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Don’t Put Yourself In Deception’s Way
“At that time, if anyone says to you, ‘Look here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect–if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time. So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.” Matthew 24:23-28
During the beginning of the end, people will come claiming to be Christ [Matthew 24:4]. And as the end heats up, people will come claiming to be Christ [Matthew 24:23-24]. No matter where we are in the end times, Satan will misuse the name and person of Jesus to deceive as many as he can.
Jesus’s command is twofold–don’t be deceived by the false Christ’s themselves and don’t believe the stories others tell about the false Christ’s, no matter how spectacular.
Many people, who don’t have the truth of God’s word hidden in their hearts, will hear about great signs and miracles and travel to check out the phenomena [Psalm 119:11]. They will want and need to see for themselves. But they will only verify their own ability to be deceived. Vultures can’t help but be drawn to dead bodies. And those who feel the urge to fulfill some spirituality–though they reject God–won’t be able to help but be drawn to the possibilities of the false Christ’s and prophets. The performance will be so unbelievable that even the elect, Godly men and women who are busy about the Lord’s work, run the risk of being deceived and believing in the lie.
But Jesus cautioned the disciples and the Holy Spirit inspired them to write these cautions for our sake [2 Timothy 3:16-17]. And they also instructed them how to know the truth.
A single human being isn’t going to be privy to the Lord’s coming. And Jesus isn’t going to appear to a handful of people regionally when He returns. So, don’t chase after those tales. Don’t be so hungry to see Jesus that you ignore God’s word, put yourself in deception’s way and lose the truth entirely.
Know the truth. When Jesus returns, it will be visible to everyone simultaneously! Even better than lightning that cracks across the sky and can be seen for miles in every direction, the supernatural light of Jesus’s return will flood the whole earth. And when it does, all will know exactly who and where He is.
Do you know the truth of God’s word? Have you stockpiled it in your heart so that you will stand deception-free through the time of the end?
KCS
When Fire Gives Way to Ice
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13
Jesus told the disciples that the beginnings of the end day “birth pains” must come. But we need to understand why.
It is not because God wants us to suffer and die that things are going to get tough [John 3:16-17; 2 Peter 3:9]. The tribulations are not coming as divine punishment. But the end will come because we want to play God [Genesis 3:4-6] and we therefore judge ourselves against Him. Because we, as created beings, insist on behaving as we if created ourselves and because we live like we need answer to no one but self, sin is growing in the world. And its wages are death [Romans 6:23].
Because of our sinful self-as-godhood, the difficulties of the end will increase. Persecution like we see in so many countries around the world today. And persecution that leads to martyrdom. A general hatred in the world towards Christians and Christianity–we see the fruit of this today as well. Every faith is sanctioned but faith in Christ. Everyone who demonstrates faith or spirituality is tolerated except those who hold to a Christian worldview.
We have to be so careful in these times, not because of the hardships we face, but because of Jesus’s next warning. In these trying times, it’s easy to fall away from the faith and to turn our hatred towards one another within the church. And notice, that false prophets will continue to rise during this time as they did at the beginning of the trouble.
Deceptions will abound. Ungodliness will abound. And our once fiery love for God will turn to ice within us.
But not if we hold to the truth [John 8:31-32 & 44]. Not if we place our hope firmly in Him [Psalm 121]. Not if we fear God alone [Deuteronomy 5:29; Matthew 10:28]. If we stay faithful to God to the end of the end–come what may–we will be saved.
Which will you be–one who icily falls away or one who holds onto God through the fire as He holds onto you?
KCS
Questions of Worry, Questions of Hope
“As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. ‘Tell us,’ they said, ‘when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?'” Matthew 24:3
What a long, silent walk it must have been out of the city to the Mount of Olives that day. Because that’s where the disciples finally plucked up enough courage to begin the conversation again. When, Jesus? When will the temple be destroyed?
They’d heard Him predict His own death three times. He’d told them just a few days ago that Jerusalem–where they now were–was the place where he would die. And now he’s telling them that their Jewish foundation would also be destroyed.
They couldn’t know that they would be old men scattered around the globe preaching the gospel when the temple fell. They didn’t yet understand that they had a larger work to do in the world, and that–though their heart beat for Jerusalem–when the temple died, they would still live for God.
But their question went deeper. The disciples were truly trying to grasp everything that was happening.
Jesus had told them that He was leaving them. That he would die and be resurrected [Matthew 16:21, 17:22, & 20:17-19; Mark 8:31-33 & 9:30-32; Luke 9:22 & 18:31-33]. He had told them that some of them would not taste death before they saw the Son of Man coming in His kingdom [Matthew 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27]. What exactly did He mean by these things?
What will be the sign of your coming? they asked.
