Bible Study series: Mark 13:32-37. After he predicted his coming in judgment on Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple, he now reveals his final Second Coming, when the end of this age will happen. It’s been two thousand years (and counting).
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If you would like to see the original Greek, please click here:
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Let’s begin.
Scripture: Mark 13:32-37
32 “But concerning that day or hour—no one knows, neither the angels of heaven nor the Son, except the Father. 33 Watch! Stay alert! For you do not know when the time is. 34 It is like a man away on a journey who had left his house and given to his servants, each one, authority for his task and commanded the doorkeeper that he keep awake. 35 Keep awake therefore! For you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or in the middle of the night or at the crowing of the rooster or in the morning, 36 so that when he comes he does not find you sleeping. 37 But what I tell you I tell everyone: Keep awake!” (Mark 13:32-37)
Comments:
32-37:
Let’s take this passage as a whole.
This post has a companion piece:
Mark 13:5-31 Predicts Destruction of Jerusalem and Temple
If this post proves too complicated, go here:
Matt 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 (and 17) in Parallel Columns Are Finally Clear
Before we begin in earnest, let’s look at the most “stubborn” verse that appears in Matthew, Mark, and Luke in the same context.
Matthew:
I tell you the truth: this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. (Matt. 24:34)
Mark:
I tell you the truth: this generation will not pass away until all these things take place (Mark 13:30)
Luke:
I tell you the truth: this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. (Luke 21:32)
The phrase “this generation” is used fifteen times in the synoptic Gospels (including those three verses). In every case, the phrase is used exclusively of Jesus’ generation while he lived. It does not refer to our generation, 2000 years later. And the word “generation” in the synoptics is very often used of his generation (except, for example, in genealogies). If “generation” were to be translated as “race,” as some propose, then Jesus was declaring something vapid. Of course Jews would not pass away at the time he spoke. Instead, his prediction is about the timing, so “generation” is the right translation, as it is in nearly all other verses where it appears.
Now let’s go to the heart of the post.
Let’s compare Mark’s Gospel with Matthew’s on the topic of the Second Coming or Parousia (or “Arrival” or “Visitation”). Luke’s Gospel is not included because he goes in a slightly different direction and places his Second Coming passage in his Chapter 17. In contrast, Matthew and Mark place theirs at the same time and location, though Matthew’s eschatology goes on long after Mark wraps his up.
Both Matthew and Mark teach that the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple happened within the generation in which Jesus lived (v. 30 in Mark and v. 34 in Matthew). In their respective posts I have called this verse the most “stubborn” verse in the synoptic Gospels, because Mark and Matthew (not to mention Luke) seem to talk about far-reaching, end-time events, like the gospel going to all nations before the end, or the angels gathering in the elect from the ends of the earth, before v. 30 and v. 34 appear. I explain those events in each of their posts, but suffice it to say here that we must slightly reinterpret these events through the textual context, and then the stubbornness of those two verses evaporates. I can say here that Matthew focuses on the difference between the telos-end of the temple and the synteleia-end of the age. The gospel will go forth to the ends of their earth before the telos-end, which it did, in the first-century disciples’ knowledge of the whole inhabited world. Now the gospel is still going forth until the synteleia-end of the age.
For more details, click on:
Matthew 24:4-35 Predicts Destruction of Jerusalem and Temple
Bottom line: clearly in v. 32 Mark is changing the topic from the coming-in-judgment on the temple to the parousia or Second Coming or visitation to judge the world and put things right (cf. Matt. 24:36-25:46). In vv. 3-31 the temporal connections were clear: “then,” “in those days,” “immediately after,” and “it is near” (and so on). In contrast, in this second eschatological section there is no such temporal connections. In fact Jesus said that the disciples did not know when the time was. It will come when people don’t expect it. This absence of time markers in vv. 32-36 stands in stark contrast to the conspicuous time markers in vv. 3-31.
Not even the Son knew when his return would happen, but he predicted when the destruction would happen–within his generation.
For an answer to the question of why Jesus did not know the day or the hour, click on this post:
Why Didn’t Jesus Know the Day or the Hour of His Return?
“that day”: it is often used in both the OT and NT of the final day leading to judgment: you can look up the verses online but here are some references: Is. 10:20; Joel 1:15; 3:18; Amos 8:9; 9:11; Zeph. 1:10, 14; Zech. 14:4; Mal. 3:17-18. This is the first mention of a singular day or hour, in contrast to “those days” (vv. 17, 19, and 24) or the timeframe of the Roman war.
Jesus was answering two questions about the destruction of the temple in vv. 5-31. The most “stubborn” verse in the synoptic Gospel (v. 30) won’t allow interpreters to claim that some verses before v. 30 are about the Second Coming. No, it is about the coming-in-judgment on Jerusalem and the temple, which happened in Jesus’s generation. Though he died young, many who were alive when he was experienced the judgment in A.D. 70.
In this post, he does shift the perspective to the Second Coming, and it has no specific end-date or expiration date.
For clarity, here’s a short diagram to illustrate the questions and answer in vv. 5-31 and the flow of the whole Gospel:
First Coming → Resurrection → Coming to His Throne and then Judgment →End of the Old Temple
The end happened in A.D. 70, the generation that was living when Jesus taught in 5-31. His prediction came true.
For a fuller perspective from the beginning of Mark’s Gospel, here’s a diagram that lays out the Second Coming:
________________← This Age ⸻→| End of This Age
First Coming ⸻⸻⸻⸻→ Second Coming → New Messianic Age
In the second diagram, the First Coming (Jesus’s birth and ministry and crucifixion and resurrection begins the movement towards the Parousia or Second Coming. At the Second Coming the end of This Age occurs and the New Messianic or Kingdom Age begins in full manifestation. And you can certainly insert the judgment on the temple in This Age, shortly after the First Coming.
