The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

Sermon: The Fragrance of Love (Mark 14:1-11)

The Fragrance of LoveSunday, July 7th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Mark 14:1-11
After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. 2 But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people.
3 And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. 4 And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? 5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. 6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. 7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. 8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. 9 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.
10 And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. 11 And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him.
Prayer
Thy love O Lord is better than wine, Thy name is as ointment poured forth, Therefore do the virgins love thee. Open now unto us the gates of heaven, that we might behold in your Word, the exceeding riches of Your grace and kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. And Amen.
Introduction
This morning, we are picking back up in the Gospel of Mark. We began our study of Mark’s Gospel way back in April of 2023, so for over a year now we have been steadily plodding through this book, and finally we have come to the last movement of this symphony, and the final act of this gospel.
Chapters 14-16 record what is typically called “the Passion Narrative,” which begins with Christ’s body being anointed for burial and ends with the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord.
So these last three chapters are what the previous 13 chapters have been preparing us for. For three years Jesus has preached the gospel, he has healed the sick, he has performed miracles, he has cast out demons, he has taught and fed the multitudes, and now, two days before the great Passover feast, Jesus is himself prepared as a sheep for the slaughter.
Overview of the Text
Our text sets up a contrast between two kinds of people.
1. There is the unnamed woman, who from love and devotion, pours out precious ointment upon Jesus’ head, an amount valued at 300 denarii, or about 1 year of wages.
2. And then there is Judas, who from greed and self-interest, betrays Jesus for money. How much? Thirty pieces of silver.
And then we might also add a third group of people, which is the guests, the other disciples, those observing and judging the value or prudence of this woman’s actions. In their eyes this is anointing is wasteful, whereas in Jesus’ eyes it is meritorious and praiseworthy.
So, there are many lessons for us in this text, so let us walk through it and then make some applications from it.
Verses 1-2
After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. 2 But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people.
So it is two days before Passover, and in our reckoning this would likely be Wednesday of Passion Week. And Jesus has just finished his scorching condemnation of the Temple from the Mount of Olives, where he foretold the city’s destruction within one generation. That was Mark 13.
And now here we have the Jewish authorities (whom Jesus refuted in earlier chapters) plotting how they might take Jesus and kill him, without stirring up the crowds. Far from regarding the solemnity of the sabbath and the Passover festival, the chief priests and scribes treat it as a kind of inconvenience that must be factored into their plot of Jesus’ downfall. “Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people.”
So notice the irony and divine wisdom in the timing of these events. Passover was the remembrance and reenactment of God delivering Israel from bondage in Egypt. And more specifically, remembering the night in which the angel of death passed over, and killed all the firstborn in the land who did not have the blood of the lamb to cover them.
And so in the middle of this great festival and memorial to God’s redeeming mercy, men are plotting God’s death. Mortal creatures are seeking to take by craft the omnipotent and all wise God. This is one of the many jokes that God tells in His Word.
So these opening verses of Mark 14 set the stage for a divine comedy. As it says in Psalm 2:4, “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh, The Lord shall have them in derision.”
While men may plot the destruction of the righteous, and while the enemies of Christ’s body may surround us like vultures, we serve the God of whom it says, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness,” and, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
Seeing that this God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the lowly, we have now in verse 3 a stark contrast to the murderous high priests and scribes. For here in this unnamed woman, we have a portrait of true and humble devotion.
Verse 3
3 And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.
The scene shifts from a murderous plot outside, to a feast inside in Bethany.
Bethany means house of obedience, and it was the last stop on one’s pilgrimage to Jerusalem, located just a couple miles from the city walls.
And it is here that Jesus dines at Simon the leper’s house, who was a former leper that Jesus had healed.
And then depending on how one harmonizes this story with the other three gospel accounts, this unnamed woman was likely the same woman that John’s gospel identifies as Mary, the sister of Martha. And if that is the case, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus would all be in attendance together with Jesus’ disciples as John 12 records.
So in the midst of this large gathering, of at least 15 men dining together (Jesus, the twelve, Simon, and Lazarus), it says, “there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.” What is the significance of this rather socially awkward interruption of the meal?
There are echoes here of the Song of Solomon, which is a love poem between Christ and the Church, between the Bride and the Bridegroom.In the voice of the Bride it says in Song of Solomon 1:12, “While the king sitteth at his table, My spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.”
And what do we have here in Bethany? We have King Jesus, sitting at the table, and the woman’s spikenard sending forth its smell.
In the voice of the Bridegroom it says in Song of Solomon 4:10, “How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! How much better is thy love than wine! And the smell of thine ointments than all spices!
And how does Jesus respond to this aroma of love? He says in verse 6, “she hath wrought a good work on me.”
So God has given us this scene to signify not just this individual woman’s devotion to Christ, but the devotion the church should have for Christ. The woman signifies the bride, and Christ is the greater Solomon, the Bridegroom. This is a common theme throughout all the gospels when Jesus interacts with women.
What about the significance of her gift?
When we consider this lavish gift of the woman, we discover that many biblical virtues are signified here.
By the ointment is signified joy and fellowship, healing and wholeness.
Proverbs 27:9 says, “Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart.”
Ecclesiastes 9:8-9 says, “Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.”
Psalm 133 says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head…”
So ointment in Scripture signifies the Holy Spirit, who is the very bond of unity and love, and who gladdens our heart as we pour forth in generosity and charity to others.
One of the proper names of the Holy Spirit is Gift, for as we recite in the creed, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, and this procession is a pouring forth of the infinite love between Father and Son.
Recall the scene in Acts 5, where Ananias and Sapphira drop dead for lying to the Holy Spirit. Why was their sin of keeping back some of what they had promised to give to God, called “lying to the Holy Ghost?”
Because it is proper to the Holy Ghost to be freely given, and therefore to say you are going to freely give your possessions, but then to secretly keep them back, is to contradict the very Spirit in which the gift is to given.
So this woman’s gift of ointment is a fitting sign that the Holy Spirit indwells this woman. She has been moved by God to adore Christ in this way, and to prepare his body for burial.
What about the spikenard? By the spikenard, is signified a kind of purity or faithfulness. In Greek it is actually two words, (νάρδου πιστικῆς) which you could translate as nard of faithfulness, or genuine/unadulterated nard.
And then Mark tells us explicitly that this spikenard was “very precious.”
So this is an expensive and beautiful gift that is fit for a king. It exemplifies the giving to God of all that one considers most precious, and it so extravagant that it actually offends some of the disciples.
Verses 4-5
4 And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? 5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.
Notice that in Mark’s account, it is not Judas alone who is indignant. Some of the other disciples join in the murmuring against her.
And what is their reasoning? It was wasteful. It was economically foolish and not the best allocation of capital. It could have been sold and given to the poor.
Now we know from elsewhere in the gospels that Judas’ motive was not care for the poor, but rather, the poor were his front/cover for his own thievery and self-interest. As treasurer, he used to help himself to the money bag. And while Judas’ motive was greed and self-interest, there are other disciples who join in the murmuring and indignation because they are moved by Judas argument, that this could have been given to the poor instead. And doesn’t Jesus tell us to care for the poor?
Notice how easily these disciples are manipulated by an emotional appeal to the poor. This is American identity politics 101. Wealthy thievesuse the poor as a cover and front for their own self-interest.They oppress the poor in the name of helping the poor, and it is well-meaning disciples who are easily steered by such appeals. Much more could be said about this, but let us see how Jesus responds?
Verses 6-9
6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. 7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. 8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. 9 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.
Jesus as the faithful bridegroom comes to the defense and vindication of his bride. What they considered wasteful and excessive, Jesus considers fitting and most appropriate to the occasion.
Despite Jesus telling his disciples in very clear and explicit terms, multiples times, that he is going to be arrested, crucified and rise the third day, still they don’t get it. But this woman does.
This woman knows what is fitting for the occasion, because she is full of the Holy Spirit. And so she does from love for Christ, what she will not ever have the opportunity to do later, namely anoint and perfume the body of Christ in preparation for his burial.
This is the logic of Jesus’ vindication and praise of her action.
The poor you have with you always, and you can do them good from your own resources anytime you want. And God will reward you richly for doing so!
Psalm 41 says, “Blessed is he who considers the poor; The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive, And he will be blessed on the earth; You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You will sustain him on his sickbed.”
So Jesus is not discouraging helping the poor. And indeed as Paul says, we must remember the poor and be merciful unto them. 
But this is a special occasion, a once in a lifetime opportunity that will not come again, where you are gathered around the table with God incarnate. And it is just two days before his body will be crucified for the sins of the world. And so what could be more fitting, than to “waste” this most precious ointment, upon the body of God? To prepare his body for burial, and to prophesy by one’s offering that this same body shall perfume the whole world with the knowledge of God. That this same body shall be the aroma of salvation to the ends of the earth. What could be more fitting than this?
So Jesus lauds this woman’s devotion. And he declares that wherever this gospel shall be preached, and indeed it shall be preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.
How does this land with the disciples? Mark only tells us about the actions of Judas.
Verses 10-11
10 And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. 11 And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him.
Notice the text began in verses 1-2 with the problem of how to catch Jesus by craft, and now here Judas offers himself as the solution. If they give him money, he will find a way to conveniently betray him.
So this is the contrast Mark draws our attention to.
The woman sacrifices something precious for love for Christ.
Judas sacrifices Christ for something he considers more precious, namely money.
Remember Jesus words in the Sermon on the Mount, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
Judas has chosen Mammon for his god, and the reward Mammon gives is death.
The woman has chosen Christ for God, and her reward is life everlasting.
Conclusion
Who is your Master? Who do you serve? Who or what receives your devotion and attention and desire? Who do you give your most precious ointment to? Do you even have the oil of the Holy Ghost to give?
In Matthew 16:25 Jesus says, “whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”
This is the decision before us every day, every hour, every time we are tempted to settle for earthly goods over heavenly goods. And what the Bible teaches us is that every earthly good is a gracious gift from God, and yet those earthly goods must always be subordinated to and made servants of the Greatest Good, namely God.
This means being ready at all times like the Apostle Paul to count everything as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:8).
It means that God leads in triumph through the trials of this life so that “through us He diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place” (2 Cor. 2:14).
It means that while Christ is absent from us in body, He is always present in the hearts of the faithful who love him, and because of this love, the King shall say to the righteous on judgment day, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me…Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”
So when you serve the body of Christ, those who Jesus calls “my brethren,” you are doing it as unto Christ Himself, and you shall by no means, lose your reward.
May God make us into a people that is zealous for good works, that is full of charity, that the fragrance of Christ would be known in our region. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen.

Sermon: How Excellent Thy Name (Psalm 8)

How Excellent Thy NameSunday, June 23rd, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Psalm 8:1-9
To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord our Lord,
How excellent is thy name in all the earth!
Who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength
Because of thine enemies,
That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
And the son of man, that thou visitest him?
5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,
And hast crowned him with glory and honour.
6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands;
Thou hast put all things under his feet:
7 All sheep and oxen,
Yea, and the beasts of the field;
8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea,
And whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
Prayer
Father, we thank you for the prophet David, and how you inspired Him to write this most excellent song of praise. Inscribe these words upon the tablet of our heart, that we might not sin against you, but rather praise you at all times, for you are the God who gives, and takes away, and then rewards us beyond all that we could ask or imagine. We pray all this in Christ’s name, Amen.
Introduction
One of the blessings of summertime in the Northwest, is that there are occasionally fewer clouds in the sky. And when the sky is clear, especially on a warm summer night, you can go outside, and look up, and behold the handiwork of God’s finger.
When the sky is clear you can see the moon, you can see more stars than you could ever count. And if you are ever able to get out of the city, away from the light pollution, and into the mountains or a high place, the views of God’s creation, the heavens above, are astonishing. They make us to wonder and to marvel that someone made all of that.
What are stars in the night sky but God poking little holes of light into a blanket of darkness. Stars are little windows into the heaven beyond the heavens, beyond the firmament, where the beauty of God’s light dwells. From our perspective, down here on earth, looking up, the stars are shining portals into the place where God dwells. And they make us to marvel even as David did when he wrote this psalm.
The Apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:15-16, that Jesus Christ is “the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.”
The divinity of Christ is a light unapproachable. As it says in John 1:18, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” And again in John 1:4-5, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
So because God is up there in a light so bright it would blind us, the Son of God, took to Himself human flesh, and he veiled His infinite and divine glory, His uncreated light, so that one day we might see God as He is.
