Mark 13:14-17
We
have heard about insider trading taking place around the world. People inside
an organization, who have information about future rise or fall of the stock
price, use the knowledge to make money illegally. They know about an upcoming
merger that will send the value of the company through the roof. So they buy
right before the announcement, so that when the stock appreciates on the news
of the merger, they make their money. Or they sell right before a really bad
earnings report, signaling a serious downturn in the business, so that they don’t
lose their money.
Insider
trading is illegal because it would allow two classes of stock owners. One
class, the insiders, would always be able to make money off the backs of the second
group. They could manipulate the price of stock, or the news put out by their
public relations folks, in order to make money. Insider trading encourages
deceit, and trust is the foundation of free market economics.
When
I read today’s passage, I get the feeling that I am missing some inside
information. I get this from two different parts of the text. The first is the
reference to ‘the abomination that causes desolation’. This seems to be some
kind of code word for an individual or an object. I don’t know about you, but I
don’t want any abominations around me. We don’t use the word abomination too
often in our everyday life.
An
abomination was something that was totally out of the range of the acceptable.
I don’t allow naked people to dance in my front yard. I will never allow this
to happen. But abomination has an extra element. The thing is totally
unacceptable to God, not just to me. The activity is something that get God to
react. It is something He won’t stand idly by and allow to happen.
The
other indication that there is insider language being used is the phrase “let
the reader understand.” This might be the proverbial stomping of the foot of
the teacher when something is going to be on the test. Mark was letting those
who would read these words know that he could not write it more clearly without
getting in trouble with the civil authorities. To name names would have placed
an unnecessary crosshair on the believers.
This
combination draws the reader to the book of Daniel where the destruction of the
temple is predicted. In 167BC the Syrian ruler put up an altar in the temple
and sacrificed a pig on it. This rendered the temple unfit for use in Jewish
worship. Jesus is pointing forward as well to the moment when in 67AD some
religious zealots set up an alternative priesthood and the Jewish Christians
fled for their lives to the mountains.
But
Jesus is also pointing to a future person who will present himself as the
center of worldwide worship. They will be physically present in a future
rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. They are the Antichrist of Scripture, outlined in
many prophetic passage including Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation.
The
warning here is that when this happens, there is one course of action, flee. It
will be so bad, that no thing is worth the risk. Let it all go. Put on the
running shoes and exit. No time to waste. The buzzer is about to sound.