And I would remind us that we
are still looking at scriptures which record the events in the
life of our Lord on the third day of the week in which he was
crucified. Let's read the first four verses
of this chapter. And as he went out of the temple,
one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, See what manner
of stones and what buildings are here? Jesus answering said
unto him, seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be
left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. And
as he said upon the Mount of Olives over against the temple,
Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, tell
us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign when
all these things shall be fulfilled? The Lord Jesus Christ left the
temple there in Jerusalem for the last time. He left the temple
that day and one of his disciples was so impressed. Most of his
disciples were men of Galilee, of course. He was so impressed
with the greatness of the temple itself that he said unto the
Lord, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings
are here. He was very much impressed with
that beautiful temple. And it was known as one of of
the wonders of the ancient world. He departed the temple this day
and he told that disciple who had been so impressed with the
building, there shall not be left one stone upon another that
shall not be thrown down. Then he was asked by his four
disciples while sitting upon the Mount of Olives where they
could see the temple mount and see the temple buildings. Tell
us, when shall these things be? What shall be the sign when all
these things shall be fulfilled? Now, we could spend several weeks
looking at this chapter. And even then, I'm sure there
would still be more we could learn. It would help if we were
studying this chapter, a more thorough study, if we had a Harmony
of the Gospels. The standard book, Harmony of
the Gospels, was written by A.T. Robertson many years ago. And
I gave mine to Brother Fred Evans when he left to go to be a pastor.
But if we were looking at a harmony of the gospel and we came to
this passage, we would have three columns and we would have the
same account in Matthew's gospel in one column and then Mark and
then Luke. There would be nothing in the
column for John because John doesn't deal with this in his
gospel. We're looking at the account
in Mark. But there are two things I want
to mention to us before we begin looking at this account here
in Mark. Two things that we find in Matthew's
gospel. The first is this, before the
Lord spoke these words that we've just read, He also said this
to the nation of Israel, behold, your house is left unto you desolate. Those are the words which he
immediately spoke before what we have here in Mark chapter
13. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. And then also
in Matthew's gospel, We find that there was another question
that these disciples asked that Mark doesn't record, and that
is, what shall be the sign of thy coming and the end of the
world? Our Lord answers that question
as we will see the Lord willing in this passage, but the question
itself is not recorded here in Mark. Their question is simply
this. Notice again in verse four. Tell
us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign when
all these things shall be accomplished? I have three very simple observations
that I want to make. First of all, and I mean these
are very simple so all of us can understand, there are questions
Their question concerned the temple. Their question concerned
the temple that he had just said would be thrown down. Now isn't
that obvious to all of us? Their question, when shall these
things be? And what shall be the sign when
all these things shall be fulfilled? Their question concerned that
temple that he had just exited, and his disciple was amazed at
the greatness of that temple. And our Lord said, it's all going
to come crashing down. It's all going to be thrown down.
Not one stone shall be left upon another. It was their question
concerned that temple. Now I want you to stay with me
now. Their question doesn't concern
a temple that may be future, as many people would like to
tell us. Their question doesn't concern a temple that may yet
be built in Jerusalem. Their question, as far as I'm
convinced and concerned, their question concerned that temple,
that temple that they had just left. And he's not talking, their
question isn't concerning a temple that may or may not be built. Now I'm not saying, when I say
that, I'm not saying that the natural descendants of Abraham,
those who call themselves Jews and are living today in Palestine,
I'm not saying that at some day, at some point, they may build
a temple there in Jerusalem. I'm not saying that. But all
I'm saying this morning is their question concerned that temple. When shall these things be? These things, which he had just
said, this temple is going to come down. Not one stone shall
be left upon the other. And to me, this begs a question. Who is a Jew? Who is a Jew? I want you to turn with me to
Romans chapter two. Keep your places here. Romans chapter two. Verse 28, the Apostle Paul writing,
for he is not a Jew which is one outwardly. Now that which
made a man a Jew was circumcision. The men, the inhabitants of the
Middle East, what we call the Middle East today, they all looked
their characteristics, they were all the same. If you looked at
a Syrian or an Israelite or an Iraqi, I assume any of those
people living in that area, and you just saw them and they were
all together, you couldn't pick out, there was no distinguishing
characteristic that you would say, well, that man's a Jew.
by the way he looks. I recognize him as a Jew. The only thing that distinguished
the Jews from all the others was the right of circumcision. That right which God had given
to Abraham. For he is not a Jew which is
one outwardly. That is, he's been circumcised. But Paul says that doesn't make
him a Jew in the sense that Paul is speaking of here. And circumcision,
neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh.
