Messianic Viewpoint

Guest (Female): Shalom and welcome to Shalom Ariel as we join Messianic leader Jacques Isaac Gabizon in our continuing message from the Gospel of Mark. We are now in our 78th sermon. Today we're going to hear how Yeshua sits on the Mount of Olives and explains to his disciples concerning the things to come, those things of the latter days. Sitting was an important position. It denotes judgment as we read from Matthew 19:28 when Jesus explains that in the regeneration, he will sit on the throne of his glory and the apostles will sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

There will also be judgment at the Bema seat or the judgment seat of Messiah. Now, while Yeshua sits on the Mount of Olives, we remember another time when he sat, just one chapter earlier in Chapter 12. So, let's see the contrast that is being brought out here. In Chapter 13, his disciples are pointed to the magnificent structures of the temple and those massive stones. If anyone had the opportunity to visit the Western Wall tunnel in Israel, they would see these massive stones and you would be greatly impressed.

However, Yeshua points to something that we all need to be aware of. Are we impressed by the beautiful stones of white marble, magnificent structures that give an aura of prominence, or are you instead touched by the humble and contrite heart of the widow back in chapter 12, who gave everything that she had to the service of the Lord, believing that he would supply for her even her daily bread?

What impresses us here is that Yeshua sat two times: watching the widow the first time, and he judged her heart, her actions, and they would be remembered for a long time, time immemorial. And then he sits again, looking through the East Gate from the Mount of Olives and he judges the heart of those who ran the temple. He judged the heart of men who rejected his love. Those temple stones would fall, but the widow's actions would stand the test of time. You and I, we are to cry out day and night, not so much for structures to stay erect, but for man to fall on his knees and stand on the rock of our salvation. Be blessed as you listen into today's program and Shalom.

Jacques Isaac Gabizon: And so as we're going to delve right away into the precious Word of God because the chapter we're about to cover is I believe one of the most important, so let us together say this ancient prayer: Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has given us the word of truth and has planted everlasting life in our midst. Blessed are you, O Lord, who gives the scriptures. Again, Shalom, Beth Ariel. Today we're starting a new section of the book of Mark. You can open up your scriptures to Mark chapter 13.

This is a chapter dealing with the end times and with one of the most popular subjects that is the end of the world. When would it occur and what would be the signs of the end? This topic and these questions have fascinated man since the very beginning. Throughout history, many have attempted to come up with details and even dates. Multitude of visions and dreams have been recorded, so many books written. But what makes our text, our section today most exceptional is that these predictions have been given directly by Yeshua himself.

This chapter of Mark 13 is like a hub of biblical prophecies in that Jesus gathers the many sayings of the Hebrew prophets and those of the New Testament prophets and wraps them together. With that important baseline, he then adds some great and new information along with precious advice and guidance covering the period of time from the moment actually he uttered these statements to the time of the second coming. So these prophecies concern actually every believer from all times.

Technically speaking, do you know that the end times have already begun when Yeshua's kingdom's offer was officially rejected by the world with his resulting sacrificial death and resurrection? And as for the signs of this kingdom's age, this chapter will lay out for us. These have been clearly seen throughout these last 2,000 years with a marked increase in intensity, especially these days. A key term that we find in Yeshua's explanation of the end times is found in the Hebrew Scriptures and profusely in Jewish writings and also in verse 8.

In verse 8, when after listing the main signs, Yeshua says these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. The term 'birth pangs', one word in Greek and in Hebrew, conveys an increase of the number of signs and an increase in strength and intensity until he comes back. And this intensity can be seen and even felt growing in our planet today. So much so that even the scientific world has joined the prophets of the Bible to warn us of the impending wars and natural disasters ahead.

As for these signs which accompany the body of the Messiah throughout the ages, Yeshua lists four of them in Mark 13. We can briefly sum up these before we look at them in more details. First, there will be and there is the appearance of false teachers who are here called false messiahs or false Christs. Why? Because they tend to replace and take Yeshua's position of authority. These will increase with time. And this prophecy by itself, the first sign of the end time that Yeshua chose to announce, encourages us to stay close to him.

Close to his people, for false Christs will try to isolate every believer and redefine some major doctrines as Yeshua said that they would even lure even the elect. This is in verse 20. Second, we will hear about the emergence of wars and rumors of wars. These have already been there, but as history testifies, these wars have markedly increased especially since the return of the Jews into their own land in Israel. Not too long ago, and as we can see it in the first and the second World Wars, which preceded the return of the Jews by three years.

