Cosmic Confusion, Clouds, and the Scope of Salvation

“Cosmic Confusion, Clouds, and the Scope of Salvation” – July 7th, 2024 (Mark 13)

Mark chapter 13 is commonly called, “the little apocalypse.” When we hear that word, it’s hard to not think of songs like this that speak of waking up to some kind of devastation, the hopelessness and despair of ash and dust, or the 1979 epic war film, Apocalypse Now. But there is a long and rich Jewish tradition of apocalyptic or revelatory writings, including the Biblical book of Daniel and the non-canonical writings of 1 Enoch, 2 Baruch, and 2 Esdras. These kinds of revelations, often concerning the end times, typically describe a human seer who receives a revelation from a heavenly being via a vision, a heavenly journey, or some kind of descent to earth. Reading end times passages might make us feel like we’re watching an action-packed film at times, but apokalypto does not primarily refer to devastation or war. The Greek word apokalypto means “to take out of hiding,” and so refers to a revelation, a disclosure, a manifestation, or a making known of something.

Let’s set the scene for our biblical text today by reading the first four verses of Mark chapter 13. Mark 13:1-4 – “1 As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!’ 2 Then Jesus asked him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.’ 3 When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, 4 ‘Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?’”

Jesus answers this question in four stages:

1. the beginning of birth pangs,
2. opposition,
3. great suffering, and
4. the coming of the Son of Man in power and glory to establish God’s purposes over all.

Today we’re going to focus on that 4^th stage of Jesus’ response. Before we read Mark 13:23-37, I want to draw our attention to a repeated phrase in verses 7 and 13: “the end.” This passage is concerned with the end times, the day of the Lord. It’s crucially important to understand the language being used in passages concerning end times. I invite you to notice the many references in this passage to created things or beings. As with all apocalyptic literature, these words do not mean what they mean in other kinds of genres. If we take Jesus’ words here strictly literally, we are going to reach a very different conclusion than if we understand Jesus’ words in the light of similar writings in the Bible and in other writings from the ancient Near East. We must take all of these things into consideration as we seek to understand what Jesus is saying.

Mark 13:23-37 – “23 But be alert; I have already told you everything. 24 But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. 27 Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. 28 From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. 32 But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35 Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36 or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.’”

We may not be able to understand every aspect of apocalyptic literature – it’s decidedly hard to understand. But there are some things in this text that become clearer when we look at what was going on at the time the Gospel of Mark was written. N. T. Wright says that “Christians increasingly need to realize that unless we understand the first century we will not understand our own times, or what sort of people we ourselves are called to be.” Notice that Jesus gives us some short, repeated commands sprinkled throughout this passage, to “be alert” (v. 23), “keep alert” (v. 33), “keep awake” (v. 35), and “what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.’” (v. 37). Jesus knows our human tendencies all too well! We don’t have time to do a deep dive into every single detail, but today we’re going to be as alert and awake as we can be, and look at three things that Jesus highlights.

1. Cosmic Confusion

Of the things that Jesus highlights in today’s passage, the first one we’re looking at today is cosmic confusion, including both loss of light and the collapse of heavenly bodies:

• v. 24 – “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light”
• v. 25 – “the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken”
• v. 31 – “Heaven and earth will pass away”

How do we know whether these things are meant to be read figuratively or literally? Here are four among many Scriptures that speak about some kind of cosmic confusion.

• Joel 2:10 – “The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.”
• Ezekiel 32:7-8 – “When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens, and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light. All the shining lights of the heavens I will darken above you, and put darkness on your land, says the Lord God.”
• Isaiah 13:9-13 – “See, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation, and to destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant, and lay low the insolence of tyrants. I will make mortals more rare than fine gold, and humans than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.”
• Isaiah 34:4 – “All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall wither like a leaf withering on a vine, or fruit withering on a fig tree.”

By the way, the biblical words translated “heaven” or “heavens” (Hebrew:  shamayim, Greek: ouranos), can refer to either the visible heavens (i.e. the lower region that we know as the atmosphere, or the upper region that we know as the starry sky) or the spiritual heavens (the seat of an order of things eternal and consummately perfect, where God and other heavenly beings dwell).

