Mark 13

Mr 13:1-37.

CHRIST'S

PROPHECY OF THE

DESTRUCTION OF

JERUSALEM, AND

WARNINGS

SUGGESTED BY

IT TO

PREPARE FOR

HIS

SECOND

COMING.

Mt 24:1-51;

Lu 21:5-36).

Jesus had uttered all His mind against the Jewish ecclesiastics,

exposing their character with withering plainness, and denouncing, in

language of awful severity, the judgments of God against them for that

unfaithfulness to their trust which was bringing ruin upon the nation.

He had closed this His last public discourse

(Mt 23:1-39)

the temple. "And," says Matthew

(Mt 24:1),

"Jesus went out and departed from the temple"--never more to re-enter

its precincts, or open His mouth in public teaching. With this act

ended His public ministry. As He withdrew, says OLSHAUSEN, the gracious presence of God left the

sanctuary; and the temple, with all its service, and the whole

theocratic constitution, was given over to destruction. What

immediately followed is, as usual, most minutely and graphically

described by our Evangelist.

1. And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto

him--The other Evangelists are less definite. "As some spake," says

Luke

(Lu 21:5);

"His disciples came to Him," says Matthew

(Mt 24:2).

Doubtless it was the speech of one, the mouthpiece, likely, of others.

Master--Teacher.

see what manner of stones and what buildings are here--wondering

probably, how so massive a pile could be overthrown, as seemed implied

in our Lord's last words regarding it. JOSEPHUS, who gives a minute

account of the wonderful structure, speaks of stones forty cubits long

[Wars of the Jews, 5.5.1.] and says the pillars supporting the

porches were twenty-five cubits high, all of one stone, and that of the

whitest marble [Wars of the Jews, 5.5.2]. Six days' battering at the

walls, during the siege, made no impression upon them

[Wars of the Jews, 6.4.1]. Some of the under-building, yet

remaining, and other works, are probably as old as the first temple.

2. And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great

buildings?--"Ye call My attention to these things? I have seen

them. Ye point to their massive and durable appearance: now listen to

their fate."

there shall not be left--"left here"

(Mt 24:2).

one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down--Titus ordered

the whole city and temple to be demolished

[JOSEPHUS, Wars of the Jews, 7.1.1]; Eleazar wished they had all

died before seeing that holy city destroyed by enemies' hands, and

before the temple was so profanely dug up [Wars of the Jews, 7.8.7].

3. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, over against the temple--On

their way from Jerusalem to Bethany they would cross Mount Olivet; on

its summit He seats Himself, over against the temple, having the city

all spread out under His eye. How graphically is this set before us by

our Evangelist!

Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately--The other

Evangelists tell us merely that "the disciples" did so. But Mark not

only says that it was four of them, but names them; and they were the

first quarternion of the Twelve.

4. Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when

all these things shall be fulfilled?--"and what shall be the sign of

Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" They no doubt looked upon the

date of all these things as one and the same, and their notions of the

things themselves were as confused as of the times of them. Our Lord

takes His own way of meeting their questions.

Prophecies of the Destruction of Jerusalem

(Mr 13:5-31).

5. And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man

deceive you:

6. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ--(see

Mt 24:5)

--"and the time draweth nigh"

(Lu 21:8);

that is, the time of the kingdom in its full splendor.

and shall deceive many--"Go ye not therefore after them"

(Lu 21:8).

The reference here seems not to be to pretended Messiahs, deceiving

those who rejected the claims of Jesus, of whom indeed there were

plenty--for our Lord is addressing His own genuine disciples--but to

persons pretending to be Jesus Himself, returned in glory to take

possession of His kingdom. This gives peculiar force to the words, "Go

ye not therefore after them."

7. And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not

troubled--(See on

Mr 13:13,

and compare

Isa 8:11-14).

for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet--In Luke

(Lu 21:9),

"the end is not by and by," or "immediately." Worse must come before

all is over.

8. These are the beginnings of sorrows--"of travail-pangs," to which

heavy calamities are compared. (See

Jer 4:31,

&c.). The annals of TACITUS tell us how the Roman

world was convulsed, before the destruction of Jerusalem, by rival

claimants of the imperial purple.

9. But take heed to yourselves: for--"before all these things"

(Lu 21:12);

that is, 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.

(Compare

Mt 10:17, 18).

10. And the gospel must first be published among all nations--"for a

witness, and then shall the end come"

(Mt 24:14).

God never sends judgment without previous warning; and there can be no

doubt that the Jews, already dispersed over most known countries, had

nearly all heard the Gospel "as a witness," before the end of the

Jewish state. The same principle was repeated and will repeat itself to

"the end."

