Behold! He Comes! Mark 13:24-31

Behold! He Comes!

Mark 13:24-31

Introduction: One little girl heard her Sunday School teacher talk about the return of Christ. When she saw her mom later she asked her, “Mommy do you believe Jesus is coming back? And that it could be soon?” The mom replied, “Yes dear, I do.” The girl paused and then asked, “Would you please comb my hair?” She wanted to be ready! I think that is one of the practical implications of this doctrine: be ready! That theme is very clear and it carries through this chapter.

       As we have gone through this chapter I’ve pointed out that of all the chapters in Mark, this is the most challenging and most disputed, even among conservatives, as to nailing down the meaning of Jesus’ words (and as those who come out on Wednesday nights know, I am still far from having all of this figured out!). The question of Jesus’ meaning in verse 30, “this generation,” is the crux of the entire discourse and will impact our reading of the whole chapter. Is Jesus in fact saying that everything He is describing in this chapter will have happened during the current generation then living, as He spoke, including the end of the age and His coming in glory? Some take that view to the extreme, actually seeing no connection between what Jesus is saying here and the events preceding and leading to His second coming and the establishment of His kingdom. At the other end of the spectrum are those who push the whole thing into the distant future, seeing no prediction of the events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, taking a completely “futurist” view, all of this is a prophecy of the great tribulation at the end of the age. I’ve been trying to make the case that Jesus is in a sense doing both. The disciples asked about “when” Jesus’ prediction about the Temple would be fulfilled, but they also asked Him about His coming and the end of the Age. He weaves His answers together, giving them a relatively near-term prophecy concerning the coming destruction of the Temple, while also pointing to a future tribulation and His glorious appearing at the end of the Age.

Context: We’ve seen in the Olivet discourse the call to stay faithful, because life will get hard but Jesus is coming. We’ve been encouraged that the assurance of God’s presence and the certainty of victory will enable us to endure both the trials of life and the attacks of the enemy, and that we can be assured that God is in control and that His Word will guide us through difficult and deceptive times.

      This week we’ll see… The Maine* Idea: Jesus is coming soon to gather His people to Himself! Are you ready?

I. Jesus is coming! He will come again to gather His people (24-27). Jesus has been describing days of Tribulation, as well as a soon to come period of intense Tribulation, the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple. Those events, it seems to me, point ahead to a “Great Tribulation” at the end of the age which will occur before His coming. That day will be marked by cosmic events…

"But in those days, following that distress, "'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;  ²⁵ the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.' 

       First, we see that a prophecy of cosmic signs will be powerfully fulfilled (24-25). We probably should have expected that! All of creation was impacted by the Fall, and it makes sense that of all creation will be shaken as God’s redemptive plan continues to unfold in the return of Christ. Paul says in Romans 8:19-22 that

¹⁹ The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.  ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope  ²¹ that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.  ²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

We’ve seen that language of “birth pains” in this passage as well. The tribulations we experience in life, including the natural or cosmic reminders that we live in a fallen world, should cause us to look heavenward, waiting for the unfolding drama of redemption to take its next step. The prophets had anticipated the coming Day of the Lord, when heavens would be shaken at the arrival of the messianic Judge and Redeemer… Let’s read a couple of predictions of what lay ahead... Isaiah pictures the heavens shaking as God’s day of judgement arrives…

Isaiah 13:9-13   ⁹ See, the day of the LORD is coming--a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger-- to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.  ¹⁰ The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.  ¹¹ I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.  ¹² I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir.  ¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.

Is that all poetic imagery? We see similar language elsewhere, also expressing a coming day of judgement…

Ezekiel 32:7-8   ⁷ When I snuff you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light.  ⁸ All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you; I will bring darkness over your land, declares the Sovereign LORD.

Joel 2:10   ¹⁰ Before them the earth shakes, the sky trembles, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine.

Later in Joel 2 the language continues, but with a shift toward hope and salvation for those who call on the Lord…

Joel 2:28-32  ²⁸ "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.  ²⁹ Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.  ³⁰ "And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.  ³¹ The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.  ³² And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls…

Another passage in Joel reflects both judgement and hope, and also calls for a decision…

Joel 3:12-18   ¹² 'Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side.  ¹³ Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow-- so great is their wickedness!'  ¹⁴ Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.  ¹⁵ The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine.  ¹⁶ The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.  ¹⁷ 'Then you will know that I, the LORD your God, dwell in Zion, my holy hill. Jerusalem will be holy; never again will foreigners invade her.  ¹⁸ 'In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the LORD's house and will water the valley of acacias.

We see a lot in those verses, nations being judged, multitudes in the “valley of decision,” the earth and the sky trembling, God’s presence, kingdom blessings being poured out on this people. Back in our context in Mark Jesus goes from the shaking of the cosmos to…

      A Promise fulfilled: His coming in Glory for His people (26-27). Back in Jesus’ teaching in Mark 13:26-27, the Lord alludes to another prophet, Daniel, to describe the day of his coming in glory…

²⁶ "At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.  ²⁷ And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. 

I do not believe we should push the details of this chapter into a precise timetable. The point is that, as Jesus said in the upper room, “In the world you will have tribulation.” As we experience it in our lives, as we see it in the world, it should remind us that Jesus is coming again, and He will save those who are His, those He calls here “the elect.” All of that tribulation should tell us that His return is imminent, that is it could happen at any time. Alistair Begg said along those lines, “If He is near, He can’t be here!” The cosmic upheaval that is described here will happen at His coming in glory, essentially announcing His arrival. This points to The Maine* Idea, for us and for readers in every age: Jesus is coming soon to gather His people to Himself! Are you ready?

