Bible Study on Matthew 25, verses 1 to 13, the foolish took no oil for their lamps

 

Matthew 25:1 ¶  Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 2  And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3  They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 4  But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5  While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 6  And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. 7  Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. 8  And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. 9  But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. 10  And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. 11  Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. 12  But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. 13  Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

 

Just a few scattered, disorganized thoughts on this passage to keep from acting like there is only one meaning of it. This parable of the ten virgins and the oil for the lamps is literally said here to be about being prepared for Christ’s return. The ten virgins can represent the Gentiles or the Jews who were given the truth but waited too late to receive it.  The Son of man is a reference to the Messiah, Christ.

 

The phrase Son of man links Christ to Daniel 7:13.

 

Daniel 7:13  I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

 

Jesus, in the previous chapter, went over the events of the end time and gave several indications of how you would know that it was time. He now warns His disciples to be prepared and not to be caught unawares. We should always be looking for the Church’s translation and for His return. It is something that should occupy the Christian’s mind.

 

Titus 2:11 ¶  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

 

This does not mean that you will lose your salvation if you are surprised by His coming any more than it is true when a preacher in the 1930s said if the Rapture happened and you were in a movie theater you weren’t going.

 

This is simply a very clear statement that there is no time like the present to be saved, to trust Christ, and keep looking up.

 

The five foolish virgins can represent those religious Jews who did not receive their Messiah and lost out on His redemption. They were warned and should have been prepared. Oil for the lamps can represent the Holy Spirit. They should have received their Messiah and been filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit.

 

Psalm 45:7  Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

 

Now, all that being said there are many great sermons you can find on special meanings for the virgins, the wise and the unwise, the oil, the lamps, the door etc. and I would hope that you would listen to them or read them. But my purpose here is to be concise and get at the most direct meaning of the passage. Christ gave a lot of information on the end times and then told His disciples to always be prepared for it, not to be caught sleeping, so to speak.

 

Romans 13:11  And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

 

Note how verse 6 appears to be a hint of the Rapture as in the cry made to go out and meet the bridegroom.

 

1Thessalonians 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

 

And I would say that the five foolish virgins have a form of religion but lack the indwelling of the Holy Ghost while the five wise virgins were truly saved. It makes a good point that you can carry a caricature of faith in God while rejecting Christ.  I would consider all religions that expect eternal life without faith in Christ as the five foolish virgins with no oil.

Bible Study on Exodus 3, verses 7 to 10, I have surely seen the affliction of my people

 

Exodus 3:7 ¶  And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8  And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9  Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. 10  Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

God announced to Moses that he was aware of the suffering of the Hebrew slaves and planned on delivering them from their bondage. He would bring them into the land promised to them, the land of the Canaanite tribes he promised Abraham in Genesis 15. But, notice that God is going to use Moses as a vehicle of His deliverance as God often uses men to accomplish His purposes. We have a lot of negative words in this passage like affliction, cry, sorrows, oppression, and oppress along with positive notions in response like deliver, bring them up, a good land and a large, and unto a land flowing with milk and honey. While you might make a sermon about how God will deliver you from the bondage of your sin and turn your life around I like the thought that God came in the form of Christ to deliver us from death itself and Hell, to bring us up out of the agony and termination of this life, to deliver us from the bondage of death.

Hebrews 2:14 ¶  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15  And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16  For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. 17  Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. 18  For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

Moses has knowledge and understanding of the Egyptian mindset, having been raised and educated with them. He knows the anguish of being a Hebrew and an outcast as well, a stranger in his own land, among his own people. Although he himself did not suffer being a slave any more than Christ suffered in Hell he and Christ did understand the suffering of the people whom they came to save, their suffering and their fears.

Hebrews 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9  And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

Moses as a type of Christ begins to break down at Moses’ all too human doubts and his eventual disobedience that denies him entry into the Promised Land. But, this is a play in which God the Creator plays all the parts, as Christ representing the suffering multitudes trapped in the body of this death, a phrase Paul used in Romans 7:24, although without the sin that Paul was lamenting, and the Deliverer who saves His people.

