“Keep Awake”
[Mark 13:24-37]
December 3, 2017, Second Reformed
Church
On the first Sunday in Advent, we
are encouraged to look at the Second Coming of Jesus, so we will build on what
we talked about last week when we saw Jesus coming as King and Judge of all
people.
This morning, we are looking at part
of the text that Mark records about these things. Remember the disciples were in awe of the
beauty of the Temple in Jerusalem, and Jesus told them that the day would come
when not one stone would be standing upon another – which happened in 70 A.D.
The disciples then ask Jesus when
the Temple will be destroyed and what the signs of Jesus’ Second Coming will be
– and Jesus tells them a number of things that will occur between that day and
when Jesus returns.
Here in Mark’s record, Jesus
explains that wars will arise and earthquakes will occur – these will be “the
beginning of birth pangs.” And so,
Israel and Rome went to war, culminating in the destruction of the Temple in 70
A.D. And there was a great earthquake
the day of Jesus’ Resurrection, and many of the dead believers were raised and
went among the people proclaiming the Gospel.
There was a 4.4 earthquake in
Maryland on Thursday, which stretched from Pennsylvania to Washington,
D.C. May we be reminded that Jesus is
returning to restore this fallen world.
Jesus explains that believers will
be persecuted: we will be accused before
government officials, our families will turn against us. Jesus promises that the world will hate believers
for His sake. This happens in many
ways: In Africa and Iraq, believers are
put to death. In China, they are
tortured and imprisoned. In the United States,
we are ridiculed if we take the stand that there is only salvation in Jesus
alone.
Jesus tells them that when Rome
attacks – the Holy of Holies in the Temple will be violated – Romans will
pollute and destroy God’s house. At that
point, Jesus tells the believers to run and hide in the mountains – which is exactly
what happened in 70 A.D.
Jesus warns them not to believe
people who say that Jesus has returned at that time, because the tribulation
will have only just begun. Rather, they
ought to be on guard and hold tight to their hope. We are to be on guard – not believing
everyone who says that Jesus is here or there or has a new message for us – no,
hold tight to what Jesus taught and promised in His Word. Read and reread and pray that God the Holy
Spirit will help you to apply God’s Word.
Remember that when Jesus returns everyone will see and hear Him at once!
Then Jesus speaks of His return, as
we read in our text.
And we see, Jesus will return in
power and glory.
“But in those days, after that
tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will
be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great
power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from
the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.”
The tribulation will end with the return
of Jesus. That is the hope we hold on to
– sin and evil and all that is fallen will end with Jesus’ return. And Jesus tells the disciples that the sun
and the moon will go dark, and the stars will fall down, and the powers will be
shaken.
How are we to understand this? Are we to understand that these things will
happen to the cosmic bodies?
No, Jesus is using symbolism here. The sun and the moon will go dark – the two greatest
powers on earth will be blacked out, and the human and spiritual beings that
hold power and are against Jesus, will be shaken and even fall from their
place. The whole economic and political
structure of the world will collapse.
Then, Jesus will come in power and
glory: the clouds will open, Jesus will be
announced with voice and trumpet that will be heard all over the earth and
Jesus will be seen by every person on earth as His Glory blazes forth.
Then the dead will rise, and the angels will
go throughout the world and gather all the elect to Jesus to meet Him in the
air, and the souls and the bodies of the dead will be reunited and glorified,
and the living will be glorified, and then Jesus will sit on His throne and
judge – as we saw last week.
So, while we must use wisdom and be in
prayer, as we see the powers of the world around us coming apart and breaking
down, we ought to be encouraged, because it is a sign that Jesus is going to
return soon.
Our hope is not in building a Christian nation
– or world – but in having the sinful human attempts fall into disrepair and
Jesus return to make all things right – reigning in power and glory over the
new heavens and the new earth.
Second, the fulfillment of signs show us
that Jesus’ Word is certain.
“From the fig tree learn its lesson:
as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that
summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that
he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not
pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away.”
Jesus now turns to apply what He has
been telling the disciples.
Jesus tells them that just as they can
interpret and understand the sign of the fig tree bearing leaves as the
beginning of summer, so ”when you see these things taking place, you know that
he is near, at the very gates.”
What things? Who is near?
At the gates of what?
Remember, the disciples ask two questions:
When will the Temple be destroyed? What are the signs of the Second Coming?
Going back to the beginning of chapter
thirteen, Jesus says that there will be conflict between nations – here, we’re
specifically interested in the wars between Israel and Rome – earthquakes, and
increasingly severe persecution of believers – when the disciples saw these
things happening –
Then the one who is called “the
abomination of desolation” in verse 14 will stand in the place he doesn’t belong
– in the Holy of Holies of the Temple – as it is ransacked and then
destroyed. This is Titus and the Roman
army with him.
So, the answer to the question is – when
you see the wars between Israel and Rome, earthquakes, and severe persecution
of believers, then you will know that Titus and his army are at the very gates
of Jerusalem.