II. Be ready, He is coming soon! Jesus will come again and the time is near (28-31). Jesus now uses an illustration to reinforce the point…

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.  ²⁹ Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. 

      A prediction of His imminent return (28-29). Sandwiched around the Temple cleansing, the episode of Jesus cursing the fig tree pointed to God’s impending judgement of Israel. Is that connection to be made here? Maybe. Certainly we can say that Jesus is turning to an example from nature, an illustration, to illumine the point He is making. The lesson of the fig tree here is that the things Jesus has just described, the tribulation in the world, the example of intense tribulation that would occur at the Fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, all of that should remind us that just as the tender shoots and sprouting leaves would reliably tell that people that summer is near, so the kind of tribulation He has described should tell us that God’s plan is moving toward a climax, and that the promise of His coming is at hand. Remember the little girl’s reaction when she heard Jesus was coming soon, she asked her mom to comb her hair, she wanted to be ready! Around this time Jesus told a parable that we have in Matthew 25. Let’s read a few verses…

"Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.  ² Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.  ³ For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them,  ⁴ but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.  ⁵ As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.  ⁶ But at midnight there was a cry, 'Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him… 

The foolish virgins were not ready! They were locked out. “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour… (Matt 25:13).

      Over the last couple of years, the news headlines, the stories of suffering in people’s lives, the evil we see showing itself as recently as a week ago in Pittsburg, all of these things remind us why Jesus came, that is, because of our sin problem. He came, to reconcile sinners to God and ultimately to restore creation, to overcome the curse and to make it possible for believers, the elect, to experience Life, the way life should be! This should also be a reminder, to look up, expectantly, with hope. Paul wrote to a young disciple in Titus 2:11-14,   

¹¹ For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,  ¹² teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,  ¹³ looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,  ¹⁴ who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Notice what Paul is saying, the hope of His appearing in glory is a motivation to us to live differently, seeking to make choices that honor the King.

      A promise that His Word is sure (30-31). This brings us to the verse that I called the crux of the passage. The key is to what is Jesus referring with the phrase “this generation,” and also to what does He refer when He speaks of “all things”?

³⁰ I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.  ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

First, let’s consider the phrase “all these things.” To what was Jesus referring? Remember the discourse began with Jesus responding to a question the disciples asked, “Tell us when will these things be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” (Mark 13:4).  Matthew gives us a little more detail, telling us the disciples also asked, “And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" (Matt 24:3). I have argued that Jesus weaves together in his response His answers to both of these questions, which the disciples probably view as simultaneous events. This is similar to what we often see in the Old Testament prophets, who wove together references to the first coming of Christ and his return in glory (cf. Zech 9:9,10 f.). But doesn’t Jesus also imply that this generation will see these prophecies fulfilled? That brings us to the crux of this passage, and the expression…

      “…this generation…” To what is Jesus referring? The natural reading of the English translations might seem to be the generation in which Jesus was living and speaking.  Jesus spoke of the “signs” of the Temple’s destruction, but also that His coming was near, leading the cosmic disturbances that come, it seems, with his Parousia. This generation, the people alive as Jesus spoke this word to His disciples, would see that signs He describes in this passage, including wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes and pestilences, the birth pangs that remind us everyday that we live in a fallen world. Further, they would see a specific horrific example of human depravity and rebellion in the siege and the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple. It seems to me He is saying that these birth pangs will continue and will intensify until Jesus returns. What we see happening in the world should tell us that all is not right in the world, but that Jesus is coming, and He will make all things new.

What is God saying to me in this passage? The passage we read earlier in Joel reflects both judgement and hope, and also calls for a decision… Joel 3:12 says, “Let the nations be roused…” That mission has been entrusted to us until He comes. So we should be diligent, alert, and engaged. Why? Verse 14 tells us, “For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.”  Time is short, Jesus is coming, unbelief will be judged. Deliverance and life, abundant life, blessing, the “way life should be,” is offered to all who will believe. Jesus said, “I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly!” He came to pay the redemption price, to offer to humanity reconciliation with God. That begins with seeing our need, our sin, our unrighteousness, our self-centeredness, and then, as our eyes are opened to recognize the Savior we turn from our sin, to Jesus, calling on His name. God’s promise is that “whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? When we consider the thrust of this passage, the promise of His coming, we again come to a first Sunday and plan to celebrate the Lord’s Table together. Remember the questions Mark has been answering: 1) Who is Jesus? 2) Why did He come? And 3) What does it mean to follow Him? Jesus isn’t merely another prophet, He is the prophet like Moses of whom the Scripture spoke. He isn’t just a son of David, He is the ideal Son to whom all others pointed, the Son of God, incarnate. And indeed He is a High Priest, after the order of Melchizedek, but even greater in that the blood that He offers is not that of bulls or goats, but His own precious blood, He is both priest, and the Lamb. He is the One the Father sent to be our substitute, to do for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves, to pay a price we could not pay. He died and rose again, and this same Jesus is coming again! That is our sure hope! In the Lord’s Table we show forth the Lord’s death until He comes.  AMEN.