Matthew Chapter 24

In Verses 4-8 our Lord briefly summarized the history of the past nineteen centuries not only foretelling of wars, earthquakes, famines and pestilences to come, but also of false Christ who would appear at various times deceiving and leading many astray. Our Lord then turning to the history of the true Church (during the same time) goes on to state the same with brevity, thus:

VERSE 9-13 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”

“In the light of history would it be possible to portray the course of God’s true Church in fewer words? Surely not.

“The likeness is perfect “Whosoever will live godly shall suffer persecution,” is the Apostle’s declaration; and whoever has not shared it has every reason to doubt his relationship to God as a son. (Heb 12:8) And so with the Church as a whole, when not persecuted by the Ishmael and Esau class, it has been because there was so much of the spirit of the world or so much of “cold love” toward the Lord and his truth that they were not worthy of persecution. But judged by this same standard, and by our Lord’s prophecy, there have been some faithful unto death all the way down through this Gospel age–a “little flock.” (D566-567)

Verse 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.”

“This statement can be regarded two ways depending on the thought conveyed by the word “then.”

“Then” can mean “subsequently,” or it can signify a flashback to what was just said, that is, a review in the nature of being repetitive. The word “Then” occurs a number of times in Matthew 24 and usually in this latter sense. Matthew 24 is not consecutive throughout. Therefore, context determines the meaning of “then.”

Thus in our text:

“Then (that is during this same time, the period just described in Verses 4-8) they will deliver you up to tribulation…”

Verse 10 “And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.”

Verses 9 and 10 pertain to persecutions and betrayals by family members and friends that occurred down through the age, especially at the hands of Papacy during the Inquisition. Hundreds of thousands were violently put to death during the terror of the Dark Ages. Jesus spoke these words to comfort those Christians who would suffer, so that when persecutions and betrayals happened, the brethren would not think it strange.

Verse 11 “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.”

The term “false prophets” reminds us of the false prophet of Rev 16.

Verse 11 couples with Verse 5; that is, some individuals would claim to be Messiah, and some false religious systems would arise and deceive. “Prophet” means “teacher.”

In other words, “false prophets” are false religious systems that teach false doctrine, the chief system being Papacy, the “Jezebel” of Rev 2:20. The Church of Thyatira was criticized because it “allowed that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality (seduced to accept the church-state authority) and eat things sacrificed to idols.” The antitypical Jezebel (Papacy) was tolerated to teach the Christian Church false doctrine.

The fact that Matt 24:24 again mentions “false Christs” and “false prophets” shows that this chapter covers different time periods.

Verse 5 warned that the Christian should not be deceived when many would come saying they were Christ.

Verse 11 warns of false prophets.

But in a later period, still future, Verse 24 warns that false Christs and false prophets would show “great signs and wonders” that would be deceptions to those not forewarned—deceptions related to a geographic, visible representation of what would seem to be Christ (Matt. 24:23,24). Matthew 24 contains both distinctions and generalities, and each must be put in the proper place.

Verse 12 “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.”

Dan 7:25, in different words, teaches the same thing: “And he [the little horn, i.e., Papacy] shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High,…and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time [for 1,260 years, from A.D. 539 to A.D. 1799].”

The little-horn power was very oppressive to those not in agreement with it, and for such a long period of time, that many, grew weary (cold) of well doing. God looked for those who persevered in faith to be part of the Little Flock. The experience was necessary back there because the consecrated had less doctrinal knowledge, and where there is a paucity (scarcity) of doctrine, the test is especially along the lines of character and faith, hope, and love.

Verse 13 “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”

We will consider the use of the word “end” here versus its use in Verses 3 and 6.

“End” in Verse 3 is sunteleia; the others (including Verse 14) are telos.

Sunteleia means “the full end (of the age)”; telos can mean either just “the end” or “the full end” depending on context.

Telos means “tail,” which can refer to the whole tail or to just the tip of the tail.

From a personal standpoint, to “endure unto the end” means to be faithful unto death, to the end of one’s individual course or Christian walk.

Or Verse 13 can be considered as applying to the class back there that persevered through the great suffering of that long period of time. However the most practical application is the personal standpoint. In other words, because of iniquity, the love of many waxed cold—but he (the individual) who endured to the end (of his life) was saved.” (The Gospel of Matthew)

We will continue on to Verse 14 in our next post.