Three Things about the Great Tribulation - Mark 13:14-23

6:55And there, for a brief moment, I had this thought: can we cut around after all that work? Can we cut around and pick something out? And we both kind of looked at each other. No, it was completely ruined. Well, that's the idea of what an abomination of desolation is. And it's clearly a reference to Daniel. In fact, it is expressly stated, an abomination of desolation. And this should take your mind back to Daniel and certainly would have taken them. But Matthew points it out specifically in Matthew 24:15. Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, Desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet. So, no question there's a reference to this abomination in the book of Daniel. Well, Daniel 11:31 speaks about a coming abomination of desolation. And this abomination was going to be set up in the temple by an evil king. And this is exactly what happened in history. Antiochus Epiphanes, he was a king, a Seleucid king, who came in on December 15th and 167. He came into Israel with about 250,000 men. They slaughtered the Jews. He sought to set up the worship of Zeus in the temple on the mount, so he erected this huge statue to Zeus, sacrificed pigs on the altar, spread pig broth all over the place, and that put an end to worship. That would be very, very detestable to the Jews. And so it desolated worship. Worship came to an end. It's not hard to imagine that, right? The reason there is a celebration called Hanukkah today is when the Maccabeans revolted and cleansed the temple of such abomination. But it's not difficult to understand how this kind of desecration just put an end to temple worship. I mean, if we put an idol to Zeus in here, what would happen? We probably would not want to worship, would we? I had the occasion to be in a Catholic service one time, and they had a statue of Mary right in front of the pulpit, a great big Statue of Mary. I mean, that's like putting Zeus in the temple. I mean, it desecrates the worship. Now, Mary was an excellent saint of the Lord, somebody that we should emulate, somebody that we should admire, but not somebody we should pray to, worship, or exalt for sure. That is like putting pig broth all over the altar. Well, this is what happened. This is what an abomination of desolation just ruins worship. But this person in history was just a preview in the book of Daniel of a greater abomination that was going to come. And this is why Jesus is saying the abomination that Daniel is speaking of is still future. It wasn't fulfilled in Antiochus' Epiphanies, but from the point that Jesus is speaking, he is still future. It's not only is the event future, but it is also for a future audience, for those who will read it. Look back there at verse 14. The you, when you see the abomination of standing where it should not be, let the reader understand. That wasn't just a scribal insertion later on. Mark wrote those words. He knew he's speaking to another generation when these events would take place. Matthew makes the same note. It's a future generation, a reader who's going to read and see the abomination, and then he's supposed to trigger an understanding that, yes, this is the time of the great truth. Tribulation. I also need to note the location of this apostasy. It is in a very specific place. Where it should not stand is what Mark says, verse 14. But in Matthew 24, 15, in the holy place. That is more descriptive. The place where he should not be, specifically the holy place. Only God is allowed to be worshipped on the Temple Mount in the holy place. And here you're going to see this abomination where it should not be. Okay, so I have this dog. He's actually really grown on me quite a bit. I like my dog. I even let him come and hang out in my office with me now. I prepared a very nice bed for him in our garage. I took even one of the mattresses that my kids used to use, put a nice sheet around it, gave him a nice little corner, and that's where he sleeps. Well, we have this usurper dog, this black dog that's been hanging around. And every time I would see the dogs, I would tell him, get out of here. And they would turn and run, both of them. Yesterday, something different happened. This black dog comes up, and just one of them comes up, and I say, get out of here. And he comes over to me, and he kind of lays down. You win. He says, let's just be friends. That's basically what he's saying. So you can't really do anything. Okay, okay. Well, so this morning, I get up, I walk out into the garage, and there is this black dog. Dog in that bed that I made for Hunter. So he has not only marked all the territory, and then I said, You're where you're not supposed to be. And he rolled over. What are you going to do?