Now notice, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly. And circumcision
is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter. whose
praise is not of men, but of God." In other words, this circumcision
is inward, it's spiritual, and God gets the glory. He's the
one who's praised for this work because this work is the new
birth. This work is a person being born
again of the Spirit of God. And he is circumcised not outwardly,
but inwardly in the heart. This is the true Jew, the Apostle
Paul is writing to Jews at that time who prided themselves in
the fact that they were descendants of Abraham. We be Abraham's sons. We be Abraham's children. And because we're Abraham's children,
we're all going to be saved. We're all going to be in God's
kingdom by this natural Descendancy from Abraham. Who is a true Jew? Well, it seems to me very clear
here, as far as the Apostle Paul is concerned, a true Jew is a
person who's been born of the Spirit of God. He's an Israelite. An Israelite of God. Spiritual Israel. Spiritual Israel. And then in Galatians, I won't
have you turn here, but in Galatians 3 and verse 29, Paul wrote, and
if you be Christ, are you Christ? Is he your savior? Is he your Lord? Has he bought
you? Redeemed you? Converted you? If you be Christ, Then are you
Abraham's seed, his spiritual seed, his spiritual seed, which
by number, God told Abraham, look up into the stars. If you
can count them, so shall your seed be. I was thinking this
past week of all the multitude of God saved people, millions,
no doubt millions, maybe billions. And I was so impressed thinking
that each and every one of those whom God has saved were all redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ. How valuable is that blood? How powerful is that blood that
redeemed such a multitude of sinners? Praise God. There's power. There's wonder-working
power in the blood of Christ. I love that hymn, don't you?
There's power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of Christ.
Yes, my friends, if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and
heirs according to promise. And one other place I would let
you turn, if you will, to Philippians chapter three. You know, Paul
was a Jew and he had been very proud of his heritage. He could
even names it here. circumcised the eighth day of
the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of the Hebrews. You wanted to see a Hebrew, you
wanted to see an Israelite, you wanted to see a Jew, outwardly,
Paul said, I was one. I was one. I had all the credentials.
I had all my ducks lined up in a row. I could, I, nobody could
question my heritage. I was a Jew. I was a Hebrew of
the Hebrews. But notice, though I might also
have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that
he hath confidence thereof, whereof he might trust in the flesh,
I more. Circumcised the eighth day of
the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the
Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisees, concerning zeal,
persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in
the law, blameless. But what things were gained to
me, whatever I gained by my heritage and by my obedience to the law
of God, I counted it all lost, all done for Christ. And then look above that in verse
three, for we are the circumcision. We are the Jews. We're the circumcision,
not that outward circumcision. And how are we distinguished
by these three marks? We worship God in the spirit.
That's what we're here today to do is to worship God in spirit
and in truth. That's what our Lord said. He
told that Samaritan woman, the hour is coming. People are not
going to worship in these mountains of Samaria nor in Jerusalem,
but God seeketh those to worship Him who worship Him in spirit
and in truth. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus. Oh,
we rejoice in Him, don't we? A hymn we sang just a minute
ago. Blessed Jesus. Precious Jesus,
right? We rejoice in Him. He's all in
all to those of us who believe. We can't love Him too much. We
can't honor Him too much. He's worthy of everything that
we are and everything we have. everything we could ever hope
to have. Christ above all. We rejoice in Christ Jesus, who
cried from the cross, it is finished. And our salvation was finished,
secured. We rejoice in Christ Jesus and
notice we don't have any confidence in the flesh. Not my flesh, not
your flesh, not the flesh of any other man living or dying
or whatever. Our confidence is not in ourselves,
but it is in Christ. He's everything. Now back to
our text. So the first observation I have
for us this morning is simply this. Their question concerned
the temple that he had just said would be thrown down. Now, my
second observation is this. Their question concerned the
time when that temple, not some temple that's going to be built
in the future, but when that temple would be thrown down. When shall these things be? Now look back here in Mark chapter
13, look to verse 30. And this is a text that gives
people a lot of trouble who will not let the scripture interpret
the scripture. Verse 30, verily I say unto you,
he's still speaking to these four disciples, Verily I say
unto you, that this generation shall not pass till all these
things." Their question concerned these things, didn't it? When
shall these things be? This generation, verily I say
unto you, that this generation shall not pass till all these
things be done. Here we see again the word these
things. Their question is, when shall
these things be? And now, our Lord says, this
generation shall not pass till all these things be done. God called a generation 40 years. So that's good enough for me,
40 years. That's what he said concerning
the nation of Israel, those who came out of Egypt. And because
of their unbelief, because they did not believe God, when they
came up to the borders of the promised land, they did not believe
God. Then God said, until all the
generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was
consumed. And we know that lasted for 40
years. They wandered in the wilderness
for 40 years. So our Lord is saying here that
these things shall all be accomplished within 40 years. Our Lord began
his ministry, we believe, at the age of 30. That was typical
for those who entered into the priesthood, to be at 30 years
of age, and our Lord we believe was baptized at the age of 30.
