Beth Elohim Messianic Synagogue
Examination of Mark 13-21
Let’s take the scriptures at hand Mark 13, and take them apart, as some of them have been fulfilled, but many remain not yet coming to fruition.
Mark 13:1 has been fulfilled. The first Temple built by King Solomon was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. It was a magnificent structure (1 Kings 6-7). The second Temple built under the direction of Z’rubavel in 516 B.C.E could not compare to the beauty of Solomon’s Temple (Haggai 2:3). In order to ingratiate himself to the Jews, Herod ordered the renovation and expansion. According to John 2:20 it took 46 years. The remodeled Temple dominated Jerusalem.
Verse 2: This prophecy was literally fulfilled in 70 C.E. when Rome overwhelmed the First Jewish Rebellion, capturing Jerusalem and ransacked the Temple. There were excavations of the area after the Six-Day War that uncovered enormous stones from the Western Wall of the Temple Court. Part of the “Wailing Wall” is part of this retaining wall. The excavations revealed many of these enormous stones were lying all over the place, not one on top of another.
Moving on to verse 56 we read ” Watch out! Don’t let anyone fool you! Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will fool many people.”
HaSatan is becoming more active as the time for Yahshua’s return nears. This is what Yahshua is trying to get across to his disciples, then and now. You have seen what one Facebook untruth can do to a world with the last COVID pandemic. IN this case it was a predicted shortage of toilet tissue! There was mass chaos as people rushed to the stores to hoard this item and other paper products. There was never a shortage, but in a world that is becoming more secular and gullible without Yahshua in their lives, we can see the evidence that what Yahshua discloses about the end times is true. There are people of all religious and non-religious sects, cults and such who have claimed to be the Messiah and some of these people are still alive and active. They claim to be G-d, Messiah, or prophets in the sense that they can foretell events not in G-d’s Torah. Some claim to be able to heal with the slaying of the spirit which is not of G-d. Yahshua never advocated or orchestrated dog-and-pony shows!
Some of these people throughout the ages are as follows and I will leave the research delving into each individual to you.
17th Century: Rhys Evans (1607-1660).
18th Century: Kondratiy Selivanov (1730-1784)
Ann Lee (1736-1784), the founder and leader of the Shakers. Her followers referred to her as “Mother”, believing that she was the female incarnation of “Christ” on Earth.”
19th Century: John Nicholas Thom (1799-1838).
William Price (1800-1893)
Arnold Potter (1804-1872)
Baha’u’llah (1817-1892)
William Davies (1833-1906)
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908)
Cyrus Teed (1839-1914)
Carl Browne (1849-1914)
20th Century: Abd allahi al-Sihayni (Executed 1921)
John Hugh Smyth-Pigott (1852-1927)
Manuel Herrick (1876-1952)
Haile Selassie (1892-1975)
Ernest Norman (1904-1971)
Krishna Venta (1911-1958)
Jesu Oyingbo (1915-1988)
Ahn Sahng-hong (1918-1985)
Sun Myung Moon (1920-2012)
Ann Hamilton-Byrne (1921-2019)
Jim Jones (1931-1978)
Marshal Applewhite (1931-1997)
Charles Manson (1934-2017)
Yahweh ben Yahweh (1935-2007)
Lazio Toth (b.1938)
Ji Sanbao (1939-1997)
Wayne Bent (b. 1941)
Ariffin Mohammed (1943-2016)
Mitsuo Matayoshi (1944-2018)
Tony Quinn (b. 1944)
Hogen Fukunaga (b.1945)
Jose Luis de Jesus (1946-2013)
Inri Cristo (b.1948)
Thomas Harrison Provenzano (1949-2000)
David Icke (b.1952)
Hasan Mezarci (b. 1954)
Shoko Asahara (1955-2018)
David Koresh (1959-1993)
Marina Tsvigun (b.1960)
Sergey Torop (b. 1961)
Yang Xiangbin (b. 1973)
21st Century: Apollo Quiboloy (b.1950)
Mehmet Ali Agca (b. 1959)
Alan Hohn Miller (b. 1962)
Delores Kane (b. 1965)
Maurice Clemmons (1972-2009)
Amy Carlson (1975-2021)
Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez (b. 1990)
Todd Kincannon (b. 1981)
Gabbie Hanna (b. 1991)
Ezra Miller (b. 1992)
Jay Rence Quilario (b. 2000)
Jeff Divine aka Jeff Ayan
As you can see, the truth of G-d’s Word is confirmed by the growing number of people claiming to be Yahshua. Indeed these individuals had or currently have been able to deceive many, again as Yahshua warned his disciples and us. You will also notice that there is an increasing number of people from both genders and nationalities claiming to be various forms of the Messiah Yahshua. This provides more evidence that Yahshua’s coming is closer than ever, along with our next subject, wars, and rumors of wars.
