I am istening to Pastor and Teacher, Alistair Begg, teaching through a series called “Stories of the Kingdom” from Mark 13,
( https://www.truthforlife.org/ ) and this lesson is titled, The Coming of the Son of Man – part 1 – the events leading up to the Return of Jesus, and in fact His Return. I am following along in a Bible. We are reading in Mark 13, Isiah 13:6ff, Daniel chapter 9. An exellect teaching. Alistair Begg’s conclusion is that these events must be taken from an “Evangelistic perspective”.
Please read and consider to learn for your own benefit:
THE DAY OF THE LORD – ISIAH 13
6 Wail, for the day of the Lord is near;
as destruction from the Almighty it will come!
7 Therefore all hands will be feeble,
and every human heart will melt.
8 They will be dismayed:
pangs and agony will seize them;
they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at one another;
their faces will be aflame.
9 Behold, the day of the Lord comes,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the land a desolation
and to destroy its sinners from it.
10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
will not give their light;
the sun will be dark at its rising,
and the moon will not shed its light.
11 I will punish the world for its evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
12 I will make people more rare than fine gold,
and mankind than the gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts
in the day of his fierce anger.
THE COMING DAY OF THE LORD (TRIBULATION) – DANIEL 9 (NASB)
Daniel 9:24 “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.
25 “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.
26“Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.
27“And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.” (New American Standard Bible version)
THE COMING DAY OF THE LORD (TRIBULATION) – DANIEL 9 (NLB)
Daniel 9:24 “A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.
25 Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Anointed One—comes. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, despite the perilous times.
26“ After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end.
27 The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds,j he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.” (New Living Bible version)
JESUS’ EXPLANATION OF THE COMING “DAY OF THE LORD” (TRIBULATION) – MARK 13 (NASB)
Mark 13:14 ¶ “But when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.
15 “The one who is on the housetop must not go down, or go in to get anything out of his house;
16 and the one who is in the field must not turn back to get his coat.
17 “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!
18 “But pray that it may not happen in the winter.
19 “For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will.
20 “Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days.
21 “And then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ’; or, ‘Behold, He is there’; do not believe him;
22 for false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect.
23 “But take heed; behold, I have told you everything in advance.
24 ¶ “But in those days, after that tribulation, THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT,
25 AND THE STARS WILL BE FALLING from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken.
26 “Then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN CLOUDS with great power and glory.
27 “And then He will send forth the angels, and will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven.
28 ¶ “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.
29 “Even so, you too, when you see these things happening, recognize that He is near, right at the door.
30 “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
31 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
32 “But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.
33 “Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come.
Amen
As I was reading and listening, these THREE things jumped out at me. Please see what you can discern from these observations.
1. God has drawn a timeline. There is a beginning and an end. This will affect you for eternity. You should know.
a) There are those IN THE CHURCH saying these things have already taken place that they are simply allegorical. Do not believe them. Avoid these people. Jesus clearly says, “But take heed; behold, I have told you everything in advance.” (verse 23) Why would Jesus warn us “in advance” if these things have already taken place? He would not. Jesus always said what He meant and if He used figures of speech, he indicated as much. This is an event yet to come.
b) “And then He will send forth the angels, and will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven.” (verse 27) What do you think is taking place here? Most, IN THE CHURCH, are saying this is anything and everything except a Rapture. It’s written in plain language.
i) The angels will gather His elect (some commentaries say ‘all people’, but that is is lie)
ii) from the four winds (A colloquial expression meaning “from everywhere”), from heaven and earth.
iii) From 2 Thessalonians 2:3 “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction”
note 1) There are two events that must take place before the day of the Lord can come. First, the apostasy must come. Second, the man of lawlessness must be revealed.
*“And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”
2. The coming of the Lord (The Day of the Lord) is awful beyond description. If you can escape that day, you must. You should know, few will survive.
a) “Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days.” (verse 20)
b) “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 that are in the heavens will be shaken.” (verses 24, 25)
c) (See Isiah 13, above) 6 Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come! 7 Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt. 8 They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame.
3. You / We must Be Ready and Stay Ready to escape this terrible day. It is clear we cannot know the day nor the hour, but we can and must know the ‘season’ and BE PREPARED.
a) verse 29 “Even so, you too, when you see these things happening, recognize that He is near, right at the door.
30 “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
31 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
32 “But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.
33 “Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come.
34 “It is like a man away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert.
35 “Therefore, be on the alert — for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning —
36 in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep.
37 “What I say to you I say to all, ‘Be on the alert!’”
Is saying you are “Saved” enough?
James 3:21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.
22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;
24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.
James 4:24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
1 Peter 1:3 ¶ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 ¶ In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,
7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.
Whitestone Fellowship 