Mark Chapters 12 and 13

Mark Chapters 12 and 13 - Christogenea on Talkshoe 11-25-2011

In Mark chapter 11, we saw the cursing of the fig tree, which we related to the parable of the fig tree and the explanation of the fruitlessness of Christ's mission in Jerusalem. We then related how this was the final fulfillment of the dispersion of the Bad Figs of Jeremiah chapter 24, which is proven when comparing the language of Jeremiah to that of Christ concerning Jerusalem in his prophecy of its impending destruction as it is recorded in Luke chapter 21. We will discuss that at length here again next week, since it is also a subject of the latter half of Mark chapter 13. All of these prophecies and parables are part of a related theme, and so is the Parable of the Vineyard which we are about to read here in Mark chapter 12.

XII 1 And He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a vat and built a tower and let it out to husbandmen, and he traveled abroad. 2 And he sent a servant to the husbandmen at the appropriate time, in order that he would receive from the husbandmen from the fruits of the vineyard, 3 and taking him they cudgeled him and sent him away empty. 4 And again he sent to them another servant, and him they hit on the head and dishonored. 5 And he sent another, and him they slew, and many others, some then being cudgeled, but some being slain. 6 Yet he had one beloved son. He sent him to them last saying that ‘They shall respect my son!’ 7 But those husbandmen said to themselves that ‘This is the heir! Come, we should kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours!’ 8 And taking him they killed him and cast him outside of the vineyard. 9 So, what shall the master of the vineyard do? He shall come and destroy those husbandmen and let the vineyard out to others!

This parable is found also at Matthew 21:33. If the people in power in Judaea were truly the children of God, if they were Israelites, they too would have been heirs to the kingdom, and they would have heard the voice of their master. As Christ told many of the leaders of the Judaeans, recorded in John chapter 10, “But you do not believe, because you are not My sheep! ” They did not believe Him, because they were not His sheep in the first place. Being tenants, they had merely been permitted to run the vineyard by its rightful owner, Yahweh. So we have the Edomite rulers of Judaea. While many of the leaders were Israelites, according to the apostle John at 12:42-43 we see that: “42 Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: 43 For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” Additionally,the high priests themselves at the time were of the Sadducees, a group much more hateful of Christ and Christians than the Pharisees were, and a group so vile that they were rarely even mentioned by the apostles! That they were Edomites – or at least that they were not of the race of the apostles - is fully evident in the Greek of Acts 4, in verses 6 and 23, where the meanings of several words and the distinction they make in the narrative are glossed over in translation..

Acts 4:5-7: “5 And there was on the next day a gathering of them, the leaders and the elders and the scribes in Jerusalem, 6 and Hannas the high priest and Kaïaphas and Iohannes and Alexandros and as many as were of the race of the high priest, 7 and standing them in the midst they inquired, 'By what power or by what name have you done this?'”

Acts 4:23: “And being released they went to their own countrymen and reported as much as the high priests and the elders said to them.”

There are many other ways in which we may see that these Judaeans which Christ is talking about in this parable are indeed the “bad-fig jews” of Jeremiah chapter 24. Here we shall compare a statement in Jeremiah chapter 29 with a statement in Luke chapter 21.

Jeremiah 29:17-19: “17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. 18 And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them: 19 Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the LORD, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith the LORD.”

Luke 21:20-24: “20 But when you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, then you know that her desolation has come near. 21 Then those in Judaea must flee into the mountains, and those in her midst must leave the land, and those in the countryside must not enter into her! 22 Because these are the days of vengeance, by which all the things written are to be fulfilled! 23 Woe to those having conceived and to those with sucklings in those days! For there shall be great violence upon the earth, and wrath for this people! 24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword and they shall be taken away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be tread upon by the heathens until the times of the heathens should be fulfilled.”

Here in Mark 13, and in Luke 21, Yahshua is predicting the destruction of Jerusalem which took place in 70 AD. That was a time of vengeance in which all things written concerning Jerusalem – for we must always make our interpretations in context – were fulfilled. The things written concerning Jerusalem which Yahshua refers to are those found in the prophecy of Jeremiah: the permanent destruction of the city prophesied in Jeremiah chapter 19, and the dispersion of those Judaeans who were to be made like the bad figs (race-mixed with the Canaanites) prophesied in Jeremiah chapters 24 and 29. All of these curses upon those who rejected Yahweh and His Christ assure us today, that there certainly cannot be any so-called “good” jews. They are all to be rejected by us, as they were rejected by Yahshua Christ our God, because they rejected Him.

10 Have you not even read this scripture: ‘The stone which the builders have rejected, this has come to be for the head cornerstone. By Yahweh has this been done, and it is a wonder in our eyes’?” 12 And they sought to seize Him, yet they feared the crowd, for they knew that He had spoken the parable against them. And leaving Him they departed.

