Matthew 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
In these verses Jesus is continuing to answer the 3 questions that the disciples had asked Him earlier in the chapter. He began verse 9 with the word “then”. At the time that the beginning of sorrows would be, there would also be greater persecution of the saints. Who are these saints? We know that in the Tribulation God will raise up 144,000 Jewish virgin men to testify of Him. We know these men will be hated by the antichrist. They will be preaching the Gospel, and thus preaching against him and his ego will not allow this to go on.
We are seeing a foretaste of this in our own country right now. We have a P.M. who is very proud. He cannot stand anyone speaking against him. He wants everyone to believe what he has to say and to follow him. He is an antichrist, but he is not THE antichrist. God gave us His Word, which is truth. He also shows us many times the proof that His Word is true. There have been other men like our P.M. in the past. They too have assumed absolute authority and have despised anyone who would not bow to their evil ways.
We know that Nebuchadnezzar could not handle opposition. When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego would not bow to his golden image, he was furious with them. When they refused to bow when he gave them a second chance he became even more furious with them. They testified that there was a God Who was far greater than he was and that their God would look after them one way or another. He had them thrown into a fiery furnace in the hope of destroying them. He lost some of his men in the process and he also discovered that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did in fact have protection from God. He was humbled by the fact that even that fiery furnace could not harm those men.
Darius also learned about the true God. He witnessed Daniel’s faithfulness to his God and he also knew that Daniel was a faithful servant of his. Darius had chosen some very foolish men to be part of his team. Those men hated Daniel and they developed a plot to get rid of him. They also witnessed Daniel’s faithfulness to his God and they were quite sure their plot would be fool proof. King Darius learned that the God of Daniel was able to protect him even from hungry lions. Those foolish counsellors the king had, also learned that those lions were extremely hungry and they perished in that den. They learned that the God of Daniel was the true God and they not only faced those roaring lions, but they were devoured by THE roaring lion, the devil. They are in torment today.
In our text Jesus was talking of a time that is yet future. A time of trouble that he will be involved in. A time when God will also pour out His wrath upon wicked mankind. That will be a time of extreme hatred for God such as the world has not known before.
Verse 10 tells us that at that time, many shall be offended and betray one another. Again, we are witnessing that in our time as well. We have had snitches that have reported our church to the government officials and to health officials on numerous occasions. The officials have told us so. There have also been snitches in the past who have reported on the Jews. The Jews were in severe danger during the lead up to the second world war and during that war. Those that tried to hide them were also in danger. Thousands died at that time due to a very evil ruler. It is important to note that the end was not then. It is also important to note that the Jews were able to go back to their land after that and rebuild that land. The nation of Israel is in part of their land right now. What the world has witnessed has been a precursor to a time that is yet future. We are not living in the Millennium right now. The Bible teaches us that immediately after the Tribulation time, the Millennium will be ushered in. That did not happen after the second world war.
The hatred that will be expressed at that time will be great. All the “anti-hate” laws that they are trying to enact now will have no effect at that time. The antichrist will express his hate for any opposition to him in a much louder manner than our P.M. does now. We are being warned, but many are sleeping right through the warnings.
In verse 11 we see that there will be many false prophets at that time and they shall deceive many. Again, we are witnessing that right now. I was reminded of that just this week. Any day of the week a person can surf the net and find false prophets. Most people sit at the feet of false prophets every time they go to their compromised church. Our politicians today are also false prophets. Even as the Conservative leadership race is taking place right now, there are false prophets who are promising this or that and accusing one another of things. They are trying to impress enough gullible people to vote for them to be the next leader of a useless political party that will continue to be used of the devil to bring evil upon our country.
Jesus warned of these things. Again, there have been many false prophets up to this time already. Many have been deceived by them. Every generation has had opportunity to know the truth, but most have chosen to be deceived by liars. That is nothing new today. However, Jesus is talking of a time when there will be a heightened activity of false prophets.
God directed the apostle Paul to warn of this time in II Thessalonians:
II Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
God also warned in that same chapter:
II Thessalonians 2:8 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:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
God gives us these warnings so that we would not be caught in this deception. However, most are caught in this today and they do not even realize it. They have been groomed carefully over the years and they have chosen the lie over the facts. You can open the Bible before them and show them the truth, but they refuse it. They have their minds made up and they are not going to change. That is the danger of pride. God warns us about that as well.
Jesus taught His disciples privately in Matthew 24. He did not give them a secret that no one else could know. He taught them in private because the Pharisees would have been sure to be mocking and scoffing and interrupting Him as He was teaching this. Jesus wanted the disciples to have opportunity to receive this teaching without any interference from those enemies. He also was giving them insight that the ungodly could not have.
Matthew was directed by God to record these words for us today. We need to know the truth of what is coming. We need to be sure we are not being deceived by false prophets today.
How can we know who to believe? How do you as the reader know that I am not deceiving you? If you are truly saved, and you take your King James Bible, you can examine everything I am telling you from that sure Word. You will discover the truth if you are truly born again.
If you are truly born again, God will be working in your heart right now to prepare you to go to a true local, Bible-believing church to learn more about Him through His Word. If you are not saved today, God will be working in your heart right now to encourage you to get ready to attend a true local, Bible-believing church where you can hear the truth and be saved. God will not be encouraging anyone to stay home and flip to some internet sight or some T.V. program to be entertained. There are some good internet sights for sure, but unless you are physically unable to attend in person, God wants you to be in attendance in a true church. That is not just my idea. That is a command of God in His Word.
We are praying for the salvation of souls and for the obedience of those who know the Lord. God has a blessing for those who will listen to Him.
Pastor Bartel
