Admonition Podcast

Good evening.

It's good to see everyone this evening.

Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to Mark chapter 13.

We're in the middle of, uh well, actually towards the beginning of March, after 13, but
we're going to continue our study concerning the statements that Jesus made concerning the

temple here in just a moment.

But let's begin with a word of prayer.

Our gracious Father in heaven, we bow before your throne, grateful for the day that you've
blessed us with, grateful for the health and the ability that we have to assemble

together, mindful of all that you have done for us each and every day.

Lord, we pray that you will be with us as we go throughout this night and throughout this
week.

We pray for those who are ailing and those who are recovering from injuries or illness or
procedures.

We pray also for those whose hearts are low because of the loss of loved ones.

We pray that you will give them comfort and strength.

We pray that you be with those who are traveling and allow them to reach their destination
safely.

Lord, we pray for the kings and the rulers throughout all nations, throughout this world,
that they might make decisions which lead toward peace and towards those things which will

promote the opportunity for the gospel to be spread.

We pray that they will look to your word for guidance and strength and wisdom on how to
lead.

We ask that for every member of every family and the leaders of those families to also
have those same mindsets and those same attitudes that they might just use your word as

their lamp post and guide their life.

We ask that you forgive us when we sin and fall short of your glory.

And all this we pray and ask in Jesus' name, amen.

Mark 13, Jesus has...

been in the temple, Jesus has been in Jerusalem, this is the last week of His life nearing
the point in which He is going to be betrayed, and then turned over to the high priest and

eventually handed over to Pilate, and then ultimately taken to the cross.

As Jesus has taught in the temple, He has spoken against the Pharisees, He has spoken
against the religious leadership of the day, He has pointed out that Jerusalem as a city,

the capital city of the Israelite nation, had rejected God.

And as m

Jesus and the disciples are observing the temple as apparently by all indications they're
standing on the outside of the temple.

The disciples say, you know, look at the building, look at the stones, look at the
craftsmanship of this structure.

And as I mentioned on the last time we studied, I believe that likely the mindset of the
disciples is not just about the physical.

but rather that in the midst of all the things that they've seen and heard, their mindset,
as it often was, is focused on the kingdom.

Their focus is on what perhaps the temple might mean in the kingdom that they perceive to
be the future of the Messiah.

And yet they do not understand.

And as Jesus will do many times with the disciples, Jesus will go back into the Old
Testament scriptures and explain to them what they should have already known, what they

should already have been aware of, what they should have already realized about the
kingdom that God was going to establish and the Messiah and the Old Kingdom of Israel.

that God was bringing to an end.

But they didn't understand.

They were not aware of these things.

These things had not been taught by the teachers and by the instructors and by the
leadership of the Jews.

These things had not been correctly understood from the Old Testament prophets and as a
result, they didn't know what was coming.

So, in Mark chapter 13,

We find Jesus answered them and began saying, because they asked, what's going to be the
sign of these things being fulfilled?

Jesus said, take heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name, saying, I
am he, and will deceive many.

But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled, for such things must
happen, but the end is not yet.

So first thing Jesus says is number one, you're going to find that people are coming, one
of the signs there's going to be people coming claiming they're the Messiah, claiming

they're the Savior, claiming that they are the Savior of Israel.

He says, it's not me.

These things aren't, and as you think through that, by the way,

you go over if you have studied it recently or read it recently and you look at 1
Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians and the misconceptions that many in the Thessalonica

church had concerning the return of the Messiah such that they had decided to quit their
jobs and sit around and wait until he came back because they were told the Messiah is

going to return and

The judgment day is going to come and so as a result of that they said well there's no
point working if the Messiah is going to come back and it's all going to end.

So it wasn't just the Jews that misunderstood these things, but even in the church age, as
Paul is teaching the Thessalonians, he is teaching them and they're misunderstanding what

he's saying about the Second Coming.

As Paul then writes back to the church at Thessalonica, he will inform them, no, there are
things that must take place before that occurs.

So is it true, this is kind of a trick question, but a thought question, is it true that
the early first century church had no idea when Jesus would return and no indications of

when he would return?