This is a verbatim quote of Psalm 118:22, “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.” This must have greatly vexed and provoked the Pharisees, knowing that Christ cited it in reference to Himself. Of course, visions of the Great Pyramid which is without its capstone since the most ancient times cannot be neglected. There is a story here, even if we do not know it perfectly. The “builders” were not the Pharisees, Sadducees, or of course any of the Edomite bastards. Rather, the builders were, allegorically, those Israelites of the Judges period who rejected Yahweh as their king, and demanded an earthly king instead. The primary lesson for us in Christ, is that only Yahweh God Himself is fit to be our king.

It is at this point in the corresponding version of the account given in the Gospel of Matthew, that Christ tells the Judaeans that “the kingdom of Yahweh shall be taken from you and given to a Nation producing its fruits!”, in Matthew 21:43. It is evident in the prophecies of Daniel, that the 70-weeks kingdom, as it may be called, which was in Judaea from the time of the rebuilding of the temple to the time of Christ, was only meant to be a temporary kingdom, meant to last until His passion and His reconciliation with the children of Israel. Commenting on that passage in Matthew, it was demonstrated that the kingdom of Yahweh would be restored to the Israelites of the much earlier dispersions. At Micah chapter 4, verses 6 through 8, it says in part: “6 In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; 7 And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever. 8 And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” The further the children of Israel migrated from the nations of their captivity, the stronger a nation they became. The Kingdom of God is indeed delivered to them, yet not at once. Isaiah 66:8 says of this same process: “Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” In other words, the process of Israel becoming many nations is found in the travails of the Assyrian captivity.

13 And they send to Him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians In order that they may entrap Him in speech.

This the jews love to do to their enemies, to harass them with deceitful questions trying to trip them up, hoping to get them to contradict or perjure themselves. There is nothing worse than getting drilled by a conniving jew lawyer, especially when you are in a position where you have to deal with it as a matter of law. Today a jew lurks around every corner trying to entrap White Christians with their speech, that they may brand them as “haters” or catch them in some perceived violation. While the translation is sometimes contested, the sense given in the Septuagint agrees, and therefore one of my favorite passages in the King James Version is from Isaiah chapter 29:20-21 where it says “For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off: That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.” The meaning is that there would be people who scorn and accuse all who are reproving evil, but that they themselves shall indeed be cut off. Today we see this very thing, that those who seek to keep the Word of God are labeled as criminals, yet soon they shall be vindicated.

14 And coming they say to Him: “Teacher, we know that You are true and in You there is no thought for anyone, for You do not look at the stature of men [the stature, or the status of men, as James explains in chapter 2 of his epistle], but by truth You teach the way of God. Is it lawful to give tax to Caesar, or not? Should we give or should we not give?” 15 But He knowing their hypocrisy said to them: “Why do you try Me? Bring to Me a denarion, that I may see!” 16 And they brought it. And He says to them: “Whose image is this, and the inscription?” Then they said to Him: “Caesar’s!” 17 And Yahshua said to them: “Render to Caesar the things of Caesar, and to Yahweh the things of Yahweh!” And they marveled at Him.

Proverbs 24:23: “These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.”

So many people even in Christian Identity simply cannot accept the precepts found in this passage. Yes, the taxes of imperialistic tyrannies are oppressive. In many ways, Imperial Rome was far more oppressive than Imperial America is now. But if you open your wallet and look at the bills it contains, they are all inscribed “Federal Reserve Note”. Therefore they really belong to the Federal Reserve – to the jewish bankers whom our fathers were foolish enough to grant such privileges as the ability to have them printed and put into circulation as so-called “money”. So you pay your taxes. A Christian must realize that if he is blessed with having money, it will become a curse to him if he does not do right by his blessing. We cannot serve both God and Mammon, or riches. Therefore we should have no care for riches – money comes, and money goes, and there are times when we need it and when we need it we use it, but when we are attached to the material world and the riches of this world, we care too much for our money.

In Matthew chapter 6 Yahshua said: “25 For this reason I say to you: Do not care for your life, what you should eat or what you should drink, nor for your body what you should wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of heaven, that they do not sow nor harvest nor gather into storehouses, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than them? 27 Who caring from among you is able to add one cubit to his stature? 28 And what do you care about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They do not toil nor spin yarn. 29 But I say to you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed as one of these! 30 Now if the grass of the field exists today and tomorrow it is cast into a furnace Yahweh clothes thusly, how much more you, you of little faith? 31 Therefore you should not have care, saying ‘What should we eat?’ or ‘What should we drink?’ or ‘What should we wear?’ 32 For all these things the heathens seek after. Indeed your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all of these things. 33 But you seek first the kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore you should not have care for tomorrow, for tomorrow shall care for itself. Sufficient for the day are its vices.”

Therefore if we seek the will of God, God will supply us with the means that we need to be fed, clothed, and sheltered, and we shall not have to seek the riches of this world, to care for money. That is a Christian promise, although at times we may all be tested as Job also was. Pray that you learn and follow his example when and if such a test comes upon you.

