Sunday Sermon

"Stay Awake"
[Mark 13:14-37]
October 8, 2006 Second Reformed Church

Are you awake?

Last Sunday, we saw that the temple that Jesus worshiped in in Jerusalem was still under construction when He preached. Herod's temple in Jerusalem was not to be finished until about 64 A.D. Yet, Jesus shocked His disciples by telling them, some thirty-five years before the temple's completion, that the day was coming when they would see the temple destroyed -- not one stone would remain upon another.

And the disciples asked Jesus two questions: When would the temple be destroyed, and what will be the signs of the end of the age -- when the Messiah, the Savior, set up His Kingdom on earth?

And Jesus told them to look, to watch for the signs -- that there would be earthquakes and wars and rumors of wars, there would be anti-Christs and false teachers seeking to mislead the people, and there would be great family discord, even to the point of family members killing each other, and they would be persecuted by both the Church and the state. But, He told them, these are not the end, this would not be the birth of the new age -- this was merely the birth pangs, a time of great suffering and upheaval, during which He called them to be witnesses to the Gospel.

Have you ever been to the mountains? Have you ever looked across a mountain range? Or, have you ever stood on the shore and looked out to the horizon? If we left out what we know to be true, and just described what we saw, if we looked at a series of mountains, we would describe them as being one after another -- much closer than they actually are. And if we stood at the shore and looked out, we would describe it as not a long distance -- nowhere near as long a distance as it really is -- just by what we see. The same is true of prophecy: when we read a prophecy in Scripture, we need to keep in mind that the prophet is looking out across the corridor of time, and things that look to be very close together, might actually be very far apart, and things that look like a single event, might actually occur in several stages. Our Scripture this morning is an example of both senses.

"And whenever you see the abomination that desolates God's sanctuary where it ought not to be, (let the reader understand)" -- huh? "Let the reader understand" is an editorial note that Mark put in to alert the reader of Jesus' Prophecy that He is referring to something that they should remember from somewhere else. However, twenty-first century Christians are not as biblically literate as first century Christians were. So, what do we do? Well, remember, we have four Gospels, so we ought to look to see if the other three fill in anything more that would be helpful for our understanding, and we find that Matthew does: "So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand)" (Matthew 24:15).

So, hear the prophecy of Daniel: "Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half a week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolation. ... Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate" (Daniel 9:23-27; 11:31).

Stay awake This is part of the signs of the birth pangs of...what? Jesus had been explaining what would happen just before the destruction of the temple. Then He told them to remember what Daniel prophesied -- that this would be for signal to them to act. The abomination that desolates God's sanctuary where it ought not to be, the abomination of desolation, occurs just before the temple is destroyed.

Daniel gave his prophecy after 600 B.C., during the Babylonia captivity. So, when was this prophecy fulfilled? When was the temple destroyed after someone desecrated the temple? Between 175 and 164 B. C. Antiochus Epiphanes and his army attacked Jerusalem, conquered it, and then he ravaged and destroyed the temple, and had a pagan altar set up over the altar of sacrifice.

Here you see the layers of prophecy, because this prophecy was fulfilled first, in part, once, by Antiochus Epiphanes, but some two hundred years later, we have Jesus telling the disciples to watch for this prophecy's fulfillment. The first mountain, if you will, that Daniel saw was Antiochus Epiphanes, but there was another mountain, if you will, that it overlapped, so it looked like the same event, but it was not. The second mountain, if you will, as we looked at last week, was Titus' attack of Jerusalem and leveling of the temple in 70 A. D., when he erected a statue to the Emperor Vespasian over the altar of sacrifice and worshiped him.

So, Jesus was telling the disciples that when they saw the Roman army come against Jerusalem and set up a statue of Vespasian for worship in the temple, this is when the temple will be destroyed. And, Jesus said, when you see them coming -- stay awake! Flee to the mountains, don't go back into your house for anything, and pray that when this does come to pass that it will not be during bad weather, or during a time when a woman is not in a condition to travel due to pregnancy or having given birth. Why not? For the great upheaval, the tribulation, a time of violent disruption that has not been seen since God created the creation and will never been seen again after it is over -- this will occur when the signs begin. The historical fact, however, is that when the Romans attacked, a vast number of people ran into the city and into the temple, instead of fleeing to the mountains, and the was an enormous bloodbath.

