Take Heed That No Man Deceives You

Matthew 24:1-8

Matthew 24:1–8 NKJV

Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 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. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.

The Devil has always and will always use the same tools do hinder us. He deceives, distracts and discourages us. With all that is going on today many Christians are being distracted and deceived which in turn leads to discouragement. Many have been distracted from faith and reliance upon God to fear mongering, panic and date setting.

Of course social media has only fueled the increase of drama in our lives. Legitimate questions such how do we behave in these days of uncertainty and anxiety? have been replaced with questions such as is taking the vaccine the mark of the beast or preprogramming for the Anti-Christ? Some even suggest that Jesus will come back in 2021.

My goal is not to scare you into submission, rather to the contrary. My goal is to give you Biblical truth that will give you confidence, peace and hope. My goal is to ground you in the truth of the Scriptures.

Matthew 24 is referred to as the Olivet Discourse. It was one of four major discourses or teachings of Christ. It is called the Olivet Discourse because it was given on the Mount of Olives. This passage sometimes is misquoted and taken out of context and made to say things it doesn’t really say.

Dr David Jeremiah writes on pg 1324 of the David Jeremiah Study Bible “ Matthew 24 and 25 have nothing to do with the rapture specifically but everything to do with what will occur immediately before Christ comes to set up His Kingdom”.

Dr John Walvoord writes “the discourse on the Mt of Olives contains Christ’s teachings on the end of the age, the period leading up to the second coming of Christ to set up His Kingdom on Earth. (pg 179 Matthew Thy Kingdom come, 1974 The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago)

Background- This teaching is given two days before Jesus’ death. He finished chapter 23 with pronouncing woe upon the Pharisees and pronounces judicial blindness upon the Nation of Israel for rejecting Him as Messiah.

The Destruction of the Temple (Vs1-2)

As Jesus is leaving the Temple the disciples come up to Jesus and show Him the buildings of the Temple. No doubt they were impressed with the Temple building. Jesus then tells them in vs 2 “not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” This arouses questions in the disciples, and they ask Him three questions.

When shall these things be?

What is the sign of Your coming?

What is the sign of the end of the age?

The key to understanding this prophetic passage is to understand that this discourse is Jesus answering these questions.

When shall these things be?

Jesus does not give the answer to the first question here in Matthew. However He does in Luke 21:20-24

Luke 21:20–24 NKJV

“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

The ultimate fulfillment came with the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus in 70 AD. Just six years after the Temple was completed. The next two questions Jesus answers in the remainder of this chapter.

What will be the sign of Your coming?

Jesus begins His answer in verse 4. He tells the disciples to “take heed that no one deceives you”. Why would Jesus warn the disciples about not being deceived? Because Jesus knows that humans are easily deceived and distracted and so He wants us to be alert to it.

Remember the disciples asked what was the sign? Jesus tells them of things that will happen but nowhere tells them to look for signs.

People claiming to be Christ. (Vs5)

I did a simple search of people who have claimed to be the Messiah. On public record as claiming to be Messiah.

18th Century -2

19th Century-7

20th Century-28

21st Century-8

Wars and Rumors of Wars (Vs6)

Revolutionary war

French and Indian War

Civil war

War of 1812

World War 1

World War 2

Korean Conflict

Vietnam

Gulf war

Irag

Afghanistan

Israel has been in war since its inception

Famines (vs7)

Online I counted approximately 253 famines recorded across the World.

Pestilences (Vs7)

The culture of health Blog wrote on December 16, 2013 (updated in January 2021)“The Five Deadliest Outbreaks and Pandemics in History”.

Black Death 1347-1351 - 75 Million with estimates as high as 200 Million with a world wide population of 450 Million.

1918 Spanish Flu- one in five or 1/3 of the World’s population was affected.

HIV-Aids affected 38 million people.

The Plague of Justinian. The year of 541 left 25 million dead.

The Antonine Plague. Began in 165 and lasted to 180 5 million people died.

Honorable mention- Cholera 3-5 million new cases each year.

Earthquakes

According to the National Earthquake Information Center now locates about 20,000 earthquakes around the globe each year. That’s an average of about 55 per day.

I tell you all this to show you these signs have always been around and in fact Jesus does not encourage us to look for signs. As a matter of fact He said in verse 8 that these are not the end but just the beginning.

Matthew 24:8

Matthew 24:8 NKJV

All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Literally birth pangs. None of these things should move God’d people. God is Sovereign and is still in control.

Here’s the point. Let No Man Deceive You! Is the vaccine and the mandates preparing the world for the Anti-Christ? Probably. But no more than using your debit card and credit card are. During the Tribulation period society will be cashless but we still use our plastic.

The point is God’s Word says all these things will happen, and your taking or not taking the vaccine will not affect it one bit. It will happen because God said it will happen. No Christian can change that!

Satan uses these distractions to deceive us so he can ultimately discourage us. The point is we are not to be controlled by the signs but by the Savior. If we focus more on the signs than the Savior we will never have peace, hope or confidence. So how can we have peace, confidence and hope?

Focus on Christ, not the signs or the problems.

Faithfully fulfill our calling and mission.

Resist the urge to be controlled by fear.

Read David Jeremiah’s quote.