The Things That Are Coming – part 3
079 The Things That Are Coming – part 3
Mark 13:1-37 (1-4)
October 25, 2026
As you know, we are now in a new segment in Mark’s gospel.
· In Matthew’s gospel it is typically referred to as “The Olivet Discourse”
· In Matthew’s gospel the focus is on “the end”
· There is great detail about coming events.
But we are studying Mark’s account.
· And Mark walks away with a different focus.
· The facts of both accounts are the same.
· It’s the focus that is different.
As we said last Sunday morning, the focus of Mark’s gospel is
Our faithfulness in light of the coming end.
His segment is filled with commands.
· “See to it”
· “Be on your guard”
· “Do not worry”
· “Take heed”
· “Be on the alert”
· And many others
If you try to study this chapter looking for some sort of blueprint or timeline for the end you’re likely to end confused or disappointed.
THE POINT of the chapter is that the end is coming
And you and I must be faithful in light of that truth.
We said you can break the chapter down into 4 main points.
We started the first one last week
#1 THE OBSERVATION
Mark 13:1-2
We’ve spent a couple of sermons on this point thus far.
We noticed primarily that
What the disciples saw as a testimony to human achievement,
Jesus saw as a testimony to human failure.
The disciples were amazed at what mankind could accomplish.
“Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!”
· They marveled at what man could accomplish.
Jesus was less than impressed.
“Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”
Jesus didn’t see it as a testimony to human ability,
He saw it as the pinnacle of human failure.
That temple represented mankind’s best attempts at satisfying God.
· This is where they would could come to pray.
· This is where they would come to offer atoning sacrifices.
· This is where they would meet with God.
NONE OF IT HAD WORKED.
IT WAS A FAILED EXHIBIT.
Like Solomon’s temple before it,
Man had failed to gain true access to God here.
The writer of Hebrews wrote about this very temple when he said:
Hebrews 9:8-10 “The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing, which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.”
Everything that was done in this temple was external at best
And it never produced one single righteous individual.
How could it?
· It only dealt with food and drink and washings and regulations.
· Nothing done in this temple had allowed man to successfully approach God.
· It was NOT a success story, it was a tragedy.
That was an observation we made last Sunday morning.
We made another observation Sunday night.
Namely, that like the disciples,
We too can become enamored with human achievement
And fail to put things in their proper place.
· We are also prone to be impressed by the human accomplishments of men.
· We are also prone to put too much focus on human accomplishments.
We pursue and applaud and cheer man and his efforts at greatness
And sometimes fail to recognize that there are more important things.
The disciples were not wrong.
From a human standpoint this temple was impressive.
No one could deny that.
And from a human standpoint
Many of our accomplishments are impressive as well.
No one is trying to take from man the things he accomplishes
Through diligence and sacrifice and hard work and endurance.
But at the end of the day we must remember that
All of those things are perishable wreaths
And we are seeking the imperishable wreath.
While man can accomplish great things,
None of the things he accomplishes can take him to heaven
And that must be kept in perspective.
It doesn’t matter if you can build a great temple
If that temple does not result in the salvation of your soul.
That was another observation we made here.
And before we leave this thought altogether, there is ONE MORE OBSERVATION that I want to make sure we gain here.
Namely this: JESUS PROMISED DESTRUCTION OF THIS TEMPLE
“Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”
Let’s make sure we grasp the enormity of this statement.
· This is the Son of God.
· This is God’s anointed King.
· The is the Sovereign ruler of all creation.
· This is the Judge of the living and the dead.
And He just said that destruction is coming.
· He did not just announce frustration with the temple, though certainly He was.
· He did not just neglect the temple, though certainly He was done.
HE DETERMINED TO DESTROY IT.
And we must grasp this observation as well.
JUDGMENT IS COMING
THIS OBSERVATION
Must be at the forefront of our minds as we approach Mark 13.
Every command that Jesus is about to give here
Is predicated on the fact that judgment is coming.
And incidentally, Mark 13 reveals that
It’s not just judgment on the temple, but judgment on the world.
Jesus says in verse 31, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”
· That is not just a localized judgment of a specific temple.
· Jesus announces an entire eradication of both heaven and earth.
It is in light of that reality that we are commanded to be faithful.
So this observation is vitally important.
JUDGMENT IS COMING
And because we are in no hurry to fly through this,
Let’s discuss this reality for a moment this morning.
Ironically enough man does like to discuss judgment
When it fits their agenda.