The most important thing to note about language regarding cosmic confusion is that it was common in the Ancient Near East to connect heavenly bodies and earthly empires. Even Roman Emperors claimed the approval of the sun, moon, and stars. Caligula and Nero both added “New S-u-n god” to their titles. Other emperors erected statues and minted coins, to ensure that they were associated with celebrating the eternal rule of Rome. Two thousand years ago, when someone spoke of the collapse of heavenly bodies, what they were really talking about was God’s judgment on the Roman Empire. When they alluded to the loss of light from sun, moon, or stars, what they were really saying was “disaster is imminent.” Jesus went even further than that. He not only assured his listeners that the Roman Empire was going to fall, but also that both the Roman pantheon and the Roman Imperial cult were both about to be dismantled. As we saw this earlier in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus again refers to himself as the “Son of Man.” This time, he assures us that his power is even greater than the powers of heaven that can cause any kind of cosmic confusion, even the loss of light or the collapse of heavenly bodies. Jesus keeps telling them to “be alert” and “be awake” because these things were too important to miss.

2. Clouds

Of the things that Jesus highlights in today’s passage, the second one we’re looking at today is clouds. Here are four among many references to “clouds” in Scripture that speak of the presence of God and a means of supernatural guidance:

• Exodus 40:35-38 – “Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on each stage of their journey; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel at each stage of their journey.”
• Psalm 97:1-2 – “The Lord is king! Let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.”
• In Mark 9, when Jesus “took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them,” we are told in verse 7 that “a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’”
• Revelation 14:14 – “Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like the Son of Man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand!”

In including a reference to the Son of Man coming in clouds, Jesus is making an intentional statement about the presence of God and the means of supernatural guidance in Mark 13:26: “Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory.” By using this familiar prophetic language, Jesus is assuring us that the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, will come again, not just as a human ruler, but also in the presence, power, and glory of Almighty God. The ancient hopes that Messiah will come have indeed been fulfilled, but in a way that nobody expected or even imagined. This good news that Jesus has been proclaiming and demonstrating isn’t about the coming again of a mere human emperor. Jesus is telling us that the true king, the God of all creation is going to return. God, the king of all kings and the Lord of all Lords, is coming back in person. Just as the clouds are visible to everyone, all people and all nations will see his glory. Jesus’ words draw our attention to the whole point of his mission and message: the coming together of heaven and earth, not their separation. The rescue and transformation that God was about to effect in the death and resurrection of Jesus would become the rescue and transformation of all. N. T. Wright puts it this way in Simply Good News: “The goal of God’s rescue operation, the main aim of Jesus coming and dying in the first place, is the restoration and transformation of all creation … Jesus’s death makes the sense it makes within this picture: of the love of God, the covenant of God, the plan of God for the fulfillment of the whole of creation, not its abolition, and above all, the coronation of Jesus as the world’s rightful king and lord.” Jesus said these things, not even days before, but only hours before this coming together of earth and heaven would be decisively launched through the cross and the resurrection of Christ.

3. Scope of Salvation

Of the things that Jesus highlights in today’s passage, the third and final one we’re looking at today is the scope of salvation. Mark 13:27 speaks of God sending out angels to gather the elect “from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.” Misunderstandings of the word elect in this verse have unfortunately led to quite narrow understandings of the scope of God’s salvation.

Let’s look back at a vivid description of end times given by the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. The whole of chapter 24 talks about what some Bible editors label as God’s destruction, devastation, or judgment of the whole earth. By the beginning of chapter 25, we get a very clear picture that the world is an absolute mess, and Isaiah now begins to give praise to God as the only one who can fix this mess. Isaiah 25:1-5: “1 O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. 2 For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the palace of aliens is a city no more, it will never be rebuilt. 3 Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you. 4 For you have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat. When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm, 5 the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place, you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds; the song of the ruthless was stilled.” Isaiah has painted a picture of a ruined city that will never be rebuilt, and immediately follows this with the hope-filled promise that, in spite of what appears to be a hopeless situation from our human perspective, God is more powerful than all enemies, even death. God will never give up on his beloved creation. The Lord’s reign will be established!

