Let's turn in our Bibles today
to Mark chapter 13. I want us to read again the first
four verses. 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. And 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 sat 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? What shall be the sign when all
these things shall be fulfilled? I brought my message last Sunday
from this chapter, and I emphasize that the disciples questioned
in verse four, concerned the temple. The temple, not some
temple that's going to be built in the future, but that temple
that the Lord Jesus Christ had just walked out of, and that
temple that had so impressed one of his disciples that he
said to the master, behold, behold, what manner of stones and what
buildings are these? The disciples then, Peter, James,
and John, four of them, on the Mount of Olives with the Lord,
where they could see the temple mount, they could see the temple
that our Lord had just left, and the temple which he said
would be thrown down, not one stone left upon another. Now
we know that the temple was destroyed by Rome in AD 70. And the temple would have been
the last thing to have been destroyed after the city was broken up,
Jerusalem was broken up and the troops came in because the temple
was, of course, the most prized possession of the Israelites. And that would have been where
they would have, that they would have defended to the very end. and the temple was destroyed.
Even today, there is standing, you can look this up, but there's
standing in the city of Rome, an arch which commemorates Titus,
the general Titus, who then became emperor. And after his death,
he was proclaimed a God, he was proclaimed to be divine. And
there's an arch there, which commemorates Titus capturing
Jerusalem. The city and the temple were
destroyed. And I also said that if we were
looking at a harmony of the Gospels, we could spend several weeks
looking at this chapter. We're not going to. But if we
did, we would want to have a harmony of the Gospels. And someone told
me just a few minutes ago that they bought themselves in harmony
of the Gospels since last Sunday morning. And that's good. And
I mentioned the fact that we would have at this particular
junction, we would have the words as recorded in Matthew, here
in Mark, and in Luke, and John doesn't record this in his gospel
at all. But I also said if we did that,
if we were looking at a harmony of the gospels, we would see
that in Matthew's gospel, they also ask him at this same time,
what would be the sign of his coming and the end of the world? Mark doesn't include that in
their question here. But in Matthew's gospel, when
they ask him along with their question, tell us when shall
these things be and what shall be the sign when all these things
shall be fulfilled, they also ask him what would be the sign
of thy coming and of the end of the world. Now the word world,
of course, is age. The same word which is translated
age in Matthew 28, when the Lord Jesus promised his disciples
or his church, he promised you and I. Lo, I am with you always
unto the end of the age. The world itself will not come
to an end if we're talking about this physical planet, Earth. because we know it's going to
be burned. There's going to be a new heaven and a new earth.
The apostle Peter tells us about that. Now, Mark, he did not record
their question or he did not include that question, but he
did and he does give us the Lord's answer to that question. And it's interesting to note,
again, if you were looking at this in a harmony of the gospels,
It's interesting to me, at least, to note that all three Gospels,
things may vary a little bit. They won't be contradictory,
but they don't all record the same words in the same order. But the very first thing, the
very first thing in Matthew, Mark, and Luke that our Lord
said in answering their questions, if you look there in verse five,
and Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man
deceive you. That's the very first response
the Lord gave and all the gospel writers record that. The very
first thing that he said was take heed lest any man deceive
you. Now prophecy and future things
is certainly part of the word of God. But it is part of the
word of God that just seems to invite deception. It invites deception. It opens
a door for men's imaginations and speculations. And human nature,
even our human nature, I'm talking about believers, even among Christians,
we love to hear about something future. And if we're not careful,
and this has happened to preachers, I know this is so, if we're not
careful, we'll begin looking at the signs instead of the one
who's coming. Our attention will be focused
on what's going to take place, and we really are not told everything
and how it's going to come to pass, but we all are told that
Christ is going to come again. And that's who we should be looking
for, not these signs that he mentions here, but the very fact
that our Lord is coming again. We sang about that, didn't we?