Yes and no.

Yes, in the sense that he didn't say when he was going to return.

And he's very explicit if we were to be studying the book of Matthew that of that day and
that hour, there are no signs.

but they did also know there were some things that had to come first.

And so until those things came first, they were not looking for an impending return.

And as a matter of fact, those who were were told to stop and corrected in their
understanding because God said, these things are going to happen.

And those things spoke concerning the fall of Jerusalem.

and the temple.

So, he says, number one, you're going to hear people claiming to be me.

Ignore them.

They're not me.

Number two, you're going to hear about wars and rumors of wars.

He don't be troubled.

The end's not yet.

The first inkling of disturbance, he says, that's not the thing you should be paying
attention to.

uh If you were to look back into Roman history,

you would have found that during uh the time of Nero, there was a great deal of upheaval.

There was some civil unrest going on as a result of the purges that occurred by Nero.

Nero needed someone to blame, so he started lighting the Christians on fire and blaming
the Christians in Rome for the problems that were going on in the nation.

And then after Nero dies,

Then you're going to go almost entirely straight into civil war in the Roman Empire.

You're going to have three emperors come and die off because they're gonna come to power,
they're gonna be assassinated, they're gonna come to power, be assassinated, come to

power, be assassinated.

In two years, three emperors.

And it is only at that point, you're around 65, 66 AD.

Okay?

Jesus says, you're going be hearing rumors about things and turmoil and all this stuff
going on.

He said, don't be worried about it.

Ends not yet.

Okay, now notice what else he says.

He says, for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

And there will be earthquakes in various places.

There will be famines and troubles.

These are the beginning of sorrows, but watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver
you up to councils.

and you will be beaten in the synagogues, you will be brought before the rulers and kings
for my sake and for a testimony to them." Jesus elsewhere will repeat this idea to them.

He will tell them this again after he's resurrected that they're going to be imprisoned,
they're going to be persecuted, they're going to be brought before kings, they're going to

be brought before governors, they're going be brought before judges.

But was that happening right then?

Was that happening in the very first days of the church?

No?

Now you will eventually see under the Jews, persecution starts with the apostles.

Remember in Acts chapter 4 and Acts chapter 5, they're going to be arrested, they're going
to be beaten, they're going to be told, don't speak anymore in the name of Jesus, and then

they're going to be released.

But as the church grows, so the persecution also grows.

And beginning with the life of Stephen, as Stephen will preach that great sermon and
declare to the Jewish Council, to the Sanhedrin, that they are the ones who are causing

their own nation to be destroyed by their rejection of God, they will take him out and
they will stone him.

and they will lay their garments at the feet of one named Saul of Tarsus, and the
persecution notches up and notches up and notches up."

So when Saul of Tarsus in Acts chapter 9 is seeking letters to no longer just persecute
the Christians in Jerusalem and in Judea, but now he wants to actually leave the country

to go to Damascus in Syria to now persecute the Christians there.

You see the persecution notching up and notching up.

Then you watch Paul's

missionary journeys.

After Paul is converted, Saul is converted and becomes Paul and is given the
responsibilities that he has and then he begins to go out from Antioch to these regions

and he begins to teach and preach to the Gentiles.

You're going to see Paul stoned nearly to death or some argue to death and then
resurrected by God.

You're going to see all of the things that Paul suffers at the hands of not the Gentiles,
but the Jews.

and the persecution notches up.

in a period of time that Nero is on the throne, you're going to find a rather unique time
where Nero actually persecutes the Christians because it's convenient.

It's not because Nero cared a whole lot about the Christians.

It's that Nero's got a whole lot of problems internally in his nation and the Christians

Everybody hates.

Okay, you remember what happens there at the end of the book of Acts?

Acts chapter 28, I believe it is.

Paul is going to be brought to Rome.

He's going to be in prison.

He's going to basically appeal to Caesar.

So he's going to end up being brought to Rome and put in that uh house there as he awaits
to go before Caesar.

and the Jews are going to start coming to him.

