Matthew Chapter 24 Pt 2 – Pestilence, famines, wars and persecution – Signs of the end
if Messiah, the One who loves you, so the one who lay down his life for you that you might have eternal life. If he were to warn you, would you take that warning seriously? Or would you say, Oh, it’ll be okay. I’m not interested in such things. I know that I’ll be in heaven. So whatever will be, will be, obviously, a true disciple. If he warns a disciple, one that truly believes in him, his follower, he is going to take heed to that he is going to receive it seriously. And make sure that truth is applied to his life. And we’re going to see, in this week’s study, a very important warning that you’re sure gave believers, especially those believers, who would be alive in the last days, to get your Bible and look with me to the book of Matthew, and chapter 24. Now we’ve seen that you’re sure that is Jesus of Nazareth, he is on the Mount of Olives, where the disciples come to him. And they asked him questions. And these questions are related to the last days, the End Times. And hopefully, you are one that if we’re alive, then we would be wanting to be found faithful, to be carrying out in obedience, the will of God, to have a testimony that is pleasing to Him. So he’s going to tell us something of great significance. Look with me to Matthew 24. And verse four, you’re sure answered, He said to them, watch out. Now, this is a word, which means to look at, it’s in the form of a commandment. So it tells us look, and the point here is that there’s something to see. And you will only be able to discern what you should be seen. If you are prophetically literate. If you know the signs, the events, what the Scripture says, is going to happen in the last days. And we have good news because Messiah is going to tell us what those things are. So when we see them, we will know. And we are also going to be aware of how we should respond in order to bring glory and honor to our Lord and Savior, and also to be a godly influence, a righteous influence in the life of others. So that’s our objective. And notice what he says he speaks to his design disciples, and He says to them, see, meaning, be aware, look out. And by the way, this is the same word that is used in the Scripture elsewhere, where Messiah warns the disciples later on when he’s in the Garden of Gethsemane, and he tells them watch and pray. But did they take that seriously? They did not. And what happened? When that moment came, the Scripture says, The shepherd, he was struck and the sheep scattered, scattered in fear. They did not stand with him. They failed. And he warned those disciples, but they were not taking his warning in the right way. So let me answer your question. What about you? Are you taking these word words? Seriously? Are you going to heed what he’s telling those that he loves? So once again, you’re sure answered. He said to them, watch out. And what should we be concerned about? Notice what he says. Let no man deceive you. The implication is this. If one is not watching out, then he will be deceived. Now, it’s not a question of salvation. It’s a question of being a faithful servant. Remember what Messiah said elsewhere? When he says, When the Son of Man returns? Will he find faith upon the earth? So are you going to be living behaving faithfully? Or are you going to be deceived when we look at the scripture, and make no mistake about it, both prophetically from the Old Testament, and also, what we see in the New Testament, written by Peter, written by Paul, written by Messiah himself, there is going to be strong deception in this world. And if you do not love the truth, if you are not prophetically sensitive to what the Word of God instructs, then you are going to be deceived. And the outcome of that is going to be shame. And you’re not going to have a testimony that’s pleasing to God, you’re not going to be that righteous, that godly influence in the life of others. So he warns us saying, watch out that no man should deceive you, why? Verse five, we mentioned that in the last days, there’s going to be much deception. And notice what it says here in verse five, for many will come in My name. Now, at first thought, that may sound good, there’s going to be many that come. And the implication there, they are going to speak, they are going to teach, and they’re doing so in the name of Messiah. And what are they saying, will keep reading, they will say that i Who’s speaking your shoe, that I am the Messiah, meaning that yes, it’s true. You’re sure, Jesus of Nazareth, he is the Messiah. They’re going to state we believe that. But what’s the problem? Well, notice what it says at the end of this verse. And many, they will deceive. So the deception is not going to just be coming from outside the body of believers. But Messiah warns, and you and I need to take this very seriously. He warns that the deception, the false teaching, the lies are going to be coming from within the body of believers in the local congregation, that there is going to be much deception and that deception is going to be based upon false teaching. And we’ll see why later on. But we need to acknowledge Messiah. He’s revealing this to us that one of the signs of the last days is that the congregation of redeem that is the church is going to move away from the truth. And this simply parallels what the Apostle Paul says in Second Thessalonians chapter two, when he speaks about apostasy. And if we do a good study of this word, we know that apostasy is the departure. But here’s what you need to hear not just any departure, it’s a departure from the truth. It’s moving away from that which is good, that which is correct to that which is false that which is not good whatsoever. So he warns us and he warns us very specifically. Now look at verse six. He’s going to tell us what some of the signs will be. Now, many people are asking today, are we in the in times? Is the corona virus COVID 19? Is it one of the signs of the last days? Well, we need to be wise in our understanding of Scripture and not let these false teachers that want to sensationalize everything. And they do so as Paul warns to the Corinthians, that there’s going to be many and he calls them peddlers. They’re going to be peddlers of the Word of God, not concerned with truth not concerned with righteousness, but concerned with money. Always talking, everything is about money. Be very careful from those individuals. So he tells us very quickly clearly what the signs are. And it’s not well, it may be this, it may be these other things, but everything’s going to come together. So it’s