St. Ephrem the Syrian (died 373 AD), has this wonderful poem where he says, “God had seen that we worshipped creatures. [So] He put on a created body to catch us by our habit. Behold by this fashioned one [Christ] our Fashioner healed us, And by this creature [the Lord Jesus] our Creator revived us.”
God saw that idolatry was in the heart of man. We see something amazing like the moon or the stars or the galaxies far off, and we are tempted to worship them. But it is that temptation to transcendence, to adore and worship what is awe-inspiring, that God intended as a signpost of His glory and His beauty as the Creator.
God intended for us to be stirred to worship Him as we look at His creation, and what sin has done is severed that connection and turned us in on ourselves, to worship ourselves and even lifeless creatures.
So salvation is in its fullest sense is not merely the forgiveness of sins, it is not merely the resurrection of our body, the whole purpose of forgiveness and resurrection is so that we can see and enjoy God as He is. And because it was our bad habit to worship creatures, God became a creature in the man Christ Jesus, so that in beholding the perfection of his humanity, his life and death and resurrection, we might be brought to know and behold His divinity.
It is this hope of the beatific vision of God in Himself that is our highest and greatest good. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
Likewise, the Apostle John says in 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
To see God in his very essence, to enter that unapproachable light, and to be united to the Triune God in knowledge and love, is the highest and greatest good that any creature can attain to. And it is that grace of union with God, that Jesus Christ came to give us.
As it says in 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”
This is what Psalm 8 is all about. In these nine verses from David’s pen, are contained a summary of the Christian faith, Creation, Fall, Redemption and Consummation. Psalm 8 is like an Old Testament version of the Apostle’s Creed. And this is made possible because God is the ultimate Author of Scripture, and His divine authorship allows us to read the Psalms at multiple levels.
There is first what we call the literal or historical signification of the letters on the page. So the Hebrew word יָרֵ֥חַ signifies the mental concept moon, כוֹכָבִ֗ים signifies the mental concept of stars. Or in English, the word sheep, signifies our conception of the animal sheep. Written words signify our mental conceptions, and our mental conceptions are true when they correspond with the external realities of moon, stars, sheep, etc. So that’s the first level of reading, connecting letters on the page with things or historical events in reality.
But then there is the spiritual interpretation (sometimes called mystical, or figurative, or typological meaning), where the actual things themselves are signs of other things.
So the literal sense is where the words signify things.
And the spiritual sense is where those things signify other things.
For example, the word sheep means the animal sheep. And then spiritually, a sheep can signify a vulnerable Christian. Jesus says to his disciples in Matthew 10:16, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.”
Or to give another example. The word moon signifies the literal moon in the sky. And then that moon in the sky can signify the church, because the church like the moon, has no light of her own, but only that light she receives from Christ who is the sun of righteousness.
Thus, Song of Solomon 6:10 speaks of the church saying, “Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, And terrible as an army with banners?”
The church mirrors and reflects Christ, just like the moon mirrors and reflects the sun.
So the Psalms especially are full of this multi-layered meaning, and this is one of the reasons why God did notinspire the apostles to write a bunch of new songs for Christians after the incarnation. There is no new book of Psalms in the New Testament canon, but rather, the church sings the same 150 Hebrew Psalms but with a renewed understanding of them as they are fulfilled in Christ.
So following the example of Christ and the Apostles, in how they interpreted Psalm 8, we also can find here in these nine verses, a complete summary of the Christian faith. So let us consider this Psalm first at the literal level, and then as the New Testament applies it to Christ and the Church.
Exposition of Psalm 8
We read in the title of the Psalm, “To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David.”
What does “upon Gittith” mean? Hard to say…
Some take Gittith as referring to a kind of instrument that David made in Gath that makes a joyful sound.
Some think Gittith is the specific tune this psalm was set to.
Others take Gittith as referring to the winepress, which is how the Greek LXX translates it (ὑπὲρ τῶν ληνῶν). And they say the occasion for singing this Psalm is the Feast of Tabernacles/Ingathering at the end of harvest season, when the wine was being pressed. This idea fits nicely with the theme in this Psalm of man being given dominion over the earth, and his duty to cultivate creation, turning grace into glory, grapes into wine.
Whatever the case, it is hard to know for certain.
What was the occasion for David writing this Psalm?
The occasion of this psalm is a clear and dark night, when David is able to look up and consider the heavens, the moon and the stars. We might think of this psalm as kind of midnight counterpart to Psalm 19.
In Psalm 19, David begins by saying, “the heavens declare the glory of God.” And then he meditates upon the motion of the sun which rises “as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race,His going forth is from the end of the heaven, And his circuit unto the ends of it: And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof” (vs. 5-6).
So Psalm 19 is David’s daytime meditation on the heavens, and Psalm 8 is his midnight meditation on those same heavens. As he says in Psalm 19:2, “Day unto day uttereth speech, And night unto night sheweth knowledge.” It is that nighttime knowledge David is wondering at in Psalm 8.
Now he begins the Psalm in verse 1 the same way he ends it in verse 9 by saying…
Verse 1a & 9
1 O Lord our Lord,
How excellent is thy name in all the earth!
David bookends this summary of our faith by extolling the name of God. According to the letter, this name was LORD, YHWH, Jehovah. And this of course is who the man Christ Jesus is.
Jesus Christ is LORD. He is Alpha and Omega, beginning and end. And as it says in Romans 11:36, “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”
Jesus Christ is the Author of life, He is the one in whom our whole life consists, and He is the telos, the end and purpose for our entire existence. As St. Augustine famously said, “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in You.”
Therefore, from beginning to end, from creation to consummation, from womb to tomb, from the river to the ends of the earth, the name of God is to be extolled. “O Lord our Lord, How excellent is thy name in all the earth!”
Is that the cry of your heart? Is that the banner that flies over your life? That to live is to magnify the name of Christ, and to die is gain. That was the cry of the psalmist and the apostles, and it is the longing of all true saints.
Continuing in verse 1 he says…
Verse 1b
Who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
That is, the divine nature is beyond what your eyes can see. You can see the heavens and you can marvel at their grandeur, but the glory of God is even greater than this. It is above the created heavens.
However beautiful the stars and galaxies may be, and indeed they are stunning, the beauty of the One who created them far surpasses.
Verse 2
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength
Because of thine enemies,
That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
We move now from the glory of God above in the highest heavens, down to mankind in his most helpless state. There is a certain beauty and excellence to the celestial bodies, their vastness and splendor, but then there is a different an even more intricate beauty that is the image of God in man.
As David says in Psalm 139:13-14, “For thou hast possessed my reins: Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Marvellous are thy works; And that my soul knoweth right well.”
So God’s handiwork is seen in the midnight sky, his divine nature is infinitely above the heavens, and yet this infinite and glorious God is the one who said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:26-27).
And what is even more glorious than God’s image stamped upon human nature, is when that nature in its infancy praises its Maker, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength.”
God employs the cries of our nursing covenant children, and the songs of our toddlers singing the doxology, as his chosen weapon to silence and still the enemy and the avenger.
This is one of the many reasons we keep our children with us in the worship service. Because their praise is often more potent and genuine than ours. Their childlike faith and love for Jesus often puts ours to shame.
As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29, “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.”
The forces of darkness are confounded when our helpless and weak children give glory to God. God has ordained that the military might and strength of the church be exemplified “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings.”
So parents, teach your children, from the moment they are born, to love the Lord Jesus, to praise Him, and worship Him, and participate with us in the worship service. And yes that includes baptizing them and preparing them to eat from the Lord’s Table.
It says in 1 Corinthians 7:14, that God regards the children of at least one believing parent as holy, “else were your children unclean” (literally unbaptized/unwashed).
We baptize our infants because as it says in Acts 2:39, “the promise is unto you, and to your children,” and just as the covenant sign of circumcision was given to all of Abraham’s household (Isaac and Ishmael), so also the covenant sign of baptism is given to all those who are within the household of faith.
Do not underestimate what God can do in and through babies and nursing infants. This psalm is clear, God has ordained strength, He has established praise for Himself from their lips, and God uses their cries to silence the enemy and the avenger.
Verses 3-4
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
And the son of man, that thou visitest him?
Here David expresses that feeling we all have had when we encounter the vastness of the universe. What is man in comparison to the stars and the moon? And what am I, just a guy, amongst billions of other people on this planet?
John Piper once said, “Nobody goes to the Grand Canyon in order to build their self-esteem. Nobody goes to the Alps to feel big. But they go.” And the reason they go is because there is a certain joy and freedom in forgetting ourselves and being caught up in something infinitely bigger, namely God.
The 18th century pastor David Dickson once said, “To be occupied with our little selves is not God’s way of making us either healthy or happy.” Isn’t that the truth?
The paradox that David is expressing in this Psalm is the spiritual vertigo of looking out over the edge of the cosmos, into infinity, and then realizing God thinks about me. What is worse, I am sinner from the womb, and yet God cares for me.
To quote Psalm 139 again, David says, “How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: When I awake, I am still with thee.”
Have you ever asked the LORD this question, “What am I that you are mindful of me?” Have you experienced the freedom of being utterly insignificant to the world, and yet so important to God that He would die for you? That is the joy and freedom the gospel brings.
In the remaining verses (5 through 8), David goes back to Genesis 1-2 and considers man’s place in the order of creation.
Verses 5-8
5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,
And hast crowned him with glory and honour.
6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands;
Thou hast put all things under his feet:
7 All sheep and oxen,
Yea, and the beasts of the field;
8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea,
And whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
On the great scale of created being, there are angels at the top, who are pure spirits, intellectual substances.
And then just below them is man, “a little lower than the angels” (or in Hebrew, Elohim, the gods/God). And so man has an intellectual nature like the angels, we call it the soul or spirit, and that soul is joined to a material body, and this body is what weighs us down now that sin and death has broken us.
Nevertheless, because man is in the image of God, he has a rational nature, an intellect and free will, God has “made him to have dominion over the works of thy hands.”
Notice here that man’s dominion extends to the animals on earth, birds in the air, and fish in the sea, which are called the works of God’s hands. But he was not yet given dominion over the celestial bodies (moon and stars) which are the works of God’s fingers.
So in the hierarchy of creation, there are angels, mankind, and then animals, and they are on a descending scale according to how spiritual they are. Angel are pure spirits, man is a body-soul compositive with a rational soul, animals are a body-soul composite with only a sensitive soul.
And then the psalmist concludes in verse 9, “O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
Summary
So that is Psalm 8 according to the first layer of meaning. And if we didn’t have the New Testament, we would likely stop here and just appreciate that this Psalm has thus far covered the existence of God, His glory and power, the creation of man, and the fall of man for which reason there is an enemy and avenger that must be silenced through praise.
But there are at least three key places where this Psalm is quoted in the New Testament, and those quotations reveal a second layer of meaning that completes what we call the “story of salvation,” or “redemptive history.” So let us briefly consider those three quotations.
The first is Matthew 21:15-16, where Jesus is making his triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, 16 And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
So Jesus quotes Psalm 8 as finding a unique fulfillment in these children singing, “Hosanna to the Son of David” as he enters the temple. And so who is the enemy and the avenger in this context? It’s the chief priests and scribes who are silent in their praise of Jesus, but vocal in their blasphemy against him.
The chief priests and scribes want to silence these children, but as Jesus says elsewhere, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”
So here we have Jesus identifying himself as the LORD of Psalm 8 who is deserving of praise.
What is the most excellent name in all the earth? It is the name of Jesus. And so on our second reading of this Psalm, the new context becomes the week of Passover, the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and Jesus silencing the enemy and avenger with the singing of little children.
The second quotation is in Hebrews 2, where the Apostle Paul is explaining how Jesus is greater than the angels.
Hebrews 2:5-11
5 For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. 6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? 7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: 8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. 10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren…
So Paul gives a kind of running commentary on Psalm 8 as it applies to Jesus.
In answer to David’s question in verse 4, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him?”
Paul answers that the Son of God took on human flesh and became a son of man, so that the sons of men could become sons of glory.
And he did this by becoming a little lower than the angels, not only by taking on human flesh, but by the suffering of death, and it was that death on the cross that crowned him with glory and honor.
Here we have the death, the crucifixion, the burial, and resurrection of Jesus, breathing new life into this Psalm.
