Mark 13:21-27 - The Coming of the Son of Man

We are in the middle of Jesus’s so-called Olivet Discourse and we are looking for signs of the times—the end times—but so far we aren’t finding any. Jesus began by naming a lot of things that were not signs. Then he gave them an actual sign, but it was a sign pointing to the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, not a sign of the end times like we think of them. Almost everything in this chapter, in fact, finds its fulfillment in 70 AD. Almost. But I explain that in the sermon.

One of the things Jesus does here is employ apocalyptic language. He borrows from the vocabulary of the Old Testament prophets and describes what is going to take place in those terms. This apocalyptic language is often misunderstood in our day.




Before we can properly interpret any writing we must try to place ourself in the writer’s shoes, understand who his audience is, and take into account any way of speaking he may have employed. The problem we run into with a passage like this in our modern American context is that we seek to interpret apocalyptic language as if it were modern and western. It wasn’t, and attempting to do this only leads to misunderstanding. This, too, is explained in the sermon.

I’m also going to explain how Old Testament Israel represents us, how the age we live in is the age of the Messiah, and how verse 26 probably does refer to the second coming of Christ (something which is typified in his coming in judgment against the temple in 70 AD). So click 5e link below and have a listen! It’s probably unlike any take on this passage you’ve ever heard before, but it’s really nothing new in the history of Christian teaching. God bless.


Click here: Mark 13:21-27 - The Coming of the Son of Man


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