And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any one mislead you.
Four disciples asked the Lord in private when the temple's great stones would fall, and what sign to watch for. His first answer is not a date. It is a warning to guard their own minds. Why does prophecy open this way, and who needs the warning most?
They asked about timing. The reply does not follow that line. One writer notes how the Lord handled both the date and the scale of the question:
First, He fixed no dates. Any answer He gave about the time was indirect. Second, He went beyond what they actually asked, out to the larger issues of the last days and His own coming in glory. The same feature marks many Old Testament prophecies. They were given with some coming event of history in view, and they did apply to that event. Yet they were worded so that they apply even more fully to events still to come in the last days.
The same writer weighs the motive behind the question and explains why false prophets find a hearing so easily:
Their question may have come largely from curiosity. He lifted the whole matter to a far higher level by His opening words, "See that no one leads you astray." The course of events that prophecy reveals runs against everything men would naturally expect. False prophets are attractive because they always predict things that fit men's desires and sound entirely reasonable.
The question came from four men alone with Him, and that setting is part of the lesson:
Sitting on the Mount of Olives, the Lord Jesus is asked in private by Peter, James, John and Andrew when all these things would happen, and what sign they should look for. As in Matthew 24:3, the Lord's outline of coming events is meant not for the crowd but for disciples — and here in Mark, for disciples who deeply care. No one sees prophecy rightly without serious concern of heart before God.
All three accounts of this discourse open with the same caution. Mark bends what follows toward the disciples' work:
All three Gospel writers who record this discourse include this warning. But here we find that the Lord's warnings and instructions clearly have their service in view... So even in His prophecy He is the Servant still, giving them what would matter so much, not only for their souls but in their work. This is not only prediction of coming judgments. It is warning and counsel for them in their testimony. They were to watch out for deceivers.
Another writer reads the whole chapter the same way — the disciples' conduct is what the Lord keeps in view:
In Mark 13 the Lord takes up much more the service of the apostles in the circumstances that would surround them, than the development of the dispensations and the ways of God with respect to the kingdom — a point of view more presented in Matthew, who treats of this subject.
The deception named in the next verse — men coming in Christ's name — shows who is chiefly in view. One writer explains why Christians would see through such a claim, while the godly remnant in Israel, still waiting for their Messiah to appear on earth, could be caught by it:
This warning shows how clearly the Lord has the godly remnant of the Jewish nation in view. Christians, taught in Christian truth, would not be fooled by a man claiming to be the Christ. They know that the next time they see Christ, it will be in the clouds. The godly remnant will rightly be watching for Christ to appear on the earth, so a report that He had come could easily deceive them.
Commentators differ on how far the warning already reaches. Another writer points to what has happened since:
History has proved how badly this warning was needed, for there are almost countless prophetic deceptions today... Many have already come claiming to be Christ. Some do not use that exact title, yet they lift themselves into the place that belongs to the Lord Jesus alone. They have deceived many.
The opening warning is not a throwaway line. In the older translation this writer quotes, the same words — "take heed" — return three more times before the chapter ends:
In verse 33 we get the words "take heed" for the fourth time. The Lord opened His discourse with these words and closed with them, and He spoke them twice in between, in verses 9 and 23. Everything He revealed about the future is meant to press on our consciences and our lives. He forewarns us so that we may be forearmed.
- Take heed — no dates. He fixed no dates. He met a question about when with a caution about whom to trust.
- Take heed — the bait. False prophets draw a crowd by predicting what people already want to hear. Real prophecy runs against what men expect.
- Take heed — in private. He gave this outline to disciples who cared, not to the crowd. Prophecy is only grasped by those who take it to heart.
- Take heed — at work. Mark keeps the disciples' work in view. This is warning for their testimony, not just a timetable of judgments.
- Take heed — four times over. The words open the discourse, close it, and sound twice in between: He forewarns us so that we may be forearmed.
For many shall come in my name, saying, It is *I*, and shall mislead many.
Jesus is warning His disciples about what lies ahead. The first danger He names is not an army or a disaster, but a lie about Himself.
Jesus' first warning lands on the one subject everything else depends on.
