Search Tools


 
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. °
And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

New Defender's Study Bible Notes

24:4 Take heed. Christ’s warning is especially urgent today, when there are so many “false Christs, and false prophets” (Matthew 24:24) deceiving many. There are many similar warnings to “take heed” in the New Testament (for example: Luke 21:34; Acts 20:28-29; Hebrews 3:12; I Corinthians 10:12; I Timothy 4:16; and especially II Peter 1:19).


24:5 saying, I am Christ. They would not claim to be “Jesus” but “the Christ.” This prediction has been fulfilled innumerable times all through Christian history. With the modern expansion of the New Age movement, this phenomenon is exploding, with many cults teaching that each person can be a “Christ” if he meets their criteria.


24:6 wars. Worldwide, at least one major war has been going on in eleven out of every twelve years since the time of Christ. At the present world time are estimated to be at least forty wars—small and large, civil or international—going on in the world.


24:6 must come to pass. This has been a remarkably fulfilled prophecy for almost two thousand years, as unlikely as it surely seemed at the time it was made.


24:7 nation shall rise against nation. At this point Jesus begins giving the signs of His coming, rather than merely describing the course of the age. This becomes obvious by comparison with Luke’s narrative at this point in the discourse: “Then said He unto them, Nation shall…” (Luke 21:10). That is, ordinary local wars would not constitute a sign, since they would always be taking place. But the initial sign would be a widespread war with many nations and kingdoms involved on each side, accompanied or followed by widespread famines, pestilences and earthquakes (Mark 13:8 adds “and troubles” and Luke 21:11 adds “fearful sights and great wonders from heaven.”


24:8 beginning of sorrows. “The beginning of sorrows [i.e., ‘travail’] is the sign just given (i.e., widespread war, famines, etc.). The signs indicate that there will be a succession of similar “travail pains,” in preparation for the birth of the new age to come. The first time such a complex of events ever occurred in history was during, and immediately after, the years of World War I. There have been a number since, a fact which encourages many to believe that the Lord’s second coming is near.


24:9 Then. The parallel passage in Luke interjects at this point: “But before all these [that is, before the complex of signs just mentioned, and all during the ordinary course of the age], they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you” (Luke 21:12). The entire age between Christ’s first and second comings would be characterized by various forms of persecution of both Jews and Christian believers. This prophecy also has been fulfilled.


24:11 false prophets. In addition to the “false christs” (Matthew 24:5,24), there would be “many false prophets” throughout the Christian era, and this prophecy also has been abundantly fulfilled, more than ever in recent years.


24:13 endure unto the end. That is, those who endure whatever suffering and persecution the Lord allows to come their way without giving up their professed faith and denying the Lord are those who are truly saved. “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (II Timothy 3:12).


24:14 gospel of the kingdom. “The gospel of the kingdom” is simply “the gospel,” as it is recorded in the parallel account in Mark 13:10. The commission to His followers by Christ was to “preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15) and to “be witnesses unto me…unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). This has not yet been accomplished, so not yet has “the end come.” Through the worldwide missionary movement and the global preaching of the gospel by radio and literature, it must be close.


24:15 abomination of desolation. The “abomination of desolation” refers to the “image of the beast” (Revelation 13:14-15) which will be set up by the Antichrist and his “false prophet” as an object of enforced global worship, “so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (II Thessalonians 2:4). This will take place, according to Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy weeks (Daniel 9:24-27), after the “prince that shall come” (that is, the Antichrist) has made a seven-year treaty with Israel to allow their ancient temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem and their worship rituals to be reestablished. He will break this covenant “in the midst of the week” (that is, after the first 3½ years of the treaty period), and erect his “overspreading of abominations”—his great idol image, with overstretching arms, mocking the cherubim in the original holy place—in God’s temple (Daniel 9:27; see also Daniel 11:31 and 12:11). This will signal the unleashing of his genocidal fury against Israel and all who refuse to worship him.


24:15 Daniel the prophet. The Lord here confirms that Daniel really was a “prophet,” in spite of the claim by some modern critics.


24:15 whoso readeth. This interesting parenthesis implies that this warning must be “read.” It could not apply to Christ’s immediate audience, both because they had heard it, and also because they would not be living at the time of its fulfillment. Other Scriptures indicate that all true Christians will already have been “caught up” by the Lord Jesus at the first event associated with His second coming (I Thessalonians 4:17), so that those still on the earth during this period must read these events in the Bible or Christian literature in order to learn of them. It is important, therefore, right now, for believers to blanket the earth with Bibles and sound books of Christian evidences and Bible exposition, to counter the evolutionary pantheistic humanism that will be the enforced world religion during this coming period.


24:21 great tribulation. Although the entire seven-year period will be a time of immense suffering on the earth, the great tribulation will be the final 3½ years, initiated by the placing of the “abomination of desolation” (Matthew 24:15). This is all described in detail in the book of Revelation, especially chapters 11–19.


24:24 signs and wonders. False christs and false prophets will have been present throughout the Christian era (Matthew 24:5, 11), but their number will be multiplied during the tribulation, when the New Age occultic demon-energized teaching will reach their zenith, including demonic miracles to authenticate their claims.


About the New Defender's Study Bible