A brief overview for Sunday school teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s lesson of Mark 13, for Sunday, November 5, 2023. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

This is an exciting lesson on the return of the Lord; I have several stories and illustrations from history for some of the points in this lesson I hope might be useful to you, and a couple of discussion questions that can help you and your group to apply the lesson in some specific ways this week.

INTRO:  You could talk about the recent events in the Middle East, and how many believe that what is happening there is a sign that we are nearing the end. Then say something like, in our lesson for today we will study what JESUS says about His return!

OR: You could share/ask your group to share some time when you were watching and waiting for someone to come:

FOR EX: one of my very first memories is of going to my grandma & grandpa’s house in California for Christmas as a young preschooler. I remember being in the spare bedroom, and it was late Christmas Eve, and I lay in bed, looking out the window, at the lights of the planes going by, and wondering if one of them was soon going to be Santa’s sleigh.

(If you felt led to, you could also use the illustration of General MacArthur saying “I shall return” to the Philippines that I am planning to use to close this lesson, as an introduction. See that at the end of this overview.)

Whichever way you choose to open the lesson, then you can say something like, our passage for today in Mark 13 talks about how we are all waiting for JESUS to return!

CONTEXT (a little longer today because it really sets the table for our focus passage)

Jesus and His disciples are in Jerusalem — our last lesson was His cleansing of the Temple.  Chapter 13 now opens with Jesus and His disciples leaving the Temple, and His disciples point out the Temple buildings to Him

But in :2 Jesus says “Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.” (This is a great lesson in itself: we want to build our little “kingdoms” here on earth, but Jesus says nothing is going to be left here — not even the Temple! Don’t build for this life; build for eternity in Heaven). 

That the Temple would be torn down was earth-shaking to the Jews; they were all about the Temple; they considered it the dwelling place of God on earth, and here Jesus was saying it would be completely torn down.

So in :4 they ask Him when this will happen — and Jesus begins what Bible scholars call His “Olivet Discourse” (because they asked Him this as they sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the Temple). He spoke to them about the events of the end, and His return:

— He told them in :7-8 that there would be “wars and rumors of wars” and “nation would rise against nation” but, He said these “are merely the beginning of birth pangs.”

— Then in :9-13 He talks about how they’ll all be persecuted for being His followers, but this persecution would give them opportunities to be witnesses for Him.

— In :14 He tells them of “The Abomination of Desolation” that would come, when everyone should flee, because it would usher in a time of persecution and tribulation. (Many believe this was fulfilled in 70 A.D. when after a Jewish revolt, the Roman Army under Titus besieged Jerusalem, eventually breaking into it, burning the city, and leveling the Temple. Historians tell us more than a million Jews were killed in this war!). So this is indeed very much like what Jesus predicted here. But many believe the 70 A.D. event foreshadows another, final event just like it, before Jesus’ return. 

— Either way, in :21-23, Jesus warns His disciples NOT to be deceived by false Christs. He said in :21, “If anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘Behold, He is there’; do not believe them. 

He says in :23, “I have told you everything in advance.” 

This brings us to our focus passage, in :24-37:

OUTLINE

I. The Visibility of His Return  (:24-27)

II. The Certainty of His Return  (:28-32)

III. Being Ready For His Return  (:33-37)

I. The Visibility of His Return (:24-27)

Verse 24 says “After that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light (:25) and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken. (:26) Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. (:27) 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.”

There are a lot of details here, and points you can make but I think one of the most important points Jesus is making here is, that you are not going to have to wonder if it is really HIM when He comes. Remember, He had just given them the warning: don’t believe these false Christs, and so on. It’s in THAT context that He says all these signs will take place, and “THEN they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.” 

So His point is, you’re not going to miss Him when He comes. His return will be very obvious. If you remember our study in II Thessalonians some time ago, Paul wrote to the church there and said in 2:2 don’t be disturbed by a message as if from us that the day of the Lord had already taken place — and that they had somehow missed it. He said, it’s not going to happen until these things take place. (You might re-read that II Thessalonians passage to review for this week).

But the point is, you’re not just going to “sleep through” the return of the Lord. He’s not going to just show up in a hidden corner of the world somewhere and we not know it. Like He says in :21, if they say, “Hey He’s over there”, don’t believe it. 

Matthew 24:27 includes Jesus’ words: “Just as the lightning comes from the east, and flashes even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.” In other words, it is going to be very obvious to you when He comes! He’s not “sneaking back”!

In Acts 1, Jesus was lifted up into the clouds as He was leaving His disciples, and two angels told them: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” Jesus left dramatically in the clouds, and He is going to come dramatically in the clouds. You aren’t going to miss Him! 