The first warning, in verse 6, concerns those who come impersonating the Christ. The central point of the conflict is always here. The devil knows that if he can deceive men about Him, he can deceive them in everything else. If we are wrong about the centre, we are bound to be wrong out to the farthest edge. If we are rooted in our knowledge of the true Christ, we are proof against the pull of the false ones.
What the impostors actually say is two words in Greek: ego eimi, "I am." The ESV fills this out as "I am he!" Older versions printed "Christ" in italics to mark the added word. The context is what settles the sense:
The words "I am" (ego eimi) occur three times in John 8. This expression has to be made definite, I judge, according to the force of the context. It may therefore point to different glories or characters in Christ. It is used in Mark 13:6. But in this place it is properly defined by the italic word "Christ," and the context shows this very clearly.
Why does a false Christ find listeners at all? The answer lies in what the nation had already done with the real one.
The first point the Lord noticed was the use Satan made of the nation's rejection of Christ. Many would arise saying "I am," and would lead many astray. They were to be aware of deception.
The warning fits people who are still waiting for the Messiah to appear on earth — the faithful part of the Jewish nation.
The Lord opens His discourse with five warnings. First, the disciples are warned against false Christs. Many will come in the Name of Christ. Some will even dare to say "I am Christ," and the Lord adds that such will "deceive many." This warning proves how clearly the Lord has in view the godly remnant in the middle of the Jewish nation. Christians, taught in Christian truth, would not be deceived by a man claiming to be the Christ. They know that the next time they see Christ, it will be in the clouds. The godly remnant will rightly be looking for Christ to appear on the earth, and so could easily be deceived by a report that He had come.
Mark's Gospel keeps one emphasis from start to finish, and the prophecy is no exception.
Here we find that the Lord gives His warnings and instructions with their service in view. This has been the character of Mark all through. Christ Himself is the perfect Servant of God. He is the Prophet on earth, preaching the Gospel and doing works that match its spirit. So even in His prophecy, He is the Servant still. He gives them what would be of the highest importance, not only for their souls but in their work. This is not only prediction of coming judgments. He is forewarning them and putting them on guard in their testimony. They were to beware of deceivers.
Commentators differ on how far this verse reaches. Some see a future group in view; others point to the record of the centuries since.
History has proved how necessary such a warning was. There are almost countless prophetic deceptions today, and they have multiplied especially since the 1800s. Many have already come claiming to be Christ. Some of them do not use that exact title, yet they lift themselves into the place that belongs only to the Lord Jesus. Many have been deceived by them. These first words of the Lord's prophecy have already been abundantly fulfilled.
- Rejection opens the door. Satan uses the nation's refusal of the true Christ. Where people turn the real One away, a substitute finds room.
- The counterfeit borrows the Name. These men do not attack Christ openly. They come in His name and say, "I am," and their hearers' expectation fills in the rest.
- The centre decides everything. Deceive a person about Christ and you can deceive him about everything else. Get the centre wrong and the whole circle is wrong.
- Expectation is the weak point. People waiting for a Messiah on earth are the ones a false report can move. Commentators differ on whether this looks mainly ahead or is already proved by history.
- Knowing Him is the guard. Roots in the true Christ make a servant proof against the false ones. That is why the Servant gives this warning first.
But when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be not disturbed, for [this] must happen, but the end is not yet.
The disciples had asked when the temple's great stones would come down, and the Lord answers first by telling them what will not be a sign. Wars are coming, He says, but they settle nothing about the timing. So His first word is about their own hearts.
The warning is not against expecting the Lord. It is against letting present trouble convince you that the last crisis has already arrived. One writer weighs how the word is used elsewhere. (Older translations read "be not troubled" where the ESV has "do not be alarmed.")
"Be troubled" is used in Matthew 24:6 and Mark 13:7 just as it is used here: present troubles should not make them think the end is near, or that the day of the Lord has come. In neither case is the problem a wrong expectation. It is trouble from present circumstances, which alarms the mind and takes away its security, so that it fears as if the day of the Lord were already here. "When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed." The trouble clearly came from disturbing causes that were really and visibly at work.
The Lord does not call wars good. He calls them necessary. The reason lies in how the world treated Him.