The return of the Jewish people to their land was a major trigger to initiate the last part of the end times. Third, there would be natural disasters such as earthquakes in various places. These also were always from the beginning and today we realize their presence even more with new technologies which allow the scientists to daily count them and measure them. But the Bible speaks of major earthquakes that are to come, accompanied by other destructive natural disturbances such as, for instance, hailstorms and floods in some cities. In the same time, dryness in other cities. We today can already feel these birth pangs with the world's climate changes.

Fourth comes what usually follows the first signs, that is famines. Wars, natural disasters, and especially man's growing coldness of heart, which is also another sign, will cause not only spiritual but physical famine as well. And after these four signs, in Mark, Yeshua gives so many details concerning the moments just preceding his second coming. Moments of such great intensity, a time of which he himself said and even quoting Daniel in verse 20, unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved.

This statement is one of grace, I want to tell you, and it comes after God has given man the will to steer this planet and the outcome is self-destruction. So much so that Yeshua will come to stop it. And when considering all these predicted calamities, we may also ask why does God allow such difficult times to linger and eventually to increase in such a force? It is because he desired that every human being comes to a saving knowledge of Yeshua after seeing all those many signs around us, clearly proving that man cannot make it by himself.

Every sign, every fulfilled prophecy is a call to salvation, a signal of grace. These birth pangs then become an indication of a new life to come, a new era of peace and harmony with God. This is what we are to look at. After all, these times, those explained here for us are very short. Daniel speaks of only seven years. John speaks of 42 months or 1,260 days, and each day, each hour is counted and will not go beyond these times. But the new life in Yeshua is forever and ever. That is why God takes so long to resolve the problem of evil. Come to me, he says, because will come a day when man will not have this choice.

And how then should we today in the face of these increasing signs, how should we be? How should we act? It seems that this is Yeshua's main concern in these prophecies. The feeling that one gets when reading all these powerful prophecies is that Yeshua is much more concerned about how we live and how we grow in our sanctification than all these details that are given. For instance, throughout this chapter, there's one thing that Jesus repeats over and over as he speaks to every believer. He gives what we may call the 12 warnings of Mark 13.

It is all about how we respond to these signs. He warns us of the coming of those many false teachers. He tells us in verse 4, see to it that you are not misled. He is so concerned for our spiritual growth and walk on the narrows. He spoke of wars and rumors of wars. He tells us in verse 7, do not be frightened. God is always and will always be sovereign and even more at such a time when danger lures over his lands. We need to trust him.

And he asks us in verse 9 to be on your guard always, for we ought to do our part of fighting. And he adds in verse 11, do not worry, he says. For every day, we ought to run to him for faith and strength in prayer, in his word, in fellowship, and always with a servant's heart. In verse 21, we see him always concerned to see if one lamb might fall into the mouth of these deceptive teachers. And so he says, don't believe them. Check them out.

And towards the end, even his warnings intensify. In verse 23 he says, but take heed. In the same verse he says, behold, I have told you these things. And again in verse 33 he tells us, take heed. In the same verse he adds, keep on the alert. And in the next verse 34 he adds, stay on the alert. And again in the next verse 35 he says, be on the alert. And again in verse 37, the last verse, his last word in the prophecy, be on the alert. You see how he repeats it? We can see through the strength of these repetitions that Yeshua is really concerned for each of us and that everyone who belongs to the family of God is called to action, to search, to know, and to increase in his or her relationship and knowledge of God and especially in these times because the attacks are fiercer.

Let us now look at the text itself and begin our journey into this truly wonderful chapter. Here begins the longest speech given by Yeshua in this book of Mark. Let's read the opening verse: As he was going out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. After that Yeshua and his disciples had left the temple for the last time, by the way, they went on the adjacent mountain, that is the Mount of Olives. And from there, they had a complete and breathtaking view of the temple and of Jerusalem. Very much like you have it in this picture, except for the Dome of the Rock, which was built 700 years later.

And as they were facing the temple mount, this is when the disciple asked Jesus to notice the majestic and beautiful temple and buildings around it. The Greek literally says: what stones, what buildings. And indeed, these must have been wonderful for even history testifies that people were taken by this temple. The Talmud records one saying that whoever has not seen the sanctuary in its construction has never seen a magnificent building. Its fame was even recognized around the world. Josephus, the first-century historian who lived at about the same time, compared it with other temples and said: It was the most admirable of all the works that have been seen or heard of, both for its impressive structures and magnitude.