And we long for that time when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come
and In one part of the world it may be in the morning, another
part of the world it may be in the evening, but the Lord Jesus
Christ is going to come again. And we say, even so, Lord, come. That's the response of John in
the Revelation. Even so, Lord, come. And that's
our response, isn't it? Come, Lord Jesus, come. I do want to say that the things
that the Lord named which would take place here, the false christs,
the famines, the wars and rumors of wars, I showed us last week
how that all of these things did take place before A.D. 70. But I want to say this, that
these things shall continue. These things that our Lord mentioned
here, they did take place before A.D. 70, and they have continued
to take place in this world. We live in a fallen world. We're part of a fallen world.
Even though we have been saved by the grace of God, if we are
saved this morning, we're living in a world that is under the
curse of God. And yes, wars come, pestilences
come, famines come. We know that. And we're not exempt. Believers are not exempt from
going through these things. But what we are promised, as
the hymn writer said, when you go through those fiery trials,
when you go through the waters, when you go through the rivers,
I will be with thee. And they shall not overcome thee. God's people have this wonderful
promise of God's presence and God's protection and God's providing
and really no evil. as that psalm that Kevin sang
just a moment ago. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. There is no evil that shall come
to a child of God. And I'm not talking about moral
evil, I'm talking about what men call evil, sicknesses, deaths,
all these things that happen to us as well as to lost people. But for the child of God, it
is not evil. God has promised that all things
work together for our good. Now, we may not understand how,
and most of the time we probably won't. But this is where we walk
by faith, isn't it, and not by sight. We have his word. What more can he say than to
you, he has said. You who unto Jesus for refuge
hath fled. His promise is, I will never
leave thee, The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon
by night. I will be with thee. And if he's
with us, that's all we need. That's more than all we need.
Now, I want us to look down at our Lord's answer. I said Mark
doesn't include this question about his coming and the end
of the age, but we do find that Mark answered, or he gives us
our Lord's answer. If you look down to verses 26
and 27, we read, and then shall they see
the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels
and shall gather together his elect from the four winds from
the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. I have two divisions in my message
this morning. First, how did the Lord answer
the question of His second coming and the end of the age? Well,
first, He states that there is to be no sign of His second coming. That's how there is to be no
sign of His second coming. Then shall they see the Son of
Man coming. In other words, up until that
time, all of these things, wars and rumors of wars and pestilences
and false Christ, Antichrist, all these things will continue
to happen, but then, then shall they see the Son of Man coming.
Now in Matthew's gospel, we have, he answered, for as the lightning
cometh out of the east and shineth even to the west, So shall the
coming of the Son of Man be. Those words show the suddenness
of His coming. Or as the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians
tells us, in the twinkling of an eye. In the twinkling of an
eye. That's sudden. That's very sudden. This shows the suddenness of
His coming. And if you notice in verse 32,
he tells the disciples, verse 32, but of that day and that
hour knoweth no man. No, not the angels which are
in heaven, neither the son of man, but the father. Now, what
day is he talking about here that no one knows? Well, no one
could understand that he's speaking of the day that Jerusalem was
destroyed. Because we saw last week that
when they saw the believers in Jerusalem, when they saw the
Roman armies, the abomination that makes desolate, when they
saw them surrounding Jerusalem or standing where they ought
not to be, he told them to flee. And history tells us that all
of those who believed the Lord Christians they fled Jerusalem
and not one of them was destroyed in that siege in that destruction
and Surely it is his second coming that no man knows and that there
will be no sign of his coming Now if you turn with me to Matthew
chapter 24 Here according to what Matthew
recorded he makes this even more clear if possible. It makes it even clearer in verse
35. He said, heaven and earth shall
pass away, but my word shall not pass away. But of that day
and hour knoweth no man. No, not the angels of heaven,
but my father only. But as the days of Noah were,
so shall also the coming of the son of man be. For as in the
days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered
into the ark. And they knew not until the flood
came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be. Now this certainly here, as the
days of Noah, is no description of the way it was in Jerusalem
before the city was destroyed. You can read about this in Deuteronomy
chapter 28. And also the Jewish historian
Josephus, and he wasn't a believer, he wasn't a Christian, but if
you read his depiction of what took place there in that city,
the false Christ that arose claiming to be Christ, the civil wars
that went on. And yes, the famine was so severe. It was so severe that parents roasted and ate their own children. Now that's severe, isn't it?