The Lord also warns the disciples not to conclude that the end is near because of "wars and rumors of wars." Such things must happen in a world that has rejected Christ. Wars, earthquakes, famines and troubles are the beginning of sorrows, not the end.
Another writer comes at it from the other side. Only the reign of the King they refused will end war.
Moral improvement, truth winning the day, peace for mankind — these were still misleading dreams, and they were to be on their guard against them. They would hear of wars and rumors of wars. Only when He takes His great power and reigns could it be otherwise, as Isaiah predicts. His disciples were not to let this disturb or deceive them. Such evil things must be because the King was rejected, and the end is not yet.
The Lord gives this warning so that His servants can keep working while the world shakes.
So the Lord is providing what would guide and strengthen His witnesses, keeping them calm and steady in their places. The end was not yet. He gives instruction that would keep them calm in service, not stirred up by circumstances or by false hopes, not saying, Look! here, or Look! there, and not shaken by what shook the world. They might still serve quietly on.
Kelly points to the servant character of Christ, kept even in this prophecy:
Christ Himself is the perfect Servant of God, the Prophet here on earth preaching the Gospel and doing works in the spirit of it. So even in His prophecy He is still the Servant, giving them what would matter so much, not only for their souls but for their work. It is not only a prediction of coming judgments. It also warns and instructs them in their testimony.
Here the Lord says the end is not yet. The letters written to Christians say the end is at hand. Kelly explains the difference by asking who is in view.
When Scripture addresses the Church, it presses the opposite attitude: for the Church, the end is at hand... These judgments fall as payment for the Jews' rejection of the true Christ. The Church has received the true Christ, and so does not come under them. So the word of God always presses on the Christian the assurance that the end of all things is at hand. "The night is far gone; the day is at hand" (Rom. 13:12). The point for the disciples on the Mount of Olives — for they stood not for Christians, but for the remnant of Jewish disciples in the last days — is that these distresses and troubles come before the disaster that ends this age, but the end is not yet. The Lord was providing for them twice over. His instruction would hold true then and up to the fall of Jerusalem, and it would fit the last days too, when Jerusalem is besieged a second time.
One writer, asked about a war of his own day, turned the argument around.
Judging from Scripture, my own feeling is that this war is certainly not one of those spoken of... Those wars are after the church is gone — when the Jewish remnant has been developed, and false Christs are presenting themselves to the Jews... so that if this were one of the wars and rumors of wars of Matthew 24, it would rather be a proof that the end is not yet.
- Cause. War is not random. Such things must happen in a world that has rejected Christ, and only His reign in power will end them.
- Command. "Do not be alarmed" aims at one fear — that present trouble means the day of the Lord has come.
- Correction. Wars are the beginning of sorrows, not the end — the very sound of them proves the end is not yet.
- Contrast. To these disciples the word is "the end is not yet"; to the Christian the word is that the end of all things is at hand.
- Consequence. The aim is calm servants: not agitated by what agitates the world, but quietly serving on.
For nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be earthquakes in [different] places, and there shall be famines and troubles these things [are the] beginnings of throes.
The Lord has just told His disciples that the temple will fall, and they have asked when it will happen. His answer gives them no date. Instead it gives them a category: wars, earthquakes and famines are not the end, but the first pangs of it.
The ESV renders the closing phrase "the beginning of the birth pains." That is the force of the Greek word, which the Bible only uses a handful of times.
The Greek words kopos, ponos, mochthos, and odin have similar meanings, but they carry different ideas. Odin occurs only four times in the New Testament. In its literal sense it refers to the pangs of a woman in childbirth. It has that sense in 1 Thessalonians 5:3. Twice it refers to the pangs that will seize the wicked when God pours out His judgements on the earth: Matthew 24:8 and Mark 13:8. Once it refers to the pains of death endured by the Lord, in Acts 2:24.
Birth pangs go somewhere. They are not random pain but pain with an outcome attached.
For nation would rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there were to be earthquakes, famines, and troubles in different places; these were the beginnings of this world's throes for the bringing forth of judgment.
These upheavals settle nothing about the timing. A world that has turned its back on Christ should expect them.
