Introduction
I don’t know about you but
the images that have come out of Syria this week have really been
heartbreaking. If men, women and children killed by chemical weapons wasn’t bad
enough, Syrian rebels treated us to the live execution of seven men on their
knees pleading for their lives right before being shot in the back of the head.
It couldn’t get any worse could it? Well of course it could! Muslims took full
advantage of the country’s civil upheaval (as though they needed an excuse) to
attack and kill Christians and destroy their homes and villages. I’ve watched
our President flopping around like a fish out of water trying to figure out how
to save face after puffing out his chest and making a juvenile threat, while
some of his adoring fans still insist that he will be our savior. Some even
consider him to be a messiah. I can’t even begin to tell you how disgusted I am
by that! Meanwhile, the evil blood-lust of Islam under the influence of a false
prophet is like a raging, insatiable fire far too dangerous to be trifled with.
When I got a message from a friend who faithfully prays for me and my ministry,
exasperated by the events of the world and the struggles of life and faith, I
got to thinking about something she said to me—she said “I’m ready for Jesus to
come.” I am blessed to have many sincere believers in my life and I’ll bet if I
asked them, that same desire would not be far from their lips. I don’t claim to
be an end-times expert and Jesus says no one knows the day or time of the end. Nevertheless,
I know what is knowable without the need to postulate as to what may or may not
be the definitive final word about end-time events. Furthermore, apocalyptic
literature is extremely complex and includes short, medium and long-term
fulfillment with few definitive proclamations. It often includes cryptic
symbolism combined with definitive realism that can be difficult to distinguish
between. I find that apocalyptic literature more often leaves me with more
questions than it answers. Nevertheless, I’m like any other child who is on an
unknown journey—I want to know, “When will we be there?” It made me think about
something Jesus said to his disciples when they asked him a similar question. How
does Jesus’ response to the disciples correspond to the events of our own day? Evil
and pompous national leaders around the world; nations constantly at war with
other nations; false, self-proclaimed prophets preaching a religion of hate and
death; man-made and natural famines and various other natural disasters; and
Christians are butchered and hated around the world. This is a very important
time in our history with many constantly moving elements. It can be confusing and
there will always deceivers ready to prey on the fears and desperation of those
who are blind to the truth. Therefore, we would be well served to heed the
words of Jesus when he says Do Not Be Deceived!
Subject
Text
Matthew 24:3-14
3As Jesus was sitting on the
Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,”
they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one
deceives you. 5For many will come in my
name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6You will hear of wars and
rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must
happen, but the end is still to come. 7Nation will rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various
places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains. 9Then you will be handed over
to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all
nations because of me. 10At that time many will turn
away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11and many false prophets will appear and deceive many
people. 12Because of the increase of
wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13but he who stands firm to
the end will be saved. 14And this gospel of the
kingdom will be preached in the whole world as
a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Context
If we
go back to Chapters 21 and 22, we see Jesus advancing toward the pinnacle of
His earthly ministry as he rides into Jerusalem on the back of a colt on Palm
Sunday to the praise of an adoring crowd. Upon His arrival at the Temple,
driven by the fury of righteous indignation at the commercialization of the Temple,
Jesus single-handedly drives out the vendors and money changers. He then takes
his rightful place as the Master of the Temple and begins to teach the people, fulfilling
the prophecy in Isaiah 54:13. Jesus teaches about prayer; about obedience;
about persistent unbelief; about God’s rejection of those who reject His
invitation to be in relationship with His Son; about paying taxes; about what relationships
will be like after the Resurrection; about God’s Commandments; and about His own
divinity. Chapter 23 is then dedicated to the criticism of the religious
leaders’ hypocrisy, corruption and unbelief—They have led the people astray and
an exasperated Jesus is trying to undo the damage they have done. However, Israel
has been on their trajectory of disobedience and unbelief since the time of the
Prophets who were killed for their efforts to turn the people’s hearts back to
God, and Jesus didn’t seem to be advancing that cause any farther than did the
Prophets of old. Consequently, we see Him at the end of Chapter 23 grieving—weeping—
over Jerusalem for their persistent unbelief in the face of countless attempts
made by God through the Prophets and now through the Son to get the people to
turn back to Him. But the people and their religious leaders had the Temple and
their religious system so they really had no cause for concern that they were
in any trouble. However, Jesus knew better. As He left the Temple with His
disciples, He called attention to the Temple structure and informed them that a
day would come when it would be completely destroyed. Since their religious
system revolved around the Temple, it’s no surprise that they believed such a
monumental event would mark the end of their age. So the disciples wanted to
know when to expect to see such a cataclysmic event come to pass. Even though
Jesus goes on to describe the run-up of events that signal the end of time as
we know it, He never identifies precisely when that will be and, in fact, warns
them against being deceived by anyone who might prey on their fears in the face
of such dire coming events.
