Matthew 24

In Matthew 24, Jesus’ disciples ask him what the sign will be for his coming and the end of the age. The disciples are anticipating the age to come and the restoration of all things that we see Peter refer to in Acts 3:21. Jesus speaks about quite a few things that will occur prior to his return, but we’ll focus on verses 4-14.

First, there will be some who come claiming to be the Messiah. The Jewish historian Josephus notes that there were multiple individuals who fit this description. There were 4 in particular whom he records as leading messianic-like movements in the first century. While Josephus’ writings are open to debate and interpretation, they do seem to indicate that these individuals were doing what Jesus said they would. These individuals seem to have had political aspirations that prompted their messianic claims. Whether claims were specific to being the Messiah or not, they could be seen as trying to functionally fill into that role.

In politics, there are often claims about how a candidate is going to make things better. An individual can be looked at as a kind of savior by his supporters. In recent American political history, Barack Obama and Donald Trump have had supporters who perhaps viewed them as a type of “messiah”, someone who will “fix” everything that is broken. While they did not make bold messianic claims, it does, in my view, highlight how that type of following can take someone’s eye off the ball in terms of focusing on Jesus.

Jesus’ warning is that these “false Christs” will lead many astray. In the absence of the true Messiah, there will always be a danger of some individual or group making bold claims that can lead people astray by shifting focus and allegiance away from the Gospel and Jesus.

Second, Jesus speaks of wars and rumors of wars. This is not to say that the presence of war will hint at his immediate coming, but that this will be a reality of life in the time preceding his return. Governments will be looking to exert control and solidify their power. Peace will not be a constant, because the world will not recognize Jesus as king, and even the view that someone has the correct doctrines or ideas will lead to violence against those who are “wrong”. Jesus also mentions that there will be famines and earthquakes, and perhaps other natural disasters can be seen in line with these. These are not seen as culminating events, but rather Jesus describes them as the beginning of birth pangs. These are like early contractions in a pregnancy. There is still a ways to go, but they are a reminder of where things are headed.

Third, there will be turmoil for the faithful. There will be nations that oppose the gospel and will do what they can to root it out. Whether it be Rome trying to eliminate Christianity in the first century or the Chinese Communist Party opposing Christianity in the 21^st century, Jesus highlights that this will be a normal occurrence as the end of the age draws nearer.

Fourth, there will be many who fall away from the Gospel. This may not mean that they abandon the moniker of “Christ” or “Christian”, but they will functionally not operate as such. Hate and betrayal are common occurrences among those who have fallen away. Perhaps due to power struggles and desire to be the most influential, or maybe even for self-preservation. This disunity will create opportunities for false teachers to infiltrate and influence those who want to follow Jesus, but this false teaching will lead many astray. The co-opting of Christianity as a political tool has been observed in history. State-sponsored churches exist in some countries, and believers with “heterodox” views are barred from legally teaching and proselytizing according to their understanding of scripture, such as a plain reading of scripture, free from longstanding tradition.

Fifth, all of these things will culminate in a sort of lawlessness. The fallout of this includes what Jesus describes as “the love of many growing cold”. In Revelation, Jesus calls out the church of Ephesus for not having the love that they had at first. Jesus recognizes that the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love people. If love goes cold, there ceases to be obedience to one of the greatest commandments. A lack of love for people, specifically the lost, will prevent a “believer” from staying the course on the mission to spread the gospel.

Jesus says that the one who endures to the end will be saved. This indicates that some will fall away from the saving gospel (see the parable of the Sower). Salvation is for the faithful (though not the perfect), and the faithful will stay the course and share the gospel with the nations. Jesus indicates that there will continue to be those who will remain faithful and push on to spread the gospel, and at some point after the gospel has been preached throughout all the world, he will return.

Reflection Questions:

1. Why do you think people fell prey to false Messiahs? What might a false Messiah look like today?

2. How can we fight against our love growing cold and allowing false teachers to infiltrate our churches? Does church discipline factor into this?

