“If therefore they say to you, ‘ Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go forth, or, ‘ Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east, and flashes even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.”

– Matthew 24:26- 27

Previously, Jesus has been warning the Jewish remnant during the second half of the seven-year tribulation to watch out for spiritual deception. Jesus referenced ” the elect” (verse 24) for the second of three times in which that term is used in this passage, which refers to the Jewish remnant who will come to Christ during the tribulation. Jesus continues His instruction and warnings to ” the elect” in verses 26- 28.

Watch Where You Look

This passage (verses 26- 28) from Christ’ s Olivet Discourse is pretty much only found in Matthew’ s account. Jesus is continuing His warning to the elect about how to not be misled. In essence He is saying that if someone comes to you during the tribulation and says that the Messiah is hide away privately somewhere then do not believe anyone’ s account of this. Why? The reason for scepticism is because when the Messiah does return it will be of such a public nature that there will not be any doubt that He has arrived. It will be the false Christs and false prophets who will attempt clandestine, backroom appearances for the purpose of deceiving. Nevertheless, if the passage says anything, it shouts that the return to which Jesus speaks will be a bodily, physical and public advent.

It is interesting that the preterist view of how Christ comes in this passage is closer to the kind to which Jesus warns the elect to beware. If you want to see an example of obfuscation and sophistry at work note these two examples. Preterist, Dr. Kenneth Gentry, says the following about this passage:

Quite emphatically the Lord warns his disciples he will not come in a visible, bodily manner in those days. He twice states that any report of his physical presence would be erroneous: . . . Clearly these statements discourage their expecting any visible return in that day; he expressly declares that any command to look for Him in some limited particular location would be a mistake.

Yet there will be a ” coming” of Christ in that day: . . . This, however, is a spiritual judgment-coming, rather than a bodily coming.[1]

Fellow preterist, Gary DeMar, also adopts an anti-bodily coming view of Jesus’ predicted coming in this passage when he says the following:

Jesus would come ” just as the lightning comes from the east,” that is, quickly and without warning. . . . What the people saw was the manifestation of the Lord’ s coming even though they did not actually see Him. . . . Was God physically present? He was not. Did He come? Most certainly! . . .

Matthew 24:27 reveals that Jesus is somehow participating in Jerusalem’ s destruction. This is exactly the point. . . .

Jesus came ” like lightning” to set Jerusalem ” aflame all around.” If you recall, it was Titus, as God’ s representative agent, who set the temple on fire and leveled the edifice. . . .

In a.d. 70 Rome was sent by God to fulfill a similar task. ” Our Lord forewarns His disciples that His coming to that judgment-scene would be conspicuous and sudden as the lightning-flash which reveals itself and seems to be everywhere at the same moment.” [2]

The statements of these two preterists are examples of the kind of propaganda that Jesus is warning the elect to avoid during the tribulation. Matthew 24:27­31 clearly is a reference to a still future second advent. I will now look at reasons why verse 27 does indeed reference Christ second coming.

A Future Event

Both Gentry and DeMar attempt to spin this passage as if it were not teaching a bodily, physical return of Christ. This preterist view is one that only about 1% of interpreters (if that many) have taken on this passage down through church history. That Jesus speaks here of his bodily return is supported by the context. In contrast to Christ’ s coming in verse 27 are the false Christs and false prophets of verses 23- 24, who are clearly individuals that can be physically seen. Christ’ s return is juxtaposed to them. Christ will not return and hide out in some back room in which an undercover agent will lead people to meet. No Christ’ s return will be public and obvious to all. This cannot fit some ” judgment-coming” through the Roman army. Regardless of what other biblical passages may teach in other contexts, the context of Matthew 24 only supports a bodily coming by Jesus, which has to be the future second coming.

Jesus specifically compares His coming in verse 27 to a lightning strike. I agree with DeMar that included in Christ’ s imagery is the idea of suddeness. However, because the force of the context (verse 26) is whether He will appear privately (i.e. ” inner rooms” ) or publicly (i.e. like a ” lightning” flash) it clearly argues for an emphasis upon appearance. Further, the Greek word for ” flashes” has the core meaning of ” to appear, to make visible, or to reveal.” [3] Thus, when speaking of lightening that appears, it would be translated idiomatically as ” flashes.” When referring to people it is always rendered ” appear.” This is how it is used in verse 30: ” then the sign of the Son of Man will appear.” In fact, ” Wycliffe renders it appeareth” [4] in verse 27. When this detail is combined with the fact that in both verse 27 and 30 the one appearing is called ” the Son of Man,” which always emphasizes the human aspect of Christ, the clear conclusion is that Jesus is communicating His bodily return. Even preterists agree that He did not return bodily in a.d. 70. If the text intended to speak of an invisible return through the Roman army then Christ’ s Deity would have been emphasized, not His humanity. Meyer says the following:

The advent of the Messiah will not be of such a nature that you will require to be directed to look here or look there in order to see him; but it will be as the lightning, which as soon as it appears, suddenly announces its presenceeverywhere; . . . what is meant is, that when it takes place, it will all of a sudden openly display itself in a glorious fashion over the whole world. Ebrard (comp. Schott) is wrong in supposing that the point of comparison lies only in the circumstance that the event comes suddenly and without any premonition. For certainly this would not tend to show, as Jesus means to do, that the assertion: he is in the wilderness, etc. is an unwarrantable pretence.[5]

In all his effort to say why ” the coming of the Son of Man” in Matthew 24:27 was not a literal coming of Christ, Gentry fails to tell his readers that the Greek word parousia is used in this verse. Three of the four times that parousiais used in Matthew 24, Gentry admits that it refers to the yet future second coming.[6] The Greek Lexicon, BAG says that parousia means ” presence;” ” coming, advent,” and ” of Christ, and nearly always of his Messianic Advent in glory to judge the world at the end of this age.” [7] BAG cites all four uses of parousia in Matthew 24 as a reference to Christ second advent. In fact, BAG does not even recognize Gentry or DeMar’ s stated meaning as a possible category. It appears that the preterist mother is the necessity of invention in this instance. The mother of all Greek word study tools, Kittle’ s Dictionary, in concert with BAG, tells us that the core idea of the word means ” to be present,” ” denotes esp. active presence,” ” appearing.” [8] Kittle’ s describesparousia as a technical term ” for the ‘ coming’ of Christ in Messianic glory.”[9] Thus, parousia carries the idea of a ” presence coming,” contra the preterist notion of a ” non-presence coming,” an invisible coming. Our Lord’ s use ofparousia demands His physical, bodily presence.

Toussaint provides further reasoning for the futurist understanding ofparousia in this passage:

. . . ” What will be the sign of your coming?” (Matt. 24:3). What does ” coming” (parousia) mean? That term is filled with significance. This noun occurs four times in the Olivet discourse (the only times Matthew usesparousia and the only occurrence in the Gospels). The first occurrence is in the question asked by the disciples. Very interestingly, the remaining three are in identical clauses, ” thus, shall be the coming of the Son of Man” . . . (Matthew 24:27, 37, 39).

. . . The problem with this interpretation is the meaning of parousia before verse 36 and after. If the coming of the Son of Man in Matthew 24:37, 39 is the Second Advent, one would expect the identical clause in 24:27 to refer to the same event. The word would also have the same meaning in 24:3. It must be the Second Advent in each case.

Furthermore, the word parousia as found in the New Testament is always used of an actual presence. It may be employed of the presence of persons as in 1 Corinthians 16:17; 2 Corinthians 7:6-7; 10:10; Philippians 1:26; 2:12 and 2 Thessalonians 2:9. In each of these above cases the person is bodily present. In all the other cases parousia is used of the Lord’s presence at His second coming, cf. 1 Corinthians 15:23; 1 Thessalonians 2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 8; James 5:7, 9; 2 Peter 1:16; 3:4, 12; 1 John 2:28. The only occurrences in the Gospel of parousia are in Matthew 24. It would seem that they, too, refer to a yet future coming of Christ.[10]

Gentry attempts to say that the ” lightning” description in Matthew 24:27 ” reflects the Roman armies marching toward Jerusalem from an easterly direction.” [11] It is hard to imagine that the time consuming march of the Roman armies is the true interpretation of this passage. Once again, I follow Toussaint’ s explanation of the text.

What then is Matthew 24:27 saying? It is simply saying people should not be misled by false teachers or counterfeit messiahs who make their deceptive claims in some wilderness or inner sanctum (24:26). They may even fortify their pretensions by fantastic miracles (24:24). The reason the Lord’s followers should not be drawn aside is because the coming of the Lord Jesus will be so spectacular no one will miss seeing it. It will be like a bolt of lightning that streaks from one horizon to the other. This is why the Lord used the correlatives hosper. . . . houtos; He is simply using an analogy or comparison. His Second Advent will be as obvious as a brilliant sky-spanning bolt of lightning. So will be the unmistakable and actual presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in His second coming to earth.[12]

Maranatha!

(To Be Continued . . .)

 

Endnotes
[1] Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., Perilous Times: A Study in Eschatological Evil(Texarkana, AR: Covenant Media Press, 1999), p. 71.

[2]Gary DeMar, Last Days Madness: Obsession of the Modern Church (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 1999), pp. 123- 25.

[3] William F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957), p. 859.

[4] James Morison, A Practical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Matthew (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1883), p. 475.

[5] Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Handbook to The Gospel of Matthew, 2 vols. (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1879), vol. 2, p. 143.

