Verses 4-8

Matt 24:4-8
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6 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.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
(KJV)

Let's make a couple of observations before we proceed. First of all, Jesus' discourse was directed to His disciples. He addressed them separately from Israel. Earlier, Jesus had publicly condemned the Jewish leaders, and pronounced judgment on Israel as a nation, which would not be lifted until they said, "blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." In other words, until they recognized Him as Messiah. He considered His disciples, the ones He personally called from Israel, His "little flock." They were seen in contrast to the Israel that rejected Jesus. They would be the new "husbandmen" who would receive the care of God's vineyard in place of the Chief priests, Scribes, and Pharisees. And, they are the ones Jesus was soon to send out to preach His gospel to all the nations.

Secondly, Jesus addressed their concerns about what signs they could watch for, as though they might live to see it. This fact has confused many people, because the disciples are long since dead, and Jesus has not returned yet. Some even use this to say that the Olivet Discourse does not apply to the "Church" because those Jesus was addressing would obviously see the events He described, which will occur in the tribulation, many centuries later. But, this objection makes havoc of the grammatical - historical rule of interpretation, [which says that Scripture must be understood in its original setting, and with the original audience in mind]. This discourse was spoken to the disciples, and Jesus repeatedly used the personal pronouns "you," "ye," and "yourselves." He clearly had the disciples in mind. However, this need not be a problem, when we take into consideration that the entire New Testament is written with the understanding that Jesus could have returned in the first century. All of the commands in the Epistles instructed first century Christians to watch for Jesus' return. We could raise the same objection to these commands. However, we understand that "watching" for Christ's coming implies that it could indeed occur in the lifetime of those watching. Therefore, since the New Testament repeatedly instructed Christians in the first century to be watching for Christ's coming, we conclude that Jesus could have come in the first century. Even Paul expected to live until the second coming. This is clear in several passages, most notably in 1 Thess. 4:13-17, where Paul repeated referred to those who "sleep in Jesus" in the third person, while including himself with those who will be alive at the second coming.

John was the longest living of the disciples, surviving almost until the beginning of the second century. He wrote his Gospel near the end of his life, probably after all of the other Apostles were dead. Notice how he deals with this issue.

John 21:18-24
18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
19 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.
20 Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?
21 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?
22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.
23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?
24 This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.
(KJV)

Here, several decades after Jesus ascended to heaven, John, knowing that he is now an old man, and the last living Apostle, and knowing that he doesn't have a lot of years left, seems to be finally putting to rest the rumor that Jesus would return within his lifetime. John clarified for all, that Jesus did not definitely say that He would return before John died. The early Christians had apparently made this incorrect inference.

The point I want to emphasize is that the Olivet Discourse is written in the same manner as the Epistles. It's instruction assumes that the original audience would live to see the second coming of Christ, and that all of the things included in this discourse, including the tribulation, could have occurred in the first century. This makes the Bible applicable to every generation, regardless of how long Jesus takes to return. With this in mind, it is quite clear that Jesus intended His instructions, about watching for the signs of His coming, to be observed by Christians of this age.

When Jesus sent these men out to evangelize the gentiles, He intended that His teaching to the disciples be also taught to the gentile nations.

Matt 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
(KJV)

The Olivet Discourse contains instructions for the disciples to be watching for the signs of Jesus' coming. Therefore, the Great Commission, if followed exactly as Jesus gave it, must include teaching the new converts from all nations to also watch for the signs of His coming, that He gave in this discourse. Now, lets proceed with verses 4-8 of Matt. 24.

The very first thing Jesus told His disciples, in response to their question, was a warning against being deceived. He said: "Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many." There are two ways of looking at this warning. First, traditionally, Christians have interpreted this to mean that false "christs" would pretend to be the true Messiah. And, we can see from numerous examples in history, that this has occurred. But, when Jesus said these deceivers will say, "I am Christ," it could mean that they acknowledge Jesus to be Christ, yet they will still deceive many with false doctrine. This has also occurred on a massive scale. Later in this discourse [vss. 23-27], Jesus warned against "false Christs." Clearly this means those who make a false claim of "Christhood." With this in mind, it seems that, in verses 4 & 5, Jesus meant false teachers who acknowledge that Jesus is Christ, and thereby deceive many. [Otherwise, verses 23-27 would be redundant].

This means that the deception will be very subtle, since "Jesus is Lord" will be proclaimed by these false teachers. I can think of several "ministries" who proclaim loudly that "Jesus is Lord," yet spew out false teaching that will result in apostasy, and Christians abandoning the Gospel of Jesus Christ when real persecution comes.

Next, Jesus began to list disasters and wars that would increase as a prelude to the "great tribulation." He said there would be wars, and rumors of wars. It is clear, that the 20th century has been the century of war. There have been more people killed as a result of war in this century than in all of recorded history. This is primarily due to the advancement in the technology of war. A pilot can kill hundreds or thousands of people with the flip of a switch. Missiles can be launched to wipe out entire cities with the push of a button. Jesus said "nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom." He is not being redundant here. There is a big difference in the Greek text between "nations" and "kingdoms." Nations is "ethnos" from which we get "ethnic." Jesus was saying there would be race wars. "Kingdoms" means political entities, that we call "countries." We are also witnessing the huge increase in the other things Jesus mentioned, earthquakes, famines, and pestilence.

Notice in verse 6 that "the end is not yet." In other words, Jesus was informing the disciples that these things must come, but they are NOT the immediate signs of His coming. They are only "the beginning of sorrows." The word "sorrows" means "birth pains," as it is translated in most modern versions. This term is in contrast to the term "great tribulation" which implies intense labor, such as a woman has while actually giving birth. So, the wars, famines, earthquakes, and pestilence, are only the initial birth pains, which will be followed by great travail. All of the definate signs that announce Jesus' coming are found during the time Jesus calls "great tribulation," as we shall see as we progress. In my opinion, we have already entered the "birth pains," and can expect the "great tribulation" shortly.

Here is one final thing to keep in mind, for those who think this discourse does not apply to us. It is quite clear that the events described in verses 4-8 are occurring right now. So, it is safe to say that we have entered the "beginning of sorrows." When Jesus placed the disciples within these prophesied events, by using the personal pronouns, "you," "ye," etc., His teaching necessarily applies to those of us living during this time. We are the ones that are the results of the disciples obeying the Great Commission. Jesus continued to use the same personal pronouns, thereby indicating that the same group of people He referred to in verses 4-8 would also be present in the remainder of the events described in this chapter. This is common sense. To divide the chapter up, making part of it applicable to us, and denying that the remainder applies, violates sound grammatical rules. It makes nonsense of Jesus' words.

Go to: Matt. 24:9-14
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