You may have heard of the infamous “Doomsday Clock”
The most recent announcement came in January of 2025
“In January 2025, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock from 90 seconds to 89 seconds to midnight — one second closer, setting a new record for the closest the clock had ever been. The announcement was made at the Bulletin's annual press conference in Washington D.C., where members of the Science and Security Board outlined the converging threats that drove the decision.
The one-second advance may sound small, but it carried significant symbolic weight. After holding the clock at 90 seconds for two consecutive years (2023 and 2024), the Bulletin's decision to push it forward signaled that the global threat landscape had continued to deteriorate despite growing international awareness of existential risks.
This was the third consecutive forward move in the seconds era, following the historic 10-second jump in 2023 that first brought the clock to 90 seconds. The 2025 setting of 89 seconds confirmed that the world had not found its footing — and that the trajectory remained firmly in the wrong direction.”
https://doomsdayclock.net/blog/doomsday-clock-2025
The factors involving the move forward were listed as:
· Nuclear War
· Climate Change
· The rise of A.I.
· Geopolitical Instability
Now, neither I nor you have any idea,
What in the world they are talking about.
· Yes, we understand that they think the world is closer to destroying itself than
at any time in the past,
· But we have no clue what their “seconds” represent.
Furthermore, we are confident that they have ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE
· It’s just a bunch of people sitting around a table guessing how close we are to
the end.
And such notions gain traction, especially among those who benefit politically from messages about nuclear arms, global warming, etc.
So the world does like to at least hypothesize about a coming judgment.
But the actual judgment is no hypothesis.
It is set.
And it is coming.
I’m always mesmerized by the one little phrase in the book of Revelation.
When the 6th trumpet sounds unleashing those 4 death angels on the earth.
John writes this:
Revelation 9:15 “And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind.”
· They have been prepared for a specific hour, day, month, and year.
· God has already established the hour of their release.
We are closer to it today than we were yesterday.
· It is not calculated by scientists.
· It is not set by some environmental think-tank.
· God has set it, and it is coming.
And it is not a judgment resulting from mankind’s inability
To get along or on man’s inability to recycle.
It is a judgment resulting from mankind’s inability to please God.
Isaiah 24:19-20 “The earth is broken asunder, The earth is split through, The earth is shaken violently. The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard And it totters like a shack, For its transgression is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again.”
The judgment of the heavens and the earth
Will NOT be the result of poor environmental conservation.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there is a place for environmental conservation.
If you never clean your living room, your house might not fall down,
But it will be a terribly unpleasant place to live.
The same is true in our world.
If you don’t take care of the place where you live
You can make a place quite unpleasant and even dangerous.
But the judgment Jesus speaks of is NOT some surface level suffering.
· It’s not a drought or a famine
· It’s not a dust bowl or loss of trees
· It’s not the loss of a lake or contaminated soil
· It’s not the aftermath of a massive bomb
What Jesus speaks of is
The entire annihilation of both earth and heaven.
Jesus said they will “pass away”.
Revelation 20:11 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.”
AND THE IRONY
Is that while mankind is constantly focused on some sort of doomsday clock and the effects of nuclear war or global warming,
Mankind reminds terribly skeptical that God will ever judge anything.
Peter actually spoke to it:
2 Peter 3:3-4 “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”
· On one hand they think we’re 89 seconds to midnight (whatever that means)
· And on the other hand they are confident we’ll last forever.
It is the nonsensical way that humanity thinks.
BUT JUDGMENT IS COMING.
There are really so many passages we could read to this effect,
But I don’t want to exhaust you by reading all of them.
Especially since they all repeat nearly the exact same message.
But let me just give you a couple.
TURN TO: ISAIAH 13:6-16
This one speaks pretty thoroughly to the coming day of God’s judgment.
You will read in Isaiah 13 that it is an oracle against Babylon,
· But if you will remember from our study through Isaiah,
· Babylon was both an actual nation that God judged
· And a prophetic picture of the entire evil world system.
The judgment Isaiah speaks of
Was not merely a historical judgment of an actual nation,
He speaks of a total judgment on the entire evil world system.
(11) “I will punish the world for its evil”
(13) “The earth will be shaken from its place”
The Babylon Isaiah references here
Is the same Babylon we read about in the book of the Revelation
· Written many years after the nation of Babylon had long since been destroyed.
Revelation 18:2-3 “And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.”
· That entire chapter focuses on the immorality and evil of the world for which God will judge it.
The chapter closes with:
Revelation 18:21-24 “Then a strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will not be found any longer. “And the sound of harpists and musicians and flute-players and trumpeters will not be heard in you any longer; and no craftsman of any craft will be found in you any longer; and the sound of a mill will not be heard in you any longer; and the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery. “And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth.”
This is the world.
