The thirteenth chapter of Mark and the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew are difficult to understand, because they seem to bunch together Scriptures that were fulfilled within the course of the generation in which Christ prophesied them, and to also focus upon the generation in which we are living. A two thousand year jump can take place between one sentence and another.
In Mark 13:17, 18, Jesus said of the destruction of Jerusalem, “Woe unto them that are with child and those that nurse babes. Pray that it may not happen in the winter.” The abomination of desolation (verse 14), also spoken of by Daniel the prophet, may refer to days of the fall of Jerusalem, but there are certain parts of this passage which beam it to us today. We can’t say they belong to 70 A.D., because these things did not happen in 70 A.D. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light. This is speaking of a day which belongs to the end-time manifestations and phenomena.
And the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken. And then they shall see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. (Ah, now we understand what it is talking about.) And then He will send forth the angels, and will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest end of the earth, to the farthest end of heaven. (This rather explodes the rapture theory.)
Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you know that the summer is near. Even so you too, when you see these happening, recognize that He is near, right at the door. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Mark 13:24–30. He is nailing it down. This is all to take place within the scope of one generation.
That doesn’t encourage me, it frightens me. To think that when this gospel of the Kingdom is turned loose, all of the end-time events will be the accompaniment. Have you ever watched a movie and noticed that when the chase comes there is always adequate music, the William Tell Overture or something? Whatever is on the screen has its accompanying music. “I’m going to turn the heavens, and the stars will be falling, the sun will be dark, and the moon will turn to blood before that great and terrible day of the Lord comes” (Verse 24). “This gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness, then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14).
Does it frighten you? We will have some beautiful accompaniment to what we are going to be doing. We will be moving through periods of judgment and tribulation while the Lord is moving. And then He will come in His great revelation, the gathering of all His saints in heaven and on earth unto Himself. The Scripture makes this so obvious. How can we look at it any other way?
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. Mark 13:31–32.
Now that clarifies something to me. When these Scriptures were written, the Holy Spirit brought forth revelation which could not possibly have been pinpointed as to when these events take place. Matthew 24 and Mark 13 mix the prophecies of the Christian era from beginning to end because there was no way to distinguish them. You could not say, “This one happened at 70 A.D.; this will happen in the 1970’s or 1980’s,” because no one knew the day nor the hour: not even the Son of Man knew. It was knowledge which had been reserved in the heart of the Father.
The New Testament was written under the anointing of the Holy Spirit Himself: men were writing, but they could not possibly have been able to say, “Well, don’t worry about it. It’ll be another thousand years or more,” for they didn’t know. No one knew the day nor the hour.
But as we are aware of the times and the season, we are still not talking about dates. The Scripture talks about manifestations which are taking place and trends that finally come to pass. “Of the times and seasons you are not to be ignorant, brethren” (I Thessalonians 5:1). This describes our outlook. We don’t know the day nor the hour, but we are looking back now over a long period and can see that from verse 26 on it belongs to our generation, because we see the signs being fulfilled.
Even the Apostle John, of all the people of the world who have read the Scriptures and been moved by them, knowing it could be imminent, knowing that no man knew how soon it would be, cried out, Even so, come Lord Jesus! Revelation 22:20. How he yearned for the Lord to come to the Isle of Patmos in the hour of his banishment. He was persecuted and harassed; “Oh, even so, come Lord Jesus.” But it wasn’t the mind of the Lord to come then.
Men have cried and prayed, “Oh, Lord Jesus, how long? How long? Ere we shout the glad song, ‘Christ returneth, Christ returneth, Hallelujah! amen.’ ” Yet, we know that the day is drawing near, because more and more of the signs and the seasons are coming to pass.
What manner of men and women ought we to be in this generation? We ought to arise and throw off everything of darkness. We ought to rebuke everything of unawareness in our spirit. We ought not to walk through this tremendous day of destiny, when the focus of the Father is upon human events, unaware. As the wind-up of all things through His Son is coming to place, and all creation is being loosed from its futility, and the sons of God are emerging, we must forget everything else that is nonessential. We ought to devote ourselves wholly to the will of God in this hour.
Take heed, keep on the alert—you do not know when the appointed time is. It is like a man on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert. Therefore, be on the alert—for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, at cockcrowing or in the morning. Mark 13:33–35.
We went through the evening, and we went through the midnight during the great recession in the Dark Ages. The cockcrowing came; before the dawn you could hear the first sounds, almost like a trumpeting. We heard those voices for a long time; you heard slowly at first: Luther, Svengali, Knox, Wesley. The cocks were crowing, “There is a day coming.” We are believing for the morning, and now the Spirit gives a song: “It’s the Dawning of Thy Kingdom.” We are constantly singing about the dawn.
“Well, we don’t know the times.” No one knew when it would be, but He didn’t make provision for anything more. The morning is coming and with the morning comes the Lord. Therefore, watch, … lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all, “Be on the alert!” Mark 13:36–37. (“Watch,” is the word in the King James Version.) Watch.
Let’s take a similar passage. Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing. I Thessalonians 5:1–11.
Why is sleepiness talked about so much in the Scripture concerning the end time? Why does it constantly say, “Now don’t be asleep. Be alert, wake up”? The reason is, there is an almost hypnotic force which is lulling people into a state of insensibility. You can stop and sense the way events are going, and yet people can’t be bothered too much right now. “Oh well, so the dollar is being devaluated and we’re having problems all over the world; so what if there are long range missiles poised to wipe out every city in the United States? Ho-hum…” They read the news and fall asleep on the paper. People aren’t very concerned or worried about what is happening around them.