How is man crowned with glory and honor? Well now he is crowned by being united to Christ in his suffering and death. As Paul says in Philippians 3:10-11, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”
There is no crown or glory for the Christian except through the grave, exception though perseverance in suffering. That is how Christ received honor and glory, and that is also how we shall attain to the same.
Third and finally, the Apostle Paul quotes Psalm 8 in reference to the salvation of the world and the final judgment. He says in 1 Corinthians 15:25-28,
For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
So the dominion that Adam was given over birds and beasts and fish in the sea was itself a sign of Christ’s dominion over all the nations on earth.
Jesus himself said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” And unlike Adam who was not given dominion over the heavens, the man Christ Jesus now reigns from heaven, together with the saints, and he is in the business of making all things new, of fashioning for us a new heavens and new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
So in Jesus Psalm 8 is glorified. And so the next time you sing it, sing it twice. Sing it thrice! Sing it to extol God’s wisdom in creation, His grace in redemption, and His glory in making all things new. “O Lord our Lord, How excellent is thy name in all the earth!”
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: This Generation Shall Not Pass (Mark 13:28-37)

This Generation Shall Not PassSunday, May 12th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Mark 13:24-37
24 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, 25 And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. 26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: 29 So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors. 30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. 31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. 33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. 34 It is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. 35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: 36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. 37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
Prayer
Father, we ask that by the power of Your Word and Spirit, you would awaken those who are slumbering in the dark. Raise us up again to walk as children of the light, and to so let our light shine before men, that they might see our good works and glorify you O Father in heaven. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
Do you remember the very first words that came out of Jesus’ mouth when we began Mark’s gospel?
Within the opening 13 verses of Mark 1 we cover a lot of ground: Jesus is baptized by John, he is anointed by the Holy Spirit, he is driven into the wilderness, he is tempted by Satan and with the wild beasts, and then it says in Mark 1:14-15, “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
In these opening words from the mouth of Jesus he makes two definitive statements about timing. First, a certain “time is fulfilled,” and second, the kingdom of God is “at hand” (ἤγγικεν), or more literally the kingdom of God has approached/drawn nigh.
It is this same gospel of the kingdom that by the time we get to our text here in chapter 13, the disciples have also themselves preached. And yet still they have some lingering questions about how exactly this kingdom comes, and when exactly this kingdom comes.
As pious Jews they would have almost certainly known the prophecies of Daniel 2 and Daniel 7.
It says in Daniel 2:44 referring to the days of the Roman Empire, “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.”
Likewise, it says in Daniel 7:14, that when the one like the Son of Man ascends to the Ancient of Days, “And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”
This is the kingdom the prophets foretold. This is the kingdom that the angel Gabriel announced to the virgin Mary in Luke 1:31-33 saying, “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”
This is the kingdom that Jesus comes preaching from the very start of Mark’s gospel, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.”
Here in Mark 13, Jesus has been answering the disciples’ lingering questions about how and when this heavenly and everlasting kingdom of God shall arrive.
Just to remind you of the immediate context of our passage. It is the week of Passover. And as they leave the temple the disciples are admiring the stones, and Jesus says, “Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Mark 13:2).
They then go up to the Mount of Olives “over against the temple” (vs. 3), and the disciples ask in verse 4, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?”
And then starting in verse 5, Jesus foretells what will take place leading up to the kingdom’s arrival. Already we have covered verses 5-27 in great detail, but this morning we come to Jesus answering that original question of the disciples regarding timing. And so that will be our focus as we finish out this chapter.
Now the way in which Jesus answers this question about timing is curious. And so let me give you the basic outline of our text which contains his answer.
Outline of the Text
In verses 28-29, Jesus gives the disciples the parable of the fig tree.
In verses 30-32 Jesus gives them a direct and explicit time frame for the kingdom’s arrival but chooses not to tell them the exact day or hour.
And then in verses 33-37, he tells them how to live in the light of this immanent judgment on Jerusalem and arrival of the kingdom.
So with that let us turn to consider first the parable of the fig tree.
Verses 28-29
28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: 29 So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.
So Jesus starts with this analogy, that just as a fig tree blooms and signifies that summer is approaching,so also when they see “these things come to pass” they can know “the kingdom of God is nigh at hand” (Luke 21:31).
Now the question becomes, what are the “these things” Jesus is referring to. And the most natural and logical reference is to the cosmic signs that he just described in verses 24-27.
Remember that Jesus began his discourse by warning them of events that are not signs of the end. He said in verses 5-8, “Take heed lest any man deceive you: For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.”
So “wars and rumors of wars” are not the “these things” that signify the kingdom’s arrival. Famines and troubles are not the fig tree blooming in the spring, Jesus says they are just “the beginnings of the birth pains.”
We know from the book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament that these are all events that took place in the years starting with Pentecost in 30 AD up to around 62 AD (or whenever the abomination of desolation took place).
So Jesus spends a good deal of time warning the disciples that the kingdom shall not come until after certain events have taken place. For example, he says in verse 10, “the gospel must first be published among all nations.” And we know from Paul’s letters to the Romans and the Colossians, that by 60 AD that taske was completed.
Paul could say in Colossians 1:23, that the gospel “was preached to every creature which is under heaven…and was “bringing forth fruit in all the world” (Col. 1:6).
So Jesus gives in verses 5-27, a series of events that must happen prior to the kingdom’s arrival, and this includes the beginnings of the birth pains, the spread of the gospel to all nations, the great tribulation, the abomination of desolation, and then as we saw last time, after that tribulation, the powers of heaven would be shaken, the martyred saints would ascend to heaven, and as Revelation 11 describes, it is that sounding of the 6th trumpet that signifies the seventh trumpet is near. And what happens when the seventh trumpet sounds?
Revelation 11:15 says, “And the seventh angel trumpeted; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”
So the blooming of the fig tree I take as a reference to the events that take place after the great tribulation, and which are given under the various symbols and images we looked at in verses 24-27 (darkening of sun, moon, and stars, the coming of the Son of man, etc.).
By the way, it just so happened that Jesus’ prophecy about the temple being destroyed took place on August 4th, in 70 AD. So when Jesus gave this parable of the fig tree, it was a very literal sign about the season in which his words would be fulfilled, “When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near.”
So this parable establishes the general time and season for the kingdom’s arrival, and then in verses 30-31, Jesus puts a terminus or end point for when “all these things will be done.”
Verses 30-31
30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. 31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
So the time frame Jesus gives here is before “this generation” passes/dies. Jesus has already in Mark’s gospel talked about this generation (ἡ γενεὰ αὕτη), and has described them as a “faithless generation that seeks after a sign” (Mark 8:12, 9:19), and as an “adulterous and sinful generation” (Mark 8:38).
You recall in Matthew’s gospel when Jesus is pronouncing woes on the Pharisees he says, “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? 34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: 35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. 36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.”
So contrary to those who have tried to re-translate or re-interpret “this generation” (ἡ γενεὰ αὕτη), to refer to something other than that generation living in Jesus’ day, there is simply no way to take do so given the context, the Greek grammar, and the logic of the passage.
Jesus could not have been more clear. “Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.”
Contrary to many well-meaning Christians who punt the contents of this chapter into our future, Jesus was not a false prophet. Jesus was not lying. All these things were fulfilled before that generation died out, just like he said they would.
Recall also an earlier promise that Jesus gave to his disciples in Matthew 16:27-28, “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.”
As I mentioned last week, John the Apostle was one such person standing there, who lived to see Jerusalem destroyed. And according to church history John lived for another 30ish years after and died around 100 AD.
So Jesus gives a definitive time frame for the kingdom’s arrival: before this generation passes. Jesus was 33 years old when he made that promise, and so the disciples could expect the kingdom to arrive almost anytime over the next 30-60 years, which is a quite a long time.
And in case they had any doubt about Jesus’ prophesy, he adds in verse 31, “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”
We know from the rest of the New Testament, that there were doubters, there were false teachers, there were antichrists, and as 2 Peter 3:3-4 says, “there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”
And the Peter goes on to describe the immanent passing away of heaven and earth, and how they are to live as the day of the Lord approaches. He says in 2 Peter 3:13, “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
What promise is Peter referring to as he writes this letter around 64 AD? He’s referring to the promise Jesus gave them here in Mark 13, “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”
Now after giving them that time frame of say 30-60 years. Jesus goes on to tell them how to live in the meantime.
Verses 32-33
32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. 33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.
So Jesus intentionally does not specify the exact day and hour in which God’s kingdom shall arrive. This is not because he himself is ignorant of that day, for He is God and he knows all things, but rather, Jesus says, “neither the Son” to signify that He is choosing to not reveal that day and hour to them. The Son as revealer of God’s Word is concealing this from them. And the question then is, Why?
Well, for a few reasons:
First, because Jesus does not want the demons and powers of Satan to know the day of their doom. Just as he concealed his divine identity when he was born in Bethlehem, so also he is concealing the divine plan for Satan’s destruction. No good general in the army tells the enemy how and when he is going to attack them. And similarly with Christ who is even more crafty than the serpent. Jesus is the one who comes like a thief to catch and bind the great thief of this world: the devil.
The second reason for not revealing the exact day and hour of his coming, is because Jesus knows what is in man (John 2:25). Jesus knows human nature, and he knows how people would live if he told them the exact day and hour of his coming to destroy their world and usher in the new.
Just imagine for a moment that Jesus told you the exact day and hour that you were going to die. How would that affect you? We all know that we are going to die, and most of us within 30-60 years, some more some less. And yet if God told you told the exact day and hour of your death within that time frame, that is knowledge that would be hard to handle. It is also knowledge that could diminish the merit, reward, and motivation for your faithfulness.
If your death was scheduled for tomorrow, what would you be doing today? The true Christian would be fervent in prayer, confessing their sins, keeping watch, reading God’s word, and seeking assurance that they were ready to stand before God and give an account to Him for everything done in the body. When our death feels immanent, it clarifies what is really important. When death becomes immanent, it exposes this world and our worldly pursuits for the vanity it all is.
Now imagine that God told you your death was 40 years out. Would you feel the same urgency to get right with God? Would you feel the same necessity to be vigilant and watchful and faithful in the meantime?
Jesus knows human nature. And he knows that you are easily distracted, you procrastinate, you put things off until you really have to do them. And this is the test of living without knowing the day and hour of judgment. And it is this same test that Jesus was giving to that generation as they would undergo the greatest tribulation and time of testing this world has ever seen.
And therefore, like a good coach and teacher, Jesus tells them exactly how to pass the test. And what he says in essence, is that they must keep watch and be vigilant like a man who never sleeps. In verse 34 he gives them another parable/analogy.
Verses 34-37
34 It is like a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. 35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: 36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. 37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
So the years after Christ’s ascension to heaven, are like a man (the master of the house) taking a far journey. And the disciples, are the servants, the porters/doorkeepers, who take care of the master’s house (the church), while the master is away.
So the disciples have work to do in the master’s house. They are overseers/elders who must watch over God’s flock so that when the Chief Shepherd appears, they shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
And so Jesus charges them to be spiritually watchful like a man who never sleeps.
Or as Paul states more explicitly, they must “pray without ceasing.”
And so while no human being can survive very long without real physical sleep, it is the sleepless man who exemplifies spiritual wakefulness. And so the disciples must be vigilant to keep watch all throughout the master’s journey. He has promised to return, he has given them the general time frame, but the day and hour they know not.
And so Jesus gives this charge to spiritual wakefulness, not only the disciples, but as he says in verse 37, “what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.”
This is the recurring and constant exhortation that Jesus gives all throughout Mark 13. And yet ironically, despite giving this repeated charge, we are going to see in the very next chapter, that the disciples fall asleep on the job.
Conclusion
In Mark 14, when Jesus is praying in Gethsemane he says, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.” He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.” Then He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again He went away and prayed, and spoke the same words. And when He returned, He found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him. Then He came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough! The hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.
The disciples failed the Lord Jesus on the night of his passion. They failed to keep watch. They failed to stay awake. They succumbed to the weakness of their flesh. And yet what we see after Christ’s death, and resurrection, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, are eleven very different and very watchful disciples. When we read the book of Acts, and when we read their letters, we encounter disciples who are fervent in prayer, zealous for good works, genuine in love, and bold for the Lord Jesus.
It says in Acts 5:40-42, “And when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. 42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.”
What we learn from the disciples’ example, is that the resurrection of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit make all the difference.
It is not easy to keep watch and pray without ceasing. It is as easy as gravity to fall into a spiritual slumber, to forget the gospel, to forget the promises of God, to forget the glorious and future hope that awaits us.