18 And the Sadducees come to Him, who say there is not to be a resurrection, and they questioned Him saying: 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a brother of one should die and leaves a wife and should not leave a child, that his brother should take the wife and raise up offspring for his brother. 20 There were seven brothers, and the first had taken a wife and dying had not left offspring, 21 and the second had taken her and he died not leaving offspring, and the third likewise, 22 and the seven had not left offspring. Last of all the wife also died. 23 In the resurrection, of which of them shall be the wife? For the seven had her as a wife!”

The Sadducees, as I discussed at great length in the commentary on Matthew chapter 22 given here some weeks ago, rejected all things spiritual. There are many Sadducees today, even in Christian Identity. Josephus, at Antiquities 13:173, says of them that: “And for the Sadducees, they take away fate, and say there is no such thing, and that the events of human affairs are not at its disposal [in the language of Josephus, he is saying that the Sadducees deny predestination]; but they suppose that all our actions are in our own power [humanism, the idea that God has no role in our lives], so that we are ourselves the causes of what is good, and receive what is evil from our own folly [that life is only cause-and-effect]. However, I have given a more exact account of these opinions in the second book of the Judaean War.”

In that book, Wars of the Judaeans 2:164-165, Josephus said: “164 But the Sadducees ... take away fate entirely, and suppose that God is not concerned in our doing or not doing what is evil; and they say, that to act what is good, or what is evil, 165 is at men's own choice, and that the one or the other belongs so to everyone, that they may act as they please. They also take away the belief of the immortal duration of the soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades [which is a doctrine of the Pharisees, and of the later Roman Catholic Church].”

Acts 5:17 shows that the high priests at the time, who were also the high priests who condemned the Christ, were of the Sadducees: “Then stood up the high priest and all those with him, being of the sect of the Sadducees, filled with jealousy”. It is, however, obvious from the testimony of Josephus, that the Sadducees would not have had the ability to condemn Christ if it were not for the approval of at least many of the Pharisees. At Acts chapter 23 we see that Paul was able to cause strife and a division between the Pharisees and the Sadducees at the council by loudly asserting that he was being tried for contention over the resurrection of the dead. 23:8 says: “For indeed the Sadducees say that there is not to be a resurrection, nor are there messengers nor a spirit, but Pharisees confess both things.”

The Sadducees attempted to take advantage of the law found at Deuteronomy 25:5 because they thought that they could use it to entrap Yahshua. It states that “If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.” But those who disbelieve the possibility of the resurrection to the Kingdom of Yahweh, how could they ever properly understand the Kingdom of Yahweh? Like the Pharisees, it is evident that neither did the Sadducees know the Scripture.

24 Yahshua said to them: “Aren’t you for this reason deceived, not knowing the writings nor the power of Yahweh? 25 For when they should arise from among the dead they shall neither marry nor do they give in marriage, but they shall be as the messengers in the heavens.

Nowhere that I can imagine, in the Old Testament as we know it today, can this be found in Scripture. But there is a place where it is found, in writings that the Dead Sea Scrolls help to prove were indeed extant, and that at least a large portion of them as we know them now were read and accepted in Judaea at the very time of Christ, and from these writings the apostles themselves both quoted directly or alluded to frequently in their epistles. Those writings are contained today in the book known to us as 1 Enoch. Here I shall quote from 1 Enoch 15:1-9, from the translation by R.H. Charles:

“1. And He answered and said to me, and I heard His voice: 'Fear not, Enoch, thou righteous man and scribe of righteousness: approach hither and hear my voice. 2. And go, say to ⌈⌈the Watchers of heaven⌉⌉, who have sent thee to intercede ⌈⌈for them: You should intercede⌉⌉ for men, and not men for you: 3. Wherefore have ye left the high, holy, and eternal heaven, and lain with women, and defiled yourselves with the daughters of men and taken to yourselves wives, and done like the children of earth, and begotten giants (as your) sons? 4. And though ye were holy, spiritual, living the eternal life, you have defiled yourselves with the blood of women, and have begotten (children) with the blood of flesh, and, as the children of men, have lusted after flesh and blood as those ⌈also⌉ do who die and perish. 5. Therefore have I given them wives also that they might impregnate them, and beget children by them, that thus nothing might be wanting to them on earth. 6. But you were ⌈formerly⌉ spiritual, living the eternal life, and immortal for all generations of the world. 7. And therefore I have not appointed wives for you; for as for the spiritual ones of the heaven, in heaven is their dwelling. 8. And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, and on the earth shall be their dwelling. 9. Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies; because they are born from men, ⌈⌈and⌉⌉ from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin; ⌈they shall be evil spirits on earth, and⌉ evil spirits shall they be called.'”