And Jesus gives them a time frame: these things will happen while this
generation is still alive. The Temple
will be destroyed, Titus will profane the Holy of Holies, Christians will flee
into the mountains – in the lifetime of the youngest disciples. We know this all happened in 70 A.D.
And then Jesus says that heaven and earth
will pass away – in their fallen state – but His Word will never pass
away. His Word is true. It cannot be broken. It cannot be wrong. And we see that within forty years – within
that generation – all these things were accomplished – the Temple in Jerusalem
was no more.
And we might say, “Well that’s nice, but
what does it have to do with me today?
Jesus predicted the Temple would be destroyed within the disciples’
generation. He gave the signs that the
end of the Temple was near. Everything
came to pass as He said. But that was
2,000 years ago.”
The point is this: everything Jesus said, everything that God
said, everything that is written in the Word of God – written under the
inspiration of God the Holy Spirit – all of it is true and perfect, infallible
and inerrant. And so we can be sure
about it.
You may remember a bumper sticker that
came out about forty years ago: “God
said it. I believe it. That settles it.”
R. C. Sproul points out that the
middle clause should be dropped – whether we believe it or not does not add to
it’s being true: “God said it. That settles it.”
We have people in our denomination –
and probably in every denomination – who look at some passages of the Scripture
and say, “Well, this was written by an ancient culture that didn’t understand
science and psychology like we do, so we can’t take everything they say
seriously.”
And if this was not the Word of God,
that might be true, but if this is the Word of God, written by humans in their
styles with their abilities – yes, but superintended over by God the Holy
Spirit – and God does not and cannot make mistakes…
The question is, is this the Word of
God or not? If it is, it shall never
pass away, and we ought to submit to it and obey what we are taught in it.
Third, Jesus commands us to be ready
for His return.
“But concerning that day or that
hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the
Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants
in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake.
Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will
come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the
morning— lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say
to all: Stay awake.”
Jesus now turns to the second
question – the question of His Second Coming.
Jesus tells them that no one know
the day or the hour of His return except for God the Father – not even Him.
Despite what Harold Camping, Edgar
Wisenot, the Jehovah’s Witness, and others have done in reading through the
Scripture and calculating this and that and adding the other and coming up with
a date, Jesus says that’s not possible – nobody knows when His return will be
except for the Father.
I don’t know about you, but if Jesus
says there is absolutely no way anyone is going to know the answer to this
question, I would say that we have reached the end of that discussion. What is the date and the time of Jesus’
Second Coming? We don’t know and we
won’t know until that sky is parted and we hear and see His return.
What we do know is that the
unravelling of the world and the persecution of believers will continue as we
walk through this tribulation until He does return. And yet, we take hope, as Paul writes:
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer
self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this
light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory
beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the
things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the
things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, ESV).
Next, we ask the question, why didn’t
Jesus know the date and time of His return?
If Jesus is God – equal with the Father and the Spirit – the One True
God – how could He not know?
The answer is in the mystery of the Incarnation: Jesus is at the same time in the same person,
the real human being Jesus of Nazareth and the One True God. He is 100% human and 100% God in one
person. One person with two natures and
two wills and two minds – and the Divine mind is able to keep information from
the human mind. So, it is in this way
that God, the Divine person, kept Jesus, in His humanity, from knowing the time
and date of His return.
Yet, the date and the time really aren’t
that important, are they? Jesus has
promised to return, so He will. We have
the promise of the Judgement and the Restoration of the Creation and the full
indwelling of the Kingdom – and these things shall happen.
What we are to do – what we must do – as
servants of the Great King – is to be ready at all times for His return – to
keep awake – to stay awake – to not be taken by surprise should it be right now
or years from now.
Of course, Jesus is not saying that we
should never sleep. No, we would
eventually die if we attempted not to sleep.
What Jesus is telling us is to be about the work that He has given us to
do.
We are to love God with all of our heart
and mind and soul and strength – every part of our being is to be engaged in
doing all those things that God has commanded us to do and not doing any of
those things that He has commanded us not to do. It also means that we are to love our
neighbors as much as we love ourselves – doing everything we can to make their
lives better – especially as we direct them to the Gospel. And that means we need to know what the Bible
says.
Do we believe that the Word of God is
God’s Word?
Do we believe that Jesus’ Word is certain
and true?
Do we believe He will return in power and
glory one day – and we will be with Him?
Then let us be ready by being obedient.
Let us wait in hope and faith, trusting
that as the world falls apart around us, all is well for we who believe.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, as we consider the return of
Your Son, we want to put it on our calendars so we can be ready and work Him in
amongst our other plans. But You have
chosen to keep His return a secret so we would always need to be about our
Master’s business, always awake, always alert, ready for Him whenever He
comes. Help us to trust and believe in
every word that You saw fit to have recorded in the Scripture, and send the Holy
Spirit to help us to be ready. For it is
in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
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