a glory about Babylon? And as he walked through it, he says, is not this great Babylon that I built? Have you ever seen a picture of the ruins of it? Nothing to brag about there. It's all gone, friends. The glory has disappeared. And around us here today in Los Angeles, skyscrapers going up. They're coming down too by the way because he says they're going to come down. These things are passing away. Do we really see the things today that are eternal? Now let me move on. That is a great spiritual truth that is there. Verse three, chapter 13 of Mark. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew ask him privately. Now Mark is always putting in a little something that we don't get elsewhere. Now I didn't know it was these four men who actually were the delegation of the committee that waited on him with the question. But here they are and we have said before this is Peter's gospel. So Peter lets Mark know that it was Peter and James and John and Andrew, they ask him privately, tell us, when shall these things be? What shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled? And these are the only two questions that Mark has, but Matthew has the full questions, three of them. And Dr. Luke answers part of it. That is when will one stone not be left on another? But the other two questions, what's the sign of the end of the age and what is the sign of the coming of Christ? Then both Mark and Matthew have that. Now Matthew has it in a great deal more detail than we have it here, but we'll look at Mark's emphasis. Now you must remember he's writing to the Romans and he's going to call attention to that which reveals power, action, and that which is dramatic. And friends, there's a great deal of all of that right here. Now let me read beginning now at verse five. And Jesus answering them began to say, take heed lest any man deceive you. And that is the constant warning, a warning against false Christ. For many shall come in my name saying I'm Christ and shall deceive many. Now the warning against false Christ. Somebody says, well, that's not pertinent today, is it? I think it's very pertinent right now. You know, there is a danger and I didn't know just how to emphasize that, but it's a grave danger of being deceived right now about a false Christ. Somebody said, you don't mean it. I certainly do. Some may think that they're immune to this danger. Some of you listening to me, let me say this to you. Did you know that the Christ of liberalism today is an antichrist, not the real Christ? You say, well, I thought they preached the Christ of the Bible. Oh no, they don't. May I say to you, look at this for a moment. According to their statements, he was not virgin born. He never performed a miracle. He did not shed his blood on the cross for the sins of the world. He was not raised bodily from the grave. He did not ascend bodily into heaven and he's not coming again bodily. May I say to you, the Jesus they preach is that kind of Jesus. And do you know that there's no Jesus like that in the Bible? The one in the Bible, why he was virgin born. He performed miracles. He shed his blood for the sins of the world. He was raised bodily from the grave. He ascended into heaven. He's coming again. Now that's what the Bible says. And the Bible, which contains the only documents of a historical nature concerning him, claims all these great cardinal facts of the faith. Evidently, the liberal is talking about another Christ, another Jesus. And any other Christ, friends, is antichrist. Listen to John in 1 John 2:18. Little children, it's the last time. And as you have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrist whereby we know that it's the last time. There are a lot of antichrist. This is one of I've called your attention to and there are a lot of phonies around the day that are claiming to be Christ. I understand that a founder of a religion here in Southern California is claiming today that he can do what Christ could not do. One of the Beatles claimed that they were more popular than Christ and that they were able to do more than he was able to do for the day. There are a lot of antichrist around. I love did well to warn us about that. Now in verse seven, he says, and when you shall hear wars and rumors of wars, be ye not troubled for such things must needs be, but the end shall not be yet. Now I think wars like false Christ characterize the whole age. And no believer should be disturbed by wars and wars are not the sign of the end of the age. Neither antichrist nor wars indicate that we're at the end of the age. And when I say antichrist, I mean all of these false antichrist. Now they'll finally come the antichrist. All of these are pointing to him of course. Now in verse eight and I continue to read, for nation shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in diverse places. There shall be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrow. Isn't it interesting in this day when man feels he's so civilized and he has so many gadgets and he's making the world such a wonderful place. All of a sudden, he 's discovered that he's polluting the world, that he's going to make it uninhabitable, and that before long unless he cuts down the population explosion, he 's going to starve to death. That's what the Bible says, friends, that would characterize it. It's interesting that this book that man have despised has been so accurate about it. A few years ago, they thought science would solve the problems of the world. It's made problems now that neither science nor the world can solve at all. Even Bernard Shaw had to say, the science to which I pin my faith has failed me. And now he says you are beholding an atheist who has lost his faith. Oh my, how tragic for an atheist to lose his faith. May I say to you, these are the things that characterize the age. Now verse nine he says, but take heed to yourselves for they shall deliver you up to councils. Now I don't think he's talking about the church here. And in the synagogues, ye shall be beaten and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake. And the gospel must first be published among all nations. Now what gospel? The gospel of the grace of God. Yes, it's grace all right, but it's the gospel of the kingdom. And doesn't mean there are two gospels as we solved that. It was labeled. Our Lord labeled it in the all of it discourse. And I think that he must have gone over this. I think in any gospel you have only a brief account. There's no gospel writer attempts to give us a biography or to cover all of the details of any incident that they are recording. Each one is doing it for a purpose. Now it's the gospel of the