Some of the last words of Jesus and even Paul were actually words of warning to the church. And remember, when Jesus gathered the disciples on the Mount of Olives, and when they asked Him about the signs of the end of the age in Matthew 24, it says, “Now, as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately.” It’s something that didn’t really cause the rest of the Jews to even think that Jesus would have an answer to. But the disciples came to Him privately without anyone around and asked Him, “Tell us when will these things be and what will the sign of your coming end of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them, “Take heed that no one deceives you.” In other words, there’s going to be the things that I’m going to tell you that will be, but I want you to know that deception is the first thing you’re going to encounter.
When considering Bible prophecy, the first thing we need to remember is to not approach what we read like we would a weather prediction, as if there is simply a percentage of a chance of it happening.
Everything the Bible says about the last days will happen exactly as written, including both the clearly stated and the only implied.
Matthew 24:4-8
And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
Remember, the question the disciples asked was about the end of the age and the signs of His coming. Thus, the context of the answer is the same as the question. Jesus clearly stated there will be false Christs, wars and rumors of wars, international and ethnic tensions, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. And all of this is preceded by an admonition to not be deceived, which implies there will be efforts to spread lies concerning the signs of His coming and the end of the age.
That means that in the time of the signs Jesus mentioned, there will be deceivers who say the increase in those things means nothing. The deception is also much broader in that some will deny that modern Israel is Biblical Israel. Others will deny that the rapture is a Biblical doctrine. The apostle Peter said that some will even scoff at the idea that Jesus is coming again at all (2 Peter 3:3).
The truth is that if God said it is going to happen, it will happen just as He said. We also know there will be a comparatively short duration of time during which the signs that His coming is soon will be evident.
We are living in such a time today. The deception concerning both the Bible and the evidence of the last days is in full swing, and the scoffers and deniers are all around us. The tragedy of all this is that during this time when they ought to be more confident than ever that the Bible and its end times prophecies are one hundred percent true, they scoff at the idea of of His return instead.
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus,