Last Days

Matthew chapter 24 deals with Jesus’ response to his disciple’s question on
how they would know and recognize life in the last days. They asked, “What
[shall be] the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Jesus answered
and said:

“Take heed that no man deceive you. For
many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and
shall deceive many.” Matt. 24:5

Obviously, we should be concerned with deception. These can come about behind the pulpits and writings. Jesus’ comment that many shall come in his name saying that they are Christ does not mean that these people are saying “I am Jesus.” Translated, it says,

“For many shall come with authority and substantiated by the father (in my name)”…It continues by saying, “For many shall come with authority, saying I am Christ.” Note…it does not say, “…I am the Christ.”

The usage of the word Christ translates as, anointed. There are many so called prophets today who make claims of their anointed positions and thus Jesus’ claim that many shall come in his name is quite obvious in today’s Christian world. The last fragment sentence of verse 5 is, “[A]nd shall deceive many.” The
definition of deceive is “mislead.” Now let’s translate this so that it makes more sense:

“Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come with authority saying I am anointed; and shall stray many from the truth (mislead).”

What is interesting about Jesus’ initial answer to the question the disciples asked regarding signs of the “last days” is the issue of deception by those in authority. Do we see that today? Yes…they are all over the media world today.

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