GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 13:31
The Changeable and the Unchanging
I have a Bible that belonged to my maternal great-grandfather, Willis Noble. I used it until the binding broke; now it sits on a shelf. Alice has her mother’s confirmation Bible, but it is brittle with age. Both are treasured but deteriorating.
When Jesus taught his disciples, he said, “The heaven and the earth will pass away, but my word will certainly not pass away.” (Mark 13:31) When Mark wrote “certainly not,” he used the Greek double negative (οὐ μὴ, ou mē), “not-not,” which was a most explicit negation: “certainly not,” or “absolutely not.” Mark’s original manuscript containing Jesus’ words has passed away. Jesus, then, was not speaking of his words as written on papyrus, vellum, or even highly durable print paper, but of the certainty that the events foretold in his words would be fulfilled.
I returned to the neighborhood in which I spent about seven adolescent years, and it was hardly recognizable. The house in which we lived was different, having gone through several renovations. The company where I had my first job and where I worked for five years was gone—“The heaven and the earth will pass away.” Jesus’ words may have had an eschatological message, but their fulfillment is a continuing reality. The believer, then, should hold the second phrase to heart—“But my word will certainly not pass away.”
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