His ministry lasted for, for three or three and a half years. And so now we're, if, if AD one
was when he was born, many believe it was about the calendars off
a couple of years, but by 70, If he's 32 or 33 years old and
before this generation is ended, all these things are going to
happen, we've got 40 years, right? This is all going to take place
within 40 years of the time the Lord spoke these words. These things would be within
the 40 years. All right, here's the third observation.
I told you this is simple. Their question concerned the
sign when the temple would be thrown down. Not some temple
that's going to be built. Their question, I keep emphasizing
this because to me it's so important. Their question didn't concern
a future temple. Their question concerned that
temple. That temple they had just come
out of. And they asked him, what shall
be the sign? And this is very important. And
it was very important to them. When, or what shall be the sign
when this temple is going to be thrown down? Well, notice
in verse 14. Our Lord's still speaking to
these four disciples. And he says, when you shall see
the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
standing where it ought not, Let him that readeth understand,
then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains. When you shall see the abomination
of desolation, and notice when you see this, our Lord said,
then when you see this abomination of desolation, then Those of
you who are in Jerusalem, in Judea, you flee. You flee to
the mountains for safety. Now, I want you to keep your
place here, but look in Luke's gospel. This helps to understand
what this abomination of desolation is. And really it is the, think
of it like this. It is the abomination that maketh
desolate. Our Lord had said, your house
is left unto you desolate. What is going to make, what is
the abomination that's going to make Jerusalem and the temple
and all of it, the land of Palestine, what is it that's going to make
it desolate? Well, here in Luke chapter 21
and verse 20, our Lord, the same parallel passage, and when you
shall see Jerusalem, Compass with armies, then know that the
desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea,
there cannot be any question this is the same parallel text
because our Lord says the same thing, then let them which are
in Judea flee to the mountains and let them which are in the
midst of it depart out. Let not them that are in the
countries enter therein too. For these be the days of vengeance,
that all things which are written may be fulfilled. The abomination
was the Roman armies that encircled Jerusalem. That is what would
make Jerusalem, the temple, everything in it desolate. Now from history,
we learn that no Christians, and this is truly amazing, but
our God is an amazing God. There were many Christians in
Jerusalem, but no Christian, not one, perished in the destruction
of Jerusalem. It's amazing that history recorded
this. In AD 65, The emperor, Nero,
placed a man named Florus over Judea. He was in that governorship
like Pilate had been when the Lord was crucified, this man
Florus. And his actions were so awful
that he brought about a violent, the Jews violently rebelled against
this man that Nero had placed over them. So Nero then replaced
that man with a man named Cestius Gallus, and you can check all
these names in history, but a man by the name of Cestius Gallus,
and he was going to put down the rebellion. He brought armies
with him, a couple of Roman armies with him, and he surrounded Jerusalem. laid siege to the city, assaulted
the city, and the city was at the point of having to surrender. They knew if they surrendered
and opened the gates that the temple would not be destroyed.
But for some reason, this man, some unknown reason, we know
the reason, but history books say for some unknown reason,
this Roman general, he withdrew his troops. His troops had surrounded
the city. And they were right at the point
of having to surrender and would have surrendered. But for some
reason, he withdrew his troops. And when he did, the believers
in Jerusalem, they knew they had to leave. And they left. And they left to the mountains. There's a town named Pella, P-E-L-L-A,
to which they escaped. And not one Christian was destroyed
when the city was overrun. But that's not the end of it.
Nero then ordered this man by the name of Vespasian to put
down the rebellion. The Jews were known for rebellious
people. They'd been an independent nation,
they'd been free, they'd been a mighty power at one time, and
they were known for being a rebellious people. But Nero ordered Vespasian
to put down the rebellion. Well, his son was named Titus,
and he had Titus to bring two Roman legions from Alexandria
into Judea. And while that was going on,
Nero himself was overthrown. He fled the city and committed
suicide, and Vespasian became the emperor. And so his son Titus,
who would later become emperor, he is the one who was in charge
of the army that destroyed the city of Jerusalem. In verse 19, if you look here,
the Lord said this about what we know took place in the siege
and the overthrow of Jerusalem. 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. And again in Matthew's gospel,
the parallel is, for then shall be great tribulation, such as
was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever
shall be. In Lorraine Boettner's book,
The Millennium, He points out that in Hiroshima, when the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima,
about one-tenth as many people were killed there with that bomb
as were killed or died in the siege of Jerusalem. The number
that I have seen is 1,100,000 were destroyed in Jerusalem. And besides those who were killed
or died by starvation, there were 97,000 who were captured
and they were sold off into slavery. That's the nation of Israel.
