Deceivers and False Prophets
Jesus
begins his final discourse with a sharp warning - beware of “many deceivers”
who will use his authority to spread “rumors” about wars, earthquakes,
and other calamities. They will “deceive many.” But contrary to their
claims, the “end is not yet.” Likewise, “false prophets”
will propagate lies about the whereabouts and coming of the “Son of Man.”
And
he provides a list of calamitous events that are NOT signs of the end,
some of the very “signs” to which these deceivers and “false prophets” will point as evidence of the imminence of the end.
- (Mark 13:5-8) – “And Jesus began to say unto them, ‘Beware that no man deceives you. Many will come in my name, saying, I am he, and deceive many. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, be not troubled; these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These things are the beginning of travail’.”
NOT SIGNS OF THE END
Christ’s
point is NOT that disasters will or will not occur, but that they are NOT
“signs” by which anyone can calculate the time of the “end.” They are NOT
keys for decoding prophetic timetables or predicting the arrival of the “Son
of Man in glory.”
Ironically,
the very types of calamities listed by Jesus for events that do NOT
portend the “end” have been used time and again over the centuries by
deceivers in the church as “signs” of his soon arrival.
Initially,
his Olivet Discourse is addressed to his twelve disciples. They are part of the
first “Christian generation.” But collectively, they represent all disciples throughout
the present age.
DECEIVERS
The
warning about deceivers is placed first because it is pivotal to the overall
‘Discourse.’ If his disciples hear and remember anything from what he says,
this exhortation is by far the most important message of the ‘Discourse.’
According
to Jesus, “many will come upon the basis of my name.”
The Greek conjunction gar or “for” introduces the
explanation. Many disciples will be deceived because of the claims by
false prophets made “on the basis of (epi)” his name.
Deceivers
and false prophets will claim his authority for their predictions and teachings.
This is critical to understanding this warning. The targets of these deceivers are
not men and women in general, but the disciples of Jesus in particular.
The
satanic goal is NOT to deceive the already deceived mass of humanity but
to mislead the followers of Jesus.
NOT YET!
Jesus
continues: “Moreover (de), you will hear of wars
and reports of wars.” The conjunction de signifies a further development of a subject, and the Greek term rendered “rumors”
points to something that is
heard.
The
stress falls on the content of what the disciples will hear from
the deceivers, and the clause “reports of wars” reiterates the point
– what they will hear – “reports”
about wars, famines, and earthquakes occurring in different places.
Whether
those reports prove accurate is not the issue. Rather, deceivers will point to
those things as proof that the “end is near.” And whether the end is near
or not, such events do not prove it one way or the other.
“False
prophets” and other deceivers will spread rumors about wars, famines, and
other catastrophes that raise false prophetic expectations among God’s
people.
Jesus affirms that catastrophes will occur. Earthquakes, wars, political upheavals, famines, plagues, “terrors and great signs from heaven,” and the like, but his disciples must “not be alarmed - The end is not yet.”
Chaos
and violence characterize every era of human history and cannot be used to
calculate the arrival of the “end.” At most, they constitute a “beginning
of birth-pains,” harbingers of the eventual consummation of this age, proof
that the present age cannot continue forever. It will end.
Jesus
acknowledges that such things will occur, but he does not classify them as
“signs” or markers by which anyone can ascertain the proximity of his return and
the “consummation of the age.”
BEGINNING OF THE END
His
words, “These things must come to
pass,” allude to Daniel 2:26-28 in which the Babylonian
king receives a troubling dream. The astrologers of Babylon fail to
disclose the contents or interpret his dream. Only Daniel succeeds in doing so,
and only through the intervention of Yahweh. The prophet prefaces his remarks
to the king:
- “There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries; he has shown the king what things must come to pass in the latter days” - (Septuagint version).
The
verbal allusion links Christ’s description of the “beginning of labor pains”
to the “latter days” in the passage in the book of Daniel.
In
the New Testament, the death and resurrection of Jesus mark the start of the “last
days.” With his exaltation to reign from God’s throne, the final phase of
history has commenced, and therefore, as Paul writes, “the forms of this age
are passing away” even now.
Thus,
ever since Calvary, the present age has been progressing toward its inevitable
demise. The future return of Jesus will bring this process to its inevitable
consummation– (Acts 2:16-21, 1 Corinthians 7:31, Hebrews 1:1-3).
BIRTH PAINS
The
image of “birth-pains” is common in Scripture for the suddenness and
inevitability of destruction, but NOT for the frequency or intensity of
an event – (Isaiah 26:17, 66:8, Jeremiah 6:24, 13:21, 1 Thessalonians
5:1-3).
Nowhere in his ‘Discourse’ does Jesus predict any increase in the frequency or intensity of the listed calamities, whether in his day, throughout the centuries since, or during history’s final years.
Attempts
to calculate future chronologies by wars, earthquakes, and the like are
problematic since such catastrophes
occur with regularity. What distinguishes one war or earthquake from
another in prophetic terms? Instead, Christ exhorts his disciples NOT to
be alarmed when disasters strike as they inevitably will.
THE SEASON IS NEAR
Luke’s
version adds an interesting element - “Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I
am he,’ and, ‘The season is at hand’.”
Again, deceivers point to wars and calamities as “signs” of the rapidly
approaching end - (Luke 21:8-9).
What
“season” does Jesus mean? He warns that no one “knows of that day and
hour” when the “Son of Man” will arrive except “the Father ALONE.”
Therefore, his disciples must “watch and pray always since you know not
when the season (kairos) is”- (Matthew
24:36, Mark 13:32-33).
Once
more, his words allude to a passage in the book of Daniel, this
time, when an angel commands the prophet to “seal up the words and the book,
even until the season (kairos) of
the end” (Septuagint).
Moreover,
these deceivers and false prophets will presume to know what not even Jesus knows.
As he warns further:
- “If anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ’, or ‘Here’; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets that will show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect…If, therefore, they say to you, ‘Behold, he is in the wilderness’; go not forth; ‘Behold, he is in the secret chambers’; believe it not. For, as the lightning shines forth from the east and is seen even unto the west; thus, will be the coming of the Son of man” - (Matthew 24:23-27).
Again, the deceptions perpetrated by deceivers constitute
false information about the “coming of the Son of Man.” Here, Jesus uses
the terms “false christs” and “false prophets.” And most likely,
this is the source for John’s later term, “antichrist” - (1 John
2:18-22).
The
purpose of the ‘Olivet Discourse’ is not to provide us with the “signs of the
times” whereby we can calculate the “end,” but to warn us NOT to
heed deceivers and “false prophets” who point to natural and man-made
catastrophes as “signs” of the rapidly approaching end.
And
precisely because no one but God “alone” knows the “day,” the “hour,”
or the “season” of the Son’s return, constant vigilance and preparation are
vital for every disciple of Jesus. What matters when he arrives is not our accurate
knowledge of timetables and “signs,” but whether we are faithful in our walk
with him.
