Deceive many…
Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Mat 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it
Wide gate and broad way… MANY will go in through the wide gate and walk down the broad way thinking it is the gate and way leading to everlasting life. They are deceived.
Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
MANY will say to Jesus they did wonderful things in His name. They are deceived.
Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
Mat 24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
MANY shall be deceived.
This bears noting closely because deception by its very nature is capable of overtaking many. Deceived into believing something is one way when in fact it is another.
Not a single person will be deceived who is truly Christ's. We are told to TAKE HEED that no man deceives us.
Take heed! Listen carefully! Pay attention! This is a warning! Watch out!
There are going to be deceivers, however, I truly believe that even deceivers themselves will be deceived by the great deceiver.
Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Mat_24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Deceived.
Rev_14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
We want to be among the saints… and for this to be we must keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus.
You can sit there right now and say it is impossible to keep the commandments of God, but that's not true. With God all things are possible. Without our Savior it is impossible to keep the commandments of God. With the faith of Jesus is it possible!
Zec_4:6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
Might and power, any good thing in us we possess and think that it is goodness of our own accord is a lie! Even Jesus said this…
Mat_19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments
Do we keep the commandments to prove we are good? No. We keep the commandments by the power and faith of Jesus, because HE IS GOOD and of GOD! Jesus received His earthly goodness from GOD and He was quick to let others know, God is Good!
The deception is only growing as Satan's time is running out, and we must know that God has given us all we need to be His, and not be deceived. We have to actively seek Him with all our hearts and be doers of His word, not hearers only. When right and wrong are presented to us, we must choose right and if by some happenstance we choose wrong, as soon as we realize it we must seek forgiveness! And we aren't seeking forgiveness for our not being good, we are seeking forgiveness for not allowing God to be good in us- THERE IS A DIFFERENCE!
(Excerpt)
EXPOSITION OF MATTHEW XXIV 24 (((Written in 1890 - remember that when reading- 131 years have passed since this was written. History does matter.))))
VERSES 4, 5: "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."
Mark the caution given by our Lord as he commences to answer these questions. Jesus knew the hearts of men, and that many impostors would arise, and deceive multitudes. He here warns his disciples, and guards them against the deceptions of corrupt and ambitious men.
NATIONAL CALAMITIES
VERSES 6-8: "And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 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."
No point has been argued in favor of the past complete fulfillment of Matthew 24, with greater show of plausibility than this. Yet it remains decidedly against that view. Dr. Adam Clarke, for whose honesty and ability we entertain the highest respect, says: "This portended the dissensions, insurrections, and mutual slaughter of the Jews, and those of other nations, who dwell in the same cities together;" etc. We say we respect Dr. Clarke, and it is no disparagement of him to believe there is more light now shining out from this chapter, with the greater investigation, and the later fulfillment of prophecy, than he saw in his day. We insist that all that he produced in regard to the dissensions among the Jews, their insurrections, etc., does not meet the demands of this text. On the latter part of the verse he says: "This portended the open wars of the different tetrarchies and provinces against each other."
In this chapter the Saviour refers us to Daniel the prophet, by whom we learn, what indeed we can learn from any history, that the kingdom of Rome was universal in power at the time of which we are speaking. The dissensions and insurrections of tribes and provinces were not sufficient to meet the prophecy. But the Saviour further says: "And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet."
The overthrow of Jerusalem was caused by an insurrection of one of the provinces of the Roman kingdom. But these are not even connectives of the final event which was mentioned by our Saviour. These things– wars and rumors of wars–shall come, "but the end is not yet." And kingdom rising against kingdom–which, we insist, was not fulfilled by provincial insurrections–"are but the beginning of sorrows"–"the end is not yet." This point will be yet more clearly settled when others are considered. Wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes have occurred at different periods since these words were spoken. Therefore, these, as they have existed, cannot be regarded as the special signs of the end.
It maybe urged, however; with a good degree of consistency, that the Scriptures teach that these calamities would exist in the last days to such an extent as to constitute a sign of the approaching judgment.
We wish to keep the important fact distinctly before the mind, that the Sacred Scriptures do teach when men may not, and when they may, look for the second appearing of Christ. The prophets had so uniformly associated such judgment as war, famine, pestilence, and earthquake with the last judgment, that the disciples were in danger of concluding that the end would immediately follow the list appearance of these calamities; hence the caution given: "These things must come to pass, but the end is not yet."