Moreover, Jesus had mentioned the end of the age [Matthew 13:39-40 & 49] and a judgment to come [Matthew 10:15, 11:22 & 24, 12:36 & 41-42; Luke 10:14 & 11:31-32] in some of His many parables.
And what will be the sign of the end of the age? they asked.
Throughout scripture, we see that when God asks a question, it is for our benefit. He asks us the one thing that we truly need to know about ourselves in that moment. If we hear His question and consider what He would answer us, the wisdom and guidance that would put us back on the right track is unparalleled, the heart change imminent.
But in the disciples’ questions, we see a heart after God. We see their hunger and thirst for a right understanding of world history in the scheme of eternity. There is hope in Jesus’ return mingled with the unknown future state of the world.
Do you worry about tomorrow? Do you anxiously imagine the unknowns? Do fears about the future threaten to overwhelm you? Ask God your questions. Pour your heart’s longing for answers out at His feet. Then, pick up His word. Study it. Kneel in prayer. Listen for His still, small voice [1 Kings 19:11-13]. And be assured, He will answer.
KCS
Error: Data Missing
“Jesus replied, ‘You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead–have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.’ When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.” Matthew 22:29-33
Whenever we try to fit God into an example from our human logic the result is an error message–data missing. Our human minds are missing significant pieces of information, most of it too overwhelming for us to be able to process, to be able to correctly understand what we’re asking God about Himself.
The Sadducees were in error because they didn’t know the Scriptures–which said that resurrection was not only possible, but would happen–and because they, therefore, did not understand God’s true power. God created life (and no one else ever has). He has the power to create it, sustain it, take it away and give it back again.
Therefore, restoring–a.k.a. resurrecting–life is a non-issue in our minds if we know what God’s Word says about who He truly is. Amazingly but not, even the disciples didn’t fully understand everything about resurrection [John 20:9].
However, their misunderstanding wasn’t as simple as, No, God can’t and Yes, He can. There were deeper, more complex layers wrapped around the error of their thinking. Not only can God resurrect, they needed to understand what the resurrection was all about. How it worked.
They were trying to process the resurrection in terms of the life we have in this world. Here we marry. In their human tradition, heirs were of utmost importance to carry on a family name, so childless widows and their brother-in-laws were subject to this levirate marriage arrangement [Matthew 22:24-28]. And resurrection just plain didn’t make sense when the Saducees added restoring life to a woman plus her seven former husbands, and that equaled an ungodly, Scripture-defying, culturally unacceptable mess that they couldn’t puzzle out.
But Jesus knew which Scriptures they had failed to understand [Exodus 3:6; &–referring to Genesis–Matthew 24:38 & Acts 7:32]. And the crowds were greatly surprised and impressed by His teaching. The truth was new to them.
So many times we try to add up Scripture + human logic/culture and it = a giant, irreconcilable impossibility. At this point, many people we know and love deny God and His Word. But what we really need to do, is to dig deeper when we come to a place of non-understanding. We need more information from God to make sense of the spiritual things that are so hard to see in light of this world. Otherwise, even the most devout Christians can arrive at a misconception that steals their faith [Matthew 13:18-23; Mark 4:14-20; Luke 8:11-15].
When misunderstanding arises from the Word of God–and it does for everyone–do you digger deeper to seek God’s truth? Or do you dismiss the truth of God and His Word?
KCS
Coin Heart
“But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, ‘You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.’ They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, ‘Whose image is this? And whose inscription?’ ‘Caesar’s,’ they replied. Then he said to them, ‘So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’ When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.” Matthew 22:18-22
Taxes were a hot topic in Jesus’ earthly day, just as they have been throughout history. The Pharisees and their disciples were anti-Rome while the Herodians supported Rome because they supported Herod’s right to rule. So basically, the Pharisees set up a mock political debate for Jesus to settle. No matter which way He sided, He would make enemies with the opposition.
Hypocrite basically means pretender. The Pharisees said they stood for God’s Law, but their lives didn’t come anywhere near conforming to God’s ways. More than that, the original Greek roots in this compound word renders a meaning of being under judge/judgment. Which is exactly what pretenses accomplish. When we pretend in our faith–whether witting or unwitting–the world sees our hypocrisy. Worse yet, God knows.
Jesus knew their hearts [Matthew 9:4 & 12:25; Luke 5:22], so He called them pretenders to their face. They weren’t asking about taxes because they cared to do what was right.
Moreover, Jesus asked them a very pointed question, Why are you trying to trap me? As usual, He asked the question for them to consider their own heart. He already knew they were in cahoots to have Him killed. They needed to understand who they were trying to murder, to choose whether or not they wanted to play a part in that plot.