That's what is recorded both in Deuteronomy chapter 28, Moses
prophesying of what would happen if the nation failed to obey
God, which they did. And some people say, well, that
refers to the Babylonian captivity. It could refer to both, both
the Babylonian captivity and also the siege, the destruction
of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel. The Jews, 97,000, I said
last week, 1,100,000 were killed. 97,000 were taken as prisoners
and sold off, taken back to Egypt and sold off as slaves. And that's exactly what Moses
had told them would happen in the last days. So this cannot,
the description our Lord gives as in the days of Noah, people
were eating and drinking, people were getting married and everything
was going on business as usual, until. This could not be a description
of what was going on in the city of Jerusalem. No. Now, back here in our text, some who read this, they find
a problem with the word then in verse 26. And then. shall they see the Son of Man
coming? And they say, well, then means
that has to happen immediately after. After, as we saw, the
darkening of the sun and the moon and the stars. Then immediately. But listen, the word then doesn't
have to mean immediately. It can show the order of things. And let me show you an example
of this, if you will, back in Mark chapter 2. In Mark chapter 2 and verse 18. And the disciples of John and
of the Pharisees used to fast. And they come and say unto him,
that is the Lord Jesus, why do the disciples of John and of
the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto
them, can the children of the bride chamber fast while the
bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom
with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the
bridegroom shall be taken away from them, And then shall they
fast in those days. In other words, this is the order. As long as Christ was with his
disciples, they were not fasting. But after he was taken from them,
then the days would come when his disciples would fast. It
doesn't mean that immediately, as soon as the Lord Jesus Christ
died on the cross and taken from them, they would begin to fast.
No. but in the order of things. I remember an illustration that
I read, and it stuck with me. I read this illustration many
years ago, and it concerned a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Oliver
Holmes, and he was speaking with a young man, and he kept using
this word then. And it's not immediately, but
it shows the order. The young man was about to graduate
from college and the justice asked him, what then? Very simple. What then? And the man said,
well, I hope to become a lawyer. What then? Well, I hope one day
to be so fortunate to be like you on the Supreme Court of our
country. What then? And the young man was taken aback.
What then? He's talking about the order,
the order this man had planned for his life. Graduate from college,
go to law school, become a lawyer, practice law, be on the Supreme
Court, but the judge kept asking him that same simple question,
what then? And baffled, he said, haven't
thought about that. I suppose I will die. And the
justice said, son, you need to think your life through. You need to think your life through. And there's some young people
here in this room right now. You need to think your life through. You've got your plans, no doubt,
and that's good. And set your goals, and that's
commendable. But what then? This life will
have an end. It will. While you're young,
you think, well, that's a long way off. It may not be. Or it
may be. But still, there is a life to
come, an eternal existence. And there's only two places where
men and women are going to go when we leave this world. We're
either going to be with the Lord, or we're going into a dark eternity
without God, And under the judgment of God, the word calls it hell. When I think about hell, separation
from God, separation from all that is good, what misery, what misery, an eternity separate from God. Think your life through. Don't
just think while you're living in this world. There's another
world. There's a world to come. What then? So the word then doesn't
necessarily mean immediately, but it can show the order of
things. And in the order of things, the
destruction of Jerusalem would be first. his coming would be
next. And we're living in this time
when we're still looking for his coming. The second thing
I want to point out here, he states that the end of the age
coincides with his second coming. You know, the question was twofold.