And as the Jews in Rome, the Jewish leaders in Rome come to Paul, they say, tell us about
this sect, Christians, this sect everywhere spoken against.

So when Nero decides to start lighting Christians on fire in the city in Rome, it's not
because he cares about Christians.

It's because everybody hates Christians.

So he can do it without any uproar.

Now one of the reasons everybody hated Christians, as far as the Romans were concerned, is
because the Roman policy of the government was worship whatever you want to worship.

Rome didn't care if you wanted to worship Jesus.

That was fine with Rome.

Rome didn't care if you wanted to worship Jehovah.

That was fine with Rome.

If you also acknowledge Rome and its power.

If you'll worship Rome and Jesus, you're fine.

If you'll worship Rome and Jehovah, you're fine.

If you worship all the Greek gods and the Roman gods, you're fine.

But as you see the power concentrate in the emperors in Rome in the first century, you
begin to see the emperors declaring themselves to be God.

And the Christians said, no, we can't do that.

So they're convenient.

They're going to be persecuted.

But in a broad persecution, the broad persecution at this point in time isn't from the
Romans.

it's from the Jews.

It is the people of God persecuting the actual people of God and they're doing it
throughout the empire and they're doing it even in Jerusalem.

So Jesus is going to tell them you're going to hear about nations rising up in nations,
you're going to hear about all these things, you're going to hear about earthquakes and

wars and troubles.

He says what I want you to watch out for.

is your countrymen taking you to court, your countrymen bringing persecution against you,
because that's another domino to fall.

Remember, what was the question that the disciples asked?

All right?

What are the signs that all these things will be fulfilled?

That's the question.

And Jesus is going to tell them, because remember what Jesus said, verse 2, do you see
these great buildings?

Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

And they're going, how are we going to know when that's going to happen?

What are the signs that this is going to come?

He says you're going to see people claiming to be me.

They're not.

You're going to hear about wars and rumors of wars.

You're going to hear about earthquakes.

You're going to hear all this disruption and all this upheaval, and you're going to be
persecuted.

You're going to be brought before kings.

You're going to be brought before judges for my sake.

Now, you'll also notice, verse 9, that he says,

for my sake, for a testimony to them.

We often think about persecution as a wholly negative thing.

And yet God in the first century church used persecution as an avenue, as a highway to get
his teachers and preachers in front of kings and rulers.

You know how hard it is for a average foreigner who's from a small town in Galilee who
happens to have formerly been a fisherman to get an opportunity to speak to a king?

How about a guy who was trained up under the law and was one of the political elites and
one of the secular elites in Israel, but you consider Israel to be a backwater nothing

city?

And now you want to put him in front of Caesar?

You see, God used persecution.

God said, by the way, I'm opening doors for you.

You remember that when Paul was on trial before Festus, before Felix, before Grippa, every
time that Paul opened his mouth, a sermon came out.

and he spoke to them about what they knew and he spoke to them about righteousness and
judgment and justice and judgment to come.

See, God uses persecution, but this is going to be one of the signs of the fall of the
temple.

He says, verse 10, and the gospel must first be seen by all the nations.

One of the signs, Jesus says, is the gospel gets out of Jerusalem, out of Judea, out of
Samaria, out of Galilee, and goes across the world.

Paul will write over, believe in the book of Colossians, though I didn't look up the
reference, over in, I think, Colossians, that the gospel had gone to every nation under

heaven.

tick one sign down.

You look at that reference, you look at that statement, and that's not just a happenstance
statement.

That was a sign of a domino, as it were, in the things that had to fall before Jerusalem
was judged.

Because Jesus specifically said it was going to occur.

Alright, now notice what else.

He says, but when they arrest you and deliver you up,

Do not worry beforehand or premeditate what you will speak, but whatever is given you in
that hour, speak that, for it is not you who speak with the Holy Spirit.

As Jesus declares these things to the apostles, as he tells them, hey, you're going to be
thrown before kings, you're going to be put before judges, you're going be put in prison,

you're going to be required to speak on your own behalf, don't be sitting there trying to
figure out what you're going to say.

Don't bother.

because you're not going to be the one speaking.

