Mark 13:14-23
Do Not Go Back for Your Coat
14So when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
15Let no one on the housetop go back inside to retrieve anything from his house.
16And let no one in the field return for his cloak.
17How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers!
18Pray that this will not occur in the winter.
19For those will be days of tribulation unseen from the beginning of God’s creation until now, and never to be seen again.
20If the Lord had not cut short those days, nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom He has chosen, He has cut them short.
21At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There He is!’ do not believe it.
22For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive even the elect, if that were possible.
23So be on your guard; I have told you everything in advance.
Berean Standard Bible
This is the hardest stretch of the chapter, and we will be careful with it.
So when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
The phrase is not his own. It comes out of Daniel, where it describes something unspeakable being set up in the temple itself. And in the middle of his own sentence Mark speaks past the scene to whoever is holding the page: let the reader understand. He is nudging somebody who will need to recognize this when it turns up.
Honesty matters more than confidence here. Faithful readers have understood it in more than one way for a very long time. Some take it as the destruction of Jerusalem, which happened within forty years of Jesus saying this, some take it as something still ahead of us, and some take it as both at once, one inside the other. The text does not settle it, and we will not pretend otherwise.
What the passage says plainly is what to do, and nobody disputes that part. Run, and do not go back inside for anything. Whoever is up on the roof is not to go back into the house for anything in it.
And let no one in the field return for his cloak.
Those are the instructions of a man describing an emergency in which seconds count and belongings get people killed. Then something tender lands in the middle of it. He grieves over pregnant women and nursing mothers, who cannot run, and he tells them to pray that it does not fall in the winter, when the roads are worst. He is thinking about the practical details of other people's suffering. Then comes the verse to carry out of this.
If the Lord had not cut short those days, nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom He has chosen, He has cut them short.
The worst of it has a limit on it already, the limit was somebody's decision, and the reason given for it is the people he has chosen.
The section closes with a warning. False Christs and false prophets will turn up performing signs and wonders, persuasive enough to fool even the elect if that were possible. He does not say the signs will be fakes. He says do not go after them. And the last line explains why he said any of this in the first place: be on your guard, I have told you everything in advance. Not a timetable. A warning given early by somebody who did not want his friends caught out.
How We Know
The abomination of desolation is a phrase lifted from Daniel, where it appears at 9:27, at 11:31 and at 12:11. In each case it is something set up in the temple that stops the daily sacrifice.
That source is established, and Mark's aside in verse 14, let the reader understand, is pointing at it.
The phrase already had a history. In the second century BC the temple was desecrated under Antiochus the Fourth, and Daniel's words were read against that. Mark records Jesus using them again of something still ahead, and gives no date.
Questions
1 If you had to leave this house in the next sixty seconds, what would you want to go back for? Jesus tells them not to.
AnswerNothing off the roof, and no coat from the field. These are the instructions of somebody describing an emergency where seconds count and belongings get people killed.
2 Where does the phrase in verse 14 come from, and who is Mark talking to when he interrupts himself?
AnswerFrom Daniel, which uses it at 9:27, 11:31 and 12:11 for something appalling set up in the temple. Then Mark breaks off to say "let the reader understand," which is aimed past the disciples at whoever is reading the page.
3 Do we know exactly what this passage is describing?
AnswerNot with certainty. Faithful readers have taken it as the fall of Jerusalem, as something still ahead, or as both at once. The text does not settle it, so neither will we.
4 Jesus says the days have been cut short. What does that tell you about who is holding the clock?
AnswerThat the worst of it is limited already and that somebody decided the limit. Nobody would come through otherwise, and the reason given for shortening the days is the people he has chosen.
What This Means for Us
He told them in advance so they would not be caught out. He never told them when. He told them what to do and who would try to fool them, which is a different kind of help than a schedule and more use in an emergency.
In the middle of a paragraph about fleeing to the mountains, he stopped to think about pregnant women and cold weather. Not a God indifferent to how hard things get, but one who has already limited the worst of it and notices who will struggle most.
So when this family is afraid of what is coming, do the two things he asked. Do not be fooled, and do not go back for your coat.
Prayer
Father, there is a lot here we do not understand, and you know that. Thank you for warning us in advance rather than leaving us unprepared. Thank you for cutting the days short. Keep us from being deceived, and hold the ones who cannot run. Amen.