"See to it that no one misleads you."

Matthew 24:1-28 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. ² And He said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

³ As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

⁴ And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. ⁵ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. ⁶ You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. ⁸ But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.

⁹ “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. ¹⁰ At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹ Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. ¹² Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. ¹³ But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. ¹⁴ This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

¹⁵ “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), ¹⁶ then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. ¹⁸ Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. ¹⁹ But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ²⁰ But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. ²² Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. ²³ Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. ²⁴ For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ Behold, I have told you in advance. ²⁶ So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. ²⁷ For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. ²⁸ Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

“See to it that no one misleads you. ⁵ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.”     In order to not be mislead, we need to look carefully at and understand what Jesus says here. He says that many will come in His name, in the name of Christ and mislead many. These are not the atheists or agnostics who question and deny the existence of God. These are ones who will declare the name of Jesus, calling Him the Christ, the Messiah, yet the Jesus they proclaim, the one they point to and try to get others to follow will not be the true Christ. The Jesus they declare will be a Jesus of their own image and making. It will be a Jesus formed in the minds of men, made to fit into the parameters of the culture and society. Scripture says:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. ⁵ The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it…And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-5,14)

The true Christ is the only begotten Son of the Father. Jesus says of Himself: “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing…” (John 5:19-20)  Malachi 3:6 says:  "For I, the LORD, do not change…”      Hebrews 13:8 says:     Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.   In Matthew 5:18 Jesus says: For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.      Jesus, the Father and the Word are one, they are in unity. Just as God never changes, neither does Jesus. As Jesus and the Father remain unchanged, so too does the Word. It is one thing to translate the word of God into a modern, more easily understood language. It is another thing all together to revise and update the Word or Jesus Himself to fit the preferences of the culture. You can change the words, but the Word must remain unchanged. Those who do proclaim a different Jesus, a Jesus who better fits the cultural preferences of our day, are those Jesus warned about. They are those who today mislead many.

“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” Jesus does not say this to be redundant or for repetitive emphasis. The word nation used here is the Greek word ethnos, from which the English word ethnic is derived. So, Jesus is talking about ethnic struggles, one tribe against another, one race against another, people within the same political or geographic areas fighting against others based on heritage. Much of the conflict throughout the world today is rooted in this type of ethnic struggle. Certainly in the U.S. these ethnic struggles are at an all time high. This country was founded on the principle of people coming from other places of all ethnic backgrounds becoming united as one, as Americans. Today there are white Americans, black or African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans and so on. The more that people are divided and identified by heritage, the greater the ethnic struggle, the more prevalent it will be for nation to rise against nation. Regardless of what people want to believe and say about the history of this country, it was founded on Christian principles. In John 17, Jesus prayed for the future believers, in verses 20-23  He says:  “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; ²¹ that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

²² The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; ²³ I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.       The thing that made America strong and great was unity, a national unity as Americans, not separate ethnic groups. That national unity was founded and based upon being “One nation under God” The farther we move from or change the truth of who God, His Son and His Word are, the more divided we become.

Jesus says: “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect”      I do believe, because God’s Word says it, that there will be a time when super natural powers will be evident. Even today there is an increase in the focus on the occult and the powers available through those sources, But there is also the rise of the spirit of humanism. Man believing he is god. Man believing that through science and knowledge he can equal and duplicate the greatness of God. Man, through his knowledge and science has become boastful and arrogant in all that he knows. That doesn’t surprise God.  Daniel, an old testament prophet, thousands of years ago spoke God’s words saying:         “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. ² Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. ³Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. ⁴ But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.”(Daniel 12:1-4)

Jesus says:  ^“Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. ¹³ But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. ¹⁴ This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”    Cold love and increased lawlessness could surely be accurate descriptions of the world today. Many today are trying to rewrite history, to eliminate or change the positive influence of God and His Son Jesus Christ on the course of human events. While they may have some success in rewriting history to tell the story that fits their own ideal. No one can change His story. In today’s text Jesus says: “For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.”   Revelation 1:7-8 says: …BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.  "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."        

It is written. So it shall be, so it is.   Amen.  Thank You Father, Lord Jesus and Holy Spirit. Amen.