Again, Mark 1-13, this is God’s holy word. As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Look, teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. And Jesus said to him, Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. And as He sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked Him privately, Tell us when these things will be and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished. And Jesus began to say to them, See that no one leads you astray.
Many will come in My name, saying, I am He. And they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes in various places. There will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.
But be on your guard for they will deliver you over to councils and you will be beaten in synagogues and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. and brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
Thus far, God’s holy, inspired, and infallible Word. We’ll please God to take His Word and use it in our lives for His own glory. Thanks be to God. Heavenly Father, we pray now that you would make this Word real to us, that you would help us to understand it, that you would help us to be able to communicate it when we need to. We pray, Lord, that as we study and read and listen together this morning, that this would be a time when things really move forward spiritually in our lives. Give glory to You and know, Lord, that You’re speaking to us. We do thank You now in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Well, we’re going to start today something called the Olivet Discourse. Now, the discourse is named, first of all, for the Mount of Olives, where Jesus gave most of it. And it is one of the principal eschatological passages in the New Testament. And you say, whoa, what’s this word, eschatology or eschatological? Well, eschatology is the study of the end times and of the return of Christ. And we find that Matthew, Mark, and Luke all contribute to this extended conversation between Jesus and his disciples just prior to the Lord’s arrest, trials, and crucifixion.
Now, the fact that it’s so close to these sort of heart-rending, earth-shaking things that are going to happen shouldn’t deter us from seeing that it all fits together with the bringing to a conclusion of Christ’s earthly ministry and His having our look forward following His resurrection to the things that will happen also until He comes again.
There’s a lot of talk here as we begin about the great buildings, because there were more than one building, they were sort of all connected together, but the great buildings that constituted the temple, sometimes called Herod’s Temple. Herod the Great had built a great building, a wonderful building as it was described, a complex, if you will, and he hoped that he had exceeded the grandeur of Solomon’s Temple, which would have been hard to do, He did a lot of building and he did a lot of things that were beautiful and so forth.
The only thing was that he didn’t pour into it anything spiritual very much. The disciples, in any event, were certainly impressed. They, of course, had not been alive when Solomon built his temple. But as they looked upon this great edifice there, they thought, boy, I’m really proud to be a part of this.
Sometimes you get that feeling when you go to Washington, D.C. and you see the Capitol building and the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, all these things, and kind of patriotic pride comes to you and you say, I’m proud to be a part of such things that these buildings, these monuments represent. Well, It’s better to have no buildings and to have Christ than to have a lot of buildings and a lot of glorious looking things and yet not be really right with the Lord.
So do keep that in mind. But as we say today in our study, the Olivet Discourse begins. So I’ve got several points here. We’re going to consider the observation that prompts the disclosure or the discourse. We have Jesus’ shocking response to the disciples’ questions. Then a warning about frightening events. Some instructions going forward that apply to all believers at various times. And finally, finding purpose in the great commission that underlies the long last day, the day of the coming of the Lord eventually.
All right. The observation that prompts this discourse. Now discourse is a lengthy lecture. That may be one of those words that you don’t use very often. But a discourse basically is a lengthy lecture. It may involve more than one person. Usually there is a professor, a teacher, or someone who’s giving a discourse. A discourse is a lengthy lecture on a given subject.
For example, the supposed permanency of the temple. The disciples are thinking, the Lord’s going to tell us about this temple being the final thing, the evidence that the day of the Lord is at hand. But you have to remember that right there buried in the middle of this passage is this simple phrase, and the end is not yet. The end is not yet. The disciples and our admiration of the great temple starts Jesus’ discourse concerning the end of earthly prizes, earthly treasures, if you will.
Now, you and I have never really seen the temple, but there have been very good artists who have rendered from the scriptures what they believe the temple looked like. Someday maybe we’ll be able to compare the artist’s rendering and the real thing that the Lord would show us. He has his own sort of camera that he can bring these things to light. But we might see some real differences. But we have some pretty good ideas just going by the scriptures as to what the temple looked like.
