Mark 13

1 – 4

Jesus was leaving the Temple. One of His followers said to Him, “Look, Teacher! This Temple has beautiful buildings with very big stones.”"

Jesus said, “Do you see all these great buildings? Every stone will be thrown to the ground. Not one stone will be left on another.”

Later, Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives. He was alone with Peter, James, John, and Andrew. They could all see the Temple. They asked Jesus, “Tell us, when will all these things happen? And what will show us that the time has come for them to happen?”

Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed in 70 A.D. when the Romans were tired of the Jews always fighting against them. The Roman soldiers burned the Temple and then they saw that gold was running into the cracks of the stones so they pulled them apart to get the stones. All that can be seen today are some of the lowest foundation stones.

5 – 6

Jesus said to them: “Be careful that no one fools you. Many people will come and use My name. They will say, ‘I am the one.’ And they will fool many.

There are already many groups who say that Jesus is with them and will soon show Himself. Matthew shows us that every eye will see Him so there is no way that Jesus will come and hide Himself with some crazy group of people.

7 – 8

You will hear about wars and stories of wars that are coming. But do not be afraid. These things must happen before the end comes. Nations will fight against other nations. Kingdoms will fight against other kingdoms.

There will be times when there is no food for people to eat. And there will be earthquakes in unusual places. These things are like the first pains when something new is about to be born.

We already see small wars all around the world. There are earthquakes no in places that have never had one before. There are more people without food now than at any time in the world’s history.

9 – 11

“You must be careful. People will arrest you and take you to court. They will beat you in their synagogues. You will be made to stand before kings and governors, to tell them about Me. This will happen to you because you follow Me. But before these things happen, the Gospel must be told to all people.

When you are arrested and judged, do not worry about what you should say. Say the things God gives you to say at that time. It will not really be you speaking. It will be the Holy Spirit.

There are times when God puts words in your mouth and you do not have to think about what you are going to say. Walk close with the Lord so that He can use you in this way.

12 – 13

“Brothers will turn against their own brothers and give them over to be killed. Fathers will turn against their own children and give them over to be killed.

Children will fight against their own parents and cause their parents to be killed. All people will hate you because you follow Me. But the person who continues to be strong until the end will be saved.

Today we already see family members hurting each other. The devil wants good Christian children to be hurt by their parents or each other so that he can fill them with bitterness. Walk as if you are in a field of bombs! Ephesians 5:15

14 – 18

“You will see ‘the horrible thing that destroys.’ You will see this thing standing in the place [temple] where it should not be.” You who read this should understand what it means. “At that time, the people in Judea should run away to the mountains.

If a person is on the roof of his house, he must not go down to take anything out of his house. If a person is in the field, he must not go back to get his coat. At that time, it will be hard for women who are pregnant or have nursing babies. Pray that these things will not happen in winter.

At this time Christians who lived before this will already have been taken in the air by the Lord (Revelation 13:15). The antichrist will set up an image in the Jews Temple. This image will speak with the voice of a demon. Daniel 11:31

Those who are left behind on the earth will be hunted by the antichrist, god has made a place for the Jews to hide. God cares about the things the Jews will have to run away from even though they waited until the very last days to see the truth!

19 – 23

This is because those days will be full of trouble. There will be more trouble than there has ever been since the beginning, when God made the world. And nothing as bad will ever happen again.

God has decided to make that terrible time short. If that time were not made short, then no one would go on living. But God will make that time short to help His people whom He has chosen.

At that time, someone might say to you, ‘Look, there is the Christ!’ Or another person might say, ‘There he is!’ But do not believe them. False Christs and false prophets will come and perform great wonders and miracles.

They will do these things to the people God has chosen. They will do these things to try to fool them, if that is possible. So be careful. For I have warned you about all this before it happens.

Do not be tricked by people who say that Jesus has already come! Do not be a fool who is only looking for miracles because the devil can do things like this also!
For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes. Matthew 24:27

24 – 25

“During the days after this trouble comes, ‘The sun will grow dark. And the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from the sky. And everything in the sky will be changed.’

God loves people and He will show many warnings in the sky to get people to pay attention. These things will cause some people to start looking for God and other people will believe that these happen for some other reason.

This is why the world wants to make people believe that there are other kinds of life on other planets. This way they can explain away everything that God does and say that these things came from somewhere else. Isaiah 13:10; 34:4

26 – 27

“Then people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. The Son of Man will send His angels all around the earth. They will gather His people from every part of the earth.

Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven. And everyone will see Him, even those who pierced Him. Revelation 1:7

28 – 31
 
“The fig tree teaches us a lesson: When its branches become green and soft, and new leaves begin to grow, then you know that summer is near. So also when you see all these things happening, then you will know that the time is near, ready to come. I tell you the truth.

All these things will happen while the people of that time are still living. The whole world, earth and sky, will be destroyed, but the Words I have said will never be destroyed.

Already we see a spirit of evil spreading over the earth like never before. Men are plainly saying that killing and burning cities is good. Government leaders are saying that these evil things are good. Killing babies in the worst possible way is now called good.

32. “No one knows when that day or time will be. The Son and the angels in heaven do not know. No one makes you to know except the Father.

When Jesus became a man He gave up the power to know all these things.

See Philippians 2:5-11. God told Daniel to seal up until the last days. Anybody who says that they know the time of the end is confused. God will show us what we need to know at that time. Daniel 12:4.

33 – 37

Be careful! Always be ready! You do not know when that time will be. It is like a man who goes on a trip. He leaves his house and lets his servants take care of it. He gives each servant a special job to do. One servant has the work of guarding the door. The man tells this servant always to be watchful. This is what I am now telling you.

You must always be ready. You do not know when the owner of the house will come back. He might come in the evening, or at midnight, or in the early morning, or when the sun rises. He might come back quickly. If you are always ready, then he will not find you sleeping. I tell you this, and I say this to everyone: ‘Be ready!’”

The thing that makes the most sense is that God does a lot of things during the feasts of Israel. Be awake in these last days to see what God may do during these times! We are being warned as we see these things growing and we cannot sleep through these last days!

Here is the best way to be ready: make sure that you have given your life to Christ and then watch and pray!

Keep watching! For you do not know what day your Lord is coming. Matthew 24:42