It was left desolate. Their house was left desolate. Everything, now notice, everything
that the Lord told his disciples that day that would take place. He said there's going to be deceivers,
there's going to be false Christs, there's going to be wars and
rumors of war, famines, pestilence, earthquakes, and disciples brought
before councils and some put to death. We know from the Word
of God that all of these things took place except, and these
did take place, but we cannot show this from the Bible, but
we can show this from history, the wars and rumors of war. In
a space of 18 months, there were three or four emperors of Rome,
and most of them met a tragic death. They were deposed. There were wars in the kingdom
of Rome, many uprisings. There was wars and rumors of
wars. And then as far as pestilence
is concerned, we don't read of that in the New Testament. We
do read of famines and pestilence usually follows famines. And then there's one other thing
that we do not see in the, in the scriptures. Let me see if
I can find it here. Earthquakes. Yeah. Earthquakes.
We don't read of those in the scriptures, but secular history
records that there were earthquakes, even in Rome. there was an earthquake. Now I know this is probably very
boring to all of y'all. I love to preach the gospel,
but we came to this place and I'm going to deal with it. But
I want to point out two prophecies in these verses that I think
sometimes confuse us, confuse God's people. The first one is
in verse 10. In verse 10, our Lord told these
four disciples, and the gospel must first be published among
all nations. You say, preacher, surely you're
not going to tell us all that happened within 70 years. Yes, I am. Yes, I am. And I'm going to tell you that
from the word of God. In Acts chapter 2 and verse 5,
on the day of Pentecost, this is what we are told. There were
dwelling at Jerusalem, remember it was a feast, the Feast of
Pentecost, and people, Jews came from everywhere that they had
been scattered for these feasts. There were dwelling at Jerusalem,
Jews, devout men out of every nation. Now we may assume that
many of these made up the 3,000 who were saved that day. They
went back to their countries, and preach the gospel. We know
that Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter 8, that God sent Philip
out there in the desert to preach the gospel to, he went on his
way rejoicing. Where'd he go? He went to Ethiopia.
And history tells us that many believers, many Christians, many
people were saved in Ethiopia as a result of that. And then
in Colossians chapter 1, Colossians chapter 1, and Paul wrote this
letter from prison, remember? He had never visited the church
at Colossae when he wrote this epistle. But he wrote in verses
5 and 6, he said, the word of truth of the gospel which is
come unto you as it is in all the world. It's come unto you
there at Colossae as it has in all the world. And then later
in that same chapter, verse 23, he said, be not moved away from
the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, now listen, and
which was preached to every creature under heaven. The gospel, yes,
had gone to every nation. That doesn't mean, of course,
that every individual in the world had heard the gospel. But
the gospel had, in Acts chapter 9, remember with the persecution
that Saul of Tarsus was involved in, the scripture says they went
everywhere. And what were they doing, these
Christians? They were fleeing from persecution, but the scripture
says they went everywhere gossiping. That's the word that's used.
They were gossipers, and what were they gossiping? The gospel,
the gospel of Jesus Christ. They went everywhere preaching.
One other passage in verses 24 and 25, our Lord said, but in
those days after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened and
the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall
fall, and the fires that are in heaven shall be shaken. Now, you and I, we use terminology
like this. Our Lord, if He's speaking metaphorically,
we talk about bright days, sunny days. What are we talking about?
We're talking about prosperity, aren't we? Healthy. And when
we talk about dark days, gloomy days, We are talking about trouble. Trouble. Now, I want us to look
at two passages. This is the last two places I'm
going to ask you to turn. And if you don't want to turn,
write it down and look at it later. But I want us to see two
passages in the Old Testament where we have this same, same
terminology used to to predict the destruction of
two nations, the nation of Babylon and the nation of Egypt. First,
in Isaiah chapter 13, here we have the destruction of Babylon. Now remember, when Isaiah prophesied,
Babylon was just an upstart of a nation. They weren't much at
all. Remember Hezekiah allowed the
messengers from Babylon to come and they said they were saluting
him because he had been healed. And Isaiah said, you let them
see all your gold and wealth and all that, they'll be back.