Well, we know that Jesus loved the temple himself. be it Solomon’s temple or things in between, or finally, Herod’s temple. He loved the temple. He was always around or near the temple when he was in Jerusalem. And he used the temple. He used it for illustrations. He used it just as a place for the best meeting that he could have. He used it. However, he does, as we see in the passage here, foresee the end of it.
And that was the shock part. The shock that really came to those who thought so much of the temple and said, Lord, don’t you think this is one of the greatest things there ever was? Don’t forget that there were other things in the world, the so-called Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and I can’t remember them all. The Colossus of Rhodes and the Great Pyramids and this and that great thing. So there were other great monuments in the world that people said, oh, this just shows how great our civilization is and how permanent it is, and so forth, then Jesus would have the same thing said to them as he said about the temple there in Jerusalem.
The end may not be yet, but it is coming. It is coming indeed. Having rested on the Mount of Olives, He starts getting questions because he had made these statements about the temple and so forth, and the disciples especially, Peter, James, Andrew, and John, they all wanted to know this thing and that thing. Well, having come there, he is certainly beset by these questions.
And actually, it turns out that the answers cover the remainder of history, actually. So there are some people that say, no, everything here in the Olivet Discourse has to do with the very last days, right, before Jesus returns. And then there are other people that say, no, they only apply to those days when Jesus was alive or immediately afterward in the first century, and they don’t go any further than that. But I think the reality is that you get some of both. in this and you have to kind of see as you go along where this might apply or that might apply and then as you go along you might say I was wrong about that and maybe it’s here or I should have seen this beforehand.
There’s a lot here that has work for us to do to try to understand it but there’s enough for us to get the general meaning of things and that is Don’t place your hope in this world as though it’s going on forever. It’s not going to go on forever. There is an end to it, but the end is not yet.
So just continue to live for the Lord whatever you do. Many modern disciples like us sort of turn our ear to Jesus to see what He has to say about these earth-shaking, literally earth-shaking events that will happen in their lifetimes, our lifetimes. There are many things here that we don’t have to wait on or that we don’t have to say, oh, that’s all past and gone. We turn an ear to hear what the Lord Jesus has to say to us, okay?
So I think you’ll find this study quite interesting. Well, Jesus’ shocking response to the disciples’ questions. That’s our second point this morning. The destruction of great buildings was not unheard of. I’ve kind of hinted at that already. wonders of the ancient world. They didn’t keep standing. You can’t go over there to the Island of Rhodes and see the statue. Today it’s not there. You can go see the pyramids. I’ve been there, but there are things that are really just crumbling and gone. They’re not there anymore. But the destruction of these particular buildings, the buildings of the temple, the complex there, represent something very important.
They represent the coming kingdom. They always did, even in Solomon’s day. The coming kingdom of God. As Solomon said when he prayed and dedicated the temple, he says, I know, Lord, you can’t live in a building. Even the heavens can’t contain you. But he says this building that was in his day and so forth, and this complex that Herod was building, it points to the coming kingdom of God when God rules everything.
And there is permanence. There’s no fear that it’s going to crumble and fall down. These old edifices that I mentioned, oh, just take the Colosseum in Rome, for example. That comes a bit later, but gives you an idea here. And that is the Colosseum. If you go there today, there’s still a lot of it there. But it’s kind of an empty shell. It’s not an active, ongoing place of things happening. And so these things remain partially standing.
What was Jesus’ words concerning the temple? He said there’s not going to be one stone left upon another here. Now as it turns out, there is a foundation there called the Wailing Wall that goes all the way back to Solomon. But what’s up top there is not a temple, it’s the mosque of Omar. It’s a Muslim place. You can’t go over there and see anything of the temple because there’s not one stone left upon another from that, that is at least topside. The only traces of Solomon’s temple do have importance, that is the wailing wall and so forth. What importance?