3. How can you do your part to make sure that the gospel is being preached? Do we sometimes look too much at the big picture and not the practical, small parts of ministry that we can participate in?

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The Beginning of Birth Pains

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Old Testament: Exodus 21 & 22

Poetry: Psalm 28

New Testament: Matthew 24

I have never had a baby. Shocker, I know! As a male member of the human race the act of childbirth has and will forever elude my lived experience. However, as a father of eleven Fletchers, I have spent many years of my adult life in the company of pregnant women, or more precisely, a pregnant woman. I was there for all eleven births and I caught most of them (the last one came so quickly that I caught him solo). All this is to offer to you my credentials that, although never directly experiencing labor, I have been present for enough births to recognize the various stages that women go through in childbirth. Fun fact, for women who have more than one baby the Braxton Hicks contractions (otherwise known as false labor) can come several weeks or even months before the baby is actually born. Braxton Hicks contractions are one way that the body prepares itself for labor. It’s like an athlete doing warm up exercises before the actual event. Muscles tighten and relax as they practice for the real thing when it comes.

Today’s devotion isn’t really about childbirth, it’s about being prepared for the return of Jesus Christ, the end of this present age and the preparation for the age to come, the Kingdom of God. Matthew 24 is known as the “little apocalypse”. Apocalypse is another term for Revelation. In the Bible the book of Revelation is 22 chapters long and goes into a lot of detail about the end of this age and the coming of Jesus. Matthew 24 is a condensed version, kind of a mini-sermon Jesus preached to his followers shortly before he went to the cross. (You will run across parallel or “synoptic” passages when we get to Mark 13 and Luke 21).

Jesus’ purpose here is to prepare his followers to be ready for times of great tribulation or distress that would come immediately prior to his return. If you’ve ever read or heard a sermon about the apocalypse or the end of the world or Armageddon you probably are aware that Jesus warned that before things get amazingly better- ie. The New Heavens and the New Earth, Christ returning to rule over all the world bringing a final end to all sin and death and setting free the whole earth from the “curse” of death… before things get amazingly better, there will be a time when they become incredibly hard.

A brief study of the history of the Church for the last 2000 years will show that Christians have gone through hard times a lot. In the first 2 centuries the problem was the Roman Empire. Followers of Jesus were often told that they had to renounce their loyalty to Jesus and declare their loyalty to Caesar alone. When they refused, some of them were thrown to the lions or burned at the stake.

Since Christianity was legalized in the Roman Empire it has faced challenges in many parts of the world at different times. In the 17^th century Christian missionaries in Japan were killed for their faith. In the 1930’s Christians in Germany who failed to support Hitler faced severe persecution and some, most notably Dietrich Bonhoeffer, were executed for resisting Nazism. Christians in Communist China and the Soviet Union experienced incredible persecution during most of the 20^th century. There are places in the Islamic world today where Christians who attempt to proselytize Muslims face the threat of execution.

Every generation of Christians since the first century could look at what was happening in the world and see the potential for the end of the world. Jesus’ own disciples asked him right after his resurrection, before he ascended to God, “Is it NOW, Lord?” (Acts 1:6).

2020 was a really challenging year with Covid, racial division, murder hornets, wildfires and hurricanes. I had a lot of people asking me if I thought the end of the world was coming. Perhaps you’ve wondered that yourselves.

Matthew 24 is a great place to go when you start wondering if this is the end. Like a woman who is going to have a baby, she may have “birth pangs” for a long time before the baby is actually ready to be born. The same is true with the coming Kingdom of God. I think every generation of Christians experience some amount of persecution or “natural” disasters or other tragedies that leave them wondering if the end could be near. Just as Braxton Hicks contractions are God’s way of preparing a woman to give birth by having her muscles practice for the big event, God permits every generation to experience a certain amount of trials and tribulations to help prepare God’s people for the final “great push” that will occur right before Jesus returns.

