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Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special Monday Morning Company podcast. On this podcast, our preacher, Mark Roberts, will help you get your week started running with a little black yesterday sermon so that we can look at the other and better working applications into our daily life. Mark will then look forward into this week's album reading so that we can know what to expect and watch for. And then some extra bonus coffee from the time. So grab a cup of coffee and we start the week together on Monday morning coffee.

Sermon Notes

Monday Mark 9

Tuesday Mark 10

Wednesday Mark 11

Thursday Mark 12

Friday Mark 13

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Grab your Bible, grab your coffee, let's grow together. So yesterday in the Heaven Bound series, got to talk about a lot of things that really matter and beginning to work towards answering some questions that people just so very commonly have about heaven. But there was a verse I didn't get to preach as we're working with all of that, but I have not stopped thinking about 2 Corinthians 12 and verse 4. Paul here is making the case for his apostolic credentials, and reluctantly he says, Hey, I will tell you about a vision, I will tell you about a revelation. I went to the third heaven and I heard some things there. And verse 4 says that I heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. And what I want you to notice here is that Paul doesn't say he heard nothing, there wasn't a lot of shape, it was vague, it was fuzzy, it's kind of hard to describe. No, Paul says he heard real things, specific things. Now he can't share those things, but heaven is real and there's a lot going on there. Sometimes we don't talk a lot about heaven. Maybe some of that's because there's some that we don't know about it. I get that. Trust me, I really get that because I'm the guy who's preaching on heaven this year. But Paul's experience says that heaven is not empty of content. There's more content there than we're able to currently handle. Think about that. That's where I want this Monday morning extra bonus thought to go. God didn't say to Paul, well, you know, there's just not a whole lot to tell, pal, so you know, not a lot going on here. A little bit of coffee here. What the Lord is saying is there's more here than you are currently equipped to handle, and currently for the people on the other side to handle. And that sort of reminds me of being a kid and your parents are planning something really amazing, like a Christmas surprise or maybe a vacation, and they don't tell you. They don't tell you. And the not telling isn't because nothing is happening, it's because what's happening is bigger than what as a child you are able to handle. I've got some grandkids who are headed to Disney World, and when Sarah told her bunch, finally let them know this great trip's on the horizon. The first thing Jane said is, Are we going today? Are we going today? She's just not able to process or understand all of the time elements that are involved there. And so sometimes that means parents have to kind of hold on to some things. And it maybe 2 Corinthians 12 is saying that heaven is like that. You'll find out more when you get here. There's just more here than Paul, you could adequately communicate to anybody. So you just go back and tell people, it will be amazing. Trust the Lord. And that's where we need to be with our questions about heaven. It's not, we don't know much about heaven. No, God has chosen to tell us a lot about heaven, and what he's not chosen to tell us isn't because it's vague or undefined. It's because we're just not ready for that yet. Paul went and Paul heard and Paul came back and spent the rest of his whole life saying, I want to get back there. We need to trust that because we trust the Lord, and we need to say, that's enough. That's enough to draw me there as well. Hope that helps you as we continue to think about being heaven-bound. And this is, wow, this is a monster chapter, 50 verses. I don't know, Mark's taking his cues here from Luke, I guess. Big, big chapter. Not going to treat everything in this chapter, try to pay attention to the big big points here, some of the highlights and the things that that podcast listeners, kind of that extra stuff that I'll load in for you. It begins with the transfiguration, and we need to remember that Jesus is very far north. Mount of Transfiguration may be Mount Hermon, which is a big, tall mountain over 9,000 feet where solitude would certainly be possible. Mark 9, 1 is tied tightly to Jesus' teaching about messiahship and discipleship. Jesus has been saying, This is who I am, and now there's some things here, maybe as we're thinking about the apostles getting their eyes open a little bit more and getting a second touch. Talked about that last week. Now here is something else to open their eyes. And Mark does use a term in verse 3. Jesus' clothes become radiant, intensely white, or dazzling white. And that's the only time that term is found