12:14But anyway, this idea, I got this black usurper dog, and I got up this morning and said, You are sleeping where you ought not be. And he just rolled over. I'm taking my stand here. Well, that's the idea. Taking a stand. This is the very nature of the apostasy. Taking a stand where it should not be. The ESV gets it right. Takes his stand. A person is here in view. A person who takes his stand. And this is only one person can take a stand. The only thing that that could mean is, I am in the holy place as the one to be worshipped and exalted. That's the idea. So who is this person? There's really only four candidates in history. There's Nebuchadnezzar in 586, only potential one. Let me tell you a little bit about Nebuchadnezzar. He was a Babylonian king. He came and destroyed the temple. He did so only on his third trip over, though, because the first trip, he defeated the armies, took some people back to Babylon, like Daniel. He came back, the Jews kept rebelling, so he came back and did a second trip, and then they kept rebelling, so finally he came over and he totally destroyed the temple, just decimated it. That was Nebuchadnezzar. Well, we know for sure it's not Nebuchadnezzar because Jesus is speaking to the future. Nebuchadnezzar was in the past, so we know it's certainly not Nebuchadnezzar. There's another one, Antiochus Epiphanes. I just told you a little bit about his career. He erected a statue of Zeus in the temple, spilled pig broth everywhere. This guy desecrated the temple. This was an offense to bring in another worship. We know it's not Antiochus Epiphanes because he too is in the past. So that leaves another one, Vespasian, or Titus his general, which was his son, Titus Vespatian. This is the dad, Vespatian. We've got a son, Vespasian, Titus, who actually was the general who brought down Jerusalem. Okay, so you've got this figure. Now, this guy happened in 70 AD. So from the time that Jesus uttered these words, he would be still future. And I want to take a couple of moments as we're thinking about this to explain a school of thought that I briefly mentioned to you last time called Preterism. And basically, the school of thought of Preterism is that Christ's second coming prophecies and all these events in Mark chapter 13 are fulfilled when Titus Vespatian came and destroyed the temple in 70 AD. And if you look at verse 30 in chapter 13, this is the verse they keep. Or one of them, truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. They take this generation to be the apostles there on the mount, and that all these things are going to be fulfilled right now, shortly. And that's their idea. And all these things in context would have to be the last days, which would include the wars, the disasters, the persecutions, and in verse 10, the nations being preached to all nations. That has been fulfilled, according to this school of thought. The great tribulation, that the abomination has taken his stand, Titus Vespasian, in the holy place, and all that is included therein. And then also the second coming, which would include the verse 24, the sun being darkened, the moon not giving its light, the stars falling from heaven, the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. All this has been fulfilled in 70 AD. The gathering of the elect. This is the idea of Preterism. In fact, it's very popular among a number of Reformed thinkers. And this is one guy that I highly admire. I always rank commentators this far in Mark. I have my favorites of commentators. And the guy that I'm about to quote to you has reached my number one pole position. Let me just read to you what he says about the sun and the moon and the stars. He says, The apocalyptic language of these verses relates not to the collapse of the physical universe and the end of the world, but to imminent and far-reaching political change in the context of the predicted destruction of Jerusalem. The coming of the Son of Man is language not about an eschatological descent of Jesus to earth, but about a change of government. The temple and all that it stood for is out, and the Son of Man is in. In other words, see what he's saying: the sun, the moon, and the stars falling is all symbolic language that there's going to be government change. That's the idea that the Son of Man coming on the clouds basically came within Titus Vespasian to destroy, and that's symbolically what happened. And another commentator, the gathering of the elect from the four winds is the Gentile mission. The problem with that is in verse 10 that the gospel is already being preached to all the nations. So if all this stuff has already been fulfilled, why would it still be going on? But this is the thinking. All these things are fulfilled. Let me tell you why I think it is impossible for this to be a reference to Titus Vespasian. First of all, Titus Vespasian seemed far more like Nebuchadnezzar. In other words, just from the argument from history, and I've spent my week this time reading a lot about the events that surrounded this, Titus seemed a lot more like. Nebuchadnezzar. He didn't come in, take a stand, erect an altar to himself. He came in to destroy. In fact, there were times when both Vespasian, his father, and Titus Vespatian, didn't want to bring the temple down. They kept wanting a