Mark 13:1-13

10. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE FORETOLD. 13:1-13.

TEXT 13:1-13

And as he went forth out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, behold, what manner of stones and what manner of buildings! And Jesus said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left here one stone upon another, which shall not be thrown down. And as he sat on the Mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when these things are all about to be accomplished? And Jesus began to say unto them, Take heed that no man lead you astray. Many shall come in my name, saying, I am he; and shall lead many astray. And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be not troubled: these things must needs come to pass: but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: there shall be earthquakes in divers places; there shall be famines: these things are the beginning of travail. But take ye heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in synagogues shall ye be beaten; and before governors and kings shall ye stand for my sake, for a testimony unto them. And the gospel must first be preached unto all the nations. And when they lead you to judgment, and deliver you up, be not anxious before hand what ye shall speak: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Spirit. And brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father his child; and children shall rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 13:1-13

702.

What was the motive of the disciple of Jesus in calling attention to the stones and buildings?

703.

What size stones were involved in the prediction of Jesus?

704.

In what year was the prediction of destruction made?when was it fulfilled?

705.

At about what time of the day was the question about the temple asked and answered? What side of the city and temple was in view?

706.

Is there any significance in who asked the questions?

707.

How many questions were asked? (Compare the parallel accounts in Matthew 24:1-22 and Luke 21:5-24).

708.

Why associate the destruction of Jerusalem and the second coming of Christ?

709.

In what particular area of misleading did Jesus speak in Mark 13:5?

710.

Was Jesus saying certain persons would appear as the Messiah?in His first or second advent?

711.

What end is discussed in Mark 13:7? The end of the world?; The end of Jerusalem?; The end of the Jewish nation?

712.

When was Mark 13:8 fulfilled? or is it to be fulfilled?

713.

One translation says the beginning of birth pangs in Mark 13:8 b. What does this mean?

714.

Were the four disciples who heard the words of Mark 13:9 treated in the manner described? was this a fulfillment of the prediction?

715.

Was the gospel ever preached to all the nations? Cf. Colossians 1:23. Why must the gospel first be preached to all nations?

716.

Verses eleven and twelve seems to indicate a promise to be fulfilled in the lifetime of the apostleswas it? How does it fit the context of the worldor the destruction of Jerusalem?

717.

In what sense saved as in Mark 13:13?

COMMENT

TIME.A.D. 30; Tuesday, April 4; the same day after our Lord's farewell to and final departure from the temple.
PLACES.The lesson begins in the temple, as the Lord departs from it, and ends upon the Mount of Olives, over against and over-looking Jerusalem and the temple, from the east.

INTERESTING HISTORY.After the incidents of the widow's mite (Mark 12:41-43), Certain Greeks desire to see Jesus (John 12:20-27); a voice from heaven (John 12:28-36); reflections on the unbelief of the Jews (John 12:37-50); the scathing rebuke to the Pharisees, scribes and lawyers (Matthew 23:1-36) and the farewell to the temple (Matthew 23:37-39).

PARALLEL ACCOUNTS.Matthew 24:1-22. Luke 21:5-24. LESSON OUTLINE.1. The Temple Doomed. 2. False Christs and Trouble. 3. The Era of Persecution.

ANALYSIS

I.

THE TEMPLE DOOMED, Mark 13:1-4.

1.

The Lord Forsakes the Temple. Mark 13:1; Matthew 24:1; Luke 21:5.

2.

The Temple's Fate. Mark 13:2; Matthew 24:2; Luke 21:6.

3.

Christ on the Mount of Olives. Mark 13:3; Matthew 24:3.

4.

When shall these things be? Mark 13:4; Matthew 24:3; Luke 21:7.

II.

FALSE CHRISTS AND TROUBLE, Mark 13:5-8.

1.

Beware of Deceivers. Mark 13:5; Matthew 24:4; Luke 21:8.

2.

False Christs. Mark 13:6; Matthew 24:5; Luke 21:8.