And there's a legend also in the Talmud which says that Herod originally intended to cover it with gold, to cover every stone with gold, but the rabbis advised him not to do so, since it was most beautiful as it was, looking like the waves of the sea. Because it was constructed in such a way, Josephus also tells us that this temple appeared to strangers—and I quote—when they were at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow. For as those parts of it that were not gilt, they were exceedingly white. Does that remind you of something? It already looked like the new Jerusalem, it was built to look like it. And it is at this point that Yeshua comes with what must have been a shocking statement. See verse 2.

And Jesus said to them, Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down. How could such an imposing structure be destroyed so that not one stone will be left upon another? And see how Yeshua brings our attention to the stones themselves, for they were very impressive. According, again, to Josephus, who wrote so much about the temple and its destruction because he was actually present then, some stones were impressively large, 11 meters or 36 feet wide, and a height or breath of about five meters or 16 feet.

11 meters is a standard telephone pole height, but imagine it being five meters wide and each weighing about 10 tons. How did they know, by the way, how to move these stones, actually putting them one on top of the other? But here they were, one on top of the other, as if nothing could move them. But Yeshua prophesied that there would come a day when not one stone would stay upon another. This must have stunned the disciples, for it was not only the temple's physical structure that was imposing, but much more. It was even bigger and more glorious in the mind and the heart of the people, for it represented the dwelling of God. It was actually the soul of Israel.

They thought that it was indestructible, perpetual, eternal. And did you know that when Yeshua spoke these words, Herod's temple was not yet completed? They were still building it and Jews from all over the world were sending money for the maintenance as well as the building of this temple. Its construction actually began 50 years earlier, in 20 BC, and was completed in 64 AD. Do you know it was just six years before it was completely destroyed? As if it was built to be destroyed like anything else where God is absent.

So the destruction was total. When the temple was destroyed in 70 AD, the Romans first burnt it with fire and then removed stone by stone so that the temple itself was completely taken apart. There's a legend, by the way, which says that because the fire was so strong, you know that the gold inside the temple melted and began to infiltrate into the many crevices between the stones, and so the Roman soldiers removed stone by stone to pull out the gold.

Josephus tells us again that the reason behind the complete destruction of the temple was actually the Roman soldiers' anger. He speaks of their anger. And anger that he could not explain, for indeed I want to tell you there's a spiritual side to it. And some of these fallen stones belonging to the temple are also visible today and they are standing as a testimony, by the way, of the judgments of God. You know, if you go to Israel—and I want to tell you, it's only recently you would see them—only recent excavation below the temple mount that we see these stones which were thrown down from the top of the wall. This coincides with a growing intensity of those signs to the end times.

Israel, I want to tell you, is not only the center of the world as God situates her in Ezekiel, being like an indicator of our planet's condition. But even inside the country, these historical relics are a testimony of God's existence and presence, a holy God who will not tolerate sin for long, as these stones actually testify. However, along these fallen stones, there are some structures from the temple area that came down to us intact, and these also stand as a witness of history. While everything in and around the temple was destroyed, actually four structures were left intact.

After the war of 70 AD, Josephus tells us that part of the Western Wall and three high towers were left intact. He explains that the well-known Western Wall was left standing for the protection of the soldiers who camped under it. While Josephus says that three of the towers were left standing to show the previous beauty of Jerusalem, they must have been there for the same reason: for the protection, of course, of the soldiers. And for the upper part of the Western Wall, there are if you look at it about 46—or exactly 46—layers of stone, but only 29 of them are visible to us.

This is what we see in the picture. The remainder 17 layers are underground and only the first seven above-ground layers are from the time of Herod, and those at the bottom. One can see the different layers even in the picture itself. But it extends down. When one visits the Western Wall tunnel right under the Western Wall, we can see these huge and impressive stones. The tunnel, which we will visit in our next trip to Israel, contains the biggest stone in the Western Wall called the Western Stone, which is about 13 and a half meters long or 3.5 to 4.5 meters wide, just about the same measurement that Josephus wrote down 2,000 years ago.

As for these towers, two of those towers disappeared with time. And a third one, known today as the Tower of David, is still standing in Jerusalem. While the upper part was redone many times, the base of it exposes the stones Herod used to build it. It was then believed to have been the Phasael Tower. Phasael was Herod's brother; this is why he built it. However, it was only in the fifth century in our era that the Byzantine Christians believed the site to be the place of King David and so they named it the Tower of David. The name was taken from the book of Song of Songs when the King says to his wife: your neck is like the Tower of David—something you should not tell your wife, by the way. But towers, actually these two towers are unrelated.