Now we must be careful with the Enochic literature, especially since we have only a few copies of fragments that can be shown to be of great antiquity, which are those found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and also because 1 Enoch is not even a single book, but several separate books which were written at diverse times and concatenated in some much later period. Yet here it is clear as to what Christ was referring to. The angels in heaven do not cohabit and multiply, even though they obviously have the ability, and once made a conscious decision to use that ability on earth – which led to sin because they were not supposed to do what they did – cohabiting with the daughters of Adam, the same events which were described in Genesis chapter 6 although our Biblical records there also have some imperfections. Here, and according to the words of Christ, it is evident that those of the resurrection may also have that ability, as the angels do, but will not use it. (And here it may also be argued that Adam and Eve were indeed virgins in their own pre-fallen state, which other Scriptures indeed demonstrate.)

26 But concerning the dead that they are raised have you not read in the book of Moses, at the bramble-bush how Yahweh had spoken to him saying ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaak and the God of Jakob’? 27 Yahweh is not of the dead but of the living! You are greatly deceived!”

Yahweh professes to be “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” in Exodus chapter 3 at verses 6 and 15. We have seen from Josephus that the Sadducees believed that the soul died along with the body. Here we see that they were wrong. If Yahweh is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and if He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, it naturally follows that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are not dead, but living – and living in the spirit, that invisible world the Scriptures sometimes mention, which we do not presently see! We will not find it explicitly expressed in this manner, as Christ said, that Yahweh “is not God of the dead, but of the living”, in the Old Testament as we know it. Yet we do find similar statements in certain Apocryphal books, such as 4 Maccabees which I will quote here:

4 Maccabees 7:18-19 [my own translation]: 18 But they who have thought for piety with all their heart, these alone are able to master the emotions of the flesh; 19 they who believe in God do not die; likewise neither do our forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, for they live with God.

4 Maccabees 16:25 [my own translation]: And then they also saw this, that they who die on account of God, they live with God; just as Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs.

So also we have the event known as the Transfiguration on the Mount, which shows us this same thing, and the profession by Enoch which the apostle Jude quoted, that “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.” Yet those who are not of us do not have that Spirit, and these are those who are “twice dead”, as Jude calls them, they have no hope to see the Kingdom of Heaven, as Christ explains in John chapter 3, because they are not “born from above”. Therefore you will not find non-Adamites in the Kingdom of Heaven in any capacity. Do not be deceived, Yahshua Himself said at John 3:3 “Truly, truly I say to you, unless a man should be born from above, he is not able to see the Kingdom of Yahweh.” We have life because we have that Spirit which is from of heaven which Yahweh imparted to Adamic Man, and which according to Paul's enigmatic description in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and according to John in the third chapter of his first epistle, is a part of our genetic heritage, which is what distinguishes us as being “born from above”. If one is born from above, he cannot die in the Spirit, because he has that Spirit of the Almighty God within him! Jude and Peter, along with many other Scriptures, testify that only our White race has that Spirit, and therefore only they shall see the Kingdom of Heaven.

28 And coming forth one of the scribes having heard their disputing, seeing that He answered them well, questioned Him: “What is the first of all commandments?” 29 Yahshua replied that “First is: ‘Hear, O Israel, Yahweh is our God; there is only one Yahweh! 30 And you shall love Yahweh your God from your whole heart and from your whole soul and from your whole mind and from your whole strength!’ 31 Second is this: ‘You shall love him near to you as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than this!” 32 And the scribe said to Him “Good, Teacher! With truth You have spoken that He is one and there is not another except Him, 33 and for which to love Him from the whole heart and from the whole conscience and from the whole strength, and for which to love him near to you as yourself is greater than every whole burnt offering and sacrifice!” 34 And Yahshua seeing him, that he replied sensibly, said to him: “You are not far from the Kingdom of Yahweh!” And no one any longer dared to question Him.

When we submit ourselves to the will of God, to seek after and follow His will, then we seek to establish the Kingdom of Heaven, being bestowed with His blessings. If we instead seek our own will and our own righteousness, we are lost in the world and find nothing but trouble.

35 And responding Yahshua said teaching in the temple: “How do the scribes say that the Christ is a son of David? 36 David himself said by the Holy Spirit: ‘Yahweh said to my Master, sit at My right hand, until when I shall place Your enemies beneath Your feet!’ 37 David himself declares Him Master, and how is He his son?” And the large crowd heard Him gladly.

This quote is from Psalm 110. I have interpreted the two occurrences of the Greek word κύριος as “Yahweh” and “master” because in the Hebrew manuscripts they are Yahweh and adon, which is a Hebrew word meaning master or lord. Both words were rendered κύριος in the Septuagint Greek, (which the New Testament often follows when quoting from the Old Testament), since use of the name Yahweh was already banned by the religious authorities in Judaea before the time of Christ.