Well, they remind us of God’s promises to David. David didn’t build the temple, but Solomon built the temple from materials that David had gathered. And God’s promises to David were that they would not lack a man to sit upon David’s throne. And though David’s throne was not located in the temple, God’s throne was located there. And David’s throne was just an extension of God’s throne. And it really didn’t belong to any human being. It belonged to the Son of God who was to come into the world, namely the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now the stones that Herod placed there were all thrown down. That’s an interesting phrase that is in the passage there. They were thrown down. Not one of these stones will not be thrown down is the way that it really should read. Thrown down has the idea that somebody’s going to do the throwing. Now it could be God in the sense that the earthquake or whatever might knock them down, but I think more of the idea is that men would come along, armies would come along, the Romans would come along and destroy the temple. They would take and throw down the stones. That’s what was coming.
But, and this is very important, according to Jesus, the restoration of the temple, you say, you mean there’s going to be another temple? Well, not exactly, not exactly. But the restoration of the temple is Jesus Himself in His resurrection. in John chapter 2, and this is very early in Jesus’ ministry. In John chapter 2, he says, destroy this temple, and he points to himself, destroy this temple, and I’ll raise it up in three days. And then they distorted that and made it a charge against him later on. But that’s the point.
The point is that as wonderful as Solomon’s temple was, As wonderful as even previously the tabernacle was, though it was a very portable thing, as wonderful as Herod’s temple might have been in its grandeur and so forth, the greatest of all temples is the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
He is the way to God. He is the way to the forgiveness of our sins. He is the one who sets before us heaven itself because the pattern of the tabernacle or the temple was given to Moses, was given to the rest of Israel by God himself. And he says, heaven is like this.
But all of those things are not that when you go to heaven, you’ll see an edifice of some kind, but you’ll see the Lord and more particularly the Lord Jesus Christ. So according to Jesus, the restoration of the temple, even if on one stone was not left upon another, the restoration of the temple would actually be his resurrection from the dead. And those who believed the Messiah’s appearance meant glory for the temple were sort of shocked that the old earthly temple wouldn’t be there, but full of joy and surprise and wonder that Jesus would always be there. So Jesus’ shocking response to the disciples’ questions first of all was, everything’s going to be torn down, but the even greater shock or surprise was that something better is going to come along, and it won’t be earthly, and it won’t be made of stones, and it won’t be subject to the attacks of armies or anything like that. It will be the Lord Jesus and His people together in the new heavens and the new earth.
Which brings us into the third point, and that is a warning about frightening events. What are we saying? We’re saying that the last days started with Jesus’ resurrection. and continue right on until the end of the world. And obviously, the first has happened. Jesus was crucified, buried, rose again the third day, ascended into heaven. And that’s the situation as it’s been through all these years, but we haven’t come to the end yet. And yet there are things that we need to keep in mind, things that we need to know about.
Undoubtedly, Jesus told the disciples that they, I’m talking about the twelve, but Judas is scaring it out of there, but there were twelve at this point anyway, that in their lifetimes, they would see some of these things that would be very frightening. And we would call them eschatological events, in that they tell us that this world is not just going to keep going on and on and on, and Elon Musk and his rockets and his buildings and his billions and trillions and so forth, they’re not going to make this world keep on going. Eventually, there’s going to be a tearing down of things that the Lord will be in charge of and responsible for. But now, as He talks to these disciples, He issues warnings to them, warnings that could apply to all believers in all the ages to follow.
First thing he says is, see that no one leads you astray. Now, we have to be very careful here because it says whenever you start talking about the end of the world and the coming of Christ and all these things, he says, don’t let people lead you astray because it’s very easy in those circumstances to be fooled, to be led astray.
I remember some years ago, I forgot which place in South America it was, but there was a terrible earthquake down there and just destroyed everything. And one of the people said, it just seemed like the end of the world. And what the Lord is saying here is, wait a minute, that’s not the end of the world. See that he says that you’re not led astray.
Don’t let anyone tell you that they are Christ now come. So, let’s say some great war happens or some disaster happens and somebody comes along and says, well, I’m from God, I am He, I am your Savior. Jesus says, don’t believe any of it. Don’t believe that. See that no one leads you astray, especially falsely claiming that they are the Messiah. I am He.
