I just saw something in Mark 13 about when Christ will return that I have never noticed before!
But wait…let me build the anticipation here. Jesus is talking about the last days. He tells His disciples “don’t get too excited when you see wars breaking out and the earth sending signals that something is out of balance. In fact, before that you will be persecuted, and people will become famous saying that they are me when they really aren’t. And when all those things have happened, the end hasn’t arrived yet.”
So the order so far is: the disciples (and Christians in general) will be persecuted and put to death, then false prophets and teachers appear, wars will break out, then the earth will begin doing crazy things, and all of this will go on for some time. Okaaaay. That’s all happened. That is literally a summary account of what has been going on in recent history, right up to the present time.
In verse 14 Jesus says “when you see the abomination that causes desolation” standing in the holy place, “run and don’t look back”. He references Daniel in this phrase in both Chapter 8 and 9. It seems that Chapter 8 has already been fulfilled, when Antiochus offered a pig on the altar in 168 BC, providing the motivation for the Maccabean revolt. Now, just because it was fulfilled once doesn’t mean it doesn’t have additional meaning and significance for the future. The first fulfillment could be a foreshadowing of the next. The next time the phrase is used is in Daniel 9, where he is talking about end times. Hang on now, because this is where I get to pretend I am really smart:
In ancient times, if you wanted to refer to “7” of something, you could call them a “week”. Think of our term “dozen” for 12. So when Daniel says “there are 70 weeks, or 62 weeks” he is actually saying “70 sets of 7”. The only reason that’s important at all is because of the break in Daniels calendar. God told Daniel that there would be 70 sets of 7 years before the end. That time is broken into three stages. 1. 7 sets (49 years) 2. 62 sets (434 years) and 1 set (7 years). Shortly after Daniel sees this vision, the people are allowed to leave Iran (Persia) and return home to rebuild the temple. Guess how long that took? 7 sets of seven. Yup, 49 years. And then, 434 years later…ta dahhhh…Jesus appears in a manger in Bethlehem. If you look closely at Daniels prophecy in Chapter 9, you will see that he doesn’t give any length of time for the Lord to be with us. There isn’t a line that says “Jesus will be with you for 4 and 1/2 sets (32+ years). And, there isn’t a line that says “after Jesus returns to heaven, there will be “XX” number of sets until He returns.
That’s the break in the calendar.
The next measured period of time begins when the Anti Christ brokers a peace agreement between Israel and the rest of the world. Guess how long the peace agreement is for? 1 set. 7 years. After the break in the calendar, He violates his own treaty when it’s half completed (3 1/2 years). At that time, he puts an end to the sacrifices, and puts something (most likely an idol) in the holy place. The idol he erects is the second “abomination that causes desolation”. So for 3 1/2 years this anti Christ looks good, then the whole thing goes south and he reveals himself.
By the way, since he puts and end to sacrifices, and since sacrifices can only be made in the temple…..there will have to be a temple erected on the temple mount. (There isn’t one there today).
are you ready for what I saw today that I hadn’t noticed before? In Mark 13:24 it says “after the calamity of those days” Jesus will return in the clouds and the angels will collect the chosen ones from all over the earth. Could it be that this is the “rapture” we always talk about? Matthew 24:40 combines this event with two working and one being taken…
Catch this: I noticed the word “after”. I looked it up in several different translations, and in every one it says that Jesus returns “after” the tribulation, or the calamity. The description given sounds like the rapture, and it seems from this reading that the rapture takes place after the tribulation. Wow.
continuing to ponder what God has in store,
PR