Gospel of Mark Study #43

“Fake Christs, False Prophets, and Lying Signs”

Mark 13:9-23

Study #43 in Mark Series

INTRODUCTION:

Most of us dislike fakes and phonies. We hate false advertising. We detest people who “put on airs” and pretend to be something they are not. We ridicule and make fun of “knock-off” products. No, we like the genuine article, the “real McCoy.” That is because we have learned that things that are fake, and false, and phony, are always second rate, at best.

And yet, for some odd reason many people are drawn to fakes. You may remember the 2002 Spielberg movie, “Catch Me If You Can,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. It was a true story about a young conman named Frank Abagnale, Jr. who, before his 19^th birthday, successfully swindled companies out of millions of dollars by writing fraudulent checks and posing as a Pan Am pilot, a pediatrician, an assistant attorney general, and a history professor. He was finally tracked down and arrested in France by a dour, long-faced FBI agent named Carl Hanratty, Jr. He was extradited, tried, and sentenced to prison for passing more than $4,000,000 in bad checks in 26 countries. Of course, those of you who saw the film know that what started out as a cat and mouse game between Abagnale and Hanratty eventually became something more akin to a father-and-son relationship. That is one of the amazing things about the story. Everyone who came to know Abagnale really liked him, including the people he swindled. He was a genuinely nice guy and very likeable. Everyone said so. 

Today we are going to see that there is coming a day when the greatest conman the world has ever seen will lead many astray with his words, his charismatic personality, and his lying wonders. The Bible calls him, the Antichrist.

TRANSITION:

In our last study we forged ahead into chapter 13 of the Gospel of Mark. I explained to you then that this is what is called the Olivet Discourse. Jesus and His disciples were seated on the hillside of the Mount of Olives where they could look across the Kidron Valley and see the Temple in all its beauty and shining glory. A little while before that Jesus had made an astonishing statement to four of the disciples in response to an observation made by one of them about the beauty and strength of the Temple. Jesus told them that the Temple was going to be destroyed in such a way that not one stone would be left upon another. However, they could not imagine such a thing happening.

After they got to Mount Olivet Jesus began teaching them about things to come. This was specifically in response to their three-part question: “When will all of these things be [i.e., the destruction of the Temple], and what will be the sign of your coming [i.e., His coming in power and glory], and of the end of the age?”

I explained to you last week that I believe that while this passage contains clues about what was in the relative near-future for the disciples [i.e., in approx. 40 years when the Temple was destroyed by the Roman General, Titus Flavius Vespasianus in AD 70], most of the text is referring to events that will happen during and at the end of the seven years of Tribulation described in Revelation chapters 4-19 and other passages. This is a prophetic passage with instructions for those believers who will be alive during that future time. This will be their Guide to Survival during the 7-year reign of the Antichrist. 

I also explained to you last week that I do not believe that we, the Church, will be present for these events, even if they occur in the near or middle future, because I believe that the Rapture of the Church precedes the events herein described. The Rapture will be a sign-less event. By that I mean it will have no signs or miracles or clues that it is about to happen. It could be today. It could be tomorrow. Jesus could come back for us at any time. The Rapture of the Church is the next event on God’s timetable, and we need to be ready to meet the Lord at any moment. Although the Scriptures do not give any clues as to when it will take place, the Bible is full of warnings to be ready and to redeem the time and to “...look up, for your redemption draws nigh.”

So, while Mark 13 is not written to us, it is written for our instruction so that we will spread the Good News while there is yet time for our friends and neighbors and co-workers and loved ones to respond to Christ and the Gospel so that they will not be on hand to experience the awful events described in this text. 

So, let’s continue and see what will take place in those days. Let’s pull back the curtain and get a peek at what will happen to those who are left behind and what it will cost just to be a Christ-follower in that future period.

NOTES on the Text:

Verse 9: But be on your guard; for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them.

·       The Tribulation will be a time of great peril for believers. They will be hunted and pursued like wild game. According to Jesus, they will be punished legally, through the court system. It will be against the law to be a Christian. They will also be persecuted by the religious people and publicly humiliated, much the way today’s Islamic fundamentalists treat those whom they consider to be infidels or lawbreakers.

·       Christians will be called before magistrates, governors, judges, and kings to give account of themselves and explain why they have not abandoned this hateful religion known as Christianity.