3.

Wars and Rumors of Wars. Mark 13:7; Matthew 24:6; Luke 21:9.

4.

Universal Commotion. Mark 13:8; Matthew 24:7; Luke 21:10-11.

III.

THE ERA OF PERSECUTION, Mark 13:9-13.

1.

The Suffering Church. Mark 13:9; Matthew 24:8-13; Luke 21:12-19.

2.

The Gospel Among all Nations. Mark 13:10; Matthew 24:14.

3.

The Divine Helper. Mark 13:11; Luke 21:15.

4.

Saved by Endurance. Mark 13:13; Matthew 24:13.

INTRODUCTION

In order to fully understand the student must have pictured before him the circumstances. On Sunday the Lord had proclaimed probably, for the first time, by his entry into Jerusalem that he was the Messiah King. On Monday and Tuesday, in the temple, before the leaders of the nation, he had for the last time offered them the divine message. When it was rejected he warned them in parables and then, passing from the parable, he delivered the withering denunciations recorded in the twenty-third chapter of Matthew. This discourse has never been surpassed in indignant rebuke, withering denunciation, and tearful sorrow over the coming fate of confirmed sinners who would not be saved. It contains Christ's last words to the Jewish nation. The contest had been growing fiercer, the opposition of his enemies was more bitter, their plots against his life were working, their utter perverseness was fully manifested, the time for tender appeal had passed by, and the Lord turns upon the Whited Sepulchers, the generation of vipers, the hypocritical pretenders, in a philippic that we believe has never been equalled. But even in the midst of it, like a rift of blue sky in the fearful storm cloud, his love and pity shine forth with wonderful beauty in the pathetic exclamation of verse thirty-seven. In his parting words, Behold, your house is left unto you desolate, he seemed to see the awful picture of a ruined temple and city smoking among the starved and mangled carcasses of the people of Israel; the fearful doom of many that listened to his voice. When this farewell was spoken he turned to depart from a temple that had rejected God and which he never more would enter. As he passed through its courts, his disciples apparently to make an appeal in behalf of so splendid a structure, pointed to the massive stones used in its construction. Then he replied, Not one stone shall be left upon another.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

I.

THE TEMPLE DOOMED.

Mark 13:1. As he went out of the temple. After the solemn and pathetic farewell recorded in the latter part of the twenty-third chapter of Matthew. Those words closed his public ministry to the Jewish nation, and he left the temple never to return. He left it desolate. He probably passed from the exclusively Jewish part to the court of the Gentiles and then the reference was made to the stones of the structure by one of the disciples which drew forth his prediction. What manner of stones and what manner of buildings? Josephus, the Jewish historian, who was present when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans nearly forty years after the Lord's prediction speaks of the immense stones used in the structure. He, in his Antiquities (xv. 11, 3), speaks of the stones of a certain part of the edifice, as being each, in length, 25 cubits (37 to 44 feet); in height, 8 (12 to 14 feet); in breadth, about 12 (18 to 21 feet). In his Wars (5:5, 6), he speaks of some of the stones as 45 cubits in length, 5 in height, and 6 in breadth. Few buildings, in ancient or modern times, have equalled in magnificence Herod's Temple. With its out-buildings it covered an area of over 19 acres, was built of white marble, was 46 years in building (John 2:20), and employed in its construction 10,000 skilled workmen. Josephus also speaks of the great strength of the structure and tells that the strongest of the batterings was worked against the wall without effect, for five days in succession; the size and joining of the stones were too strong for it, and for all the others. The descriptions vie with each other in describing the splendor of the temple as rebuilt by Herod the Great. Says Farrar: The disciples eagerly pointed to goodly stones and splendid offerings; to the nine gates overlaid with gold and silver, and to the one of Corinthian brass, yet more precious; those graceful and towering porches; those double cloisters and stately pillars; that lavish adornment of sculpture and arabesque; those alternate blocks of red and white marble, recalling the crest and the hollow of sea waves.

