Mark 13:3-4 What’s coming?
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: March 30, 2018, Mark 13:3-4
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?”
(Understanding the Text) Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives looking out toward Jerusalem and the temple. I used to have a Russian olive tree in my front yard of my house. I loved the sage green color of its thin leaves. The mount must have been pretty with all those sage green trees. Jesus went here often to pray. Gethsemane was on the Mount of Olives. Luke says it was usual for Jesus to pray there. “And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.” (Luke 22:39). It says that the four disciples came to Him privately. That means that Jesus was sitting off by Himself away from all the other disciples.
(Revelation of God) What was Jesus thinking about as He sat there? Was He going through the list of items that He needed to accomplish and the arrangements that He had made? Was He brooding about the Jews who were going to be lost when He had done everything He could to save them? Was He thinking about the upcoming trials that He would face? Or maybe He was peacefully communing with the Father and enjoying sitting under the shade of an olive tree on a warm spring day. Jesus had many sorrows and things to worry about and plans to keep track of, but I think He followed His own advice and enjoyed the day without worrying about the trials of tomorrow. I think He may have been focused on His Father and enjoying the beauty around Him.
(Understanding the Text) The four disciples must have been discussing Jesus’ earlier comment about the stones of the temple not being left on each other. I wonder if one reason that Peter, James, and John were part of Jesus’ inner circle was because they paid attention and thought over the lessons He taught them. We know that God leads us to higher lessons only when we are ready and that we have to learn the basics in order to understand the more complex. Maybe these three were learning quickly and ready to learn more. Maybe, out of the 12, they were the prize students. On the other hand, maybe they were the ones who needed extra help? Now, Andrew, Peter’s brother, is added to the mix. The four had probably spent years discussing life as fishing partners. They must have been shocked by Jesus’ prediction of the temple’s destruction. It would have gone against every dream of their Jewish hearts.
(Application / Prayer) The destruction of the temple in the past had been because of Jewish apostasy, but by all appearances to them, the Jews were not apostatizing. Sure, the Pharisees were a little hypocritical and overly restrictive, but they were keeping the nation on the straight and narrow. Even at this stage, the disciples were still focused on behavior when God wanted relationship. Even as they cherished their relationship with Jesus, they still believed that His Father was focused on behavior in the Pharisee’s way. They did not see that this behavior was just as abhorrent to God as the past idol worshiping had been. In both cases, the leaders did not know the God they claimed and in fact, were in the process of rejecting Him. I think I tend to think the same way today. I believe and want a close relationship with God, but I excuse the people who take the title of Christian but still reject a relationship with Jesus and think of them as being better or closer to God than the ones who don’t take the title of Christian. Maybe, I will be a little shocked on judgment day at seeing the ones who are in the kingdom of heaven compared to the ones who are not. I am not very good at this relationship stuff, but I know that it is important, and I want to cherish You, and I do cherish the little bit of relationship to You that I have. I pray to be closer. I know that I have relationship barriers that get in the way of being closer. I pray to love you and to love those around me.
(Understanding the Text) I think the disciples were hoping that the destruction of Jerusalem would be far in the future, but they were worried that it would be within the year. They came with their questions to Jesus to try to understand whether there was an immediate threat or if it was a someday event. The truth was that it was neither. The seeds of destruction were already happening, so in that way, Jesus’ warning was timely. The actions that would lead to the temple’s destruction were imminent. However, the actual event was forty years in the future. God would give the people of the nation more time to make decisions and come out of the nation that had rejected Him for the last time. There is an Israel today, but it is not God’s nation. It is simply a nation of men. They may call themselves by the old name and be descended from the original kingdom’s founders, but they are not the nation of God any more than the United States is. God has no nation now. Instead, He has a church from every nation, kindred, and tongue who are united in a relationship to Him across all national boundaries.