·       But the last phrase of verse 9 is important: Jesus says, “You will do this for My sake, as a testimony to them.” This reminds me of Jesus before Pilate, and Paul before Agrippa.

Verse 10: The Gospel must first be preached to all the nations.

·       If you misunderstand the context of Mark 13 you will come out wrong here. I have heard many people say that “the Rapture cannot occur yet because the Gospel first has to be preached in all the world.” But that is not what the Bible is saying here. Universal evangelization is not a prerequisite condition limiting the Rapture. Here in Mark 13 Jesus is not talking about the Rapture when He shall come for His saints, but about His Second Coming, when He will come with His saints and His holy angels to destroy the Antichrist, to rescue His people Israel, and to set up His Millennial Kingdom.

·       During the seven years of the Tribulation my understanding is that the Gospel will be carried to the ends of the earth by an army of 144,000 Jewish believers who will be divinely sealed and protected from the attacks of the Antichrist. They, along with ordinary believers, will share the Good News in every corner of the globe, much to the anger and chagrin of the Antichrist (cf. Rev. 7:3-8; 14:1, 3). However, remember the context of this chapter and do not confuse what will occur during the Tribulation, thinking that the job must be accomplished before Jesus can come back to take out His Bride, the Church. That is not so! 

Verse 11: When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speaks, but it is the Holy Spirit.

·       While the principle here has been proven many times to be true and faithful, this is specifically related to the kinds of scenes described in verse 9. During those days people will discover that God is still with them, even as they stand as sheep before the butcher. 

Verse 12: Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.

·       This kind of thing happened often with the Hitler Youth Movement in the WWII years. It also happened in Communist China in the early days of the Maoists. It still goes on today in Muslim countries when someone professes his/her faith in Jesus Christ. However, it will also mark those days during the Tribulation when Christians will be considered dangerous to public safety and will be hunted down like rabid dogs. 

Verse 13: You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.

·       Universal hatred against Christians—that will be the norm. Believers in every country will flee to the hills and caves to avoid detection, torture, imprisonment, and death. But what does Jesus mean here when He says, “...but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved”? Is He talking about physical salvation or eternal salvation? Does the context give us any clues?

·       It seems clear to me that the context is about the endurance of believers during a future time of intense persecution. There seems to be no doubt here about the genuineness of their salvation. That is not even being called into question. For one thing, if they were not true believers, they would not be the target of the Antichrist. All they would have to do to save themselves would be to recant and make it clear that they are not Jesus followers. No, Jesus is talking about those who endure and make it safely to the end of the Tribulation period. “...they will be saved,” meaning they will have made it through the minefield and on to safety. These “overcomers,” the Tribulation saints who survive, will be the ones who go on into the Millennial reign of Christ.

Verse 14: But when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.

·       This cryptic verse has been the subject of much speculation over the years. If you take the position that these verses all describe events in history past, then you must find some event within a few years after the prophecy was given to hang it on. The logical choice must be the profaning and destruction of the Temple by the Romans in AD 70.

·       The phrase “abomination of desolation” comes straight from the Book of Daniel (cf. 9:27; 11:31; 12:11) and refers to a future profaning of the Temple. That prophecy was fulfilled literally in 168 BC by the blasphemous and hateful act of the Seleucid King, Antiochus Epiphanes, who profaned the Temple of Yahweh by erecting idols within it and even going so far as to sacrifice pigs to Zeus upon the Temple’s altar of burnt offerings.

·       However, the context here militates for an interpretation tied to Christ’s Second Coming. Both the heinous act of Antiochus Epiphanes and the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in AD 70 were a foreshadowing of another “abomination of desolation” that will occur in the future under the regime of the Antichrist, immediately preceding the glorious return of King Jesus. 

Verses 15-18: The one who is on the housetop must not go down or go in to get anything out of his house; ¹⁶ and the one who is in the field must not turn back to get his coat. ¹⁷ But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ¹⁸ But pray that it may not happen in the winter.

