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Join Reverend Daniel as we explore Jesus' urgent call in Mark 13 for his followers to remain spiritually alert and to faithfully proclaim the gospel amidst trials and deception. And may we too remain committed to being witnesses for Christ as we watch for his return.

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Morning Church, today's scripture is taken from Mark chapter 13, verses 1 to 23. Mark chapter 13, verses 1. And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Look, teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. And Jesus said to him, Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown out. And as he sat on the top mouth of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, Tell us when will these things be? And what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished. And Jesus began to say to them, See that no one leads you astray. Verse 6 Many will come in my name, saying that I am He, and they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and rumor of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquake in various places, and there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pain. But be on your guard, for they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synoids, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them. Verse 10. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations, and when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child. And the children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be safe. But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be, then let those who are in Judah flee to the mountains. Verse 15 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house to take anything out. And let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And at last, for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days, pray that it may not happen in winter. For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now and never will be. Verse 20. And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect whom he chose, he shortened the days. And then if anyone says to you, Look, here is the Christ, or look, there he is, do not believe it, for false Christ and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But be on guard. I have told you all things beforehand. This is the word of the Lord.

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We are continuing our sermon series on the Gospel of Mark. So today I'd like to give us a basic outline of the passage of what we'll be going through, and at the end, we'll look at then the question of what does all this imply for us today. So a basic outline of for Mark 13, uh, the first 27 verses is delineated as such. The first four verses give us the setting of the discourse or of the conversation of Jesus with his disciples. And the large bulk of our sharing today focuses on prophecies by Jesus regarding the destruction of the temple. So it file it forms the bulk of actually almost everything that uh Sister Regina read for us. Prophecies relating to the destruction of the temple. And then lastly, prophecies relating to the coming of Jesus, the Son of Man. Let us pray. Father, we pray that today, Lord, by your spirit, you may stir up our hearts to embrace all that you're calling us to. Thank you that we are living in the last days from the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in AD 70, Lord, till the coming of Christ, Lord, is the period of the last days. And Lord, we pray, help us to hear what your spirit is saying to us as we prepare and look forward to the coming of Jesus again at the end of age. So inspire our hearts, we pray, the name of Jesus. Amen. Mark 13 forms what we call a literary literary unit that begins from Mark 11. So Mark 11 to Mark 13 forms a literary unit and what is often known as the temple material. So as I begin this time, I just want us to take note, whenever we read Mark 13, we got to read it in the context of Mark 11, because Mark 11 to Mark 13 kind of frames the context for us to really understand what is going on in the last days. So we see here that as Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Look, teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. So the disciples they were referring to the second temple that was built by Herod the Great. So we have a picture, not to scale, that I kind of pulled out uh from the internet. So you can if you take a glance at it, it's quite a magnificent building. Uh look at the size of the people compared to the building itself. So the second temple in the time of Jesus was the most magnificent building in Jerusalem. In Jesus' day, the temple had already been under construction for 50 years and was still unfinished. So there was still work in progress. So at no place was Herod the Great's obsession with grandeur and permanence more apparent than in Jerusalem. He enlarged Solomon's temple, which you see on uh in the slide, to an explanate measuring some 325 meters wide by 500 meters long, with a circumference of nearly a mile. The immense 35-acre enclosure could accommodate about 12 football fields. The southeast corner of the retaining wall hung some 50, 15 stories above the ground, sloped down to the Kingdron Valley. The blocks of stones used in construction were enormous. Josephus, a church historian, tells us they were about 60 feet in length. The magnitude of the temple mound and the stones used to construct it exceed in size than any other temple in the ancient world. And this was merely the