Referring to

McGarvey and Pendleton Fourfold Gospel

recall, Jesus had returned to Jerusalem now for the final time.

Mark 13


Signs of the End of the Age

¹As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!"

[This temple was probably magnificent to behold. Full of the riches of the offerings people had brought. Those who saw these buildings were sure that it was all going to last forever. It somewhat reminds me of a few things in general that man has created that he was sure was going to last...the Titanic, the Hindenberg, the twin towers. Many times we create something we thing is magnificent. But it's nothing compared to the things God has created. Walen read recently about how God questioned Job and asked who it is that contends with him? Who can create the things God creates? No one. God created the heavens and the earth, which dwarf anything man will ever do.]

²"Do you see all these great buildings?" replied Jesus. "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."

[History tells us that this happened relatively soon after this...within about 70 years. Jerusalem was sieged and the temple was obliterated.]

³As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, ⁴"Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?"

[Jesus, you said that the temple is going to be destroyed. Tell us more about this. They thought the destruction of the temple was such an important event that it would be around the end of the world...but this was not to be so. Jesus goes on here to tell them about the destruction of the temple.]

⁵Jesus said to them: "Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁶Many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and will deceive many. ⁷When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁸Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.

[Jesus mentions several events here that would happen in history relatively soon after this. Roman emperors against the Jews. Gentiles against the Jews. Major earthquakes and famines in the area.]
⁹"You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them.

[You only need to read the book of Acts to see the disciples handed over to local councils and flogged. Peter, two James, Paul and many more apostles died for Christ's name before the destruction of the temple.]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!whereyouwere

¹⁰And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.

[He probably meant "all nations" known at that time. Paul says that this happened in

Colossians 1
²³if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.]

[At least, everyone in the known world seemed to have had the opportunity to hear. Paul probably wrote this before the destruction of the temple.]

¹¹Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
¹²"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. ¹³All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
¹⁴"When you see 'the abomination that causes desolation'^[1] standing where it^[2] does not belong--let the reader understand--then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

This refers back to the prophecy in

Daniel 11

³¹ "His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation. ³² With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.

[This was apparently a prophecy about about the one who would destroy the temple later on.]

¹⁵Let no one on the roof of his house go down or enter the house to take anything out. ¹⁶Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. ¹⁷How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! ¹⁸Pray that this will not take place in winter, ¹⁹because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now--and never to be equaled again.

[According to the reference I was reading, Jesus seems to be talking about the Roman invasion of Jerusalem and the surrounding area that would happen later. The Roman armies desolated the country and, to the Jews, were an abomination in such a holy place. So this prophecy would very much affect the Jews who would experience it firsthand.]

²⁰If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.

[It may be that if God allowed the siege, the Jews would have been exterminated. There were probably some Christians there too.]

²¹At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ^[3] !' or, 'Look, there he is!' do not believe it. ²²For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect--if that were possible. ²³So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.

[So there would apparently be false prophets in the area around the time of the siege.]

²⁴"But in those days, following that distress,
   " 'the sun will be darkened,
       and the moon will not give its light;
    ²⁵the stars will fall from the sky,
       and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'^[4]

[Jesus says "following that distress" so he's apparently moving on to his second coming. The one we expect at the end of time. He quotes from the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 13

¹⁰ The stars of heaven and their constellations
will not show their light.
The rising sun will be darkened
and the moon will not give its light.
¹¹ I will punish the world for its evil,
the wicked for their sins.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty
and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
¹² I will make man scarcer than pure gold,
more rare than the gold of Ophir.
¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;
and the earth will shake from its place
at the wrath of the LORD Almighty,
in the day of his burning anger.

]

²⁶"At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
²⁸"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ²⁹Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door.

[Just as the twigs on a fig tree get tender just before summer, these signs...the sun and moon being darkened and the stars falling from the sky, would be signs of the end and judgement. Jesus is probably saying this more for our benefit than those present. He knew it would be recorded for us.]