in the New Testament. In the Septuagint, it indicates the way the stars shine. So Mark is also the only one who says no one on earth could bleach them. So Mark is really emphasizing this is a unique and special event. There's not anything quite like this. Moses and Elijah appear. Moses seems to represent the law and Elijah the prophets. And Mark doesn't tell us what they're talking about. You can get some of that in Matthew, you can get more of that in Luke. Mark is emphasizing the preeminence of Jesus here and not being sidetracked into those conversations. And it might be good here to note that Peter has stumbled over the suffering and dying Messiah, but it is clear Moses and the prophets know about that. And God says, Peter, you need to listen to Jesus. Stop telling Jesus you're not going to die. Listen to Jesus. Now, let me move down then in the text and let's talk a little bit here about the apostles not casting out this demon when Jesus gets down the Mount of Transfiguration. By the way, Mark 9.1 absolutely proves that the kingdom is presently in existence. Otherwise, Jesus is some kind of a liar. So when Jesus comes down the mountain, they can't c they are not able to cast the demon out, and we get some emphasis here on faith. Unfortunately, verse 23 has been terribly misused. All things are possible for one who believes. One scholar said this is one of the most abused verses in the Bible today. People have ripped it out of its context and made it the rationale for saying that their wishes will come true if they could only mount enough faith. Jesus is absolutely not saying that. This is not a verse to appeal to as you try to jump off the Empire State Building and flap your arms. If I just believe I can fly, no, you can't. Gravity will have the last word. The reason they can't do this is because, verse 29, they're not depending upon God. This is an illustration of the failure on the part of the disciples, and what's going on here is they're depending upon their own strength. What a lesson for us today. And then they fail again in verse 32. They don't understand Jesus. Please note verse 31, is going to be delivered or handed over straight up out of Isaiah 53.6, Isaiah 53.12. Jesus is identifying here with the suffering servant, prophecy of Isaiah 53. And then we get some children. He took a child, verse 36, putting him in the midst of them and taking him in his arms. It's important, I think, to notice that children like Jesus. One writer said, It's pleasing to note the frequency with which the presence of children around Jesus and his love for them is mentioned in the Gospels. That's in Matthew 14, Matthew 15, Matthew 18, Matthew 19, parallel passages, Mark 10, Luke 18, Luke 21, Luke 23, see also Luke 13, 34. Children wanted to be with Jesus. Whenever he wanted a child, there was always a child present. That says a lot about Jesus' demeanor and his manner, how he treats people. And then the disciples fail once again when they rebuke this disciple. Jesus says, verse 39 and 40, don't be doing that. If he's not against us, he's for us. And once again, we get a passage that's terribly wrested out of its context. Sometimes people use this to justify denominationalism. They're teaching something different over there. Don't, don't, Mark, don't get in the pulpit and be talking about once saved, always saved is false doctrine, or faith only salvation doesn't work, or there should just be one church. Stop all of that. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. The apostles don't know what this man is teaching, but Jesus does, and he would never commend this man if he was teaching error. And this man can't do miracles if he's in error. There's no comparison to be made here with false religion. This man is not teaching error. And then there's the close here where Jesus talks about temptations to sin, and especially he says something here about salt. 49 and 50, everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt is lost, its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves. Wow, this is a very difficult set of passages. Being salted with fire seems to be a reference to purification, maybe by self-discipline, some of the things that have just been said about temptation here. Saltless salt, at the end of verse 49 and into 50, if the salt has lost its flavor, that adulterated salt is good for nothing. And Jesus actually makes mention of that in the Sermon on the Mount of Matthew 5. Maybe the issue here is that we're quite used to going to the grocery store and we buy perfect salt. It's been all refined and carefully crystallized and just 100% pure salt is in that container with the little girl in the umbrella. But in Jesus' day that's not the case at all. They would have salt maybe from the Dead Sea or some other places, and that's mixed with a lot of other impurities, and it could lose its flavor. And not that salt loses its flavor, but all the other impurities overwhelm it. And then Jesus says, have salt in yourselves, which may connect back all the way to who's greatest in the kingdom. If the disciples