11. But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought

beforehand--"Be not anxious beforehand."

what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate--"Be not filled with

apprehension, in the prospect of such public appearances for Me, lest ye

should bring discredit upon My name, nor think it necessary to prepare

beforehand what ye are to say."

but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for

it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost--(See on

Mt 10:19, 20.)

13. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake--Matthew

(Mt 24:12)

adds this important intimation: "And because iniquity shall abound, the

love of many"--"of the many," or "of the most," that is, of the

generality of professed disciples--"shall wax cold." Sad illustrations

of the effect of abounding iniquity in cooling the love even of

faithful disciples we have in the Epistle of James, written

about the period here referred to, and too frequently ever since.

but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be

saved--See on

Mt 10:21, 22;

and compare

Heb 10:38, 39,

which is a manifest allusion to these words of Christ; also

Re 2:10.

Luke

(Lu 21:18)

adds these reassuring words: "But there shall not an hair of your heads

perish." Our Lord had just said

(Lu 21:16)

that they should be put to death; showing that this precious

promise is far above immunity from mere bodily harm, and furnishing a

key to the right interpretation of

Ps 91:1-18

and such like.

14. But when ye shall see--"Jerusalem compassed by armies"--by

encamped armies; in other words, when ye shall see it besieged, and

the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,

standing where it ought not--that is, as explained in Matthew

(Mt 24:15),

"standing in the holy place."

(let him that readeth understand)--readeth that prophecy. That "the

abomination of desolation" here alluded to was intended to point to the

Roman ensigns, as the symbols of an idolatrous, and so unclean pagan

power, may be gathered by comparing what Luke says in the corresponding

verse

(Lu 21:20);

and commentators are agreed on it. It is worthy of notice, as

confirming this interpretation, that in 1 Maccabees 1:54--which,

though aprocryphal Scripture, is authentic history--the

expression of Daniel

(Da 11:31; 12:11)

is applied to the idolatrous profanation of the Jewish altar by

Antiochus Epiphanes.

then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains--The

ecclesiastical historian, EUSEBIUS, early in the fourth century, tells

us that the Christians fled to Pella, at the northern extremity of

Perea, being "prophetically directed"--perhaps by some prophetic

intimation more explicit than this, which would be their chart--and that

thus they escaped the predicted calamities by which the nation was

overwhelmed.

15. And let him that is on the housetop not get down into the house,

neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house--that is,

let him take the outside flight of steps from the roof to the ground; a

graphic way of denoting the extreme urgency of the case, and the danger

of being tempted, by the desire to save his property, to delay till

escape should become impossible.

16. And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take

up his garment.

17. But woe to them--or, "alas for them."

that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days--in

consequence of the aggravated suffering which those conditions would

involve.

18. And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter--making escape

perilous, or tempting you to delay your flight. Matthew

(Mt 24:20)

adds, "neither on the sabbath day," when, from fear of a breach of its

sacred rest, they might be induced to remain.

19. For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the

beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither

shall be--Such language is not unusual in the Old Testament with

reference to tremendous calamities. But it is matter of literal fact

that there was crowded into the period of the Jewish war an amount and

complication of suffering perhaps unparalleled; as the narrative of

JOSEPHUS, examined closely and arranged under different heads, would

show.

20. And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh--that

is, no human life.

should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath

shortened the days--But for this merciful "shortening," brought about

perished, in which there yet remained a remnant to be afterwards

gathered out. This portion of the prophecy closes, in Luke, with the

following vivid and important glance at the subsequent fortunes of the

chosen people: "And they shall fall by the sword, and shall be led away

captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the

Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled"

(Lu 21:24).

The language as well as the idea of this remarkable statement is taken

from

Da 8:10, 13.

What, then, is its import here? It implies, first, that a time is

coming when Jerusalem shall cease to be "trodden down of the Gentiles";

which it was then by pagan, and since and till now is by Mohammedan

unbelievers: and next, it implies that the period when this treading

down of Jerusalem by the Gentiles is to cease will be when "the times

of the Gentiles are fulfilled" or "completed." But what does this mean?

We may gather the meaning of it from

Ro 11:1-36

in which the divine purposes and procedure towards the chosen people

from first to last are treated in detail. In

Ro 11:25

these words of our Lord are thus reproduced: "For I would not,

brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be

wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to

Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." See the

exposition of that verse,

from which it will appear that "till the

fulness of the Gentiles be come in"--or, in our Lord's phraseology,

"till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled"--does not mean "till the

general conversion of the world to Christ," but "till the Gentiles have

had their full time of that place in the Church which the Jews

had before them." After that period of Gentilism, as before of

Judaism, "Jerusalem" and Israel, no longer "trodden down by the

Gentiles," but "grafted into their own olive tree," shall constitute,

with the believing Gentiles, one Church of God, and fill the whole

earth. What a bright vista does this open up!