retaining wall. Above, on the south end of the explanate, perched the gleaming royal portico. It was 45 feet wide and consisted of three aisle supported by four rows of columns. The columns rose to a height of about 40 feet, supported a cedar paneled ceiling above. In the center of the explanate stood the sanctuary. It was shaped like a lion, broader in the front about 50 meters, and narrower in the back about 30 meters. It rose to a height of about 50 meters and was a visual collage of gold and silver, crimson and purple, radiating the rising sun like a snow-clad mountain. So the figures that Josephus gives for the blocks of stone in the sanctuary exceed, it was bigger than even those of the foundation. So it was indeed a vast and stupendous complex. No wonder when the disciples saw the building, they were overwhelmed. But despite its impressive sight, Jesus pronounced his judgment on this magnificent temple in Mark 13, verse 2. Jesus said to his disciples, Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. Then while sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, his disciples then asked Jesus privately, Tell us these things. When will this be accomplished? What would be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished? Then Jesus begins a long section speaking on prophecies relating to the destruction of the temple. He begins in Mark 13, verse 5 to 8, Jesus said, See that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name, saying, I am He, and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place. But the end is not yet. Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There'll be earthquake in various places, there will be famines. These are but the beginning of birth pains. Jesus is saying that threats will come upon the disciples, and they are from those who come in his name, and they will lead many astray. And this happened historically because in the years preceding the Jewish revolt in AD 66, several messianic pretenders arose. In the mid-40s, Theudas boasted of various signs, including the ability to part the Jordan River, that, according to Josephus, the church historian, led many astray. Josephus also records another account of an Egyptian who claimed to be a prophet or a magician. Likewise, he succeeded in deceiving many of those times. The mention of wars and rumors of wars and nations and kingdoms going against one another along with earthquakes and famines could speak of our predicament today in the world. We see wars, we see we hear of rumors of wars, we see of we see earthquakes, famines happening. So we can in some way interpret it as something that is happening in the world today. But they also fit the first generation of Christians particularly well. There were fears of war in AD 40 when the Roman emperor attempted to erect a statue to himself in the Temple of Jerusalem. But the purpose of Jesus mentioning all these matters is not to lead the believers, not to lead his disciples into speculations about the end, but to anchor them to be watchful and to be faithful in the present. Jesus said all these things earthquakes, famines, wars, rumors of wars, nations uprising against one another, um, false prophets rising, all these are only the beginning, Jesus said, of birth pains. It's just the beginning. So believers are not to be alarmed, for the end is not yet. So sometimes as we see our world context today, wars, rumor of wars, we see famines occurring, different parts of the world, we hear of earthquakes, we think, yeah, Jesus is going to come soon. It may be true, but if we take the words of Jesus to heart, then it's just the beginning of birth pains. We never know when Jesus will come. But we know that it is not the end yet. So threats to faith will not only come from those impostors who come and lead many astray, but it also will come through persecution of believers, which will even divide and break up families. Jesus continues in Mark 39 to 13. He said, Be on your guard, for they they will deliver you over to councils, you will be beaten in synagogues, you will stand before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. When they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. The betrayal is mentioned in verse 12 to 13. Brother will deliver brother over to death, father his child, children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you'll be hated by all for my name's sake, but the one who endures to the end will be saved. So this speaks of believers who will be persecuted by Jews and Gentiles and by religious and secular authorities. They will be betrayed, beaten, formally brought before authorities for Jesus' sake and as a witness to them. We see this actually being fulfilled already in the lives of the first Christians. The book of Acts kind of uh uh is a kind of a fulfillment of Mark 39 to 13 in a way, because uh the disciples were brought before councils, they had to stand before their and and and answer for the faith and for what they are doing. And they was they were suffering, they were being persecuted from one place to the other. We think about Paul himself, who experienced great persecution for preaching the gospel. However, it will bring the believers unprecedented opportunities to declare their faith. Paul stood before the uh the Roman governor, he stood before authorities to proclaim his faith. Same with the early apostles. So, because of the persecution of Christians, the early uh first Christians, you know, such that even to save their own skin, within the family, biological family, they will rather betray one