don't live the way of Christ, who will? Have salt in yourselves, be at peace with one another. The disciples need to live out the values of the kingdom. Stop with all that discussion about who is the greatest, like they were having in verses 33, 34, and 35. There you go. That's a long chapter for us to start the week with. Mark chapter 9 is the reading for Monday. It's Tuesday. It is Tuesday, and our reading today is the 10th chapter of Mark. I wish I had a better tie. It's another big chapter, 50 verses, 52 verses here. I wish I had a better tie between Mark 9, 50 and Mark 10.1. I'm not sure why Jesus is teaching here on divorce and why Mark is recording it here in this order, but Jesus does say some things about divorce here. Now, clearly dealing about everything about everything with marriage, divorce, and remarriage, that's a very hot button issue. You can't do that on a podcast, but it was a hot button issue in Jesus' day. And I think probably the main thing to take away from this is that the common thinking of the day is that you can get a divorce if you want to. Most Jews, one scholar says, took for granted that a man had the right to divorce his wife. They only argued about the legitimate grounds for divorce, not whether it was lawful. Maybe we can talk more about this on the Zoom call tonight, Westsiders, but the and and there's all these hypotheticals and on and on and on. But I think Jesus is very clear here. And the issues that we have with marriage, divorce, and remarriage probably are not because we don't understand what Jesus says, which is one man for one woman for one life, with one and only one exception. And the issue here is that 99% of divorce situations just involve, I'm tired of her, so I'm getting another, I'm tired of him, so I'm going to get another. And and that kind of thing is covered very clearly here. And so the problem isn't that we don't understand Jesus, the problem is that we do, and we would like to not understand Jesus. We'd like to find some way to complicate it up or to do something else. Again, that doesn't deal with everything. And I know people are listening to the podcast who've gone through the heartache of divorce. It's a terrible, terrible situation. And Jesus makes clear that that's a terrible situation, but uh we need to be very careful that we're not just arriving at the text with our own preconceived notions about what we can and cannot do, and then we're going to try to wrench that into the text. So let's move down to the rich young ruler beginning in verse 17. Mark actually does not tell us that he was wealthy until verse 22. Um and what Mark is putting the emphasis on here, I think, is that the man is fervent. I mean he runs up. He does have a good question. Now, a lot of denominational people just go bananas that he says, What must I do to inherit eternal life? And you can't do anything because salvation is all of God and there's irresistible grace, and God has to move upon your heart. And John Calvin is not in Mark chapter 10. He's not welcoming in Mark chapter 10. And the reason people are having problems with Mark chapter 10, verse 17 is because they've adopted a false theology of salvation. Jews did expect that the Messiah would bring into existence a great time of prosperity and peace and freedom. And so there was the present age and the age to come. So how can I be sure, the rich young ruler is saying, that I can I can get to the age to come. And he is, by the way, a good law-keeping Jew. We we kind of villainized this guy today. I don't think he's bragging, and Jesus doesn't say, now listen here, boy. I know better than that. You're not as good as you think you are. No, Jesus says you're close. You just lack one thing. And this guy does look like a prime candidate for the kingdom. Um I'm sure the disciples must have thought, hey, we're going to get this guy. And he's important and he's powerful, and maybe he can help us meet budget. And instead, we find out that the problem here is that his riches come between him and the Lord. Please remember, Jesus did not tell everybody to sell everything, told this man to sell everything. That's an important distinction to make here. And I would add, verse 25, there's always somebody who's trying to make out of verse 25 that there's a gate in Jerusalem called the needle's eye, and camels had to get down on their knees to go through it. And that's really hard on a camel, and camels don't like to do that. It's right. And so that's what Jesus is talking about. And that is that is totally wrong. There is no proof that there was ever such a gate. Nope. Jesus is happy with what he said here. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. You can't do it on your own. You have to depend upon the Lord. That's what Jesus is saying right there. Then we get another illustration of Jesus foretelling his death. 