surrender. But they didn't. In fact, Josephus writes it like this. He says that the abomination that took place in the temple were the zealots who took it over. He says there were these zealots that came in and they seized the temple of God, made a stronghold for themselves, they changed the priesthood, and they used it as a place to hide from the people in Jerusalem who didn't want to go along with and to fortify themselves from the Romans. And he basically said they brought in a whole reign of terror. And another historian later said the same thing: that the abomination is what happened when those zealots took it over and basically forced Jerusalem and the inhabitants into a bloody battle with the Romans that ultimately led to their total destruction. So Vespatian didn't take his stand in the holy place. He may have stood against it, certainly devastated it, but his career far more looks like Nebuchadnezzar that just came over to wipe it out than Antiochus to try to set up something profane. And he certainly didn't set himself up to be worshipped, the holy place. So the first argument I would say against Titus Vespasian being it is from history. The second argument is from the date of Revelation. The better date is 90 AD. The only reason people would want to have an earlier date is to put all these events before 70 AD, because Revelation 6 through 19 describes the events of the Great Tribulation. And if Revelation was written in 90 AD or thereabouts, the destruction of the temple was in the past, and so it would have to be still in the future. They get around this by coming up with an argument that it was written before, but this goes against what is a very significant consensus of the early church fathers, who all saw that Revelation was written in Dominican's reign towards the end of the first century. So just from the argument against the date of Revelation, Vespatian cannot be this person. From the near context of Mark 13, if these events happened in 70 AD, then there's not even 40 years from the time Jesus uttered these words to the time of the destruction. And 40 years is not adequate for the historic development of all these things that have been mentioned. The wars, the rumors of wars, the gospel being preached to all nations. Trying to pack all that in 40 years is kind of difficult. Then, second, look at verse 19 and 20. Can we really say that the sacking of Jerusalem in 70 AD was the most difficult time in human history? History. That's what it says. There will never be a tribulation like this from the beginning in creation until now, or never will be. That this was the most difficult time in human history. Well, we certainly know that that's not true from an intensity standpoint. Even in Jewish history, they had times very intense like this. There was the siege of Samaria, written in 2 Kings 6. And as that siege went on, there was a great famine in Samaria. And one day, as the king was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him and said, Help, my Lord, help. And he says, What's the matter with you? And she answered and said, This, this woman said to me, Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, Give your son that we may eat him. But she hid her son. When the king heard these words, of course, he tore his robe. The idea is this was intense. Israel had seen before. And yeah, some of that stuff happened during the siege of Titus Vespasian. But it certainly wasn't more intense than anything that's happened in human history. But neither was the scope the largest in human history. Think about Noah's flood. If we're going to take these words at face value, then that this event that is described here is going to be more intense than even Noah's flood. Now think about day one of Noah's flood. As the waters were rising, think about the suffering. Think about the intensity. Think about day two, day three. I mean, there is a mass scope of suffering globally. So, this event, this localized event, isn't more intense in its breadth or in its intensity. Also, if we're going to go with the consistent preteris all the way through, then the second coming has taken place. Because the second coming is very closely associated with this abomination of desolation. In verse 24, but in those days, after that tribulation, there's an immediate time table there. Right after the events of the great tribulation comes the second coming. And Matthew uses the word immediately, immediately after the great tribulation, the second coming. So, all these events are just inadequate to cram into 40 years. It's just a lot to cram in there. The gospel's been preached to all nations, etc. It's impossible to put it all in there. So, what is an adequate interpretation of verse 30? Truly, I say to you that this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Keep in mind, he's already speaking to a future generation, the reading generation. He uses a demonstrative pronoun. I say to you, this generation, a demonstrative pronoun could be this or that. Like I can say to my little kids, this one's coming home. With me. That one's getting some ice cream this afternoon. This one's getting none, right? This little piggy goes to market. That one stayed home. This little piggy got roast beef. That one got none. You know, that's the way a demonstrative pronoun