The Lord warns the disciples not to conclude that the end is near because of "wars and rumors of wars." Such things must take place in a world that has rejected Christ. Wars, earthquakes, famines and troubles are the beginning of sorrows, not the end.
These events prove nothing about the date, so they should not unsettle anyone. The Lord wants His witnesses working, not watching the headlines.
But the disciples were not to be troubled. All this would come to pass. These were no signs of His coming; the end was not yet. So the Lord is caring for what would guide and strengthen His witnesses, keeping them calm and steady in their places. The end was not yet. He gives them instruction that would make them calm in service, not stirred up by circumstances or by false hopes. They were not to say, Look here, or Look there, or to be stirred by what stirred the world. They might still serve quietly on.
Mark's account of this prophecy keeps circling back to the disciples' work. That fits the whole character of his book.
But here we find that the Lord's warnings and instructions clearly have their service in view. This has been the character of Mark all through. Christ Himself is the perfect Servant of God, the Prophet here below preaching the Gospel and doing works in its spirit. So even in His prophecy He is the Servant, still giving them what would be of such high importance, not only for their souls, but in their work.
Here is a striking contrast. Elsewhere Christians are told the end is near; here disciples are told it is not yet. Commentators explain the difference by who is being addressed.
When Scripture addresses the Church, it presses the opposite attitude: for the Church the end is at hand… These troubled times of the end fall on the Jewish people, not on the Church. They repay the nation for rejecting the true Christ. The Church has received the true Christ, and so does not come under these judgments. That is why the word of God always presses on the Christian the assurance that the end of all things is at hand… But the disciples on the Mount of Olives stood for the faithful remnant of Jewish disciples in the last days, not for Christians. So the point for them is this: these distresses and troubles come before the disaster that ends this age, yet the end is not yet.
Almost twenty centuries have passed since the Lord spoke these words. One writer finds mercy in the delay.
Almost 2000 years have now passed, and in them God is gathering out the Church. This prophecy does not take that long gap into account, apart from the mention of general troubles such as wars, earthquakes and famines. The disciples would certainly not have expected so many centuries to pass before the Lord's words were fulfilled. But God has lengthened the time of His grace far beyond what anyone would expect. How great is His patience and grace!
- Pangs, not spasms. The word means the pains of childbirth — pain that is going somewhere, and what it brings forth is judgment.
- Beginning, not end. Wars, earthquakes and famines settle nothing about the date. In a world that has rejected Christ, such things must take place.
- Steady, not stirred. These are no sign of His coming, so the Lord aims at workers who "might still serve quietly on" while the world shakes.
- Servant, not spectator. Mark records the prophecy with the disciples' service in view. His subject is Christ the perfect Servant of God.
- Patience, not delay. The centuries the prophecy passes over in one phrase are God lengthening the time of His grace — "How great is His patience and grace!"
But *ye*, take heed to yourselves, for they shall deliver you up to sanhedrims and to synagogues ye shall be beaten and brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them;
The disciples had just admired the temple buildings. Jesus turns from what will happen to the stones to what will happen to them: arrest, beatings, and trials before rulers. Then He gives a surprising reason for it all — "to bear witness before them."
Jesus starts by telling them to watch themselves. In Mark, this warning fits the shape of the whole book.
The Lord's warnings and instructions clearly have their service in view. This has been the character of Mark all through. Christ Himself is the perfect Servant of God. He is the Prophet here on earth, preaching the gospel and doing works in its spirit. So even in His prophecy He is still the Servant. He gives them what would matter so much, not only for their souls, but for their work. This is not only a prediction of coming judgments. It also warns and counsels them in their testimony.
The verse names two kinds of authority. Councils and synagogues are religious. Governors and kings are civil. Both react to the same witness.
The Lord warns the disciples that their testimony will bring them into conflict with the authorities of the world. But God would use this persecution to bring the gospel before the great ones of the earth — a "testimony to" rulers and kings.
The phrase "to bear witness before them" explains how the message reaches people the disciples would never otherwise meet. The courtroom becomes their pulpit.
For the disciples, the result of this testimony would be persecution. They would be beaten in the synagogues and accused before kings and governors, and this would be a testimony to them. This is the means which the Lord uses to carry the gospel to kings and to the great of the earth. The preachers are not the great of the earth. His disciples would always have to keep their true character. In keeping it, they would appear before kings and rulers as prisoners, to give an account of their faith.
