In the history of man, there have been wars and more wars and nations overtaking nations. To name a few wars, there have been: Jinshin-no-ran (Japanese War 672), Crusades, Baron’s war, Hundred year war, Thirteen Year war, War of the Roses, Onin War, Count’s War, Araucanian Wars, Eighty Years’ Wars, and War of the Three Henrys, these before Sixteen Hundreds. There were about twelve wars between sixteen and Seventeen Hundred, there were Twenty-Two wars between Seventeen and Eighteen Hundred. About Thirty-Five wars from Eighteen to Nineteen Hundred. There were another Thirty-Five more wars between nineteen and Two-Thousand, including two world wars, Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf War. These are wars of many nations documented in history, and many that probably because of time and news, some were not known, or lost in archives. Nations see land or feel oppression and decide to overtake others lands for political power, resources within the land, or just to expand their kingdoms. Even within nations that have been around a longtime, there have been wars within their nations, like Japan, China and most of the Middle East. Since the seventies, I have heard of the formerly known U.S.S.R. and now Russia of invading, bombing, or threating to bomb, nations, as well as Iran, Iraq and their Ayatollahs trying to usher in their final holy war. What I think many people or Christians do not know or understand is that Islam also believes that Jesus is going to return, that he will separate the good from the bad, and that there is a hell and a paradise. The difference between their view and Christianity is that, in Islam, Jesus converts the world to Islam, burns and breaks crosses and then marries, and dies after Forty years. Of course, there is other views within their Sunnis, and Shiites, but ultimately their desire has always been to take out using war, attacks and killing of Christians and Jewish people and faiths.
Everytime, there is a new war, a rumor of a war, the “newscaster” pastors and or religious teachers break out and dust off their “End Times” books and scenarios and update them with the newest “Evil” nation out there. American or “Western” bible believers are the worst and first to begin their quoting, and sharing bible verses that “prove” their ideology. I want to go to the source and read what Jesus had to say in the most famous passage out there that is quoted, but let us look at the whole word in context.
Mathew Twenty Four, beginning in verse three says,
“As He sat on the Mount of Olives, the DISCIPLES came to Him PRIVATELY, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be THE SIGN OF YOUR COMING and of the END OF THE AGE?” And Jesus answered them, “See that NO ONE LEADS YOU ASTRAY. For many will COME IN MY NAME, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and THEY WILL LEAD MANY ASTRAY. And you will HEAR of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are NOT ALARMED, for this MUST TAKE PLACE, but THE END IS NOT YET. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the BEGINNING of the birth pains. “THEN they will DELIVER YOU UP TO TRIBULATION and PUT YOU TO DEATH, and you will be HATED BY ALL NATIONS FOR MY NAME’S SAKE. And then MANY WILL FALL AWAY and betray one another and hate one another. And MANY FALSE PROPHETS WILL ARISE and LEAD MANY ASTRAY. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. BUT THE ONE WHO ENDURES TO THE END WILL BE SAVED. And THIS GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM will be proclaimed THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE WORLD as a testimony to all nations, and THEN THE END WILL COME. (ESV) (Emphasis Added)
So much to unpack, but what I don’t understand, is why only bits and pieces of this whole chapter are ever shared and or even broken down in context. If I read any book, or watched any movie, and only read or saw bits and pieces of it, how would I know what was going on? The same concept should be used when studying scripture. I had a co-worker tell me once, “I can argue for or against any religion using the bible, if I only shared a verse here and there.” I mean look at the cults and churches that teach prosperity, healings, and or other false teachings to fill their wallets and their house of gathering, because worship is not what is happening.
First,
Jesus is talking to His disciples, and not the Jewish leaders or teachers as some teach, and not all of Jesus’ disciples were Jewish. The disciples asked Jesus, what would be “THE SIGN,” not signs, not what we want the sign to be, but the sign. What does Jesus answer with first? He tells them, “to not let ANYONE lead them astray,” because many will come in His Name. In the same time frame that I included all the wars throughout history, there have been just as many FALSE PROPHETS and new religions, sects of religions, cults and of course, agnostics, and atheists. My grandsons love the movie “UP,” and in it, there is a dog name Dug, who speaks through a device, and every time he is trying to do something, he looks away and yells, “Squirrel” because he is easily distracted.