kingdom. That's a facet of the same gospel that we preach today with this distinction. Will be salvation by the grace of God. And God's never had but one way to save sinners, but by the death of Christ. But very frankly, the emphasis will be here, repent. He's coming. And when they say it in that day, it'll be in the great tribulation period. It'll be accurate, friend. Now notice this, but when they shall lead you and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak. Neither do ye premeditate, but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye, for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. Now this is no verse for a lazy preacher to use for not preparing a sermon. And I have met the brethren that have said that they use this. I remember a friend of mine down in Texas told me that he was at Temple, Texas one morning waiting. He'd changed trains there and he was going out to a little town to preach. And there was a man there with a long Prince Albert coat and he kept eyeing him. And finally this man came over and said to him, are you a preacher? And he said, yes. And he was walking up and down going over his notes for his sermon. He says, what you doing? He says, I 'm going over my notes for my sermon. He says, you you mean that you prepare your sermon beforehand? And this man said, well, don't you? And the man said, no, I don't. He said, I wait till I get up there and the spirit of God gives me the message. And this man said to him, well, says suppose that the spirit of God doesn't give you the message immediately when you get up, what do you do? Oh, he says, I just mess around till he does. There's been a whole lot of messing around today, friends. This is not for that. This is in that day when the 144,000 of the nation Israel are witnesses. This is a message for them in that day. This is not an excuse for you and me not to prepare our Sunday school lesson. Now will you notice, we find here that there'll be betrayal. We've seen that before. And you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. And that's anti-semitism worldwide. But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved. We've seen that that means that when he puts his seal upon them in that day, they're going to make it through to the end. Now will you notice, here is the dramatic part. But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, we've seen that before. That is the beginning of the great tribulation. The first three and a half years of it comparatively quite false peace of the antichrist. Now in the midst of it, there appears this abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not. That is in the holy place. Let him that readeth understand. Let them that be in Judea flee to the mountain. Now don't you see if Mark had said to the Romans, abomination of desolation would stand in the holy place. Well, they'd say, well, where is the holy place? But he says, stand in where it shouldn't stand. That's what it should be of course. And that's more understandable to us today. That is to a great many of us. We don't understand that the holy place was only given to the nation Israel and it was a place on the earth. The church hasn't any holy place. Now and let him that's in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. But woe to them that are with child, to them that give suck in those days. Now this is the beginning of the great tribulation. Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, for in those days shall be affliction such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, neither shall be. You see, this is an intense period. Now we went over this before. And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved, but for the elect's sake whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. And then if any man shall say to you, lo, here is Christ or lo, he is there, believe him not. For false Christ and false prophets shall arise. Now he gives the sign of his coming, but in those days after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not give her light. The stars of heaven shall fall. The powers that are in the heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And those clouds are not rain clouds up there. They are the glory clouds, that Shekinah glory. And I believe that was the sign of the son of man in heaven as we indicated in Matthew. And verse 27, then shall he send his angels, shall gather together his elect from the four winds from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. This is not the rapture of the church. He doesn't send angels then to gather them because they're caught up to meet the Lord in the air then. Now the fig tree as we've seen before speaks of the nation Israel. Now I recognize this disagreement there and I don't mind these folk disagreeing with us here, thinking that the fig tree is something else, but I personally believe that there's good scripture to make it very clear. After all, the nation Israel is God's time piece. When you look at the fig tree, he says. Now when you look at God's time piece, it's not g r u e n, not b u l o v a, not something else, but it's Israel. i s r a e l. That is the thing that he's saying here. Now they're to watch. Verse 34, for the son of man is as a man taking a far journey who left his house, gave authority to his servants, to every man his work and commanded the porter to watch. Notice what he says, watch ye therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, even at midnight, cock crowing or in the morning lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say unto all, watch. And that's for you and me today. But the watching is different. Have you ever noticed that watching is very different? You can watch in anxiety. You can watch in fear. But the child of God today is looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing. And that's anticipation and joy, but in that day there'll be great fear throughout the earth. So until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
Steve Schwetz: I love that. As children of God, we can watch the days ahead not with fear, but with joyful anticipation. Maybe if you're feeling anxious about the future and you want to know how you can put your faith and trust in God, you know, we'd love to help. Just click on how can I know God in our app or at ttb.org. There you'll find free resources from Dr. McGee to read and listen to or give us a call at 1-800-655-Bible and we'll send a few by mail. Well, the Bible Bus keeps on rolling with more of this fascinating study in Mark. I'm Steve Schwetz and I'll hold the doors open for you as you hop aboard next time.
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