But we are not asleep; we’re not supposed to be asleep. And we’re not talking about physical sleep; we are talking about people’s spirits being asleep. For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says, “Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:8–14.
Now, the thought is: awake from sleep and arise from the dead. It is as if when your spirit is asleep it is death, spiritual death. We cannot afford to be numbed in our spirits. Our spirits must be continually alert, reaching unto God. Of course, if your spirit is asleep, you still could be very active and energetic physically. People who are dead in trespasses and sins can spend Sundays in a mad pace, pursuing after pleasure and lust; expending more effort on Sunday than they spend all week long working on the job. How madly they pursue after their pleasures. It’s an illusive thing they’re trying to catch, but they are dead.
You and I are not dead; we are not asleep. They are physically active but spiritually dead. God help us to be spiritually alert, mentally alert, physically alert; help our whole being to be sanctified wholly in an alertness and readiness, standing like bond servants waiting for the Master to return. In no way can we let the stupor come over our spirits that is a part of the world’s system. In no way can we allow anything of the world to haunt us and to get to us.
Wake up! Awareness comes with being awake. Become aware of what is going on around you. When you are asleep, you’re not aware. When you’re asleep many things could happen; the thief could come in, rob you, and leave; you wouldn’t even know what had happened. But when you are awake you see the enemy. You can do something about it.
We should not be asleep to world affairs either. When Christians take the attitude, “Well, we can’t do anything about it; who could win an election anyway? Who could change it,” they are thinking of what they could do on a natural plane. They are trying to think of something that will be effective enough to turn the tide. Their effectiveness will be limited, because they will not be able to turn the tide thinking like that. The one thing a Christian can do is arise in the spirit and begin to rebuke and bind the forces of evil. We can hold this old land steady so that Old Glory will be flying when the millennium comes. It can be done in the name of the Lord.
I think we need that deep dedication in our heart to stand in the gap. The Lord said, “I looked for an intercessor, but there was no one to stand in the gap” (Isaiah 59:16). God wants this; He delights in mercy. He delights even when the hours of judgment are proclaimed; He wants someone to come and entreat Him that He might turn away His wrath and might bring mercy. Even if this country is scheduled for God’s wrath, God could turn the trend for His glory and praise through a remnant that would believe.
Awake; awake; awake to the conditions and the signs; but don’t be filled with despair, because that means that your awareness is limited. If you are aware of the need but you are not aware of His provision, you are still dead; you are nowhere, like many of the people in the world who are aware of the conditions but don’t know what to do about them. We can do something about the conditions if we are aware of the tremendous authority that will rest upon the saints of God. We are His people. We can pray and things can change. It does not take many; it just takes a little remnant to change the course of the whole world.
Do you realize that the judgments still don’t need to happen?
“But you’ve been preaching it. It’s inevitable, it’s necessary.”
It still doesn’t really need to happen. There still can be a people who believe God and say, “Lord, these Scriptures were given, but look what happened in 70 A.D. and count that a fulfillment. Let that satisfy Your heart.” We can say, “Lord, change this judgment. Fulfill it in the spirit world on devils and principalities and powers.” I am not so sure that everything has to be a hard and fast fatalism where God is concerned. I believe events can be changed. If the Lord sent angels down to visit Abraham and tell him that He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, and then listened as Abraham interceded, “Lord, if I found fifty righteous people there would You spare it,” God will listen to intercession again. God’s intent and purpose was to swallow Sodom and Gomorrah, to burn it up. Abraham pleaded for fifty people and he kept whittling it down. “Ten? Five?” He couldn’t even find five righteous people in those cities. He should have gone down to one. I believe God would have spared the whole populace if there had been intercession for the one. But as it was, God still made a provision to bring the one (Lot) out.
I’m not so sure that we have to be fatalistic about this day either. I’m not so sure that America has to go through as much of a purge as is prophesied and revealed. I believe that a remnant could change it. I believe God is waiting to change the destiny He hides in His heart, the inevitable thing; He can change it and it will not be inevitable any more. I think we are still limiting God if we don’t believe, “All things are possible to him that believes” (Mark 9:23).
This is a time to be alert. You ought to be working using those wasted hours through the week to enter into the intercession. We can break through if we could have intercession around the clock. God wouldn’t look upon our frailties; He would look upon this prayer. I believe God wants to turn an avalanche loose. Nothing could stop it. We need the prayer, and we need the diligence.
We ought to pray for the young people more. We ought to pray for the Kingdom enterprises. Let’s see them really amount to something. We can all do better.
Lord, gear us. Awake, thou who dost sleep; get rid of the cobwebs. Lord Jesus, we need Your help. We want to wake up. We want to be alert. We want to walk with God, today, right now. We want to meet You at the Communion altar. We want something in our hearts that is searched out by God and we want the last reservations to go. They must go in the name of the Lord. We claim it now.
Lord, we’re going to be a free people. We are not going to lie with our talents dormant. When the Lord comes we are going to say, “Look what Your ten talents did, Lord.” We’re going to go out and barter and do the business of the Kingdom. We are not going to look upon any endowment that God gives us as being limited. His endowments are going to be a potential that will grow and expand.
This word God is giving is a part of the walk; it is cut out of the mountain without hands and is going to grow until it fills the whole earth (Daniel 2). This word is part of the Kingdom that is coming. Therefore, we can believe God to bless it and let it constantly grow everywhere. Let it invade every realm of human life; let it invade every nation on the face of the earth.