{"id":392,"date":"2025-04-09T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=392&2025"},"modified":"2025-04-07T18:01:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T00:01:04","slug":"merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Merely the Beginning: Mark 13:1-13"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"spoiler spoiler-style-2\"><div class=\"spoiler-title\">Focus Passage: Mark 13:1-13 (NASB)<\/div><div class=\"spoiler-content\" style=\"display: none;\"><p><sup>1<\/sup>\u00a0As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples <span class=\"tooltiptrigger\">*<\/span><span class=\"tooltip\">This word is present tense in the Greek, but it has been translated as past tense to conform to modern usage.<\/span>said to Him, &#8220;Teacher, behold <span class=\"tooltiptrigger\">*<\/span><span class=\"tooltip\">Lit <em>how great<\/em><\/span>what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!&#8221; <sup>2<\/sup>\u00a0And Jesus said to him, <span class=\"red-letter\">&#8220;Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.&#8221;<\/span> <\/p><p><sup>3<\/sup>\u00a0As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately, <sup>4<\/sup>\u00a0&#8220;Tell us, when will these things be, and what <em>will be<\/em> the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?&#8221; <sup>5<\/sup>\u00a0And Jesus began to say to them, <span class=\"red-letter\">&#8220;See to it that no one misleads you.<\/span> <sup>6<\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"red-letter\">Many will come in My name, saying, &#8216;I am <em>He!&#8217;<\/em> and will mislead many.<\/span> <sup>7<\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"red-letter\">When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; <em>those things<\/em> must take place; but <em>that is<\/em> not yet the end.<\/span> <sup>8<\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"red-letter\">For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will <em>also<\/em> be famines. These things are <em>merely<\/em> the beginning of birth pangs.<\/span> <\/p><p><sup>9<\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"red-letter\">&#8220;But be on your guard; for they will deliver you to <em>the<\/em> courts, and you will be flogged in <em>the<\/em> synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them.<\/span> <sup>10<\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"red-letter\">The gospel must first be preached to all the nations.<\/span> <sup>11<\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"red-letter\">When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but <em>it is<\/em> the Holy Spirit.<\/span> <sup>12<\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"red-letter\">Brother will betray brother to death, and a father <em>his<\/em> child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.<\/span> <sup>13<\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"red-letter\">You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.<\/span> <\/p><p class=\"passage-read-more\">Read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=mark 13:1-13&amp;version=NASB\" title=\"Read the passage on BibleGateway.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"hyperlink-underlined\">Mark 13:1-13<\/a> in context and\/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n<p>Most of you who have followed along on this gospel adventure journey have likely concluded that I am a detailed person, and you would be correct. The message Jesus shares in this journal entry\u2019s passage is in three of the four gospels, and the detail that I noticed while studying this passage comes to us from Mark\u2019s gospel.<\/p>\r\n<p>As Jesus is sharing about what will happen, He describes rumors, wars, earthquakes, and famines, but how He frames these things is interesting. At the end of verse 8, after telling us about all the bad that is coming, He says, \u201c<strong>These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>What stands out to me is the portion of this teaching that is describing nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom being simply the beginning. Is Jesus telling us that all this stuff will continue, and progressively get worse and worse, similar to the way labor gets more intense as it progresses forward? Or is Jesus subtly sharing that there will be a point between nations fighting with each other and His return where there technically would be large scale peace?<\/p>\r\n<p>These are some of the questions that run through my mind as I read Jesus\u2019 words in this passage.<\/p>\r\n<p>I know it seems as though each war that has happened has gotten progressively worse. Perhaps not in the number of casualties, but worse in the number of lives affected. Living in North America, war is not a daily reality as it is in some other parts of the world. In recent history, wars escalated to the level of major nations allying with each other on both sides to create large scale \u201cworld\u201d wars.<\/p>\r\n<p>However, Jesus describes all these events as \u201cmerely the beginning\u201d.<\/p>\r\n<p>This passage tells me one big truth: <strong>We are in the \u201cbeginning of the end\u201d and we have been for some time. Regardless of the political landscape and the wars that are raging in parts of the world, God is not surprised with what is going on and He has our future secure in His hands.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<div id=\"aj-wrap-up--392\" class=\"aj-wrap-up\"><p><em>This thought was inspired by studying the <strong>Walking With Jesus<\/strong> \u201cReflective Bible Study\u201d package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, <a class=\"underline\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/\" title=\"Check out Reflective Bible Study!\">click here<\/a> and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!<\/em><\/p><p><em><a class=\"underline\" href=\"javascript:void(0);\" onClick=\"rbs_aj_inline_subscribe(this, '392');\">Subscribe<\/a> to this blog and never miss an insight.<\/em><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most of you who have followed along on this gospel adventure journey have likely concluded that I am a detailed person, and you would be correct. The message Jesus shares in this journal entry\u2019s passage is in three of the four gospels, and the detail that I noticed while studying this passage comes to us [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[2],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Merely the Beginning: Mark 13:1-13 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Merely the Beginning: Mark 13:1-13 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Most of you who have followed along on this gospel adventure journey have likely concluded that I am a detailed person, and you would be correct. The message Jesus shares in this journal entry\u2019s passage is in three of the four gospels, and the detail that I noticed while studying this passage comes to us [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reflectivebiblestudy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-09T09:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cam\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@godstruthhisway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@godstruthhisway\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cam\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3\"},\"headline\":\"Merely the Beginning: Mark 13:1-13\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-09T09:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":382,\"articleSection\":[\"Written Journal Entries\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\\\/\",\"name\":\"Merely the Beginning: Mark 13:1-13 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-09T09:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Merely the Beginning: Mark 13:1-13\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/\",\"name\":\"Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\",\"description\":\"Your Life. God&#039;s Truth. His Way.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3\",\"name\":\"Cam\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/avatars\\\/2\\\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/avatars\\\/2\\\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/avatars\\\/2\\\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Cam\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Merely the Beginning: Mark 13:1-13 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Merely the Beginning: Mark 13:1-13 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","og_description":"Most of you who have followed along on this gospel adventure journey have likely concluded that I am a detailed person, and you would be correct. The message Jesus shares in this journal entry\u2019s passage is in three of the four gospels, and the detail that I noticed while studying this passage comes to us [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\/","og_site_name":"Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reflectivebiblestudy\/","article_published_time":"2025-04-09T09:00:00+00:00","author":"Cam","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@godstruthhisway","twitter_site":"@godstruthhisway","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\/"},"author":{"name":"Cam","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#\/schema\/person\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3"},"headline":"Merely the Beginning: Mark 13:1-13","datePublished":"2025-04-09T09:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\/"},"wordCount":382,"articleSection":["Written Journal Entries"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\/","url":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\/","name":"Merely the Beginning: Mark 13:1-13 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-04-09T09:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#\/schema\/person\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/merely-the-beginning-mark-13-1-13\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Merely the Beginning: Mark 13:1-13"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#website","url":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/","name":"Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","description":"Your Life. God&#039;s Truth. His Way.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#\/schema\/person\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3","name":"Cam","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatars\/2\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg","url":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatars\/2\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatars\/2\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg","caption":"Cam"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}