Mark 13:2. There shall not be one stone left upon another. At the time this was spoken no event was more improbable than this. The temple was vast, rich, splendid. It was the pride of the nation, and the nation was at peace. Yet in the short space of forty years all this was exactly accomplished. Jerusalem was taken by the Roman armies, under the command of Titus, A.D. 70. The account of the siege and destruction of the city is left us by Josephus. That shall not be thrown down. The fortifications of Jerusalem and its natural advantages rendered it so apparently impregnable, that, after its fall, Titus, the captor, is reported by Josephus ( Wars of the Jews, Mark 6:9; Mark 6:1) to have said, It was no other than God who ejected the Jews out of these fortifications. Titus ordered the whole city and the temple to be dug up, leaving only two or three of the chief towers, so that those who visited it could hardly believe that it had ever been inhabited (Wars, vii I). Of the temple proper not a vestige remains. It was built, however, upon an immense platform, partly composed of natural masonry. This platform is still standing. The remains which recent explorations have disinterred belong, all of them, to the substructure of the templeits drains, foundations, underground passages, and the like.

Mark 13:3. And as he sat. The words fell on the ears of the disciples, and awed them into silence. It was not till they had crossed to the Mount of Olives that even the foremost and most favored ventured to break it. Jesus paused before passing the ridge of Olivet, and sat down with his disciples to look back upon Jerusalem. The sun was setting, and the whole city, with the surrounding valleys and hillsides alive with the camps of pilgrims, lay beneath him in the evening light. The history of a thousand years, the divine oracles speaking by a thousand voices, the monuments of prophets, patriarchs, and kings, the visitations of angels, miraculous inter-positions in judgment and in blessing, from the offering of Isaac and the building of the temple, were present to him, as he looked upon Moriah and Zion, and heard the murmur and the evening songs of a million people gathered within and around the walls of the holy city. Nowhere on earth was it possible to find another scene of such commanding interest as that which lay before the eyes of Jesus when he turned to look upon Jerusalem for the last time (March.) Over against the temple. On leaving the temple Jesus would descend into the valley of the Kedron, and ascend the opposite slope of the Mount of Olives. Then full in view the temple would rise with its colonnades of dazzling white marble, surmounted with golden roof and pinnacles. At a distance the whole temple looked literally like a mount of snow, fretted with golden pinnacles. Peter, James, John, Andrew. The four fishermen first called, and first named in the lists, the confidential disciples. Asked him privately. Either apart from the multitude, but in the presence of the other disciples, or apart from the other disciples, in a private conference.

Mark 13:4. When shall these things be? The things of which they had heard him speak. The question is given more fully by Matthew (Matthew 24:3). It embraced three points: (1) the time of the destruction of the temple; (2) the sign of his coming; and (3) of the end of the world.Maclear. What shall be the sign? By what signs shall we know when these things shall be accomplished? They wanted some insight into his plans, so that they might know when and how he was to come, and all the events he had foretold should take place, and his kingdom be established.

II.

FALSE CHRISTS AND TROUBLE.

Mark 13:5. Jesus answering them began. Our Lord's answer to these questions was framed to afford all the information needful to them, or useful for their guidance, but little to gratify a vague curiosity. Neither did he answer their questions categorically, but so intermingled his replies that it required after knowledge and experience to discriminate more than was actually needful for their safety and warning to know. We can now distinguish that he spoke of his coming, not personally, but by the fulfillment of his predictions concerning Jerusalem, and for the final uprooting of that theocracy which had become obstructive to the progress of the gospel; and again of his final coming to judge the world, of which, also, they inquired. Much that our Lord said might be applicable to both these great eventsboth these comings, being, in fact, comings to judgment; but toward the close his language grew more distinctly applicable to his final coming to judge the world (J. Kitto.) Lest any man deceive you. The Lord does not answer when, but by admonitions not to be deceived. It is not given to us to know the times and the seasons. The Lord's purpose in this first part of his discourse is not to tell what are, but what are not, the premonitions of the great catastrophe to which he here refers.

