Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 13:7

"And when ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, be not troubled: [these things] must needs come to pass; but the end is not yet." — Mark 13:7 (ASV)

Wars and rumors of war must not be a cause for alarm, for these are within God’s purposes. When they occur, they must not be mistaken as introducing the End; Jesus clearly states that the “end is still to come.” What “end” he was talking about here is not clear, though he was likely referring to both the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the age. There will be other kinds of disturbances, too—international power struggles, earthquakes, and famine. These are indications of God’s intervention in the historical process. Again, they must not be taken as marking the End. They are rather the beginnings of “birth pains” (the sufferings expected to occur in the period before the coming of the Messiah). In Jewish thought the messianic kingdom would emerge after a period of intense suffering. The word “beginning” suggests that there will be many more sufferings.