Mark13:24-37
Introduction
The trouble with the way we keep Advent these days is there is too much “Ad” and not enough “Vent”! The word advent means to come towards from the Latin advenere but in our age the ads say it all – buy, buy, buy, spend spend spend – where is the veneration? Where is that sense of gestation and eager longing that Deborah spoke of last week? I suspect part of the problem is that we are looking the wrong way – we are looking towards the past not the future. Most people’s perception of Advent is that it is a season of preparation for Christmas – celebrating an event that took place some 2,000 years ago. Of course it is right to do this, to re-enact and re-appropriate the glorious truth of God with us, however what is being anticipated in this case is simply a celebration of a past event. I suspect this is why it feeds so strongly into the nostalgia industry.
If we want to truly capture the sense of longing and anticipation then I believe we should look to the future, to the second coming of Jesus. This is one of the core beliefs of our Christian faith yet even in this season of Advent it is often neglected and lacks the impact on our discipleship that it should have. Many of us shy away from trying to understand this doctrine, partly because it is a fertile ground for heresy and geeks! Today I want to look briefly at this passage from mark’s Gospel to note what Jesus taught concerning His return. Three words beginning with “C” speak of what we can know about the return of Jesus and one with “T” that we don’t know.
Cosmic
Elsewhere Jesus warns against people who say that His return has happened here or there – make no mistake about it, when Jesus returns to earth it will be unmistakable. Quoting here from the prophet Isaiah Jesus speaks of the sun, moon and stars, not to mention the heavenly bodies all being affected. There is similar language found in Ezekiel, Joel and Amos emphasising not so much the total disintegration of the known universe rather the totally devastating, universal, inescapable reality of the Day of the Lord.
Critical
When Jesus comes again to this earth it will be as judge. The day of the Lord is often referred to as Judgement day. The other week we saw this in the parable of the sheep and goats. In this passage Jesus speaks of the “Son of Man” (code for himself) coming in great power and glory, sending his angels to the ends of the earth to gather in his elect.
Certain
Make no mistake about it, this is going to happen. Jesus tells his disciples to learn from the fig tree – you know that when it starts sprouting summer is near, so also when we see all these things happening we know that Jesus is on his way. V.30 is problematic – this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened. The simplest way to look at this is to either interpret “generation” or “all these things”. This generation could just as equally mean race or people or even everyone who has lived since Christ. Cf the generation since Adam. Alternatively all these things could be just those elements referring to the fall of Jerusalem as in the earlier part of the chapter. My own view is that in prophetic writing the foreground and distance often become telescoped. There is no doubt that the generation which was alive when Jesus lived on earth saw the fall of Jerusalem and all the terrible events associated with it however there is more to come.
Timing
This brings me to the final word which is the one thing we don’t know about the return of Jesus – when. Only the Father knows this. There have been many false prophecies about this and there will no doubt be many more. Don’t be deceived.
Application
In the light of this teaching Jesus tells us to be alert, be on our guard and keep watch. Somewhat reminiscent of the preaching we had from 1Tim the other week. Are these the words that characterise our observance of Advent?