Mark 13:28-37

²⁸ “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.

²⁹ So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near—at the doors!

³⁰ Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.

³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

³² “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

³³ Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.

³⁴ It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch.

³⁵ Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning—

³⁶ lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping.

³⁷ And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”

Also found in Matthew 24:32-42 and Luke 21:28-36.

these things (v.29) — The things mentioned earlier in the chapter — persecution (v.9), abomination of desolation (v.14).

generation (v.30) — Some commentaries believe that this word, in this context, refers to the Jewish race. Here is a quote from Gaebelein from my notes in Matthew:

The word gena means not necessarily the same persons living, but it has also the meaning of race. The English word “generation” has this meaning of “family or a race of a certain class of people.” And so has the Greek. It is used in that sense in Luke 16:8. “This generation” is the race sprung from Abraham, God’s chosen earthly people. Well have they been called “the everlasting nation;” better still we could call them “the nation of destiny.” God has kept this race, and is keeping them, for the fulfillment of His own great, revealed purpose. The verse, however, has also the meaning that the people living, when the end of the Jewish age sets in, will behold its termination; it will all be accomplished in a small space of time.

Walvoord also holds the second view — that the Lord was saying that the generation that experiences the Tribulation will also witness the second coming of Christ.

In verse 32, the Lord Jesus, speaking in the capacity of the Son of Man under the self-imposed limitations of the incarnation, says that even He Himself did not at that time know the hour of the second Advent, and of the time of the fulfillment of these other things grouped around that event. Our Lord’s discourse here, looks through the needs of that generation in which He lived, to the future generation in Israel alive when He comes back to set up His kingdom. The words “it is nigh” of verse 29 refer back to the word “summer.” That does not make sense. A wider context refers them back to the word “Son,” which is the true meaning. He is nigh. — Wuest, page 253.

The parable in verses 34-36 is found only in Mark.

man going to a far country (v.34) — In Greek, the tense indicates that the man is already away from home, “a man gone abroad.”

The man abroad is the Son of Man who leaves this earth to go back to the Father, leaving His servants, the douloi (bondslaves), namely, disciples in general, and the porter, the thuroros (the doorkeeper), namely the [apostles] to whom belongs the responsibility of guarding the house and of being ready to open the door to the Master at His return. — Wuest, pages 253-254.

__________

[The servants and doorkeepers] are exhorted to watch. The word here is … a different word from the one translated “watch in verse 33… The former speaks of a sleeping man arousing himself, while the latter merely conveys the idea of wakefulness. The latter adds to the idea of wakefulness, the notion of alertness … The apostles are thus compared with the doorkeepers, verse 34; and the night season is in keeping with the figure. In the temple, during the night, the captain of the temple made his rounds, and the guards had to rise at his approach and salute him in a particular manner. Any guard found asleep on duty was beaten, or his garments set on fire. Compare Revelation 16:15, “Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments.” The preparations for the morning service required all to be early astir. The superintending priest might knock at the door at any moment. The Rabbis use almost the very words in which scripture describes the unexpected coming of the Master. Sometimes he comes a the cockcrowing, sometimes a little earlier, sometimes a little later. He came and knocked and they opened to him … The words “when the time is” of verse 33 are defined in their context as the time of the return of the Master, namely, the second Advent of the Messiah to Israel. — Wuest, page 254.