This is a Christian paradox. Yahshua Christ is Yahweh, having come in the form of a man. He is the father, and He is the son, and that is the only way in which He could be both David's descendant and David's master! That is the only way, as the Revelation attests, where it also agrees with the prophets, that He could be both the Root and the Offspring of David (Revelation 5:5 and 22:16), or the future Root of Jesse long after Jesse had departed this world (Isaiah 11:10, Romans 15:12). That is the only way that He could claim to have been the planter of the Wheat in the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares. That is the only way that Paul could have asserted that the Rock in the Desert which followed the Israelites of the Exodus was indeed Christ Himself (1 Corinthians 10:4). The Pharisees obviously did not understand this, and therefore could not respond. The Dead Sea Scrolls version of Isaiah agrees with the Masoretic Text where it reads at Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” So the Pharisees were without excuse. The deity of Christ was argued form the beginning of Christianity, and many modern-day Christians still do not understand this.

38 And in His teaching He said: “Beware of those scribes who desire to walk about in robes and greetings in the marketplaces 39 and the first benches in the assembly halls and the best seats at the dinners: 40 they are devouring the house of widows and with pretense make prayers at length! They shall receive a greater judgment!”

They have all the status of an office and a name, but in reality they are consuming the Kingdom of God, rather than building it. Today we have that same thing, in the Catholic and all of the other mainstream so-called “church” organizations. Professional priests who live off of the fat of the people, and do nothing in return but decorate themselves with pomp and majesty. We also have that same thing in Christian Identity, where people should know better. There are petty fiefdoms and people get caught up in names and “organizations”, making ranks and distinctions for themselves and elevating themselves above others, mocking the world while they pretend to dignities. These things are not Christian. True Christians must love their brethren, and most of all defend their race, and forget about trying to mimic the world.

41 And being seated opposite the treasury He observed how the crowd casts coin into the treasury. And many wealthy had cast much. 42 And coming one poor widow had cast two lepta (which is a quadrans). 43 And summoning His students He said to them: “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has cast more than all of those casting into the treasury! 44 For they all have cast from out of their abundance, but she from her want has cast all whatever she had, her whole substance!”

Yahweh measures our gifts not according to what we give, but according to how we give in proportion to our ability to give. This elderly woman could hardly give at all, yet she gave all that she had. If our gifts and our labors are in accordance with our abilities, they shall surely be rewarded. Yet if you give even beyond your abilities, you shall be rewarded greatly! But woe to those who give only in pretense, or who count the numbers and give in a niggardly manner. Speaking about giving, I speak not only about money. There is much more that a man can do for his kin, for his race, and for the sake of the Gospel than merely giving money. We all have gifts from God, and we should seek to use them for the benefit of the kingdom people as much as we can.

Mark chapter 12 parallels much of what is contained in Matthew chapters 21 and 22. The events of Matthew chapter 23, Yahshua's great diatribe against the hypocrisy of the scribes and the Pharisees, was left unrecorded by Mark. The next chapter, 13, parallels Matthew chapter 24 and Luke chapter 21.

XIII 1 And upon His going out from the temple one of His students says to Him: “Teacher, behold what quality stones and what quality buildings!” 2 And Yahshua said to him: “You see these great buildings? By no means should there be left here a stone upon a stone which would not be thrown down!”

Here Christ forecasts the destruction of Jerusalem which was to come nearly 40 years later. At the end of Matthew Chapter 23, which Mark did not record, Christ exclaimed to the Judaeans “Behold, your house is left to you desolate!” Christ was really only confirming something that Yahweh had long ago prophesied through Daniel, in Daniel 9:24-27. Here I shall repeat Daniel 9:24-27 once again, which is Daniel's 70-Weeks Prophecy concerning the advent of the Messiah: “24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. 25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” The fact that all of these things came to pass in not more than 40 years after the Crucifixion, a very symbolic time period in the Bible, is further proof that Christianity is indeed the world's only spiritual truth. Christ then exclaimed, as it is recorded in the last verse of Matthew chapter 23, “For I say to you, by no means may you see Me from now until you should say ‘Blessed is He coming in the name of Yahweh’!” But His triumphant march into Jerusalem had already happened prior to this statement, and therefore those words must have yet another fulfillment.

Click here for William Finck's notes on the chronology of Daniel's 70-Weeks Kingdom Prophecy (which he rambled on about not being able to find during the podcast.)

3 And upon His being seated in the Mount of Olives opposite the temple they questioned Him by themselves, Petros and Iakobos and Iohannes and Andreas: “Tell us, when shall these things be? And what is the sign when all these things would be about to be accomplished?”

Mark and Luke each recorded only two of the questions. Yet we see from Matthew that the apostles asked Christ three separate questions: “Tell us, when shall these things be?”, in reference to His statements concerning the destruction of Jerusalem. “What is the sign of Your coming...?” in reference to the ultimate return of the Christ, and “...and of the consummation of the age?” in reference to Christ's many statements which mention the end of the age, or world as the King James Version has it, such as at Matthew 13:40 and the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares where Christ says “Therefore just as the tares are gathered and burn in fire, thusly it shall be at the consummation of the age.”