This has a further gain. Chains stop the message from bending to fit the room. They also make the witness more visible than friendship with the powerful ever would.
All this would become a testimony to them. It was God's way of bringing the gospel of the kingdom to kings and princes, without changing its character, without adapting it to the world, and without mixing the Lord's people up with the world's customs and its false greatness. What is more, circumstances like these made their testimony far more visible than friendship with the great ones of the earth would have done.
The words came true within a few years. Men were arrested for the name of Christ, and the book of Acts names them.
The disciples would be imprisoned and brought before Gentile kings and rulers for the sake of the name of Christ. This became true very soon after the Lord Jesus returned to Glory. But the Lord used this persecution in a way men did not expect. He made it a testimony to Himself and to the gospel of His grace... We see this in Peter and John (Acts 4:13-14); in Stephen (Acts 6:8-10; 7:1-60); and in Paul on various occasions (Acts 22:1-21; 24:24-25; 26:1-31).
Commentators differ on how far the verse reaches. Some read it as describing only the persecutions of the earliest Christian days, "such as the book of Acts shows us happened as soon as the new message of salvation was preached" (F. W. Grant). Others see the same words also covering a later group of witnesses.
Verse 9 was true of the disciples in the book of Acts. It will clearly be true too of the godly remnant of Israel who bear a testimony for God after the Church is taken up to heaven. Jewish councils will then oppose them just as fiercely as they opposed the early apostles. We know that almost 2000 years has come in between, while God gathers out the Church. This prophecy does not take that in-between period into account, apart from mentioning general troubles such as wars, earthquakes and famines.
- Take heed. Jesus warns the disciples about themselves. In Mark He speaks as the Servant to servants at work, so the prophecy guides their testimony, not just their souls.
- Testimony costs. Their witness put them at odds with the world's authorities, religious and civil.
- Testimony travels. Persecution is the means the Lord uses to carry the gospel to kings and to the great of the earth. They would hear it no other way.
- Testimony stays pure. As prisoners they could not soften the message to suit the world. That made their witness far more visible than friendship with the powerful.
- Testimony proved true. It happened soon after Jesus returned to glory: Peter and John, Stephen, Paul. Commentators differ over whether the same words also point to a faithful group still to come.
and the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.
Mark sets this line inside a warning about beatings, courts and betrayal. The promise that the good news reaches every nation stands right in the middle of the cost of carrying it. Two questions follow: which gospel is meant here, and how far the "must" reaches into our own day.
Mark's account of this discourse keeps turning back to the work the disciples were about to do.
Here we find that the Lord's warnings and instructions clearly have their service in view. This has been the character of Mark all through. Christ Himself is the perfect Servant of God, the Prophet on earth preaching the Gospel and doing works in its spirit. So even in His prophecy He is still the Servant. He gives them what would matter so much, not only for their souls, but for their work. This is not only a prediction of coming judgments. It is a warning and an instruction for their testimony.
The councils and kings of verse 9 are not an interruption of the mission. They are how the message reaches kings and rulers.
For the disciples, this testimony would bring persecution. Men would beat them in the synagogues and accuse them before kings and governors, and this would be a testimony to those rulers. This is the means the Lord uses to carry the gospel to kings and to the great of the earth. The preachers are not the great of the earth. His disciples would always have to keep their true character. So they would stand before kings and rulers as prisoners, giving an account of their faith.
The Lord also takes away the worry of standing on trial.
This testimony brings persecution with it. In view of that, the Lord tells His disciples not to worry ahead of time about what to say when they stand as prisoners before the great ones of the earth. They are not to prepare their defence. In that hour they would be given what to say. They would not be the speakers, but only the mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 24:14 speaks of "this gospel of the kingdom" and adds, "and then the end will come." Mark says only "the gospel." One writer treats that difference as deliberate.
Note that in this chapter the marking out of the different periods is not nearly as defined and precise as in Matthew. So it does not say, "This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed… to all nations, and then the end will come." The end of the age is not in question here. Instead we have the general statement that the Gospel must first be preached (compare chapter 16:15, 20).
Commentators differ over how much weight verse 10 can carry. Some read "Gospel" here as a broad word, not as a timetable for today's mission work.
Some read verse 10 together with Matthew 24:14 and conclude that the Lord cannot come for His saints until the Gospel has reached all the nations of today. But we have to remember two things. The disciples He was addressing were at that moment the God-fearing remnant in Israel, and they had not yet been baptised into one body, the church. Also, the "Gospel" in this verse is a general term. It covers not only the Message preached today, but also that "Gospel of the kingdom" which Matthew speaks of.
Another writer draws a sharper line and places the kingdom message in the future.
After His death and resurrection He gave His disciples a different gospel to preach — the gospel of the grace of God, which still goes out (Luke 24:46-47). The gospel of the kingdom is set aside for now. It will be heard again, but only after the Church has left the earth. The end cannot come until that gospel comes back and is preached to all nations.
Whatever the timing, this gospel is for every place and every time — and it costs those who carry it.
Where and when would you expect this good news to be spread? Surely everywhere and at all times. I am deeply thankful for all who have gone out at great personal risk, with real devotion of heart to the Lord. They have gone to tell weary souls in the darkness of the nations about the glory of the Person and the value of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is easy for others less devoted to stay at home and criticise their work.
- Servant's brief. Mark records this prophecy for workers, about their work. Christ the perfect Servant instructs His servants before He sends them out.
- Cost. Councils, beatings, rulers and kings come first. The disciples stand there as prisoners, not as important men, giving an account of their faith.
- Gift. In that hour they are not the speakers; the Holy Spirit supplies the words, so no defence needs preparing.
- Reach. The persecution itself is God's route for carrying the message to the great of the earth, and out to all nations.
- End. Mark says "the gospel" and leaves out Matthew's "then the end will come." Commentators differ on whether this covers today's preaching, a future proclamation, or both.
But when they shall lead you away to deliver you up, be not careful beforehand as to what ye shall say, [nor prepare your discourse] but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak; for *ye* are not the speakers, but the Holy Spirit.
The Lord has just warned His disciples that their witness will drag them before rulers and courts. Now He tells them how to face that hour: no rehearsal, no prepared speech, and a promise that the words will come.
Many read this chapter as pure prophecy. One writer notes that in Mark the Lord aims His warnings at the disciples' work.
Here we will find that the Lord's warnings and instructions clearly have their service in view. This has been the character of Mark all through. Christ Himself is the perfect Servant of God, the Prophet on earth preaching the Gospel and doing works in its spirit. So even in His prophecy He is still the Servant. He gives them what would matter so much, not only for their souls, but in their work. This is not only a prediction of coming judgments. It is forewarning and counsel for them in their testimony.
Arrest looks like the end of a witness. In fact God uses it to carry the message to people who would never hear it otherwise.
The Lord warns the disciples that their testimony will bring them into conflict with the authorities of the world. But God would use this persecution to bring the gospel before the great ones of the earth — a "testimony to" rulers and kings. And this gospel must first be preached among all nations before the end, when Christ comes.
Why can they stop worrying about words? Because they would not stand there alone.
But there is more. God would be with them along the way. When the disciples stood in front of the magistrates, they were not to think over what they ought to say. They did not need to prepare speeches. The Holy Spirit would be with them, and they would be given what to say at that very moment.
The last clause moves the whole weight off the disciple. He is present and his mouth moves, but the source of the words is elsewhere.
In that hour they would be given what to say. They would not be the speakers, but simply the mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit.
This does more than take the pressure off. It also says where the disciple's power comes from.
The Holy Spirit does not only put so solemn a seal on the testimony. He is also a positive power for the one who is giving that testimony… Here we see the spirit of complete dependence on God. "The Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what should be said."
The book of Acts shows the promise at work. One writer lists the men who stood in exactly this spot.
When these things happened, they would need no speech-writer. They would not even need to study first what would be the wisest or most fitting answer when accused. Instead, they were to depend entirely on God to give them the words just when they needed them. In this they would allow the Spirit of their Father the freedom to speak without hindrance. We see this beautifully carried out in the cases of Peter and John in Acts 4:8-12 and 5:27-32; Stephen in Acts 7; and Paul in Acts 24:10-21 and 26:1-29.
The verse is often borrowed to excuse stepping up to preach without study. One writer answers that directly.
We say plainly that wherever possible, one should think over and study the subject he expects to speak on. Taking no thought about how or what we will speak is no mark of spirituality. We do not believe it is a correct use of the Scripture either… Here, the Lord is assuring His disciples that He will never desert them when they are brought before kings and rulers for His name's sake. They need not think out in advance any line of defence, or any elaborate statement of what they hold.
- Handed over — the trial is no accident. God uses the hostility to carry the message to rulers and kings who would never come to hear it.
- Given, not gathered — the words arrive "in that hour"; the disciple is not told to be clever, only to be dependent.
- Not you — the disciple is only the mouthpiece. The Holy Spirit is the speaker, and a positive power in the one who testifies.
- Proved — Peter and John, Stephen, and Paul all stood in that spot, and the promise held.
- Limited — this promise covers the courtroom, not the pulpit. It never cancels study and preparation for ordinary preaching.
But brother shall deliver up brother to death, and father child; and children shall rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death.
The Lord is answering a question about the temple's fall. Here He tells His followers what their testimony will cost them. The danger will not come from rulers only. It will come from the people closest to them. So why does good news turn a family against itself, and which days does the Lord have in view?
These words are not bare prediction. They are instructions for men about to be sent out, with a warning about what the work will cost.
It speaks of the work the disciples would do among Israel, and of their witness against the authorities who persecuted them. The gospel would be preached in all nations before the end came. As preachers they were to fill the place Jesus had held among the people, only their testimony would reach much farther. All this would be done in the face of every possible suffering and the hardest persecutions.
The verse moves from brother, to father and child, to children and parents. One writer names the rule behind that order.
The disciples are warned that truth presented in the power of the Holy Spirit stirs such hatred in the human heart that persecution will come from their own families. The closer the relationship, the more bitter the hatred. Brother will rise against brother, father against son, and children against parents, even having them put to death.
The betrayal is not a reaction to anything the disciples did wrong. It answers something else: God making Himself known.
God revealed in the person of Christ, or in the preached word, stirs up the hatred of the human heart. As long as God is not made known, people put up with everything. But once He is made known, man's will rises up against His authority, and against the pressure this revelation puts on a conscience that is not at rest.
Another writer looks ahead to the days of tribulation and sees the same betrayal as an exposure of what was already in the heart.
Even the closest family ties will count for nothing, because the hatred toward the name of Christ, the true Messiah, is so strong. Brothers will betray brothers, fathers their children, children their parents, handing them over to death. How terribly unnatural! Yet this will expose the real character of the unbelieving heart of men.
Family is God's own arrangement, made at the beginning. Here that arrangement becomes a weapon. The nearness that should protect a person is what hands him over.
The hatred of the human heart against the testimony of God would show itself by driving men to break the ties God formed at creation. The natural affections of the human heart would turn into open hostility. These relationships carry rights; but now they would be the rights of hatred, and brother would hand over brother to death.
Commentators differ on the period this verse covers. Some tie it to the first generation of preachers, whose sufferings the book of Acts records.
Mark, like Luke, gives special weight to the persecutions the disciples would have to endure... These are persecutions of the earliest Christian days. Acts shows us that they started as soon as the new message of salvation was preached... The spirit of hostility to Christ would destroy even the natural love of family.
Others place its full force in a time still to come.
The hatred of all men will grow more marked after the Church is gone, and the remnant of Israel will suffer badly. Anyone who bears the suffering of the tribulation and endures to the end would be saved for blessing on earth in the coming thousand-year kingdom.
- Testimony first. These words go to men being sent out as preachers. They take up the place Jesus held among the people, and suffering comes with the work.
- Revelation provokes. While God stays hidden, people put up with anything. Once He makes Himself known in Christ or in the preached word, man's will rises against His authority.
- Nearness measures the hatred. The closer the relationship, the more bitter the hatred — which is why the verse moves from brother, to parent, to child.
- Creation's ties reversed. The same hatred breaks the bonds God formed at the beginning, and the rights of family become the rights of hatred.
- Then and still ahead. Some writers read this of the persecutions recorded in Acts. Others read it of a tribulation still to come, when the hatred of all men grows sharper.
And ye will be hated of all on account of my name; but he that has endured to the end, *he* shall be saved.
These words come in the Lord's prophetic discourse, spoken to His disciples about the days ahead. Verse 13 sets a hatred that reaches everyone beside a promise tied to endurance — which raises two questions: what does "saved" mean here, and which "end"?
The warnings in this chapter build in stages, and this one is the last and broadest. Rulers, then family, then everyone — and one reason runs through all of it.
The Lord warns His disciples about the persecution. It would not only come from those in authority and from their closest relatives. All men would hate them because they confess the Name of Christ. But the one who endures to the end will be saved — whatever the end may be, whether a martyr's death or the coming of Christ to the earth. As always, the test of reality is continuance. There may indeed be failure, and even the love of many growing cold, but those who are real will endure. Peter broke down, but his faith did not fail; he continued to the end.
The betrayals described just before this verse are traced to the same cause — the world's hostility to one Name.
Because of the hostility of governments toward the name of Jesus, one would betray his own brother to be killed, a father betray his son, and children their parents.
The promise here is often read as an offer to the unconverted. The first question is who was standing in front of Him.
These words do not tell us how sinful people receive the salvation of their souls. The Lord was not addressing sinners but men He had already brought into relationship with Himself — His disciples. At that moment they were representative of the chosen remnant of Israel, who will be found on earth at the time of the end.
The word "saved" carries more than one sense in Scripture. The danger in view here settles which sense it is.
Salvation in its fullest sense looks on to the final deliverance from the very presence of sin — the consummation in heaven. There is also a governmental and outward salvation. Our Lord speaks of it in His prophetic discourse: "He who endures to the end will be saved." This, we hardly need to say, does not refer to the salvation of the soul, but to deliverance from the Great Tribulation through which the Jewish remnant will be called to pass, with an indirect application to us also.
So what does that deliverance lead to?
The hatred of all men will grow and be more marked after the Church is gone, and the remnant of Israel will suffer badly. That is why we are told, "the one who endures to the end will be saved." Anyone who bears the suffering of the tribulation and endures it to the end would be saved for earthly blessing in the millennium.
Commentators differ here. Hamilton Smith leaves it open — a martyr's death, or Christ's coming. Another writer fixes it to one point:
"The end" here is not the end of one person's life. It is the end of the whole time of persecution, trial and sorrow, and the second coming of Christ will bring that end. Endurance is the supreme virtue that is to mark these saints, for their salvation is sure when Christ appears.
Some read this verse as if it undercut salvation by grace. The reply is that different passages view the believer from different angles.
Ephesians 2:8-9 views the Christian as saved already. Elsewhere he is looked at as on the road to heaven, not yet there, and therefore exposed to the trials of the way. So his "enduring to the end" makes sense. It is the proof that his faith is genuine, and that the grace of God is sustaining him. Enduring to the end, he is saved.
The endurance ends, and not in the sufferer's own stamina.
After the glorious appearing of the Son of Man comes the gathering together of "His elect." Verse 20 mentioned them, and they are those who "endure to the end" (verse 13). Christ's appearing will save them. These elect are the God-fearing remnant of Israel in the last days. Angels will gather them from every part of the earth, and they will become the redeemed Israel who enter the millennial reign. All this must be kept separate from the coming of the Lord for His saints in 1 Thessalonians 4, when the Lord Himself will come down from heaven and our gathering will be to Him.
- The Name is the cause. They are hated for confessing Christ's Name — not for anything wrong in them.
- The Name draws hatred inward. Rulers first, then family, then all men; hostility to that Name splits households.
- The Name is held by endurance. Continuance is the test of what is real; Peter broke down, yet his faith did not fail.
- The Name fixes the end. The end is not just the end of a life. It is the close of the whole time of trial, and Christ's coming brings it.
- The Name secures the outcome. "Saved" here means deliverance through the tribulation into blessing on earth. It applies to us too, still on the road to heaven.