[6] Gentry in Thomas Ice and Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., The Great Tribulation: Past or Future? Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1999), p. 53.

[7] Arndt and Gingrich, Greek-English Lexicon , p. 635.

[8]Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of The New Testament, X vols., (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1967), vol. V, p. 859.

[9]Kittel and Friedrich, Theological Dictionary, vol. V, p. 865.

[10]Stanley D. Toussaint, ” A Critique Of The Preterist View Of The Olivet Discourse,” an unpublished paper presented to the Pre-Trib Study Group, Dallas, Texas, 1996, n.p.

[11] Gentry in Ice and Gentry, Great Tribulation, p. 54.

[12]Toussaint, ” Critique,” n.p.

“Then if anyone says to you, ‘ behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘ there He is,’ do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect, I have told you in advance.”

– Matthew 24:23-25

In the midst of the greatest time of upheaval and chaos in the history of the world, Jesus reminds his disciples that even then the most important thing in life is one’ s relationship with Christ. As this passage moves into the events of the second half of the tribulation, the number one priority is to avoid deception.

It is important to avoid deception during the latter half of the tribulation because this is the time in which the antichrist (also known as the beast in Revelation) begins his global rule and requires all to take the mark of the beast in order to by or sell (Rev. 13:17). This is such an important time in history that God sends angelic messengers to specifically preach the gospel to the entire world and warn them of the consequences of accepting the mark of the beast (Rev. 14:6-13). This is an important time because individuals alive at this time will determine their eternal destiny on the basis of their response to the gospel and antichrist appeal to take his mark.

Matthew 24 and Mark 13 are generally parallel to one another on this passage, while Luke 21 totally omits this text. Matthew and Mark speak of a future tribulation, while Luke’ s focus is primarily on first century events. What is Jesus saying?

Jesus is saying in verses 23-25 two major points about false Messiahs. First, the false Messiah will not be visible and out in the open. Second, the false Messiah will do miracles in order to mislead and deceive many.

Looking For Messiah In All The Wrong Places

Verse 23 reports on hearsay about the impending appearance of the Messiah. Here, our Lord is setting up a contrast between the false and the true. The false program of antichrist will be laden with rumor and innuendo, but the genuine coming of Messiah will be clear to all (see verse 27). Why does Jesus come back to a warning about deception in this passage after having already addressed the issue in verses 4, 5, and 11? I think that the answer is in the wording of His warning. Dr. Thomas Figart explains as follows:

Following the evacuation of Judea, the false messengers of Satan will find it necessary to attempt to infiltrate those who have fled to the mountains. First, they will claim that Christ has already appeared, saying ” Lo, here is Christ, or there” (24:23). In order to bolster such claims, they ” shall show great signs (semeia) and wonders” (terata), two words that are used of Christ’ s miracles in Acts 2:22; so that their counterfeit ministry ” if possible” might deceive the very elect. Obviously this will fail, yet the attempt will be made.[1]

” The central point in verses 23-28 is that believers are not to be deceived by false prophets who claim to have special information about the whereabouts of the Christ,” [2] notes Robert Mounce.

Such an understanding fits into the flow of the passage. In verse 15 Jesus tells his disciples to head for the hills when they see the abomination of desolation take place in Jerusalem’ s rebuilt Temple. It is shortly after this that antichrist requires the mark of the beast during the second half of the tribulation. As events unfold during the second half of the tribulation, the antichrist (i.e., the Beast in Revelation) attempts to entice the elect, Jewish remnant out of their wilderness hiding by saying that the Messiah is clandestinely in Jerusalem, thus, they should come and see Him. However, Jesus has warned his disciples in advance not listen to such propaganda.

This passage is parallel to Paul’ s writings in 2 Thessalonians 2 and John’ s words in Revelation 13. Both passages speak of Antichrist’ s deceptions. While Matthew 24:26 says that the elect will not be deceived, 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 says that the non-elect will be deceived. ” The one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness” (2 Thess. 2:9-12). ” Not alone will the apostate part of the Jewish people be deceived by theses lying wonders,” explains Arno Gaebelein. ” But also the apostate part of Christendom, left behind after the rapture of the church has taken place, will be deceived and swept away in the great judgments of that coming day.” [3] Interestingly Jesus says concerning these false announcements: ” Do not believe!” This demonstrates that a Believer should not just believe anything that comes down the pike, but it does matter what you believe.

