13:12,13
Jesus does not sugarcoat the matter. These two verse show that being led by the Spirit is no walk in the park. One member of a family would betray another member, even unto death. The disciples will be hated by everyone. There are two things we need to note. One is that the notion that if we are only nice enough Christians everyone will love us is unbiblical baloney. The second is that this is not the whole story. There are times when society does respect Christians and pay at least some honour to the gospel. If we think society is always going to respect the gospel we are fools, but we are equally mistaken if we assume society will always be completely against us.
13:14
This verse is based on Daniel 9:27, 11:31 and 12:11. It had an immediate relevance in the Roman crushing of Jerusalem in AD70, which did indeed bring an end to the daily sacrifice (Dan 12:11). Jesus warns them that when they see this happen they should flee immediately to the mountains. This was very practical advice, for enormous suffering occurred during the siege and destruction of Jerusalem. However, that does not necessarily mean that there isn’t later relevance as well. The Daniel prophecies could be taken as referring to the desecration of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes in the second century BC. AD70 can also be taken as being a fulfilment, whereas Dan 12:11 seems to refer to the very end times. There are those who will fixate on one incident and then try and insist that this incident is the one and only fulfillment of the prophecy. This is a very silly approach to take, and a most unbiblical one. Biblical prophecy is much more concerned about the nature of the event than chronological exactitude. So we are far better to take these prophecies as indicators of the sorts of things that will happen. There may be several mini fulfilments (though if you are living in the midst of one of these mini fulfilments it will seem pretty major to you), and there is a complete fulfilment in Christ.
The temple is gone, destroyed in AD 70. There is no more temple. It is gone forever. The old covenant has been retired and the new covenant has come. The prophecies of Daniel and Jesus have been fulfilled. The end times have ended. We are now in the age to come, the kingdom age.
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