This is not to say that Mark's or Luke's Gospels conflict with Matthew's. We should only observe that Mark's and Luke's accounts are from different perspectives, and facts were remembered differently. Note that Mark describes only four apostles engaged in this dialogue with Christ, a fact which Matthew and Luke omitted. One person remembers three parts of an event, out of perhaps three or four or five or more, and another person either remembers or feels it only matters enough to record two of the three parts, or three parts of a four-part event where one of those parts is not recorded by the first person who related the event.. That is not a discrepancy. Rather it is human, and happens all the time when various people recollect the same event. We may have parts of an event that we can label A, B, C, D,and E, and one person recalls and records A, C and D while a second records B, D and E. Both accounts are true, yet neither is complete by itself. Thus is the nature of the Gospel accounts.

The apostles could not have known that the answers to these questions would describe separate events, which would occur many years apart from each other. They imagined the end of Jerusalem to mark the end of the age and the return of Christ. Many Christian Preterists hold that same errant conclusion today. Christ did not clarify the matter for us, giving one long discourse in a single answer to all three questions. It is a challenge for us to sort it out, and it must be said that none of us are going to be able so do so clearly.

5 Then Yahshua began to speak to them: “Watch that not anyone would deceive you! 6 Many shall come in My Name saying that ‘I am He’, and they shall deceive many.

Matthew 24: “4 And replying Yahshua said to them: “Watch lest anyone should deceive you! 5 For many shall come by My Name saying ‘I am the Christ’, and they shall deceive many. “

Luke 21:8 And He said “Watch that you are not deceived. For many shall come by My Name saying ‘I am’ and ‘The time has come near.’ You should not go after them.

In the first few centuries of Christianity many men were preaching false Christs, meaning that they were attributing teachings to Yahshua Christ which He did not actually intend for us. But it is not evident in the records which we have that any were claiming to actually be Christ. Yes, there was Apollonius of Tyana, who was probably only a neo-Pythagorean philosopher, but much of what is related about him comes from a century-later biographical novelist named Philostratus, and the emendations of fanciful writers of tales from the fourth century and later. There were also several minor would-be Messiah figures in Jerusalem around the time of Christ, such as Judas the Gaulonite, who was described by Josephus, and who was really just a tax-protestor. None of these fits the circumstances which Yahshua Christ relates here. Here Yahshua tells us specifically that many would come claiming to be Him, and that has not happened until this present era.

In the present era, over the last two centuries, there have been many figures specifically claiming to be the Christ, meaning an advent or reincarnation of Jesus, of Yahshua Christ. Among these are the Korean named Sun Myung Moon, another Korean named Ahn Sahng-Hong, Marshall Applewhite, Jim Jones, Bahá'u'lláh, and a host of several dozens of other assorted freaks. Some of them have hundreds of thousands of followers. Therefore if this prophecy can only be seen to have been realized in more recent times, because there is no such attestation of its having happened in the early centuries of Christianity, then this entire discourse must also be applicable to these more recent times, as well as what obviously applies to the past and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. In other words, Christ's answers to all three of the questions posed by the apostles must be in and throughout this entire discourse.

7 But when you should hear of wars and reports of wars, do not be troubled. It needs to happen, but not yet is the end. 8 For nation shall arise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There shall be earthquakes in various places. There shall be famines. These things are the beginning of travails!

Matthew 24:6-8 reads nearly identically to this. But Luke 21:9-11 read thus: “9 But when you hear of wars and disturbances, you should not be scared. For it is necessary that these things come first, but not immediately is the end.” 10 Then He said to them: “Nation shall arise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There shall be both great earthquakes and famines and plagues in various places. There shall be both terrors and great signs from heaven.”

First, we see in Luke's version that there is the additional clause, “great signs from heaven”: it is impossible to quantify such a prophecy until it happens. It was demonstrated, when we covered Revelation chapter 8 here, that there really was a year where the sun and moon were notably less bright, right at the same time that matches the historic prophecies surrounding Revelation 8:12, as recorded by the ancient historian Procopius. So with this also, a literal fulfillment cannot be ruled out.

Repeating Mark 24 “7 But when you should hear of wars and reports of wars, do not be troubled. It needs to happen, but not yet is the end. 8 For nation shall arise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There shall be earthquakes in various places. There shall be famines. These things are the beginning of travails!”

The period from about 27 BC to 180 AD was described by Gibbon as the Pax Romana, and many other historians have followed. Aside from the border wars in Germany and Parthia, the conquest of Britain under Claudius in the 5th and 6th decades of the first century, and the war in Judaea from 65-70 AD, and the battles for succession as emperor in 68-70 AD, there was relative peace throughout the Roman Empire. None of these events which happened leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem could meet the description given by Christ here, that “you are going to hear of wars and reports of wars” and “nation shall rise against nation”, since none of the events could be seen as extraordinary in life under Roman rule.