So what we have today are stones over stones in the Western Wall and some are visible at the base of today's Tower of David dating from the time of Herod. But now there's a dilemma, an apparent contradiction that we ought to consider that many use actually to attack the validity of the New Testament. If Yeshua said that not one stone will be left upon another, how come today we see some stones dating from this time being still one on top of another? Most scholars resolve this problem by saying that the Western Wall and also the Tower of David were not part of the temple structure, so they are not part of the prophecy.

However, there are those modern scholars who say otherwise. They conclude that since the word 'buildings' is in plural in verse 1 and 2, these very structures were indeed visible from the Mount of Olives and they were to be included in the prophecy of Jesus. And of course, many have jumped into this to say that the prophecy is false and unreliable. But I want to ask you something. Is it possible that the existence of these stones dating from Herod, once which lie are still lying on top of another, may just prove that the prophecy of Yeshua has not yet been completely fulfilled?

There will be one day that all of them will stumble down, but we've not come to that day yet. After all, I want to tell you, most of the prophecies in this chapter are still future. For instance, no one has yet seen the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory as we read in verse 26. Not every eye has seen him come in glory. The condition of this world has yet not moved to such a restoration. Also, Yeshua mentions the last abomination of desolation to occur in history before his second coming. One prophecy that requires the rebuilding of the third temple, which needs to be built soon for these prophecies to come about.

And so the words of Yeshua—not one stone will be left upon another—may indicate the future aspect of the prophecy. And so the existence of these stones also speak of the truth of prophecy and of his soon coming. The temple, again, the third one, will need to be rebuilt. It is needed for many other prophecies again to be fulfilled, such as the abomination of desolation and the measurement. John measures that temple in Revelation 11. But every one of the stones of this coming temple will one day be removed. It will be destroyed to leave room for the temple of the millennium, prophesied by Ezekiel.

And so when you see these huge stones dating from the time of Yeshua still standing today, they attest of the ongoing prophecy of Yeshua. And his words—one stone over another—brings us to the future as they do that, they also recall the past, even the first moment, the moment when the first stone was laid on this temple. And it brings us back to this moment with the prophets, just like the prophet Haggai and the others. You know back to this time, a similar expression was used as Haggai the prophet was sent to encourage the Jewish people to build the temple back in 515 BC.

The Lord spoke through him and asked the Jewish people to remember the difficulties of the past history, and listen to what he says to them: But now, do consider from the day onward, before one stone was placed on another in the temple of the Lord, God says. Here the Lord is asking the Israelites to reflect, to think about the reason why they had so much hard times, so much trouble in history, and to do that before they placed one stone upon another. As to stress the fact that the temple building will stand only on their willingness to follow and obey the Lord.

From verse 15 to 18 of Haggai chapter 2, three times the Lord asks the Jewish people to reflect, to think, to meditate in their relationship with the Lord. However, after that some 500 years have passed and after the Messiah presented himself to them, they did not follow the Lord's advice and so Yeshua uses the same words: Not one stone will be left upon another. Why? Because you did not follow the word of God. The connection is strong. Remember the words of Solomon in Psalm 127. He says: Unless the Lord builds the house, the labor is in vain.

If one removes God from a home, from a marriage, from a work, from a business, things will not be as good as they should be. And so just this part of the scripture speaks volumes about putting our priorities at the proper place. Considering the huge and wonderful temple, we can say that no earthly monument can replace the reality of eternity in heaven and none can mimic the magnificence of God, which the Lord is ready to reveal to those who call upon him even now.

Guest (Female): Shalom Ariel is a daily radio program emphasizing the Jewish perspective of scripture. God is not through dealing with Israel, nor will he renege any of the promises he has made to her. Our teacher for this program, Jacques Isaac Gabizon, is a Messianic Jewish believer and Messianic leader at Beth Ariel congregation right here in Montreal. If you've been encouraged by the messages, we'd love to hear from you. Give us a call at 1-888-685-5902 or you may write us at info@bethariel.ca. That's B-E-T-H-A-R-I-E-L all one word. You are also welcome to join us for our Saturday morning services.

We are located at 6297 Monland Boulevard, corner of Madison in NDG. The message is given in English, but we do offer simultaneous translation into French and Russian. Services begin at 11:00 AM. We have Shabbat school for children of all ages up to and including teens. You may also download audio messages from our website at bethariel.ca and enjoy other in-depth teaching from Jacques Isaac. If you would like to sign up for informative newsletters, log on to our website and add your name to our email list. Shalom Ariel is a listener-supported program. If you have it on your heart to donate, it will be a great blessing for the continuing ministry and outreach of Beth Ariel. Thank you and Shalom, Shalom.