<p>13:4 <i>Tell us, when will these things occur, and what shall be the sign when these things are about to happen?</i>- They clearly expected one particular sign, and&nbsp;<i>semeion</i>&nbsp;is typically used of a miraculous wonder. Instead, the Lord gave them a series of signs which they were to discern. The fulfilment of these signs in our times is no less than a miracle- that such detailed predictions could start to come true before our eyes. Such fulfilment of prophecy is therefore itself a miracle. The disciples repeat the Pharisees' question about when the end will come- in almost the same words. They were clearly influenced by them (Lk. 17:20 cp. Mk. 13:4). The disciples (in their childish way) showed the Lord the greatness of the temple, and he commented that soon it would be destroyed. They asked the obvious question: When? Usually, the Lord didn't reply directly to questions; he gave answers which branched out into something altogether more comprehensive than the original question (Consider Mt. 13:10,11; 15:2,3; Mk. 10:4,5; Lk. 17:20; Jn. 3:4,5; 4:9,10; 6:28,29; 8:53,54; 11:8,9; 14:22,23). <i>Nearly every example of the Lord Jesus answering a question includes this feature.</i> To the disciples, the destruction of the temple meant the end of the age- it was a calamity. They assumed that if the temple was destroyed, it must be replaced immediately by their Jesus coming again with his Messianic Kingdom. Their minds were still not suitably distanced from their Judaist background. They asked <i>one</i> question: &quot;When shall these things (the destruction of the temple) be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?&quot; (Mk. 13:4). Mt. 24:4 can make it seem that they asked two questions: &quot;When shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of they coming, and of the end of the world?&quot;. But the parallel record in Mk. 13:4 makes it clear that actually these were parts of the same question concerning the temple's destruction. To the disciples, the coming of Christ, the end of the world and the temple's destruction were all the same event. The Lord answered their question by speaking of how there would be the destruction of the temple, but his real coming and the main ending of this world would be at a future date. His answer was therefore fundamentally relevant to his second coming, although built into it was some reference to the destruction of the temple in AD70. As He so often does, the Lord turned round the terms of the question. They thought his &quot;coming&quot; would be at the temple's destruction, and so they asked for signs of His &quot;coming&quot;. But Christ shows that this wasn't a correct view: His real &quot;coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory&quot; (Mt. 24:30) would not be then, but after all the various signs he described were fulfilled. He was surely saying: 'OK the temple will be destroyed, and many of the signs I'm giving will have some application to that period; but the destruction of the temple isn't the sign of my coming. Note the signs I give you, and watch for their fulfilment: and <i>then</i> you'll know when to expect my coming'. <br />13:5 The persecution of God's people was spoken of by the Lord as being one of the clearest signs. And he also emphasized that apostasy within the ecclesia would be the other major sign. When they asked him for the signs, Mk. 13:5 says that Jesus <i>began</i> by warning them of deception from false teachers. The way the NT writers allude to this passage indicates that they saw this deception as not coming from the crazy bogus-Messiahs of the world, but from false teachers <i>within the ecclesia</i>, sometimes supported by apparent possession of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:6; 2 Thess. 2:3; Tit. 1:10; 2 Jn. 7). A state of total ecclesial apostasy was the sign which Jesus <i>began</i> with, according to Mk. 13:5.<br />13:9 When the Lord said that His people would preach before rulers &lsquo;for a witness / testimony against them&rsquo; (Mk. 13:9), we are left wondering when and how exactly this will be. It&rsquo;s hard to come to any other conclusion than that this refers to how our words of preaching will be quoted back to the hearers at the judgment. It&rsquo;s an incidental proof that it is hearing the word of the Gospel that makes a person responsible to the last judgment. But in our context, my point is that our words of preaching in this life will be quoted back to those who heard them, at the day of judgment. The simple point is, our words aren&rsquo;t forgotten. They will be quoted back, in some form, at the day of judgment. And yet it appears we can speak and think how we like in this life. Indeed we can; but all these things will ultimately surface again in the last day.</p>