What is the sign of thy coming and of the end of the age? Well,
his answer tells us that both of these things happen at the
same time. You say, well, how do you see
that? Well, look here in verse 27. And then shall he send his
angels and shall gather together his elect from the four winds
from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of
heaven. You say, well, how do you see
the end of the age there? By comparing scripture with scripture. Keep your place here, but turn
back to Matthew 13. In Matthew chapter 13, in verse
49, Our Lord said, so shall it be
at the end of the age. The angel shall come forth and
sever the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into
the furnace of fire. There shall be waiting and gnashing
of teeth. The angels work of separation
and gathering. When does that take place? It
takes place at the end of the age. when the Lord Jesus Christ
shall come again. And I cannot help but notice
in Mark's gospel, the words here is, and then shall he send his
angels and shall gather together his elect. Now notice this, from
the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost
part of heaven. Is this not speaking of the saved
who are here upon the earth and the saved who are already in
heaven? That at His coming, this will
be the first time when all of His church, all of His elect,
all of His redeemed, we shall all be gathered together. We
shall be gathered unto the Lord. And the Apostle Paul tells us
that this will take place in the twinkling of an eye. in a
very short time. Remember the scripture in First
Thessalonians. Let me read this to us, a very
familiar passage I know to all of us. First Thessalonians chapter
four, verse 13, he said, but I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not,
even as others which have no hope. For we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not precede or prevent them which
are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. And don't miss those next words.
Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. What a comfort
it is for our brothers and sisters that have gone on to be with
the Lord. What a comfort it is for us to
know They haven't perished, they're with the Lord. And when he comes
again, they will be reunited with their glorified bodies and
our bodies, the believers who are alive at that time, our bodies
shall be changed and all of this in the twinkling of an eye and
caught up in the clouds to be with the Lord forever, forever. I had someone one time challenge
me Where does it say that believers will be in heaven? What the word of God says is
we'll be with Christ. That's good enough, isn't it?
Wherever he is, that's where God's people are going to be.
And that's where we want to be with him, who loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood. Now, just a few minutes, but
notice in the clouds, there are several things that are, if you
look at the various scriptures that speak about our Lord's second
coming, there are several words that just stand out, like the
trump, the last trump. Well, how many last trumps are
there? I mean, the last trump is the last trump, the voice
of the archangel, the clouds. You see these things associated
with His coming, and they are all speaking of His second coming. In Revelation 1 and verse 7,
we read, Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see
Him. Every eye. The wicked as well
as the righteous, every eye shall see him. And they also that pierced
him and all kindreds of the earth shall wail, wail, weep, cry,
lament the fact, especially if they had heard the gospel and
refused to believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Today, while it's called today,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Word
is clear. Word is plain. Believe on Christ. Be ready when he comes. Not only
ready, but looking for his coming. Desiring his coming. Come, Lord
Jesus. Don't sit here and don't go on
in your life fearful and afraid. Well, what's going to happen
to me? You know what's going to happen to you. If you refuse
to believe, if you refuse to bow to the Lord Jesus Christ,
you know what's going to happen to you. You're going to be cast
into outer darkness. There is no other place, and
God is not going to make any exceptions. You say, well, I
was in a church, and my parents were believers, and you can go
on and on and on. My friends, unless you know Christ,
unless you trust in Him, you have no hope. You say, well, What must I do? Just like Paul said, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Well, let me close with this.
How did the Lord make application? He said that no one would know,
but how did the Lord make application? Well, he gave this illustration
of a man who goes on a journey and he gives his servants work
to do while he is absent But he doesn't tell them when he's
going to return. You see that in the remainder
of the chapter. Well, what must his servants
then do? They must watch. Watch, be ready
for his coming whenever it may be. Whatever work, whatever responsibility
that God has given you, and if you're one of his children, he
has given you a work. You are a laborer. in his vineyard,
if you are one of his children, he's given you a work to do,
a responsibility, and what are we to do? We're to watch. and
be found doing what he has called us to do. Whatever work or responsibility
that may be that he's given us, we must be engaged. Unless, he
said, unless he come and find us sleeping. I think the application
is very simple. Be ready, be busy in his service. I'm going to close and we're
going to sing a hymn in just a moment, 467, since I have been
redeemed. But before we sing this hymn,
I have an announcement I want to make.