Yet while we have always had war in some degree, over the past two hundred years we have never had so much war! And while it seems remote to us now, only 70 years ago 63 million people died in World War Two alone, where practically every single nation on earth was involved. And Christ says that not yet is the end. And while we have not had a lot of famine in White Adamic lands lately, we saw 20 million Ukrainians and Russians die from famine during the Stalin regime, and on a much smaller scale many died from starvation during the Dust Bowl and Depression era here in North America. Many Europeans died due to famine and disease in post-War Europe. It was a famine, organized by certain elements in France, which enticed the common people into supporting the famous revolution there which initiated the modern era. And we cannot really say that it won't happen again. Christ certainly seems to be talking about the end of the age here, and this description fits that age in which we live. The past hundred years have seen the deaths of 100 million Christians at the hands of satan: which is the jewish people.

“9 But you watch out for yourselves. They shall hand you over to councils and you shall be beaten in assembly halls and you shall be made to stand before governors and kings because of Me for a testimony to them. 10 And in all the Nations it is first necessary for the good message to be proclaimed. 11 And when they bring you handing you over, do not practice beforehand what you should say, but that which should be given to you at that hour, this you shall say. For it is not you who are speaking but the Holy Spirit. 12 And brother shall hand over brother unto death, and father child, and children shall rise up against parents and shall slay them, 13 and you shall be hated by all on account of My Name. But he abiding to the end, he shall be saved.

Today, the only people in the world who can honestly claim to be “hated by all” are true White Christians. It is doubtless that there were persecutions of Christians, instigated by the Jews, in the years leading up to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. But those persecutions also continued long after the destruction of Jerusalem, all the way to the 4th century AD. So this prophecy can not relate to the first century alone, and since it is talking more specifically in anticipation of the time of the end of the age, it cannot really be referring to the early persecutions of Christians at all, although they are part of the overall picture. Many of the apostles and their followers were slain by or on account of the jews in the years leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem, but the persecution of Christians certainly did not end there.

During the French Revolution, for the first time in Europe we saw an organized slaughter of the clergy. While it is without doubt that the Catholic clergy was vastly rich and powerful, the reaction was not a turn to Protestantism, but was rather a de-Christianization of France and the organization and institution of an atheist state religion. This was accompanied by an emancipation of the jews in France. By the fruits of a revolution its true instigators are fully revealed. The Christian clergy, and Christians in general, have been persecuted in every revolution since the French Revolution, and all of these revolutions have been inspired and organized by jews. The only reason that Christians have not really been persecuted here in America, is that most Christians are now so-called Judeo-Christians, and therefore they are not really Christians at all, but whores for the jews. It was not that way during the first decades of our nation's history. Now, every once in awhile, when anyone – especially a true White Christian - seeks to uphold true Christian values or morals, we see that the tyrannical government steps in to squelch them, and so the true nature of our governments as they are now is revealed: they are all tools for satan. Today there have been many court rulings against Christians in the United States, and especially in Europe and in Britain. Therefore we cannot rule out the possibility of still further persecutions of Christians, right here in our own Christian nations, if and when the government tyranny feels threatened by Christians. Today some government officials have already slanderously characterized certain Christians as terrorists and enemies of the state, and for no good reason.

Yet we cannot forget that the Catholics, while they may have been Christians of a sort, in order to maintain their own power over Christendom had already slaughtered many of their own Protestant brethren. In Germany, the 30 Years' War of the Romish Church against Protestantism killed half of the adult men of Germany, three-tenths of the overall population, and a third of Czechs. France under di Medici rule persecuted the Huguenots, killing many thousands of them. This is the fulfillment of those who sought the Word of God in the opening of the little book described in Revelation Chapter 10. In a great way, we can see a major fulfillment of the verses at Matthew 24:9-10 and here in Mark 13:9-13 in the Reformation and its aftermath. But simply because the Reformation is perceived as having come to a close, that does not mean that those same forces are not at work today. For today we see that the daughters of the Reformation, those various Protestant church organizations which ultimately sprung from it, have again fallen totally under the sway of those same powers who had once persecuted their founders!

Of course, the true Christian should know that vengeance belongs to Yahweh our God, and should never want to run into confrontations with the governments of this world, which we cannot ever win anyway. Yet no true Christian should ever want to deny Christ, or the truth of the Gospel. Whenever it comes down to the two, Christians must choose allegiance to Christ. Christ said, as we see it at Mark 8:38: “For whoever should be ashamed of Me and My words among this adulterous and sinful race, also the Son of Man shall be ashamed of him, when he should come in the honor of His Father with the holy messengers!” This was also recorded at Luke 9:26, and was a sentiment often uttered by Paul in his epistles. At 1 John 2:28 we read “And now, children, you abide in Him, that if He should appear, we would have freespokenness and would not be dishonored by Him at His presence. 29 If you know that He is righteous, you also know that each who is practicing righteousness has been born from of Him.” Christians should not ever be dissuaded from the Gospel and the commandments of Christ. So if persecutions of Christians do come here, and they indeed may come yet, we see that we must do our best to abide them and to remain in our faith.