Let’s see if we can spot a consistent teaching in Jesus’s words in the Gospels and how it coordinates passages in the Epistles–just a few out of many passages.
Jesus focused on one idea in John 6:39, 40, 44, 54. In those verses he said that on the last day he will raise up (from the dead) everyone who believes in him. Once again, this resurrection happens on the last day. Emphasis added (my translation):
39 This is the will of the one who sent me: That everyone whom he gives me I will not lose any of them, but I will raise them up on the last day. (39)
40 For this is the will of my Father: everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. … (40)
44 No one can come to me unless the one who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. … (44)
54 The one eating my flesh and drinking my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (54)
Paul agrees with the idea of last day. In 1 Cor. 15:51-54 the Second Coming will happen at the resurrection of the dead at the last trumpet.
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality… (1 Cor. 15:51-54, ESV, emphasis added)
Those verses agree perfectly with Jesus’s teaching in John 6.
Further, in 1 Cor. 15:26 Paul said that the last enemy to be defeated will be death.
“The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26, ESV, emphasis added).
It’s hard to believe that death will still defeat people after an early rapture (before the Second Coming) and that God will need to “redefeat” death a “second first” time at his Second Coming! Too complicated! No, death will no longer defeat people only at the Second Coming.
Further, there is no intervening thousand-year age (a millennium), which appears only in a few verses in Rev. 20, the most symbolic book in the Bible. Even the numbers can definitely be symbolic, particularly when Peter writes, in the context of the Second Coming / day of the Lord (same thing) that a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is as a day (2 Pet. 3:8; see Ps. 90:4). In biblical idiom, a thousand years symbolize a long time. If Peter sees it that way in a nonsymbolic section of his epistle, then I can surely interpret the number “thousand” in Rev. 20 symbolically.
Next, here is the clearest teaching in the NT about the rapture, which means, in Latin, “snatching up” or “catching up” (Latin: rapto, raptura). In Greek, the language of the NT, the verb harpazô (pronounced hahr-pah-zoh) means the exact same thing: “snatching up” or “catching up.” In the next passage, the dead in Christ will rise first (cf. John 6:39, 40, 44, 54), which is also a kind of rapture, and then the clause “we who are alive” (Paul and the Thessalonians and now us) is linked with the rapture.
15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming [parousia] of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep [died]. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up [harpazô = rapture] together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thess. 4:15-17, ESV emphasis added)
That above passage coordinates perfectly with 1 Cor. 15:25, 51-52 and John 39, 40, 44, 54. To interpret 1 Thess. 4:15-17, the trumpet and the raising (a kind of rapture) of the dead and the snatching up (rapture) of the living occur at the same time and are the same event. And therefore the Second Coming and the rapture occur at the same time. Then we will descend with him to go through judgement and then they will be with him on the reconstituted and renovated and renewed and transformed earth forever.
Why will we descend with him to final judgment and then afterwards a renovated and reconstituted new heaven and new earth and not shoot back up into heaven and disappear for three-and-a-half or seven years? The Parousia (see 1 Thess. 4:15) by definition typically means arrival or being there. In its historical context, a parousia happens when a Roman dignitary, like a senator or even the emperor, arrived (parousia) in a Roman colony, e.g. Corinth or back to Rome. At his arrival (parousia), the dignitaries of the city went out to meet him, and they escorted him back into their city. Then they had feasts and games to celebrate his arrival (parousia). The dignitaries in the colony did not board the senator’s or emperor’s ship and abscond away for three-and-a-half or seven years.
Please see this post here:
So, to repeat, the rapture and the Second Coming are the same event and happen on the last day. See my post:
Rapture = Second Coming and Happens at Same Time, on Last Day
So what happens immediately after the Second Coming and the resurrection of the dead? Judgment of both the wicked and righteous, at the same time. Jesus says:
27 And he [the Father] has given him [the Son of Man] authority to pass judgment because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not be amazed at this because the hour is coming when those in their tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out: those doing good things to the resurrection of life, but the ones practicing wickedness to the resurrection of judgment. (John 5:27-29, my translation)
Matt. 13:39-43, 16:27, 19:28, and 25:31-46 also teach the judgment of the righteous and wicked at the same time.
What Will Heaven Be Like for You?
And so Jesus’s teaching is streamlined, consistent, and unconvoluted, without two “final” judgments or “several” first resurrections or a separate rapture and then the Second Coming. The Gospels and Epistles teach the same message and timeline of events. Neither Jesus in the Gospels nor his apostolic community in the Epistles taught complicated end-time scenarios, as popular prophecy teachers do today.
Fuller exegesis has now been moved to this post:
What Jesus Really Taught about End Times
I go into a longer analysis or exegesis of the Second Coming in Matthew’s Gospel, since he greatly expands on Mark’s short finish to his thirteenth chapter. Once again, Please see this post:
Matt. 24:36 to 25:46–From Second Coming to New Messianic Age
But in these eschatological (end-time) discussions:
“In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity (love).”
We should not lose fellowship with those with whom we differ in eschatological matters.
GrowApp 13:32-37
1.. The Second Coming can happen at any time! Be ready! So how do we get ready? Please study 1 John 3:3.
RELATED
10. Eyewitness Testimony in Mark’s Gospel
2. Church Fathers and Mark’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES
For bibliographical data, please click on this link and scroll down to the very bottom:
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 