The Holy Spirit was going to speak on their behalf, and in that you also see a text
indicate to us how inspiration worked.

didn't sit down and study the Scriptures so that he could know what to write to the New
Testament Church.

Paul studied the Scriptures so that he might understand the Scriptures.

But when the Holy Spirit wrote the book of 1 Corinthians through Paul,

Paul didn't have a whole lot of say on what got put down.

As a matter of fact, Peter will point out that no prophecy is of any private
interpretation.

He is not speaking about the hearer.

He's not speaking about the reader of the prophecy.

He's talking about the prophet.

He says the prophet doesn't get a say in what is spoken.

He doesn't get to interpret the message.

He gets to declare the message.

So Paul, when he writes, he says over in Thessalonica, in Thessalonian letters, he says,
anyone who speaks the truth knows that these are the words of God.

And he points out that they were directly from the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is going to say to the apostles that when they come under these persecutions and
when they are put before those kings, they don't need to be worried about what they're

going to say.

You might then argue that the Holy Spirit got Stephen killed.

because Stephen's sermon is clearly by inspiration, by what is given.

And that many times when Paul spoke, the Holy Spirit nearly got Paul killed as a result of
the things that the Holy Spirit put in his mouth.

But that just indicates to you that that was exactly what needed to be said.

Now, yes.

to the point that they did, but there will be people who do not like what we say because
we say the truth.

Men have always hated truth when truth is spoken to those who do not love truth.

And that's who they were often speaking to, is either those who didn't know it.

be a negative reaction from people and you see that you know from the very beginning of
Acts when people would speak what was true.

Not that the Holy Spirit wanted those individuals to die for what they spoke, but these
were men who were willing to speak the truth to the point that they would lose their life

for it because they believed in it that much.

Correct.

And as Jesus would point out, men love darkness rather than light.

All right.

Now, He says,

Now brother, sorry, now brother will betray brother to death and a father his child and
children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.

And you will be hated by all for my name's sake.

But he who endures to the end shall be saved." As he points out this coming persecution,

As he tells them what's coming, he says, look at the people closest to you.

They're going to be the ones who betray you.

It's not going to be a public witch hunt going house to house finding the Christians.

It's going to be a public notice that all the Christians are the enemies of Israel and
their own families are going to say, hey, I got a brother who's a Christian.

uh I've got a father who's a Christian and they're going to offer them up to the
authorities to be killed.

He says, you'll be hated by all for my name's sake, but he who endures to the end shall be
saved.

There's nothing different here in the message to the disciples and what he says you're
about to go through.

from the Israelite nation and from the Jewish nation and from the Jewish persecution.

There's nothing different here as he's talking to them than what John is going to tell the
Christians over in the book of Revelation is coming from them.

Now it's coming from Rome.

Now he's not writing to Jewish churches and Jewish Christians.

He was writing to seven Gentile congregations.

And now the persecution is coming again, not from the Jews.

but from Rome.

And so the same type of terminology is used.

You remember there in Revelation chapter 2 and verse 10 where John is going to write, be
faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life.

He writes that having just written that they're going to have some of them who are going
to be thrown into prison and some of them who are going to stay in prison for 10 days and

his point is, and you're never coming back out.

They're going to die for the testimony of Jesus Christ at the hand of Rome, and they're
going to do so.

And God says the same thing Jesus said, you endure till the end.

You endure if it costs you your life and you let me handle it.

Okay?

So verse 14, we're going to see Jesus go out of sign, sign, sign, sign, sign into God
already told you this was coming.

Here's the Old Testament to help you understand what you should have already known, but
had never been taught.

He says, so when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet
standing where it ought not, let the reader understand, then let those who are in Judea

flee to the mountains.

Now, this

abomination of desolation you can read volumes about the abomination of desolation from
pre-millennialists and they're waiting for this thing or that thing or this thing or that

thing to be on its way to indicate the tribulation is at hand to indicate the time of
tribulation but wait a minute we got to have the rapture then we're gonna all

What did Daniel actually write?

Let's go back to Daniel chapter nine.

And let's just spend a moment with the book of Daniel.

