The Last Days

Lesson 10

The Last Days

(Mark 12 & 13)

Copr. 2024, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Suggested answers are found within parentheses. If you normally receive this lesson by e-mail, but it is lost one week, you can find it by clicking on this link: http://www.GoBible.org. Pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as you study.

Introduction: If you are reading this, very likely you believe that God exists, Jesus came to earth, lived a perfect life on our behalf, paid our debt for sin through His death, and rose to eternal life so that we can follow Him to heaven. What else is there to believe? What other issues might strain our trust in God? One major issue is the Second Coming of Jesus. Every generation believes that He will come in their lifetime. But that belief is being strained by the fact that all the prior generations were wrong. Let’s dive into the Bible and see what Mark has to teach us about trust and the Second Coming of Jesus!

1. Trust
   
   1. Read Mark 12:41-44. Do you think this observation is a teaching on how we should give to the church? (If it is, it makes no sense. The widow’s penny made absolutely no difference to the operation of the temple. On the other hand, she would starve unless someone gave her something to eat. As a practical matter, she is simply giving to the temple what someone else will give her for food.)
   2. Read Leviticus 19:9-10. What is the obligation of the farmer to the poor? (He leaves the edges of his field, and whatever was dropped in the harvesting process for the poor to come and gather.)
      1. How much is the farmer entitled to keep? (The overwhelming amount of the harvest. The edge of a field generally is not that productive.)
   3. Read Leviticus 27:30-32. What is the farmer’s obligation to God for the amount he harvests? (God claims 10% and the farmer keeps 90%. Those who are experts in the Levitical law know that the issue is more complicated, but the point remains that the farmer keeps most of what he harvests.)
   4. Look again at Mark 12:43-44. Are the offerings of the “rich people” consistent with the teachings of Leviticus? (Yes. God’s instructions in Leviticus expect that His people “contribute out of their abundance.”)
      1. We previously studied Jesus’ statement to the rich young ruler that he should “sell all that you have and give to the poor” (Mark 10:21). Is Jesus issuing a new rule on giving? Is He changing the Levitical rules on money much like He changed the Levitical rules on marriage?
   5. Read Acts 5:1-4. What did Peter identify as the sin here?(Lying. It would not have been wrong for them to keep their property or the money. I don’t think Jesus changed the rules. Neither did Peter.)
      1. If Jesus is not changing the law on giving, what is Jesus’ point? (The point for both the rich young ruler and the widow is trusting God. Trust is the central issue for what Mark addresses next.)
2. Life Upside Down
   
   1. Read Mark 13:1-4. If you were these four disciples, what would the complete destruction of the temple area mean to you? (If would mean the end of their nation and the heart of their religion.)
   2. Read Acts 1:6. How is the temple connected to the future plans of the disciples? (They thought they would be running the temple and the nation!)
   3. Look again at Mark 13:3. Why would the four come to Jesus privately to discuss this? (There was nothing more important than to get a proper understanding of Jesus’ shocking prediction.)
   4. Read Mark 13:5-9. What do you think the disciples believe Jesus is describing? (Their future. Jesus specifically tells them what will happen to them in synagogues. This is all terrible news.)
   5. Read Mark 13:10-13. What does the widow and her penny have to teach the disciples? (Trust God in the terrible times ahead.)
3. The Abomination
   
   1. Read Mark 13:14-17 and Matthew 24:15-19. Are Matthew and Mark recording the same prediction of Jesus? (Yes.)
      1. What does Matthew record that is different than Mark? (Matthew makes a reference to a prediction of Daniel.)
   2. Read Daniel 9:26-27. What is Daniel describing? (The same thing - the destruction of the temple.)
      1. Notice that Mark 13, Matthew 24 and Daniel 9 all predict the destruction of the temple by an abomination of desolation. What do you think this is? (Jesus predicts the future of the temple. Daniel 9 ties this to “an anointed one” who is “cut off.” That reinforces the only logical conclusion that Jesus is speaking about the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the temple that occurred after Jesus’ death.)
      2. Some commentators, such as John MacArthur, see these verses in Matthew 24 as including both the future destruction of the temple in 70 A.D., but also the invasion of Antiochus Epiphanes, in 168 B.C. Does it seem reasonable to believe that Jesus is talking about something that happened 200 years before? (That makes no sense. Jesus is answering the disciples’ questions about His statement that the temple will be destroyed.)
4. The Second Coming
   
   1. Read Mark 13:19-23, Revelation 7:14, and Daniel 12:1-2. Notice that all three of these texts speak of a tribulation or time of trouble that is unmatched. Do you think they are referring to the same event? (I think so.)
      1. Is this great tribulation the fall of Jerusalem after Jesus’ death? (That seems unlikely as a general matter, and Daniel 12 keys it to a time just before the Second Coming of Jesus.)
   2. Read Mark 13:24-27. What event is Jesus describing now? (Very clearly He is speaking about His Second Coming.)
      1. When we consider Jesus’ plain statement that “after the tribulation” (Mark 13:24) He will come, and Daniel’s statement about God’s people being delivered by the Second Coming, it is reasonable to conclude that this great tribulation time is in the future and it is tied to Jesus’ Second Coming.)
   3. Read Mark 13:28-31. Jesus gives a guarantee that His statement about the future is more reliable than the existence of heaven and earth. If Jesus’ prediction does not come to pass, should we believe anything He says? (Jesus stakes His reputation on it. It must be right or He cannot be trusted.)
      1. Focus on Mark 13:30. How do you explain this? Jesus did not return during the lifetime of the disciples. (We know that Jesus is discussing two events. The destruction of the temple and His Second Coming. The destruction of the temple took place during the disciples’ generation.)
   4. Look again at Mark 13:30. Note that Jesus refers to “all these things,” and not just half the things He has been discussing. How do you explain that? Only the destruction of the temple took place during their generation. (Let’s read on.)
   5. Read Mark 13:32-37. What “day or that hour” event is Jesus discussing here? (His Second Coming.)
      1. Look again at Mark 13:32. What does Jesus state about His knowledge of the timing of His Second Coming? (He says He does not know when the time will come.)
      2. Let’s put together Jesus’ timing statements. He gives an absolute guarantee about the timing of the destruction of the temple, but He then says He does not know the timing of His Second Coming. When you look at Jesus’ complete statement, is He trustworthy? (Yes! He explains what He knows and what He does not know.)
      3. Do you know why Jesus started this discussion with His observations about the widow who gave one penny? (We come full-circle. Jesus wants us to trust our future to Him just as the widow trusted her future to God.)
   6. Friend, will you trust God? Understanding what God said about the future in Daniel, Revelation, Mark, and Matthew is not an exact science. We might misunderstand. Trusting God with our future is an exact science. Will you, by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, determine to trust God with your future?
5. Next week: Taken and Tried.