Then second, don’t be alarmed, He says, by wars or rumors of wars. I can’t think of a time since I’ve been alive that there wasn’t a war or a rumor of war somewhere, somehow. Some very serious ones, Second World War or the Korean War or Vietnam War or some of these wars that have gone on here and there. See that you’re not fooled by the fact there’s so many wars in the world. That’s going to go on in the lifetime of the disciples, but also in your lifetime as well. Don’t be alarmed by wars or rumors of war. They’re going to continue to the end of the age.
And then he says, you’ll have earthquakes. Well, we in California, we’re not too surprised by that. Although I’ve seen that recently they’ve had earthquakes back east that they don’t usually have and that’s kind of excited the people, some as well. But earthquakes and natural disasters, be it a hurricane or tornado or some other sort of flooding and natural disaster and those kinds of things, he says, they’re going to happen every day somewhere. It’s like somebody said about China. He says, everything you can say about China is true somewhere. And everything you can say about these frightening events and things that happen, it’s true somewhere. Somewhere right now in the world, there’s an earthquake of some kind. Somewhere right now in the world, there’s a war somewhere. Somewhere things are going on, but don’t let that make you think it’s the end of the world just yet.
The disciples, he says, to this 12 and absent Judas eventually, but he says, all of you will face these things in your lifetimes. In other words, if we just limit it to the 11, sometime in your life, there’s going to be an earthquake, there’s going to be a war, there’s going to be turmoil and things like this.
And he says don’t let that guide you to thinking that Jesus’ return is right away. Don’t let that come to you. He says, rather, he says, just be prepared to meet the Lord. That means if you die, if you’re ready for death, then you’re ready to meet the Lord, no matter what things happen in the world, in space, or anything around you. You’ll have to deal with all these.
Now, he gives some further instructions, which is our fourth point this morning, going forward that will apply to all believers at various times. The lives of the disciples, as well as the lives of many others, will always be at risk in this world. We, of course, have our attention fixed on Iran these days, but you remember they, this Republican Guard or whatever it was, they killed around 35,000, 40,000 people. It’s hard even for us to imagine that, but just when they went out in the streets and were protesting and so forth, IRGC, or whatever it’s called. They just went out and killed all these people. Because everybody’s life is at risk in this world in some way or other. Not necessarily always from war, or might be from some outbreak, some pandemic of some kind. We don’t always know. But in this world, your lives are always at risk.
And Jesus’ point is, always be ready when the Lord calls you. You don’t know when He’s going to call you. So be on your guard. That’s verse 9 in the passage there. Be on your guard. If you could pass along some good advice to people in this world, be on your guard. Be on your guard. And be prepared to be arrested, to be questioned, beaten, or just for being Christian, And somebody I was reading the other day just said, there’s never been a time when Christians were more despised than there are in these days. Be on your guard.
If you happen to be put on trial, and many will be put on trial, of course, it says you’re a bigot, you’re teaching and preaching hatred and all these things, it says don’t be anxious about the situation, and especially don’t be anxious about what you should say.
The Holy Spirit will help you. Now again, my point is that it’s not just true there in the first century for the 11 surviving disciples, but it’s true in any age, at any time, you’re going to have to give an account before somebody. Maybe not before a court of law. Maybe not before some military junta or something like that.
But some way, some time, somehow you’re going to have to give an account for what you believe and the Holy Spirit will help you to do that. He says, even family members will not be friendly towards you. They’ll betray you and testify against you and even give their approval for the death penalty against you. for being a Christian, for following Christ. Expect, he says, to be hated, and to feel the hurt, and the embarrassment of it, and the sorrow that it brings.
This is what’s going to happen. We’re going back to the first century again, but just right on down through the ages. This is what’s going to happen. Be prepared for that. Be on your guard. Don’t let anybody lead you astray. You’ll know it, and we’ll get to this later, but you’ll know it when Jesus really does come again. You won’t have to guess and say, oh, this must be the end of the world. You’ll know it when it happens. But expect to be hated, embarrassed, and full of sorrow because of what the world does to you. But the good news is, and this is in the closing verse of the passage here, the good news is that the one who endures to the end will be saved.