And so if you and I would pass the test that is this life, not knowing the day or hour of our death, then we need the same Holy Spirit and the same means of grace, that God gave to his apostles.
That means, we need the church. We need one another. We need the Word of God dwelling in us richly with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. We need baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We need constant and regular fellowship. We need as it says in Hebrews 3:13, “daily exhortation lest you become hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”
It says likewise in Hebrews 10:23-25, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
No man knows the day or hour of his death. But by the means of grace that Christ has given, we can be ready so that that day does not catch us unawares. May the Lord increase this grace among us.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: The Gathering of the Elect (Mark 13:27)

The Gathering of the ElectSunday, April 28th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Mark 13:24-31
24 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, 25 And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. 26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. 28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: 29 So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors. 30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. 31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
Prayer
Father, we thank you for these words of Christ, which are reliable, which are trustworthy, and which are supremely authoritative. Please order our lives in accord with Your Word, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
When you first professed faith in Jesus Christ, and when you were baptized into the Triune Name, what changes took place inside of you? What changes took place outside of you, in your relationships, your “network,” the people and places you frequented?
At conversion, many changes take place, some are visible, some are invisible, some are inside of you, some are outside of you, some are immediately noticeable, and some changes you only notice after many years. The Bible speaks of many diverse effects of God’s love and His saving power amongst His people. And while every person may experience God’s grace a little differently, there is one common effect and change that is true for ALL of God’s elect. And that is a new presence of faith, hope, and love for God that did not exist before.
At conversion, God infuses into our nature, He breathes into our soul, three supernatural virtues: faith, hope, and love. And it is through our use of these virtues that many other spiritual benefits are realized.
Paul says in Ephesians 2:1-3, that before conversion we were, “dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”
So prior to your conversion, you were enslaved to the world, the flesh, and the devil. But then Jesus Christ came and as it says in 1 John 3:8, “For this purpose the Son of God was made manifest, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” Or as we sing in that great hymn, I Know That My Redeemer Lives, “He lives to crush the fiends of hell, glory hallelujah!”
And so Jesus Christ came to conquer, and he conquered by dying and rising so that you also could die and rise again with Him. But salvation does not stop there, Jesus Christ also ascended into heaven (Acts 1), he was enthroned and now reigns supreme. And why? So that you also might ascend to heaven, and sit down and reign with him.
This is exactly what Ephesians 2 goes on to say, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
Now have you ever wondered, “How exactly can that be true of me?” In what sense has God made us to sit together in heavenly places with Christ Jesus when our bodies are clearly still down here on earth?
Or, in what sense can Paul say to the Hebrews in Hebrews 12:22-23, “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.”
In what sense is it true what Joe Stout likes to say that “on Sundays we go to heaven?”
The answer is found in that phrase of Ephesians 2:5, “He made us alive together with Christ.” What was made alive? It’s not referring your body, it’s referring your soul (the thing that was dead in trespasses and sins and separated from God). And what did God do to your soul to resurrect it? He breathed into your soul three supernatural gifts of faith, hope, and love. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
So it is by faith, hope, and love that we are able to ascend to heaven, and sit with Christ in heavenly places, and boldly approach the throne of grace and find mercy.
Is through these three activities of the soul that our spirit really ascends to heaven and sits and reigns with Christ. This is why Paul says in Colossians 3, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. [And how do you do that? He goes on and says…] Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
This is what it means to be a spiritual man (a new creation) and no longer carnal or worldly. It is when your heart, your soul, your mind, and you spirit has God as its supreme object of faith, hope, and love.
This is also how the promise of Jesus is true for you when he says, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” He is with your spiritually.
Or his promise in John 14:23, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” The infinite and omnipotent Triune God really comes and makes His home inside of you, when you love Him with all your being. This is something only a spiritual person can understand.
For as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:14-13, “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned…[but we receive that] “which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”
And so it is of the nature of faith, hope, and love to unite us to the object of our faith, hope, and love. And therefore, if Christ is in heaven, ruling and reigning, and Christ is the object of your trust, and the object of your hope, and the one you most adore, then truly it is said of you, that you are seated with Christ in heavenly places.
At present we are only there spiritually (by faith), and in hope we are there bodily (we look to that day of resurrection). And one day our faith and hope shall give way to the sight of our true love, and when we see Him, we shall be made like Him (1 John 3:2).
Now why all of this rant about faith, hope, and love, when we are in the middle of Mark 13? The reason is because our passage this morning is Jesus describing the real historical gathering of the saints to sit down and reign with Him in heaven. And it is this cosmic transfer of power from the principalities and beasts of the old world to “the Son of Man” (Christ and His people), that should increase our present faith, hope, and love towards God.
If you believe what Revelation 1:6 says that Christ “hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father,” and if you believe what the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” And if you believe that we are seated with Christ even now in heavenly places, then that would change some things.
It would change your prayer life, your thought life, your priorities, your worries, your hopes and fears and emotional states. Because Christ is risen, and you have died to this world. And Christ has ascended, and he lives reigns to give you life forever. Truly in Jesus the best is yet to come, and every day that passes is one day closer to the fulfillment of our hope, the wiping away of every tear, the undoing of death, the resurrection of all things and the bliss of heaven.
When the church believes this in faith, and longs for it in hope, and loves the God who promised it, she is made to ride upon the heavens with Christ. She is made ready to wield the scepter of her Lord. Which as Christ promises in Revelation 2:26-27, “And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.”
The Church Triumphant is presently ruling this world with the Lord Jesus. And we the Church Militant are in union with them and with Him and together we are the Son of Man. And it is this identify that the church must recover if we would see real reformation and real revival in our day.
And so that is the practical application and implication of our passage this morning. With that up front, let us now turn to a very brief exposition of verse 27.
Let me read for us again the surrounding context starting in verse 24.
24 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, 25 And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. 26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
Review of Verses 24-26
Last Sunday we covered verses 24-26, which we said describes a change in the celestial/spiritual powers of heaven.
We saw that the darkening of sun, moon, and stars, is a reference to the removal of the entire spiritual-political government of the old creation.
This includes the fall and binding of various demonic powers, like Satan and the ones who were influencing the beast empire of Rome and the harlot Jerusalem.
This includes the fall of many human rulers such as the high priesthood and priests in Jerusalem, and the emperor Nero who died in 68 AD.
This includes (perhaps most of all) the end of the whole sacrificial system at the temple, which was a way of keeping heavenly time on earth with its daily sacrifices, weekly sabbaths, new moons, and festival seasons.
The entire sun, moon, and stars of the old covenant and old creation were coming to end in the 1st century. And Jesus says that it is going to be replaced just like Daniel 7 foretold, with the coming of the Son of Man to inherit the kingdom.
What is the coming of the Son of Man?
It is not the bodily return of Christ at the end of history, it is the enthronement of the saints in Christ who then receive the kingdom.
So the Son of Man is not Jesus all by himself, it is Jesus together with his spiritual body, the church, the saints, who are in union with him. And we know this because when the vision of Daniel 7 is explained, the “one like the Son of Man” is identified three times as the saints. And so Jesus is THE Son of Man par excellence, and the saints are the one LIKE the Son of Man. And together they receive the kingdom and everlasting dominion.
We might also remind ourselves here of the timing for when the Son of Man is said to come.
In Daniel 7, the Son of Man comes to bring an end to the fourfold kingdom that began with Nebuchadnezzarand was then consumed by Persia, then Greece, then Rome. So God’s kingdom was promised to come in the days of what we call the Roman Empire, and what the Bible calls the “oikumene.”
Jesus gives an even more definitive timestamp in Mark 9:1 and Matthew 16:27-28, when he says, “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.”
Notice that Jesus speaks of a coming in glory with his angels to judge mankind and that he promises that some of his disciples standing there will live to see that happen.
Who lived to see it? Well, the Apostle John was given a vision of it, which we call the book of Revelation, and church tradition holds that he lived beyond 70 AD when the Son of Man indeed came.
So that’s verses 24-26, and then here in verse 27 we read…
Verse 27
27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
Q. What is this gathering of the elect?
In the history of the church, there have been basically four different interpretations of this verse, and so before I explain which interpretation I think is best, let me set before you all the different options.
Option #1 – This gathering of the elect refers to the resurrection at the end of history.
The problem with this view is that the timing is clearly 1st century, not the final judgment.
Jesus says this will take place at the same time as the coming of the Son of Man and this cosmic transfer of power, and Jesus says in verse 30, “this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.”
So we need to at least reject the timing portion of this first interpretive option.
Option #2 – This gathering of the elect refers to evangelistic efforts throughout the church age.
Under this interpretation, angels is sometimes translated more broadly as messengers and can refer to either human missionaries or spiritual/angelic messengers who help those missionaries.
This is a possible interpretation, but there are a few reasons why I am not persuaded of this view.
First of all, you have the timing problem again. When Jesus gives the parable of the fig tree, he says in Matthew’s parallel account, “when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors” (Matt. 24:33). And then Luke’s version states explicitly what is near, he says, “when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.”
So if this gathering of the elect refers to the spread of the gospel by missionaries after the great tribulation,it is hard to see how that ongoing work, which continues even to this day, could be a sign to them in the 1st century that God’s kingdom is near.
A second reason I am not persuaded of this view is that in Matthew’s version of this same verse he says, “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt. 24:31).
Notice first that the location from which the elect are gathered is all spoken of here in strictly heavenly terms. They are taken “from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
Mark includes “to the uttermost part of the earth,” but in both passages the elect seem to be partially, if not exclusively, those who are already in heaven. This makes the evangelistic option of people on earth less likely since it includes at least some elect who are in heaven.
Secondly, Matthew also adds that this gathering is accompanied by the sound of a trumpet. When trumpets are sounded in Scripture, it most frequently refers to a specific day or moment of judgment and/or resurrection.
This again does not really fit if this gathering of the elect is ongoing missionary work throughout the entire church age.
Option #3 – This gathering of the elect refers the 1st century church on earth being reconstituted after the scattering of the great tribulation.
One of the strengths of this position it that it fits well with the promise of Deuteronomy 30:4 which says, “If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you.”
And then in Zechariah 2:6, it says, “Up, up! Flee from the land of the north,” says the Lord; “for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven.”
So in the Old Testament, when tribulation and persecution arises, God’s people are sent to the four winds to both escape judgment and also to be evangelists in those regions where they are exiled to.
This is actually what happens in the book of Acts right after Stephen’s martyrdom. It says in Acts 8:1, “Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.”
So remember Jesus’ words just before his ascension in Acts 1:8, “you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
And how was that fulfilled? Well as the book of Acts goes on to record, the gospel goes forth often unintentionally (from a human perspective) because of persecution and being scattered to the four winds.
And so this interpretive Option #3 is saying that after the early church was scattered to the four winds, and after many of them died in the great tribulation, God is going to regather those remaining so that the gospel can continue once all these judgments and wrath on Rome and Jerusalem have been poured out.
Now I think this interpretation is possible, but it does seem to overlook two elements in Matthew’s parallel regarding the trumpet and the emphasis on the elect being gathered in heaven. And so let me give you Option #4 which I think is the best explanation.
Option #4 – The gathering of the elect refers to the first resurrection, which is described in Revelation 11 and Revelation 20.
Now this may sound strange to some of you at first, but Revelation 11 and Revelation 20 both describe a literal bodily resurrection and ascension of the saints that takes place in 70 AD.
Recall that in Matthew’s version this gathering of the elect is accompanied with the sound of a trumpet, and it just so happens that in Revelation 11, during the sounding of the sixth trumpet and just before the sound of the seventh trumpet blast, there are two witnesses who are martyred in Jerusalem, their dead bodies lie in the street but then it says, “And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them” (Rev. 11:11-12).
And then a few verses later it says in Revelation 11:15, “And the seventh angel sounded (lit. trumpeted); and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”
Notice this is the same language as Daniel 7 which speaks of the Son of Man receiving the kingdom.
So just as Christ died, rose, and ascended to heaven in 30 AD, so also the saints will die (many of them as martyrs in the great tribulation), but then rise, and ascend to heaven in 70 AD to possess the kingdom.
If that sounds fanciful to you, consider Revelation 20 which states this even more explicitly.
It says in Revelation 20:4-6, “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.”
Notice that those who participate in the first resurrection are those who have already died and their souls are in heaven. Part of the drama of Revelation is that the saints are waiting to be vindicated and enthroned even as Christ is enthroned.
