Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 13:19

"For those days shall be tribulation, such as there hath not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never shall be." — Mark 13:19 (ASV)

The primary temporal reference now shifts back to the End. The language here looks forward to the Great Tribulation that will precede the End. Mark uses language derived from Daniel’s portrayal of the last days (Daniel 12:1; cf. Jeremiah 30:7). Nowhere else does Scripture refer to the shortening of the time of tribulation. The “elect” (GK 1723) are the people of God generally.