This Generation Will Not Pass

Some Thoughts on Mark 13

I recently heard an interesting sermon on Mark 13. This is the famous “Olivet” discourse, where Jesus tells us about the end of the world. Among the preacher’s many good points, he argued that 13:24-27 tell us of literal signs in the sky which will accompany the return of Christ. In verses 28-31, he argued that the phrase “this generation will not pass until all these things are fulfilled” refers to the generation that starts seeing the stars in the sky.

This passage is notorious for a number of reasons. Infamously, CS Lewis argued that this passage shows Jesus’s humanity because he “got it wrong”. He was wrong about the time of his return. Lewis swam in the waters of higher criticism, which argued for a while that Jesus was a failed apocalyptic prophet. Albert Schweitzer thought that Jesus “threw himself on the wheel of history” and was crushed by it, anticipating the kingdom of God which never came (and yet we should all be inspired by his example…I guess….). And the New Testament evinces an anticipation of Christ’s return which could happen at any moment. So one can see why people would think that Jesus was a failed prophet.

However, I obviously do not believe Jesus was a failed prophet. He was and is the risen Lord, turning history as he wills. So what is going on in this passage?

Verses 1-23: The Cataclysmic Destruction of the Temple

In verses 1-2, our Lord says that the temple right in front of the disciples will not be left one stone on another. And in verses 3-4, the apostles ask him to tell us “when these things are about to be accomplished”—referring to what the Lord Jesus just said about the temple. They are asking, in other words, for the signs that the temple will be destroyed. This sets the context for the whole discourse. This explains why Jesus says in verse 14, “let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains”—the apocalyptic events he’s talking about involve a desolation upon Judea, in which the second temple would be destroyed (which did indeed happen in 70AD).

The “tribulation” in the passage, worse than “any” since the beginning of creation extends from the destruction of the temple to the return of Christ in verse 25. After the “tribulation”, there is the shaking of the sun, moon, and stars.

Verses 24-37 - The Return of the Son

Verses 24-25 echo the tradition of apocalyptic prophecy. The imagery of the shaking of creation is used to orient us to the gravity of a situation. Consider Isaiah 13:9-11, speaking of the destruction of Babylon:

“Isaiah 13:10–11

[10] For the stars of the heavens and their constellations

will not give their light;

the sun will be dark at its rising,

and the moon will not shed its light.

[11] I will punish the world for its evil,

and the wicked for their iniquity;

I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,

and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless. (ESV)”

Sounds familiar, right?

Now, don’t mistake me: in Scripture, there is no such thing as a “mere” metaphor. Metaphors in Scripture (and in good literature at large) are powerful things. They reconfigure the way we see the world. If I say “shopping centers are my personal Shawshank”, the imagination is immediately triggered in a process of sensemaking. Since shopping centers are not literal prisons, the imagination seeks to see shopping centers through the lens of a “prison” to the extent allowed for by the context. The emotions one might feel towards and in a prison are transposed onto the shopping center. So the metaphor of the stars falling is more than “just a metaphor”. It is a revelation of the gravity of the situation at hand.

Our Lord is predicting here, after the tribulation, the fulfillment of that to which the destruction of Babylon only pointed: the final judgment of the world’s evil. Christ will cataclysmically judge the proud, the arrogant, the wicked, and the unrepentant. And then he will gather his own.

So the passage thus far indicates that the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70AD precipitates a period of “tribulation” that extends until Christ’s return. This makes good sense in light of the rest of the New Testament. In Revelation 7, we are told that the saints who have gone to be with Jesus are those who have survived “the tribulation”. Throughout the NT, we are told we are living in “the last days” before Christ returns.

In verse 28, Jesus tells us that when we see certain signs in a fig tree, we know that summer is near. In like manner, when we see certain things taking place, we know that Christ is near. “Taking place” here can mean “arriving” or “happening” or “coming into being”. Thus, in verse 30, when Jesus says “this generation will not pass away”, he’s talking about his own generation alive during the Second Temple period. But “taking place” here means “taking root”—that is, the generation of Jesus’s time will not pass until the things he has spoken of have taken root in his own time (those things which mark the nearness of summer, not the hear-ness of summer). Thus, Jesus’s generation did not pass away before the signs which indicated Jesus’s nearness took place.

But if Jesus was “near”, why has it taken 2000 years and counting for Jesus to return? Here, it is important to understand that the New Testament uses the concept of time in two different ways: Kairos and Chronos. Chronos denotes time marching forward—what we’re used to. Kairos conceives of time in terms of phases or seasons of overarching time. It is time marked by a unifying quality. Thus, if someone says “I’m in the season of employment” or “I’m in the season of being a young parent” or “I’m in grandparent season”, they are talking of time in terms of kairos.

The season of being a grandparent is often (though not always) near to the season of being a parent of college students or teenagers—not in terms of chronos but in terms of kairos. It tends to be the next phase of life, even though it can be marked by a great amount of years in terms of chronos.

Once again, in Isaiah 13:6, the “day of the Lord”—which denotes the destruction of Babylon in context—was several centuries away from when the text was actually written. And yet it was said to be “near”, not in terms of chronos but kairos—the destruction of Babylon marked the next phase of God’s sovereign charting of history.

Thus, the text teaches us that we are living in the last phase of history before Jesus returns and finally sets up his everlasting kingdom. This is the last phase of fallen-earth (which will be renewed and redeemed at the coming of Christ). As such, Jesus Christ could return at any moment (hence verses 32-37, and hence the stance of the NT writers anticipating that Jesus could return at any moment).

Here is the application for Christians, then. What if we lived like Jesus could return at any moment? He could return today! He could return tomorrow! What would we offer up to him? How do we stay awake at the overlap of the ages, living so that when our Master returns, he will find us at work for his kingdom?