We read earlier in Revelation 6:9-10 it says, “I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”
So by the time we get to Revelation 20, those remaining servants of Christ have been killed (as Revelation 11 gives us a snapshot of), and they are resurrected to reign with Christ for the whole millennium/church age (1,000 years).
This interpretation fits together all the pieces and timing aspects that the previous 3 interpretations do not.
We agree with Option #1 that this ingathering of the elect is referring to a bodily resurrection and ascension of the saints. However, it is not the final resurrection in view, it is the first resurrection as Revelation 20 describes.
We see also that angels are involved as Revelation describes in sounding the trumpets, carrying out God’s judgments, and gathering the elect (see Rev. 14).
We see also that the souls of the saints are gathered from heaven even as their dead bodies on earth are resurrected and gathered from the uttermost parts of earth.Wherever their dead bodies were, God could resurrect them and cause them to ascend into heaven.
Finally, we see also that the first resurrection fits all of the texts that locate the timing of this ingathering as being simultaneous with the coming of the Son of Man, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the beginning of the church age (the millennium).
Conclusion
Now regardless of which interpretation you find most persuasive, one thing that everyone agrees on is that the place of regathering is no longer the temple in Jerusalem as it was in the Old Testament.
In times past, when God scattered his people to the four winds, he eventually gathered them back to a central physical location, which was the temple in Jerusalem.
But as Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4, “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father…But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
When God destroyed the temple in 70 AD, and gave the kingdom over to the saints, He was testifying for the rest of history, that the central place of worship, and the central place the elect are gathered to, is around Jesus Christ who is enthroned in heaven. And therefore as I read earlier from Hebrews 12, when we lift our hearts to God through faith, hope and love, we truly come to “Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.”
This is what God is gathering us for every Lord’s Day, to sit down with him in heavenly places. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: The Coming of the Son of Man (Mark 13:24-26)

The Coming of the Son of ManSunday, April 21st, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Mark 13:24-31
24 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, 25 And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. 26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. 28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: 29 So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors. 30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. 31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
Prayer
O God and Father of Lights, from whom all Goodness and Light proceed, grant us now to behold in the lamp of Your Word, He Who Is the Light of the Whole World. Make now to shine upon us, the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the very image of God. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
Well, this morning we come to the climax of Mark 13, wherein Jesus describes in very cosmic terms his coming to destroy Jerusalem and the old creation. And because this is a passage of Scripture that is so often misinterpreted as referring to Christ’s final coming at the end of history, we will only cover the first three verses of our text this morning, verses 24-26, and then next week we will review and cover verses 27-31.
Now the reason I wanted to read verses 24 through 31, is because verse 24 and verse 30 give us the time frame for when this coming of the Son of Man shall be.
According to Jesus words in verse 24, it will take place “in those days after the tribulation.” Which tribulation? The one he just got done describing in verse 19 when he said, “For in those days shall be tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.”
And then in verse 30, Jesus gives them the broader timeframe for when one stone shall not be left upon another in the temple (vs. 2), when he says, “Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.”
So according to Jesus, the great tribulation, the gospel going forth to all nations in the Empire, the abomination of desolation, and the coming of the Son of Man, are not future events to us, they are all future events to the twelve disciples and will be fulfilled within one generation of him speaking, that is within roughly 40 years.
And as later books in the New Testament itself testifies, and as both secular and church history testifies, Jesus was not lying. All of these things took place just like Jesus said they would. And they took place between 30 AD when Christ ascended into heaven, and 70 AD, when Jerusalem and the temple was destroyed.
So whatever the coming of the Son of Man is, Jesus guaranteed in the strongest terms possible, “Verily I say unto you, that this generation [then living] shall not pass [die], till all these things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”
And yet despite this very clear timeframe, the Christian church has often struggled to interpret this section of the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, plus Revelation). They read of stars falling from heaven, and the sun and moon being put out, and then they look outside and see there is the sun, at night is the moon, and no stars seem to have fallen. Moreover, they hear, “the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory,” and they automatically assume that this must refer to Christ’s bodily return at the end of history.
So you can see why some Christians have struggled with this portion of Scripture. Well, my hope this morning is to help you interpret these words the way Christ intended and the way the apostles themselves interpreted them. And in order to do that, we are going to have to go back and study their Bible, the Old Testament, because almost every single word that Jesus speaks here in verse 24-27 is a quotation or allusion to an Old Testament passage.
Where so many pastors and Bible commentators go wrong is that they forget the first rule of biblical interpretation, which is, “Scripture interprets Scripture.” God is his own and best interpreter. And therefore, if we want to become better readers of God’s Word, we need to get all of Scripture inside of us. So it is to that task we shall now give ourselves.
Outline of the Text
There are six events that Jesus foretells/prophesies in verses 24-27, and you will notice they are all spoken of in heavenly terms. This morning we’ll cover events 1-5.
In verses 24-25 we have the first four events which are:
1. “the sun shall be darkened,”
2. “the moon shall not give her light,”
3. “the stars of heaven shall fall,” and then I take the 4th event as summarizing the first three:
4. “and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.”
In verse 26 we have the fifth event:
5. “then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.”
In verse 27 is the sixth event:
6. “And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.”
So let’s begin by considering events 1-4 together since they are often found in this same order in the Old Testament.
Verses 24-25 – Q1. What does it mean for the sun and moon to be darkened, the stars of heaven to fall, and the powers of heaven to be shaken?
Well, let us consider first why God created the sun, moon, and stars (these heavenly powers).
We read in Genesis 1:14-18 that on the fourth day, “God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day [the sun], and the lesser light to rule the night [the moon]: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.”
So there are three basic purposes for the sun, moon, and stars:
1. To literally give light and life to the earth.
2. To mark days, nights, times, and seasons.
3. To rule/govern those times.
So from the very beginning of the creation, even before man was formed, God placed sun, moon, and stars in the firmament to rule the world. Without the sun and the changing seasons, there would be no food or sustenance for man, and in this sense at the very least, man is subject to and dependent upon the powers of heaven for daily bread.
A few chapters later in Genesis 15, God tells Abram to number the stars, and promises “So shall thy seed be.” So God promises that Abraham’s children would be as stars in the heavens. Note it is here that stars are becoming symbolic for human beings.
And then the next time sun, moon, and stars all appear together is in Genesis 37, where Joseph (Abraham’s seed, great grandson) dreams that the sun, moon, and eleven stars are bowing down to him. And Jacob his father says to him, “What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?” (Gen. 37:10).
So just within the first 37 chapters of Genesis, we have a theme already developing about the sun, moon, and stars. They are heavenly rulers, they determine times and seasons, and God promises that one day, His people will be those rulers. Jacob is the sun, Rachel is the moon, Joseph’s eleven brothers are the stars.
Now by the time we get to the book of Exodus, instead of God’s people being in charge and governing the earth, we see they are enslaved to the Egyptians and to Pharaoh who regards himself as a kind of god. Ra was the sun-god of ancient Egypt, and therefore when God brings the 9th plague of thick darkness over all Egypt, he was doing so to demonstrate that He is the one who ordains times and seasons, who raises up rulers and casts them down. Pharaoh thought he was the sun, and so God darkens the sun to remind him that YHWH alone is God.
Remember the whole purpose for the Exodus and the ten plagues upon Egypt. God says in Exodus 7:5, “And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.” The purpose for all of God’s judgments is the glory and knowledge of His Name.
One of the main lessons of the Exodus is that God is the one who establishes and ordains all powers, both heavenly and earthly (Rom. 13:1).
Pharaoh and his governors apostatized when they “forgot Joseph” and became a false sun, moon, and stars (even worshipping them). They stopped governing the times justly. How so? They did not give God his worship or sabbath (seventh day) rest to His people. And therefore, when God’s appointed rulers fail in this duty, he eventually replaces them. This is what God promised to Abraham and it is what Exodus records.
The first part of Exodus is the destruction of the Egyptian cosmos, He darkens their sun. And then the rest of the book (along with Leviticus and Numbers) is God turning the twelve tribes he redeemed out of Egypt, into His heavenly host.
This is what the construction of the tabernacle was all about. The entire sacrificial system of the old covenant was a way of keeping times and seasons and doing “God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.”
Israel marked every new day with an evening and morning sacrifice.
Israel marked every seventh day with an extra lamb upon the altar to mark the Sabbath.
Every new moon there was special burnt offering, grain, offering, drink offering, and sin offering.
And then there were special festival times (seasons) like Passover, Pentecost, Trumpets, and Booths. And these all revolved around the changing seasons of sowing and reaping, first fruits and fall harvest. And all of this further signified the pattern of death and resurrection, darkness to light.
So the sacrifices that God prescribed in the law were an earthly way of tracking heavenly time. And all of this is in view when Jesus says the sun, moon, and stars are going to be put out when the Son of Man comes.
At one level, Jesus is prophesying that the temple and its sacrificial offerings are going to be cut off. Just as when Pharaoh apostatized and then Egypt was destroyed by plagues, so also when the Jews become wandering stars (Jude 11) and idolaters, Jerusalem will be likewise destroyed. This is the pattern of how God judges and rules the world.
This is further proved in how the prophets foretold the destruction of other idolatrous nations.
We heard earlier in Isaiah 13 that the destruction of Babylon when it was conquered by the Medes and Persians is spoken of in these same cosmic terms, “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, Cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, To lay the land desolate: And he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: The sun shall be darkened in his going forth, And the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, And the wicked for their iniquity… Therefore I will shake the heavens, And the earth shall remove out of her place, In the wrath of the Lord of hosts, And in the day of his fierce anger.” (Is. 13:9-11, 13).
So notice, all of these cosmic/astral signs are symbolic for the real historical fall of Babylon in 539 BC.
Likewise, referring to the destruction of Egypt it says in Ezekiel 32:7-8, “And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God.”
And then in Joel 2:10, speaking of Jerusalem’s destruction it says, “The earth shall quake before them; The heavens shall tremble: The sun and the moon shall be dark, And the stars shall withdraw their shining:”
So notice that in all these instances (and there are many others), it is not a literal sun, moon, and stars that is in view, but rather sun, moon, and stars are symbolic for the spiritual-political rulers of a nation: the emperor, his wise men, and his princes, and sometimes even to the demonic forces behind those earthly powers.
So when Jesus says, “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken,” he is prophesying the fall of the entire old creation and its spiritual-political government.
This includes many demonic forces and principalities, and even Satan who Christ bound in Revelation 20.
This includes the Jewish priesthood and the sacrificial system that marked time in the old covenant.
This includes the Roman empire, and its status as the fourth beast and kingdom of Daniel 2 and Daniel 7.
All of these different powers and authorities are symbolized by sun, moon, and stars if you know the Old Testament Scriptures.
Now if verses 24-25 foretell the end of the old world and its spiritual government, it is verses 26-27 that foretell who replaces those old rulers and powers in the heavens. And this is spoken of in Daniel 7 as “the coming of the Son of Man.”
Verse 26
26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
So let’s start with the question, “Who/what exactly is the Son of man?”
When most people hear the phrase “Son of Man” they automatically think it refers to Jesus who repeatedly calls himself the “Son of Man.” But “Son of Man” is actually a title that Jesus takes to Himself, and it is the title that God gave to the prophet Ezekiel, who is called “Son of Man” over 91 times in Ezekiel.
And so if you want to know who/what the Son of Man is, if you want to know why Jesus calls himself the Son of Man, you have to first understand who Ezekiel was. So who was Ezekiel?
Ezekiel was God’s high priest during the desolation of Jerusalem (593-573). He was ordained in the 30th year, and he lived before, during, and after the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon’s temple.
One of the important things we learn from the book of Ezekiel, is that the Son of Man is a prophet and priest who pronounces judgement on Israel (and the nations), and calls them to repent, and when they don’t repent, he destroys them with His words.
In Ezekiel 11 God says, “prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man…And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died” (Ezek. 11:4, 13).
We read also in Ezekiel 43, that he beholds in a vision the glory of God and says, “And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw…when I came to destroy the city.”
So although the armies of Babylon literally burned the temple and destroyed Jerusalem, Ezekiel teaches us that it was actually him, the Son of Man, and God’s prophetic Word that destroyed the city.
So Scripture teaches us that there are multiple levels of causality for God’s judgments. There is God at the top, and he commands his angels and even demons to punish evildoers, and then he also includes the prophets and the saints in those judgments.
