An Interpretation of Matthew 24-25 (Part 18)

Dr. Thomas Ice

"Then if anyone says to you, 'behold, here is theChrist,' or 'there He is,' do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and willshow great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect, Ihave told you in advance."

-Matthew 24:23-25

In the midst ofthe greatest time of upheaval and chaos in the history of the world, Jesusreminds his disciples that even then the most important thing in life is one'srelationship with Christ. As thispassage moves into the events of the second half of the tribulation, the numberone priority is to avoid deception.

It is importantto avoid deception during the latter half of the tribulation because this isthe time in which the antichrist (also known as the beast in Revelation) beginshis global rule and requires all to take the mark of the beast in order to byor sell (Rev. 13:17). This is suchan important time in history that God sends angelic messengers to specificallypreach the gospel to the entire world and warn them of the consequences ofaccepting the mark of the beast (Rev. 14:6-13). This is an important time because individuals alive at thistime will determine their eternal destiny on the basis of their response to thegospel and antichrist appeal to take his mark.

Matthew 24 andMark 13 are generally parallel to one another on this passage, while Luke 21totally omits this text. Matthewand Mark speak of a future tribulation, while Luke's focus is primarily onfirst century events. What isJesus saying?

Jesus is sayingin verses 23-25 two major points about false Messiahs. First, the false Messiah will not bevisible and out in the open. Second, the false Messiah will do miracles inorder to mislead and deceive many.

Looking For Messiah In All The Wrong Places

Verse 23 reportson hearsay about the impending appearance of the Messiah. Here, our Lord is setting up a contrastbetween the false and the true. The false program of antichrist will be laden with rumor and innuendo,but the genuine coming of Messiah will be clear to all (see verse 27). Why does Jesus come back to a warningabout deception in this passage after having already addressed the issue inverses 4, 5, and 11? I think thatthe answer is in the wording of His warning. Dr. Thomas Figart explains as follows:

Following the evacuation of Judea, the false messengers of Satanwill find it necessary to attempt to infiltrate those who have fled to themountains. First, they will claimthat Christ has already appeared, saying "Lo, here is Christ, or there" (24:23). In order to bolster such claims, they "shall show great signs(semeia) and wonders" (terata), two wordsthat are used of Christ's miracles in Acts 2:22; so that their counterfeitministry "if possible" mightdeceive the very elect. Obviouslythis will fail, yet the attempt will be made.[1]

"Thecentral point in verses 23-28 is that believers are not to be deceived by falseprophets who claim to have special information about the whereabouts of the Christ,"[2]notes Robert Mounce.

Such anunderstanding fits into the flow of the passage. In verse 15 Jesus tells his disciples to head for the hillswhen they see the abomination of desolation take place in Jerusalem's rebuiltTemple. It is shortly after thisthat antichrist requires the mark of the beast during the second half of thetribulation. As events unfoldduring the second half of the tribulation, the antichrist (i.e., the Beast inRevelation) attempts to entice the elect, Jewish remnant out of theirwilderness hiding by saying that the Messiah is clandestinely in Jerusalem,thus, they should come and see Him. However, Jesus has warned his disciples in advance not listen to such propaganda.

Thispassage is parallel to Paul's writings in 2 Thessalonians 2 and John's words inRevelation 13. Both passages speakof Antichrist's deceptions. WhileMatthew 24:26 says that the elect will not be deceived, 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12says that the non-elect will be deceived. "The one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with allpower and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness forthose who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as tobe saved. And for this reason Godwill send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what isfalse, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, buttook pleasure in wickedness" (2 Thess. 2:9-12). "Not alone will the apostate part of the Jewish people bedeceived by theses lying wonders," explains Arno Gaebelein. "But also the apostate part ofChristendom, left behind after the rapture of the church has taken place, willbe deceived and swept away in the great judgments of that coming day."[3] Interestingly Jesus says concerningthese false announcements: "Do notbelieve!" This demonstrates that aBeliever should not just believe anything that comes down the pike, but it doesmatter what you believe.

False Christs and False Prophets

Just as there aretrue prophets who prepare the way for the true Messiah, so also, Satan willhave false prophets to prepare the way for his false Messiah often known as theantichrist. In fact, it is oftensaid that the term "antichrist" only appears in 1 John (2:18; 4:3). This is true. However, the use of "false Christs" in verse 24 is similarto the language for antichrist in 1 John. Robert Govett says, "From the word 'false Christ' being equivalent to'Antichrist' (1 John ii.18; iv.3), we see the meaning of the preposition anti. By'Antichrist' is not meant 'one in opposition to Christ,' but 'a falseMessiah resembling the true.'"[4] This is expounded upon in Revelation13, where the first part of the chapter (1-10) describes the first beast or theantichrist, while the second part (11- 18) explains the role of the falseprophet. Here we see thetraditional marriage of religion being used to support the political. It is the false prophet who uses hisreligious office to advocate loyalty to the beast and to take his mark ofallegiance on the right hand or forehead. This is why Jesus warns of false signs and wonders in Matthew 24.

