Mark 13:2

13:2 Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left on another. ¹  All will be torn down!” ² 

Mark 13:8

13:8 For nation will rise up in arms ³  against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines. ⁴  These are but the beginning of birth pains.

Mark 13:12-14

13:12 Brother will hand over brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise against ⁵  parents and have them put to death. 13:13 You will be hated by everyone because of my name. ⁶  But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ⁷ 

The Abomination of Desolation

13:14 “But when you see the abomination of desolation ⁸  standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee ⁹  to the mountains.

¹ sn With the statement not one stone will be left on another Jesus predicted the total destruction of the temple, something that did occur in a.d. 70.

² tn Grk “not one stone will be left here on another which will not be thrown down.”

³ tn For the translation “rise up in arms” see L&N 55.2.

⁴ sn See Isa 5:13-14; 13:6-16; Hag 2:6-7; Zech 14:4.

⁵ tn Or “will rebel against.”

⁷ sn See 1 Cor 1:25-31.

⁸ sn But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Jesus was not claiming here that salvation is by works, because he had already taught that it is by grace (cf. 10:15). He was simply arguing that genuine faith evidences itself in persistence through even the worst of trials.

⁹ sn The reference to the abomination of desolation is an allusion to Dan 9:27. Though some have seen the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy in the actions of Antiochus IV (or a representative of his) in 167 b.c., the words of Jesus seem to indicate that Antiochus was not the final fulfillment, but that there was (from Jesus’ perspective) still another fulfillment yet to come. Some argue that this was realized in a.d. 70, while others claim that it refers specifically to Antichrist and will not be fully realized until the period of the great tribulation at the end of the age (cf. Mark 13:19, 24; Matt 24:21; Rev 3:10).

¹⁰ sn Fleeing to the mountains is a key OT image: Gen 19:17; Judg 6:2; Isa 15:5; Jer 16:16; Zech 14:5.