When you look at a mountain range from a distance, you probably see a number of peaks and they probably appear to all be very close together. They might even look right next to each other. And yet, as you get closer and closer to the mountain peaks, you usually find that they are actually very far apart, maybe many miles away. You see, perspective is everything, and sometimes looking at two different things from far away, they can look much closer than they actually are.
I bring up this simple analogy because in our passage for today we have a lot of prophecy about the end times. And this prophecy is in one sense about the destruction of the temple. But in another sense it’s about all the tribulation leading up to the end when Christ returns. And yet the prophecies in this chapter, to a certain degree, seem to bring these events together, all in close proximity to each other. And yet we know from history that the temple was destroyed all the way back in 70 AD. That’s almost 2000 years ago, and the end has not yet come. You see, a very simplistic reading of this prophecy could lend you to think that the end should have already came back in 70 AD. But, that would be too simplistic of an interpretation.
Passage: Mark 13
Author: Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
Sermon originally preached during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 12/28/2008 in Novato, CA.
Click here for the manuscript.
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