SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/19/2012
My Worship Time Focus: The Middle
of the Tribulation
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Mark
13:14-18
Message of the verses: “14 ¶
“But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it ought
not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to
the mountains. 15 Let the one who is on
the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, 16 and let the one who is in the field not turn
back to take his cloak. 17 And alas for
women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! 18 Pray that it may not happen in winter.” (ESV)
It
has been a little over a month since we last looked at the Gospel of Mark and
the 13th chapter in particular, and so before we begin this section
I thought that I would do a little bit of review from this 13th
chapter. As we come to the 13th
chapter of Mark we must understand that we are very near the end of Christ’s
life on planet earth, for in just a couple of days He would go to the cross in
order to pay for the sins of those who would come to believe in Him. His public ministry is now complete and He is
dealing with His disciples, making them ready for when He departs from this
world. It is believed that this is
Wednesday when the events of this chapter occur. Jesus comes out of the temple towards evening
and is heading away from the city of Jerusalem when his disciples begin to question
Him, and to also point out the beautiful temple building. This is called Herod’s temple because he was
the one who had it done over to the state that it was in at this time, and it
was very beautiful indeed. Jesus then
points out to His disciples that in a short time, (40 years but Jesus did not
give them this information), that the temple would be destroyed. This event would happen in 70 AD by Titus and
the Roman Legions. This event was
prophesied by Daniel in the 9th chapter of Daniel. “26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an
anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the
prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall
come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are
decreed.” In this 26th verse
of Daniel’s ninth chapter we see some amazing things that will happen. First we see that the Messiah would be
killed, and then we see that there will one day come a prince who will come out
of the people who will destroy the temple and the city. Now the prince is the antichrist and he will
come from the people who would destroy the temple and the city of
Jerusalem. Jesus also foretells this
event in His message given to His disciples.
As stated Titus from the empire of Rome came and destroyed the temple
and the city in 70 AD.
The
event we are looking at in Mark 13 is also seen in Matthew 24-25, and Luke 21,
and it is called the “Olivet Discourse” because Jesus is at the Mount of Olives
when He gives this message.
I
like to listen to John MacArthur for many reasons in my preparation to write
some of my Spiritual Diaries. When I
listen to his messages he will almost always go back and do a review of what he
has been talking about in the past before he brings new material in his
message. As I was listening to one of
his messages from Mark’s gospel yesterday MacArthur gave a quick review for
this chapter and so I thought that I would include this review in today’s
Spiritual Diary.
“They were asking the question, many
of them were asking, it was an open dialogue. And Matthew records in Matthew
24:3 that one of them said, “What will be the sign of Your coming and the end
of the age?” So that triggers our Lord’s message on the future. And He starts
answering it in verse 5 of chapter 13. I’m not going to review it, just to
point it out to you. In chapter 13, verse 5 through 13, He describes history up
till now and including now. And He said, “Look, before I come, the world will
be characterized by religious deception, massive religious deception.” Matthew,
Mark and Luke all give us insight into this.
“It will secondly be characterized
by massive disasters, wars, rumors of wars, which means hot wars, cold wars,
earthquakes. And if you put them all together, famines, plagues, all kinds of
natural disasters. And it will also be, human history will, be characterized by
the relentless persecution of believers, by Jews first, by Gentiles also and
even in your families. So He characterizes the period of time between then,
leading up until His coming, as a time of deception, disaster, and distress of
persecution of believers. History tells us, He was exactly right…exactly right.
That is the story of
human history. It
is a relentless time of religious deception. Religious deception today
proliferates maybe like it never has in the history of the world, we haven’t
had any improvement on our susceptibility as a human race to lies to the enemy,
the king of hell himself, delegated king of hell, Satan.
“History has also been characterized
by wars and rumors of wars. And they don’t lessen. They seem to be increasing,
even in our very time today and by natural disasters which seem to be getting
worse and worse. Characterization of persecution goes on. Believers have always
been persecuted. They’re being persecuted and even slaughtered around the world
today. Our Lord saw history the way it is because the Bible always corresponds
to reality.” We will end his review
there because if I went on with it then it would include what we will be looking
at today.