works. So very much as these things, a reader generation, when that generation comes on the scene, it will not pass away until all things have been fulfilled. And that doesn't do any gymnastics to the interpretation of this. It doesn't strain it. In fact, in the context of this reading generation, it is the interpretation that makes the most sense, especially in light of everything else going on in the passage. But another reason that we can't see all these events fulfilled in 70 AD is that if it did, it totally blunts, if not completely undermines, the very exhortation of the whole passage itself. In verse 37, it basically says, Be on the alert. What I say to you, I say to everyone, be on the alert. Verse 33, take heed, keep on the alert. Again, 34, stay on the alert. Be looking for these things. The whole message through, see to it, take heed, be on your guard, pay attention. That's the exhortation. And if you're saying all this stuff has already been fulfilled, it totally undermines the very exhortation that Mark is putting out there. So those are some of the reasons why. But let me read you the main. Reason why I think Titus Vespasian is not the fulfillment of this, and that comes from our very approach to Scripture itself, and that is the literal, grammatical, historical approach to Scripture. You see, the purpose of Scripture is to shed light on a subject, not to obscure it. A literal means you take the face value or the grammatical. And yes, the scripture uses symbolic language, and I'm not pulling your leg. The scripture uses symbolic language, but there's a literal meaning behind it, and I'm not pulling your leg. You understand? I'm sitting. What am I saying when I'm saying, I'm not pulling your leg? I'm using metaphoric language, but I'm communicating a literal truth. I'm not lying to you. So when I say we use metaphoric language all the time, but there is a literal meaning behind that metaphoric language. And I think it is the way the Bible is to be interpreted. That is what the Reformers gave us. That is what the Reformers taught us. Vodi Bakum's church, a Reformed Baptist church, is going to start a church up here in the Brazos Valley. And it gave me an occasion to spend time on his website and look. And one of the things that stuck in my mind about one of their core values is always reforming. Always reforming. That's a good idea. That is what we were taught from the Reformers. As they looked into Scripture and they understood the plain, simple teaching of Scripture, they applied. It to their situation, and they wrestled the sovereignty of God out of the sovereignty of man. They wrestled salvation out of the hands of men and put it where the Bible clearly says it to be in the hands of God. And they gave us those doctrines of grace, those beautiful doctrines of grace, the best expression of a Protestant theology that's ever been put out there. And they got there on a literal grammatical hermeneutic. This is what Calvin said about this. Let us know that the true meaning of Scripture is the genuine and simple one. And let us embrace and hold it tightly. Let us boldly set aside as deadly corruptions those fictitious expositions which lead us away from the literal sense. Then he goes on to say this about allegory. He says, This error of allegory has been the source of many evils. Not only did it open the way for the adulteration of the natural meaning of Scripture, but also set up boldness and allegorizing as the chief exegetical virtue. Thus, many of the ancients, without restraint, played all sorts of game with the sacred word of God, as if they were tossing a ball to and fro. It also gave heretics a chance to throw the church into turmoil. For when is it an accepted practice for anyone to interpret any passage in any way he desired, any mad idea, however absurd or monstrous, introduced under the pretext of allegory? Even good men were carried away by their mistaken fondness for allegories into formulating a great number of perverse opinions. He's pretty strong on this idea of literal hermeneutic, except when it came to eschatology and ecclesiology. Calvin was not consistent there. They beautifully expounded the scriptures and applied a literal grammatical hermeneutic and gave us those beautiful doctrines of grace and the doctrine of salvation. But when it came to the study of the end times and the study of the church, they didn't apply this same hermeneutic. And to their credit, this wasn't their emphasis at the time. They were going up against the sovereignty of man that had taken salvation to where you could dispense it at human will, even to the point if you threw coins into a coffer, you could have your loved ones spring from purgatory. And so the reformers went against this sovereignty of man, and they beautifully handled it by the literal grammatical historical method of interpretation. And if you go there, you can make the scripture say just about anything you want. And that is why I am not a preterist. And listen to some of my dear covenantalist friends. I mean, friends. One, O.T. Alice, says this: the Old Testament prophecies, if literally interpreted, cannot be regarded as having been fulfilled or as being capable of filling. In this present age, there's these covenantalist thinkers out there that are saying, yeah, if you