The Coming of the Son of Man in Mark (Part 1)
The American Church is enamored with eschatology; it has seeped into our psyche. Some look to the nation of Israel as a catalyst for the things to come, and others look to signs in the sky, e.g., the blood moons. There is a plethora of content that seeks to present a narrative of the last days of our planet, and it is not ignored by secular society. In fact, they have their own canon, which how humanity meets its end. In the Christian world, these horrible events are preceded by a worldwide removal of the Church, in a global event called the rapture. Misinformation and misunderstandings concerning the return of Christ and the World to Come has plagued the Church.
To unravel this confusion, we must look carefully at the questions that the disciples asked Jesus in Mark 13, Matthew 24-25, and Luke 21 when they ask about the things to come and their signs.
As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.” As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?” And Jesus began to say to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. Many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He!’ and will mislead many. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. (Mark 13:1-8, NASB)
The disciples are recorded asking this same question in all three synoptic Gospels, but we’ll look at Mark’s account of the events for this blog series.
One of Mark's key messages is a type of 'second Exodus' with parallels to the prophet Isaiah's assessment of Israel's need for a savior, which in turn are jarringly and purposefully similar to Christ's message of the deliverance from spiritual slavery. In Mark 13, Christ (as the prophet) describes Jerusalem's coming judgments (fulfilled in 70 A.D.) due to centuries of rejecting God's Law. Using apocalyptic language ("the Son of Man coming on the clouds"), Christ prophesies Jerusalem's fate.[1]
The opening discourse of Mark 13, which is preceded by Jesus and his disciples exiting the Temple, and the disciples' remarking 'how the stones and buildings are beautiful.' Jesus responds, "… There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down" (Mark 13:2). The words "not one stone left upon another" parallel O.T. passages such as 2 Samuel 17:13 in the LXX and Haggai 2:15. The theme of the destruction of Jerusalem brings to mind such passages as Micha 3:9-12 and Jer. 7:14; 9:1-11; 26:6, 16-19, which refer to the events in 587 BC.[2]
In Mark 13:3-4, the disciples ask, when will this – the Temple's destruction – occur and the signs to look for. The disciples were not asking for clarification; they understood what Christ said about the Temple and Jerusalem. Christ explains what must occur – i.e., false messiahs, wars, famines, earthquakes, persecution, and his Gospel reaching the nations.
After Christ's ascension, some false messiahs mislead the people (Theudas, the sons of Judas of Galilee, and Bar Kochba). The years between Tiberius and Nero were peaceful. Still, we can presume that the Jewish people might have heard about the wars in Parthia (A.D. 36) or the battles between Antipas and the Nabataean King Aretas (A.D. 36-37). Likewise, we have recordings of earthquakes before 70 A.D.: Jerusalem (67 A.D.), Philippi (Acts 16:26), Pompeii (62 A.D.), and Asia Minor (61 A.D.). There was also a significant famine in 46 A.D. All of these signs are the beginning of the ‘birth pains.’ Finally, Christ tells his disciples to watch out for persecution from government and family (vv. 9, 11-13), and the Gospel is going to 'all the nations' (v. 9,10).
The disciples saw and lived through each one of those signs. What can seem unclear is the Gospel going to 'all of the nations,' and how/when this occurred. It "…seems to have been fulfilled at least once, given Paul's comments in Romans 10:18; Colossians 1:6, 23; and 1 Timothy 3:16, with 'preaching to all the nations' being equivalent to representative witness throughout Rome’s empire (the Greek oikoumene, often translated 'the whole world,' in fact regularly refeed to the known limits of imperial domination).”[3] This preaching of the Gospel to the then known world, according to Paul, was completed during his lifetime.
Fast forward to two thousand years after the destruction of the temple, and the Gospel has continued to spread to the farthest reaches of the globe. Millions of Christians have experienced what Jesus warned his disciples about. Having laid out our argument, how do we answer those who claim that this passage is about the Messiah's second coming? We cover this in Part 2.