Deceivers and Disasters

Jesus warned of coming deceivers who will mislead many and spread false information about his return.

Jesus began his final discourse with a sharp warning: Beware of the “many deceivers” who will come and spread false information about his return, including rumors about wars, earthquakes, and other calamities. They will “deceive many.” Likewise, “false prophets” and “false anointed ones” will propagate lies about the whereabouts and the “coming of the Son of Man.”

The church has been inundated by deceivers and false prophets over the centuries, but especially so in recent decades, as end-time prophecy “experts” have pointed to wars, earthquakes, plagues, and famines as evidence that we are living in the “last days,” Supposedly, we are members of the “last generation,” which apparently began in the 1830s. That is how long this sales pitch has been propagated in many churches and denominations.

[Volcano - Photo by Marc Szeglat (Germany) on Unsplash]

However, Jesus stated that disasters of this sort are not signs of the end. The stress in his warning is on what we will “hear” from false prophets and other charlatans:

• (Mark 13:5-8) – “And Jesus began to say to them: Beware, so that no man may deceive you. Many will come in my name, saying, I am he, and deceive many. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, be not troubled; these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These things are the beginning of travail.”

The point is not whether such disasters will occur, but that they are not signs by which we can calculate the time of “the end.” They are not keys for decoding prophetic timetables, yet that is precisely how they are used by self-serving deceivers.

According to Jesus, “Many will come upon the basis of my name.” Men will be deceived because false prophets will claim to speak for him, and the victims of their lies will be members of Christ’s “elect.” The followers of Jesus are the primary target of these agents of disinformation.

Jesus added, “Moreover, you will hear of wars and reports of wars.”  The Greek conjunction ‘de’, here translated as “moreover,” signifies the further development of the subject matter, and the term translated as “rumors” emphasizes what we will hear from these propagandists.

Whether reports about wars or earthquakes are accurate is not the issue. Rather, deceivers point to catastrophic events as evidence that the “end is near.” However, they prove no such thing. “False prophets” spread rumors about famines and other disasters to raise false expectations and spread fear among God’s people.

Jesus affirms that catastrophes will occur. Earthquakes, wars, political upheavals, famines, plagues, “terrors and great signs from heaven,” and the like will come to pass, but his disciples must “not be alarmed since the end is not yet.”

Chaos and violence have characterized human history. How do we distinguish one war or earthquake from another, prophetically speaking?  At most, they constitute a “beginning of birth pains,” harbingers of the eventual end of this age.

The phrase, “these things must come to pass,” alludes to Daniel 2:26-28 when the Babylonian king received a troubling dream. Only Daniel could interpret it. The prophet prefaced his remarks to the king:

• “There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries; he has shown the king what things must come to pass in later days.”

This verbal allusion links Christ’s description of the “beginning of labor pains” to the “later days” of the passage in Daniel. The Death and Resurrection of Jesus signaled the start of the “last days,” and the final phase of History commenced. The future “arrival” of Jesus will bring the process to its inevitable conclusion.

BIRTH PAINS

Today, false prophets claim Jesus taught that the frequency and intensity of wars and earthquakes will increase in the “last days,” pointing to his reference to “birth pains” as evidence of this.

However, the image of “birth pains” is used in Scripture to represent the suddenness and inevitability of destruction, not the frequency or intensity of wars and other disasters – (Isaiah 26:17, 66:8, Jeremiah 6:24, 13:21, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3).

Nowhere did Jesus predict any increase in the frequency of the listed calamities, whether in his day, throughout the centuries since, or during history’s final years. Luke’s version adds an interesting element. “Many will come in my name, saying, I am he, and the season is at hand,” the very claim we hear unceasingly from today’s false prophets - (Luke 21:8-9).

What “season” did he mean? Jesus warned that no one “knows of that day and hour” when the “Son of Man” will arrive except “the Father alone.” Therefore, his disciples must “watch and pray always since you do not know when the season [‘kairos’] is.” He was referring to the “season” of his return - (Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32-33).

• “But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched and not left his house to be broken through. Be you also ready, for in an hour that you think not, the Son of man is coming” – (Luke 12:39-40).

And so, today’s deceivers and “false prophets” presume to know what even the Son of Man does not know. Christ reiterated the point to his disciples just before his ascension to Heaven:

• “And he said to them, It is not for you to know times or seasons [‘kairos’], which the Father has set in His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they were looking steadfastly into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven, will come in like manner as you beheld him going into heaven” – (Acts 1:7-11).

The purpose of Christ’s warning on the Mount of Olives is not to provide us with “signs of the times” whereby we may calculate the timing of the “end,” but to warn us not to heed deceivers and “false prophets” who point to natural and man-made catastrophes as “signs” of the rapidly approaching return of Jesus.

Moreover, because no one except God knows the “day,” the “hour,” or the “season” of his return, constant vigilance is vital for every disciple of Jesus.

What matters when Jesus arrives “on the clouds” is not our accurate knowledge of prophetic timetables or cosmic signs, but whether we have remained faithful in our walk with him and stayed busy doing his business.

Like the disciples, rather than worry about the “when” of Christ’s return, we must instead preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God to all nations, “to the uttermost parts of the Earth,” until the very moment of his arrival in glory.

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SEE ALSO:

• Signs and Seasons - (Paul does not provide detailed information about the times and seasons since the Lord will arrive like a thief in the night – 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3)

• The Sign of the End - (According to Jesus, the End will not come until the Gospel of the Kingdom of God has been proclaimed to all nations – Matthew 24:14)

• Coming on the Clouds - (The whole earth will see the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of Heaven, and he will send his angels to gather his elect –Mark 13:21-27)

• Vindication or Condemnation - (The arrival of Jesus will mean vindication for the righteous, but judgment and punishment for the wicked)