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In any written statement or proclamation, you can know that a
particular clause is treated with utmost importance when it is repeated more
than twice. In other words, when you see that kind of emphasis attached to a
particular warning or admonition in the Bible, you must treat it with the level
of importance it requires.
As I’ve always been saying, the 24th chapter of Matthew is my
third most read prophecy besides Daniel and Revelation. One of the factors that
elevated that prophecy to that level of importance in
my estimation is the fact that a similar emphasis is placed
on a particular warning - the warning is given to us in three different places
in the same passage. And what is also interesting is the fact that this is the
very first sign among a list of signs that Jesus gave in response to His
disciples query about the sign of His
Coming and the end of the world.
The important warning that I am speaking about pertains to DECEPTION
IN THE LAST DAYS. And according Jesus'
prophecy, these deceptions will be the work of many false prophets and false
christs.
In recognizing the danger to which His people will be exposed
in the latter days, Jesus in His mercy has seen it fit to warn us three times
in one conversation about these agents of Satan. The first statement that Jesus
made in His prophecy of the signs of His coming is,
"Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come
in my name saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many" (vs 4-5).
Then later in the same conversation Jesus went on, "And
many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many" (vs 11).
The third warning came thirteen verses later when He further
told them,
"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." (vs 24).
This admonition must be very important to the salvation of
our souls for it to be so often repeated in one conversation (another reason
why I say prophecy is of salvational [salvivic] importance).
The real issue that this prophecy brought to view is the role
that deception will play in the last days as a means of getting people to make
the wrong decisions concerning their salvation and thus lose their souls.
All of us should know that Satan is a super intelligent
being. What would take us a period of 4 or more years to learn in college can be
absorbed by any angelic being in a matter of days! That's the level of
intelligence we are up against! Therefore, we should not think of satanic
deceptions in the end-time to be some clumsy imposture that can be easily
detected.
For instance, if you are a deceiver and want to deceive a
large group of people into believing a lie, which method would be most effective:
getting somebody whom they don't know to deceive them, or getting somebody whom
they know and who have influence over them to deceive them? Certainly, it would
be the latter!
I am asking this question because I want to put your mind in detective
mode to think like the greatest deceiver of all time - Satan. If we in our own
limited intellectual capacity can easily think up an idea like this off the top
of our heads, you can imagine how much more superior the ideas that Satan, with
his giant intellect, is capable of implementing in the last days to deceive the
unsuspecting.
What I am trying to say is that when we read about the
activities of false prophets in the last days anywhere in the Bible we must not
envision some offbeat, fly-by-night evangelists or some infamous cult leaders
who are more notorious for teaching outlandish falsehoods than anything else.
If we can consider these to be ineffective deceivers, how much more Satan.
On the subject of the proliferation of false teachers in the
last days, the fact that the Devil is not stupid cannot be over emphasised. I have
covered much in the prophecy course on this particular issue. The agents that
the devil will use in the latter days will have only one mandate – to deceive the
world and lead as many as they can down the broad road of perdition.
While I was doing my biblical research on this subject I was fascinated
to see that the prophecy spoken by Jesus concerning the false prophets is not
anything new but were actually in reference to Old Testament end-time
prophecies found in the books of Ezekiel and Jeremiah. It is also in perfect
correlation to prophecies in the book of Revelation, a correlation that many
prophecy students seem to be ignoring.
The end time prophecy concerning how the world will be hoaxed
into making the wrong decision about their salvation is more serious a prediction
than many of us are taking it. The level of imposture with which the people of
God will be confronted will be in proportion to angelic intelligence so that it
cannot be detected by mere human discernment except it be inspired by divine
revelation.
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