apply this method, you're going to end up with literal fulfillment. This is what Botner says. It is generally agreed that if the prophecies are taken literally, they do foretell a restoration of the nation of Israel in the land of Palestine, with the Jews having a prominent place in that kingdom and ruling over other nations. Listen to what J.C. Ryle says on this. All these prophetic texts are, to my mind, plain prophecies of Christ's second coming and his kingdom. That's what we just read: plain prophecies. All are yet without their accomplishment, and all yet be literally and exactly fulfilled. As we take literally the text foretelling that the walls of Babylon shall come down, so we ought to take literally the text foretelling that the walls of Zion shall be built up. That as the prophecy to the Jews being literally scattered, according to prophecy, that the Jews will literally be gathered. And that as the least and minutest predictions were made good on the subject of our Lord's coming to suffer, that is his first coming, so the minutest predictions shall be made good that describe our Lord's coming to reign. In other words, if the predictions were accurate about his first coming, even the smallest details, they should also be applied to his second. Brothers and sisters, I do not think that there is another approach to Scripture.

31:30That does more justice and lets the scripture speak for itself. If the sun and the moon are going to mean foreign powers and dignitaries, then we don't have revelation because we need somebody out there to give us the key map that says right here, this is what this means. And it obscures, it doesn't illuminate, it doesn't give information, which is precisely what Jesus is giving his disciples here. He's already had the word kingdom. If he wanted to use kingdom, why didn't he just use kings? Why all of a sudden does he shift gears and go, he's talking about literal kingdoms and nations rising against each other? Why in the world does he all of a sudden shift gears and start talking about the sun? Well, that's a king. And the moon, that's a king. No, if he wanted to talk about cosmic disturbances, this is the language he would have said. The sun, the moon, the stars. So all that to say, Vespasian cannot possibly be the individual. There's one coming. There's one more coming, and that is the Antichrist, or the abomination of desolation, still to come. And this is the plain, simple meaning of the text. In fact, you wouldn't come up with another idea unless you were reading other books. You're simply not going to get there from just going through the plain, literal meaning of the passage. You're going to have to have somebody else tell you that this isn't what's happening. But don't worry. You're not going to miss this event. And that's what Jesus is saying. This is going to be such a big event. You're not going to miss it. Let me tell you, I've been to Israel, and those of you who have been to Israel know that sometimes it's very difficult to get up on the Temple Mountain. Sometimes it'll be shut down for years. It's such a very contentious spot. And if you do get up there, even if you sneeze, you better be careful because you might start a war. It's that tense up there. And so I guarantee you, when somebody steps up there and sets themselves up as the one to be worshipped, you're going to hear about it. Now, I believe, and Mark doesn't talk about the rapture right here, I believe the rapture has taken place by the time of the Great Tribulation. But Mark doesn't bring it up, and so I'm not going to spend time developing all that. The exhortation is very clear here in the passage where he goes. So the first thing you need to know about the Great Tribulation is when it begins. What is involved? First of all, when is it going to happen? Second thing you need to know is what is involved. First thing, it's God's judgment. Look at verse 14. This is seen in the command to flee. Then, those, once you see this abomination standing, where it ought not stand, then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Those who are in Judea, that is Judea. That is the area around there. You must flee to the mountains. And this is a very different command from endure, right? Verse 13, there's no more enduring. Up until this time, it's endure. Now it's get out of there. And a very firm command. The urgency. Look at verse 13. The one who is on the housetop must not go down or go in to get. Get anything out of his house, and the one who is in the field must not turn back to get his coat. Basically, don't try to save anything else, just your life, get out of there. It kind of harkens back to Genesis 19 when Lot hesitated to leave Sodom, and the angels grabbed him. And his wife and his children say, Get out of the town and go. It's that urgent. You can see the urgency is also seen in the pronouncement of the woe on those who are hindered. They can't get out as easy. Look at verse 17: but woe to those who are pregnant and those who are nursing babies in those days. But pray that it may not happen in the winter. Let me tell you something. One thing I've learned: after having six kids and watching my wife go through having six children, I learned that women who are great with child don't move very fast, they move slow, they waddle.