another than to lose their lives. So, all this happened in the early church, it has already been fulfilled in the time of the apostles. So rather than abandoning abandoning them in the hour of crisis, Mark 39 to 13, God will empower them to continue to witness to the gospel among the nations. And Paul eventually went over to Rome, he brought the gospel all the way to Rome. So we see this being fulfilled. So a lot of the prophecies we see today, uh taken from Mark 13, verse 5 to 23, have already been fulfilled, right, in the history of the church. And so, in the next few verses I'll be reading, all this has happened historically. In Mark 13, 14 to 23, is Jesus said, When you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Then it begins to describe what will happen during those times. The one who is on the housetop not go down nor enter his house to take anything out, the one in the field not turn back to take his cloak. There's a sense of exigency, God to just keep moving as you are being led to. And women who are pregnant and those who are nursing infants will have a hard time. There will be such tribulation as it has not been from the beginning of creation that God created until now and never will be. So Jesus said, Be on your guard, I have told you all these things beforehand. The abomination that causes desolation, this uh this uh phrase is actually taken from three cryptic references in the book of Daniel: Daniel 9, 27, Daniel 11, 31, and Daniel 12, verse 11. And um is referring to a scandal that would defile and profane the Jerusalem temple. And it happened historically when Antiochus IV, otherwise known as Epiphanus, the Syrian general, he outraged the Jews in 168 BC by erecting an altar of Zeus in the altar of burnt offering in the temple, and he sacrificed a pig there on the altar. So that uh infuriated the Jews at that time. So Jesus said, when you see the abomination that causes desolation, it is a prefigurement of something that will happen that will be equally outrageous in time to come. And this Jesus alludes to something that will happen that will be even worse than that, and that is the destruction of the magnificent temple we saw earlier in AD 70 by the Roman Emperor Titus. So, what is our posture? What does all these prophecies have to do with us today? So, Mark 13 has its primary focus on certain attitudes that the disciples must put on in order to face the ordeal awaiting them. The disciples are to be on their guard, they are to be discerning and alert and to be committed to Jesus to the very end, bearing witness to him and to the gospel desposecution. Very quickly, the next section in Mark 13, verse 24 to 7 then focuses on prophecies relating to the coming of Jesus, the Son of Man. And that is the highlight of everything. It's not the destruction of the temple that is the main focus, but it is the coming of Jesus. Mark 13, verse 24 to 27 says this, says this. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heaven will be shaken. And they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and the glory and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. So these are prophecies that point forward to the final coming of Jesus again. So, in other words, the destruction of the temple in some way points forward to the vindication of Jesus, the Son of Man, who will be shown in all glory before Ishrael and the whole world at his second coming. It's not the sign and the destruction of the temple that is the focus, terrible and troubling as they are. It is the coming of Jesus that is the centerpiece of everything. Mark wants us to see it is the coming of Jesus that will be the prime focus, attention. I shared at the beginning that Mark 13 forms a unit from Mark 11 to 13 in what is known by scholars as the temple material. The temple material. This begins in Mark chapter 11 with Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And I shared before in one of the sermons that the account of Jesus' triumphal entry is in Mark is heavily muted when compared to Matthew and Luke's account that records the same triumphal entry. This is because the focus of Mark is not so much of the Focus on the triumphal entry, but on the temple itself. Because Mark records for us in Mark 11, verse 11, that when Jesus entered Jerusalem, he went straight into the temple and he looked around at everything. Looking around at everything. So in in the Greek, this looking around uh speaks of a close survey, right? It's not just looking around like how someone does a casual glance, but he went to the temple after entering Jerusalem and looked carefully, scanning and seeing what is going on in the temple. And after that, he went out to Bethany. And the next day, what happens is that he cursed a fig tree, then he cleansed the temple, and then he taught a lesson about the witted fig tree. So there's a sort of a kind of a double uh sandwich happening here. Um the first sandwich is at verse 13, where you see verse 11 and verse 15, the temple, the temple. So the focus is on how Jesus curses the fig tree. The second sandwich focused on the temple in verse 15, with verse 13 and verse 20 as the kind of uh the bun uh in between. So the fig tree is often used in the Old Testament as a symbol of God's chosen people. In the Old Testament, the fig tree is often alluded to, especially by the prophets, as a symbol of God's people. Right? And the temple was a symbol of God's presence spiritually. So the fig tree representing God's people and the temple, God's presence.

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Right?

