Mark 13:1-13. Prophecies of the Destruction of Jerusalem 1. _And as he went_ Leaving the Temple, He passed with His Apostles down the eastern steps toward the valley of the Kidron. As they were passing on, _one of his disciples_ invited His attention to the marvellous structure they were quitting,... [ Continue Reading ]
_there shall not be left_ Though now they seem fixed in their places for eternity. And even as He said, less than forty years afterwards, "Zion was _ploughed as a field_, and Jerusalem became heaps, and the mountain of the House as the high places of the forest" (Micah 3:12). Titus himself was amaze... [ Continue Reading ]
_the mount of Olives_ Nothing more appears to have been said now, and crossing the valley of the Kidron, the little company ascended the steep footpath that leads over the mount of Olives in the direction of Bethany. When they had reached the summit, He sat down (Matthew 24:3; Mark 13:3) _over agai... [ Continue Reading ]
_what shall be the sign_ The question is given more fully by St Matthew, Matthew 24:3. It embraced three points: (i) the time of the destruction of the Temple; the sign (ii) of His Coming, and (iii) of the end of the world.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Take heed_ "The four moral key-notes of the Discourse on the Last Things are "_Beware_," "_Watch_," "_Endure_," "_Pray_." Farrar, _Life_, ii. p. 258.... [ Continue Reading ]
_many shall come_ Five tokens are here given, to which the Lord directs the attention of His disciples: (i) the rise of false prophets; (ii) wars and rumours of wars; (iii) the rising of nation against nation; (iv) earthquakes; (v) famines (some MSS. omit _troubles_); but the Apostles were not to be... [ Continue Reading ]
_the beginnings of sorrows_ rather, of BIRTH-PANGS. The word only occurs in four places in the N. T. Here; in the parallel, Matthew 24:8; in Acts 2:24, "having loosed _the pains_(rather THE PANGS) of death;" and 1 Thessalonians 5:3, "then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as _travail_(or BIRTH-PA... [ Continue Reading ]
_to councils_ Of the actual hearers of the Lord some were destined to find this true within little more than fifty days. Thus, in Acts 4:3, we find all the Apostles brought before the Sanhedrim, and again in Acts 5:18; Acts 5:27. Similarly, St Paul was brought before the same Council, Acts 23:1. _in... [ Continue Reading ]
_the gospel must first be published_ And even so while many of His hearers were yet alive, the Gospel was proclaimed throughout the Roman Empire, from Arabia to Damascus, from Jerusalem to Illyricum, in Italy and in Spain. Comp. Romans 15:19; Romans 15:24; Romans 15:28; Colossians 1:6; Colossians 1:... [ Continue Reading ]
_take no thought beforehand_ Rather, BE NOT ANXIOUS BEFOREHAND, or DISTRACTED BEFOREHAND WITH ANXIETY. "Nyle þe _penke_what ye schulen speke," Wyclif. "_Thought_," when our translation was made, signified _undue care_or _anxiety_. Thus Bishop Ridley in the _Account of the Disputation at Oxford_, 154... [ Continue Reading ]
_he that shall endure_ "he þat schol _susteyne in_to þe ende," Wyclif. The endurance here spoken of is the _brave and persistent endurance_of the Christian in faith and love. In this noble word, the "queen of virtues," as Chrysostom does not fear to call it, "there always appears in the New Testamen... [ Continue Reading ]
Immediate Tokens of the Downfall of Jerusalem 14. _But when ye shall see_ Hitherto He had distinctly foretold the destruction of the Holy City, now He gives them tokens which should forewarn them of its approach, and tells them how they may secure their own safety. _the abomination of desolation_... [ Continue Reading ]
_neither enter therein_ The houses of Palestine, as we have seen in the case of the "paralytic borne of four," ch. Mark 2:3-12, were furnished with a flight of steps outside, by which the housetop could be reached without actually entering the house. The Christians were thus warned by our Lord to fl... [ Continue Reading ]
_his garment_ i. e. his "outer garment.... [ Continue Reading ]
_be not in the winter_ with its rains and storms and swollen torrents, "neither," as St Matthew adds (Matthew 24:20), "_on the Sabbath day_." We may well believe that the Christians made both these petitions theirs. At any rate we know what did take place. (_a_) The compassing of the city by the Rom... [ Continue Reading ]
_in those days_ There is no "in" here properly. THOSE DAYS SHALL BE AFFLICTION, "þe ilke dayes of tribulacioun schulen be suche," Wyclif. _such as was not from the beginning of the creation_ The unexampled atrocities of the siege of Jerusalem are fully described by Josephus. He declares that "the mi... [ Continue Reading ]