32, 33, and 34. We get this idea of over to the Gentiles in verse 33. And just like in chapter 9, where there's arguing about who's going to be greatest in the kingdom, as soon as Jesus gets done saying that, we get arguing about who's going to be greatest in the kingdom. And that starts with James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Their mom is also involved in this in the parallel account. And they want to sit on the right hand and on the red, um, on the left hand in your glory. And they are clearly thinking about a glorious physical kingdom and being big dogs in that kind of kingdom and being somebody and sitting up there up front, you know, prime minister and uh assistant prime minister, ribbons on their chest, and all kinds of physical honors, and we're the big dogs. And the Son of Man, verse 45, did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. The kingdom will be totally different from earthly kingdoms. It won't be anything like what they think, and so the rules and what's important in the kingdom don't even apply. They don't even apply. So if you want to be great, Jesus doesn't say there's nobody who's great in the kingdom, but if you want to be great, you need to be a servant, verse 43. You need to act like Jesus. And by the way, verse 45 is the only passage in Mark that tells us why Jesus must die. He is a ransom. And then Jesus heals Bartimaeus, get the son of David. That's a very messianic title out of Isaiah 35. And this man is very, very persistent. And I like Jesus' question, what do you want? Because so far the Pharisees have come, and you know what they want? They want to trap Jesus, and the rich man wanted eternal security at minimal cost, and James and John wanted to be top officials. So, hey, what do you want? The guy says, I want to recover my sight, and immediately, that's Mark's favorite word, he recovers his sight. The reading for Tuesday, we'll see tonight Westsiders on Zoom, and we'll talk more about Mark chapter 10. The reading for Tuesday is Mark chapter 10. Welcome to Wednesday. Welcome to Wednesday. Our reading today is Mark chapter 11, and this begins the final week of Jesus' life. I will give some dates as we go along Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, as best we're able to derive them. And those are not set in stone. I would not have you write those in ink in your Bible by any stretch of the imagination. Very difficult when you look at all four Gospels to get the exact timeline, what happened on what day. But the triumphal entry does seem to have occurred on Sunday, pretty certain of that. This is straight up out of Zechariah 9, verse 9. Probably ought to go and read that. And this is a very messianic statement. So often we found Jesus trying to tamp down that expectation because people don't understand who he is as the Messiah and what that actually really means. And so Jesus will tell people after he does a miracle, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, let's keep that down. Don't be telling everybody. But Jesus is directly and very clearly saying, I'm the Messiah of Zechariah chapter 9. If you know your Bible, this is absolutely straight out of that prophecy, maybe a little bit of Genesis 49, 10 and 11 as well. Probably the couple things to notice here is that Jesus is not a mighty general riding on that official white horse and leading an army. Jesus does things very differently. By the way, the palm fronds in verse 8, they are significant because when Simon Maccabees delivered Jerusalem 150 years earlier, it was celebrated with praise and palm branches, 1 Maccabees chapter 13, verse 51. That's not in your Bible, by the way, that's part of the Apocrypha. The palm fron, then, is something that people are waving and shouting when they are anticipating some kind of royalty or some kind of some sort of revolution going on, that sort of thing. And then Jesus gets unhappy with the fig tree. And I have a couple of scholars who actually say this is a tale of miraculous power wasted in the service of ill temper. Thank you so very much. Wow, that is uh profound insight. Jesus loses his temper. I believe that would be a sin, and thus Jesus' whole mission would have folded right there. This is not, not Jesus losing his temper. The problem here is that people don't understand it wasn't the season for figs. No, it wasn't the season for figs, but the leaves announced the tree had figs. Because fig trees put leaves on first, then figs. If it has leaves, it should have figs. It looked good, it made a promise, it did not deliver, and the tree is judged. Look what happens next. 15 to 19, Jesus goes to the temple and brings judgment. He brings judgment here. The temple looks like a bunch of people are serving God and doing what's right, but in fact, the promise isn't being fulfilled. They have leaves, they don't have fruit. And verse 17 is right out of Jeremiah 7 and 11, which is a quote from a scathing sermon of Jeremiah's. That must have really gotten people's attention. So then we get back to the fig tree the next day. That's probably Tuesday here. And really what you get is the tie here where the fig tree has withered, and that's a symbol of the judgment that will fall upon Jerusalem. One writer said, just as the leaves of the tree conceal the fact