Mark 13:3 And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” 5 And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.
In our last chapter, we saw that Jesus began His last week of ministry by making people ask hard questions about their relationship with God, only giving confidence that the poor widow was doing it right. This chapter is full of proclamations of things to come, and they were also hard to hear. The temple was going to be destroyed and there would be all sorts of supernatural disasters. Rather than turning to God, many would turn and run from Him. Persecution against His true followers would intensify. False teachers and spiritual darkness would overshadow the earth. But Jesus did not stop there. There was good news as well. Christ was going to return to make everything right, and though it would often seem like it would never happen, suddenly and gloriously He will gloriously return. Such warnings and promises call for an alertness and preparedness beyond any other threat imaginable. Are we watching and getting ready?
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