False Christs and False Prophets

Just as there are true prophets who prepare the way for the true Messiah, so also, Satan will have false prophets to prepare the way for his false Messiah often known as the antichrist. In fact, it is often said that the term ” antichrist” only appears in 1 John (2:18; 4:3). This is true. However, the use of ” false Christs” in verse 24 is similar to the language for antichrist in 1 John. Robert Govett says, ” From the word ‘ false Christ’ being equivalent to ‘ Antichrist’ (1 John ii.18; iv.3), we see the meaning of the preposition anti. By ‘ Antichrist’ is not meant ‘ one in opposition to Christ,’ but ‘ a false Messiah resembling the true.’ ” [4] This is expounded upon in Revelation 13, where the first part of the chapter (1-10) describes the first beast or the antichrist, while the second part (11- 18) explains the role of the false prophet. Here we see the traditional marriage of religion being used to support the political. It is the false prophet who uses his religious office to advocate loyalty to the beast and to take his mark of allegiance on the right hand or forehead. This is why Jesus warns of false signs and wonders in Matthew 24.

The ” false Christs” clearly is a reference to the antichrist, who is also known as the beast (Dan. and Rev), the man of sin and the man of lawlessness (2 Thess. 2). The reference to ” false prophets” would certainly include the false prophet of Revelation 13:11-18. Revelation 19:20 summarizes the career and destiny of the false prophet as follows: ” And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.”

Preterists like Gary DeMar say that these verses were fulfilled through events leading up to, and including, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans in a.d. 70.[5] They can cite a few examples of false prophets, since there have been false prophets since the writing of the New Testament (2 Pet. 2:1). However, there is consensus that there were not false Messiahs or Christs until till around a.d. 130. In fact, preterists do not even attempt to cite examples of false Christs. Apparently there were none in the first century to reference. H. A. W. Meyer explains:

We possess no historical record of any false Messiahs having appearedprevious to the destruction of Jerusalem (Barcochba did not make his appearance till the time of Hadrian); for Simon Magus (Acts viii. 9), Theudas (Acts v. 36), the Egyptian (Acts xxi. 38), Menander, Dositheus, who have been referred to as cases in point (Theophylact, Euthymius Zigabenus, Grotius, Calovinus, Bengel), did not pretend to be the Messiah. Comp. Joseph Antt. Xx. 5. 1; 8. 6;Bell. Ii. 13. 5.[6]

Jesus is looking toward a time that has not yet taken place in history. He is looking forward to the time of the tribulation where the Jewish remnant will have fled to the hills at the site of the abomination of desolation. The false prophets and Messiahs attempt to draw them out of their hiding, but true believers (the elect) will not fall for it, because Jesus is warning them ahead of time about this tactic.

False Signs and Wonders

Here we have the same words (great signs and wonders) that are used to describe the miracles of Christ and His apostles, however, these works are preformed by false prophets and false Messiahs. Does this mean that Satan is merely deceptive, in that, ” he makes men think that they see a genuine miracle?” [7] Or, should this be understood as ” happenings that cannot be understood on the basis of merely human powers?” [8] I prefer the second view; that these are genuine miracles. I favor that view because every time there are statements about these false miracles the language used is that they actually do these things, as we have in this passage ” will show great signs and wonders.” I don’ t know of an instance where the language of appearance is used to describe these miracles. In other words, if they were just tricking people into thinking that they were doing miracles with smoke and mirrors, it would seem to me that scripture would have used language that indicates this. Instead it uses words and phrases that say that they are actually doing these things.

For example, look at some of the satanic miracles performed by the false prophet in Revelation 13. ” And he performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men” (verse 13). ” And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life” (verse 14). ” And there was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast might even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed” (verse 15). These are the words of actual events, not slight of hand.

If appears that God grants temporary power to these false prophets and Messiahs so that they will be used of God to attract all unbelievers to themselves in unbelief. This is what is meant in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 when it says, ” the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved” (verses 9-10). Paul tells us the reason is that ” God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.” However, His elect will not be deceived, because Jesus has warned them in advance to watch out for these false miracles. Maranatha!

(To Be Continued . . .)

 

Endnotes
[1] Thomas O. Figart, The King of The Kingdom of Heaven: A Commentary of Matthew (Lancaster, PA: Eden Press, 1999), p. 446.

[2] Robert H. Mounce, New International Biblical Commentary: Matthew(Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishing, 1991), p. 225.

[3] Arno C. Gaebelein, The Gospel of Matthew: An Exposition (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, 1961), p. 505.

[4] Robert Govett, The Prophecy on Olivet (Miami Spring, FL: Conley & Schoettle Publishing, [1881] 1985), p. 56.

[5] Gary DeMar, Last Days Madness: Obsession of the Modern Church (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 1999), pp. 122-23; and End Times Fiction: A Biblical Consideration of the Left Behind Theology (Nashville: Nelson, 2001), pp. 89-91.

[6] Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Handbook to The Gospel of Matthew, 2 vols. (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1879), vol. 2, p. 128.

[7] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’ s Gospel (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1943), p. 944.

[8] Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), p.607.