Here the disciples were clearly taught that they should not expect the end in their day. This fact is worthy of the candid attention of those who object to the proclamation of the second advent of Christ in the form of a special message. These sometimes assert that it was right for the disciples to look for Christ in their day, and that it has been scriptural and right for all Christians of each successive generation to look for his second appearing in their time. And they affirm that no more can be learned and believed upon this subject in our time than by the Christians of past generations, and that the public mind should not now be agitated upon this great question, any more than in all past time since the first advent of Christ.
We have seen that this position is incorrect so far as the early disciples were concerned. They are cited to the distant future as the time when their Lord should come. They are assured that they need not be troubled at hearing of wars and rumors of wars: "For all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." Our Lord then guides the minds of his disciples, as we shall see in the examination of this chapter, down over the time of the great apostasy, and the long period of the rule of Papal Rome, before mentioning a sign of his second advent. He does not intimate that his people, during these long periods, may expect the end. No, not once. But when he comes near our time, the Lord gives signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars, and adds, "When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." Mark this: Our Lord does not mention wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes as signs of his second advent, but rather as events of common occurrence all the way through the Christian age; and history attests the fact that these calamities have covered at least seventeen centuries.
The following is from a work of Noah Webster, LL.D., published in 1799: 11 –
By famine and sword, 580,000 Jews were destroyed between A. D. 96 and A. D. 180.
"In Antioch, from A. D. 96 to A. D. 180, earthquakes destroyed 13 cities and over 100,000 lives.
"In Rome, A. D. 169 pestilence destroyed 10,000 daily.
"In Rome, A. D. 187, pestilence appeared and continued, three years.
"In London, A. D. 310, by famine, 40,000 died.
"In A. D. 446, September 17th, an earthquake shook down walls of Constantinople, and 57 towers fell.
"In Rome, A. D. 539, in one district 50,000 died.
"In Antioch A. D. 588, an earthquake killed 60,000.
"In A. D. 542, the plague killed 10,000 daily in Turkey.
"In A. D. 679, a severe famine in England, three years.
"In A. D. 717, in Constantinople, 300,000 died of plague.
"In A. D. 1005, earthquakes three months, followed by pestilence, by which it is said one-third of the human race died.
"In A. D. 1077, in Constantinople, so many died by plague and famine the living could not bury them.
"In A. D. 124, in Italy, there was such famine that the dead lay in the streets not buried; and in England one-third of the people died of plague.
"In A. D. 1294, in England, thousands died of famine.
"In A. D. 1346, in London, 50,000 died of plague and famine, and were buried in one grave-yard; in Norwich, 50,000; in Venice, 100,000; in Florence, 100,000; in Eastern nations, 20,000,000. It was called the black death.
"In A. D. 1352, in China, 900,000 died of famine.
"In A. D. 1450, in Milan, 60,000 died of plague.
"In A. D. 1570, in Moscow, 200,000 died of plague.
"In A. D. 1572, in Lyons, 50,000 died of plague.
"In A. D. 1625, in London, 35,000 died of plague.
"In A. D. 1656, in Naples, 300,000 died of plague.
"In A. D. 1665, in London, 68,000 died of plague.
"In A. D. 1755, an earthquake destroyed the city of Lisbon, killing 50,000. In Mitylene, and the Archipelago, it shook down 2,000 houses. It shook all the Spanish coast. The plague followed, which destroyed 150,000 persons in Constantinople."
(End Excerpt)
Please note- having just gone through the Covid-19 Pandemic, or rather having gone through and are still going through, we know a tiny bit about the scariness of plagues. We might call them by different names, but they are plagues. The list above ends at 1755 but we know that there have been many plagues, earthquakes and famine from then until now in 2021.
The author above mentions that these things would occur throughout all history, and they have. And yes, he mentioned other things would be added to them even as the Second Coming of our Savior gets closer and closer and that's true as well. After we finish this study, by the grace of God, we'll study the things that have occurred since 1890 that are pertinent to prophetic fulfillment and our Lord's return.
All by the grace, mercy, and love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, now and forever. All glory, praise and honor to our Father God, all through the Holy Spirit! Now and forever!
Amen.
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