Middle of the Tribulation (Mark 13:14-19)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/19/2012

My Worship Time                                                   Focus:  The Middle of the Tribulation

Bible Reading & Meditation                                             Reference:  Mark 13:14-18

            Message of the verses:  “14 ¶  “But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15  Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, 16  and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 17  And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! 18  Pray that it may not happen in winter.”  (ESV)

            It has been a little over a month since we last looked at the Gospel of Mark and the 13^th chapter in particular, and so before we begin this section I thought that I would do a little bit of review from this 13^th chapter.  As we come to the 13^th chapter of Mark we must understand that we are very near the end of Christ’s life on planet earth, for in just a couple of days He would go to the cross in order to pay for the sins of those who would come to believe in Him.  His public ministry is now complete and He is dealing with His disciples, making them ready for when He departs from this world.  It is believed that this is Wednesday when the events of this chapter occur.  Jesus comes out of the temple towards evening and is heading away from the city of Jerusalem when his disciples begin to question Him, and to also point out the beautiful temple building.  This is called Herod’s temple because he was the one who had it done over to the state that it was in at this time, and it was very beautiful indeed.  Jesus then points out to His disciples that in a short time, (40 years but Jesus did not give them this information), that the temple would be destroyed.  This event would happen in 70 AD by Titus and the Roman Legions.  This event was prophesied by Daniel in the 9^th chapter of Daniel.  “26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.”  In this 26^th verse of Daniel’s ninth chapter we see some amazing things that will happen.  First we see that the Messiah would be killed, and then we see that there will one day come a prince who will come out of the people who will destroy the temple and the city.  Now the prince is the antichrist and he will come from the people who would destroy the temple and the city of Jerusalem.  Jesus also foretells this event in His message given to His disciples.  As stated Titus from the empire of Rome came and destroyed the temple and the city in 70 AD.

            The event we are looking at in Mark 13 is also seen in Matthew 24-25, and Luke 21, and it is called the “Olivet Discourse” because Jesus is at the Mount of Olives when He gives this message. 

            I like to listen to John MacArthur for many reasons in my preparation to write some of my Spiritual Diaries.  When I listen to his messages he will almost always go back and do a review of what he has been talking about in the past before he brings new material in his message.  As I was listening to one of his messages from Mark’s gospel yesterday MacArthur gave a quick review for this chapter and so I thought that I would include this review in today’s Spiritual Diary.

            “They were asking the question, many of them were asking, it was an open dialogue. And Matthew records in Matthew 24:3 that one of them said, “What will be the sign of Your coming and the end of the age?” So that triggers our Lord’s message on the future. And He starts answering it in verse 5 of chapter 13. I’m not going to review it, just to point it out to you. In chapter 13, verse 5 through 13, He describes history up till now and including now. And He said, “Look, before I come, the world will be characterized by religious deception, massive religious deception.” Matthew, Mark and Luke all give us insight into this.

            “It will secondly be characterized by massive disasters, wars, rumors of wars, which means hot wars, cold wars, earthquakes. And if you put them all together, famines, plagues, all kinds of natural disasters. And it will also be, human history will, be characterized by the relentless persecution of believers, by Jews first, by Gentiles also and even in your families. So He characterizes the period of time between then, leading up until His coming, as a time of deception, disaster, and distress of persecution of believers. History tells us, He was exactly right…exactly right. That is the story of

human history. It is a relentless time of religious deception. Religious deception today proliferates maybe like it never has in the history of the world, we haven’t had any improvement on our susceptibility as a human race to lies to the enemy, the king of hell himself, delegated king of hell, Satan.

            “History has also been characterized by wars and rumors of wars. And they don’t lessen. They seem to be increasing, even in our very time today and by natural disasters which seem to be getting worse and worse. Characterization of persecution goes on. Believers have always been persecuted. They’re being persecuted and even slaughtered around the world today. Our Lord saw history the way it is because the Bible always corresponds to reality.”  We will end his review there because if I went on with it then it would include what we will be looking at today.

           

            In the verses that we are looking at today (Mark 13:14-18) we see Jesus speaking about an event called the “abomination of desolations.”  This event is mentioned in the book of Daniel.  Dr. Wiersbe writes the following on this event:  “The phrase ‘abomination of desolations’ comes from the Book of Daniel and refers to the idolatrous pollution of the Jewish temple by the Gentiles.  To the Jews, all idolatry is an abomination (Deu. 29:17; 2Kings 16:3).  The Jewish temple was defiled in 167 BC by the Syrian kings Antiochus IV (also called ‘Epiphanes’ meaning ‘illustrious’) when he poured swine’s blood on the altar.  This event was predicted in Daniel 11:31.”  We also know that when the Romans destroyed the temple as mentioned above that it was defiled too.  However those events are not what Jesus is speaking of in this passage, but an event that is still future, that will happen in the middle of what we call the “tribulation.”  This event is prophesied also by Daniel in Daniel 9:27 and also Daniel 12:11.

            Daniel was given, what I refer like to as the greatest prophecy given, in the ninth chapter of Daniel after he was praying to the Lord about when the Jews would leave Babylon, for Daniel was reading from the prophet Jeremiah that the Jews would only be in Babylon for seventy years, “‘And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” “Jer 29:10 For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.”  Now before Daniel’s prayer was finished the angel Gabriel came to answer it and that answer is found in Daniel 9:24-27.  In order to understand this prophecy you have to understand that the Jews had weeks of days and also weeks of years and so the total amount of time that this prophecy has is 490 years or seventy sevens which is what the Hebrew language says.  There is a certain event that this prophecy begins with and a certain event that it will end with.  There are also other events involved in this prophecy.  Nehemiah chapter two is when the 490 years begins and after 483 years it will stop with seven years left on it.  Luke 19 is when the prophecy will end with those seven years left on it.  The event that stopped it just happened prior to Jesus giving His message in Mark 13, and that happened when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey which we call Palm Sunday.  Why was this the ending point of these first 483 years of this prophecy?  Jesus says the following from Luke 19: 42  saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”

            As we mentioned there are still seven years left on this prophecy and Daniel goes on to state when these seven years will begin:  “Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate."   The “he” is the antichrist and this seven year period begins with the antichrist signing a peace treaty with the nation of Israel for seven years.  This begins the “tribulation” period.  In the middle of the week, which is three and a half years into it the antichrist will come into the temple and commit the abomination of desolation.  The horrors if the tribulation will begin for real after this event.  Jesus is speaking to those who will be alive and on the earth at the time when this event takes place and in the remaining verses that are from our text today He tells them what they must do. 

            Our journey through this 13^th chapter of Mark has come to the middle of the tribulation period.  This entire event is described in the book of Revelations from chapter six to chapter nineteen where we will see the return of Jesus Christ to planet earth at the end of the battle of Armageddon. As we continue to look at this 13^th chapter of Mark we will also see the events that will unfold during the tribulation period all the way up to the return of Jesus Christ to planet earth.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am reminded on how I am to live my life knowing that the events that we are talking about will someday come about.  In the last letter that Peter wrote shortly before he was crucified upside down for the cause of Christ he wrote the following words, “10  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”  Peter writes about the end of the 1000 year kingdom here which begins after the tribulation period ends with the return of Christ.  He then goes on to write, “11 ¶  Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13  But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14  Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15  And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16  as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17  You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18  But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.       

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Live my life in a way that will please the Lord, by learning contentment, and having my mind transformed by the Word of God.  To follow what 2 Peter 3:18 says.

Memory verse for today:  Psalm 121:1

            1 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where will my help come?

12/19/2012 12:01 PM