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So in Mark 11, verse 15 to 19, Jesus cleanses the temple as it had failed to be what it should have been. A house of prayer for all nations. Instead, it became a place where Jesus said it has become a den of robbers, a place where people buy and sell. The poor who wants to come and offer uh worship to God cannot even afford to enter because the place was crowded with merchandise, with people making profit out of the people. So Jesus' cursing of the fig tree and the subsequent barrenness of the fig tree, which symbolizes the barrenness of God's people, implies that the temple by itself is also cursed, just as the people who are barren are cursed. But Jesus goes further in this. In Mark 11, verse 22-24, Jesus, within the same account, Jesus answered them, saying, Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, who whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. Some of us, if we read this verse in isolation, you know, we use it as a way to claim God's blessing. We say, Lord, we ask for your intervention in our lives. Lord, this mountain before us be uprooted and thrown into the sea. And anything is possible for us who believe. I'm not sure whether you have heard such an interpretation. I certainly have heard many such accounts. But when we read it in the context of Mark chapter 11, um according to uh uh Dr. Tan uh Kimhuat, who is the lecturer in the New Testament in TTC, he says that Jesus is saying to the disciples, if they have faith in God, the temple and its institutions can be uprooted and removed as it has failed in its purpose to be what God had meant it to be. In other words, the being taken up and uprooted is not so much to pray in faith to uproot our obstacle, but it's the uprooting of the temple and its institutions because it has become irrelevant to God's purposes. Same with God's people, the fig tree, they have failed to produce the fruit that Jesus was looking for. So Jesus is saying to the disciples, if they have faith in God, if they trust, Jesus is himself is the true temple that they can look to. It's not the physical temple that matters because it has filled in his purpose. Jesus Himself is the true temple that the disciples can look to. What a radical thought, you know. What I'm I'm sure at that time the disciples probably couldn't understand what Jesus was talking about, but he's indeed saying so. If we call, if we can recall a message I preached sometime back from Mark chapter 2, in the healing of the paralytic, Jesus had the power to forgive sins. I shared that by declaring to the paralytic that his sins were forgiven, Jesus bypassed the temple institution by claiming that he has the power and authority to forgive sins in a house at Kapanon, away, far away from the temple in Jerusalem, where sacrifices have to be offered in order for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus stood there in the house at Kapanan and said to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven. The Pharisees were infuriated. They said, This man is gone mad. Who can forgive sins but God alone? So Jesus in Mark, he is the visible temple. He is a true temple, because the physical temple, as we have seen earlier, though great and magnificent in terms of his architecture, in terms of his dimensions, in AD 70 it will be gone. And because of the siege of the temple, there was great suffering for the Jewish people that they have never experienced thus far. So Jesus is saying this it is not the place, it's not the temple, but the person, Jesus, to whom we are to look. At the end, at the Eschaton, at the second coming of Jesus, stands not the temple. It's already gone, it will be destroyed. It has been destroyed in AD 70. But at the end, at the second coming of Jesus, it's the Son of Man that will stand forever. And if this is so, if it's not the temple that it matters, but Jesus, the true temple, then loyalty must be given to Jesus. So Mark 13 is about what it means to be disciples who are discerning and alert in the midst of great upheavals and persecutions. The end is not yet. They need to commit to be God's weakness in light of the certainty of his coming again. As I reflect, as I reflected on this episode in Mark 13, I thought to myself, for the great cosmic changes, upheavals and persecutions that the disciples went through, it must have taken something more, a bigger outlook or a vision, you know, to keep them going forward, you know, because they have have to experience persecution for preaching the gospel. They have to witness the destruction in AD 70 of the great Second Temple during that time. There must be something bigger and greater that propels them forward to be alert and discerning. I believe this bigger outlook, this bigger vision, this greater vision is about the coming of Christ, the Son of Man, coming in great, coming in clouds with great power and glory. When Jesus stood before the chief priest and the whole council when he was being sentenced to be crucified, it was the same picture and outlook that Jesus had in answer to the high priest who asked him if he was the Christ, the Son of the Blessed. Jesus replied, I am. And you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the power and coming with the clouds of heaven. Mark 14, verse 61b to verse 62. Jesus is coming with the clouds of heaven. On a similar note, Paul too wrote to the Church of the Thessalonians, one of the earlier letters of the New Testament, to encourage them on the certainty of the coming of our Lord Jesus and also to remind them of the certainty that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. In other words, all kinds of predictions we all feel. Because Scripture tells us we do not know when, the exact time, Jesus will come. But we know that he will come again. In the meantime, we are to be encouraged by the certainty of Jesus coming again. Because he will come at the hour that we least expect. We are to keep awake and sober and to set our hope fully on Jesus. Let's hear the words of Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4, 16, verse 5 to 6. Paul says this, 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 16. For the Lord Himself, the Lord Jesus, will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So we will always be the