I AM’s Inevitable (Mark 13:24-31)

Nomadic indian tribes called it “The mountain that moves.” They wouldn’t camp beneath its peak.^[1] English speakers in Alberta, Canada called it Turtle Mountain. Its layers of limestone are deposited nearly vertical, which geologists classify as “the ultimate in mountain instability.”^[2]

A major thrust fault runs through the mountain. Over the centuries, large surface cracks along the summit allowed water to pour deep into the Turtle to freeze, then thaw, ever-weakening the structure. This mountain was going to have a major rockslide. It was geologically inevitable.

That didn’t stop the town of Frank from forming at the base of Turtle Mountain. The settlers didn’t help matters. They mined deep into the mountain, further weakening its integrity. And so, by April of 1903 Turtle Mountain was “essentially standing up out of habit.”^[3]

The people of Frank built quite a little community for themselves. They built a resort around the sulfur-rich hot springs at the base of the mountain. They had two dry goods stores, two clothing stores, two doctors, two police officers, saloons, a theater, a schoolhouse, and some churches. They even boasted an insurance agent to cover their concerns. If only they had a geologist.

As the town grew, the mountain groaned. In the mines, the signs were clear. Coal was coming loose without any effort. Sixteen inch timbers used for stability were found twisted and splintered within a day of installation.

There was an old saying back then, “when timbers start talking, miners start walking.” Some miners saw the signs of what was coming and quit, preferring their lives to their profit.

The imminent disaster came with a speed and intensity that is hard to imagine. At 4:10am on April 29, 120 million tons of rock broke from the peak of Turtle mountain and slid into the valley below at 75 miles per hour. The wave of air pressure alone nearly tipped a steam engine off its tracks. Soil in the path of the slide liquefied. The sound could be heard 110 miles away in Calgary. In 90 seconds it was all over. 90 were killed in what became North America’s worst rockslide in history.^[4]

It was a terrible tragedy, but any geologist could see that rockslide was absolutely inevitable. Even without the mines, the peak was eventually going to come down. It was only a matter of when.

We’re studying the Olivet Discourse. It’s an important teaching from Jesus about the end of the last days, which we commonly call the Great Tribulation and Christ’s second coming at the end of those seven years.

Jesus’ emphasis in these verses is that His return is absolutely inevitable. In fact, it is the most stable and unshakable and bankable truth in the universe. Firmer than any mountain. More secure than our whole earth or the cosmos beyond. Because Christ’s words can never pass away. So let’s take a look at this mountain of a promise.

Mark 13:24-25 – ²⁴ “But in those days, after that tribulation: The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light; ²⁵ the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

The Great Tribulation ends with the greatest event of human history: The return of Jesus Christ. This is an obvious reason why we don’t believe that the destruction of the temple in 70AD fulfills the Olivet Discourse. Jesus did not return.

There are groups that say Christ already returned. The Jehovah’s Witnesses say it wasn’t a literal coming, but an invisible “presence” that occurred in 1914.^[5]

Maybe you’ve heard the term preterism or partial preterism or full preterism. It comes from the Latin word for “past.”. Full preterists say that Jesus already returned.

These verses make it very clear that there is no way a person could miss or misunderstand when Jesus really comes. All the universe will dim, like the house lights going low before the curtain rises.

And that’s an important perspective for us to have: The Great Tribulation, which culminates in the battle of Armageddon, is not the end of things. Jesus Christ is the Omega. He is the culmination.

The sun and moon are singled out in verse 24. Do you remember how the sun and moon are introduced in Genesis? We’re told God created the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night.^[6] But no longer. Once He returns, the Lord Jesus rules not just over the nations of the earth. He rules over all the universe. And in heaven, He will be our light. There won’t be a sun or moon, no night there, because the Lord’s glory will light up every place.

The stars falling from the sky could refer to celestial bodies being thrown off their normal course.^[7] Jesus’ words connect to Isaiah’s prophecies of this day, which says that the stars will dissolve and wither.^[8] All of creation will be breaking apart, held together only by God’s power and will.

Mark 13:26 – ²⁶ Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.

Everyone will see. You can’t miss it. But notice: With all that’s happening – the sun being wrecked, the cosmos dissolving, whatever other things will be happening with gravitational disruption – what will get people’s attention? Not the sun but the Son of God. All eyes will be drawn to Him.

There are many who say that Jesus never claimed to be God. It’s absolutely untrue. He definitely did. Read John 5. Read John 10. What Jesus says here is also a clear claim of divinity. This imagery of a powerful figure coming on the clouds was reserved for God in Jewish literature.^[9] This is an unmistakable claim that the Son of Man is God and Jesus has used that title for Himself many times.

Mark 13:27 – ²⁷ He will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

This isn’t suggesting that the Church will be left to endure the Great Tribulation. The Church will be removed before it begins in the event known as the rapture.

Scholars debate whether elect here refers to the Jews still alive or the people who became Christians during the Great Tribulation. The truth is, when Jesus returns, all Israel will be saved!^[10] Meaning the Jews that survive believe and become Christians. As Christ returns with His Church, He supernaturally gathers all mortal believers to Himself, no matter where they are on earth.