Mark 13:6. For. Introducing the ground or reason of this unexpected warning (Alexander.) Many shall come. Five tokens are here given, to which the Lord direct the attention of his disciples: (1) The rise of false prophets; (2) wars and rumors of wars; (3) the rising of nation against nation; (4) earthquakes; (5) famines (Cambridge Bible.) In my name. Pretending to be the Messiah. As the destruction of their holy city drew near, and the Messianic hopes of the Jews were at fever-heat, many enthusiasts arose, and awakened false expectations, and drew large numbers after them (Acts 5:36-37; 1 John 2:18). Josephus says that in the reign of Claudius (who died A.D. 54), the land was overwhelmed with deceivers who pretended to be the Christ. The names and abortive efforts of several of these deceivers are given by Josephus and other historians.

Mark 13:7. Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars. A seeming anti-climax, but a real climax. The rumors of an expected invasion are often more dreadful than the invasion itself.Abbott. Wars and rumors of wars there certainly were during this period; but the prophecy must be interpreted rather than those of which the Hebrew Christians would be most likely to hear as a cause of terror. Such, undoubtedly, were the three threats of war against the Jews by Caligula, Claudius, and Nero; of the first which Josephus says, that it would have brought extermination to the Jewish nation had it not been for Caligula's death.Alford. Be ye not troubled. (1) As if everything were going to ruin. Be not troubled; for you will be safe, both at the judgment and at the destruction of Jerusalem. Every Christian escaped from that destruction. (2) These things do not prove that the great catastrophe and final consummation is at hand. The end not yet. Neither that destruction of Jerusalem, nor the end of the world. These are not the certain signs of the end, for they occur at other times as well as then.

Mark 13:8. Nation shall rise against nation. Bear in mind the massacres of Caesarea, between Syrians and Jews, in which 20,000 of the latter fell, while in Syria almost every city was divided into two armies, which stood opposed to one another as deadly enemies; the quick succession of the five emperors in Rome within a few years, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, and the tumults connected therewith in wider and narrower circles. The war-fiend ran riot in Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and throughout the whole Roman empire. The ten years ending with the destruction of Jerusalem was such a period of civil commotion as the world has seldom witnessed. Earthquakes. The principal earthquakes occurring between this prophecy and the destruction of Jerusalem were, (1) a great earthquake in Crete, A.D. 46 or 47; (2) one at Rome on the day when Nero assumed the manly toga, A.D. 51; (3) one at Apamaea in Phrygia, mentioned by Tacitus, A.D. 53; (4) one at Laodicea in Phrygia, A.D. 60; (5) one in Campania.Alford. Famines and troubles. These would naturally follow the devastating civil wars. These woes all precede the awful end of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation.

III.

THE ERA OF PERSECUTION.

Mark 13:9. Take heed to yourselves. Not as a means of escaping from persecution, but as a means of preparing for it, as Christ bade Peter take heed against temptation (Matthew 26:41). For. Before all these things (Luke 21:12); i.e., before these public calamities come, they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten. These refer to ecclesiastical proceedings against them. And ye shall be brought before rulers and kings. Before civil tribunals next. For my sake, for a testimony against them. Rather, unto them; to give you an opportunity of bearing testimony to me before them. In the Acts of the Apostles we have the best commentary on this announcement (Matthew 10:17-18). The martyrdoms and persecutions have ever called attention to the religion of Christ, and opened ways for its promulgation.

Mark 13:10. The gospel must first be published, Preached, proclaimed, which is the proper conception of preaching, Among all nations. The gospel had been published through the Roman world as then known, and every nation had received its testimony before the destruction of Jerusalem. See Colossians 1:6; Colossians 1:23, 2 Timothy 4:17. But further, the gospel has yet to be preached universally for a testimony. And the universal diffusion of it by modern Christian missions is now a leading sign of the end.

