Mark Chapter 13 Verses 24 – 25

•Jesus is quite specific regarding the time of this passage. Remember, these are the most detailed statements, the longest answers ever given by Jesus regarding the end of all things…and He says, “In those days, after that tribulation…” So this is the end, the final scene prior to the Millennial Reign of Jesus on the earth and then the White Throne Judgment, both found in Revelation Chapter 20 and finally all things are made new…new heaven and new earth which we see in Revelation Chapter 21 and 22.

•What comes before Revelation Chapter 20, 21 and 22? You got it! Revelation 19! Where we find what? The Second Coming of Jesus Christ! But this time not to perish for the sins of the world like He did 2,000 years ago, (the first time He came), but now to cause the sins of the world to perish once and for all. He returns to rule and reign and put an end to all of this fallenness! Stuff folks have grown to just accept! (Like the DC commute – HORRIBLE stuff but folks just accept it!) Well I’m on the hunt in my own life – for things I’ve just accepted that shouldn’t be!!!

•And Jesus says, and Mark writes, “That the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars of heaven will fall and the powers in heaven will be shaken…” speaking of some sort of powers in the air…not heaven the dwelling place of God but heavens as in the air and the firmament above the firmament…

•The Bible speaks of three heavens. One is the blue, the sky. One is the black, or space. And the third is the dwelling place of God. Paul told us how he was caught up in the third heaven in 2 Cor 12 in which he saw and heard things that were so wonderful and astounding that he dared not repeat them…

•And so the powers in the skies are being rocked, things are falling to the earth as stars, maybe even stars themselves, the sun and moon are blackened or blocked…what could this be? WAR! Where do we find war? At the end of the Great Tribulation. What war? The battle in the valley of Megiddo! Or the Battle of Armageddon! And where do we see that biblically? Revelation…Chapter 19! It’s so simple! It adds up so practically and perfectly. We don’t have to stretch to get there…

•I’ve heard and seen and read so many perspectives regarding eschatological exegesis...Biblical interpretation of end times…that you just have to stretch so far to understand and accept but not this man…maybe I’m too simple but I take the Bible at its Word…spiritually, literally, practically, symbolically and allegorically…in that order.

•This is the end scene of the Great Tribulation…turn over to Joel Chapter 3. (Verses 1 – 17) Verse 2, where or what is the Valley of Jehoshaphat? It is the valley of judgment! Jehoshaphat literally means, “Yahweh will judge!” It is the final battle before the Millennial Reign…what the Bible calls, “The Kingdom Age!”

•Look there at verse 3! Man that is exactly what we read in Mark 13 verse 12! Fathers selling their little boys and their little girls for what? Joel tells us for pleasure and for food! Matthew 24:12 tells us that because of the exceeding wickedness in the world at this time, the love…will dry up…will grow cold, which we’re seeing the beginning of even today and man this will be peaking at this time…

•Verse 15, see that? Precisely what we see in Mark 13 and then finally verse 17, the Kingdom Age has begun! Now flip over to Revelation 19 and let’s look at the, guess…SAME SCENE!!! Boom! (So exciting!!) Check out verses 11 – 21.

•So this is it. The end of the Great Tribulation and Jesus has woven together the Word of God for them and for us so that we might plainly understand what is to come. That we might take heed…

Mark Chapter 13 Verses 26 – 27

•Then, or at that time….the elect on earth are gathered…the Jews and the Tribulation saints, the fellow believers of the ones that cried out from under the alter all the way back in Revelation Chapter 6, remember that scene beginning in verse 9 of Chapter 6 of the Book of Revelation where John saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held to…and they were crying out saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Remember that scene? Well now that time has come and those that escaped murder for their faith during the Great Tribulation, the brothers and sisters of those crying out from under the altar, Jesus gathers them together with us and makes His grand entrance!

Mark Chapter 13 Verses 28 – 32

•Whoa! Make ya say UH, AH, NA NA NA NAAAA! A lot going on here to look at and consider but first…wake up call! Why? Lemme tell you! No man knows the day or the hour…Jesus just said it…the day of the hour of what? The rapture of course! Why? Why must it be the rapture Jesus is talking about? (It’s helpful here to compare with Matthew 24…) We know from Daniel, the prophet quoted by Jesus Himself, the length of the Great Tribulation…the seventieth week…7 years! So once that begins, hey, math it up man! You can get to that day, and maybe even that hour if you’re paying attention well enough…This is one of many points, data points, given in the Bible as to why I personally cannot agree doctrinally with a mid or a post Tribulation rapture.

•Is there room for it in scripture? Sure! It is a non-essential discussion and doctrine? Sure! But none-the-less one of the most discussed and debated topics within the church today and yet points like this seem just so clear to me! If the Great Tribulation is 7 years, then once it begins, once the rapture of the church occurs, concrete event…and once the antichrist is revealed…concrete event…and once he commits the Abomination of Desolation…at the mid-point…concrete event…you see all of those events, some at the beginning and some at the mid-point of the Great Tribulation…concrete events…at that point it’s just math…counting down to what? The Second Coming! So that, quite practically, can very well be calc’d!! Because we have coming concrete Biblical events that start concrete Biblical timelines!!

•And so it is made clear…even made more clear in Matthew 24, and 1 Thessalonians…in the twinkling of an eye, at a day and time no one knows, the church is out of here…the rapture is what Jesus is talking about here. And so the day, the hour, not a chance. Anyone who says they know is a charlatan. But the season...Oh baby BABY!

•Flip over to 1 Thessalonians 5 verses 1 – 11. (Faithfulness and love opens up your eyes man!) Man we don’t know the day or the hour but we can certainly discern the times! What’s this bit about the fig tree? Jeremiah, Nahum, Isaiah, Hosea…they teach us that Biblically the fig tree is a symbol, a type of what? The nation Israel! So what is Jesus saying! Discern the times in light of the scriptures! When you see the nation Israel back on the scene, re-blossoming which began in May 1948 when the Jews returned to the land, we are in…the final countdown!!! This generation will by no means pass away until all things take place! BOOM!

•So what are we to do? Stick to truth! EVERYTHING will pass away except the words of Jesus. They are paramount. They are priority el numero UNO! Get up off your quest for money, your quest for position, for prestige, for power, for pride…for her to respect you more…for him to love you more…back up off of all the secondary tertiary issues because the day, the hour…literally, biblically…anytime! So we are to be ready! Are you?

Mark Chapter 13 Verses 33 – 37

•Are you sleeping today? Dreaming of a bigger house. A newer car. A beefier husband? Dreaming of what could be? Man wake up…reality is happening, and it is happening RIGHT NOW.