We do not see what is coming
Jesus warned us
When the disciples asked Him:
Tell us, when shall these things be?
and what shall be the sign of thy coming,
and of the end of the world? Matthew 24:3b
Deception will be very strong, even powerful, extremely compelling
Learn the word of God so that your foundation in Him is secure
And Jesus answered and said unto them,
Take heed that no man deceive you.
For many shall come in my name,
saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. Matthew 24:4-5
The world will be in turmoil,
it will be shaken like never before
This will also bring many to worship Jesus
For thus saith the Lorrd of hosts;
Yet once, it is a little while, and
I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come:
and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. Haggai 2:6-7
The earth will be experiencing birth pangs of extreme proportions,
both with human-influenced catastrophes and natural catastrophes
God is still listening for those who will call upon Him
Matthew 24 continued…And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars:
see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass,
but the end is not yet. v 7
Just the beginning…
All these are the beginning of sorrows. v 8
Verse 9 is not a popular verse,
many like to ignore it It is one of the great warnings the Lord has given us
and we should not be surprised…
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you:
and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. v 9
And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another,
and shall hate one another. v 10
He seems to be talking of several different areas of our lives
This could be family members, fellow Christians
Betrayal is to be expected and will happen
Here is why. This is key:
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. v 12
Every time I read that, I say a prayer to the Lord
that my love will not grow cold
What good would a Christian be without the Love of God?
Matthew 24 goes on to describe more turmoil and deception coming
and to beware, and how Daniel prophesied about the AntiChrist
as well as what to do when He is exposed
It will be very hard to survive whatever is coming upon the earth
And except those days should be shortened,
there should no flesh be saved:
but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. v22
Deception will continue and remain strong.
And the deception of false Christs who do signs and wonders to deceive,
if it were possible, even the very elect…
Then if any man shall say unto you,
Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not v 23
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets,
and shall shew great signs and wonders;
insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. v 24
Then in all this chaos, those of us who remain will see Jesus appear…
For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west;
so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. v 27
More about Christ’s return…
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: v 29
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:
and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,
and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory. v 30
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet,
and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds,
from one end of heaven to the other. v 31
Some of the elect will be here when Christ returns
He has warned us that some of us are to be martyred:
And when he had opened the fifth seal,
I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
And they cried with a loud voice, saying,
How long, O Lord, holy and true,
dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them;
and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season,
until their fellowservants also and their brethren,
that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
Revelation 6:9-11
Please read Matthew 24 for yourself and ask Jesus
what you must do to prepare your heart for what is coming upon the earth
He has a way to help each of us learn by His Holy Spirit
He will direct us and guide us and care for us:
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul:
but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10:28