“The Beginning of Sorrows…” Mark 13:1-8

Text: “Tell us, when shall these things be?  And what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?

Mark 13:4.

Good morning, enquiring Christian!  The Lord God has blessed you and I with what we might call ‘enquiring minds’: we read or hear something from Scriptures or a sermon in church, and we get a healthy curiosity as to the import, the exact meaning of what we have heard or read.  For the genuine Christian this can, very often, be an inspired desire from God the Holy Spirit Himself; a hunger to know further detail of the knowledge God’s Word imparts to our souls, personally, and as to what is going on all around us in daily life.

“As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.  My soul thirsteth for God, for the Living God: when shall I come and appear before God?”  (Psalm 42:1-2)

By further enquiries into the more profound depths of God’s Word, we also show a willingness to be obedient to the instruction of God, through His inspired Word, to “…grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and for ever. Amen`.”  (2 Peter 3:18)

As the Lord Jesus and His disciples went out of the Temple in Jerusalem, one of the disciples posed a question from his enquiring mind, after pointing out the manner of the Temple structure to Christ, and boasting of the structure of the building.

The Lord Jesus responds to this disciple’s boasting by prophesying to him of future events, and revealing that the Temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed, “…there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”  (Verse 2)

Jesus Predicts the Destruction of Jerusalem and The Temple In 70 A.D. By Robert Clifton Robinson on September 9, 2019.

“One of the most stunning proofs for the authenticity of the Bible is found in our discovery of history. Jesus told His disciples that Jerusalem and the Temple would be surrounded by an army and destroyed. Just 38 years after He spoke these words, Titus accomplished the fulfilment of Jesus’ words precisely.

Luke 19:43-44 “For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”

Matthew 24:34-35 “Verily (truly) I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.”

“The context of Jesus’ revelation to the disciples, in Luke 19:29-21:24, is directly after Palm Sunday, 32 A.D. Jesus is describing the judgment that will come upon Israel for her rejection of Him as the Messiah. The fulfilment of this prophecy occurred within one 40-year generation, in 70 A.D., as Titus brought his army against Jerusalem. Titus sacked the city and destroyed the Temple, burning it to the ground. Literally, “not one stone (of the Temple) was left upon another,” just as Jesus had predicted.” (Robert Clifton Robinson in The Prophesies of the Messiah)

How many today are totally ignoring God’s Word contained in our KJV Bibles?  How many are proving themselves just as blind and irresponsible as the Jews in Jerusalem were at the time of Christ’s Divine prophecy?  Doom came quite suddenly upon Jerusalem just 40 years later, and 1.1 million Jews were murdered by Titus and his Roman army; while 97,000 were carried away as captives. 

God’s Word must be heeded, if such horrors are to be averted. (John 17:17)

“Jesus’ Prophecy Is Fulfilled”, Documented by Secular Writers, by Robert Clifton Robinson on September 9^th 2019.

“The Jewish historian Josephus describes the destruction of Jerusalem and the murder of 1.1 million Jews, with 97,000 others taken as captives of war. Thousands were sold as slaves, with many more dispersed all over the world. This entire event is recorded by Josephus in the “Book of Wars,” Book 5, Chapter 22, Sections 1-3.

“Jesus warned His disciples ahead of time to flee Jerusalem before the siege began. He told them to watch for this sign:

“And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days!  For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” (Luke 21:20-24).

“The Jews who had believed in Jesus as their Messiah evacuated Jerusalem after its first siege in 66 A.D., ahead of the final Roman siege of 70 A.D. Just as Jesus had predicted, there was a massive slaughter of those who remained in Jerusalem and did not believe His words.” (Robert Clifton Robinson, in The Prophesies of the Messiah)

Thought: Today, in these times of unbelief, we see clearly, wars, and rumours of wars…nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom…earthquakes, famines and troubles.  Take heed!  These are the beginning of sorrows; the Lord Jesus returns real soon to put all things right!  Repent!  Why should you perish Eternally?