Mark 13:8, commentary and pictures

Jesus gave these words on the Mount of Olives in answer to the questions when these things shall be and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled, standing in sequence after wars and rumors of wars and before being delivered up to councils and being persecuted for His name, with nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom and earthquakes in divers places and famines and troubles identified as the beginnings of sorrows. The discourse concerns the signs connected with the destruction of the temple and events to come, and it does not separate the destruction of Jerusalem from the day of coming but mingles the two together, so that though spoken of Jerusalem it reaches beyond to the final conflagration when the Lord rises out of His place to punish the world for iniquity. The mingling was in mercy because the disciples could not have endured a full sight of the future, leaving them to study out the meaning for themselves. The whole discourse was given not for the disciples only but for those who live in the last scenes of this earth's history, foretold while on earth to instruct those who would afterward believe and help them prepare for the great conflict, so that in this age the signs must be discerned while reaching a higher standard because of coming dangers.

The rising of nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom, with earthquakes in different places and famines and troubles, are only the beginnings of sorrows and not the end, already occurring across the world as signs of the approaching end. War and rumors of war, sword, famine and pestilence come first in order in a shaking that shakes the powers of earth, meaning those who bear rule on the earth. Heaven means literal heaven and earth means literal earth, and the powers of heaven are the sun, moon and stars that rule in the heavens. The shaking of angry nations then going on in Europe is this shaking of the powers of earth, not the shaking of the powers of heaven. The sun, moon and stars together with this earth and planet are shaken later, at the voice of God.

The conflict among nations and kingdoms with earthquakes, famines and troubles warns of God's judgments on sinful cities, in which earthquakes, fire and floods bring destruction, devastation and death that display divine authority and make human wealth and safeguards powerless. Famines and earthquakes are signs of the approaching end already occurring across the world, with disasters taking many lives and showing that the great crisis is near, yet they are only the beginning of what is to come.