Mark 13 hit me with some insights I had never thought of before…
In verse 5 the very first thing Jesus says about the eschaton is,
“And Jesus began to say to them, “See to it that no one misleads you.”
This should immediately alert us to the importance of understanding what will happen in the last days of earth’s history. Before Jesus gives us any signs of recognizing the end, He informs us through this statement that there will WRONG ideas/interpretations about the end of times.
What should we be doing or supporting in the last days?
“The gospel must first be preached to all the nations.” -Mark 13:10
The preaching of the gospel…the good news of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, intercession in the heavenly sanctuary, and second coming.
It seems as the world becomes more and more wicked there is more and move emphasis by the church on “fitting-in” with the world, but Jesus said,
“You will be hated by all because of My name…” -Mark 13:13a
We should not seek enemies, but we should not be surprised by them either. And as I read scripture there are only two reasons why people hated believers in the Bible, they were arrogant (see Israel at points, Pharisees) or they were different. I don’t believe in this statement Jesus is speaking of hatred due to arrogance, do you? So it must be because we are different. This does not mean weird, it means different. How we speak, what we enjoy, how we act, how we spend our money, how we use our time, how we smile 🙂
“But take heed; behold, I have told you everything in advance.” -Mark 13:23
Everything, to the extent that all we need to know in order to endure and recognize the eschaton, Jesus has provided in His scriptures. This would mean there will come a day, not one of us can say, “How was I supposed to know?”
“What I say to you I say to all, ‘Be on the alert!’” -Mark 13:37
BE ON ALERT–I’ve known many that have said, “We’ve been warning people forever and still Jesus hasn’t come. We need to tone down the second coming talk. We need to tone down the evangelism and the stories of the end times.”
Not by Jesus’ standard. “I say to ALL” that means not one person in any generation should miss this message…BE ON ALERT!
Tomorrow’s Reading: 2 Corinthians 4 & 5