They'll be back. And sure enough, they came back.
Isaiah prophesied that they'll be back. And they carried the
nation of Israel into captivity for 70 years. But Isaiah is prophesying
this. You see, God, He knows the end
from the beginning. And if we get nothing else out
of this message this morning, we should get this. The Lord's
words are true. What He says is going to happen
is going to happen. And all the councils and all
the host of men and demons and hell can come together and try
to stop what God has determined to take place, but they're going
to be futile. His will shall be done. The way he could prophesy of
things that were a hundred years in the future, or 70 years, or
30 or 40 years in the future, is because as God, He knows the
end from the beginning. Here in Isaiah chapter 13, look
first at verse 1. The Burden of Babylon. Now this
message that God gave to Isaiah concerns Babylon. Now notice
in verse 9 and 10, we don't have the time to read all the chapter,
but look in verse 9. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh,
cruel, both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate,
and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars
of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their
light. The sun shall be darkened in
his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to
shine. Well, you know that has never
literally happened, but it did happen when Babylon was destroyed
by the Medes and the Persians. Look further down in that chapter
to verse 17. Behold, I will stir up the Medes
against them. Darius and Cyrus. Darius was a Mede, Cyrus was
a Persian. And we know how that they captured
Babylon in one night, when old Belteshazzar was having a party
of his life. And then he saw that handwriting
on the wall. You're weighed in the balances
and found wanting. This night, thy kingdom shall
be taken from thee. And in that very night, the armies entered in to Babylon. Look in
verse 17. Behold, I will stir up the meads
against them which shall not regard silver, and as for gold,
they shall not delight in it. Their bows also shall dash the
young men to pieces, and they shall have no pity on the fruit
of the womb. Their eyes shall not spare children. A desolation when these conquerors
had no pity for the old people or for the very babies. in the
cities. They were destroyers. And then
I want you to look in Ezekiel. So you see there, Isaiah, through
the prophets, through God giving him the word, spoke of the downfall
of Babylon in these same terms. And also, if you look in Ezekiel
chapter 32, And there's other scriptures
we could use. But remember Joseph, one of his
dreams, wasn't it? The sun, the moon, and the stars,
they all bowed down to me. And his father Jacob knew. You're
talking about me under the representation of the sun, and your mother's
the moon, and all your brothers are stars. That's metaphorical
language, isn't it? Here in Ezekiel chapter 32 and
verse 15. When I shall make the land of
Egypt desolate. I think it's amazing or interesting
that in both of these passages we see that word desolate. Just like our Lord had told Jerusalem,
your house shall be left unto you desolate. When I shall make
the land of Egypt desolate, and the country shall be destitute
of that whereof it was full, when I shall smite all them that
dwell therein, then shall they know that I am the Lord. This is the lamentation wherewith
they shall lament her. The daughters of the nation shall
lament her. They shall lament for her, even
for Egypt, and for all her multitude, saith the Lord. And verse 7,
when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, make the stars
thereof dark. I will cover the sun with a cloud,
and the moon shall not give her light. All the bright lights
of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy
land, saith the Lord. I will also vex the hearts of
many people, when I shall bring thy destruction upon the nations
and to the countries which thou hast not known. Yea, I will make
many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly
afraid for thee, when I shall brandish my sword before them. And they shall tremble at every
moment, every man for his own life in the day of thy fall. Now, in conclusion. There is no sign given for the
Lord's coming. You can look, you can look and
all these so-called prophetic experts can talk about all these
signs and all they want to, but there is no sign. Just like our
Lord says it's going to be like it was in the days of Noah, they
were all Eating and drinking and giving in marriage, business
was going on as usual until God told Noah, come thou and thy
family into the ark. And when he went in the ark,
God closed the door and the rain started. That's the way it's
going to be. There's no sign. He could come
right now. He could come today. Would that
he would, right? Would that he would. Amen. What about you? If he should
come today, will you be left? Will you be like one of those
five unwise virgins? They had a lamp. They had a profession. They were on some church roll,
sure. But they had no oil in their
lamp. That's all it was, a profession. but no saving grace in their
heart. There was no union with Christ,
no living union with Christ. Not some just historical figure
that we hear about and read about. No, He's my Lord, He's my Savior. He's as real to me, more real
than anything or anyone else in this world. What about you? What about me? That's who I better
be concerned about. What about me? What about you? I pray that the Lord will bless
this word to all of us here this morning. I want us to close with a hymn,
number 258, He Hideth My Soul.