Matthew the apostle wrote how Jesus, “sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and you 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 in chapter twenty-four and verse eleven of his book Matthew writes how Jesus said, “many false prophet shall rise, and deceive” where we read:
And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
The verse reads, “And many false prophets shall rise, ...” Matthew began with the words, “and many false prophets” which means “and a large and great number of pretenders or ones who, acting the part of a divinely inspired prophets, utter falsehoods under the name of divine prophecies” “shall rise” which means “will appear, come forth, be raised up and brought before the public”. Matthew shared how Jesus said there would be a large number of “pretenders” who profess they are “prophets” of God.
The verse goes on to say, “... and shall deceive many.” Matthew added Jesus' words, “and shall deceive” or “and will lead astray and in error, cause to wander and roam about” “many” which means “large and great amounts of people”. Matthew shared how Jesus said the effect of these “false prophets” would be that large amounts of people would be “lead in error” by them.
When we meditate upon Matthew's words in this verse, we see how Jesus knew there would be “pretenders” concerning spiritual things in the days before His coming and the end of the world. Jesus is “the way, the truth and the life, and no man comes to the father, but by Him” (See John 14:6), and all other “ways” are false and misleading. Just because “large numbers” “follow” “false prophets” does not validate or justify their “false teachings”, and many people are “duped” into believing ideas that are not within the scriptures. God desires a “truthful” relationship with every person through His Son Jesus, and when a person submits themselves to Him as “Savior and Lord”, they shall be lead in the truth of the “word of God” and be able to distinguish between that which is the true, and that which is false.
Next time Matthew writes how Jesus warns, “because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow…there is more…
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