The Olivet Discourse, Part 3: Characteristics of the Age

Last week, in our Olivet Discourse discussion, we the destruction of Jerusalem. To the disciples, the words Christ spoke were prophecy. For us, those words were history as Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus in 70 AD.

Tonight, we are going to look at verses 4-8, and these verses are neither history nor prophecy. The words said by Christ in verses 4-8 are characteristics of the age.

Let’s read the verses, and let me point out an element of grammar for you that some may miss, and let me preface what I am about to say by saying that I am far from being a grammar expert, but I do know what Mrs. Betty Bishop hammered into my brain at Holice Powell when I was in the 4th and 5th grades.

Here is what the verses say.

Matthew 24:4–6 “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”

Matthew 24:7–8 “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”

FOR is an important indicator in these verses. (Matthew 24:4-8)

Now, let me ask you a question.

Have you ever heard preachers say that these things in verses 4-8 reveal the end of the age? I have said it, and I was wrong. The grammar is so simple, yet we ignore it.

FOR in these verses is used an element of time.

When used as an element of time, for signifies a duration or period of time that something continues or is intended to last.

Let me give you a couple of examples.

She worked for two hours.

The party will for the whole evening.

In both of those instances, for indicates a duration or period of time.

If you look at verses 4-8, Christ is telling His disciples that the things He describes in those verses will last for the entire age. As a matter of fact, they are characteristics of all of human history beginning with Cain killing Abel. Christ even tells us in verse 8 that these things are the beginning of sorrows and not the ending of sorrows.

Do you remember what I said a couple of weeks ago?

I said that I believe that every thought, word, idea, and punctuation found in the Bible is inspired by God.

I even believe the word choices used by the translators were inspired. I speak English. I do not speak Greek. I do not speak Hebrew. To me what the English says is important, and I believe the use of FOR, used as a time element, was used specifically for Christians to know what is going to happen in this world. That’s what Christ was telling His disciples. He was giving them the characteristics of the entire age in these verses. He was not giving them a sign of the end.

With that being said, as the end approaches, these characteristics will explode exponentially, but they are just the beginning of sorrows.

With that grammar lesson out of the way, let’s get to the characteristics of the age.

Let me just take a quick timeout for a question.

Don’t you believe that knowing the grammar and word choice in this passage is important?

A. Characteristics of This Age.

1. DECEPTION.

Matthew 24:4 “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.”

I felt so stupid when I realized what God is telling us in His Word.

Before He describes the characteristics of this age, He warns us to guard against deception.

What deception is Jesus warning us against?

He is warning us not to be deceived by false teachers.

2 Peter 2:1 “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.”

Peter would have been there with the other disciples when they asked Jesus the three questions found in the first three verses of Matt. Chap. 24. Once again in what Peter wrote we can see many elements of time, but he says there were false teachers among the people and there shall be false teachers among you.

In particular, what kinds of deception is Christ warning against?

Those who preach a false gospel.

Galatians 1:6–8 “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”

Those who try to pigeon-hole events to predict the end of the age.

Dear friend, Christ tells His disciples not to be deceived. He is telling us not to be deceived. The two biggest areas in which people are deceived today are the gospel and prophecy.

We should not deceived in either area. Jesus says to take heed that no man deceive you. We are to guard ourselves.

Now, let me say this. Neither the gospel nor prophecy is hard to understand, but both get convoluted when false teachers add things or take away things from both.

Do you guys remember a guy named Jack Van Impe? Several times he tried to predict the date of Christ’s return, and many people believed him. Peter would say that his predictions were damnable heresies that bring about swift destruction.

Do not be deceived. No man knows the date of the end. Even Christ divested Himself of that knowledge while walking on earth, so how in the world would Hagee, Van Impe, Jakes, and many others know something that Christ did not even know while walking this planet? Do not be deceived about the end. Do not be deceived about the gospel.

Can I tell you something without absolute certainty?

If you ever hear someone say that through studying that God revealed to them when Christ was returning, can I tell you what to do?

In the famous words of my brother in Christ, Coach Pugh, you put a BIG X on him.

Hebrews 1:1–2 “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;”

Matthew 24:36 “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”

2. ANTICHRISTS.

Matthew 24:5 “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.”

The wording in the verse is incredible.

Many, in this age, have claimed to be the Christ. That number will increase as this age continues.

John 5:43 “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.”

Did you know that since 1950, 1,100 men have claimed to be the Christ?

