Mark 13:24-31
Let’s continue to pray for Jim and Marty.
“Notice what you notice.” But in those days, after that tribulation… (v. 24) These few words reflect back to the “tribulation” mentioned in verse 19. Then verse 24 goes on to talk of the sun, the moon, and the stars, and the powers in the heavens, events never before seen in all of creation. Putting all these things together gets us to the point where much of what was discussed in the earlier part of the chapter does indeed refer to the “End of the Age”, not to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
One continuing troubling item is in verse 30: …this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Obviously, “this generation” cannot refer to the generation living while Jesus spoke these words, since many of those events did not take place during His generation. One footnote that I saw suggested that “generation” could be translated as “race”, that is, all of humankind. My Study Bible suggested that “this generation” possibly referred to those who were alive when the events described in verses 24 to 27 were taking place, that they would not die without witnessing the coming of the Son of Man. It takes a much deeper study of these verses in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, in conjunction with Revelation to begin to put all this information together. Many have tried and still no one knows “the day or the hour” (Matthew 24:36).
One item that I had passed over in Matthew jumped out in Mark: And then He will send out the angels and gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. (v. 27) It is comforting to know that “His elect” will be taken from (or after) all this tribulation – that Jesus has a special place for “His elect”. We just pray that we and our Spirit-filled descendants are included in that group.
Slava Bohu!