Here’s why these words are so precious: Not only does God rescue those who have been suffering so greatly for being believers, but He specifically talks about those who have been scattered away by the four winds. It’s not just poetic. It reminds us of the many times God told Israel that if they didn’t repent of their idolatry and wickedness, He would be forced to “scatter them to the four winds.” Jeremiah 18. Ezekiel 5. Ezekiel 17. And now, after those long centuries of scattering, the Lord brings them back by His power and mercy and grace. What a faithful God He is.

Mark 13:28-29 – ²⁸ “Learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹ In the same way, when you see these things happening, recognize that he is near—at the door.

Photos from before the Turtle Mountain disaster still exist. They show what are called “pistol butt” trees along the mountain’s eastern face. They were living signs of previous rockslides. The settlers could’ve looked to those trees and seen what was going to happen. But they ignored the signs.

And then the spring came. All that ice that was frozen in the joints of the limestone started to melt, like it did every year. Only this was the year, this was the spring when the disaster would happen.

Jesus shares a little parable here. In Israel, most of the trees were evergreen. The fig was an exception. In the fall, the fig trees lost their leaves. When those trees started to become leafy again, summer was just around the corner.^[11]

There was nothing you could do to stop or delay the arrival of summer. That’s what Jesus is saying. All these prophecies may seem surreal, even fantastic, but they are true and they are coming. It cannot be stopped. The Great Tribulation can be personally avoided if you will be born again before the rapture, but the events cannot be stopped. They’re coming like summer comes.

The fig tree was also commonly used in Jewish literature to symbolize the joys of the Messianic age.^[12] Now, it’s been quite a few weeks, but what else with a fig tree recently happened in Mark?

Just a day or two before this speech, Jesus came to a fig tree, found no fruit on it, cursed it, and it withered. That tree was a symbol of the nation of Israel, which rejected their Messiah.

For two thousand years, that fig tree was leafless. Fruitless. And yet, Isaiah prophesied:

Isaiah 27:6 – ⁶ In days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bloom and fill the whole world with fruit.

Ultimately, that looks forward to the Kingdom. But doesn’t it make our pulse quicken to realize that after nearly two millennia, Israel became a nation again. Today, Israel exports nearly $1 billion worth of fruit and nuts every year.^[13] That is not the final fulfillment of Isaiah 27. But it does cause us to think about that withered tree.

Jesus speaks to those in the Tribulation and He uses this image of being near, at the door, about to arrive. About to show up and come in. When He comes, He comes in wrath to destroy His enemies. To reap the earth in judgment. Did you know that He is still near and at the door, today?

Revelation 3:20 – ²⁰ See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

He knocks, hoping you’ll invite Him in to have a relationship with Him. To receive Him as Savior and Lord and King of your heart. In a sense, if you refuse to let Him in now, He will one day return with a warrant, not for your arrest, but for your eternal destruction.

Maybe you’re not a Christian. Maybe you don’t think any of this is going to happen. The citizens of Frank, Alberta didn’t think it was going to happen either. They lived their lives in spite of the signs and the messages. Most were asleep when it happened.

In this discourse, the Lord Jesus has been saying over and over again, “Wake up. Be alert. It’s coming.” And it is coming, whether you believe it or not. If you find yourself thinking you still have time to figure it all out, I understand. But I would plead with you the way Paul did to the Corinthians: “See, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation!”^[14]

Mark 13:30-31 – ³⁰ “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things take place. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

What does Jesus mean by this generation? That terminology causes some people to think He must’ve been talking about 70AD after all. The truth is, in the Bible, “this generation” can refer to someone’s contemporaries in their time, to all those living at a certain time, or even to a group descended from a common ancestor.^[15]

Jesus spoke these words around 30AD. That contemporary generation would see a partial, near fulfillment of some of these prophecies. The Jewish generation alive during the Great Tribulation will see the full and final fulfillment.

Meanwhile, Jesus makes another claim of deity here. He doesn’t say God’s words never pass away. He says MY words. Christ’s words are eternal, because He is eternal. And that means His word is never invalid. Never outdated. Never needs to be decontextualized for our modern understanding.

This is why we feel so strongly about centering our lives, our perspective, our choices, our church activities, our positions on the Bible. It is the Word of God. It will never pass away. So, we anchor our lives, our faith, our activity on the word. Not on culture. Not on trends. Not on emotions or experience. What does the Word say? The word says Christ is coming back again, that those who “love His appearing” will be blessed by God and that we can and should live in light of the certain, unstoppable, second coming of Jesus to earth.

As we close, one thought. We saw that one day everyone will see Jesus coming in the clouds. How do they see Jesus today? God makes Himself known to the unbelieving world by showing them the mystery of Christ in you, the hope of glory.^[16] They see Christ in you – a light shining in the dark.

Listen to what Paul said in Galatians 1:

Galatians 1:15-16a – ¹⁵ God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased ¹⁶ to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles

Christ revealed in you. And so tonight the encouragement is to live today and tomorrow not as Saul of Tarsus, kicking against the goads of God’s commands and callings, but as Paul, the messenger of the Gospel, spreading light and hope by the power of God’s grace.