_except that the Lord had shortened_ The word rendered "_shortened_" only occurs here and in the parallel, Matthew 24:22. It denotes _to dock_or _curtail_. It occurs in the LXX. version of 2 Samuel 4:12, where we read that David "commanded his young men, and they _cut off_the hands and the feet" of... [ Continue Reading ]
_for false Christs and false prophets_ Josephus tells us that false prophets and impostors prevailed on multitudes to follow them into the desert, promising there to display signs and wonders (comp. Acts 21:38); and even at the last, when the Temple was in flames, numbers of all ages flocked thither... [ Continue Reading ]
_But take ye heed_ Repeated and emphatic exhortation to watchfulness.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Second Advent of the Lord 24. _in those days_ He, to Whom "_a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years_" (2 Peter 3:8), to Whom there is no past or future but one eternal Present, passes from one chapter to another in the history of the world with the ease of One, Who seet... [ Continue Reading ]
_shall they see the Son of man_ Even when speaking of the "glorious majesty" of His Second Advent, He calls Himself by the name which links Him to the Humanity He came to save. For the title see note on ch. Mark 2:10, and compare John 5:22; John 5:27, "the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed a... [ Continue Reading ]
_then shall he send his angels_ As _the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father_(John 1:18), alone ever declared or manifested Him to His creatures, so to Him God hath delegated the universal and ultimate judgment of mankind, that "as in our nature He performed all that was requisite to... [ Continue Reading ]
_a parable_ Rather, ITS PARABLE, the lesson which in similitude it was meant to teach. _of the fig tree_ They had already been taught one lesson from the withered fig-tree, they are now bidden to learn another from the tree _when her branch is yet tender_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_it is nigh_ Rather, HE IS NIGH, i. e. the Judge spoken of in Mark 13:26. _even at the doors_ There is no "_even_" in the original. So St James says, "Behold, the Judge standeth _before the door_" (James 5:9). "There is something solemn in the brevity of the phrase, without the nominative expressed.... [ Continue Reading ]
_this generation shall not pass_ The word thus rendered denotes (1) _birth, age_, as in the phrases "younger," "older in _age;_" (2) _descent;_(3) _a generation_of men living at the same time; (4) in a wider sense, _a race_. He, Who surveys all things as an Eternal Present, "turns the thoughts of Hi... [ Continue Reading ]
_but my words shall not pass away_ Never did the Speaker seem to stand more utterly alone than when He uttered this majestic utterance. Never did it seem more improbable that it should be fulfilled. But as we look across the centuries we see how it has been realised. His words have passed into laws,... [ Continue Reading ]
Final Exhortation to Watchfulness 32. _neither the Son_ As our Lord is said to have "increased _in wisdom_" as well as "in stature" (Luke 2:52), to have _prayed_to the Father (Matthew 14:23; Matthew 26:39; Matthew 26:42-44, &c.); to have _received commandment_from the Father (John 14:31), even so it... [ Continue Reading ]
_Take ye heed, watch and pray_ "Se ze, wake ze, and preie ze," Wyclif The word rendered "watch" only occurs 4 times in the New Testament: (1) here; (2) in the parallel, Luke 21:36; (3) Ephesians 6:18, "Praying always … and _watching thereunto_with all perseverance;" (4)Hebrews 13:17, "Obey them that... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the Son of man is_ These words do not occur in the original. _taking a far journey_ Literally, one WHO IS ABSENT FROM HIS PEOPLE, WHO GOES ON FOREIGN TRAVEL. "Which gon fer in pilgrimage," Wyclif. The verb formed from it occurs in chap. Mark 12:1, "A certain man planted a vineyard … and _went... [ Continue Reading ]
_at even, or at midnight_ On the night watches see above, ch. Mark 6:48. In the Temple the priest, whose duty it was to superintend the night sentinels of the Levitical guard, might at any moment knock at the door and demand entrance. "He came suddenly and unexpectedly, no one knew when. The Rabbis... [ Continue Reading ]
_lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping_ "During the night the -captain of the Temple" made his rounds. On his approach the guards had to rise and salute him in a particular manner. Any guard found asleep when on duty was beaten, or his garments were set on fire a punishment, as we know, actually... [ Continue Reading ]
_Watch_ Observe in this chapter the emphasis given to Christ's exhortation, "_Watch!_" The Apostle, under whose eye St Mark wrote his Gospel, would seem to wish us to notice in spite of what frequent warnings he himself failed to watch and fell. St Matthew tells us how the Lord sought to impress the... [ Continue Reading ]