Our Sunday School class has a running joke, about how a few months back, one of our members told us that there was going to be a rocket launch in the sky one night, and that we should all stay up up to watch it. So a bunch of us did, and we were all talking on our group chat (which is a great thing to have for fellowship in a Sunday School class, by the way! Set up either a group text, or group Facebook Messenger chat, or GroupMe app, or whatever. It’s great to get class information out to everyone on — but our group also enjoys the constant fellowship we get on there, talking about what is going on in our lives all week. That particular night we were talking about seeing that spacecraft.)  So we all stayed up watching for it — but we didn’t see anything. Well, we found out later, the flight had been cancelled! Then he told us it was supposed to be another night, and a bunch of us stayed up again, and supposedly there was something up there somewhere, but most of us couldn’t see it. We all laugh about it and give that member a hard time. 

But the thing is, it is NOT going to be that way with the return of Jesus. He is going to come with all the dramatic signs that these verses indicate; like “lightning that flashes from the east to the west” across the sky like Jesus said in Matthew 24. You’re going to know it when He comes! 

And :27 says when He does come, He will gather His people “from the farthest end of the earth.” As I Thessalonians 4:17-18 says, “Thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore COMFORT one another with these words.” For the one who knows Jesus, this IS a comfort. For the one who does not know Him, it should be terrifying!  (You may want to SHARE THE GOSPEL HERE)

II. The Certainty of His Return (:28-32)

(:28) “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. (:29) Even so, you too, when you see these things happening, recognize that He is near, right at the door.”

Jesus says when you see the signs happening that He was talking about, you know that His return is near.

??? For a discussion question, you could ask your group: ???What do you think are some indicators today that the return of the Lord could be soon???

(People may mention “wars and rumors of wars,” just like Jesus said in :7, and so on.
Of course, these have been around for centuries. I was reading in a biography of Napoleon that many people in his day thought HE was the Antichrist; many thought Hitler was the Antichrist. In almost every age people have believed they were close to the end — so we need to exercise a little humility! BUT we do have something today that they did have in these other ages, and that is the nation of Israel. That they have gathered back to that Promised Land, and established a state there, after 2000 years, is nothing short of miraculous!  I know some people say, “That Israel is not the theocracy of old.” But you can’t tell me that this people gathering back together after 2000 years is not God’s doing. Especially when we have scriptures like Romans 11, which talks about how a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, and then all Israel will be saved. God is gathering His people back. This is something that has NOT been in place in Napoleon’s time, or Hitler’ time, and it indicates that we are indeed closer to His return. 

HOW close, only God knows, as we shall see next:

Jesus promises in :30, “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”

A surface reading of that verse might seem to indicate that Jesus was saying that the generation they were living in, would not pass away until He returned. That was obviously NOT His meaning, because it didn’t happen.

So what DOES it mean? There are several possibilities:

— One is that the word “generation” can also mean “race.” (You may see that in the notes on the verse in some of your Bibles.) So He may be saying that this “race” of the Jews will not pass away, despite all the persecution, etc., until all these things take place, and He returns. Miraculously they have not, of course, passed away before His return.   Some also believe that it means the “generation” of the Church, that those saved and consisting of the Church Age will not pass away until they take place.

— Others believe that by “these things” Jesus just meant the events of 70 A.D, and the destruction of Jerusalem, but not necessarily His return. The wording of Matthew 24:3 leans us toward this, as there the disciples actually asked Jesus 3 questions after He told them about the destruction of the Temple: “When will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” So when Jesus said “this generation will not pass away until all THESE THINGS take place, He meant only the answer to the first question, “When will THESE THINGS happen?”, referring to when the Temple would be destroyed — which DID in fact take place right about 40 years later — so there is much to commend that view. 

— OR He could be referring to the end times fulfillment of those events in the land that the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. only foreshadowed. The generation that sees these final things happening that Jesus describes here, will not pass away until all these things take place. It’s not going to drag out. Once it starts, that generation will see it finish. This makes sense also.

Those are some suggestions; you may know or read other possibilities. 

Whatever He means, one thing is certain, it WILL happen!

Jesus said in :31, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.” He says, this WILL happen! Count on it!

But then He adds in :32, “BUT of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”

Some people have a problem with this: if Jesus is God, how could He not know when He was going to return? 

But Jesus limited Himself in a number of ways when He came to Earth. This is evidently one of the limitations that He temporarily submitted Himself to. 

The application for us is: Only God knows when Jesus will return. 

We need to remember this. 

??? Have you ever read or known of someone who believed they knew when Jesus was going to return???

— When I was pastoring my first full-time church in Oklahoma City in the 1980s, I got a little book in the mail: “88 Reasons Why The Rapture Will Be In 1988”, by Edgar Whisenant. I don’t remember what all his “88 Reasons” were, but he had them all spelled out, indicating that Jesus would return during the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah in 1988. Of course, it did not happen!