35:22But I can tell you, pregnant women do not move fast. Those with nursing children or young children, they don't move fast. Remember, Nancy was in a hotel one time, and I was at a conference, and they were on the seventh floor in Los Angeles. The fire alarm goes off. I think she's pregnant. She's got a bunch of little kids. She had to walk outside down seven flights of stairs. Let me tell you something, they move slow. And that's the idea: woe to those who can't get out because it's coming so fast. Another condition that slows traffic down is winter. If you're left at the time of the end and you see this event, just pray that you're not living in Judea and that you are a wild. Waddling woman in winter with wee ones, okay? And be a tongue twister, right? A waddling woman in winter with wee ones. That you're not going to move very fast. You're not going to get out. Make light of a very serious subject, but the idea is: woe, woe to those who cannot get out. It's coming. And God's judgment is also seen in the unparalleled statement. Look at verse 19. For those days will be a time of tribulation, such as not occurred since the beginning of the creation, which God created until now, and never will. This is what Revelation chapters 6 through 19 is all about. This great tribulation, it's all neatly packed in seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls of judgment. That's what Revelation 6 through 19 is about. Seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls of judgment. Just work your way through them. And see, and the days of tribulation are going to continue. They're going to continue until the abomination of desolation is made desolate himself. This is what Daniel 9:22 says. So what's involved in the great tribulation? God's judgment, but also God's faithfulness. God's faithfulness is going to be to his people in the great tribulation. First, they are protected by God. God's faithfulness is going to protect his people. Look at verse 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. Who are the elect? Those who are called out and those who are chosen. For many. Many are called, but few are chosen. They are the ones who have responded to God's call upon their life. They have placed their faith and trust. They heard his voice, and they followed him. They believed him. They put their faith and trust in him. This is who he's talking about here. Those who are called and chosen, those who have responded, they're the ones who grieve over sin, and they're the ones who obey God. And I like the fact that they didn't use the term believers here. Because if you see great times like this, he doesn't say the believers, even though that's what the elect are, they are believers. But there's something more that's being communicated here, is they're kept. The called-out ones, the chosen ones, they're kept. If it said the believers, such tribulation, one might be afraid to think that, well, what if I stop believing? What if I stop believing in light of all this that goes on and I stop believing? Now, there's something more. Yes, they're believers. There's a connection to God that is going to keep them believing. And that's what's being emphasized here. But the days are shortened. Either each day is going to be shorter or the total number of days is shortened. Either way, the objective is that he shortens them so that human life can be spared. Second thing, not only are they protected God's faithfulness is seen in his protection, but also in his keeping. They are protected by God and they are kept by God. Look at verse 21. And then if anyone says to you, behold, here he is, here is the Christ, or behold, he is there, do not believe him. For false Christ and false prophets will arise and show signs. And wonders in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect. So, this is going to be an unparalleled time of deception as well as an unparalleled time of affliction and tribulation. And why is there going to be so much deception at this time? Well, the bottom line is to keep people from the truth. With all the cataclysmic events that are going on, people are going to be desperate to know what we need to do. And there is going to be this unleashing of all these demonic deceivers for the sole purpose of keeping people from the truth. And all the forces of evil have one goal, and that is to deceive the whole world. Except there's going to be this one little group that isn't going to go along with them, and they are the elect. They are God's people, those who believe the truth, those who have been sanctified in the truth. As you hear Jesus praying for them the next night in John 17:17, he says, Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. So, in