This is the evil system of the world.
· It is all corrupt.
· It is all evil.
· And God will one day totally annihilate it.
JUDGMENT IS COMING.
Isaiah certainly saw it.
He was not alone.
· You can read Ezekiel 30:1-4
· You can read Amos 5:18-20
· You can read Obadiah 1:15
· You can read Zephaniah 1:7, 14-18
· They all speak about this coming “day of the LORD” which is the final day of judgment.
But for one other reference I’d just have you turn to the book of Joel.
Joel was especially focused on this coming judgment.
TURN TO: JOEL 1:15
· Joel announces the day of destruction that comes from God.
TURN TO: JOEL 2:1-2
· It’s going to be a terrible day of darkness from the LORD.
TURN TO: JOEL 2:11
· No one can endure it.
TURN TO: JOEL 2:30-32
· The only person who will survive it is those who call on the name of the Lord.
Only those who trust in Jesus Christ will escape it.
TURN TO: JOEL 3:9-17
Jeol speaks of the wicked of the world rising up to try and overthrow God,
God will tread them in the winepress of His judgment.
Revelation 14:17-20 “And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.”
Revelation 19:11-15 “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.”
You are getting the picture I hope.
There is coming a total cataclysmic judgment upon the world
At the hands of God Himself.
And, as I said, there are so many more passages from the Old Testament
That we could read regarding this coming day.
BUT THE POINT IS: that God has spoken of this day throughout the ages.
And when Jesus arrived on the scene, He spoke of it as well.
However, His focus was not so much on the horror of the destruction
As it was the recipients of it.
Matthew 11:20-24 “Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. “Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. “Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”
· Cities which had the greatest exposure to His truth were not only judged, but judged the most severely.
It warns us of the danger of rejecting truth.
It is better to have never heard the truth
Than to have heard it and rejected it.
Matthew 13:36-43 “Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”
· Jesus spoke of the removal of “stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness.”
· They are the ones who are judged.
Matthew 13:47-50 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
· There it is “the wicked” who are thrown into the fire.
Matthew 25:31-33 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.”
Jesus spoke of His people (sheep)
Being separated from those who are not His people (goats).
He goes on to say of the goats:
Matthew 25:46 “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
JUDGMENT IS COMING.
I want you to get that observation down.
1. Jesus is not impressed with man’s ability.
2. Jesus is not focused on man’s ability.
3. Jesus will one day judge the best of what man has accomplished.
LET’S JUST MAKE SURE WE SEE THAT.
Now, let’s move on to the next point here in this Olivet Discourse.
The Observation
#2 THE CURIOSITY
Mark 13:3-4
It is really a very fitting and obvious question
After the Lord reveals the coming judgment.
(4) “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?”
They have ONE QUESTION: “When?”
· I know you see the word “what” in there,
· But it is really just a “when” question to.
They want to know when it is coming
And if there will be any announcement right before it comes?
The question is “When?”
How much time do we have?
AND THIS IS SO PREDICTABLE FOR HUMANITY.
Some people want to know “when” because they want to know how much longer they can hold off on repentance.
It’s the kid at home doing something he ought not do,
But he knows his parents won’t be home until 6:00pm,
So there’s no need to stop until 5:45.
There are those who doubt judgment altogether
· As we read a moment ago from Peter,
But even among those who think it might,
· They want to know when so they can continue in their sin as long as possible.
How long can I keep doing what I’m doing before I have to repent?
But hopefully you realize the DANGER in such thinking.
FOR ONE, you have no idea what is the length of your life.
You think if you’re young you are guaranteed many more years.
In 2025 – 6 million children under the age of 18 died.
8 million under the age of 30.
· 21,900 deaths per day
· 913 deaths per hour
· 15 deaths per minute
· One death every 4 seconds
James 4:14-15 “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
Assuming your life is promised is a foolish assumption.
Psalms 90:12 “So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.”
Now, that’s NOT the question the disciples asked.
They didn’t ask when they would die.
They wanted to know when Jesus is doing to destroy the temple.
By extension, when are You going to destroy the world?
· Do you have a date?
· Will there be a warning siren first?
And man wants to know that
So that they don’t have to be in any hurry to repent.
So I can stay in my sin until the very last minute.
BUT THERE’S SOMETHING ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW.
Matthew 24:43-44 “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.
· Wouldn’t you like to know?
· Wouldn’t it be nice if criminals were required to give you an estimated time of arrival?
JUDGMENT COMES WITHOUT WARNING.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-3 “Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.”
· Paul said “suddenly like labor pains”.
· Out of nowhere.
You are not going to know when.