— In the 1800s a preacher named William Miller predicted that Jesus would return on October 22, 1844.  Thousands of people believed him; many sold all their possessions in light of it. But the day came and went, and historians call it: “The Great Disappointment”! Miller went on to teach that he had been mistaken, and that what Jesus really did that day was begin to cleanse the “Heavenly temple,” we just couldn’t see it. The Seventh Day Adventist Church arose out of this Millerite movement. 

History is FULL of people who wrongly predicted Jesus’ return. So let that be a lesson to us: DO NOT claim, or believe someone’s claim, to know when the Lord is returning. Don’t add your name to the list of those foolishly claiming to know the time of Jesus’ return. Mark His words here:  No one knows except the Father!

III. Being Ready For His Return (:33-37)

Jesus said in :33 “Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come. (:34) It is like a man away 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. (:35) Therefore, be on the alert — for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning — (:36) in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep. (:37) What I say to you I say to all, ‘Be on the alert!’”

Jesus says here, Be ready for My return! You do not know when it will be. And in a way, not knowing is a test for us: how will we live, if we are uncertain about when He is coming, or if He seems to be delaying. 

My first job as a teenager was as a stocker and grocery sacker Country Boy store on 29th Street  outside of Harrah, Oklahoma. Our manager, Mrs. Barbara, told us she didn’t want us just hanging out at the front talking to the cashiers all the time. She said: if you are not sacking a customer’s groceries, you should be cleaning and stocking the shelves, dusting the cans, and straighten the stock on the shelves. Always be busy. Some time late in the afternoon she would leave her office for her home, and the employees would be unsupervised. But from time to time, Barbara would come BACK to the store in the evening, unannounced. If you were just standing there talking, you felt so ashamed, and might also reprimanded by the manager. But if you were dusting those shelves and putting up those cans when she came in, you would feel so good: you were found DOING what she’d told you to do, when she came.

Many of us have probably been in situations like that: when we were told to wait, and either did, or maybe did NOT do what we supposed to do. You can share my grocery story if you’d like, or share one of yours similar to that — or ask your group if they have one to share. 

But make the point: this is how it will be at the return of the Lord. Jesus is coming back. And He’s given us instructions about what He wants us to do until He comes. We want to be found living for Him, and doing what He told us to do, when He comes.

??? You might ask your group at this point: WHAT are some of the things Jesus commanded us to do until He comes?

— Matthew 28:18-20 make disciples of all nations, baptize, teach

— Acts 1:8 be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth

— In Matthew 24’s version of this story, Jesus says He tells the slave to “give them their food at the proper time” — we can compare that to teaching and sharing God’s word.

— I Peter 2 says we are to “follow in His steps” — do the things that Jesus would do here on earth. 

So many things like that … The point is, let’s be found by Jesus doing what He told us to do, when He comes. Just like my manager at Country Boy, we’ll be really glad if He finds us so doing — and very ashamed if He does NOT!  

YOU COULD CONCLUDE the lesson with this next illustration (or as I mentioned, you could use it as an alternate opening, or somewhere else in the lesson as you are led:  

One of the most famous “returns” in all of history was that of U.S. General Douglas MacArthur to the Philippines in World War II. When the war began, MacArthur and his army were defeated by the Japanese and the general had to leave the Philippines in March of 1942. From his temporary refuge in Australia he promised: “I shall return.”   Almost exactly three years later, in March of 1945, MacArthur DID return to the Philippines, wading ashore with the returning American army. They took this famous picture of his return, which gained world-wide attention: In a U.S. cruiser, MacArthur had returned, just like he promised, and waded ashore.

But one day, JESUS is going to return, just as HE promised. And He’s not going to be arriving in a U.S. cruiser, and wade ashore! The Bible says He will come on the clouds of the sky, in power and glory. We need to watch for Him — especially in these days, as we see the signs of His return drawing near — and most importantly, we need to LIVE in a way that is ready for His return — and try to make sure that others are ready for Him too.

As a closing application you might ask your group:

— What would YOU personally need to do, to be more ready for Jesus’ return than you currently are?

— Who do you need to pray for, that THEY might be ready for His return too?

Let me add this: people have a LOT of different beliefs about how the end times events will unfold, but as Baptists, we’ve never made a specific view of the end times a test of fellowship — in other words, we don’t fight and divide over our beliefs about the end. There are a lot of details, and lot of opinions about it. But I love our Baptist Faith & Message statement on the end times: “God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end.” That leaves a lot of leeway for different viewpoints about the end. So don’t be too adamant about your personal viewpoint, and try not to let others force their views on the end either. I think we’ve seen from history that we all need to exercise a little humility about it! What we DO need to believe is also in the next part of our BFM statement:  “According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth.” THAT’s what we have to believe; He IS returning, personally and visibly! But as the statement says, it’s “in His own time, and in His own way.” I think that’s a great statement that we can all agree on — and you might plan to share it at some point in the lesson this week.

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