Mark 13:11. Take no thought beforehand. Be not anxious, as in the New Version. The idea is: You need not distress yourselves by anxiously considering beforehand how you ought to speak before such high and august personages. Let all your thoughts beforehand be concerned about the publishing, Let your words and thoughts be aggressive; I will take care for the defense. Delivered from care of the future, be occupied with present duty. This verse is best interpreted by such practical illustrations as are afforded by Acts 4:19-20; Acts 5:20-32; Acts 22:3-21, Observe that this direction affords no countenance whatever to preaching the truth without previous preparation. It is simply a warning against allowing the mind to be divided in time of danger between the desire of personal safety and the desire to be faithful to the truth.

Mark 13:12. Brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son. As there is nothing that excites such love as the gospel when intelligently received, so there is nothing that occasions such hate as this same gospel when passionately rejected. In that reception or rejection the heart of the heart is concerned.Morison. In missionary lands this is literally fulfilled today, as we all know.

Mark 13:13. Hated of all men. The Roman historian, Tacitus, speaks of the early Christians as a hated race. It is difficult for us in these days to understand how literally this was fulfilled. The most shameful practices were attributed to Christians; and partly in consequence of these falsehoods, partly from hatred of good, they were treated as the offscouring of the earth. Endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. The primary meaning of this seems to be that whosoever remained faithful till the destruction of Jerusalem should be preserved from it. No Christian, that we know of, perished in the siege or after it. But it has ulterior meanings, according to which the end will signify, to an individual, the day of his death (Revelation 2:10), his martyrdom, as in the case of some of those here addressed; to the church, endurance in the faith to the end of all things,Alford.

FACT QUESTIONS 13:1-13

824.

State the five points or events occurring between the close of Mark chapter twelve and the opening of the thirteenth chapter. Cf. John 12:20-50; Matthew 23:1-39.

825.

What occurred when for the last time our Lord offered His divine message and it was rejected?

826.

What is meant by the expression your house is left unto you desolate?

827.

Where were Jesus and His disciples when the disciples made the comment they did about the stones.

828.

Give the length, height and breadth of some of the stones according to Josephus.

829.

What was the area covered by the temple?

830.

How many years was the temple in being built? How many skilled workmen were employed in building the temple?

831.

Give three facts stated in Farrar's description.

832.

Who said, It was no other than God who ejected the Jews out of these fortifications? Why?

833.

How did Titus accomplish the prediction of Jesus?

834.

There was a long pause between the words of Jesus and the answer of His discipleswhat happened during the pause?

835.

How was it possible for the temple to appear as a mount of snow, fretted with golden pinnacles?

836.

What three points were involved in the question: When shall these things be?

837.

What was the sign of Mark 13:4?

838.

How was the answer of Jesus both adequate and yet disappointing?

839.

What two comings were involved in His answer?

840.

What five tokens are mentioned to which the Lord directs the attention of the disciples?

841.

What caused the Messianic hopes of the Jews to rise to a fever-heat?

842.

What were the three wars and rumors of war especially significant to the Hebrew Christians?

843.

What two reasons are given for not being troubled?

844.

When in particular did nation rise against nation?

845.

Name the five earthquakes in the period between the time of our Lord and 70 A.D.

846.

Specify where and when and to whom the prediction of Mark 13:9 found fulfillment.

847.

Prove scripturally that every nation had received its (the gospel'S) testimony before the destruction of Jerusalem. Cf. Colossians 1:6; Colossians 1:23; 2 Timothy 4:17.

848.

Show how Acts 4:19-20; Acts 5:20-32; Acts 22:3-21 fulfill the 11th verse.

849.

Does verse eleven give some encouragement to the thought of preaching the gospel without preparation? Discuss.

850.

Under what conditions would Mark 13:12-13 be fulfilled?

851.

What two or three ends are possible as of Mark 13:13 b?