Jesus speaks of this in Matthew 16:19, as the power given to the apostles to bind and to loose. He says, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Likewise, he tells his disciples in Luke 10:19, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions [demonic forces], and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”
Paul also speaks of this spiritual power when he says in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.”
And again in Ephesians 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
So 600 years before Jesus and the Apostles, Ezekiel was God’s “Son of Man” who would set the pattern and example for when Jesus takes up this title in the gospels.
Jesus, like Ezekiel, is a true priest and true prophet.
Jesus, like Ezekiel, will preach repentance, be rejected and mocked, and then prophesy the end of that city while laying the blueprints for a new temple.
Jesus, like Ezekiel, will destroy Jerusalem, not by his literal bodily presence, but by the word of His mouth, using a foreign army (Rome) to burn it to the ground.
This is part of what it means for Jesus to be the Son of Man. He is a prophet and priest who comes to bring judgment with His words.
Now in addition to Ezekiel being the Son of Man (and Jesus being a new Ezekiel), there is an important vision in Daniel 7, which Jesus is quoting and interpreting here in verse 26. And this is the key to understanding what the coming of the Son of Man is.
In Daniel 7, Daniel has a vision of four beast empires (Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome), and he sees the Ancient of Days sitting in judgment to destroy those beasts and give their dominion to “one like the Son of Man.”
It says in Daniel 7:13-14, “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”
And then a couple verses later Daniel is given the interpretation of this vision, and this is where we are told who/what the one like the Son of Man is.
Daniel 7:17-22 says, “These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.”
So who is the Ancient of Days in this scene? It is God.
And who is the “one like the Son of Man?” It is the saints, the church, or as Paul describes it, the body of Christ.
And therefore, when Jesus calls Himself “the Son of Man,” He is explaining how this vision of Daniel 7 is going to be fulfilled. He is explaining how the saints inherit the kingdom of God:
The Ancient of Days, God Most High, shall come in the flesh. He shall become a Son of Adam, a Son of Man, and become the beginning of a new humanity succeeding in all the ways that Adam and every other Son of Adam failed.
And then as God and Man, he shall be glorified on the cross. As Jesus says in John 8:28, “When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he.” And also in John 5:26-27, “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.”
So Jesus Christ is both Ancient of Days and Son of man. And the way the saints ascend to heaven to take the kingdom, is through being united to Jesus and being made like the son of man, conformed to His image (Rom. 8:29).
So now having Daniel 7 in our minds we can interpret Jesus words in verse 26, “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.”
Well, there is nothing here or in Daniel 7 about the Son of Man descending to the earth. This is the Son of man coming up/ascending to the Ancient of Days. Therefore, this rules out the bodily return of Jesus Christ to the earth (Acts 1:11).
What the coming of the Son of man in power and glory refers to is threefold:
1. The destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by Christ and his saints, just like Ezekiel destroyed it the first time.
2. The end of the beast empires and their spiritual dominion, which God established with Babylon in the days of Nebuchadnezzar (603 BC), and ended with Vespasian in 70 AD.
3. The giving over of that spiritual-political dominion to the saints in Christ, who together are the Son of Man (as the head is united to the body).
Both Daniel and Jesus agree that these events must take place in the days of the Roman Empire, and Jesus further specifies, they will all be fulfilled within one generation of his death and resurrection.
And so it is hard to overstate what happened in the 1st century in 70 AD. Truly the powers of heaven were shaken, and to Christ and the saints was given all authority in heaven and on earth. The implications of this transfer of power are immense, and merits a whole sermon in itself.
Nevertheless, let us conclude for today by answering a final question, “How did people see this coming of the Son of Man?”
Well, we can say they saw it literally with the destruction of the city and many other recorded signs in the heavens (we’ll look at this next week).
But more true to Jesus words, they saw it figuratively, that is they perceived and knew or saw the truth about who Jesus claimed to be, that Jesus was no false prophet and in fact He is the Son of God just like He said He was.
In the very next chapter, when Jesus is being interrogated by the high priest it says in Mark 14:61-62, “the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
It is that line that gets Jesus charged with blasphemy and sent to the cross. And yet he tells that individual high priest that he himself will see the coming of the Son of Man. Jesus was not lying. That high priest saw and knew afterward who Jesus was.
And after 70 AD, the whole world knew that Jesus’ prophecy came to pass, “not one stone shall be left upon another of this temple.”
So the coming of the Son of Man was the vindication of Jesus Christ and the vindication of all the saints who put their hope in him.Moreover, it confirms and testifies for the rest of human history, that Jesus Christ is Lord and God, He is Ancient of Days and Son of Man, and there is no other name under heaven by which you can be saved.
He promised to destroy that apostate city and he did. And now to Him and the saints belong all authority in heaven and on earth. That’s you and me, and that is the spiritual power we have in Jesus.So let us wield that authority as He has commanded, that God’s will may be done on earth as it is in heaven.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: Remember Lot's Wife (Mark 13:14-23)

Remember Lot’s WifeSunday, April 14th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Mark 13:14-23
14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains: 15 And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house: 16 And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. 17 But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 18 And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter. 19 For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. 20 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. 21 And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not: 22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. 23 But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.
Prayer
Father, we thank you for these words of warning and comfort and assurance from the Lord Jesus. We thank you also for the Holy Spirit, who helps us to test the spirits, to know which are from God and which are from the world. We ask for the gift of spiritual discernment as we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and forces of darkness in high places. We ask for Your Help in Christ’s name, Amen.
Introduction
The title of my sermon this morning is “Remember Lot’s Wife.” These words come from the mouth of the Lord Jesus in a passage that is parallel to Mark 13, and which Luke records in his gospel in Luke 17:31-32. There we read, “In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot’s wife.”
Jesus likens the coming tribulation and destruction of Jerusalem as a time similar to two previous historical events.
The first is Noah’s flood. He says in Luke 17:26-27, “And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.”
So just as life seemed to go on “business as usual” for those who rejected Noah’s preaching (the Ark was his sermon), so also shall it be in the days leading up to the coming of the Son of Man, when the building of the church is God’s sermon.
And whereas in Noah’s day it was water that drowned and cleansed the old world, in 70 AD it will be the Roman armies who shall act as God’s flood and fire to burn down the temple and baptize the cosmos which it represented. Jesus says, “as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.”
The second event that Jesus likens the destruction of Jerusalem to, is God raining fire down upon Sodom and Gomorrah.
Jesus says in Luke 17:28-30, “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”
In both of these instances, you have a persecution and rejection of righteous Noah and righteous Lot (2 Peter 2:7).
In both instances there are messengers and warnings that a flood of judgment is coming, and yet because the inhabitants of those places refused to repent, they are blinded to the obvious signs that their world is coming to an end. And therefore, for the ungodly, life seems to just go on as it always has, until all of a sudden, the Son of Man comes like a thief in the night, and there they are, caught unawares and without excuse before the judgment seat of God.
This is the state of every single person who does not know and is not told when he shall die. Any day could be judgment day. And so although Jesus is speaking here of a particular judgment upon a particular people at a particular time namely 70 AD, the principles here are universal. Because when is judgment day for you? It is the day you die. As it says in Hebrews 9, “it is appointed unto men once to die, and then comes judgment.”
Jesus tells a parable in Luke 12 that describes the person who does not recognize that death can come any day.
In Luke 12:16-21 it says, Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
What was the sin of Lot’s wife? Why does Jesus want his disciples to remember her as they endure the greatest tribulation in world history?
The sin of Lot’s wife was the same as the rich fool. Neither were rich toward God. Both loved this present world which is passing away more than the world that is to come.
Lot’s wife was in the very process of being delivered from destruction and yet she chose to look back with longing at Sodom and Gomorrah. She was sad and unwilling to flee to the mountain of God. Therefore, Jesus says after “Remember Lot’s wife.” Remember the pillar of salt that she became. “For whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.”
That is the lesson Jesus is teaching his disciples (and wants to teach us) throughout the Olivet Discourse. No man knows the day or hour in which judgment shall come. We all know we will die, and we might even know that it will be within the next 40 years more or less, but the day and hour is hidden from us. And therefore, we are always to be watchful, always to be prayerful, and are always to be ready to die should the good Lord require our soul of us this very night.
As Moses says in Psalm 90:12, “Teach us to number our days, That we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
You can either be Noah in the ark, willing die to this world so that you might enter the new creation. Or you can cling to Sodom and Gomorrah like Lot’s wife did and lose your life trying to preserve it. Jesus tells his disciples all these things in advance so that they can be prepared and ready for judgment. And so also should we.
Now last Sunday we spent a good hour on the question, “What is the abomination of desolation?” And if you missed that, you ought to go back and listen to that sermon because I will not repeat all of it here. But in that sermon, we said there are few different candidates for what the abomination of desolation might have been.
It might have been the Jewish priests’ rejection of all sacrifices and tribute for the Gentiles, according to Josephus this took place in 66 AD, and this is what kicked of the Jewish-Roman War.
Or, it might have been the completion of the temple and its decoration in 64 AD, along with Nero’s persecution of Christians for the fire in Rome.
Or, it might have been the murder of the apostles, specifically of James the Just who was bishop in Jerusalem, and was martyred in the temple court by the priests in 62 AD.
Whatever the case, Jesus says in verse 14, “when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains…”
So the abomination that maketh desolate is a public sign that the end of Jerusalem and the end of that age is approaching. And therefore, Jesus gives instructions to those who recognize this sign, and it is to those instructions that we shall now attend.
Outline of the Text
In verses 14-18, Jesus exhorts us with diverse metaphors to forsake our lives in this in world and to look with hope to the next.
In verses 19-20, Jesus identifies these years as the great tribulation but promises that God will cut those days short for the sake of His elect.
And then in verses 21-23, Jesus warns them of false Christs and false prophets who will try to deceive them.
So starting in verse 14, the first exhortation Jesus gives is, “let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains…”
Verse 14
14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:
Now Jerusalem itself was situated on a mountain and was sometimes called the holy mountain (Is. 66:20). We have also seen that Jesus is presently saying all of these words and pronouncing this judgment as he sits upon a different mountain, the Mount of Olives. And so it is interesting that Jesus does not specify which mountain or mountains the inhabitants of Judaea ought to flee to, but rather he gives them this general exhortation to flee to the mountains.
This is likely because “fleeing to the mountains” is symbolic/emblematic for what God’s people usually do to escape from wrath and evildoers.
In Genesis 19, where does Lot escape to? To the mountains of Zoar.
In Genesis 31, where does Jacob escape to as he flees from Laban? To the mountains of Gilead.
In Exodus, where does Moses flee to and then later the whole nation of Israel? To Mount Sinai.
In Joshua 2, where does Rahab tell the spies to hide so they can escape from the men of Jericho? To the mountains (Josh. 2:16, 22).
In 1 Kings 19, when Jezebel is hunting Elijah, where does Elijah flee to? To Horeb, to the mountain of God.
Now think about this for a moment, can a mountain hide you from the wrath of God? Can a mountain protect you from the God who formed and created mountains? Of course not.
So when the righteous flee to the mountains, what are they actually fleeing to? What reality do the mountains signify? They signify the One who is the highest of all high places. They signify God who is our rock and refuge and strength and our hiding place in the storm.
It says in Psalm 125 which we often sing, “They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, Which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, So the Lord is round about his people From henceforth even for ever.”
Or, as we love to sing in Psalm 121, “I will lift up my eyes to the hills—From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.”
So when Jesus says “flee to the mountains,” what is he saying? He is saying flee to God. Flee to the one who is the lover of your soul and who promises that though you walk through the fiery furnace, not one hair of your head shall perish. Though they kill and crucify your body, do not fear them, trust the one who has the power to kill or preserve your soul.
Remember, all of the disciples are going to suffer and die for Christ’s sake. And so Jesus is not telling them here how to avoid tribulation and martyrdom, he is telling them and all who hear these words, how to endure tribulation and die well.
When you like Christ are surrounded by bulls of Bashan. Or when you like Lot are surrounded by murderous sodomites. Orwhen you like Jerusalem are surrounded by armies. Where can you go?Flee in your soul to the mountains. Lift your eyes to the hills and run to God. Run by faith to Mount Zion and there you shall find the Peace the surpasses understanding. In God you shall find grace to endure the very worst that this world, your flesh, and the devil may bring.
In verses 15-18 Jesus gives essentially the same exhortation but under different metaphors.
Verses 15-18
15 And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house: 16 And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. 17 But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 18 And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter.