Verse 7: “When you hear the noise of wars nearby and the news of wars far off, don’t become frightened. Such things must happen, but the end is yet to come.”
I believe this verse is self-explanatory. Man will war against each other for a myriad of reasons, some valid, and others as a result of negative propaganda exacerbated by HaSatan. Yahshua verifies this in verse 8: “For peoples will fight each other, and nations will fight each other,…”
He continues the verse stating there will be earthquakes in diverse places, there will be famines, this is but the beginning of the ‘birth pains.’
We are witnessing an increase in disease, earthquakes, and famines on a world scale. Recall the H1N1 pandemic of 2009-10 that occurred worldwide, the Ebola virus, SARS, and the current Bird flu.
Earthquakes are occurring with increased frequency and intensity. There are many people who argue that we have always had earthquakes and that current monitoring techniques are the only reason there are more frequent reports. However, the difference is again the frequency and intensity of the earthquakes and the fact that there are some occurring in the most unlikely places in addition to where we would expect them to occur. According to LiveScience.com, the unusual earthquakes are due to shifts in the earth’s mantle in areas away from the tectonic place boundaries. Other explanations include better monitoring, and human-induced climate change. There is no documentation that the scientific community has even looked at a possible correlation between the earthquakes and devastating tsunamis we have witnessed in Indonesia and Japan, the prophecy concerning these events in the Bible, or the warnings by G-d and the prophets that if the world’s people do not repent and turn to the G-d of Israel in loving obedience, that disease, death, famine, pestilence and the issues we are addressing today will not only continue, but will become worse just as a mother’s birth pains increase in frequency and intensity before the child is delivered.
Next, we go to Verses 9-11. Specific handing over believers to the Sanhedrin and assault by those in synagogues has already happened. Evidence for this is found throughout G-d’s Torah through the writings of the prophets, the apostles, including Sha’ul (Paul), and Yahshua. However, Matthew 5:10-12 warns us that the persecution of believers is not over. We can expect it to get worse because many cultures including that of the Unites States has thrown G-d out of our country save a remnant of true believers who have not surrendered to the secular humanistic paradigm taught in schools and many religious organizations today. I frequently encourage my congregation never to lose sight of this fact, What G-d loves, HaSatan hates and seeks to destroy. With the rapidity of prophecy being fulfilled in our time, it is definitely feasible that we may be imprisoned or even killed for His Name’s sake. Matthew tells us to rejoice if that should happen, because our reward will be in heaven. We have nothing to fear from man, G-d will never leave or forsake us! (Deut. 31:6). What we will say before our captors will be provided by the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh) at the right time (Mark 13:11.
Verses 12-13 are also partially fulfilled but have not reached their climax yet. I am sure you already know of cases in your neighborhood, various other places, and perhaps even in your own life where children have turned against their parents and in some cases even killed them. The hate for true believers is increasing break-neck speed. Family loyalty and unity are becoming more rare every day. One of the main reasons for this is that the false gods of antiquity have been reintroduced into our society, particularly in the United States where the country was once dominated by a value system based on G-d’s Word. Today with the truth of G-d and his commands, laws, and statutes being negated and called intolerant, radical, and cause for legal restraint, the nuclear family unit is not perceived in a negative light. The one man-one woman union is discouraged while homosexual and lesbian relationships are touted as “expressing your true identity” even to the point of supporting and encouraging transgenderization. No wonder children exposed to this environment are confused! How can a child learn the difference between right and wrong when that definition provided by G-d has been eliminated?
Yes, things are going to get a low worse before they improve with Yahshua’s return. We must also remember that according to prophecy, specifically in Daniel, when the Anti-Messiah is identified at which time I believe will be when Israel signs a peace treaty with the surrounding nations, we will have 3.5 years of a pseudo-peace at which time the Anti-Messiah will be promoted and thought to be the Messiah Yahshua. Believers need to know the scriptures and beware lest we be taken in to that lie. This is spoken of in Verse 14 where at the middle of the 7- year Tribulation the Anti-Messiah will declare himself G-d and he will desecrate the Temple that he allowed to be built in the first three and a half years of his “reign.”
The remainder of Chapter 13 G-d strongly encourages us to hold on to our faith until the end; pray for discernment of the spirits, and do not allow ourselves to be misled. Verses 14-20 speak of prophecy yet to be fulfilled. Yahshua is speaking about the total chaos and terrible things that are going to befall Jerusalem at that three-and-a-half-year mark. Escaping to the hills is a reference to Petra where G-d will protect those who follow his direction.
Shalom v’brachas,
Rabbi Tamah