The Strand Study Bible

MARK 13:1

MARK 13:10

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say, 3 Take heed lest any man deceive you : 6 For 4 many shall come in my name, say- ing, 5 I am Christ; and shall deceive many . P 7 And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: 6 for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. P 8 6 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows. P The characteristics of the last 3½ years of Daniel’s Seventieth Week (Dan 9:24-27) (Called the Great Tribulation - Rev 2:22 & 7:14)

1. Fulfilled - AD 70 (Fall of Jerusalem) 2. Lk 19:44 3. Deut 13:1-5 & Jere 23:16 & Mt 7:15-16 & Act 20:29-31 & Eph 4:14 & 5:6 & Colo 2:8,18, I Thess 5:21 & II Thess 2:3 & I Jn 4:1-3 4. I Jn 2:18 5. Fulfilled - Rev 6:1-2 & 13:1- 4 (Antichrist as Peacmaker) 6. Fulfilled - Rev 6:1-4 (First 3½ years of Tribulation) 7. Fulfilled - Rev 6:9-11 (Martyred Tribulation Saints) 8. Fulfilled - Rev 6:5-8 & 13:5 (Great Trib; Day of the Lord) 9. Rev 12:17

Mark 13 CHRIST explains events preceding HIS Second Coming (S/A - Mt 24:1-51 & Lk 21:5-38) Date - Tues, Apr, AD 32

1 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! 2 And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? 1 there shall not be left 2 one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down . P 3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled? The characteristics of the first 3½ years of Daniel’s Seventieth Week (Dan 9:24-27) 5 And Jesus answering them began to

9 But take heed to yourselves: 7 for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. P 10 8 And the gospel 9 must first be published among all nations. P 13:4 According to Jesus, there shall be “ signs ” pointing to “ when all these things shall be fulfilled .” Are we seeing those “ signs ” come to fruition in our day? ? Billy Graham in Storm Warning notes:

My mother used to look out the window every morning and say, “Maybe this will be the day when Christ comes again.” She lived with that daily anticipation, but the signs of His imminent return have never been greater than now. 1

Jesus said in Matthew 24:32-34:

Now learn a parable of the fig tree ( the fig tree being a picture of Israel - Mt 21:18-22 & Jere 24 & Joel 1:7); When his branch is yet tender (that is, when the nation of Israel begins to bud again), and putteth forth leaves (that is, it begins to reemerge as a nation), ye know that summer is nigh (that is, you’ll know the season of MY returns): So likewise ye ( speaking of the Jewish people ) , when ye shall see all these things (that is, your nation budding again), know that IT (that is, CHRIST’S Second Coming) is near, even at the door. Verily I say unto you , This generation (speaking of the Jewish race) shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Just as the buds on a fig tree announce summer, so also a particular generation of Jews would know the approximate time of Christ’s return. He said so. Which means, the nation of Israel had to remain a viable nation in order for Christ to return. In other words, Christ’s return was imminent as long as the Jewish nation was in tact. However, when Israel and her Temple fell to the Roman Empire in AD 70 and the Jewish people were scattered all over the world, the signs pointing to Christ’s return were placed on hold until Israel came together again as a nation. So while Christ said that no man would know the exact day and/or the hour of His return (Mt 24:36), Christ did speak of a specific generation of Jews that would. The first sign, therefore, that we are indeed in the last days before the return of Christ is that Israel would begin to bud, once again, as a nation. John F. and John E. Walvoord in Armageddon Oil and the Middle East Crisis note:

Of the many peculiar phenomena which characterize the present generation, few events can claim equal significance as far as Biblical prophecy is concerned with that of the return of Israel to their land. It constitutes a preparation for the end of the age, the setting for the coming of the Lord for His church, and the fulfillment of Israel’s prophetic destiny. Israel, God’s “super-sign” of the end times, is a clear indicator that time is growing short. 2

Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins in Are We Living in the End Times? add:

I call the regathering of five million Jews back to the Holy Land and their becoming a nation in our generation “the infallible sign” of the approach of the end times. 3

The odds of Israel becoming a nation again after being dispersed all over the world by the Romans in AD 70 are astronomical. No other nation has ever been “reassembled” as a nation after “missing in action” for almost 2000 years. Yet, on May 14, 1948, after almost two millenniums of being a “non-nation,” the independent state of Israel was proclaimed, following the U.N. partition of Palestine and the British decision to end its mandate of the territory. The sign that would introduce the signs of the End Times had begun ( Acts 3:21 , Ezk 38:8, Dan 9:27 and Mt 24:1-4). William F. Albright, professor of Semitic languages at John Hopkins