Mark 13:14-23

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

The Olivet Discourse Continues

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. There will be a future Tribulation.

  2. There will be a future Temple.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Let's try to understand prophecy.

QUESTIONS

  1. Why did the Lord give the Olivet Discourse?

  2. What did the Lord speak about in the first part of the discourse ? (Mark 13:1-13). What is the topic of Mark 13:14-23?

  3. Is the Tribulation taking place now? Or, will it be in the future? Will Christians go through the Tribulation?

  4. Which three books of the Bible (mentioned in the tape) underscore the Tribulation?

  5. Is "Jacob's trouble" a time of trouble for Jewish people only?

  6. To what does the abomination of desolation refer? What does it signal? Does this event lead in gradually, or is it sudden?

ANSWERS

  1. To answer to the disciples' questions about the future, or the end times.

  2. Signs that would lead up to the end times. The topic in Mark 13:14-23 is some of the signs of the end times.

  3. The Tribulation will be in the future. There are persecutions that have taken place in the church, and even today are taking place, but the Olivet Discourse speaks of the Great Tribulation, yet in the future. On the basis of Scripture, we believe that the church (the body of Christ) is preserved from the Great Tribulation, having been raptured out of this scene before it begins.

  4. Daniel (9 and 12), Jeremiah (30:7) and Revelation. This is called "Jacob's trouble."

  5. No. It is a time of judgment for the whole world. See Revelation 6:8 and 9:18.

  6. It is the setting up of an idol or of himself as God by the Antichrist. He is referred to as the man of sin, the son of perdition. He opposes and exalts himself above all that is known as God and of the temple of God (see 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). It signals the beginning of the Great Tribulation. Leading up to this point there will be the first three and one- half years of Tribulation, but the setting of the abomination of desolation in the temple is a sign of the beginning of the last three and one-half years of the Great Tribulation. This sign will come suddenly. It will be so sudden that the believers in Jerusalem are urged to flee immediately; they are not to return home; they are to pray that their flight will not be in the winter.

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. Make it a point to study biblical prophecy concerning the Great Tribulation. Read the passages listed in the answer above.

  2. Determine to study more about the Rapture.

CHALLENGE

KEY VERSES

  • "Let the reader understand." (Mark 13:14) "Take heed, see, I have told you all things beforehand." (Mark 13:23)

Mark, Talks, New TestamentDeb HarmsMark 13:14-23