Passion Week ~ Tuesday (continued)

In our last post, we continued to examine the final days of Yeshua’s life and ministry. In this post, explore Yeshua’s answer to the talmidim question on when the Temple will be destroyed from Mark 13:4. Yes, we are still on Tuesday, BUT…

Discourse on Future Events ~ Part 2

Yeshua’s Response to the Talimidim’s Question

⁴ Yeshua replied: “Watch out! Don’t let anyone fool you! ⁵ For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. ⁶ You will hear the noise of wars nearby and the news of wars far off; see to it that you don’t become frightened. Such things must happen, but the end is yet to come. ⁷ For peoples  (ethnic groups) will fight each other, nations will fight each other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various parts of the world; ⁸ all this is but the beginning of the ‘birth-pains.’

The notion that the Messianic Age will be ushered in with a series of convulsions in history referred to as the “birth pains” is familiar in rabbinic Judaism. The “Messianic Age” refers to the period after Yeshua’s Second Coming (see v. 30), when He will establish peace among the nations and fulfill the prophecies of Isaiah 2:1–4.

⁹ At that time, you will be arrested and handed over to be punished and put to death, and all peoples will hate you because of me. ¹⁰ At that time, many will be trapped into betraying and hating each other,

Deuteronomy 32:36 states: “Yes, Adonai will judge His people, taking pity on his servants, when He sees that their strength is gone, that no one is left, slave or free.

The phrase, “when he sees that their strength is gone,” means that the people of Isra’el will be at the mercy of informers. Then, God will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants by redeeming them through the Messiah, the Son of David.

¹¹ many false prophets will appear and fool many people; ¹² and many people’s love will grow cold because of increased distance from Torah. ¹³ But whoever holds out till the end will be delivered. ¹⁴ And this Good News about the Kingdom will be announced throughout the whole world as a witness to all the Goyim. It is then that the end will come.

As Yeshua’s talmidim, we probably undergo intense persecution and destruction before He returns. As Believers, we already see that in our woke culture.

¹⁵ “So when you see the abomination that causes desolation spoken about through the prophet Dani’el standing in the Holy Place” (let the reader understand the allusion),

When Antiochus IV (“Epiphanes”) conquered Yerushalayim in 167 BCE, he erected an altar to Zeus in the Temple. 1 Maccabees 1:54 and 6:7 refer to this as fulfilling Daniel’s prophecy, but Yeshua points to an additional, future fulfillment.

¹⁶ “that will be the time for those in Y’hudah to escape to the hills. ¹⁷ If someone is on the roof, he must not go down to gather his belongings from his house; ¹⁸ if someone is in the field, he must not turn back to get his coat. ¹⁹ What a terrible time it will be for pregnant women and nursing mothers! ²⁰ Pray that you will not have to escape in winter or on Shabbat. ²¹ For there will be trouble then worse than there has ever been from the beginning of the world until now, and there will be nothing like it again! ²² Indeed, if the length of this time had not been limited, no one would survive; but for the sake of those who have been chosen, its length will be limited. ²³ “At that time, if someone says to you, ‘Look! Here’s the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ don’t believe him. ²⁴ For there will appear false Messiahs and false prophets performing great miracles—amazing things! – so as to fool even the chosen, if possible. ²⁵ There! I have told you in advance! ²⁶ So if people say to you, ‘Listen! He’s out in the desert!’ don’t go; or, ‘Look! He’s hidden away in a secret room!’ don’t believe it. ²⁷ For when the Son of Man does come, it will be like lightning that flashes out of the east and fills the sky to the western horizon. ²⁸ Wherever there’s a dead body, that’s where you find the vultures.

Wherever there’s a dead body, that’s where you find the vultures. Birds preying on carrion seem to refer here to persons used by demonic spirits to carry out evil purposes; they gather around false messiahs (corpses) and draw people away from the truth. Scholars surmise that Yeshua is quoting a folk proverb.

²⁹ “But immediately following the trouble of those times,
the sun will grow dark,
the moon will stop shining,
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the powers in heaven will be shaken. (see Isaiah 13:10, Haggai 2:21)

³⁰ “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, all the tribes of the Land will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with tremendous power and glory.

All the tribes of the Land will mourn. Zechariah 12:10–14 refers to the day when the people of Isra’el will mourn over God, who has been pierced, as they would mourn over a firstborn son.

³¹ He will send out his angels with a great shofar, and they will gather together his chosen people from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Shofar, “ram’s horn,” or, loosely, “trumpet.” The ram’s horn is blown at the Jewish High Holy Days season, one hundred times on Rosh-HaShanah (New Year), also called the Feast of Trumpets; and once at the end of Yom-Kippur (Day of Atonement). Judaism also understands that blasts will announce the Day of Judgment on the shofar. Ten Tanakh verses mentioning the shofar are recited in the Rosh-HaShanah synagogue service.

³² “Now let the fig tree teach you its lesson: when its branches begin to sprout, and leaves appear, you know that summer is approaching. ³³ In the same way, when you see all these things, you are to know that the time is near, right at the door. ³⁴ Yes! I tell you that this people will certainly not pass away before all these things happen. ³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. ^[1]

In our next, we continue to follow Yeshua into Yerushalayim for His Crucifixion by the end of the week.

Click here for the PDF version.

^[1] Mattityahu 24:4–35.​