Jesus knew His disciples and that includes anyone who knows Jesus, are easily distracted and look away at the shiny new “fads,” that draw away from God. You can look at Adam and Eve, Aaron and the golden calf, the spies and the Nephilim, David and Bathsheba, and so on. Many “disciples” will be led astray, many will walk away from the faith, (squirrel) and many will abandon Jesus for the riches and cares of the world.
Jesus continues and says that they will “HEAR” of wars and rumors of wars, which is the famous passage everyone shares, but Jesus says two things that many gloss over. He first says, “Do not be alarmed,” which is scary to do when war is involved and here in America many people do not understand that, or know that, but from afar, it seems easy enough. He also says that this must take place, but THE END is not yet. In the many times, Jesus mentions His return or the end and Paul also quotes the same phrase, there is only Jesus coming and then the END, no where do they say, He will come, time will pass and then the END. Paul says in First Corinthians Fifteen, starting in verse twenty-three,
“But EACH IN HIS OWN ORDER: Christ the firstfruits, THEN AT HIS COMING THOSE WHO BELONG TO CHRIST. [TRUE RAPTURE] THEN COMES THE END, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.” (ESV) (Emphasis Added)
Where people get that there is a period of seven years is that they read Revelation, eleven, twelve and somehow do math to say the days mentioned are actual years of tribulation, when nowhere in scripture does it say that, in association to that time period. Paul even says the end after Jesus comes, and Jesus as we will see says the same thing. Jesus then says that there will be nations rising against each other, which is what happens before and during wars, then earthquakes in various places, and famines, and Luke Twenty-One which is a parallel verse adds pestilence. We in the social media age that gets news as it happens, think this is only speaking of us, but these things have always been. The plagues that have raveged the world in the past, the famines that inspired causes like “Band-Aid,” “Farm-Aid,” and other organizations. We also have had earthquakes throughout history and Jesus even says that these are but the beginning of birth pains. The next parts is where I get confused of where pre-tribulation teachers get this all wrong. Jesus says THEN THEY will deliver you up to TRIBULATION and put you to death for HIS NAMES SAKE. First, Jesus is still speaking to His disciples and not Jewish believers of the Torah, but of the new covenant and faith in Jesus as the Messiah. To teach that this whole section up to verse Twenty Four, is for anyone who is Jewish and doesn’t believe in Jesus, and that this is who Jesus is talking about, is adding their own interpretation and spin on the Words written. Jesus is telling believers that have repented and believe in Him being God, Him being the Messiah, Him being the Alpha and Omega, that we are the one’s going to be offered up to TRIBULATION. John sixteen says beginning in verse thirty-two,
“Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with Me. I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world, YOU WILL HAVE TRIBULATION. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (ESV) (Emphasis Added)
God is not a God of confusion and His Word is truth and always has been from the beginning, so why would Jesus’ message change? This is not about us not being persecuted or experiencing tribulation, and mistreated for acknowledging Jesus, but it is about, if we will deny Christ or not. People all over the world die daily for standing up for their faith in Jesus and this is why I believe many will fall away, because when true persecution comes to comfortable “Western” believing Christians, many will coward, instead of losing their life. The confusion for many is that they believe that The Lord will not allow His people to face tribulation and they mistake the WRATH of God, for the tribulations of the world. Jesus continues, again reminding us of the false prophets that spout false teaching or that Jesus already came, or worse, that Jesus does not exist. Paul speaking of the same event in Second Thessalonians two says the same thing,
“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers, not to be QUICKLY SHAKEN IN MIND OR ALARMED, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. LET NO ONE DECEIVE YOU IN ANY WAY.”
Notice what Paul says, let no one deceive you, and more importantly, again that the day of the Lord, which is the rapture and not for a few people or for a seven year period, and then ANOTHER DAY OF THE LORD, but read what Paul continues with.
“For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the TEMPLE OF GOD, proclaiming himself to be God.”