So while all these sayings can be taken in their literal physical sense, there are some intentional oddities that Jesus gives to draw our minds to the spiritual sense.
For example, in verse 15, if you are on the top of your house, how do you escape without going back down into the house? Is Jesus encouraging people to literally jump off their roofs? I doubt it. I think it is far more likely that Jesus is using the house and the housetop as it is often used elsewhere in Scripture to refer to the place of prayer (the housetop) and the things pertaining to the body (the house).
For example, Psalm 102 is titled, “a prayer of the afflicted” and in verse 7 the psalmist says, “I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.”
We see in Acts 10:9 it says, “Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour.”
We read in Isaiah 2 and Micah 4, a prophecy of God’s kingdom arriving and it says, “But in the last days it shall come to pass, That the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, And it shall be exalted above the hills; And people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, And to the house of the God of Jacob…”
So remember God’s House, which is the temple, is itself a symbolic holy mountain, and so when Peter goes to pray upon the housetop, he is spiritually in prayer ascending to God’s holy mountain. Obviously, we are not any closer to heaven because we pray from our rooftops, it is that the highest part of our being, our housetop, (namely our soul/mind/spirit/heart) is elevated above earthly things, the body, the house, and therefore Jesus says, “let him that is on the housetop [in prayer and communion with God] not go down into the house [seeking bodily things], neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house.” This is the same as what Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:7, “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”
So Jesus is saying in parable form what Paul says explicitly in Colossians 3, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above [on the housetop], where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth [in the house]. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”
This same principle applies also when Jesus says, “And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment.” Paul puts it this way in the very next verses, “put off the old man with his deeds; And put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” (Col. 3:9-10).
If you are in the field laboring for Christ who is the Lord of the Harvest, don’t go back like Lot’s wife did for the garments of the old creation. You are a new creation, and God has a new garment, namely the resurrection, waiting for you!
Next in verse 17 Jesus says, “But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!” To what does this refer?
Well, there is nothing wrong with taking these words literally because everyone knows it is pregnant and nursing women and their babies who are the most naturally vulnerable when attempting to travel. But I think the reason Jesus mentions pregnant and nursing mothers is because they are a picture of what the church and more specifically pastors are going to be like during this time.
In 1 Thessalonians 2:7, Paul identifies himself as a nursing mother. He says, “But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.”
In Galatians 4:19, he says “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.”
Likewise, he says in Hebrews 5:12-14, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
So Paul sees himself as pregnant with new believers, and as a nursing mother giving milk to new Christians. And it is during the great tribulation when those baby Christians are going to be most vulnerable to deception and falling away. Their powers of discernment have not been trained yet, and so it is going to be hard work to minister to them at the same time that false Christs and false prophets and persecution tempts them to fall away, to go back and grab their garments, and to leave the housetop of prayer.
Remember Jesus said that the troubles leading up to the great tribulation are just “the beginnings of the birth pains.” But now as judgment day approaches for the old creation, those labors pains are heating up, and so Jesus says woe to those actual women who are pregnant and nursing in those days, woe also to those pastors and newborn Christians who are caught in the crossfire, and woe to the whole church and old creation, as she must die in order to give birth to the new.
The last of these exhortations in this section is verse 18, where Jesus says, “And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter.”
Again, this can refer to the literal season of winter, but also to the metaphorical winter which is coming upon the earth. In Matthew 24:12 Jesus says, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”
So the tribulation of these days will be severe and traveling to church, traveling anywhere, is going to be made even more difficult for Christians by both literal winter and the spiritual winter of lawlessness. And therefore, Jesus warns and promises in verses 19-20…
Verses 19-20
19 For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. 20 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.
God knows the limits of his elect. It says in 1 Corinthians 11:13, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
Where is the way of escape? Jesus is telling us here. It is only in God, upon the housetop, in the mountains, where you soul can flee and find rest, even as great tribulation surrounds you.
So the apostles and the 1st century church went through this great tribulation Christianity survived! God upheld their faith! According to Revelation 7, there was an innumerable multitude of Christians, “from all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues [who] stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.” And it says Revelation 7:13-14, “One of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
God knows your limits. God knows the exact temperature at which your faith will be purified and at which your faith will fail. And even if your faith wavers for a moment, remember what Jesus said to Peter before his crucifixion, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22:31-32).
Peter’s faith stumbled. He denied Christ three times in a row. He feared for his life. But God is merciful and as it says of Him in Isaiah 42:3, “A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench.”
So you can trust the Lord Jesus, you can trust your Heavenly Father to carry you when you are weak and strengthen you in times of trouble. For He is the God who cuts the days of tribulation short for the sake of His elect. He is the God who promises that those who die in tribulation, shall be clothed in white, and crowned with glory, and granted entrance in the heavenly bliss of His eternal kingdom.
May this same God who preserved His church in the 1st century through great tribulation, give us the same faith to persevere and hold fast in hope to His promise of eternal life.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Interview: Evangelism Travels & Trends with Campus Preacher Keith Darrell

Sermon: The Abomination of Desolation (Mark 13:14-23)

The Abomination of DesolationSunday, April 7th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Mark 13:14-23
14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains: 15 And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house: 16 And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. 17 But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 18 And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter. 19 For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. 20 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. 21 And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not: 22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. 23 But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.
Prayer
Father, we thank you for these words from the Lord Jesus and how you used them in the 1st century to preserve the church through The Great Tribulation. We thank you also for how you continue to use these words to inspire and encourage us amidst our afflictions. Make us now to cling to your Word, for you alone have the words of Eternal Life. We ask in this Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
Well, we are back in Mark 13, and this morning we come to an exceedingly difficult question that the church has yet to come to any consensus answer for, which is, What is the abomination of desolation? And while we will spend the majority of our time trying to answer that question, we must not forget or lose sight of the larger purpose for Jesus teaching these things, which is, to prepare the disciples to die as martyrs for His Name.
The twelve apostles are going to be commissioned, empowered, and sent to the four corners of the earth to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom, and while that gospel will indeed conquer and be victorious, it will not be without bloodshed. So just as Christ conquered by suffering and dying on the cross, so also the apostles and early church shall conquer by suffering and being faithful even unto death.
So this is the very practical purpose for Jesus telling the disciples what shall take place within one generation. And we know that these events were all fulfilled in the 1st century because after describing these events Jesus says in verse 30, “Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.”
So all of Mark 13 refers to events that took place in the 1st century, within one generation. Recall that starting in verse 5 is Jesus’ response to the disciples’ question in verse 4 which is, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?”
And what are the “these things” they are referring to? They are referring to Jesus’ declaration that “there shall not be left one stone upon another [in the temple], that shall not be thrown down” (vs. 2).
So the “end” (vs. 7) that is spoken of here, is not the end of our world, it is the end of the temple which was itself a symbol of the whole cosmos. So when the Jerusalem temple is destroyed and replaced by Jesus Christ, the true temple and the saints in Him, it can rightly be described as the end of the old world and the beginning of a new creation. It is rightly spoken of as the end of the age and the beginning of a new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells.
This end is also what Daniel is shown in his visions where there is a series of world empires that starts with Babylon, then Persia, then Greece, and then Rome, and it is during the reign of this fourth empire, this fourth beast, that the kingdom of God is said to come. And how does it come? It comes like a stone cut without human hands. It comes like an altar descending from heaven that grows into a mountain that fills the whole earth. It comes like the Son of Man up to the Ancient of Days. And as it says in Daniel 7:17-18 “These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.”
So for the saints, judgment day is a day of victory. It is a day of joy, and triumph, and vindication. And so Jesus describes for the disciples in this chapter what shall precede this judgment and the arrival of his kingdom. So let me give you a brief review of the basic chronology and order of events that Jesus describes leading up to our passage.
In verses 1-8, Jesusdescribes what will take place from roughly 30 AD-62 AD. There will be deceivers, wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, and troubles. But these he says are just “the beginnings of sorrows” (vs. 8).
In verses 9-13, Jesus describes how during that same time period, the gospel will be preached to all nations, they will stand before kings and councils, and “be hated by all for My name’s sake.” And it is here that Jesus begins to describe what conditions will be like leading up to and through The Great Tribulation: Lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold, and even the natural bonds of love will be broken. Brother will betray brother, children will rise up against their parents and put them to death, and so forth.
And this brings us to our text, verses 13-23, where Jesus speaks explicitly of a “tribulation/affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.” And I take that as referring to roughly the years 62/64-68 AD. During that great tribulation, a number of the apostles died. Tradition holds that Paul was killed in Rome between 64-67 AD. And likewise the Apostle Peter.
Jesus also warns that during this time there will be false christs and false prophets who do signs and wonder to deceive those in the church, and therefore Jesus says, “But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.”
So notice, the function of this prophecy of Jerusalem’s destruction is to build our faith, and give us hope, and to keep us from falling away. The constant exhortation Jesus gives to his followers is “keep watch,” “watch out,” “take heed to yourselves,” “watch and pray,” “stay awake.” Because “a little slumber, a little sleep, a little folding of the hands to rest, and spiritual poverty shall come upon you like an armed man” (Pr. 6:10-11).
Jesus wants his disciples to endure and persevere through the greatest tribulation there ever was or shall be, and that is why he gives them these words in Mark 13. And you and I, by imitating the faith of these apostles, we too can learn to endure the much smaller tribulations we face. That is the practical purpose of this passage.
So with that by way of review and introduction, let us turn now to this question, “What is the abomination of desolation?” Let me read again verse 14 for us.
Verse 14 – What is the Abomination of Desolation?
14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains…
Notice first of all what is contained in the parentheses, “let him that readeth understand.” Matthew’s version has basically the same parenthetical statement, “whoever reads, let him understand” (Matt. 24:15).
This is almost certainly something that Mark and Matthew added to their gospels as a kind of footnote for the person reading this gospel in the public assembly of the church. It is also a call back to the book of Daniel which says, “Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” That is Daniel 12:10, and then in the very next verse Daniel 12:11 it speaks about the abomination of desolation. “And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.” And then after one more verse, the book of Daniel ends.
So both Matthew and Mark alert the reader of their gospels to understand what Jesus is talking about, with the implication being that they (like Daniel) are then to explain what the abomination of desolation is to those who do not understand. A few verses earlier in Daniel 12:3 it says, “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.”
So God gives wisdom to his prophets, apostles, and teachers in the church so they can be like shining stars to guide those who are in the dark towards righteousness. Wisdom is not just secret knowledge that someone acquires to keep for themselves, wisdom is a gift of the Holy Spirit that is for the edification and building up of the whole church. And so in this parenthetical statement, “let him that readeth understand,” is an exhortation aimed particularly at 1st century readers/teachers (and by extension to pastors like myself) who must do the hard work of trying to understand what this abomination of desolation is referring to.
So what I want to do in our remaining time is take you on the journey of discovery that you must go on if you would understand these things. Because this is a place where Proverbs 25:2 is apt, “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: But the honour of kings is to search out a matter.”
God has purposely given us puzzles in His Word, because He wants us to do the hard spiritual and intellectual work of comparing Scripture with Scripture. Because it is in the very process of reading and studying and meditating and praying for divine light that God changes us into men and women of the Word. It is how God grows us into the honour of kings.
The words “Abomination of Desolation”
So let us begin with a consideration of the words themselves, what is an abomination of desolation?
The first clue Jesus gives us is that this is “the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet.”There are three places where the abomination of desolation is referred to in the book of Daniel: Daniel 9:27, Daniel 11:31, and Daniel 12:11.
I should note here In the Hebrew Old Testament there are two different words that are often translated as abomination.
The first is תּוֹעֵבָה (toevah), which refers to actions or customs that are either generally immoral or that would violate the ceremonial laws of Israel. Examples of this kind of abomination תּוֹעֵבָה would be things like homosexuality, bestiality, necromancy, adultery, etc. These are abominations that both Jews and Gentiles could commit.
The second kind of abomination is the one that Daniel speaks of and comes from a different Hebrew word which is שִׁקֻּץ (shiqqutz). And if you look at the 28 instances of this Hebrew word in the OT, you will see that it overwhelmingly refers to some kind of idol or idolatry that God’s people commit. And for this reason, many scholars choose to translate abomination as sacrilege. It is an action of apostasy/idolatry by the priestly nation, and the high priest in particular to worship a false god (an idol of the nations) instead of the true God of the covenant.