In the verses that we are looking at
today (Mark 13:14-18) we see Jesus speaking about an event called the
“abomination of desolations.” This event
is mentioned in the book of Daniel. Dr.
Wiersbe writes the following on this event:
“The phrase ‘abomination of desolations’ comes from the Book of Daniel
and refers to the idolatrous pollution of the Jewish temple by the
Gentiles. To the Jews, all idolatry is
an abomination (Deu. 29:17; 2Kings 16:3).
The Jewish temple was defiled in 167 BC by the Syrian kings Antiochus IV
(also called ‘Epiphanes’ meaning ‘illustrious’) when he poured swine’s blood on
the altar. This event was predicted in
Daniel 11:31.” We also know that when
the Romans destroyed the temple as mentioned above that it was defiled
too. However those events are not what
Jesus is speaking of in this passage, but an event that is still future, that
will happen in the middle of what we call the “tribulation.” This event is prophesied also by Daniel in
Daniel 9:27 and also Daniel 12:11.
Daniel was given, what I refer like
to as the greatest prophecy given, in the ninth chapter of Daniel after he was
praying to the Lord about when the Jews would leave Babylon, for Daniel was
reading from the prophet Jeremiah that the Jews would only be in Babylon for
seventy years, “‘And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment,
and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” “Jer 29:10 For thus says the LORD:
After seventy years
are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you,
and cause you to return to
this place.” Now before Daniel’s
prayer was finished the angel Gabriel came to answer it and that answer is
found in Daniel 9:24-27. In order to
understand this prophecy you have to understand that the Jews had weeks of days
and also weeks of years and so the total amount of time that this prophecy has
is 490 years or seventy sevens which is what the Hebrew language says. There is a certain event that this prophecy
begins with and a certain event that it will end with. There are also other events involved in this
prophecy. Nehemiah chapter two is when
the 490 years begins and after 483 years it will stop with seven years left on
it. Luke 19 is when the prophecy will
end with those seven years left on it.
The event that stopped it just happened prior to Jesus giving His
message in Mark 13, and that happened when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a
donkey which we call Palm Sunday. Why
was this the ending point of these first 483 years of this prophecy? Jesus says the following from Luke 19:
42 saying, “Would that you, even you,
had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden
from your eyes.”
As we mentioned there are still
seven years left on this prophecy and Daniel goes on to state when these seven
years will begin: “Then he shall confirm a
covenant with many for one
week; But in the middle
of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the
wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the
consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate." The “he” is the antichrist and this seven
year period begins with the antichrist signing a peace treaty with the nation
of Israel for seven years. This begins
the “tribulation” period. In the middle
of the week, which is three and a half years into it the antichrist will come
into the temple and commit the abomination of desolation. The horrors if the tribulation will begin for
real after this event. Jesus is speaking
to those who will be alive and on the earth at the time when this event takes
place and in the remaining verses that are from our text today He tells them
what they must do.
Our journey through this 13th
chapter of Mark has come to the middle of the tribulation period. This entire event is described in the book of
Revelations from chapter six to chapter nineteen where we will see the return of
Jesus Christ to planet earth at the end of the battle of Armageddon. As we
continue to look at this 13th chapter of Mark we will also see the
events that will unfold during the tribulation period all the way up to the
return of Jesus Christ to planet earth.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I am
reminded on how I am to live my life knowing that the events that we are
talking about will someday come about.
In the last letter that Peter wrote shortly before he was crucified
upside down for the cause of Christ he wrote the following words, “10 But the day of the Lord will come like a
thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies
will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on
it will be exposed.” Peter writes about
the end of the 1000 year kingdom here which begins after the tribulation period
ends with the return of Christ. He then
goes on to write, “11 ¶ Since all these
things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives
of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day
of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the
heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13
But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new
earth in which righteousness dwells. 14
Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be
found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as
salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the
wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all
his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in
them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their
own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this
beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless
people and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and
to the day of eternity. Amen.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Live my life
in a way that will please the Lord, by learning contentment, and having my mind
transformed by the Word of God. To
follow what 2 Peter 3:18 says.
Memory verse for
today: Psalm 121:1
1 I will lift up my eyes to the
mountains; from where will my help come?
12/19/2012 12:01
PM
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