Mat 24:5 | KingComments | STEP | The Lord sits down on the Mount of Olives. He sat down on a mountain in a similar way to preach the sermon on the mount ( ). Now He is sitting on the Mount of Olives and here He also holds a discourse, His end time discourse. He does so in response to questions from the disciples. They would like to know from Him when the things He has just spoken about are going to happen. They also want to know what the sign of His coming and of the end of the age is, because they feel that these things are interrelated. The “coming” of the Lord means that He will be present with them on the earth. “The end of the age” is not the end of the world, but means the end of the period that the Lord will be absent, or the end of the period that He will not be with them. The Lord Jesus is the omniscient God for Whom the future is present. He alone can say with certainty what the future looks like because He determines it. Before He does that, He warns His disciples. We should not see the disciples here as representatives of us, Christians, but of the believing Jews in the future. A Christian can never be misled by people who come to him under the Name of Christ. A Christian does not expect Christ on earth, but will meet Him in the air. The believing Jews will be exposed to that danger. Israel has given up the true Christ. Now they are in danger of receiving a false one. The unbelieving mass will do the same ( ). The Christian is not warned of false Christs, but of false spirits ( ) because it is characteristic of the church that the Holy Spirit dwells in it. We must be wary of the deceit of false spirits, not of pseudo-Christs. In addition to deception in the form of false Christs, the enemy tries to induce fear through wars and rumors of wars. Christians do not receive such a warning either, although it does not mean that this warning has no application for us. Because of their earthly perspective, wars will have a major impact on the Jewish remnant in the future. Therefore the words of the Lord are a consolation for them. They need not doubt that He will deliver and fulfil His promises of peace. The enemy will also be able to use famines and earthquakes to shake their faith in the prosperity and unshakeability of the kingdom of their Messiah. There are many means available to the enemy to try to overthrow the disciples’ faith. The true believers will endure; the confessors will be deceived and robbed of everything they have believed they can trust. The things the Lord has just described are bad. But it will all get much worse because He has only presented them with “the beginning of birth pangs”.

‏ Matthew 24:5

The Beginning of Birth Pangs

The Lord sits down on the Mount of Olives. He sat down on a mountain in a similar way to preach the sermon on the mount (Mt 5:1). Now He is sitting on the Mount of Olives and here He also holds a discourse, His end time discourse. He does so in response to questions from the disciples. They would like to know from Him when the things He has just spoken about are going to happen. They also want to know what the sign of His coming and of the end of the age is, because they feel that these things are interrelated. The “coming” of the Lord means that He will be present with them on the earth. “The end of the age” is not the end of the world, but means the end of the period that the Lord will be absent, or the end of the period that He will not be with them.

The Lord Jesus is the omniscient God for Whom the future is present. He alone can say with certainty what the future looks like because He determines it. Before He does that, He warns His disciples. We should not see the disciples here as representatives of us, Christians, but of the believing Jews in the future. A Christian can never be misled by people who come to him under the Name of Christ. A Christian does not expect Christ on earth, but will meet Him in the air.

The believing Jews will be exposed to that danger. Israel has given up the true Christ. Now they are in danger of receiving a false one. The unbelieving mass will do the same (Jn 5:43). The Christian is not warned of false Christs, but of false spirits (1Jn 4:1) because it is characteristic of the church that the Holy Spirit dwells in it. We must be wary of the deceit of false spirits, not of pseudo-Christs.

In addition to deception in the form of false Christs, the enemy tries to induce fear through wars and rumors of wars. Christians do not receive such a warning either, although it does not mean that this warning has no application for us. Because of their earthly perspective, wars will have a major impact on the Jewish remnant in the future. Therefore the words of the Lord are a consolation for them. They need not doubt that He will deliver and fulfil His promises of peace.

The enemy will also be able to use famines and earthquakes to shake their faith in the prosperity and unshakeability of the kingdom of their Messiah. There are many means available to the enemy to try to overthrow the disciples’ faith. The true believers will endure; the confessors will be deceived and robbed of everything they have believed they can trust.

The things the Lord has just described are bad. But it will all get much worse because He has only presented them with “the beginning of birth pangs”.