And, Jesus said, if the Lord had not shortened the days, no human being, even the elect that God chose for Himself to be His people, even those would have been lost. So, the good news is, that God has shortened the days, so the elect, that He has chosen to be His people, will not be lost. And Jesus promised that after Him there would be people claiming to have found another Christ, another Messiah, another Savior, and He said not to believe them. Jesus is the One and Only Savior; the Only Hope of the elect. So Jesus said, "Wake up!" For the anti-Christs and false teachers will be so persuasive and so successful that, if it were possible, they could even deceive the elect. Thank God that our salvation is by Jesus Alone, so the elect cannot be lost.

These things will take place during the tribulation, during the time just before the destruction of the temple, until Jesus returns. We are living in this time of tribulation, when the deceivers scour the earth. As John warned, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they come from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from the God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the anti-Christ, which you have heard is coming and is in the world already" (I John 4:1-3). Be alert. Watch out. Stay awake!

After the tribulation -- these are the signs that the end of the age is here -- after the tribulation, the sun and the moon will go dark, the stars will fall from the heavens, and the supernatural rulers will be shaken. There will be a cosmic upheaval. And then we will see "the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory." Luke records for us that, after the Ascension, the angels said, "This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go up into heaven" (Acts 1:11b).

After the tribulation, Jesus will return, and He will gather the elect from the four winds, for every corner of the planet, and He will bring us to Himself. This will be the end of the age.

Then Jesus told them two parables:

First, Jesus told them about the fig tree. He said that they knew that when the fig trees branches filled with sap and became pliable and leaves began to come out, that they would know that summer was near. So, they -- and we -- should be alert and watch for the signs and discern that His Return is near. And Jesus promised them, "that surely this generation shall not pass away until all these things happen."

How could this be? We have three options: (1) all of these things occurred and Jesus returned in 70 A.D., and there are Christian theologians who believe that, or (2) Peter, James, John, Andrew, and whoever else was there, never died -- these two thousand year-old men are somewhere on the planet, or, (3) what makes much more sense is that Jesus meant something different that what we commonly think of by "generation." The word that He used, genea, from which we get our English words, "genealogy, generation," etc., literally means "birth," and it has more to do with ethnic origins than a time period, or "a generation," as we think of it. So it is better to read Jesus as saying, "Amen, I say to you that the Jews shall not pass away until all these things happen." This is a promise they would have delighted in, especially after Jesus promised that the temple and Jerusalem would be destroyed and they would be persecuted, hunted, and slaughtered. This is not the end of the people of God. For "the heaven and the earth will pass away, [but] [Jesus'] words will surely never pass away."

Jesus began the second parable with a warning to "watch out" for no one, no the angels, not Jesus in His Humanity, and therefore, no mere human being, knows the date Jesus will return -- only God the Father knows when that will occur -- and we do not need to know. It's like a man who goes away and leaves his servants in charge of his house. Each of them has work to do -- including the doorkeeper. Each of the servants ought to stay awake and do his job. Each of them should be ready and at work, doing what he was called to do, when the owner of the house returns. Therefore, we are to stay alert! For we do not know when our Master will come back for us, and if He finds us asleep, not doing the work He has called us to do, He will not be well-pleased.

So, what ought we to do? What did Jesus want the disciples of the first century to do? First, we are to stay awake! We are to look for the signs, not being panicked by them, but trusting in God that He will carry out His Will. And second, we are to do the work that He has called us to do, both as individuals and as the Church.

Now, that doesn't mean that we should never sleep and rest our bodies -- that is necessary. What it means is that God expects us to be about the work He has given us -- to know Him and worship Him and do all those things He has said to do in His Word, including being witnesses to His Gospel -- that there is no salvation, no hope, no future, except through Jesus Alone.

This became a problem in the early church: they knew that Jesus promised to return soon, so why should they work? Some people cashed in their land and quit their jobs and waited, relying on the church to support them. That is not what we ought to be doing. That is not what Jesus meant for us to do. And Paul gave this correction to those at the church in Thessalonica who were sitting on their lawn chairs waiting for Jesus:

"Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living" (II Thessalonians 3:6-15).

Stay awake! Watch for the signs! Don't panic, but trust! Love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength and love others as much as you love yourself. Take care of yourself and work hard for Jesus and His Kingdom. Be a fruitful tree; a faithful servant.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You that You gave the prophets visions and prophecies that You have preserved for us in Your Word. We ask that You would forgive us for tuning out and falling asleep when You call us to action again and again. Make us a people who look to Your Word and follow after You diligently, seeking to do everything that pleases You, and staying awake to the signs that You provide for us. In Jesus' Name, Amen.