that there was no fruit to enjoy, so the magnificence of the temple and its ceremony conceals the fact that Israel has not brought forth the fruit of righteousness, demanded by the Lord. And the chapter then ends with an a chat with a challenge to the authority of Jesus. Let's grab a little coffee here and think about this. I think the link here goes back to verse 18. The chief priest and the scribes, they come and they challenge Jesus. By what authority are you doing these things? Verse 28, what authority are you cleansing the temple? That's what you're talking about here. And this is a good place for me to say, yes, I think Jesus cleansed the temple twice. There's a cleansing in John 2, and that as best we can tell is very early in Jesus' ministry. I think this is a second cleansing. Jesus arrives in Jerusalem. Guess what? They're at it again. They're at it again. And so Jesus says there's really only two sources for authority from heaven or from men, and I need to know about John the Baptist. What of course he is doing here is he's testing their sincerity. What they have here is just pragmatism. We need to give the right answer so that we don't get in trouble. That's just outrageous and that's dishonest. And Jesus says, when you act like that, I'm not going to spend my time with you. And so Jesus says, verse 33, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. I've had to cite that passage sometimes when talking with people who just want to argue endlessly. And I think we see more of that today with the internet. People they ask a question and then the response, you do the best you can, and that gets, you know, one question gets a three-page email, and you maybe try to work through that, and now you got a 15-page email, and if you work through that, you're going to get a hundred-page email. Someone said way back in the days of newspapers, don't argue with people who buy ink by the barrel. And I have learned not to argue with people who buy pixels by the barrel. When someone's not honest, we need to move on to someone else. It's what Jesus does in our reading today. The reading today for Wednesday, Mark chapter 11. Let's go Thursday. It's Thursday, and we're reading Mark chapter 12. The reading today is Mark chapter 12. This is a text where it's very important that we know where Jesus is. And the key to that is to look at 1235, where Jesus is sitting there watching people give. And then it's 41, Mark 12, 41, where he's watching people give, and 13.1 as he came out of the temple. So we want to stay in the temple. We're still thinking about Judaism, the things that are going on there. And Jesus tells this very sharp parable, which they absolutely get. Vineyards mean Israel in the same way that the bald eagle means the United States, or the bear means the Soviet Union, or I guess that means Russia now. It was a common symbol for Israel, both in the Bible and in other places. In fact, the temple in which Jesus is standing here teaching has a big carved grapevine sculpted over one of the porches. So the vineyard is Israel. The song of the vineyard in Isaiah 5 reinforces that. And the psalm explains that the one who is rejected will ultimately be vindicated by God. And the cornerstone here, you may have the note, could be capstone or head of the corner, is probably not the cornerstone that everything is true off of, but the wedge-shaped stone, the keystone in the summit of the arch that holds everything together. And this opens up then more questions. We get some Herodians. They're a political party that supported Herod. What are they doing with the Pharisees? Not sure what's going on with that, but here we get this whole trick question business. What are you going to say about taxes? This is the question like, do you still beat your wife? There's just no good way to answer this without making somebody unhappy. And of course, Jesus being the master teacher finds a way to do that. The coin that Jesus asked for here would have the emperor's image on it, Augustus Caesar. And the Jews made a big deal about that. And some people were really mad about it. And they said, oh, that makes the coins into little idols, which of course is ridiculous. Nobody's falling down and worshiping these little coins. But they would not let you pay, for example, the temple tax with them. Well, Jesus says, I'll tell you what, you don't have any qualms doing business with Caesar's money. You walk on Caesar's roads, you're protected by Caesar's soldiers, you send mail in Caesar's system. You're in his realm, and you should render to him what he deserves. And when it comes to the Lord, you need to render to the Lord what he deserves. It is a brilliant, brilliant answer. Then the Sadducees show up, again, bad question here. What about this resurrection business? How disingenuous of them to ask a question about the resurrection when they don't even believe in the resurrection. And what Jesus says is, hey, heaven is really different from here. Really, really different. And by the way, he doesn't say that we'll be angels. That's a very common