See that you are not frightened

Matthew 24:1-28 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.

In today’s text Jesus is asked what the sign of the times before His return will be like. He says:  “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. 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. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.  At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.”   Jesus first response is a warning not to be misled. Look at what He says: Many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.   Notice Jesus does not say that these who come will claim to be the Christ, but rather that they will mislead many saying Jesus is the Christ. These then are not the ones who say Jesus was only a man; that He was a prophet and a teacher. Surely those who believe and say those things are misled and mislead many. But those who say Jesus is the Christ, acknowledge that He is the Anointed One. They mislead many by creating a different version of Jesus. They mislead many by teaching that Jesus would embrace sin today. They mislead many by ignoring and avoiding what Jesus said about sin and repentance, and they mislead many by ignoring what Jesus did about sin. Jesus did not and does not embrace sin. He embraced the cross, where He died for sin.

The next warning or exhortation Jesus gives is:  “See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.  At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.”   We need to not live in fear. In various forms, the command not to fear or be afraid, appears over three hundred times in the Bible. Fear is the opposite of faith. When we are afraid or fear we believe more in the things we don’t want than we do in what God has said and promised. When we are afraid we hear other voices speaking and not the voice of God. Jesus says: “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.”   When we live in fear we are more likely to heed the words of false prophets. Jesus says that because lawlessness is increased most peoples love will grow cold. 1 John 4:18 says:  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.  Perfect love, God’s love and the love of Christ was demonstrated and displayed on the cross. It was because of, to demonstrate God’s perfect love, that Jesus died for our sins. It was not to embrace sin, but to redeem us from sin, to reconcile us to the loving God who created us and to restore us to all that He intended for us. That should cast out or remove all fear from our lives.  In Psalm 118:6-8 the psalmist says:  The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is for me among those who help me; Therefore I shall see my desire on those who hate me. It is better to trust in the LordThan to put confidence in man.  Jesus says: “They will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.  At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.”   Even in all these things we should not fear or be afraid. The perfect love of God casts out fear. Jesus warns us saying that lawlessness will be the cause of cold love. In Matthew 5:17-20, Jesus says:  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”   Those who relax the commandments of God and teach others to do the same are false prophets who mislead many.

Surely we can see, in our world today, many of the things Jesus has warned us about. We see hatred and betrayal. We see wars and rumors of wars. Even when there is no actual conflict, the media stirs up fear and anxiety. We live in a time when nation truly rises against nation. These are not the conflicts between countries, but rather the word nation is translated from the Greek word ethnos, from which the English word ethnic is derived. These ethnic conflicts are prevalent throughout the world. In this country, the level of ethnic conflicts are being driven to an all time high by the media, by politicians and by false prophets who sows seeds of hate and division. They  encourage people to divide around their differences rather than be unified By what they share. This country was once a melting pot of people and cultures coming together to become one. It is now more like one of the divided plates where nothing touches. When we are divided rather than unified. it promotes fear rather than love.  But, do not be afraid. Perfect love, the love of God casts out fear. Jesus says: “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.”   The end of this age is not anything to fear, because the end of this age is the beginning of the age of the kingdom of heaven, where and when perfect love will reign.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit for Your perfect love, demonstrated and displayed on the cross. Thank You that with You and in You there is nothing to fear. I will not fear what man can do to me, but rather, as a testimony to all nations, I will share the gospel of the kingdom and the good news of the perfect love of God.  Amen.