Text
Analysis
You
have to stop and imagine what the disciples were thinking and feeling when
Jesus told them a time was coming when the Temple would be destroyed. We have a
tendency to breeze over it because we know it would come to pass. Furthermore,
it wouldn’t be the first time the Temple was destroyed. Remember the Temple was
destroyed the first time in 586 B.C. by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar who
burned the Temple and every other significant building in Jerusalem to the
ground. It would be 70 years before the Temple was rebuilt by Israel with the
consent of the Persian king Cyrus who conquered Babylon. For Israel, the
destruction of the Temple signified the destruction of their identity which is
why the Prophets of that age were so obsessed with Israel’s return to the Land
and the reconstruction of the Temple. If you want to know the full impact of
Jesus’ words to the disciples, imagine someone you trust telling you that the
central identity of your nation will be destroyed. What would be your first
words? I know what mine would be—“When is this going to happen?” and that’s
exactly what the disciples asked Jesus in v. 3. However, it is important to
note that they recognized the destruction of the Temple as an apocalyptic event
and believed it would inaugurate Jesus’ return. “Not daring to dispute His
prophetic insight, they accepted the fate predicted for Jerusalem, and now
desire to know the when and how…The questioners took for granted that all three
things went together: destruction of temple, advent of Son of Man, end of the
current age.”[1]
In
reply, the first thing Jesus says in v. 4 is Do Not Be Deceived! Why?
Jesus knows that evil people will pray on the confusion, fear, and ignorance of
people during times of distress. Jesus tells them in vv. 5; 11 that false
prophets would arise and some would even falsely claim to be the Christ or Messiah.
No doubt the disciples probably weren’t too concerned about that possibility
since they were personal eyewitnesses of Jesus. But Jesus foresaw something that
only history would reveal as a fulfillment of His warning and we need look no
farther than those among us who claim that America’s President is a modern-day
messianic figure. Of course most of us recognize this as utter lunacy, but let’s
not pretend that many people actually believe this. Furthermore, how many more
have been deceived by prominent, charismatic charlatans laying claim to divine
understanding and authority—Mohammed gave us our modern-day Muslims, Joseph
Smith gave us Mormons, Charles Taze Russell gave us Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mary
Baker Eddy gave us Christian Science, Jim Jones gave us the Peoples Temple, David
Koresh gave us Waco’s version of the Branch Davidians. In each of these cases,
the leaders were and are elevated to divine or near divine status—prophets; messiah-like
figures. In fact, those who demean Mohammed are condemned by Muslims in the
same way as those who demean God. “The death toll under Jones and Koresh,
incidentally, serves as a helpful rebuttal to those who claim that all
religions are the same and it matters not what one believes.”[2]
However, the disciples and their contemporaries wouldn’t be familiar with any
of these people. Nevertheless, it would be no different during their era
because during the first century many deceivers would arise (see Acts 5:36-37;
8:9-11; 2 Timothy 3; 2 Peter 2; 1 John 2:18; 4:1-3).
