In our study of Mark we are in Mark 13:8; where Jesus tells His disciples that there will be continuous warfare and natural disasters and that these are just the beginning so we have taken up a study on the doctrine of the perpetuation of warfare.
When we stopped last time we had noted that those who perpetuate the idea that Jesus was passive are propagating a public lie because contrary to public opinion scripture depicts Jesus Christ as a warrior and a leader of warriors as stated in passages such as Exod 14:14; "The Lord will fight for you."
Jesus only appeared to be passive because His primary mission was to go to the cross and die for the sins of the world. 2Cor 5:21; His spiritual death on the cross was the ultimate victory over Satan and death. Heb 2:14; 1Cor 15:55-57;
This is the only reason He permitted himself to be arrested falsely accused and indicted and crucified. Matt 26:53-54;
John 18:36; In His reply to Pilate He said, "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my servants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish authorities. But as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm.
So we see that it is a public lie that has been manufactured into public opinion that Jesus is always passive because He is not.
The Hebrew title "Adonai Sabaoth"; translated "the Lord of the Armies," is a title for our Lord Jesus Christ as the protector of Israel. The Lord approves of armies and the military and the use of force in battle to protect freedom.
Jesus is the commander and chief of the angelic army, Josh 5:13-6:2; Zech 14:3-4;
Isa 37:36, tells us that our Lord personally killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in His battle to protect Judea from the Assyrians. And He will kill even more at Armageddon. Rev 19:11; " when He makes war against the world's armies in righteousness." Net note 29
In Rev 14:20; "the winepress" refers to His destruction of the armies gathered against Israel in warfare. Net notes 67 and 68
We see that when He gets done waging war against and killing the armies gathered against Israel the entire valley will be filled with blood for miles.
Jesus is not some irrational sentimental peacenik He is a warrior and He uses legitimate warfare at the right time to destroy His enemies.
In Num 1:2-3;, Jesus Christ commanded a census be taken so they would know how many able-bodied men were able to go to war. The Book of Numbers deals with the war plans and mobilization of Israel's armed forces.
Luke 14:31; Jesus teaches the principle that every nation should have a professional military that is prepared to go to war if necessary.
For the individual believer, God is himself the true motivation for military training and preparation, 2Sam 22:35; Ps 144:1; "Blessed be the Lord who trains my hands for war." Net note 3
This means that believers should not be passive in the face of criminality and they need to be trained and capable of properly handling weapons in self-defense because self-defense is a principle from God and believers need to be able to wield deadly force if necessary.
This is why Jesus told His disciples to sell a coat and buy a sword for personal protection before he sent them into the gentile areas to evangelize. Luke 22:36,38;
Instruction for Church Age believers is found in Rom 12:18-21;
The Bible records the "Wars of the Lord.; Num 21:14; "Therefore, it is written in the book of the wars of the Lord." 1Chron 5:20-22; "Because God fought for them they killed many of the enemy."
The Bible teaches the principle of national freedom through military victory. "In their victory the land was free of war." Josh 11:23;
God has established the principle of peace through military victory. Psa 46:7-9; "He brings and end to war" through military victory.
God protects His people from evil predator nations that engage in warfare against them; Psa 55:20-23.
Jer 6:13-19; We see here that wars are started because; "Everyone is greedy for dishonest gain, and is manufacturing lies."
People who manufacture and believe the public lie are a major factor in causing war. This nation and the entire world are very close to the point where there will be another worldwide war because of the pervasiveness of the propagation and acceptance of public lies so we need to be prepared for the consequences. Isa 59:12-18;
This takes us back to our verse by verse study in Mark 13:8; These disasters are common as long as satan is ruling the world so they are not necessarily indicative of the Tribulation.
Mark 13:9; In this verse Jesus begins to answer the questions the disciples had asked in Mark 13:4; Matt 24:3; He begins to address their third question "What will be the sign of the end of the age?"
Mark 13:9; Beware, for they will arrest you and hand you over to courts and beaten in the synagogues"
Remember a synagogue was a locally established religious authority. Any town with at least 10 men could establish a synagogue. The synagogue was a place where teaching occurred but it also functioned as a local court of law.
So Jesus told the disciples that they would be arrested and hauled before these courts where they would be punished for what they teaching.
They would also be arrested and forced to stand before governors and kings who were the gentile political authorities. This would happen because of their teaching about Jesus and the disciples' testimony would be a witness of Jesus to the Jewish leaders as well as the governors and kings who were the political leaders.
These things happened to the disciples as the Age of Israel was put on hold and the Church Age inserted. What this means is that anytime there is a transition between Ages there is major deception, conflict and disaster and war.
Paul discusses this generically in 2Tim 3:1-7; where he describes it as characteristic of the "last days" because anytime there is an end to one thing and a beginning of another the transition is generally the result of pervasive locked in negative volition so the deception and public lie that is created from the negative volition leads to conflict and war during the change.