Chapter 153 of 957

The Coming Of The Son Of Man

THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN

MARK 13:24-37

Servants are to remain alert, not be slack, while their master is away.

Whatever be our interpretation of the previous section, this paragraph (13:24-27) unmistakably brings us to the end of the age. Language almost fails Jesus as he indicates the cosmic significance of the coming of the Son of Man in the traditional language of prophecy (Isaiah 13:10; 34:4). The very heavens are affected by his appearance and hide their glory before him. Then comes the climax, the appearance of the Son of Man, as prophesied in Daniel 7:13. The clouds, power and glory all indicate that he is invested with the attributes of God. His coming has a double purpose. On the one hand, the One who comes is the Son of Man who suffered humiliation and death on the earth and was raised and exalted by God. He now comes as God’s vice-regent and is fully vindicated before men (cf. 14:62). On the other hand, he comes to bring about the final fulfillment of the Old Testament promise that God’s people will be gathered together from all the earth so that they may be in his presence and enjoy his salvation (Deuteronomy 30:4; Zechariah 2:6).

And this is all that is revealed. Jesus says nothing about the future age or the millennium, and there is no mention at all of the fate of those who do not belong to the elect. There is no encouragement to speculate about the fate of unbelievers. Instead, Jesus turns to exhortation. Having answered the two questions raised in 13:4, he now makes three further points:

The time is near. When the disciples see these signs coming to pass, they are to draw the glad conclusion: the end is at hand—as surely as the sprouting fig tree heralds summer.

The time is unknown. But just how near is the end? Now “this generation” (13:30) probably means the contemporaries of Jesus, but “these things” (13:29) surely mean the signs of the end rather than the end itself. Jesus himself said that he did not know when that final day would come; he did know that his own coming and the events he prophesied here were all part of God’s final intervention in the history of the world.

Therefore, be ready. Servants cannot afford to be slack when the master is away.

Once again the question arises: Where is the promise of his coming? It was asked by the contemporaries of Peter (2 Peter 3:4), and is now even more pressing. May it perhaps be that the time is dependent on the response of his disciples to his words in 13:10? So the church must watch and pray, and Immanuel will come.

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