Mark 13:1-31
Signs of the End of the Age
1As he 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?"
5Jesus said to them: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 6Many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and will deceive many. 7When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.
9"You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. 10And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. 11Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
12"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 13All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
14"When you see 'the abomination that causes desolation' standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15Let no one on the roof of his house go down or enter the house to take anything out. 16Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. 17How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 18Pray that this will not take place in winter, 19because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again. 20If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. 21At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'Look, there he is!' do not believe it. 22For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect—if that were possible. 23So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.
24"But in those days, following that distress,
" 'the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
25the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'
26"At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27And 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.
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. 29Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. 30I tell you the truth, 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.
Jesus tells the four disciples, Peter, John, James, and Andrew about the end of times...The four disciples look at the magnificent temple of God and its huge massive stones and comment about it to Jesus...Jesus tells them that not one of the stones of the temple would be left on one another...Every stone would be torn down...The disciples want to know about when these things would happen...Jesus talks about these things, the nearer future, and the End of the Age...He does not give disciples and us definitive answers on when the Temple would be destroyed or when the end of age would happen...
Jesus jumps around in His discussion about the future with the disciples...He talks about the end of times and then He interjects how they will be persecuted for following Him, after His death...
Jesus said we must beware that no one deceives us...Many will come in His name, claiming they are the Messiah...Those making this claim will deceive many...They will be able to do signs and miracles to deceive us... When we hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed...Such things will happen before the end of times...There will be a history of war...Such things must happen, but the end is still to come...Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom will rise against kingdom...There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines...These are the beginnings of the birth pains...These are the beginnings of the end of times...So we must be on guard...The disciples will be handed over to local councils and flogged in the synagogues...On account of Him, they will be stood before governors and kings...The gospel must first be preached to all nations...Whenever the disciples are arrested and brought to trial, they are not to worry what they are going to say...They are just to say what is given to them at the time...It will not be them speaking, but the Holy Spirit will be speaking for them...
Brothers will betray brothers and a father will betray his child...Children will rebel against their parents and have to be put to death...All men will hate the Christian believer because of Him, but those who can stand firm to the end, will be saved in the end of age...When we see the abomination that causes desolation standing where it does not belong- let the reader understand- then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains...Let no one on the roof of his house go down or enter the house to take anything out...Let no one go back to get his cloak...We are to take nothing...It will be dreadful for the pregnant woman and nursing mothers...We must pray that this will not take place in the winter, because those will be the days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now, and it has never been equaled again...If the LORD does not cut short the tragic problems of the end of age, then no one would survive...For the sake of the people, He will cut the end of times short, so we will have less suffering...If at this time, during these tribulations, someone says there is the Christ, or things they see Him, we are not to believe it...For false Christs and false prophets will come and perform signs and miracles...So we must be on guard...Jesus then tells His disciples He has told them everything ahead of time...Then He adds in those days of distress the sun will darken, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky and the heavenly bodies will be shaken...At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory...He will send angels for the sake of the elect from the four winds of the earth to the ends of heaven...
We must remember these things...We must learn from the fig tree...When the twigs get tender and its leaves come out, we know summer is near...Even when we see these troubled signs we know that the end of age is near...It is right at our door...Jesus tells them that this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened...Heaven and earth will pass away...But Jesus' words will never pass away...
Jesus does not give hard signs or a lot of detailed evidence for us for the End of Age...Jesus talk has one asking more questions than it answers...But we must be on guard and aware of the end of time...Also it is interesting about Jesus great teachings He makes us think, and does not give us comfort, as we know comfort on earth...In His great Sermon on the Mount and His Sermon on the Plain, He certainly does not talk about earthly comfort...Here He does not give us earthly comfort, but heightens our curiosity about His second coming...We must be aware of the signs that He explains, but doesn't give us the exact time or how we will recognize Him from the false Christs and false prophets...
Hopefully after Jesus talk here with Andrew, Peter, John, and James (they) realize He will leave them (die and be resurrected)...They will be persecuted with other Christians after He resurrects from death...The Temple will be destroyed (it is destroyed by the Romans in 70 a.d. and many of His disciples and followers will see this)...He also has give them (and us) a general idea about the end of age...
We are to be on guard, keep watch and pray for the Day of the LORD...The gospel must be preached to all nations...The sun will not shine, but be darkened...The moon will not give its light...Stars will be falling from the sky...The heavenly bodies will be shaken...Jesus will come in clouds in great power and glory...He will gather His elect, His people at this time...Jesus commands us to watch, for the hour is not known...
St. Peter tells us that we should look forward to the Second Coming of Christ and we should speed its coming...The Day of the LORD will destroy the heavens and the elements will melt in the heat...But in God keeping His promise we can look forward to a new heaven and a new earth, a new home of righteousness (2 Peter 3:12-13)...