We're not going to go through the entire record of the prophecy and the vision that
Daniel's going to see in Daniel chapter 9 because it's quite long and we've already

covered it.

If you want to go onto the website and go do a search for Daniel 9, you'll find the
lessons where we covered Daniel 9 and talked about it when we were studying Daniel.

But we're going to go to the end of Daniel chapter 9 and notice verse 20.

Now, while I was speaking,

praying and confessing my sin and the sins of my people Israel and presenting my
supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God.

uh question.

What's going on during the events of Daniel chapter 9?

Somebody go look at verse 1 and tell me who's ruling at the time.

Alright, Darius or Darius, depending on how you pronounce it, he probably didn't pronounce
it either of those two ways, but anyway, Darius is on the throne.

What nation is he from?

Alright.

What does that tell you about the nation of Babylon that had taken Daniel into captivity
as a young man?

They're gone.

You remember that vision in Daniel chapter 2 that Nebuchadnezzar had with the head of gold
and the arms and the chest of silver and the belly and thighs of brass and the feet and

legs of iron mixed with clay?

Guess what?

The head's gone.

We're already into the second nation.

Also, we're into the period of time in which you're going to have the Medo-Persians allow
the Jews to go back to Jerusalem.

So Daniel is praying, he is confessing his sins, the sins of his people, and he is praying
and offering supplications on behalf of the holy mountain of my God.

Do not miss the context.

of Daniel's prayer, because it is the context of what comes next.

Yes, while I was speaking in the prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at
the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening

offering.

And he informed me and talked with me and said, Daniel, I have now come forth to give you
skill to understand." Now, wait a minute.

Hold on real quick.

You all stay where you're at.

But I'm just going to go read chapter 13 verse 14 one more time of Mark.

So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing
where it ought not, and there's a parenthetical statement there, let the reader

understand.

You mean the New Testament writer is telling the Christian, can understand this?

Big surprise, since Gabriel is telling Daniel way back when he wrote it, you can
understand this.

which indicated that the entire Israelite nation from Daniel forward should have
understood it.

But they didn't.

Notice, he says, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.

At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you,
for you are greatly beloved, therefore consider the matter and understand the vision.

Seventy weeks are determined, and the vision of chapter 9 is the vision of 70 weeks.

Again, we're not going go into it.

Go look at the previous lessons.

70 weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city.

What is the context of the discussion?

Two things, Israelite people and Jerusalem.

Okay?

That's the context.

Notice what we read.

To finish the what?

Transgression.

Now I want you to connect in your mind, if you haven't already connected it in a cross
reference in your Bibles, Matthew chapter 23.

and the statement that Matthew records that Jesus said right before this discussion about
the temple in Matthew's record.

Matthew chapter 23 beginning in verse 31, therefore you are witnesses against yourselves
that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.

Fill up then the measure of your father's guilt.

serpents, brood of vipers, how can you escape the condemnation of hell?

Therefore, indeed, I will send you prophets, wise men, and scribes, some of them you will
kill and crucify, some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city

to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of
righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Barakaiah, whom you murdered between the

temple and the altar."

Assuredly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Two things that are really, really, really, really, really, really important.

Daniel's vision and the interpretation says this is about that city, this is about your
people, and this is about the filling up the the culmination of this people's

transgression.

And Jesus says in the exact same context that we're in in Mark that it's going to come on
which generation.

That one.

For every person who writes any word, any sentence, any description about the abomination
of desolation, and they're not talking about an event that occurred in the lifetime of the

generation that was alive when Jesus was put on the cross.

you can ignore everything else that they write.

Because they're wrong.

Because Daniel tells them they're wrong.

Because Gabriel tells Daniel that they're wrong.

Because Jesus tells them they're wrong.

He says it's coming in this generation.

Now, he says to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation
for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and

to anoint the most holy.

Now, what Gabriel is telling Daniel, you were to go back in the vision, is I'm telling you
about a span of time and it's

If we were to use some uh revelation numbers, what's the number seven mean?

Perfection!

What's the number ten mean?

It means complete.

You have a perfectly complete amount of time.

