Mark 13:20 — Community Reflections

MARK 13:20 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.”

If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them — the shortening of the days for the sake of the elect is the divine mercy within the judgment. The elect are those who belong to God — the remnant within the general population who would be destroyed by the full unshortened judgment. The shortening communicates divine control: the distress is not out of God's hands but under his sovereign management.

Church Fathers on Mark 13:20

Matthew says, standing 'in the holy place;' but with this verbal difference Mark has expressed the same meaning; for He says 'where it ought not' to stand, because it ought not to stand in the holy place.
Augustine · 4th century · de Con Evan, ii, 77

When we are challenged to understand what is said, we may conclude that it is mystical. But it may either be said simply of Antichrist, or of the statue of Caesar, which Pilate put into the temple, or of the equestrian statue of Adrian, which for a long time stood in the holy of holies itself. An idol is also called abomination according to the Old Testament, and He has added 'of desolation' because it was placed in the temple when desolate and deserted.
Bede · 8th century

Or He means by 'the abomination of desolation' the entrance of enemies into the city by violence.
Theophylact · 11th century

Read all 20 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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