We went after it with sledgehammers and picks. One Saturday when I was sixteen, the pastor’s son and I took on the job of tearing down an old brick outdoor barbecue that was an eyesore in the church yard. Bit by bit we pounded it apart and loaded every last brick onto a trailer that began to sit so low its tires rubbed.
Something like that destruction was to happen to the Temple in Jerusalem. We find in our text for this week, Mark 13:1-8, that Jesus predicted every last stone of the Temple would be torn down, not one left upon another. It happened just as He said forty years later in 70 A.D. when the Romans invaded to put down a Jewish revolution.
The disciples were understandably fascinated by the prediction and wanted Jesus to give them a more precise timeline. “Tell us,” they say in verse 4, “when will this be, and what will be the sign. . .”
Jesus, however, is not very interested in satisfying their curiosity about future events. His prediction of the Temple’s destruction was more about defusing their fascination with its size and splendor as expressed by one disciple in verse 1.
In the responding to their “end-times” curiosity, Jesus wants to knock down a couple more stones, stumbling blocks if you like. The first stone to pull down is that of deception. In verses 5 and 6 He warns them not to be led astray, not to be deceived by pretenders who come in His name claiming “I am he!”
The other stone Jesus wishes to knock down is the stone of alarm, of fear regarding events to come. Talking about wars and earthquakes and famines, He tells them that those sorts of things are just the beginning, like the first, early pains of childbirth. Much more is yet to come.
In what follows our text, the whole tone of Jesus is aimed at the removal of that stone of fear. He wants to assure that these events are known to God and are within His plan and control. Moreover, He will be with those who are faithful and carry them safely through.
At a moment in our country when some Christians are taking the outcome of an election as a sign of approaching end times, it would be good once again to remember that Jesus refused to offer much in the way of signs regarding those times, and those He did offer didn’t have much to do with who was in power. Instead He simply warned His disciples not to confuse other leaders with Himself and not to be afraid of coming events. It seems to be a good warning for our time as well.