MATTHEW 24:15-28
3. False deliverers will be so convincing they will even threaten the elect. The elect, of course, are genuine believers
who stick with Christ regardless of the temptation, trials, threat and danger. An excellent passage that describes much of the
same picture is seen in 2 Th.2:1-17. The way the elect are able to stand is clearly stated.
“Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by
word, or our epistle. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath
loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your
hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work” (2 Th.15-17).
6
(24:25-28) Jesus Christ, Return: there is the truth about deliverance and about the Messiah’s coming. Christ said four
things about His return.
1. He shall not come from the desert, that is, from some unknown and remote spot. When people proclaim that the
great deliverer has appeared in a certain place, the message or rumor is not to be believed: “go not forth.”
2. He shall not come from a secret chamber, that is, in secret, unseen, quietly. Again, when such a message or rumor is
proclaimed, “believe it not.”
3. He shall come “as lightning.”
a. His coming shall be out of heaven (out of the spiritual world and dimension)—just as lightning.
b. His coming shall be sudden and surprising—just as lightning.
c. His coming shall be visible to all, seen from east to west—just as lightning (cp. Rev.1:7).
“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes
of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with
power and great glory” (Mt.24:30).
“And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud
received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went
up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into hea-
ven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:9-11).
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arc-
hangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in
the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these
words” (1 Th.4:16-18).
“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which
pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen”
(Rev.1:7; cp. Rev.19:11-19).
4. He shall come to execute judgment (v.28. Cp. Is.30:30; Rev.19:20-21.) The eagles, birds of prey, always gather
where the carcase is. There are at least two meanings to this verse.
a. The carcase is the Jewish people, and the eagles are the Roman armies under Titus who gathered around
Jerusalem to consume the prey.
b. The carcase is the world, the spiritually dead, and the eagles are Christ and His holy angels and saints. They
come to gather around the dead world, executing judgment.
The point of this passage is that the coming of Christ shall be to execute universal judgment. He shall
come for the carcase, for all the spiritually dead in order to execute judgment upon them. Christ shall
execute judgment upon the whole world.
“And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the
fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper
of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of
mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men,
both free and bond, both small and great” (Rev.19:17-18).
“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then
shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he
shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats”
(Mt.25:31-32).
“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb.9:27).
“The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the un-
just unto the day of judgment to be punished” (2 Pt.2:9).
“But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, re-
served unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Pt.3:7).
“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord
cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that
are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of
all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him” (Jude 14-15).
18
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53