21. And then, if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo

he is there; believe him not--So

Lu 17:23.

22. For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall show

signs and wonders. No one can read JOSEPHUS'

account of what took place before the destruction of Jerusalem without

seeing how strikingly this was fulfilled.

to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect--implying that this,

though all but done, will prove impossible. What a precious

assurance! (Compare

2Th 2:9-12).

23. But take ye heed; behold, I have foretold you all things--He had

just told them that the seduction of the elect would prove impossible;

but since this would be all but accomplished, He bids them be on their

guard, as the proper means of averting that catastrophe. In Matthew

(Mt 24:26-28)

we have some additional particulars: "Wherefore, if they shall say unto

you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the

secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the

east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the

Son of man be." See on

Lu 17:23, 24.

"For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered

together." See on

Lu 17:37.

24. But in those days, after that tribulation--"Immediately after the

tribulation of those days"

(Mt 24:29).

the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.

25. And the stars of heaven shall fall--"and upon the earth distress

of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts

failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are

coming on the earth"

(Lu 21:25, 26).

and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken--Though the grandeur

of this language carries the mind over the head of all periods but that

of Christ's Second Coming, nearly every expression will be found used of

the Lord's coming in terrible national judgments: as of Babylon

(Isa 13:9-13);

of Idumea

(Isa 34:1, 2, 4, 8-10);

of Egypt

(Eze 32:7, 8);

compare also

Ps 18:7-15;

Isa 24:1, 17-19;

Joe 2:10, 11,

&c. We cannot therefore consider the mere strength of this language a

proof that it refers exclusively or primarily to the precursors of the

final day, though of course in "that day" it will have its most

awful fulfilment.

26. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with

great power and glory--In

Mt 24:30,

this is given most fully: "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of

man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and

they shall see the Son of man," &c. That this language finds its

highest interpretation in the Second Personal Coming of Christ, is most

certain. But the question is, whether that be the primary sense of it

as it stands here? Now if the reader will turn to

Da 7:13, 14,

and connect with it the

preceding verses,

he will find, we think, the true key to our Lord's meaning here. There

the powers that oppressed the Church--symbolized by rapacious wild

beasts--are summoned to the bar of the Great God, who as the Ancient of

days seats Himself, with His assessors, on a burning Throne: thousand

thousands ministering to Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand

standing before Him. "The judgment is set, and the books are opened."

Who that is guided by the mere words would doubt that this is a

description of the Final Judgment? And yet nothing is clearer than that

it is not, but a description of a vast temporal judgment,

upon organized bodies of men, for their incurable hostility to the

kingdom of God upon earth. Well, after the doom of these has been

pronounced and executed, and room thus prepared for the unobstructed

development of the kingdom of God over the earth, what follows? "I saw

in the night visions, and behold, one like THE

SON OF MAN came with the

clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they [the

angelic attendants] brought Him near before Him." For what purpose? To

receive investiture in the kingdom, which, as Messiah, of right

belonged to Him. Accordingly, it is added, "And there was given Him

dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and

languages should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion,

which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be

destroyed." Comparing this with our Lord's words, He seems to us, by

"the Son of man [on which phrase, see on

Joh 1:51]

coming in the clouds with great power and glory," to mean, that when

judicial vengeance shall once have been executed upon Jerusalem, and

the ground thus cleared for the unobstructed establishment of His own

kingdom, His true regal claims and rights would be visibly and

gloriously asserted and manifested. See on

Lu 9:28

(with its parallels in

Mt 17:1;

Mr 9:2),

in which nearly the same language is employed, and where it can hardly

be understood of anything else than the full and free establishment

of the kingdom of Christ on the destruction of Jerusalem. But what

is that "sign of the Son of man in heaven?" Interpreters are not

agreed. But as before Christ came to destroy Jerusalem some appalling

portents were seen in the air, so before His Personal appearing it is

likely that something analogous will be witnessed, though of

what nature it would be vain to conjecture.