Lord. Be with the Lord, sorry, not be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. So the coming of Christ for Paul became an impetus to encourage the believers to that Jesus will come again. And he goes on to say in verse 5, the next six verses. Now concerning the times and seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you, for you yourself are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying there is peace and prosper and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. Again, Paul encourages us, just as how Mark encourages us. Keep awake, be on your guard, be sober. Brothers and sisters, I believe that there is a high possibility that Jesus will come again when we least expect him, like a thief in the night. Wouldn't it be sad when he comes, when our lives are far from the pursuit of Jesus and the gospel, when we are locked in into our own passions and pursuits without involving Jesus in them. We should not allow our passions and pursuits to cloud the vision of the coming of Jesus, but rather live our lives oriented around Jesus and being a witness to him. The application point I'd like to share with us is this: we should not allow our passions and pursuits to cloud the vision of the coming of Jesus, but rather we should live our lives oriented around Jesus. Oriented, centered around Jesus and being a witness to him. And that there was a term, I can't remember by who, coined by someone of the early church had this apostolic bubbling point. Someone coined this phrase, the apostolic bubbling point. What it means is the early church was so filled with the love of God in their hearts that the gospel just flows out of their lives to the communities around. It's the love of Jesus that encounters us, that moves us forward to reach out to others with the love of Jesus. And I believe it is this posture of having our lives oriented and centered around Jesus that we can truly prepare ourselves for the last days. If not, then uh, including myself, I find that sometimes we are as Singaporeans we are always guilty to live our lives apart from Christ. Right? We because we are so uh occupied with work, sometimes no fault of ours because of just the reality of work in Singapore. It's demanding, it is pressing, there's always uh things to do and attend to, and I can attest to it. I can attest that uh hopefully uh I will not become a workaholic, but I can attest that things just roll over to me even after I so-called finish office hours. And some of us will know that pastors don't always have office hours. We do observe office hours, but we are not always working by the hour. So, yeah, so life can just go on in terms of uh the pursuits, and we can go on. And now in a time where you know we have a lot of encouragement from the government, take up this course, take up that course, go for this, go for that. I think I'm sure a number of us this year will be busy taking up. I myself also have taken up a course just to um integrate myself more with AI and just to understand the technology a bit more. Yeah, so utilize right what the government gives. Right? And no fault of that, but just that life has its own rhythm, and when we don't put Jesus as a center focus, the love of Jesus, then we will never, as a church, achieve the apostolic bubbling point where our love for Jesus will just overflow into the life and hearts of all around us. And I think we need to return once again to the love of Jesus, to come back to Him again. Because reading, uh just I was just reminded of Matthew 24 verse 12. This is another account of the end of days, the end of time, and Matthew uh 24 verse 12, Matthew says, and because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Because of the increase of wickedness or lawlessness, the love of many will go cold. And I like to add that because of the pressures and stresses of life in Singapore, of the work rhythm, our love for Jesus can go cold. Even in the midst of serving him actively, even in the midst of going about our Christian duties, or our love can grow cold. Right? So the point I'd like to encourage us today is how can we rekindle the love of Jesus in our hearts? And all of us know that our love for Jesus must be pure. You know, we recite every time we come for a communion, you know, love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. But we know we are reminded it's part of our worship and our psyche, right? A way of us worshipping God and responding. How do we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength? I believe when we encounter the love of Jesus. Right? And I'm not sure whether you all recall a song which is perhaps y'all would know, uh, just a familiar chorus that says, I keep falling in love with him over and over and over and over again. I keep falling in love with him over and over and over and over again. He gets sweeter and sweeter as the days go by. Oh, what love between the Lord and I. I keep falling in love with him over and over and over and over again. It's a familiar song, I believe. Chorus. I don't know why God the Lord tends to uh put choruses in my mind. So it just came to me while we were worshiping earlier. Alright, so how we need to get back to the love of God. I sense the Lord reminding me while we are worshiping together is tell my people, remind them, get back to the love of God. Love Him the most, love Him above your families, love Him above your work, your ministry, yourself. Because all this can cloud our lives and all this can make our love go cold. Shall we pray? Father, today we come before you and Lord, we all need to once again encounter the love of Jesus. Lord, we know that the love of Jesus flows through our lives. The word tells us in the book of Romans that the Holy Spirit uh has poured out his love in our hearts, and the pouring out uh is not just an intermittent flow of your presence, but the pouring out is abundant flow, it's continuous flow, it's an overflowing cup. Lord, and that is how the early church grew in their outreach when they were so filled with the love of God and the love for one another.

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We pray that you've been ministered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about Ishim Christian Church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.