Now if you know anything about Daniel 9, Daniel 11, and Daniel 12, you will know that these are some of the most difficult chapters in the whole Bible to interpret. And so we don’t have time to examine and explain each of these texts, they would each need their own sermon or series of sermons, but let us just hear these 3 passages and say a word about each to get them fresh in our mind.
Daniel 9:26–27 says, “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 27And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”
So this is a prophesy that during the middle of the 70th week, the daily sacrifice and tribute will be stopped in the temple, and there will be abominations (plural) that cause and bring about the desolation to the temple. So notice the order is abomination first, then desolation. Sacrilege/idolatry first, and then because of this God forsakes and desolates his house.
Daniel 11:31-33 says, “And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. 32And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. 33And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.”
Notice here that again the abomination that maketh desolate is connected with the taking away of the daily sacrifice. There is an exchange of true worship for false worship. Notice also there is a promise that those who understand shall instruct many, but there will be a tribulation that follows in which they die by sword and flame, etc.
This instance in Daniel 11 refers to events that took place around 171 BC and are recorded in the Jewish history of 2 Maccabees. During that time there was division in Jerusalem over adopting Greek customs and at one point the Hellenizing Jews conspired to buy the high-priesthood and succeeded. They slandered and deposed the lawful Zadokite High Priest, Onnias III, and his brother Jason replaced him. Three years later, a man named Menelaus (who was not a Zadokite at all), went to Antiochus Epiphanes and bought the high priesthood for himself, and from that time onward, there was no Zadokite high priest in Israel again.
2 Maccabees 4:13-14 says, “Now such was the height of Greek fashions, and increase of heathenish manners, through the exceeding profaneness of Jason, that ungodly wretch, and no high priest; 14 That the priests had no courage to serve any more at the altar, but despising the temple, and neglecting the sacrifices, hastened to be partakers of the unlawful allowance in the place of exercise.”
So this is the abomination of desolation that Daniel 11 describes. The priests themselves apostatize and commit sacrilege by deposing and eventually murdering the true high priest, and then they neglect the sacrificial offerings that God commands. And then after these abominations have been committed, God desolates his house, usually by sending a foreign army to invade and plunder it.
We see this same pattern earlier in Israel’s history when Eli’s two sons Hophni and Phineas commit sacrilege, they steal God’s food from the altar and rob God’s people, and they fornicate with women at the tabernacle. And because Eli does not stop them, God desolates his house and allows the ark of the covenant to be taken and captured by the Philistines.
Likewise in Ezekiel, we see the priests in the temple bowing down to idols, worshipping the sun, and other abominations, and it is this priestly sacrilege that causes God’s glory to depart from the house, and then he sends Babylon in to desolate it.
So the consistent pattern throughout biblical history is that the priests commit the abomination (idolatry/apostasy/sacrilege), and then God desolates his house using some Gentile army as his instrument of punishment. And we could go further and note that after He uses the Gentile power to judge his people, he then punishes that Gentile power for their sins as well.
This was the pattern for the first destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and it is exactly what God does a second time as Jesus foretells.
The third instance of the abomination of desolation is Daniel 12:11, and this is the same abomination of desolation that Jesus is calling his disciples attention to. So if you can interpret Daniel 12 correctly you can interpret Mark 13:14 correctly. But as I said, Daniel 12 is a hard chapter.
Daniel 12:11 says, “From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
Seven Criteria
So let’s summarize what we have learned thus far from Daniel’s abomination of desolation.
1. We know that this kind of abomination is an act of idolatry/sacrilege that only priests can commit.
2. We know that it is the kind of high-handed sin that would cause God to forsake and desolate his house like he has done in times past.
3. We know that it is somehow connected to the stopping of the daily sacrifice and tribute at the temple.
4. We know that when these abominations are committed, there is some kind of tribulation for those who are faithful.
Now if we look back at our text of Mark 13, we can also add three other criteria to our list.
5. Whatever the abomination of desolation is, it must be according to Jesus, “standing where it ought not.” Or as Matthew’s version has it, “standing in the holy place/area (τόπος).” This means it must be somewhere in Jerusalem, the holy city, with the temple being the most obvious location.
6. The abomination of desolation must also be a public action or event because it is something people can see. It is one of the signs (Mark 13:4) that the destruction of Jerusalem is near.
7. In terms of timing, this public sign must take place 1) during the great tribulation (vs 19),but also 2) prior to the worst of the Jewish-Roman war when leaving the city would be very difficult. So between 62-68 AD (depending on when you think the great tribulation took place).
Now with those seven criteria in front of us, we can now use them to weigh and sort the different historical options in front of us.
One of the more common interpretations is that the abomination of desolation refers to the Romans entering the temple, and offering pagan sacrifices to their false gods.
However, there are at least two reasons why this cannot be. First, as we said earlier, only priests can commit the abomination part, and second, the timing doesn’t work. It would make no sense to tell Christians to flee to the mountains after Jerusalem has already been conquered. So we can rule this option out.
Another interpretation is that the abomination of desolation refers to an event that took place in the winter of AD 67-68, when as Josephus records, Jewish Zealots took over the temple, “entering the Holy Place with defiled feet” and appointed their own high priest. The previous high priest, Ananus, said afterward, “Certainly, it had been good for me to die before I had seen the house of God full of so many abominations, or these sacred places that ought not to be trodden upon at random, filled with feet of these blood-shedding villains.”
Does this historical event fit our seven criteria?
Well, this certainly fits the desolation part, but again, these were not priests who were profaning the temple, it was other Jews (lawless Zealots) deposing the current high priest. Also, the timing is a bit late for this to be the sign to flee to the mountains. You would have wanted to be long gone from Jerusalem by this time. So I think we can rule this option out.
So let me propose for you three historical events that I think can mostly fit these seven criteria and are all possible candidates for being the abomination of desolation. And I should note that part of the difficulty is that we have limited historical records of what happened during these years, in large part because it was the great tribulation was happening. So here are the three best options I have found.
Proposal 1 – The Abomination of Desolation refers to the ending of sacrifices in the temple for any foreigners in 66 AD.
This took place in AD 66, and Josephus himself says this was the true beginning of their war with the Romans.
“And at this time it was that some of those that principally excited the people to go to war, made an assault upon a certain fortress called Masada. They took it by treachery and slew the Romans that were there, and put others of their own party to keep it. At the same time Eleazar, the sons of Ananias the high priest, a very bold youth, who was at that time governor of the temple, persuaded those that officiated in the divine service to receive no gift or sacrifice for any foreigner. And this was the true beginning of our war with the Romans; for they rejected the sacrifice of Caesar on this account; and when many of the high priests and principal men besought them not to omit the sacrifice which it was customary for them to offer for their princes, they would not prevailed upon. These relied much upon their multitude, for the most flourishing part of the innovators assisted them, but they had the chief regard to Eleazar, the governor of the temple.” (Wars of the Jews, Book II.17.2)
The timing fits, being during the great tribulation, which some place as going from 62-66 AD, others 64-68 AD, and others 62-68 AD. So whichever timeline you hold to, 66 AD is a decent candidate for when someone would want to flee to the mountains and get out of Judea, because it’s just prior to the Jewish-Roman war.
It also fits with the timing of the sacrifices being stopped, and although they did not completely stop for the Jews, we might call this a great abomination in that they were doing exactly opposite of what God commanded in the law, and what Jesus had just rebuked them for when he said, “my house is to be a house of prayer for all nations.”
This was a public action, it was priestly action, and it happened in the holy place.
So that’s one pretty good option.
Proposal 2 – The Abomination of Desolation is the completion of the temple and persecution of Christians in 64 AD.
For many years Herod had been building and decorating the temple, and in 64 AD, the same year that Nero blamed the fire in Rome on the Christians and began to persecute them, the temple was finally complete.
The timing seems to fit, and some mark this as the beginning of the great tribulation. The completion of the temple was a public event that everyone would know about, and in this sense, the temple itself is the abomination in that it embodies and represents the idolatry of the priests and their rejection of Jesus Christ as the new temple.
One difficulty is that in order to make this fit with the ending of sacrifice that Daniel foretells, you would have to spiritualize it and say something like, God no longer accepted their daily offerings because of their idolatry and in that sense the daily sacrifice was taken away. That is not an illegitimate move to make, but it is less likely I think.
Proposal 3 – The Abomination of Desolation refers to the martyrdom of James the Just in 62 AD.
James the Just was the brother of Jesus, and Eusebius records that to him “the bishop’s throne in Jerusalem had been assigned by the apostles.” Eusebius goes on to say that he lived as a Nazarite. He was “consecrated from his mother’s womb. He drank no wine or liquor and ate no meat. No razor came near his head, he did not anoint himself with oil, and took no baths. He alone was permitted to enter the sanctum, for he wore not wool but linen. He used to enter the temple alone and was often found kneeling and imploring forgiveness for the people, so that his knees became hard like a camel’s from his continual kneeling in worship of God and in prayer for the people.”
So James the Just has a priest-like status in the temple. The priest’s garment were linen, and it says James wore linen. He alone was permitted to enter the sanctum. If this refers to the holy place, then James was likely an ordained priest of the Jews.
At the same time, because James is a Christian and the bishop of Jerusalem, he is in a very real sense, a more true priest than anyone else. He is a true priest of God in the true temple of God (the church) in the true and heavenly Jerusalem.
And therefore, when the scribes and Pharisees murdered him, publicly, at Passover, in the temple, they were committing the worst kind of abomination: human sacrifice of God’s new temple.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:17, “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”
So in this sense, every time the Jews murdered a Christian, they were committing an abomination that would bring about their desolation. They were fulfilled what Jesus foretold in John 16:2, “the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service (λατρεία).”
And when they put James the Just to death, they were actually cutting off the true daily sacrifice, which is the prayers of the saints, the prayers of this bishop, who offered those prayers in the holy place.
Furthermore, it is this murder of the saints that Jesus cites in Matthew 23 as the cause for Jerusalem’s desolation, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”
For this reason, I think the martyrdom of James the Just is one of the best candidates for being the abomination that brings about Jerusalem’s desolation.
And so I will close by reading from Eusebius the full description of his martyrdom:
“Now, since many even of the rulers believed, there was a tumult of the Jews and the Scribes and Pharisees saying that the whole people was in danger of looking for Jesus as the Christ. So they assembled and said to James, ‘We beseech you to restrain the people since they are straying after Jesus as though he were the Messiah. We beseech you to persuade concerning Jesus all who come for the day of the Passover, for all obey you. For we and the whole people testify to you that you are righteous and do not respect persons. So do you persuade the crowd not to err concerning Jesus, for the whole people and we all obey you. [11] Therefore stand on the battlement of the temple that you may be clearly visible on high, and that your words may be audible to all the people, for because of the Passover all the tribes, with the Gentiles also, have come together.’ [12] So the Scribes and Pharisees mentioned before made James stand on the battlement of the temple, and they cried out to him and said, ‘Oh, just one, to whom we all owe obedience, since the people are straying after Jesus who was crucified, tell us what is the gate of Jesus?1’ [13] And he answered with a loud voice, ‘Why do you ask me concerning the Son of Man? He is sitting in heaven on the right hand of the great power, and he will come on the clouds of heaven.’ [14] And many were convinced and confessed at the testimony of James and said, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David.’ Then again the same Scribes and Pharisees said to one another, ‘We did wrong to provide Jesus with such testimony, but let us go up and throw him down that they may be afraid and not believe him.’ [15] And they cried out saying, ‘Oh, oh, even the just one erred.’ And they fulfilled the Scripture written in Isaiah, ‘Let us take the just man for he is unprofitable to us. Yet they shall eat the fruit of their works.’ [16] So they went up and threw down the Just, and they said to one another, ‘Let us stone James the Just,’ and they began to stone him since the fall had not killed him, but he turned and knelt saying, ‘I beseech thee, O Lord, God and Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ [17] And while they were thus stoning him one of the priests of the sons of Rechab, the son of Rechabim, to whom Jeremiah the prophet bore witness, cried out saying, ‘Stop! what are you doing? The Just is praying for you.’ And a certain man among them, one of the laundrymen, took the club with which he used to beat out the clothes, and hit the Just on the head, and so he suffered martyrdom. [18] And they buried him on the spot by the temple, and his gravestone still remains by the temple. He became a true witness both to Jews and to Greeks that Jesus is the Christ, and at once Vespasian began to besiege them.” (Eus., Hist. eccl. 2.23.10–18)
May God give us faith such as this, they we too might bear witness to the glorious and saving gospel of Jesus Christ. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen.