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!"