When
we, especially Americans, read vv. 6-7a, we tend to understand them from the
standpoint of being a world super-power. We constantly see wars and civil
uprisings around the world but don’t really concern ourselves with them because
we generally feel pretty safe within the borders of our own country. However,
imagine being a small country with a history of being conquered by various
super-powers vying for world domination while currently being occupied by
another such super-power. That would be the lens through which the disciples
heard Jesus’ words. However, as devastating as war can be for any nation during
any time, Jesus tells them not to be alarmed because such events are necessary
precursors to the end. “The horror and human suffering connected with war are
bound to raise eschatological thoughts—and they have indeed throughout history—yet
the disciples must realize that these terrible events…do not in themselves
signal the end. Accordingly, the disciples should not be unduly ‘disturbed’ by
these events…Behind, ‘it is necessary for [these things] to happen,’ lies the
Jewish concept of the absolute sovereignty of God in the affairs of the world…Despite
what appears to point to the reality of eschatological judgment, ‘the end is
not yet.’”[3]
When
reading vv. 7b-8, it is important to remember that all of creation has been
impacted by sin. Wars, uprisings, famines, and earthquakes are symptoms of
something insidious—sin! However, they are also signs pointing to something
greater. Just as “birth pangs” implies an impending birth and not the birth
itself, “The Jews use the phrase to signify the time of unprecedented trouble
which was to precede the Messianic salvation.”[4]
As we are well aware, countless wars, uprisings, famines, and earthquakes have
been a historical fact since Jesus spoke those words, so what are we to make of
them as a sign of things to come? “The baby does not come on the first pang,
but once the pains begin, all know that the inexorable process has commenced. We
do not know if the baby will come on the fifth, the fifteenth, the fiftieth, or
the five hundredth. Periods of wars and rumors of wars, tragic earthquakes, and
famines wash over the landscape of history in repeated pains. Each reminds us
that the end is coming, but no one knows when until the Son of Man appears. Throughout
the labor we must remain on guard…The metaphor indicates the inescapability of
the sequence of events once the process begins and also the repetitive nature
of the wave of pain until the end.”[5]
If
the prospect of war, famine and earthquakes isn’t enough to give a person
pause, Jesus turns up the heat in vv. 9-10. Jesus tells them that they, and by
extension believers in general, will be hated, persecuted and ultimately some
will be put to death. However, when trouble comes, some will turn their backs
on what they once believed to be true and turn to a life of betrayal and
hatred. “To believe in Jesus and stay strong to the end will take perseverance
because our faith will be challenged and opposed. Severe trials will sift true
Christians from phony believers. Jesus warned that such severe persecution may
lead to the defection of some members. The fear and persecution will be so
intense that people will betray and hate each other in order to keep themselves
safe. It will be dangerous to be a Christian.”[6]
V. 12
can be difficult to understand as Jesus introduces a new idea to his train of
teaching—wickedness. To compound the difficulty of this verse, when Jesus says
that the “love of most will grow cold,” is he referring to love for people or
love for God? Well, to answer this question we need to read these words in the
context of what precedes them and what follows them. We can really break this
down into two identifiable categories—the category of “wickedness” and the
category of “love.” Within the category of wickedness we can place, “wars;” “uprisings;”
“famine;” “earthquakes;” “false messiahs;” “false prophets;” “hatred;” “persecution;”
and “martyrdom.” In the category of love we can place, “humanity’s failing love
for one another;” and “humanity’s failing love for God.” Jesus is saying that
the latter, failing love leading to spiritual death, is the result of the
former, wickedness. “The chief characteristic of spiritual death is that it
causes love to grow cold. Jesus emphasized throughout his ministry that love is
not primarily an emotion but is an active commitment to God and to others to
promote God’s will (cf. 5:43-47). Those who are spiritually dead cannot produce
this kind of love, which reemphasizes that these apostates never knew God at
all.”[7]
Don’t miss something critical and somber in v.12. Jesus doesn’t say, “quite a
few people,” or “lots of people,” or “many people” will turn away. Jesus says
that “most” people will turn away! I suggest you take a moment to think about
that. There is a reason that Jesus warned that His way is a narrow path that
few would be able to follow—true discipleship is really hard, costly, and
dangerous. Ultimately, belief in Christ will ask for everything from all of us
and from some of us it will even ask for our lives.
Nevertheless,
we are to stand firm in our faith in order to receive our ultimate reward of
salvation. This can be difficult to accept for those who believe that once you’ve
accepted Christ, your salvation ticket is punched and you’re in regardless of
what you do thereafter. However, Jesus makes clear in v. 13 that only those
whose faith endures to the end will be saved. “The disciples are not to lose
their zeal under the pressure of events, especially when anti-Christian forces
gain control even in the church and the widespread rejection of God’s law makes
life unbearable.”[8]
I
remember when I first fell in love with my wife, we worked in the same building
and I can’t even begin to tell you how many excuses I used to be able to walk
by where she worked just so I could see her and maybe have a chance to talk to
her. When we were schedule to go out together, the much anticipated date couldn’t
arrive soon enough for me—I just wanted to be with her. What does this have to
do with our subject text? Note that at the top of this website you will see the
Mission Statement for this ministry. It is known as Jesus’ Great Commission instructing
his followers to go and make disciples of all nations. My motivation to make
this the mission for this ministry is only in part because of my desire to be obedient.