The "falseChrists" clearly is a reference to the antichrist, who is also known as thebeast (Dan. and Rev), the man of sin and the man of lawlessness (2 Thess.2). The reference to "falseprophets" would certainly include the false prophet of Revelation13:11-18. Revelation 19:20summarizes the career and destiny of the false prophet as follows: "And thebeast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in hispresence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast andthose who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake offire which burns with brimstone."

Preteristslike Gary DeMar say that these verses were fulfilled through events leading upto, and including, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans ina.d. 70.[5] They can cite a few examples of falseprophets, since there have been false prophets since the writing of the NewTestament (2 Pet. 2:1). However,there is consensus that there were not false Messiahs or Christs until tillaround a.d. 130. In fact, preterists do not even attemptto cite examples of false Christs. Apparently there were none in the first century to reference. H.A. W. Meyer explains:

We possess no historicalrecord of any false Messiahs having appeared previous to thedestruction of Jerusalem (Barcochba did notmake his appearance till the time of Hadrian); for Simon Magus (Acts viii. 9),Theudas (Acts v. 36), the Egyptian (Acts xxi. 38), Menander, Dositheus, whohave been referred to as cases in point (Theophylact, Euthymius Zigabenus,Grotius, Calovinus, Bengel), did not pretend to be the Messiah. Comp.Joseph Antt. Xx. 5. 1; 8. 6; Bell. Ii. 13. 5.[6]

Jesusis looking toward a time that has not yet taken place in history. He is looking forward to the time ofthe tribulation where the Jewish remnant will have fled to the hills at thesite of the abomination of desolation. The false prophets and Messiahs attempt to draw them out of theirhiding, but true believers (the elect) will not fall for it, because Jesus iswarning them ahead of time about this tactic.

False Signs and Wonders

Here we have thesame words (great signs and wonders) that are used to describe the miracles ofChrist and His apostles, however, these works are preformed by false prophetsand false Messiahs. Does this meanthat Satan is merely deceptive, in that, "he makes men think that they see agenuine miracle?"[7] Or, should this be understood as"happenings that cannot be understood on the basis of merely human powers?"[8] I prefer the second view; that theseare genuine miracles. I favor thatview because every time there are statements about these false miracles thelanguage used is that they actually do these things, as we have in this passage"will show great signs and wonders." I don't know of an instance where thelanguage of appearance is used to describe these miracles. In other words, if they were justtricking people into thinking that they were doing miracles with smoke andmirrors, it would seem to me that scripture would have used language thatindicates this. Instead it uses words and phrases that say that they areactually doing these things.

Forexample, look at some of the satanic miracles performed by the false prophet inRevelation 13. "And he performsgreat signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth inthe presence of men" (verse 13). "And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs whichit was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those whodwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the swordand has come to life" (verse 14). "And there was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast,that the image of the beast might even speak and cause as many as do notworship the image of the beast to be killed" (verse 15). These are the words of actual events,not slight of hand.

Ifappears that God grants temporary power to these false prophets and Messiahs sothat they will be used of God to attract all unbelievers to themselves inunbelief. This is what is meant in2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 when it says, "the one whose coming is in accord withthe activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with allthe deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receivethe love of the truth so as to be saved" (verses 9-10). Paul tells us the reason is that "Godwill send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believethe truth, but took pleasure in wickedness." However, His elect will not be deceived, because Jesus haswarned them in advance to watch out for these false miracles. Maranatha!

(To BeContinued . . .)

Endnotes

[1] Thomas O. Figart, The King of The Kingdom ofHeaven: A Commentary of Matthew (Lancaster, PA: Eden Press, 1999), p. 446.

[2] Robert H. Mounce, New International BiblicalCommentary: Matthew (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishing, 1991), p. 225.

[3] Arno C. Gaebelein, The Gospel of Matthew: An Exposition (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, 1961), p. 505.

[4] Robert Govett, The Prophecy on Olivet (Miami Spring, FL: Conley & Schoettle Publishing, [1881] 1985), p. 56.

[5] Gary DeMar, Last Days Madness: Obsession of the Modern Church (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 1999), pp. 122-23; and End TimesFiction: A Biblical Considerationof the Left Behind Theology(Nashville: Nelson, 2001), pp.89-91.

[6] Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer, Critical andExegetical Handbook to The Gospel of Matthew, 2 vols. (Edinburgh: T.& T. Clark, 1879), vol. 2, p. 128.

[7] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St.Matthew's Gospel(Minneapolis: Augsburg PublishingHouse, 1943), p. 944.

[8] Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), p.607.