One of the most infamous ones was Jim Jones who in 1979 convinced over a 1,000 people to follow him to the jungles of South America where eventually he murdered them by convincing them to drink poisoned kool-aid. Those people should have heeded Christ’s warning to not be deceived by a false gospel. If they had listened to Christ, they would not be awaiting an eternity in hell.

Dear friend, too many people focus on the Antichrist. As a Christian, I do not care one iota about the Antichrist. I cannot know who he is if you believe the Bible, and he will never have any power over me because I will not be on this planet when he is.

Instead of focusing on the Antichrist, we should be careful not to be deceived by antichrists which have been around since the Church Age began.

1 John 4:1–3 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”

1 John 2:18 “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.”

1 John 2:21 “I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.”

Guess who else was sitting around listening to what Jesus said on top of the Mount of Olives? JOHN.

Who is an antichrist? Anyone who denies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came in the flesh.

It is that simple. That is why the Christmas narrative is so important. If Jesus Christ was not God in the flesh, we have absolutely no hope in this world.

I am going to say something that some of you may not agree with, but it is the truth. The antichrists who deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came in the flesh are far more dangerous to the church than the Antichrist of the future because the true church will not be on earth when he unleashes his fury on the Jews.

3. WARFARE.

Matthew 24:6 “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”

How many times have you heard a Christian, because of warfare somewhere in the world, say something like this war means we are at the end?

Let me ask you a serious question.

Did Jesus say that anywhere in verse 6? NO!!!!!! As a matter of fact, He explicitly says wars and rumors of war do not mean the end is near.

Wars and rumors of war are characteristic of the age. As a matter of fact, Jesus says not to let let warfare and rumors of war trouble you.

Trouble means to agitate, disturb, or perplex. Christians should not let warfare disturb the peace of God they have through Jesus Christ.

To fully understand the significance of what Christ is saying you really have to go all the way back to when Israel told Samuel they wanted to be like all the Gentile nations and have a king, but time will not allow us to do that.

Now, this is absolutely incredible.

Since the world began, almost 7,000 years ago, there have been only about 200 years of peace. Peace does not mean total peace. It just means no conflict between nations.

Think of the last 110 years in the United States of America.

WW1

WW2

Korea

Vietnam

Grenada

Desert Storm

War against Terror

War against the Unborn

It goes on and on and on, yet the end of the age has still not come. We need to listen to the Lord and what the Bible says and stop listening to false teachers.

You hear these so-called prophecy experts say if this nation attacks this nation, the end will come. They do not and cannot know that any more than I can jump over this pulpit. It is false teaching to say something like that.

Wars and rumors of war are both characteristics of the age in which we live. Both will last until the Prince of Peace comes to establish His earthly Kingdom.

By the way, do you know who causes all war? SATAN!!!

John 8:44 “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

Behind every abortion was Satan. Behind every war was Satan. Let me share with you an incredible passage that could lead to an incredible history lesson if we had the time.

Revelation 16:13–14 “And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”

Warfare is a product of the devil’s handiwork, and it is a characteristic of this age.

4. NATURAL DISASTERS, FAMINE, AND DISEASES.

Matthew 24:7–8 “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”

Now, all of these things we have mentioned are characteristics of the age, but as the end of the age approaches, these things will intensify including natural disasters, famine, and diseases.

There are many places in the world where people are starving. Seemingly, new disease spring forth daily. Natural disasters, including earthquakes, are a daily occurrence, and the Bible tells us why.

Romans 8:22 “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.”

The Creation is suffering. The Creation is awaiting redemption and restoration, and we have seen terrible floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, but they do not mean we are are at the end.

Christ specifically says that these things, these characteristics, are just the beginning of sorrows.

These things do not mean the end is near. They are characteristics of the age. These things are terrible, but they will be nothing compared to the Tribulation.

Let me ask you a question as we close this section of Matthew Ch. 24.

How many times have you thought or heard someone say that they cannot imagine Sodom and Gomorrah being any worse than our society?

Do you know why that society (Sodom and Gomorrah) was worse than ours? Because you and I are still here, and as long as the true church is on earth, evil is restrained today.

2 Thessalonians 2:7–8 “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:”

Matt. Ch 24 verses 4-8 are characteristics of the age and not indicative of the end. Dear friend, study God’s Word. Take the time to reflect on how a verse is written. Reflect on the grammar, and you will gain a better understanding of what God is saying.