Mark 13:3  And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,
4  Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?
5  And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you:
6  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
7  And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.
8  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

Jesus began this text in the beginning of this chapter. The disciples were quite impressed with the temple. Jesus shocked them by stating that what they were impressed with would be completely destroyed. Now four of the disciples came to Him privately for more information.
In verse 4 we have the context of their question. Most people ignore this question and then they come to completely wrong conclusions regarding what Jesus declared. The disciples asked: 1) when shall these things be; 2) what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled? When we allow God’s Word to speak, we avoid going the wrong way.
We noted yesterday that the temple that the disciples were impressed with was destroyed in 70 A.D. There are too many people who assume that the Tribulation began at that time. The book of Daniel tells us that the Tribulation will be the “seventieth week” of God’s prophetic timetable. It will be a seven year period of time. We are coming close to two thousand years since 70 A.D. We are not in the Tribulation time now. We must keep the Bible as our authority when we study It. We cannot ignore one passage to make another one agree with what we want.
In verse 4 Jesus warned of a very common problem we face. The Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, lawyers, Herodians, the chief priests were all deceivers. They had made it their goal to keep the people in their clutches. In order to do that they had to develop their corrupt teachings. Jesus warned the disciples not to be deceived. We learn here that it is possible for a true disciple to be deceived. We are reminded of the necessity of true humility that understands that we cannot rely on our own “intelligence” to determine truth.
Deception is a problem now, and it will be a greater problem during the Tribulation time. We must remember that at the time of the “rapture” there will be no true church left on this earth. No Godly individuals will be on this earth when the rapture takes place. God will raise up the hundred and forty four thousand and the two witnesses after the rapture takes place. The antichrist will be active in making himself the focus of man’s attention. At the midpoint of the Tribulation, he will try to force all humanity to accept him as God.
Jesus began here with the fact that there would be many who would come and claim to be Christ. Christ is the name that speaks of Jesus as the Messiah, the anointed One of God. At Jesus’ baptism, God spoke and declared Jesus to be His beloved Son. There is only One true Messiah. Jesus warned that there would be many who would declare themselves to be Christ and they would be successful at deceiving many.
That was true in the first century and it is certainly true today. Man is still a creature with a desire to worship. In recent times, I have read several articles that claim that many North American people are converting to Islam. I have also read of Muslims who are seeing visions of Jesus and supposedly converting to Christianity due to these visions.
The Bible is still the Word of God. During the Tribulation people will see visions and dreams. The Tribulation time will be a time of great deception. Those who are claiming visions and dreams today are not receiving them from God. Jesus is talking of the Tribulation time here.
The Tribulation will also be a time of great unrest. There will be wars and rumours of wars. Again we know there have been wars all through history. The Middle East is a powder keg just waiting to blow. There will be unrest in that area until the Lord returns. The war between Russia and Ukraine is also continuing. These current wars are reminders of bigger trouble that is coming, but we must understand we are not living in the time of the Tribulation now. The devil has been quite successful in getting people to dismiss the actual time of the Tribulation by suggesting that what Jesus is warning of here is already happening. God does not want us to be asleep. He wants us to be aware of what is happening and what time we are living in.
The Bible declares that the antichrist will come in pretending to be a peace maker. He will be the ‘master’ deceiver. Jesus reminded the disciples that we cannot look at ‘signs’ to determine the time.
Throughout history there have been nations that have risen and fallen. There have been alliances formed and alliances that have fallen apart. Right now there are alliances forming that are interesting to watch. Jesus warned that these things would not indicate the end had come. People assumed WWII was the end. We know that was not the end. What is happening now is a warning that peace and stability can only come through knowing the Lord Jesus Christ.
There are divisions and hatred between people groups. Jesus also reminded the disciples that there would be earthquakes in various places. We have heard of earthquakes in various places as well. This is also common but it is not the end. There are parts of the world where there are famines. Others parts have more than is needed and governments are trying to alleviate the famines through aid that is often not well received. These will also be greatly increased as the Tribulation time begins. That is what Jesus is warning of here. Jesus reminded the disciples that these things He had mentioned were the beginning of sorrows. Things would become much worse during the Tribulation time.
Lord willing we will continue this tomorrow. The point that Jesus was making is the need to know the truth now. The disciples needed to be trusting in the truth. That is still true today and for any generation. It is important to know the truth. The truth shall make you free. Deception is very common now. We have warned often about that. Most people ignore the warnings. They love the deception because it agrees with their lost spirit. Truth is never determined by feelings. Truth is facts. A key indicator of where you are at is what do you do with the Truth. If you love the perversions, you have a major problem. If you can tolerate the religious organizations that use perversions and the ‘worship teams’ you have a problem. Your heart is not right with God. Don’t be deceived. Humble yourself and talk to someone who actually believes in the Word of God. Your eternal destiny depends on you believing the truth. Be sure you are in the Father’s hand, and not in some deceiver’s hands.
Pastor Bartel