Now Isaiah’s description turns to what God’s restoration of the ruined city looks like. Notice the richness, the comprehensiveness, and the inclusiveness of God’s plan: Isaiah 25:6-9 – “6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. 7 And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. 9 It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

These two terms, faith (pistis) and the elect (eklektos), are directly connected! Concerning the word pistis, which is usually translated faith, it is not our imperfect and limited faith which is the most important aspect. The faith of Christ is both primary and the source of our faith in Christ. In both significance and sequence, it is the Christ-faith (the allegiance of Christ, who he is, his words and works, his faithfulness to God) followed by our human response to Christ! Concerning the word eklektos, which is usually translated elect or chosen, this typically describes people who choose to follow the Lord. Let’s look at two other places in the New Testament where both pistis and eklektos are included together. The Apostle Paul includes both of these terms in Titus 1:1 – “for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that is in accordance with godliness, in the hope of eternal life that God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.” In Jesus’ parable in the gospel of Luke about our need to pray always and not to lose heart, he concludes with these words (Luke 18:7-8): “will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” The key to understanding what Jesus is saying here is understanding that each person becomes God’s choice by freely receiving pistis, the Christ-faith, from Christ. Christ is both the source of all faithfulness and the one to whom we direct our allegiance.

All this helps us to better understand what Jesus is saying in Mark 13:27 – “Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.” Jesus is pointing out that the scope of salvation is much broader, much more inclusive, than anyone realized or expected before Messiah came! The late theologian and apologist, Clark Pinnock, in his gem of a book, A Wideness in God’s Mercy, reminds readers that God is concerned about all of humanity, not just one family, one nation, or one person. As we read God’s story throughout Scripture, on many occasions, in what is called the principle of representation, because of the obedience of the one, God extends mercy to the many. We see the ultimate case in Jesus, of course. Pinnock describes this as “the universality of God’s love … known through the particular event of the Incarnation.” We can simultaneously rejoice that God’s salvific will, God’s plan of salvation, Christ’s redemptive work (and also God’s judgments) are universal, while avoiding the errors of relativism, universalism, and Unitarianism. I want to share with you a paragraph from a reflection paper I wrote on this thought-provoking book: “Pinnock’s reminder that God sent Jesus to be the Savior of not a select few, but of the whole world, ‘empowers us to approach all persons in a spirit of openness and love.’ We can simultaneously rest in deep hopefulness and reach out with doctrinal humility, with confidence not in our own understanding but in the lavish love of our trinitarian God. The good news of Jesus Christ really is the best news. The Savior of the world has come. For all! God cares about all people, all nations, and all of God’s creation. And we are invited to join God in making that good news visible through a way of life that reflects God’s mercy: ‘practical love, abandoning selfishness, a willingness to serve, a love for neighbors, a love even for enemies, and a willingness to forgive as God forgives.’”

In Mark 13, we see that Jesus has drawn the attention of his disciples to what was going to happen in terms of cosmic confusion, clouds, and the scope of salvation. He did not want his disciples to miss the significance of what was about to unfold. In just a few days, Jesus would undergo punishment, torture, and death, and even though he had repeatedly warned his disciples in detail about these things, none of them understood yet. He had told them he would be put to death. Under Roman rule, his listeners were all too familiar with crucifixions and death. These Jewish background followers of Christ could not imagine a bodily resurrection. They were only beginning to understand that Jesus was the Messiah who was to come. Not until well after Jesus’ death and resurrection would the early church begin to have any kind of frame of reference for Jesus’ second coming. In humility, we must acknowledge that we cannot possibly understand end time things perfectly or with absolute clarity. Jesus tells us that “you know that he is near” (v. 28) and “you do not know when the time will come” (v. 33). We must hold the most important things in one hand (God is with us) and mystery in the other (we do not know when). In the already-not-yet kingdom of God, we live in this very real tension between knowing and not knowing.

Remember the disciples’ question that started this whole thing off in today’s passage? Mark 13:4 – “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” Jesus’ four-part answer to those who follow him tells us that until Messiah returns, we will experience birth pangs, we will experience opposition, we will experience great suffering. And the most important part of Jesus’ answer is that when Messiah returns, when the Son of Man comes in power and glory, God will finally establish his purposes over all! When Jesus the Son of Man comes, God’s presence comes with great power and glory, to establish God’s universal rule. Meanwhile, we pray with expectation for God’s already-but-not-yet-fully-here kingdom to break through here on earth as it is in heaven, as Jesus taught us. We continue to show and tell the good news of the kingdom of God, as Jesus taught us. We look towards the ultimate justice of God in the hope of Christ, doing whatever good things we can with great love. And we remember to keep alert, keep awake, love God, love people, and live in the hope of shalom! Hallelujah!