My primary motivation is love, and v. 14 is the companion verse to Jesus’ Great
Commission that drives me. I confess that I want to be with Jesus and I will do
whatever it takes to fulfill my part of the obligation to preach the Gospel to
the whole world in order to achieve that goal. I know I can’t do it all, but I
can do the part I have been call to do. “Jesus does not say that every individual
on earth will hear the gospel and certainly not that all who hear will respond
appropriately, but he does seem to indicate that the gospel, summed up as the
message of the kingdom, will be proclaimed widely throughout the known world, that
is, to representative areas and people groups across the globe.”[9]
Application
We
see the correlation of our subject text with the events or our own day and our
senses are immediately heightened to the possibility that Christ’s return is
imminent. Some even go so far as to take advantage of the events of our day to
exploit the hopes of those longing for Christ’s return and the fear of those
seeking to avoid the final Judgment. To this I want to say Do Not Be Deceived! “The
period of time prior to Christ’s return will be characterized by a growing
polarization between good and evil. God’s people will increase in power,
witness, and impact in the world, even as persecutions and hostility intensify
and global conditions deteriorate.”[10]
There is something important to remember about the events described by Jesus in
our subject text, the conditions for Christ’s return were all fulfilled prior
to 70 A.D.! Let me demonstrate: Messianic charlatans did, in fact, arise with
the most notable being Theudas as recorded in Acts 5:36. First century historian
Josephus describes other messianic imposters as well (Ant. 20.97-99, 160-72, 188); the war between Israel and Rome began
in 66-67 A.D. and was preceded by Zealot uprisings throughout the region; Judea
was staggering under the weight of an intense famine as predicted in Acts
11:27-30 around the period of 45-47 A.D. according to Josephus; Laodicea and
Pompeii were rocked by earthquakes in 60-61 A.D. and 62 A.D. respectively;
persecution was constantly biting at the heels of believers throughout Acts and
internal dissention was tearing apart the church in Corinth; The primary
purpose behind a number of New Testament epistles (i.e. Galatians, Colossians,
1 Timothy, 2 Peter, and Jude—all predating 70 A.D.) were a warning against
false teachings and false teachers; love was most certainly in short supply
during the dark days of Nero’s persecution; and finally Paul could confidently
claim that the gospel had gone out to all the known world by the late fifties. All
this occurred as Jesus predicted prior to the critical date of 70 A.D. which
marks the pinnacle of Jesus prediction—the destruction of the Temple. This
leaves us with one very important question—if everything has been fulfilled,
why hasn’t Jesus returned? Herein lies the mystery and confusion of apocalyptic
writings—the mystery of multiple fulfillments. One of my seminary professors
described it to our class like this: Imagine apocalyptic writing like a range
of mountains, when you stand close, you see only one line of mountains. However,
when you climb to the top of the first line of mountains, you see many more
mountain ranges intersecting each other. It is like this with end-time
writings, immediate events might indicate a perfect fulfillment of the end time
prophecies, but the perspective of time reveals a repetition of events that
fulfill the same end time prophecies.
Tricia Tillin uses the illustration of the Russian
Babushka dolls to illustrate the same point. A
set of Babushka dolls looks complete in itself, but contains a set of perfectly
formed dolls that are mirror images of the original doll, diminishing in size
so that one fits within the next and all contained within the original doll.
Between each doll is a gap; a gap in time. And like the Babushka dolls,
you never know when you will reach the last doll until you’re done opening each
one. This is why it is so important to remember that no one knows the
precise point in time when Christ will return except the Father. Therefore, since
we can’t know when Christ will return, we must be motivated by love for one
another to the share the Gospel message knowing that each time a prophecy is
fulfilled could the last time and the signal for Christ’s return. Furthermore, fear,
confusion, trials and tribulations create the perfect environment that false
teachers take full advantage of. Finally, cling fast to what you once firmly
believed was the truth and Do Not Be Deceived by those who
would seek to lead you away from the real and living Christ and the ultimate
reward of your salvation.
[1] W.
Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor’s
Greek Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983),
pp. 288-289.
[2] Craig
S. Keener, Matthew—The IVP New Testament
Commentary Series, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997), p. 345.
[3] Donald
A. Hagner, Matthew 14-28—Word Biblical
Commentary, (Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1995), p. 691.
[4] Cleon
L. Rogers Jr. & Cleon L. Rogers III, The
New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament, (Grand Rapids,
MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998), p. 53.
[5] Michael
J. Wilkins, Matthew—The NIV Application
Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004), pp. 773-774.
[6] Bruce
Barton, Philip Comfort, Grant Osborne, Linda K. Taylor, Dave Veerman, Life Application New Testament Commentary,
(Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publications, 2001), p. 104.
[7] Wilkins,
Matthew, p. 775.
[8] Colin
Brown, gen. ed., New International
Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 1, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Publishing House, 1986), p. 733.
[9] Craig
L. Blomberg, Matthew—The New American
Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1992), p. 356.
[10] Ibid.,
p. 357.
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