mistake. He also doesn't say that marriage ends there. He only says that there won't be marrying there. It may be that what God has joined together reaches into heaven. That certainly seems possible, especially since, spoiler alert for next month's sermon, we will continue to be known there who we are, as who we are. Our identity goes on into heaven. He also then says Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive, and he builds all of that off one little word in the present tense. Sometimes people get unhappy when we make a very tight argument off the, like for example, sing. Sing doesn't mean sing and play in Ephesians 5.19. And some people, you're cutting it too close, you're just being too picky. Jesus cuts it pretty tight there, right there, right there. And I would say this it seems to me that most of our questions can be answered right here. We just need to read our Bible and trust God's power. That's what Jesus says to the Sadducees. Do you read your scriptures, trust the power of God to work it out? How's it going to work out, marriage in heaven? You know what? I don't know. And I have not lost any sleep over that at all, because I trust that the Lord will take care of that. So then drop down here, we get Jesus, verse 35, asking a question out of Psalm 110. We worked on that so much last year. Psalm 110 has David calling the Messiah Lord. How is that possible? Because if the Messiah comes from David, then David would be older. And if you're older, you're the greater. That's just given in Jesus' society. In our society, certainly not. We worship at the altar of youth. But if the Messiah comes after David, then David is older, so David has to be greater. So what's David doing calling the Messiah his Lord, saying to the Lord, You're greater than me. How can that be? Well, that only works if the Messiah is deity, the very Son of God. That closes the section then 41 to 44. We're still in the temple, remember, and we are watching, Jesus is watching people give. In the court of the women, there were 13 collecting boxes, and they were actually shaped like trumpets, like coins. And people came to those boxes because each had a purpose. You paid into them for the needed sacrifices for the day. And then the last one would be free will offerings. And it may be Jesus is sitting by this last one. People have taken care of all the religious obligations, and then you could just give freely from the heart because you're so grateful to God. And that may be where Jesus is sitting, and so this woman is taking care of her obligations, and then she gives the last of what she has. 41 to 44 is a powerful, powerful story about trusting in the Lord and about deep devotion to God. It's also a great place here to learn how not to read the Bible. We talked about that last week with those pegs. People get all caught up in the pegs. People ask out of 41 to 44, what is she going to buy groceries with? How is she going to go down to Kroger? She didn't have any money. The reading then for Thursday, Mark chapter 12. It's Friday. It's Friday. It's also the first day of May. Welcome to May, everybody. Our reading for Friday is Mark the 13th chapter. I made a big deal in our reading yesterday, making certain that we have all located Jesus firmly in the temple, and we still need to make sure we know where Jesus is. And that's 13.1. He came out of the temple. And the disciples said to him, Look, teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. This is Herod's temple. It was an incredible structure. He started that temple refurbishment, rebuild in about 20 B.C. It was still not finished when Jesus was standing there. It is absolutely beautiful. Many people thought of it as one of the wonders of the ancient world. Some of the marble stones used in the construction of the temple weighed over 100 tons and measured 37 feet long, 18 feet wide, and 12 feet high. In fact, the largest stone ever moved by humans not using hydraulics is part of the foundation platform that Herod had built for this giant refurbishment and rebuild of the temple. I've seen that stone. It is truly incredible. And what Jesus immediately says, and maybe by now Jesus has done so many unexpected things that we knew he would say this, they say, Hey, is this the coolest thing you've ever seen, Jesus? And I guess that's a Mark Arboret Internationally's Texas version, verse 1. And Jesus said, I'll tell you what, it's going to be demolished. It's going to be demolished. How about that? And so they immediately want to know verse 4, when will that happen? And this has become a second coming passage, and some of the subheadings that are put over this text oftentimes feed that thinking. There is an additional question in Matthew chapter 24 that may feed that thinking. But remember, nobody thinks Jesus is going, so nobody here is asking about the second coming. What are they asking about? They're asking about the destruction of the temple, which would be to a Jew the end of the world. That is the only way the temple could be destroyed. How is that even possible? It's the temple. It's