Perhaps a review of what we had learned earlier on in this study might help. If you recall in Verses 4-8 our Lord had briefly summarized secular history for the past nineteen centuries not only foretelling of wars, earthquakes, famines and pestilences to come, but also of false Christ who would appear at various times deceiving and leading many astray. He then turned to the history of the true Church saying:
Verse 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.”
This statement can be regarded in two ways depending on the thought conveyed by the word “THEN.”
“Then” can mean “subsequently or it can signify a flashback to the same period of time just discussed.
The word “Then” occurs several times in Matthew 24 and usually in this latter sense. Matthew 24 is NOT consecutive throughout.
Therefore, context determines the meaning of “then.”
Thus in our text, “Then (that is during this same time, the period just described in Verses 4-8) they will deliver you up to tribulation…”
Now then, keeping this same lesson in mind we are better prepared to understand Verse 23.
“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it.”
“Verse 23 does not follow Verse 22 TIME-WISE because Verse 22 is discussing the height of the Time of Trouble.
The “great signs and wonders to deceive” spoken of in Verse 24 will precede the great time of trouble. Therefore the word “Then” in Verse 23 (is a flashback) taking us back to events immediately preceding Verses 20-22 (the Great Time of Trouble).
The warning of verse 23 is especially directed to the Little Flock, for verse 24 shows that some of “the elect” will still be on the scene at this time. In other words, the feet members will be here during the deceptions of “false Christs” and “false prophets.”
Stated another way, Verses 23 and 24 describe events that will occur just prior to the great Time of Trouble and just prior to the gathering and translation of the last members of the body of Christ.”
For those still having difficulties with this we have so arranged the texts below so as to better visualize the correct sequence of events.
Verses 4-8 (Secular History throughout the Gospel age)
“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.”
Verses 9-14 (Church History throughout the Gospel age)
“Then (during this same time period just described in the preceding verses) they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then (still during this same time period, i.e. the Gospel age) many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end (the Harvest) will come.”
Verses 15-19 (The Harvest of the Gospel age, particularly dating from 1878 A.D. onward when the call first went forth to come out of Babylon)
“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!”
Verses 23-25 (Same as above)
“Then (during this same time period just described in verses 15-19, the Harvest period) if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false Christ’s and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.”
Verses 20-22 (During the great time of trouble dating from 1914 A.D. onward to its climax in Armageddon [Winter] and the trouble such as NEVER WAS since there was a nation)
“Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”
It has often been the Lord’s custom to hide the truth, both from his true people and from the worldly wise (the professing church) because some things were not meant to be understood but by the “wise” and only then in their due time (Dan 12:9, 10). In many instances he has employed symbols, parables and dark (or hidden) sayings so as to confound and confuse, in others like in Joel’s prophecy (Joel 2:28-32) he has deliberately reverse the order of events as it appears he has done here likewise.
We will take a closer look at Verses 23-25 in our next post.