Well, what about the signs?
· What about a warning siren?
Matthew 24:37-41 “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. “Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.”
There’s your sign.
· When you see people eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage; just know it can be any day.
GOD DOES NOT TELL THE LOST WHEN IT WILL COME.
He calls for repentance right now.
He says that today is the day of salvation.
And we’ll just pause there for a moment and ECHO THAT CALL.
· If you have never cried out to Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins…
· If you have never submitted your life to the service of Christ…
· If you have never placed your faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus…
TODAY IS THE DAY!
One day, according to God’s determined calendar,
The day of judgment will come.
BUT TODAY YOU CAN BE SAVED.
· Today you can bow your head to Christ right where you sit, right now,
· And you can ask Him to forgive you of your sin.
· You can, right now, ask Him to save you.
You can confess that you believe that He alone was righteous
And that His death on the cross is the only sacrifice
Capable of paying for the sins you committed.
· You can, right now, ask Jesus to forgive you.
· You can, right now, give your life to Him.
As Joel told us,
Those are the only people who will escape the coming judgment.
If you do not know Jesus the question is NOT “WHEN are You coming?”
The question you need to be asking Him is
“WILL You forgive me?”
BUT HERE we don’t assume the disciples here to be lost men.
“Peter and James and John and Andrew”
Had all expressed faith in Christ.
And they are clearly asking “When?”
BUT THAT IS THE WRONG QUESTION FOR THEM TO ASK TOO.
If you have already been redeemed;
If you have been justified before God;
The question you should ask is not “when”, it is “WHAT”.
2 Peter 3:10-12 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!”
· “What sort of people ought you to be I holy conduct and godliness?”
Sometimes I think believers want to know “when”
Because it allows us to be lazy in regard to our mission.
I don’t want to have to be so urgent in my ministry.
I’ve got time.
· My lost friends have time.
· My lost family members have time.
· There’s no need to be too urgent.
D.L. Moody was one of the most famous evangelists in American History.
And certainly you may not agree with his fiery invitations as a method.
But do you know why D.L. Moody
Was so urgent in pleading with sinners to be saved?
Sunday night October 8, 1871
· D.L. Moody preached a sermon from Matthew 27:22,
· Entitled “What shall I do then with Jesus who is called Christ?”
At the end of the sermon he said, “I wish you would take this text home with you and turn it over in your minds during the week, and next Sabbath we will come to Calvary and the Cross, and we will decide what to do with Jesus of Nazareth.”
That very night the Great Chicago Fire broke out.
300 people in Chicago died
Moody’s own church was burned in the fire.
Later he said, “I have never since dared, to give an audience a week to think of their salvation. If they were lost they might rise up in judgment against me. I have never seen that congregation since. I will never meet those people until I meet them in another world. But I want to tell you of one lesson that I learned that night which I have never forgotten, and that is, when I preach, to press Christ upon the people then and there and try to bring them to a decision on the spot. I would rather have that right hand cut off than to give an audience a week now to decide what to do with Jesus.”
https://christianheritagefellowship.com/d-l-moodys-lost-opportunity/
Sometimes for us even in ministry
We like to think we have more time than we do.
The disciples might have liked to know
How much time they had exactly before the temple would be destroyed.
· How much more time that they might reason with the crowds that had just rejected Jesus.
BUT IN REALITY, though the temple would stand nearly 40 more years,
Jesus would be dead in less than 24 hours
And the fate of that city was set.
THE CURIOSITY WE SHOULD HAVE IS NOT “WHEN”, IT IS “WHAT”.
WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE ME DO?
WHEN DISASTERS HIT: floods, hurricanes, fires, etc.
· Many volunteers converge on the scene and ask that question.
· What can I do?
· They know destruction requires help.
BUT THEY DO IT AFTER JUDGMENT HITS
Jesus tells us to ask that question BEFORE the judgment comes.
He has promised it is coming
And tells us to prepare ourselves ahead of time.
THAT IS WHERE WE ARE GOING NEXT.
I told you last Sunday night, as we shared from 2 Corinthians,
That we were just looking at the heart or focus of the church.
WE DIDN’T GET PRACTICAL.
Tonight we start getting practical.
Judgment is coming and the church must be faithful in light of that truth.
TODAY IF YOU ARE LOST,
· Repent, seek Christ’s forgiveness
· Believe in His atoning sacrifice on your behalf.
· Confess Him as Lord and present your life to Him.
TODAY IF YOU ARE ALREADY HIS CHILD,
· Then shake off the apathy and fill it with urgency.
This world is going down and we are called to be faithful.
2 Peter 3:3-10 “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”