Jesus himself said that no one knows exactly when he will return. He said that even he doesn’t know. That is something that only God knows. What Jesus does say to his disciples then and to us today is that we need to stay ready, we shouldn’t fall asleep in our faith. He warns that as troubles and persecution increase and as the world becomes a less loving and more violent place that many of his followers would fall away:

“At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:10-12).

Jesus might come very soon. I can’t predict when. All I can do is make sure that I’m ready whenever he does come. I must make sure that I stay faithful and don’t turn away even if the persecution gets really bad. I think Christians living in the United States are getting ready to face some real persecution in the near future. In fact, I think we already are. There is a lot of pressure to conform to the changing norms of society. Cancel culture will not have any respect for Christianity. Some of the things that the Bible teaches about how we are supposed to live, particularly in areas of morality, sexuality and gender norms are considered anathema by the current progressive climate. As people place more value on becoming “woke” more followers of Jesus, young and old will be persecuted if they fail to change their values. Remember, Caesar doesn’t like to be rejected as God, neither does the devil, and neither do the progressive elites. In the wake of the coming persecution Jesus our Lord tells us to “stand firm.”

-Pastor Jeff Fletcher

(originally posted January 24, 2021 for SeekGrowLove)

Reflection Questions

Make a list of what Jesus warns us of in Matthew 24. How does it help to know what to expect?
How can you guard against the deception of false christs and false prophets?
Have you already seen a bit of the increase of wickedness and the love of most growing cold? Has it affected you personally? What temperature is your love?
What can you do today to help prepare yourself to stand firm to the end? What can you do today to help prepare others to stand firm to the end?

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This World Stresses Me Out

Old Testament: Nahum 1-3

Poetry: Psalm 138

New Testament: Matthew 24

Wars, diseases, crime, hate, famines, earthquakes, hurricanes, and a bunch of other bad stuff can really stress you out these days. It really seems to have gotten worse lately. I am 58 and a half years old, so I was growing up in the 70’s when nuclear weapons became a big topic of the day. Many Christians I knew were saying that we were in the end times then. In fact, I remember one person predicted that Christ may be returning in 1982. Clearly, that wasn’t a very good prediction and it taught me not to make predictions about such things, but I do think events are a lot more aligned now with scripture and the end times could be starting now or soon. Matthew 24 talks about the end times when things are going to get bad, really bad, but it also gives those who can persevere a lot of hope.

I am not going to review all the signs of the end times mentioned in Matthew 24 here; you can read those yourself. However, my quick summary that I already mentioned is that it will be bad, really bad. Jesus warned us in verse 6 that we will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but he also said that we should not be alarmed because these things need to happen before the end comes. He went on to describe a lot of other disturbing events that will take place. He was warning us of what is going to happen so we can stay chill during that time. Unfortunately, he also told us that many would turn away from the faith at that time. If we didn’t have this warning, I do think it would be difficult to keep our faith when we see the whole world crumbling before our eyes. But c’mon, if you say you have faith now when you know these bad times are coming, it is not much faith if you abandon it when you see exactly what you already knew was going to happen. It should increase your faith when you start to see events that were written about 2,000 years ago actually occurring. That’s impressive. Moreover, we already know how this story ends, and it is amazingly positive for those who keep their faith to the end.

It is true that some will lose their faith because they just can’t handle all the bad things that are going to happen, but Jesus has another warning for a different group of people. He talks about a group of people that aren’t ready for his return. They are people that even believe in Jesus, but they start thinking that he has been gone a long time, so they have more time before they need to get their lives in order. They think they can live for themselves a bit longer before they need to repent and start living for God. There are two major problems with that thinking. First, your life could end today, and you will have missed your chance to be saved. Second, only God knows when Christ is going to return, and it is going to surprise many people. Jesus told a story about a master of a servant who will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. There will be people that put off the decision to live for God because they think they have more time, but instead will find themselves in the place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. It will be too late the same way it was too late for all the people in Noah’s time who didn’t believe Noah until it started raining.

This has all been explained to us in scripture so you really shouldn’t be surprised when it happens. It was explained to us beforehand so we can stay calm and know that once this happens, we will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.