seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Mark 13:1 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”
2 “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?”
5 Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 6 Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. 10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. 11 Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
12 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 13 Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
14 “When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15 Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out. 16 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 17 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 18 Pray that this will not take place in winter, 19 because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.
20 “If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. 21 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.
24 “But in those days, following that distress,
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
25 the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
and the moon will not give its light;
25 the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
26 “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
28 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 29 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. 30 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Well, here it is. This, to me, is the biggest set of verses Mark has written. For those of you who have not been reading along. Mark is the author of this Gospel. He was not an Apostle or a Disciple. He was about 15-16 years old when Jesus was in Jerusalem. We will meet Mark in the Book of Acts, if I get that far. He will cause a kerfuffle between Paul and Barnabus. Here, he is just recording what the Disciples told him. Now, he may have been part of the crowd, but according to verse 3, above, he was not there for this conversation.
Peter [that's Simon Peter], his brother Andrew, and James and John [the Zebedee boys] were there. They are the only ones who have first hand knowledge. But, Mark is writing down what others told him. He was not there.
Verse 10 says the Gospel has to be taught in all nations. They didn't even know what other nations existed at the time. Didn't they all think the world was flat?
We have David Jeremiah now.... on TV. WAVA broadcasts "the Gospel" every day. When they are not selling vitamins and books and prayer beads.... that is. But some nations are so remote, compared to us, God will send the message to every one of those nations.
Verse 12 says "Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death." That was happening in Nazi Germany.... as I read.
But the biggie, the one I am looking forward to is in Verse 26. We'll all see Him in the clouds.
I'm out in Arizona now. I have to say... the sky is not at all like the sky back in Lusby. I almost never see clouds. When they do appear though, they are full of those mystical pictures clouds form. It almost looks like Jesus, Moses, and Elijah are walking the clouds going about their business. John has described dragons in the Book of Revelation, and sometimes the clouds look like dragons heading here. It's all quite amazing. Oh, and when there are clouds in the morning or the evening.... well God gets our attention with those magnificent sunrises and sunsets. I spend a lot of time looking up.... looking for Him.... can you tell?
It's Verse 30 that gives me thought. What does Jesus mean by "this generation"? Well, all the people who were there when Jesus said that, are in their graves or tombs. Some have probably been dug up by historians already. So how could Jesus say "this generation" would not die. Well, I got tired of trying to figure out how the generation that saw Jesus for themselves could still be alive to see Him return. So, I binged it.
The generation that sees Jesus' return will be the last generation. That's it!
I would love to see Jesus' return. I would not like living through wars and rumors of war, pandemics, starvation, and earthquakes. I would love to see Jesus come back. There are a few of us who are saying "when will all this end?" Well, it will end with the "last generation".
Do you think it will be "this generation"?