·       These verses give specific practical instructions for those who will flee to the hills to avoid the wrath to come. The second half of the Tribulation, also referred to as “the Great Tribulation,” will be a time like the world has never seen before. We know that the Antichrist is going to set up his capital in Jerusalem and will rule from there. The “abomination of desolation,” whatever blasphemous form that will take (probably a profaning of the Holy of Holies), will be the signal for the believers living in the region of Judea to get the heck out of Dodge. The Book of Revelation says that the first half of the Tribulation will be a period of relative calm, while the Antichrist marshals his forces and consolidates his power. However, at the midpoint he is going to break his treaty with Israel, and when he does that, all hell is going to break loose. That is when he is going to begin his murderous campaign to wipe out the name of Christ along with all His followers, and the Jews to boot. That is when God will begin to pour out His judgments on the earth. Those will make the 10 plagues of Egypt look like a Sunday school picnic. 

Verses 19-20: For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will. ²⁰ Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days.

·       Remember, these words are coming directly from Jesus, and He should know! He says that this will be the worst thing that has ever happened. This will not be merely a question of a rash of natural disasters. It will be obvious to everyone on the planet that there is a God in Heaven, and He is ticked off!

·       Verse 20 is interesting because in this verse Jesus uses a literary form called the “historic future.” The verbs are in the past tense while the action of the context is obviously futuristic. You can see the contrast from verse 19. This was just for emphasis. We have said before that God is not limited by time and space. However, we are. What does it mean here: “Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days”? Is God going to alter the solar clock, make time stand still, compress time? I do not think so. I believe that what Jesus means is that this period of divine punishment will be relatively short, not for the sake of the wicked but for the sake of the righteous Tribulation saints who will be going through it. The period of God’s wrath will last for 3½ years (42 months – cf. Rev. 13:5). That will seem like a lifetime to those who must endure it but, it is a short period. That is yet another evidence of God’s mercy. 

Verses 21-22: And then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ’; or, ‘Behold, He is there’: do not believe him; ²² for false christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect.

·       It is from these two verses that I took the title for today’s study: “Fake Christs, False Prophets, and Lying Signs.” We already mentioned that there have been false christs for a long time, people claiming to be the Messiah. Most of them end up getting locked up in mental institutions. But what would happen if one showed up doing real, honest-to-goodness miracles that could be verified by doctors and scientists? Would that make a difference to anyone?

·       Up until now these fake messiahs have been all talk and no action. None of them has been able to do any kind of miracle. However, the Bible tells us that when the Antichrist shows up on the scene in the last days, he will not only lay claim to the title of “Messiah,” he will also do miracles to attest to his genuineness, and many will believe in him because of his lying wonders. You see, the devil can do some miracles too! Remember the story of Moses when he went before Pharaoh? The king’s seers matched Moses’ miracles one-for-one up through the third one. That is because Satan’s power comes nowhere close to God’s, but he has enough mojo to be very impressive indeed.

·       The apostle Paul wrote about the Tribulation period and the coming of the Antichrist in 2 Thess. 2:9-12: “...the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. And for this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness.” That goes along perfectly with what Jesus said here in Mark 13. 

Verse 23: But take heed; behold, I have told you everything in advance.

·       I mentioned to you last week that I see this passage as the “Guide to Survival” for those who will be left behind when Christ comes to Rapture His Church. That coming will be a secret event, unheralded, unseen by the world, instantaneous, with no signs and no warning. However, the Second Coming of Christ will have lots of warnings. The Lord has seen fit to describe exactly what will take place during those seven years and in what order. For anyone with the faith and gumption to read THE BOOK they can have advanced warning and a play-by-play description of what will happen during those days. 

CONCLUSION:

Remember, when the Rapture occurs, for a brief time there will not be any Christians left on the earth, for they will have all been caught away to be with the Lord. However, it will not take long for people to begin to realize what has just taken place. Can you imagine the grief, the remorse, the anger, and the pain? The pundits and politicians will quickly rally and will try to offer explanations for what has just occurred, but their explanations will be hollow. So, what is going to happen? Little by little people all around the world are going to begin to believe the Gospel and cry out to God to save them. People will pick up the Bibles that have been left behind and learn how much God loves them. Many will place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Many will turn to Him. But that will not change the fact that they have been left behind and will have to endure the wrath of the Antichrist and God’s judgments that will fall upon the earth. Would it not be much better to trust in Christ today and avoid all that pain and suffering?

FEEDBACK:

If I am correct about this passage and it is really a description of events for which we will not be present, then what is the value of studying it, along with its related texts? Is it a waste of time? What principles can we glean from these verses to apply to our lives today? What is the Lord saying to you through them?