The day will not come unless the rebellion comes first, and what day is Paul referring to; where he says in verse one, the coming of our Lord to gather us. Paul is talking to Jews and Gentiles who were converted to Christianity of the Thessalonians , and not old covenant believers who did not believe in the Messiah. Matthew records Jesus word in the following verses beginning in fifteen that Paul echoes, says,
“So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in THE HOLY PLACE (let the reader understand).” (ESV) (Emphasis Added)
These two verses also are misinterpreted, and the word even says LET THE READER UNDERSTAND! This is where the popular teaching of a LITERAL TEMPLE must be built in order for the rapture to happen is wrong. If that is the case why is anyone worried and preaching that the rapture is going to happen soon, because Russia (Not Gog or Magog) invading another country is cause to worry about Israel and excited about a secret disappearance. If the literal temple teaching is correct, then we have a while before a temple is built, as I do not know of an actual temple already being built or built.
Let us look at the scripture, Jesus says standing in the HOLY PLACE, and Paul says takes his seat in the TEMPLE OF GOD, so what is this holy place or temple? If you remember what John records of Jesus words it says in chapter two beginning in verse nineteen,
“Jesus answered them, “DESTROY THIS TEMPLE, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years TO BUILD THIS TEMPLE, and will you raise it up in three days?” But He was SPEAKING ABOUT THE TEMPLE OF HIS BODY. When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.” (ESV)
Paul in First Corinthians six nineteen says,
“Or do you not know THAT YOUR BODY IS A TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,” (ESV) (Emphasis Added)
And Paul also says in second Corinthians Six
“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has THE TEMPLE OF GOD with idols? FOR WE ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD; as God said, “I WILL MSALE MY DWELLING AMONG THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (ESV)
To think that Jesus or Paul are talking about a literal temple is to not understand that Jesus came to abolish the old covenant and to bring in the New Covenant and to no longer require a literal temple. The writer of Hebrews says in chapter eight beginning in verse six,
“But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant He mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For He finds fault with them when He says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,” (ESV)
And also the writer of Hebrews says in chapter nine beginning in verse eleven thru fifteen,
“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect Tent [Temple], (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.” (ESV)
When we look at where this abomination will take place, it’s not a literal “human” man standing in a temple, but just the final outburst of Satan and him killing all those who stand for Jesus. The final battle of Armageddon is not in a land of Megiddo against human armies and rockets, bombs, fighter jets, and helicopters, but against Satan and all his fallen angels to finally end all evil. Genesis Three says,
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; He (Jesus) shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”” (ESV)
Psalm Two nine speaking of Jesus says,
“You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”” (ESV)
Of all the scriptures that deal with end times prophecy what they all have in common is the next events that Jesus speaks about in Matthew Twenty Four, beginning in verse twenty nine,
““Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (ESV)
This is where most teachers go off the deep end in their eisegesis instead of exegesis. The popular false teaching is that Jesus who never changes, all of a sudden changes who He is talking about. They say that Jesus starts by talking about Jewish believers facing the tribulation and then that in these verses He is talking about the church and Him pulling them out, but in context and who His audience is, hasn’t changed. NONE of the New Testament writers and even Jesus never says, “I’m coming back for my church and then throw out the fact that I died on the cross for everyone, because during a seven year period, people can sacrifice at a new temple and be saved, then I will come back and save them giving them a second chance.” This is foolish and absurd teaching and for people to believe this is them not understanding scripture. Paul and Jesus say the same things, the sun and moon will be darkened and then the end.
Wars and bad things will happen, but it’s not about those things, but will you endure and trust that through it all , Jesus is still in control. Too many pastors and cults have falsely predicted the end of time based on current events and humans wanting to kill each other for money and power, but no one knows the day and the hour.
We should be prepared each day to meet Jesus for tomorrow is not promised and if today the bombs drop or we die of cancer, Covid, natural disasters, heart disease or other, will you be saved? Will you stand before Jesus and Him say, well done good and faithful servant? My prayer is that we all repent and come to a saving knowledge of the real Jesus of the Bible, not the fake one of the Jehovah’s Witness, the Mormons, Islam or any other false prophet out there!”
Jesus died once and for all, for anyone who believes, not in mans ways of salvation, but only in belief of the only Name under Heaven by which we can be saved, and His Name is Jesus. “ Jose Barajas
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