Again, at Mark 13:13 Yahshua says “...and you shall be hated by all on account of My Name. But he abiding to the end, he shall be saved.” Matthew 24 13-14 states “But he who endures unto the end, he shall be preserved. 14 And this good message of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the Nations, and then shall the end come.” Luke 21:17-19 states “17 and you shall be hated by all on account of My Name. 18 Yet a hair from your heads shall by no means be lost. 19 In your endurance must you gain your lives.”

We have many other promises that all Israel shall be preserved, that all of the seed, or offspring, of the children of Israel shall be saved. But we are not all tried in the same manner. We have not all been forced to choose between life and death on behalf of Christ. So this promise that “he who endures unto the end, he shall be preserved” must indicate something else: that only those of us who are destined to face such a trial, must live up to it.

Here is Revelation 14, verses 9 through 12: “9 And another, third messenger followed them saying with a great voice: 'If one worships the beast and its image and receives an engraved mark upon his forehead or upon his hand, 10 then he shall drink from the wine of the wrath of Yahweh which is poured unmixed into the cup of His anger, and he shall be tormented in fire and sulfur before the holy messengers and before the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends for eternal ages, and they who worship the beast and its image and one who receives the engraved mark of its name shall not have rest day and night. 12 Thus is the patience of the saints, they keeping the commandments of Yahweh and the faith of Yahshua!'”

Now this passage is in the context of the aftermath of the fall of Babylon, which we see in verse 8, so it cannot be taken out of that context. Here we see that at Babylon's fall, those who worship the beast shall be punished with the wrath of God. Some of us are tried in the Faith, and we are destined for a higher reward when we overcome our trials. Some of us worship the things of this world, and we shall be punished with the wrath of God, and that is our trial. All of us, if we are indeed Israelites, are saints, as we see here in Revelation 14:12 where it speaks of those who face His wrath. Peter discusses the trial by fire of this life in his first epistle, at 1 Peter 1:7: “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” Paul states at 1 Corinthians chapter 3: “12 Now if anyone builds upon that foundation gold, silver, precious stones, timber, fodder, straw, 13 the work of each will become evident; indeed the day will disclose it, because in fire it is revealed; and of what quality the work of each is, the fire will scrutinize. 14 If the work of anyone who has built remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If the work of anyone burns completely, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be preserved, although consequently through fire.”

For those of us whose lot it is to face trials in this world because of our own disobedience, so be it, no one can do anything about it when we do not heed the call. But we who profess to know better should nevertheless do our best to pull our brethren out of the sins of the world when we can. James said at the end of his epistle “19 My brethren, if one among you should stray from the truth and one should correct him, 20 you must know that he correcting a wrongdoer from the error of his way shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of errors!” But for those of us destined to face trial on behalf of Christ, we must abide in our profession, and in that we shall gain our lives. Truth and an adherence to the Gospel bear a greater responsibility. Revelation 13:9-10 is but one passage which teaches us such predestination, where it says: “9 If one has an ear, he must hear! 10 If one is for captivity, into captivity he goes. If one is to be slain by the sword, he is to be slain by the sword. Thus is the patience and the faith of the saints.” We must realize this: that Yahweh alone is Sovereign.

At Luke 12:41 Peter asks about a certain parable, and Yahshua answers thus: “41 Then Petros said “Prince, to us do You speak this parable, or also to all?” 42 And the Prince said “Who then is the faithful, sensible steward, whom the master appoints over his attendants, to give the allotment of grain at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that servant, who coming his master finds doing thusly. 44 Truthfully I say to you that he shall appoint him over all his belongings. 45 But if that servant should say in his heart ‘My master delays coming’, and he begins to beat the menservants and maidservants, then to eat and to drink and be drunken, 46 the master of that servant shall arrive in a day in which he does not expect, and at an hour in which he does not know, and he will cut him in two, and he shall set his portion with the faithless! 47 “Now that servant who knowing the will of his master and not preparing or doing according to his will shall be clubbed much. 48 But he not knowing yet doing such worthy of blows shall be clubbed little. All to whom much is given, much shall be sought from him, and to whom much is committed, far more shall be demanded of him.”

Will there be further persecutions of Christians? The jews, having come to the forefront of our society, persecute Christians whenever they get the chance, and if they have the opportunity again, they will openly persecute Christians just like they did in old Rome and during all of the revolutions of Europe. We should certainly anticipate the possibility of further persecutions of Christians.