Matthew 24:4-26

⁴ And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of sorrows. ⁹ “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. ¹⁰ And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. ¹¹ Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. ¹² And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But he who endures to the end shall be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. ¹⁵ “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), ¹⁶ “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. ¹⁸ And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. ¹⁹ But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ²⁰ And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. ²² And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. ²³ “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. ²⁴ For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ See, I have told you beforehand. ²⁶ “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. 

Commentary

Vs. 4-5 ⁴ And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 

Now in answering the disciple’s questions, the Lord Jesus has a larger (and also future) audience in view, that is the generation that will see all these signs unfolding before He returns. Therefore, though the Lord Jesus is speaking to the disciples, His prophetic discourse will only see its complete fulfillment in the Tribulation Period, (also known as Jacob’s troubles, Jer. 30:7) that is the seven-year period that occurs after the church is raptured, and precedes the Lord Jesus Christ’s thousand-year reign (Jer. 30:5-9; Dan. 9:23-27; 2 Thess. 2:3-7). Therefore, the only thing that will be fulfilled in the disciple’s own lifetimes is the destruction of the Temple and the fall of Jerusalem, something that the Lord Jesus Christ addresses in Luke 21:20-24 (and which will take place in A.D. 70). Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ in preparing us for His return begins by warning us all that before His Return to set up His Kingdom first there will be those who will come in His name and claim to be Him, “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” ^{Vs. 5} Believers then in every generation are first and foremost warned not to believe anyone who claims to be the Lord Jesus Christ, for when Christ appears again it will be in the clouds and with great glory, such glory and power that no man on earth can replicate or reproduce. Therefore, all who come and claim to be the Lord Jesus Christ are to be utterly rejected! For before the Lord Jesus returns to set up His Kingdom first there will be the rapture of the church with a sounding of a great trumpet and then the dead in Christ will rise first, then the Lord Jesus Christ appearing in the clouds with His holy angels will receive them and all the believers living on earth to Himself with them, that is what will happen before Christ’s Second Coming, (the rapture of the believing church) anything less is not Him (1 Cor. 15:51-52; 1 Thess. 4:13-17). Therefore, preceding the Tribulation Period there will be the rapture of the believing and faithful church then, there will be a great apostasy from the faith, and with that the rising of the lawless one, that is the antichrist whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and the brightness of His appearing (which will take place at the end of the seven-year Tribulation Period). And so, in order to deceive the world and cause all those who do not believe to receive the number of the beast he will show great lying signs and wonders when he arises by which he will deceive all those who did not believe and receive the love of the truth, (that is the Gospel which could save their souls) but instead had pleasure in unrighteousness. Therefore, God will send them all strong delusion so that they will all believe the lie, so that they will all be condemned who had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thess.2:1-12). Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ’s Words in Matthew chapter twenty-four primarily concern the state of the world during this most terrifying time.

Vs. 6-8 ⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of sorrows.

The next thing the Lord Jesus Christ warns us about is that we will hear of wars and rumors of wars (likely being told to us as an imminent precursor to His Return). However, as the Lord Jesus says to us, “See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” And so those who point to wars and rumors of wars as indicating the Lord’s imminent return are not helping anyone, since wars and rumors of wars must take place, but the end will not be signified by them. For as the Lord Jesus says, “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of sorrows.” ^Vs.7-8 Therefore as these events unfold these are only the beginning of sorrows and not the end of the age, since as the Lord Jesus Christ says all these are “the beginning of sorrows”, not the end. And so, though these will continue to occur and intensify before the Lord Jesus Christ’s return, therefore we are not to bank on observing these. Rather we are to bank on believing and trusting the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation, and not on our own (or someone else’s) finite understandings of this world’s events, as history unfolds according to its own course, so as to bring about Christ’s Return, in God’s Perfect Timing.

Vs. 9-10 ⁹ “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. ¹⁰ And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 

Though believers have suffered great persecutions and tribulations, beginning with the Apostles generation, the Lord Jesus Christ Words here are again primarily referring to the Tribulation Period when all these things will intensify and occur on unprecedented levels. For it will be during the Antichrist’s reign that believers will suffer most horribly, being hated by all nations for the Lord’s Names sake. Indeed, the Lord warns that many will be offended, and will betray one another, and hate one another. Now the antichrist’s arising, and the great apostasy from the faith that will precede it, are foretold in 2 Thess. 2:1-12. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ says here that in the Tribulation Period there will be a time of terrible persecutions and betrayal that those who come to believe in Him will have to go through. 

Vs. 11-14

¹¹ Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. ¹² And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But he who endures to the end shall be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.” 

Though there are now (and have been) many false prophets who give false prophecies and make claims of being someone and something they’re not, the Lord’s Words here are referring to the rise of false prophets in the last days who will deceive many. 

“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.”  
During the Antichrist’s reign lawlessness will abound; and because lawlessness will abound the love of many will grow cold, thus acts of kindness, compassion and, neighborly love will be few and far between.

“But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” 

Therefore, those who remain faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved, that is every genuine believer will be saved from His wrath and judgment that will come upon the world at the end of this time. Thus, the Lord Jesus Christ is not referring here to salvation of one’s soul, but of one’s person out of the Tribulation Period and into His Millennial Reign. 

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” 

Though the Gospel is now being preached in all the world and is bringing forth fruit to God with the salvation of people everywhere, and from every walk of life (Col. 1:5-6), the Lord Jesus Christ’s Words here won’t be fulfilled until the wicked world of the Tribulation Period has the gospel fully preached to them, and then when that is accomplished the end will come (see Rev. 14:6).

Vs. 15-22 ¹⁵ “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), ¹⁶ “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. ¹⁸ And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. ¹⁹ But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ²⁰ And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. ²² And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. 

The Lord Jesus now in reveling the world events during the seven-year tribulation period warns that there will be an idolatrous imaged setup in the rebuilt Temple during this time; something that Daniel the prophet foretold (Dan. 9:27), which is referred to in the Scripture as the “abomination of desolation’, and so this horrible image the anti-Christ will compel the whole world to worship; those who do not will be put to death. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ in confirming that these things will take place warns us in verses 16-22 that “when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), ¹⁶ “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. ¹⁸ And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. ¹⁹ But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ²⁰ And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.” ^{Vs. 15-20} Therefore, when this event takes place absolute urgency will be needed to escape both it, and the murderous wrath that will follow. This then will be the pinnacle of “Jacobs troubles” when the world-wide abandonment of (and wrath against) the One true God will lead to God’s people suffering the most horrible persecutions. So terrifying and horrible will the world events be during this time that there is no precedent in history to describe what will take place then, for the Lord Jesus Christ says: “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. ²² And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” ^{Vs. 21-22} God then in fulfilling His Word will make a way for His elect to be saved by shortening those days.

Vs. 23-26 ²³ “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. ²⁴ For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ See, I have told you beforehand. ²⁶ “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. 

Because of the intensity of persecutions, it will evitable that the elect will be diligently looking for Christ’s Second Coming, however the Lord Jesus Christ warns us not to be deceived during this time, for He says many will claim to know where He is (false prophets), and some will even claim to be Him (false Christ’s), showing all kinds of great signs and wonders to deceive if possible even the elect (vs. 23-25). Nonetheless the Lord Jesus Christ warns us all do not believe them (vs. 26)!

Scripture Quotations: 

The New King James Version. (1982). Nashville: Thomas Nelson