August 26, 2024: Monday Bible Study on the Gospel of Mark 13
Good morning. Today I am thankful for the good brakes on my little Ford Focus. I had a car in front of me stop suddenly. I collided with the back of the car. No one was injured, and my car will need to visit the sick car body shop for this next week. Thankfully, both cars are insured by Geico. That used to matter, but I am not certain that it really makes any difference anymore. Please remember that we have Gospel Music coming this next Sunday, and we will follow the service with our first of the month carry-in dinner. TexMex is the theme for this coming meal. If you need to sign up to come, please call the church office to do so. Also, prayers of thanksgiving are appropriate as our family has now fully recovered from covid. Today, we begin our journey through the 13th chapter of Mark.
It is in chapter 13 that we find many Jewish ways of thinking. Things that we as modern readers may find difficult of which to get a hold are present in this chapter. We will not even be taking the entire chapter in its verse order.
So, here we go. The Day of the Lord is what we encounter first. We must remember that the Jews never forgot that they were God's chosen people, and they never doubted it. The Day of the Lord was inevitable in Jewish thought. It would be the day on which God intervened in the lives of those He had chosen. Before that day would be a time of terror and trouble. This time would shake the whole world and end in God's judgement of all people. In the face of this the Jews had an insurmountable optimism. At this time, the old world would be destroyed, and a new world would come for the elect of God. Unlike our forebear Luther, the Jews did not look for a reformation, instead they looked to a complete remolding and re-creating of all things. Look at Amos 5:16-20, or Isaiah 13:6-16, or Joel chapter 2 and 3. In the times between the Old and New Testament the Jews knew little freedom. It was only natural that they would become even more intense in their belief that the LORD would come to punish those to whom they had lost their freedom. Even in the New Testament there are plenty of references to apocalypses coming. It is in chapter 13 of Mark that Jesus uses both the Old Testament thinking and the New Testament Apocalyptic thinking to get the people to understand the coming end of His own life, and its significance in terms of the Jewish thought. In this chapter Mark places many of Christ's teachings as Jesus attempts to get people to see the future through what He is teaching.
There are prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem. (see verses 1, 2, and 14-20). It happened in 70 C.E. at the hands of the Romans army.
There is the warning of persecution to come. (verses 9-13) This warning for Christ's disciples and followers are there to let them know that they are going to face unbelievable trials and tribulations in their own futures.
There are warnings of the dangers of the last days. (verses 3-6, and 21, 22) Jesus knew that in the days after He would be gone there would be those who would twist and adulterate the truth that He taught. We know this in our own world today. Regrettably, the Church has its share of heretics who manipulate the Truth of the Gospel for the sake of gaining power and wealth.
There are the warnings of the second coming. These warnings in Mark are dressed in the language which has to do with the Day of the Lord. (verses 7,8, and 24, 27) They seem to be inextricably mixed together. These visions of poets and apocalyptists were the means by which Christ would speak of His second coming, but the necessary clarity for the people to understand, of course became mixed with historic understandings in the Jewish traditions about which we have been speaking. It is difficult to bring understanding when what is going to happen is Brand New!
There are warnings of the necessity to be on watch for what’s coming. (verses 28-37) All of these things tell us that Only God knows when That Day will be. Jesus makes that most clear. So, all who believe must be constantly faithful and ready.
These many strands make it necessary to make our approach to this chapter in non-consecutive order. Tomorrow, we begin.
God Bless you today, and this study comes to you with the Love of Christ, Pastor Kim
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