Moses lacks the foreknowledge and intent of purpose to be too much like Christ, as well as the obedience to and trust in God the Father. But, he is a chosen vessel to bring God’s word of deliverance from bondage to his people, as even we are. So, there is another view of Moses in type, as the Christian who is uncertain, perhaps unwilling, even afraid, to offer a testimony to the lost and is only able to with God’s power on him or her.

The point is, your people are dying and they are terrified of it, even as modern culture tries to insulate us from death and the bondage it holds over our imaginations and desire to live. We say, like the frightened child singing in the darkness they fear, “death is a part of life,” but that is a lie. Death is an aberration and, in fact, is part of the judgment over which Satan has, I am sure, gleeful control. Even evolutionary biologists who do not believe in God insist that death is not necessary to input into the definition of biological life.[1]  God will use you, who escaped from death itself, to go back into the Egypt of this world and bring the message of deliverance to God’s people, while God Himself does the delivering and defeats Satan, whom the Pharaoh is in type.

Luke 10:18  And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Colossians 2:13 ¶  And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14  Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15  And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

And again;

Hebrews 2:14 ¶  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15  And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

The ideas presented here are incomplete, of course, and there have been many great sermons on the ideas brought forth by this passage of Scripture but the typology, the metaphors, and the comparisons seem almost endless. I’m sure you can do better than I’ve done.

Let’s go back to the passage in question. God has announced who He is and has declared His intention of sending Moses to Pharaoh to bring Jacob’s children out of Egypt.

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[1] William R. Clark, Sex and the Origins of Death (London: Oxford University Press, 1998), 54.

 

Bible Study on Matthew 24, verses 32 to 51, Watch therefore

 

Matthew 24:32 ¶  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37  But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38  For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39  And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 40  Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41  Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.  42  Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43  But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44  Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. 45  Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 46  Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 47  Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. 48  But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; 49  And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; 50  The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, 51  And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

For verse 32 see;

 

Song of Solomon 2:11  For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; 12  The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; 13  The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

 

The destruction of the city and the temple will tell them that the things Christ told them about are ready to come to pass. The destruction of the temple signifies the time of the Gentiles which will end with the translation of the Church, the thousand-year reign of Christ, and the judgment of the unsaved dead. Every event of history since then has been simply a reshuffling of the deck chairs on the Titanic. Nations are being prepared, empires swirl around the drain, and all will be ready for their last stand against Christ in the millennium.

 

The generation that sees the rapture, the translation of the Church happen, will live to see it all happen. No man on earth knows when these things will happen. It will be like the days of Noah until the Flood came. The rhythms and celebrations of life will continue until the wrath of God is revealed. Then, as Jesus describes in detail the elect shall be removed. What will He find us doing when this time comes? The implication in 48 is that this is a false Christian, one of the tares mentioned in a previous parable, who while claiming to be a servant is not truly a servant and what could have been theirs is granted to others he would not deem worthy. There will be plenty of people who are not raptured or translated who will cry out, “why did I not go with them?”

 

And don’t think that, oh, things are so bad now, this must be the end, because they will not be as we think.

 

…for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

 

1Thessalonians 5:2  For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

 

2Peter 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Bible Study on Exodus 3, verses 1 to 6, the angel of the LORD appears to Moses

 

Exodus 3:1 ¶  Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 2  And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3  And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4  And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5  And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6  Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

Moses leads the priest of Midian’s flock to a remote part of the wilderness, the backside of the desert. The mountain of God, even to Horeb shows that by connecting with the word even that Horeb is the mountain of God.

1Kings 19:8  And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.

Sinai was the name of the area.

Exodus 19:1  In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. 2  For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.

So, Sinai and Horeb will be used interchangeably for the name of this mountain.

1Kings 8:9  There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

Exodus 31:18  And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God…32:4  And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

Psalm 106:19  They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.

Malachi 4:4 ¶  Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

The angel of the LORD is one way the presence of Jehovah God is manifested in our reality.

Isaiah 63:9  In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

The angel of the LORD is Jesus Christ who led the Hebrews in the wilderness.

