Mark 2:20

2:20 But the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, ¹  and at that time ²  they will fast.

Mark 13:21

13:21 Then ³  if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ ⁴  or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe him.

Mark 13:26-27

13:26 Then everyone ⁵  will see the Son of Man arriving in the clouds ⁶  with great power and glory. 13:27 Then he will send angels and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. ⁷ 

Mark 3:27

3:27 But no one is able to enter a strong man’s ⁸  house and steal his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can thoroughly plunder his house. ⁹ 

Mark 13:14

The Abomination of Desolation

13:14 “But when you see the abomination of desolation ¹⁰  standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee ¹¹  to the mountains.

¹ sn The statement the bridegroom will be taken from them is a veiled allusion by Jesus to his death, which he did not make explicit until the incident at Caesarea Philippi in 8:27ff. (cf. 8:31; 9:31; 10:33).

² tn Grk “then on that day.”

³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

⁴ tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

⁵ tn Grk “they.”

⁶ sn An allusion to Dan 7:13. Here is Jesus returning with full judging authority.

⁷ tn Or “of the sky”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context.

⁹ sn The strong man here pictures Satan.

¹⁰ sn Some see the imagery here as similar to Eph 4:7-10, although no opponents are explicitly named in that passage. Jesus has the victory over Satan. Jesus’ acts of healing mean that the war is being won and the kingdom is coming.

¹¹ 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).

¹² 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.