³⁰I tell you the truth, this generation^[5] will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
[Prophecy can be a difficult thing to understand. If Jesus was talking about the sun and moon being darkened and so on being a sign of the judgement day, what does this mean that this generation will not pass away until these things happen? My reference thought that when Jesus said "this generation" he meant the Jewish race. The footnote in the NIV also says race. That understanding seems to fit well with the other things Jesus says here. The Jewish race is still alive today, even though they are spread through many places in the world. So, they may still have their place in prophecy. Jesus assures him that he's telling the truth. "My words will never pass away."]

The Day and Hour Unknown

³²"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

[This is simply the best kept secret ever. Only God himself knows the final day. Each generation that has come along has had the possibility of it happening during their lifetime. There is no point for us to try to figure out the exact moment because even Jesus himself did not know.]

³³Be on guard! Be alert [KJV: and pray]! You do not know when that time will come. ³⁴It's like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
³⁵"Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back--whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. ³⁶If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. ³⁷What I say to you, I say to everyone: 'Watch!' “

[In this parable, there is a sense of danger if we are not watching for Jesus' return. That's certainly the case. His parable also talks about duty that we are entrusted with. We are not to be carried away by the world and lose our focus on Christ. The warning is directed not only at those who were present, but us today.]

Mark 14


Jesus Anointed at Bethany

¹Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. ²"But not during the Feast," they said, "or the people may riot."

[They had seen how Jesus was received on his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the donkey. The people might go so far as to take up arms for him, so they had better arrest him privately if possible. Judas is going to make that possible for them, letting them know when Jesus can be arrested in secret.]
³While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. [Nard was a liquid perfumefrom the far East distilled from some odorous plant or plants and mingled with oil.] She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

[Simon the leper may have been a leper that Jesus healed. We read in other gospels that Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead was also there. This woman is Mary, Lazarus' sister.]
⁴Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste of perfume? [We read in Matthew that it was the disciples who were indignant and we read in John that it was probably Judas Iscariot who started this murmering.] ⁵It could have been sold for more than a year's wages^[1] and the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly. ⁶"Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ⁷The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. ⁸She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. ⁹I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."

[So Mary had realized the seriousness of the situation. Jesus was about to die. She seems to be clearer about it than many others and understandably, she wants to do something for him. Any of the disciples would probably be ready to spend this much money on Christ after he is dead, but Mary is so kind as to do it beforehand. This was about 7 days before Jesus would die. Again, we see here that Jesus' perspective is much different from that of man. What was a silly waste of money to the disciples was to Jesus something that would be remembered wherever the gospel was preached.]
¹⁰Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. ¹¹They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

[However much money they offered him can't have been enough. There is no amount of money worth the betrayal of Christ. Judas Iscariot definitely must have seared his conscience.]

The Lord's Supper

¹²On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus' disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?"

[It must have taken quite a bit of preparation for this meal. The preparation of the lamb is described in

Exodus 12
⁸ That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.
]

¹³So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. ¹⁴Say to the owner of the house he enters, 'The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' ¹⁵He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there."
¹⁶The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
¹⁷When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. ¹⁸While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me--one who is eating with me."

[Jesus is letting Judas know that he isn't ignorant of the plot.]
¹⁹They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, "Surely not I?"
²⁰"It is one of the Twelve," he replied, "one who dips bread into the bowl with me.

[In their style of eating, they generally shared plates and ate with their hands. If there were 13 people here, they might have had several plates of food. Anyway, the plate Jesus was eating from was being shared by someone there. This is a terrible betrayal for someone so close to Jesus to betray him. In fact, it's probably the worst betrayal that's ever happened.]

²¹The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born."

[It can't get any worse for Judas. He will be judged for what he is doing here.]
²²While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body."
²³Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it.
²⁴"This is my blood of the^[2] covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them. ²⁵"I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God."
²⁶When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
[Jesus instituted the Lord's supper here. This was unleavened bread for the passover, a symbol of purity, just as he was pure. Jesus takes an old law, the Passover which was from the time of Moses, and changes it into a way for us to remember him even today. ]

[to be continued]