MATTHEW 24:1-14
3. The false messiahs “shall deceive many.” Not a few, but many will believe and follow the false messiahs, believing
they are the way, the truth, and the life of God (cp. Jn.14:6).
Right after Jesus’ death, several men arose who claimed to be the Messiah. Josephus, the Jewish historian, said many
were led astray by them. Scripture also mentions two who apparently claimed to be the Messiah or at least the deliverer of
the Jews: Theudas and Judas of Galilee (Acts 5:36-37). Simon Magus claimed to “the great power of God” (Acts 8:9-10).
Every generation has its false messiahs, each one claiming to be the special messenger of God, the deliverer of the human
race. Every false religion and sect of every generation has its false messiahs, but there shall be many as the last days ap-
proach.
Thought 1. Men seek utopia, inward peace and outward security. Unfortunately, too many churches and believers
do not demonstrate enough trust in Christ to show that peace and security are found in Him alone. Therefore, they
turn to other messiahs.
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(24:6-7) World Violence—War: the second sign of the end time is world violence. Note several things.
1. Believers “shall hear” of so much violence it will sound as though the world is coming apart. Believers can be
troubled, extremely troubled over the news.
2. Christ said, “Be not troubled” (me throeithe), disturbed, frightened, confused. Be not put into confusion or commo-
tion. World violence can disturb and frighten. It can lead us into confusion and commotion. But Christ says such is not to be
the case of His disciples. Our hearts are to be fixed upon God, trusting His presence, care, and security eternally (Mt.10:28;
Lk.12:4).
3. World violence “must come to pass.” Violence does not happen because God wills or destines it to be but because
of the passions and evil of men’s hearts (Mt.18:7; cp. Jas.4:1-3).
4. World violence can so dominate the news that man is led to believe the end is at hand. But Christ warned, “The end
is not yet.” He had just said, “Take heed that no man deceive you” (v.4).
Now note something. All the violence mentioned thus far deals with the violence that men hear about. The fact of the vi-
olence is given in verse 7: “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.”
A descriptive picture of the violence that gripped the world during the days immediately following our Lord is given by
Tacitus, the Roman historian (55? - after 117). In the opening statements of his Histories of the Roman empire, he says:
“I enter upon a work fertile in vicissitudes, stained with the blood of battles, embroiled with dissen-
sions, horrible even in the intervals of peace. Four princes slain by the sword; three civil wars, more with
foreign enemies, and sometimes both at once; prosperity in the East; disasters in the West; Illyricum dis-
turbed; the Gauls ready to revolt; Britain conquered, and again lost; Sarmatians and Suevians conspiring
against us; the Dacians renowned for defeats given and sustained; the Parthians almost aroused to arms
by a counterfeit Nero. Italy afflicted with calamities unheard of, or recurring only after a long interval; ci-
ties overwhelmed or swallowed up in the fertile region of Campania; Rome itself laid waste by fire, the
most ancient temples destroyed, the very capital burned by its own citizens: etc.” (‘Hist.,’ 1.2).
Remember however, despite the bleakness of world events within a particular generation, the words of our Lord stretch
over the centuries covering all of history and point toward an intensification of violence toward the end of the world. (Cp. 2
Chron.15:6-7; Lk.21:34; Ph.4:6; 1 Pt.5:7.)
Thought 1. A critical point. God does not cause violence. It is the passion and evil of men that causes violence.
Thought 2. The believer’s hope is not in this world; neither is his real citizenship. His hope and his life are in God
and in heaven (Ph.3:21). Therefore, we are not to fear men and world events. Men and world events can only take
our lives, not our souls. Our lives are in God’s hands, even to the end of the world (Mt.28:20; Heb.13:5).
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(24:7) Nature—Famine—Earthquake—Pestilence: the third sign of the last days is natural disasters. Three disasters
of nature are mentioned in particular.
1. Famines. Scripture speaks of a “great famine” throughout all the world “which came to pass in the days of Claudius
Caesar” (Acts 11:28-30). Josephus described the famine as being so terrible that when flour “was brought into the tem-
ple...not one of the priests was so hardy as to eat one crumb of it...while so great a distress was upon the land” (Josephus,
Ant. 3. 15:3). He said in another place, “A famine did oppress them (Jerusalem)...and many people died for want of what was
necessary to procure food” (Ibid. 20. 2:5).
In the very last days before Jerusalem’s fall, Josephus spoke of another terrible famine:
“It was now a miserable case, and a sight that would justly bring tears into our eyes, how men stood
to their food, while the more powerful had more than enough, and the weaker were lamenting (for want of
it)”(Josephus, Wars. 5. 10:3).
“Then did the famine widen its progress, and devoured the people by whole houses and families; the
upper rooms were full of women and children that were dying by famine; and the lanes of the city were full
of the dead bodies of the aged; the children also and the young men wandered about the marketplaces like
shadows, all swelled with famine, and fell down dead wheresoever their misery seized them” (Ibid. 5.
12:3).
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