these great tribulations, the abomination has taken his stand to be the only one worshiped, and the elect have taken their stand that says, No, he is not to be worshipped, that God alone is to be worshipped, that the usurper is in the wrong place, and he is not to be worshipped. And so, this is going to unleash the full wrath upon them, because they're not going to go along with his program. And that's why they're going to have all these false signs going on. To deceive, if possible, the elect. Do you see where it's focused? Deceiving those who know better. Yet, they're not going to be successful because it is impossible, because God has sanctified his people in the truth. His sheep hear his voice, and they won't listen to another. This is the very nature of it. And because of this, they are going to experience unparalleled wrath of the abomination, but they're also going to experience unparalleled grace in being preserved. You see, God's faithfulness to his people is also indicative of God's faithfulness in all generations. We can see here he's going to be faithful to this generation, but he's also faithful to us in our time and in our place. His faithfulness extends. He keeps his people. He protects his people. So that's what the great tribulation involves. God's judgment, but also God's faithfulness. So the first thing you need to know about the great tribulation is when it begins. The second thing you need to know is what it involves. But there's one more thing, and that's why he tells us, why he tells us about it. Look at the last verse, verse 23. But take heed. Behold, I have told you everything in advance. You see, he answered their question. They asked him what will be the sign when everything happens, and he tells them, the fulfillment of all things is going to come in the wake of this abomination of desolation, which will be clearly visible to all the world. At that point, behind that know, the fulfillment of all these things is close at hand. But meanwhile, there's a direct exhortation. Take heed. Behold, I've told you everything. You don't have an excuse. You know this event has not taken place. There are immediate things that you need to be taking care of. It's the same exhortation in verse 5, see to it. Same exhortation in verse 9. Be on your guard. In other words, you have no excuse not to be doing what you need to be doing. You see, Jesus wants his people to understand their times. He wants you to understand the times that you're living in. That great tribulation has not taken place yet. You're living in the last days. There's going to be distress. There's going to be wars. There's going to be famines. There's going to be earthquakes. There's going to be persecution. But know this: that the purpose for all this is that the gospel will go forward, and this is what you need to be involved in. The gospel is going to be preached to all nations. That is his purpose for the times in which we live in. So be alert. Be ready. A lot of your political enemies right now are going to be in heaven because of your testimony. A lot of the people who persecute you are going to be in heaven one day because you stood firm upon the testimony of the word of God and you proclaimed it. You made it known by the way you live and by the words of your mouth. Three things you need to know. When it begins, what's involved, and why he tells us. He didn't tell us precisely when it would take place. But he did tell us that it would take place. And if Jesus is who he says he is, then it will happen just precisely as he has told us. So get busy. Do the things that he has called you to do in your time and event. These events are not behind us. The gospel is still going out. And if you do not know Christ today, know that you can have peace with God, your sins forgiven, through putting your faith and trust in him. Call upon him today. He is near. Today is the day of salvation. So call upon him now, if you do not know him. And for the rest, let us go with the gospel and take it, for that is what we are here for. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, that you reveal yourself in the gospel. Your glory is seen no better place than in the gospel. Your beauty, your glory, your perfect justice, your perfect wisdom, your perfect mercy, and your perfect love. We see all this on the cross. God, let us never tire of its proclamation and never let us diminish its value or its importance. Father, for it is the message that you have for a lost and dying world. And Father, we thank you that you have not left your people as orphans, but that you've called us. You've redeemed us, and you hold us in your hand. Father, just pray now that you would have your way in our hearts. In Jesus' name.