They Shall Deceive Many!

"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." (Matthew 24:4-5).

Hello To All:

The idea of being deceived is troubling to us; and it should be. Typically, we are inclined to think that others might be deceived; but never ourselves. It is in the very fabric of our fallen nature, to believe that we are right; as it is written: "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes..." (Proverbs 21:2). If someone is being deceived; then it must be the fellow next door or the persons in the church that is different then the one that I attend. This is how we think! This is what our fallen flesh nature wants us to believe!

Not too long ago, I was reading through the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew. Through the years, I have read this chapter countless times. But, during this particular reading, on that not so long ago day - things were different. Our Lord Jesus Christ opened my eyes to something that I had never before seen.  Like you, my beloved brethren, I am influenced by past associations; especially associations related to certain theological perspectives, that are heavily influenced by institutional and denominational bias. This type of bias can be as a blinder to us. The bias clouds our ability to recognize the truth. On that day, Christ, once again, as He has done countless times, lifted the blinders, that I might see. Can we say thank you Jesus? Amen and Amen and Amen!

Hopefully, by this point, in our time together, you are asking yourselves: well, what is it, that the elder saw, that He did not see before?  In one word, what I saw and what I recognized, because of Jesus Christ, was: TRUTH.  Let us, together, my brethren, take another look at our opening text. Let us search out the truth, that Christ showed me on that not so long ago day.

Matthew, chapter twenty-four, can, in many ways, be regarded as a timeline of the church age and a revelation of certain realities, during that age; as well as certain realities, regarding the end of time. Because of the importance of context, in regard to recognizing truth, we must plug our opening text, back into its proper context; and thus, back into its historical context; and thus, back into its place in the historical time line of the church age. Let us begin by looking to Matthew 24:1-5, where we find written:

(1) "And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to Him for to shew him the buildings of the temple."
(2) "And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."
(3) "And as He sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"
(4) "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you."
(5) "For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many."

The chapter opens in Jerusalem, with Jesus and His disciples outside of the temple (verse one). Jesus takes this moment to speak to the disciples regarding the future of the temple and the destruction that will take place (verse two).

In verse three, the scene shifts to the mount of Olives. Here, in this more remote setting, the disciples come "unto Him privately." W need to pause here, and be reminded of something. In this private meeting between Jesus and His core group of disciples; it would be right for us to recognize this conversation as being relevant to the future christian church that Christ would establish and maintain. This private meeting begins with two questions from the disciples: (1) "When shall these things be?" (2) "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"

The first question focuses our attention on events that occurred near the beginning of the church age. The second question focuses our attention on events that will occur at the end of the church age.  From our perspective, we are talking about a church age that is close to two thousand years and counting. We are still, with great hope and anticipation, looking for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and Amen and Amen!

These were and are, incredibly important questions.  And how is it, that our Lord Jesus Christ chose to answer these two very important questions, that would be relevant for the disciples and future generations of believers, spanning almost two thousand years and still counting? Look to verse four: "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you."

In this private conversation, that is very relevant to the future christian church, the first thing that Christ does is to warn the disciples, and us, with regards to the possibility of deception. Specifically He says: "Take heed that no man deceive you." Are we hearing this? Are we recognizing that Jesus Christ is speaking directly to us? Are we recognizing that Jesus is telling us that we can be deceived? Or, are we going to stubbornly be as the man who "believes he is right in his own eyes?"

There is much more to say and write, with regards to this text. But, I am compelled to stop here. I do believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, wants us to give careful consideration to the questions posed in the above paragraph. The reason for this is quite simple: if we are not willing to consider the possibility that we can be deceived, then we most certainly will not be able to comprehend the full meaning of verse five, of the Matthew twenty-four text. When next we gather, we shall take a closer look.

Until next time, my beloved brethren, in Christ Jesus, I continue to be:

Your servant and your fellow pilgrim,
Elder Theophilus