Mark 13

Mark 13 is the thirteenth of the sixteen chapters of the Gospel of Mark. Following Mark 12, in which Jesus teaches in the temple courts, Jesus leaves the temple and speaks of its destruction and of the last days. The chapter is commonly called the "Olivet Discourse" (the extended teaching Jesus delivered on the Mount of Olives), and it stands immediately before the Passion narrative that begins in Mark 14.

Outline

• Verses 1–2 As Jesus leaves the temple, one of His disciples remarks on the magnificence of its buildings, and Jesus declares that not one stone shall be left upon another.
• Verses 3–4 On the Mount of Olives, Peter, James, John, and Andrew ask Him privately when these things will happen and what sign will accompany them.
• Verses 5–8 Jesus warns against deceivers who will come in His name, saying, "I am Christ." Wars, earthquakes, and famines, He says, are only the beginning of sorrows, not the end.
• Verses 9–13 Jesus tells the disciples that they will stand before councils and synagogues, rulers and kings. The gospel must first be published among all nations; when they are brought to trial, it is the Holy Spirit who will speak; and he who endures to the end shall be saved.
• Verses 14–23 When they see the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not, those in Judea are to flee to the mountains. Jesus then foretells a tribulation such as has never been nor ever will be, and warns them not to believe false Christs and false prophets.
• Verses 24–27 After changes in the sun, moon, and stars, the Son of Man will come in the clouds and gather His elect from the four winds.
• Verses 28–31 Jesus gives the parable of the fig tree. He adds that this generation shall not pass until all these things be done, and that heaven and earth shall pass away, but His words shall not pass away.
• Verses 32–37 Jesus says that only the Father knows that day and that hour. Through the parable of a householder who leaves for a far country and assigns work to his servants, He repeatedly urges, "Watch."

Key Verses

• Mark 13:10 "And the gospel must first be published among all nations." — This saying, which places the proclamation of the gospel before the end, is frequently cited in discussions of missions.
• Mark 13:26 "And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory." — A text on the Second Coming that draws on the vision of the Son of Man in Daniel 7.
• Mark 13:32 "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man." — Widely cited as grounds for cautioning against attempts to calculate the date of the end.

People and Places

• Jesus — teaches about the destruction of the temple and the last days.
• One of the disciples — the disciple who points out the temple buildings; he is not named in the text.
• Peter, James, John, and Andrew — the four disciples who question Jesus privately on the Mount of Olives.
• Temple in Jerusalem — the temple of Jesus' day, greatly expanded by Herod.
• Mount of Olives — a mountain east of Jerusalem, facing the temple.
• Judea — the southern region of Palestine, including Jerusalem.

Points for Reflection

• Because the destruction of the temple and the end of the world are interwoven within a single discourse, interpretations of this chapter differ.
• A number of interpreters connect the earlier portion, especially verses 14–23, with the Roman capture of Jerusalem in AD 70, and read verses 24 and following as referring to the Second Coming.
• Preterism (the view that most of these prophecies have already been fulfilled) reads most of the chapter as referring to the events of AD 70.
• Dispensationalism regards verses 14–23 as describing a future Great Tribulation.
• "The abomination of desolation" is an expression found in Daniel 9, Daniel 11, and Daniel 12. It has been variously interpreted as the desecration of the temple by the Syrian king Antiochus IV, the Roman army, or a future Antichrist.
• The phrase "this generation" in verse 30 is likewise understood in different ways: as Jesus' contemporaries, the Jewish people, or humanity as a whole.
• The words "neither the Son" in verse 32 have long been discussed in Christology in relation to Jesus' humanity (His human nature).
• The same discourse also appears in Matthew 24 and Luke 21.

In the Korean Church

• In the early 1990s, when predictions of the Rapture on a specific date became a social problem in Korea, verses 32–33 were widely cited within the church community to refute date-setting prophecies about the end.
• The Revised Common Lectionary (a table assigning Scripture readings according to the church year) appoints 13:24–37 as the Gospel reading for the First Sunday of Advent in Year B.