God's temple. Jesus, have you lost your mind? That could never, ever, ever happen. And all you need to make sure you know what Jesus is talking about is verse 30, where Jesus said, This generation will not pass away until all these things take place. If he's not talking about the temple, he's talking about his second coming, then Jesus lied to us. And I've actually had that passage pulled out and plopped on me by somebody who was trying to deny the authenticity of the gospels. And so that individual got it. I certainly don't understand people today who are claiming to be Bible believers and who are trying to make Mark 13, Luke 21, and Matthew 24, the three parallel accounts, into some kind of second coming passage. If you have read apocalyptic stuff, if you've read Isaiah, if you've read Ezekiel, none of this will throw you. None of this will throw you. A couple of notes, verse 10, the gospel must first be proclaimed to all the nations. Paul talks about that in Colossians chapter 1, and I don't believe Jesus is saying here that if we could preach the gospel everywhere, we could make him return. That's certainly not the case at all. But the gospel will go around the then-known world. And then Jesus gets into some highly apocalyptic language right out of Daniel, Ezekiel, the abomination of desolation that comes out of Daniel. That's a term out of Daniel. But remember, it isn't Daniel. Don't plug Daniel in here. Jesus can use those stock images to explain a similar cataclysmic event like Daniel talked about. Just like when you go to a Western movie, this is my favorite illustration for this, I use this all the time. When you go to a Western movie and you see the guy wearing a black hat, you know what? That's the bad guy. Bad guys wear black hats. You don't even have to analyze it. You don't have to look at his hat band, you have to study his belt buckle. The bad guy wearing the black hat. But just because we went to a movie last week and we saw a bad guy wearing a black hat and he's robbing a bank does not mean that this week he's robbing a bank. No, this week's movie he's robbing a stagecoach. But the producer, director of the movie is using that stock image, abomination of desolation, to let us know something truly terrible will happen. And this, Luke's account, I think, makes this the clearer. This is the clearest. This is about the Roman desolation of Jerusalem in AD 70, and this is the destruction of the temple, the very thing that they are asking about. And then in verses 24 to 27, don't get caught up in the dark suns and black moons and falling stars. That's just apocalyptic literature. See that all the time. And of course, verse 26, they'll see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. Well, there it is, Mark. That's the second coming. How did you miss that? No, it's not the second coming, it's a coming in judgment. Coming in judgment. Go read Isaiah 19, 1. There are many comings in the Bible, comings in judgment, where the Lord comes to judge. And so, think about the judgment on the fig tree. Guess what comes up next, verse 28? Fig trees. Yes, judgment on the fig tree, which symbolized what? The judgment on the temple and the judgment on Judaism that was not bearing fruit. What's Jesus talking about in our reading today? He's talking about the terrible destruction on Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. I'll try to post some pictures on Facebook. Some of the things that Jesus says here must have just absolutely shocked them. There's no way that one stone, verse two upon another, can be thrown down. The stones are too big. But if you go to Jerusalem today, at the base of the temple platform, which is still standing, the base of the foundation that's still there, there's a whole bunch of giant stones that the Roman soldiers pushed off the platform. Because Jesus said, not one stone will be left upon another that won't be thrown down. I'll post some of those pictures on Facebook. If you don't see those, send me a message and remind me to do that. The reading for Friday is Mark 13. That's the podcast then for the week. Thank you so much for listening. Hope your coffee is as good as mine is. And I hope that you're encouraging other people to listen to the podcast and that it's building your walk with the Lord. I delight in this opportunity to think through the Word of God with you and to help us as we're working together in the Word each day. I'm Mark Roberts. I want to go to heaven, and I want you to come too. I'll see you Monday with a cup of coffee.

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Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ podcast, Monday Morning Coffee with Mark. For more information about Webside, you can connect with us through our website, just Christians.com, and our Facebook page. Our music is from Upbeat.ad. That's Hupbeat with two Ps, U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creators can get free music. Please share our podcast with others, and we look forward to seeing you again with a cup of coffee, of course, on next Monday.