Birth Pains

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

BIRTH PAINS

Mark 13:1-8

13:1 As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!" 2 "Do you see all these great buildings?" replied Jesus. "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."  3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 "Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?" 5 Jesus said to them: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 6 Many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and will deceive many. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.

NIV

We are still in this same narrative about the temple stones and when it will happen and that the disciples have asked what are the signs that all these stones will be thrown down. These prophetic words of Jesus have been seen as the end times by some and they have yet to be fulfilled, but will surely be. However, the historians such as Josephus have depicted all this as already occurring in the years following the ascension of Jesus. There was a period of great violence within the Roman Empire and four Emperors in a short period of time were murdered by dissidents within the empire. It is recorded that at Caesarea the Jews and the Syrians battled over the rights to the city and twenty thousand Jews were slain. Nation was rising up against nation. It is also recorded that the earth was shaken violently and many cities were overthrown, even Colossae was mentioned. However, there is something else that we need to tend to. There is far more that Jesus tells them that will happen, and our historians have been able to enumerate them as having happened in the years prior to AD70 and the following years. However, Jesus also tells his disciples something later which would indicate that all this is still in the works because he says, "At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. This is after he says more about what to expect that we will also get to. What bothers us is that so many of our scholars have taken the view of the historians and see all this as already happened and thus it would appear we have nothing to look forward to, for they have also explained away some bright light in the sky and that before sunset, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding the cities and a great noise, as of the sound of a multitude, was heard in the temple, saying, “Let us remove hence”. Was that Jesus coming in the clouds with his angels for the elect? Then we have nothing to live for, it all has been done and is over and we are all left on our own. But we know that does not fit into all the scripture. We know that some men, even scholars, and historians are like the Sadducees and do not believe in the resurrection, so they explain away everything that points to there being a resurrection of believers. Jesus has not yet come back for us, and he warned his disciples that many would come claiming to be him. But they have never come from heaven nor have they taken anyone back up into heaven, to that place that Jesus has prepared for us and promised that there were many rooms in his Father’s house and that if he went and prepared this place for us, that he would come back from heaven and take us to that place. This has not happened yet, and thus all the things that Jesus prophesied about are still on the events yet to happen. We can be sure that as long as man lives on this earth there will be wars and rumors of wars, and there will also be earthquakes happening and many have happened in our lifetime. There have been great times of famine, even here in America. We have seen the pictures of people standing in soup lines and farmlands barren because of great dust storms that ruined the land and its crops. No, we have not seen the worst yet, for we are still at the beginning of birth pains. Although we have already experienced the new birth, being born again, we will go through one more rebirth in a sense, one more birth pain, as we leave this corruptible body behind in exchange for an incorruptible one. So let us look forward to these birth pains.