September 16, 2024: Monday Bible Study on the Gospel of Mark 13:26-37
Good morning and may God's Grace abound in your life today.
I am finally back on the regular schedule for Monday morning. Boys to school early, looking forward to the week and all of the possibilities that it may bring. Please remember to continue your prayers for peace in the Middle East between Israel, Lebanon, Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, and the civilians caught in this war in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. This is a time when all the sides want revenge for something that has been perpetrated at the hands of another group. Pray for the burden of revenge to be lifted from the hearts of everyone involved, and for the hostages to be set free in the very near future. Please also pray for the well-being of all of our candidates who are running for office in this next election. Offer a pray of thanksgiving that Donald Trump was not injured yesterday by the man who intended to assassinate him, and give thanks for the protection of Secret Service, the FBI, the local police, and the sheriff's department. I think that there is little doubt that copycats will follow because they object to those with whom they don't agree even being alive. May God hold us all in His Loving care every day.
Today we continue on in chapter 13 in the Gospel of Mark. In verses 26-37 Jesus certainly gives His disciples guidance for what is coming in general in the world, making it clear that thought the signs about which He speaks may begin to be seen in the world, even He is not privy to the when of this prophecy. But he stands in the line of prophets who have also, guided by the Father, spoken words that reveal extremely difficult issues between the people and their God. But in all that they have said, there continues to be one thing which remains, prophets do not know the ways, means, and timing of God for what they have prophesized, and the only way to tell if a prophet's message is true is to see it happen at some later time. That's a little easier for us because we have the benefit of time, and the ability to look back at the message and its outcome, or lack of outcome. We know that Jesus was telling the truth about things that He is addressing, but we also have to be comfortable trusting Him as the Light and Truth of God, even when it means that we must wait for the fulfillment of what He tells His followers.
Points of importance in this passage:
In this passage Jesus is not speaking of His second coming. In that He does not know that time or place. But his words of discomfort for those who do not accept Him as Messiah come true within about 40 years as Jerusalem and the Temple are literally obliterated by the Romans army, and even those who flee to save their lives are pursued and killed.
We have to be careful here because even Jesus, who has humbled Himself in the face of God's rule, does not know that times and means of His coming again. But what do we see coming from people? Christians are always trying to discern the signs and offering to predict the time of Christ's return. I would say that anyone who thinks that they know due to their study and thought, is a charlatan. It really is that simple. We are all to place our trust in the LORD, knowing that we are loved, and we will be cared for in whatever is going on at the time of Christ's return.
In all of this Jesus draws one conclusion. You and I are the servants of the master who know neither the day nor time of the Master's return. What we are called to do is to live in faith, and always be ready for that great fulfillment of Christ's promise.
Though we looked at this 13th chapter of Mark in a kind of misaligned way, moving to later verses first, etc. There are truths that we need to know from our reading and study of chapter 13.
Only the person of God can see into the future to discern the coming events which will shape the lives of all people. I have been saying for a long time now that I believe there will yet be another exile of the people of Israel. There is in its leaders a lack of faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. A person must know God through faith in order to be able to guide a nation in peace and prosperity. What a wonderful man of God was Jimmy Carter, or how about any other leader of our nation who has been in a lively relationship with the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of life. Without this, that leader's guidance will lack vision, hope, healing, and love! As we move forward into the Acts of the Apostle's we see exactly what this was all about with Peter and Paul as heads of the different areas of the Church.
This chapter tells us two things about the doctrine of the second coming.
a. This chapter tells us that in this doctrine of the second coming there is a fact which we disregard at our own peril.
b. It also tells us that this conversation with Christ on this topic is offered in the imagery of His time, and that some of that imagery is very difficult for us to make clear because of the history which is a part of it. What we do know, is that history is going somewhere as it is guided by God, and its consummation is inevitable.
This chapter also tells us that to forget God and His role in the fulfillment of His plan for His creation is foolish. We must always be ready for the consummation of be fulfilled in God's time, which simply means, ready every day! When we live knowing that God's summons will be our reality, then we must remember it every day, so that when it comes, we will not be filled terror, but instead know that we shall live forever in the LORD'S eternal joy.
Thank you so much for letting me into your study of the Word of God this morning. Give thanks to God with love for all that the LORD does for us every day.
With Love in Christ, Pastor Kim
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