not one or two of these, but all of them coming about at the same time. So he says, Look at Verse six, for you are about to hear of wars, and rumors of war, but see to it, that you are not troubled, why? There’s going to be wars and rumors of wars. And remember, this word war is in the plural. It’s not just a war here or there, but there’s going to be numerous wars, and on the horizon, there will appear to be even more. That’s what rumors of war means. And all of this is going to bring about great instability in the world. But not just wars. Notice what else he says, also, he says, it’s necessary. Middle, verse six, it’s necessary that all these things should be but not yet, is the end. Now, we need to be very wise. The Scripture warns us that we should study to show ourselves approved. And we saw in verse three, that the disciples they come to you’re sure, on the Mount of Olives when he’s sitting. And they have some questions. Remember, they said, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming? And the implication is, what is the sign of the end of this? Ah, now we’re going to be studying this week, and next week, this section, having to do with instructions that Messiah gave to believers. And here’s the key about believers. When you look at Matthew 24, you see that beginning in verse six, he begins to speak, and He says, You, meaning you all it’s you in the plural. And everything he says, From verses, we could go back to for example, verse, verse four, when he tells us You Be watchful, Take heed, look out, be perceptive. We could go back all the way to verse four, and see that whenever he says you, he’s speaking to disciples. Now he’s addressing those disciples, 12 disciples at that time. But in essence, these words of Matthew 24, are going to have their greatest relevance for disciples in the last days. And that may mean you and me, we need to take these words to heart, we need to ponder them, we need to study them thoroughly. And that’s what we’re going to do in the next few weeks. So he says, about the end. Now, most people will not go into this deck. But there’s a difference between what the disciples say when they asked what is the sign of the end of the age, they use a word that has a prefix, and it speaks about everything coming to an end all together. They’re speaking about literally the end of this age, this world, that you’ll give birth to the kingdom of God, the establishment of the Kingdom, but Messiah, we’re gonna see that three times in this section that we’re studying, leading up to verse 14, the third time, he is going to talk about the end. But he means a different end. He is speaking to disciple, his emphasis his disciples, and the end that he’s speaking about, and we’ll see this when we get to verse 14, he is speaking about the end of the church age, he is speaking about the rapture, that blessed hope, and he’s going to tell us events, what’s going to happen that leads up to the end of the church age and be assured of this, they end up the church age will be the rapture of the church. So we have to make a distinction between verse three when it talks about the end of the age, immediately bringing about the Kingdom of God, and what Messiah refers to speaking to disciples about the end more precisely, the end of the church. Ah, let’s go back To the texts, he says, in the middle of verse six, four, it is necessary. Now again, you need to pay attention to the vocabulary, this phrase necessary, it speaks about something that is absolutely necessary. It has to be in order that the things that God has promised for them to be a reality. So these things are not what might be what could be these things have to be, the kingdom of God will not be established, Messiah will not come again. He will not gather up his people and bring them into the kingdom of heaven before the wrath of God until these things that we’re studying now, they take place, and what are they? Well, we’ve already saw, there’s going to be wars and rumors of war. But he tells us, don’t let yourselves be troubled by that, for it’s necessary that all these things are but here’s the first time but not yet, is the end, verse seven, for a nation will rise up against nation. And here again, the word that the language the vocabulary here is very important, because the word for nation is the Greek word ethnos. It speaks about different ethnic groups. And this tells us that there’s going to be ethnic conflict in various places. This is one of the signs and then after revealing that he says, In kingdom against kingdom, and here kingdom would be more like into country, waging war against a country. Now think about this, there’s going to be wars, there’s going to be on the horizons, other wars that are about to happen, there’s going to be ethnic conflicts, and there’s going to be kingdoms, that is countries and nations also in conflict. And it gets worse why? Notice what else he says, he says that there were also I’m reading in the middle of verse seven, and there will also be famines. Now, again, this word famine, is in the plural. And I want you to hear this, because we’re going to deal with an issue that here again, most people don’t go deep enough to understand the why of something. And you’ll hear what this is in a moment. But it says there’s going to be famines. And the word here for famine is the Greek word, Leroy. Now the next thing he tells us, and I’m using a Greek text, and it’s the Textus, Receptus, if you’re using a modern translation, the likelihood is that the Greek text is a different one. And therefore, there’s going to be some differences. And here’s one major differences when you look at the Textus Receptus. And by the way, the King James use the Textus Receptus. And you can check this out, it has something that most modern translations don’t have. And what is that? It says not only there’s going to be famines, but there’s also going to be pestilence, and it’s in the plural, may mean there’s going to be plagues. And here’s what I want you to hear. The word for famines is a word Leroy. And the word for plagues is a word LOI. So it’s very similar. There’s just one letter difference. And this has caused a similarity has cause one of these to fall out, because a person thought they wrote it down, and they saw something similar, and therefore, it dropped out. This is what’s known as a scribal. Error, the best manuscripts, and this should maybe cause you to consider buying a new translation, buying a new Bible, the best Greek texts, says, there’s going to be famines, and there’s going to be plagues. Now I want to say two things about what we’ve just read.