That is, who doesn’t turn away from the Lord, who doesn’t say, oh, this Christian business has just been all of phony stuff and I won’t follow it anymore. Endure to the end. Keep trusting the Lord. Don’t let earthquakes or wars or any of these things turn you from the Lord. Just keep trusting in the Lord.
In fact, James says, count it all joy when you’re persecuted for Jesus’ sake. And he doesn’t say because the end of the world is just a few hours away. He says, just be thankful, be joyful that you’re counted worthy to suffer for Christ. Count it all joy when you are persecuted for His sake. Now, one final thing as we close this morning, and that is finding purpose in the great commission that underlies the longest day. The ultimate purpose of the last days. Why is this going on so long? Why? Two reasons.
One is that the gospel must first be proclaimed among all the nations. That’s what Jesus says here. The gospel must be proclaimed among all the nations. And that means that there’s elect people. Some of them haven’t even been born yet. There are some who belong to the Lord. And so, we’re waiting for all God’s people to gather in, even those who are yet to be born. But we’re waiting for that to happen.
So that’s one reason that history has just gone on so long and that it will go on a while longer, we think. And the other reason is that the judgment of the world hasn’t yet fully come to its place of fulfillment. The judging of the wicked. When Israel stayed in Egypt for 400 years, one of the reasons that’s put forth there is the iniquity of the Amorites, the people that lived in Palestine, was not complete. Now just take and project that out over history. One of the reasons the Lord hasn’t come back yet is the iniquity of the world, of the rejecters of the gospel and the enemies of Christ is not complete yet.
And only He knows when it is. So if that enters your mind, why are we waiting so long? First, the gospel needs to reach more people, more people need to be brought in, and the judgment of the world, the iniquity that has to be faced is not yet complete. We’ll understand that better by and by.
The end that’s cited here, the end of the world, and I’m just, I’m also going to add into this the Great Commission. Make disciples of all the nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always unto the end of the age. Now the end may be, yes, the end of history, the end of the age, but it may also be the end of your life. The end is not yet if you’re still living and breathing.
Or it may be a period of persecution. History has, you know, from this date to this date, there was great persecution. And then there was a period of relief and relative ease for the people of the world. And then the persecution would start up again. So it could be the end of that. The end will come to some of these things, but the end of the world is not yet.
So endure to the end, that’s the point. To endure is to keep following Christ in spite of all the obstacles and temptations. And Jesus stresses four things that we should keep in mind as we live through these last days. for however long they last. Evangelism, go and preach the gospel, make disciples of all the nations. Orthodoxy, that is, stay true to the scriptures. Don’t go off in some cultish thing here and there, but listen to the word of God as the church has historically proclaimed it to you. So you have evangelism, you have orthodoxy, you have obedience, that is, following and doing what the Lord said.
During this time, it should be a time of obedience for God’s people, not disobedience, but really following closely upon what He said. And finally, it’ll be a time of protection. A time of protection. The Lord will watch over you. Lo, I am with you always. This is from Matthew, of course. But, Lo, I am with you always. His protection. And then just to add to that, it’ll be a time of reward because those who are faithful to the end, those who endure to the end, will be saved, and that includes the receiving of everything that God has prepared for His people.
So we back up to where the disciples first asked Jesus, when will these things be? And what will be the sign that they’re nearly accomplished? Well, you see, first of all, these things will be when God says, and not when we have figured it out from some numerical calculations or something like that.
It’ll be whenever God says, and the sign of his coming are the same signs that we face every day. The signs that I’ve given to you, the earthquakes and the wars and the persecutions and all these things, they happen all the time. And all that says to you, be ready, be ready, be prepared for when the Lord does come again. If you’re ready to die, you’re ready for whatever the end of the world may bring to you.
That’s where we have to stop today, but we’ll pick it up again next time. Lord in heaven, thank you for your word and for the great blessing that it brings to us to listen to it and follow it and not be led astray by people who think they know things that they don’t really know. Help us in our time, in our day, Lord, to be faithful and to endure to the end and to count it all joy whatever comes our way. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Well, let’s sing from the back of your bulletin.