27. And then shall he send his angels--"with a great sound of a

trumpet"

(Mt 24:31).

and shall gather together his elect, &c.--As the tribes of Israel

were anciently gathered together by sound of trumpet

(Ex 19:13, 16, 19;

Le 23:24;

Ps 81:3-5),

so any mighty gathering of God's people, by divine command, is

represented as collected by sound of trumpet

(Isa 27:13;

compare

Re 11:15);

and the ministry of angels, employed in all the great operations of

Providence, is here held forth as the agency by which the present

assembling of the elect is to be accomplished. LIGHTFOOT thus explains it: "When Jerusalem shall be

reduced to ashes, and that wicked nation cut off and rejected, then

shall the Son of man send His ministers with the trumpet of the Gospel,

and they shall gather His elect of the several nations, from the four

corners of heaven: so that God shall not want a Church, although that

ancient people of His be rejected and cast off: but that ancient Jewish

Church being destroyed, a new Church shall be called out of the

Gentiles." But though something like this appears to be the primary

sense of the verse, in relation to the destruction of Jerusalem, no one

can fail to see that the language swells beyond any gathering of a

human family into a Church upon earth, and forces the thoughts onward

to that gathering of the Church "at the last trump," to meet the Lord

in the air, which is to wind up the present scene. Still, this is not,

in our judgment, the direct subject of the prediction; for

Mr 13:28

limits the whole prediction to the generation then existing.

28. Now learn a parable of the fig tree--"Now from the fig tree learn

the parable," or the high lesson which this teaches.

When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves--"its leaves."

29. So ye, in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to

pass--rather, "coming to pass."

know that it--"the kingdom of God"

(Lu 21:31).

is nigh, even at the doors--that is, the full manifestation of it;

for till then it admitted of no full development. In Luke

(Lu 21:28)

the following words precede these: "And when these things begin to come

to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption

draweth nigh"--their redemption, in the first instance certainly, from

Jewish oppression

(1Th 2:14-16;

Lu 11:52):

but in the highest sense of these words, redemption from all the

oppressions and miseries of the present state at the second appearing

of the Lord Jesus.

30. Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass fill

all these things be done--or "fulfilled"

(Mt 24:34;

Lu 21:32).

Whether we take this to mean that the whole would be fulfilled within

the limits of the generation then current, or, according to a usual way

of speaking, that the generation then existing would not pass away

without seeing a begun fulfilment of this prediction, the facts

entirely correspond. For either the whole was fulfilled in the

destruction accomplished by Titus, as many think; or, if we stretch it

out, according to others, till the thorough dispersion of the Jews a

little later, under Adrian, every requirement of our Lord's words seems

to be met.

31. Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my words shall not pass

away--the strongest possible expression of the divine authority by

which He spake; not as Moses or Paul might have said of their own

inspiration, for such language would be unsuitable in any merely human

mouth.

Warnings to Prepare for the Coming of Christ Suggested by the

Foregoing Prophecy

(Mr 13:32-37).

It will be observed that, in the foregoing prophecy, as our Lord

approaches the crisis of the day of vengeance on Jerusalem and

redemption for the Church--at which stage the analogy between that and

the day of final vengeance and redemption waxes more striking--His

language rises and swells beyond all temporal and partial vengeance,

beyond all earthly deliverances and enlargements, and ushers us

resistlessly into the scenes of the final day. Accordingly, in these

six concluding verses it is manifest that preparation for

"THAT DAY" is what our Lord designs to

inculcate.

32. But of that day and that hour--that is, the precise time.

knoweth no man--literally, no one.

no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the

Father--This very remarkable statement regarding "the Son" is

peculiar to Mark. Whether it means that the Son was

not at that time in possession of the knowledge referred to, or

simply that it was not

among the things which He had received to communicate--has been

matter of much controversy even among the firmest believers in the

proper Divinity of Christ. In the latter sense it was taken by some of

the most eminent of the ancient Fathers, and by LUTHER,

MELANCTHON, and

most of the older Lutherans; and it is so taken by BENGEL,

LANGE,

WEBSTER and

WILKINSON,

CHRYSOSTOM and others understood it to mean that

as man our Lord was ignorant of this. It is taken literally by

CALVIN,

GROTIUS,

DE

WETTE,

MEYER,

FRITZSCHE,

STIER,

ALFORD, and

ALEXANDER.

33. Take ye heed, watch and pray; for ye know not when the time is.

34. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, &c.--The

idea thus far is similar to that in the opening part of the parable of

the talents

(Mt 25:14, 15).

and commanded the porter--the gatekeeper.

to watch--pointing to the official duty of the ministers of religion

to give warning of approaching danger to the people.

35. Watch ye therefore; for ye know not when the master of the house

cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the

morning--an allusion to the four Roman watches of the night.

36. Lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping--See on

Lu 12:35-40;

Lu 12:42-46.

37. And what I say unto you--this discourse, it will be remembered,

was delivered in private.

I say unto all, Watch--anticipating and requiring the diffusion of

His teaching by them among all His disciples, and its perpetuation

through all time.