And so if you sit down with a commentator's commentary on the book of Daniel, and they do
a whole bunch of math for you, and the math doesn't get down right to the letter, and you

think, I'm not sure that math is exactly right.

Well, what about this here, here, this, this, and what about this?

You're missing the point.

God's saying, here, I'm gonna give you seven cycles.

I'm gonna give you 70 cycles.

I'm gonna give you a point where you go, oh look, this is done.

And Gabriel tells them, here's what you're looking for.

These are Gabriel signs, by the way, that the 70 weeks are fulfilled.

He says, number one, it's gonna be determined.

There's gonna be a determination, a judgment against your people.

There's going to be a finishing of transgression.

There's going to be an end of sins.

There's gonna be a reconciliation for iniquity.

There is going to be an everlasting righteousness brought forth.

There's going to be vision sealed up, and there's going to be prophecy sealed up, that is
completed, and

they're going to anoint the most holy.

Who's the most holy?

Jesus.

Daniel uh

or is that actually what that means?

Does an end, to make an end of sin mean there will never be anyone who sins again?

Or will, does it mean there's someone who defeated sin?

and who defeated sin.

And where did he do it?

On the cross.

In his atoning blood that was shed for the remission of sin.

All right, now notice what he says.

He says, know therefore and understand.

Second time he's told him, hey, you're gonna get this.

Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and
build Jerusalem.

Until the Messiah, the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and 62 weeks.

What's seven plus 62?

69.

All right, great.

So how many weeks are there total?

70.

How many have transpired by the time that the Messiah is established as ruling?

His position is Prince.

69.

In other words, by the time the Messiah comes, your time's almost out.

It's almost over.

You're down to the last week.

You're down to the wire, okay?

Now notice what else he says.

He says, the street shall be built again and the wall even in troublesome times.

And after the 62 weeks, the Messiah shall be cut off but not for himself and the people of
the prince who is to come shall destroy the...

the end of it shall be with a flood.

Until the end of the war, desolations are determined.

Now,

As you go through the text, you're looking at here's what's coming, here's what's coming,
here's what's coming.

And notice he says, then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week.

Does he mean like seven literal days?

Or does he mean a sliver of that 70 weeks?

He means a sliver, because why?

He's already eliminated 69 weeks.

He said, they're done.

And now there's a covenant for a short period of time.

And notice what he says, but in the middle of the week, he shall bring an end to sacrifice
and offering.

And on the wing of abomination shall be one who makes desolate even until the
consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.

He says, you've got all this that has transpired and you're going to see right at the end
that someone is going to come

And what is he going to eliminate?

In this case, it's not sin.

Sacrifice and oblation, all right?

He is going to eliminate sacrifices and offerings.

This isn't Christ coming and taking the Old Testament law out of the way.

This is an individual who is going to show up and make sacrifices and offerings no longer
possible.

And that is exactly what Titus does.

By the way, a prince himself, as his father Vespasian has gone back to Rome, is now
sitting as emperor and his son Titus is the general leading the army of Rome against

Jerusalem as they topple the temple, as they take it apart, disassemble it, burn it to the
ground, and remove all the gold out.

They take apart the altar, they take apart everything, and then they destroy all the
genealogies and all the records and all the evidence that anyone was a priest.

and so fulfills Daniel's prophecy or his vision that Gabriel told him, is when sacrifices
under the old law end.

They'll never be made again.

That doesn't mean somebody won't come along and try.

It means that they won't be able to prove they're a high priest.

They won't be able to prove they're from the tribe of Levi.

They won't be able to complete the law or fulfill the law.

Jesus is saying, hey, you know that thing that Daniel wrote, that God was gonna put an end
to all the sacrifices that the Israelite nation could offer?

That's what you're looking for.

That's what I'm talking about.

And that's going to come when Rome comes into Jerusalem in 8070 and destroys the temple.

Okay?

What was Daniel's vision about?

If you remember, it was about his people, the city, and the holy mountain.

That is where the temple was.

And what does Gabriel say?

City's gone.

People gone, Holy Mountain gone.

All right.