24:22-25
Things would be bad, but they could have been much worse. Jesus says they were cut short for the sake of the elect. This seems to have two important implications. One is that there is an “elect”, a people elected by God for salvation. The second is that the elect will be around at the time of tribulation. People will be so desperate that they will long for some sort of Messiah, so they will be ready to grasp at any straw. It is at times of desperation that dictators tend to arise in nations, for people long for order to be restored and think “things cannot be any worse than they are now”. We need to watch out for false messiahs and not be taken in. Some of these false prophets and messiahs will perform “great signs and wonders”. We must not be deceived, the truth of God’s word is what matters. Then again we have mention of the elect, and Jesus tells us that He has pointed these things out ahead of time. Note that while we are the “elect” this does not mean that we do not have any responsibility. We do have responsibility, and part of that is to be on our guard.
24:26-28
The followers of false prophets and messiahs will come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some will say he is out in the wilderness, others will say he is in secret places. Whatever form the claim of a messiah comes in we should reject all such claims. When the Son of Man comes it will be obvious to all, there will be no debate about it at all! As lightning flashes from east to west in the sky for all to see, so will the return of the Son of Man.
“Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather”. Jerusalem was done for, it was a city destined to die. Human society as a whole is done for. In such situations there are those who will seek to profit from the death of that city or society.
No comments:
Post a Comment