Judges 2:1 ¶  And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

Which the New Testament makes very clear is God Himself.

Galatians 4:14  And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

God the Father, the soul of God, the seat of His will, is a spirit and cannot be seen.

John 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

John 1:18  No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

But, in this case, God manifested Himself in a bush that burned but was not consumed, in a fire that did not consume. This attracts Moses’ attention and God speaks to him out of the fire.

Then, God demands that Moses respect that the area around this bush is holy ground, separate to God. Here is one definition of what it means to be holy or separated unto God. But, just remember that it is separated unto God by God. Something is holy because God says it is holy, not because you say it is holy.

Numbers 6:5  All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.

In the following verse God requires the successor of Moses, Joshua, to show the same reverence.

Joshua 5:15  And the captain of the LORD’S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.

It is then that God identifies Himself as the God of Moses’ ancestors, the fathers of the Hebrew people. Moses was afraid to look at this presence of God then.

Bible Study on Matthew 24, verses 4 to 31, Christ preaches on the end times, part 2

 

PART 2 There will be a temple rebuilt and there will be the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, showing that he was not talking about the era he lived in when he wrote;

 

Daniel 9:27  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

 

Daniel 12:11  And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

 

Antiochus Epiphanes, a type of the Antichrist after Daniel’s day, sacrificed a pig on the altar and offered up prayers to Zeus.

 

The defiling of the new temple will take place in the middle of a week of years and last for 3 ½ years. An organization called The Temple Mount Faithful is focused on rebuilding the temple.    

 

Then, Christ talks about the Jews final persecution, the Time of Jacob’s Trouble mentioned in Jeremiah 30 and in Revelation, chapter 12.

 

Jeremiah 30:6  Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? 7  Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

 

Revelation 12:14  And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time (3 and a half years), from the face of the serpent. 15  And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16  And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

 

Don’t believe any man who says he is Christ even if they seem to perform signs and wonders possibly deceiving the very elect, He tells these believing Jews and then explains how He will appear as lightning flashing from the east to the west. He then describes conditions that remind one of the Book of the Revelation.

 

Revelation 6:12  And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; 13  And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. 14  And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

 

The people of the earth will mourn and wail when they see Him.

 

Revelation 1:7  Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

 

The Rapture or Translation of the Church could be described as this passage ends although the use of And doesn’t always mean something that directly follows another. And can just add additional information without indicating a time or demanding that the event after and must be the next event. This verse got me wondering about whether this placed the translation or rapture of the Church at the end of the Tribulation as some people say until, as I read other things in Genesis and outside of the Bible how and can be used to insert information that was not spoken of previously not necessarily meaning that it followed after the last events described. So, I am not trying to identify the time of the Rapture, which is a great topic for a Bible Study.

 

I’ll give you an example. “Joe was a very successful engineer even up until his 70s. And he got his engineering degree from MIT.” This is more used in conversation than in formal writing. Just a thought.

Bible Study on Exodus 2, verses 16 to 25, the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage

 

Exodus 2:16 ¶  Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17  And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. 18  And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day? 19  And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock. 20  And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread. 21  And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. 22  And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

The priest of Midian, we will come to know as Reuel and as Jethro. It is not uncommon for a person to have two names. For instance, my brother’s name is Douglas and also Brent as at different times of his life, for various reasons, he has preferred one over the other. In addition, we have seen that some names in the Bible that appear to be given names are actually titles. It is possible that either Jethro or Reuel is a title or it is likely that they are both names for the same person.

I suspect Reuel is a personal name, used only once here with the variant spelling of Raguel used in Numbers 10:29, and Jethro, which we will come to later, is a more formal name.

Moses, a bold man, probably skilled in the warrior arts of Egypt and wearing the garb of his former station in life, defended the daughters of the priest of Midian in their efforts to feed their own flock of sheep against shepherds who apparently bullied them.  He was given sanctuary by the priest of Midian and eventually a daughter to take as a wife, named Zipporah. She bare him a son named Gershom, which in the context means a stranger in a strange land to be understood as a foreigner. Moses suffers the worse kind of alienation. He did not belong anywhere. As the adopted son of the Pharaoh’s daughter he was always a Hebrew yet his own people regarded him as a member of the oppressing Egyptians and now he has fled as a fugitive to seek refuge in a desert place with people who were not his people. Sometimes, we know that God has to bring us to a desert place in our lives to prepare us for His use, a state of mind where we feel as if we have no place where we belong.

The stage is being set by God for some great events in God’s plan of reconciling man to Himself, nothing like of which has been seen since the Flood of Noah’s time or the dispersal at Babel.

Exodus 2:23 ¶  And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. 24  And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25  And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

The Pharaoh that sought to kill Moses has died. But, the descendants of Jacob are still struggling as slaves under hard work. They prayed to God for deliverance. It must have been pretty painful. We have only to look at our own experience with racial slavery in America to see how awful it can be to live under those conditions; a despised, hated race serving in hard bondage to masters and mistresses who can have you killed and do whatever they wish to your person. But, God’s plan is unfolding in His own time.

We do not know who these Pharaohs were although many have tried to guess. One problem is that kings were not liable to make monuments to their defeats only their victories. In fact, like the communist North Vietnamese in the war with America and South Vietnam who declared every defeat a victory, it is more likely that the ancient kings would twist the truth to glorify themselves. Be careful about accepting scholarly opinions which are based on limited and tainted evidence as most of the truth of history is buried in the dust and no amount of archaeologists’ spades and shovels will ever dig it up. Trust the Bible only, God’s preserved words given to us for our learning and understanding. As Paul explained the purpose of these histories of God’s ministry of reconciliation of man to Himself;

Romans 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Bible Study on Matthew 24, verses 4 to 31, Christ preaches on the end times, part 1

 

Matthew 24:4 ¶  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6  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. 7  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8  All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9  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. 10  And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11  And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14  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. 15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16  Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17  Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18  Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19  And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20  But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21  For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. 23  Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25  Behold, I have told you before. 26  Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 27  For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 28  For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. 29  Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30  And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

 

There will be many in history who will claim to be the Messiah or Christ. A book by a Rabbi Hillel Silver, written, if I am not mistaken, as a doctoral dissertation in the 1920s was entitled Messianic Speculation in Israel. Silver outlined how, in the last 2,000 years, many have come forward claiming to be the Messiah for the Jews or declaring that they knew when the Messiah would arrive, and then to declare that they knew when the end of the world would be. A list of Messiah claimants can be found on the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

 

As a modern example in the 20^th century a rabbi named Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who lived from 1902 to 1994, was claimed by many of his adherents to be the Messiah-to-come for the Jews.

 

Verses 6 and 7 have been expressed throughout history. Don’t focus on a single event as there will be constantly wars and rumors of wars. These things will happen but the end is not here yet. They will, though, at the end come to a crescendo like the climax of a symphony in our minds, threatening the destruction of all there is. Followers of Christ will be persecuted around the world. It has been said that today there are more Christians martyred for their faith each week than when pagan Rome was at its full power. Others have said that more Christians have been martyred in the last century than in all previous centuries combined as Satan’s wrath builds to a fury.

 

Followers of Christ will be caused to stumble, will betray each other, and even turn each other into their persecutors to save themselves. Because of iniquity many will be cold to the gospel truth who may have even been somewhat zealous in previous times. This is no more apparent than in the last century of Christianity in the industrialized countries of the West where religion is often nothing but a sham or an excuse to do wickedly to others in God’s name.

 

John 16:2  They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

 

False prophets, false Christs, false teachers will deceive multitudes at this time. While these things mentioned have always happened they will be very prominent toward the end.

 

Luke 18:8  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

 

Holding fast to the end is of the utmost importance no matter how bad things get.

 

Revelation 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

 

1John 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

 

Revelation 2:7  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God,,,11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death…17  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it…26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:

 

Revelation 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels…12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name…21  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

 

Revelation 21:7  He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

 

The entire world will hear the gospel of Christ before the end comes and is that not a possibility today?