When there are numerous wars going on, when it looks like there’s going to be other wars about to take place, when we see ethnic group rising up against ethnic groups country, in conflict with other countries, and then also famines year after year. Not just one famine here, one famine there but many famines and then also pestilence that is plagues. So if you’re wondering about the Coronavirus well, for it to be a last day plague in regard to what Messiah is speaking about with it has to be numerous wars, and also famines. And not just one, but many plagues. That’s the implication here. And not just famines and plagues and wars and other conflicts, but look something else. It also says at the end of verse seven, and earthquakes, once again, in the plural, earthquakes, in many places, various places. So for way to be approaching, approaching the end times, and I want to emphasize approaching, there has to be all these things going on. And therefore we don’t see that today. We don’t see famines in the biblical pour portion. And this plague the Coronavirus, COVID-19. I’ve said in other teachings, if you have to ask yourself, Is this a plague from God? If you’re asking the question, might it be reminded not? I can assure you it’s not a plague from God. When God sends a plague, people will know it’s from him. No things are going to get worse, much, much, much worse. And what Messiah says is you be ready. Don’t be deceived. There’s coming a time of great instability. And here’s what I would say to you. And the way that and I would say, for the most part, the church has not demonstrated faith, but demonstrated fear in the myths of the Coronavirus. We have not stepped out we have not been that light, we have not been a testimony. In fact, for the most part, believers have almost been absent in the midst of this. And that is to our Shea. We need to be people that are bold, we need to be people that are leaders. But we haven’t seen this. We’ve seen believers retreat, easily shut our doors and and hear that worship isn’t essential. How shameful. We need to repent, we need to be bold, we need to be faithful, we need to realize things are going to be so much worse. And what are we going to do? And that’s why the scripture says all of these things, wars, conflict, famine, pestilence, and earthquakes, all of them in the plural. And what else does he say about this? Notice verse, verse eight. But all these things here, this, all these things are only the beginning of the birth pains. Now it’s very significant. That Messiah uses this term, birth paints, birth pains start off light. And quickly, they get very painful. So I’m told my wife, three children, we know a little bit she more than I about birth pains. But here’s what the message is, there’s a purpose there will be a pleasing outcome. birth pangs give way to the delivery, and something wonderful, a newborn child. And in that same way, these birth paints they’re going to give away and what’s going to be the outcome, a blessing result are blessed hope, the rapture, God is going to show Himself faithful to His people in the midst of this. This is what we need to realize. So all these things pay attention to what Messiah says, look at verse eight. But all of these things are only the beginning of the birth paints, verse, verse nine. Now something else that Messiah is telling us and we need to get ready for this. And that is this. We are going to be hated by the world. We are going to be intensely persecuted for faith. We member Messiah here your show he’s speaking to disciples, and what does he say? Look carefully at verse night. Nine he says then they will deliver you over to tribulation, I would put an underline. Now this is not speaking about what happened. And 70 ad, this and we’ll see this in a moment. This all has to do with the beginning of birth pains that lead to the Rapture. And the second coming to different events. One is going to have its emphasis on the body of believers, the church, the second one, the second coming, is going to have an emphasis on the children of Israel. Secondly, in the rapture, we’re going to be gathered to Him. And the second comment based upon what said in First Thessalonians, chapter three and verse 13, we are going to be coming with him, in order that when his kingdom is set up, that we are going to be ruling and reign with him for this millennial kingdom. So we need to see things properly. And what the scripture says is that we’re going to be betrayed, this word means handed over delivered over and we’re going to encounter tribulation. Now, this is not my words, but it’s messiahs words, and he’s speaking to who disciples, true disciples are going to be persecuted. And you know what, if you go to many places in the world, countries that are Islamic countries that are ruled by fastest and communism, and such, believers, today now are suffering greatly. And that suffering is not just going to be in those places, but it’s going to be throughout the world. We are going to be hated because of the name of Yeshua, Jesus, hey, Soos, whatever language you speak, however, that name is translated into it, because of that name, because of his character because of his words, you are going to be persecuted. Now we are not going to experience God’s wrath. The Rapture will take place. And we’ll see this in the weeks to come based upon the teaching of Messiah, we will not experience the wrath of God. But people in the past have been persecuted for their faith. People presently have been persecuted for their faith. And in the in times, there is coming the worst here this the worst time of persecution for believers. Don’t believe a false teaching that will just go to escape that no it’s the suffering that’s going to document our faith Get ready because the time is approaching.
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