And just like the political debate over divorce that they’d brought to Him earlier, Jesus gave God’s viewpoint rather than upholding either of the world’s answers [Matthew 19:3-12]. The Pharisees wanted Jesus to either say support Rome so that they were justified in their murder attempts, or down with Rome so they could incite the Herodians against Him. Instead, Jesus said Give Rome what belongs to them and do the same for God.
Remember that God doesn’t mint money. His economy doesn’t rely on taxes or stamping faces onto metal disks. And there have been social economies built on other materials that we can’t begin to imagine as valuable today like beads, shells, cocoa and the like. But God is transcendent. He created all of those things, but He doesn’t need them. Human beings assign them value but they will all pass away because they have zero eternal value.
God is only interested in our hearts [Deuteronomy 5:29; Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8; Mark 7:6; 2 Peter 3:9].
So give money back to the people who made it for your use. And give your heart back to the Creator who gave you a life stamped with His image.
How much value do you place on money and possessions? How much eternal value have you invested in your whole heart–intellect, will and emotion?
KCS
Audience Plants (a.k.a. Spies in the Crowd)
“Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?'” Matthew 22:15-17
On His first day in Jerusalem, Jesus entered like a king [Matthew 21:1-11], overturned tables in the Temple courts [Matthew 21:12-13] and healed people–the last of which made the children shout praise and the religious leaders indignant [Matthew 21:14-17].
On His second day He withered a fig tree [Matthew 21:18-22], then taught in the Temple and ended up sharing three parables focused on the religious leaders [Matthew 21:23-22:14].
But the Pharisees in particular did not like Jesus’ meaning.
Often we only think of Jesus’ twelve disciples when we hear the term, but the Pharisees had disciples too, devotees who sat under their teachings. And they had enemies. The Herodians were Jews who wholly supported Herod’s monarchy and, therefore, Roman rule to which the Pharisees were diametrically opposed.
Ergo the Pharisees so disliked Jesus that they dragged their lackeys into cahoots with their enemies [Mark 3:6 & 12:13]. They devised cunning words and laid them in the crowd as a trap.
As Christians, we must understand that just as Jesus was rejected so we too can expect to be rejected for our faith in Him. There will even be those who seek to trap us with questions in the same way the Pharisees planted spies in the crowd. Those who question us on matters of world culture and tradition in light of the gospel to entrap us with popular opinion.
So we need to be prepared with God’s wisdom, not our own logic [2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 4:12-13]. We need to be a conduit of the Holy Spirit who will give us the words to say [Matthew 10:19; Mark 13:11; Luke 12:11].
Do you speak from a heart rooted in God’s Word? Does His wisdom flow through you?
KCS
Reverse Inheritance
“‘But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.'” Matthew 21:38-39
An heir is the person legally entitled to the property or rank of another on that person’s death. The tenants in this parable believe that the son is going to receive all of the vineyard owner’s wealth upon his death. Which means that the hearers of this parable probably understood that the tenants meant to go so far as to kill the owner and take his vineyard for themselves. However, we know that the owner represents God and that God cannot die.
Since God cannot die and leave an inheritance, when scripture tells us that Jesus is the heir [Hebrews 1:2], what do they mean?
When we look at the broad scope of eternity we need to ask ourselves, who or what will die? The answer: all of Creation [Matthew 24:35; Revelation 6:14, 20:11 & 21:1]. To inherit is to receive or be left with (a situation, object, etc.) from a predecessor or former owner. But what will the inheritance be when all of this life passes away?
Nothing. None of any of this will last. So what does scripture mean?
The Greek word for heir, kleronomon, translates as the sharer by lot. Jesus–the heir of all Creation–shares in our sinful condition. He inherited our sins from us, takes them as the stripes on His back, the thorns in His scalp and the nails in His flesh [Isaiah 53:5]. He inherited death from us, but He conquered it–death, hell and grave [Romans 6:9 & 14:9; 1 Corinthians 15:55-57; Revelation 1:18].
So it is that while He inherited our filthy-rag-righteousness on the cross [Isaiah 64:6], the tables were turned. By His death we became the heirs of His eternal life.
But look at the irony of the parable. The tenants were contemptuous against the owner and covetous of the son’s inheritance. They took his inheritance upon themselves by killing him, by insisting they get to remain in self-as-god control–but they did not know that the death they gave was the very inheritance they would receive [Matthew 12:14]. He came to share in their lot and they nailed themselves with their pride and greed.
We are not immune to this today. The religious leaders sought to put themselves in the place of God. Using His own teachings and traditions, they elevated themselves in their own minds. It’s possible that they never even realized that they were doing this.
We too need to be careful that we don’t become even a little self-righteous. That while we learn and teach others about God, while we live out the Word before the world that we don’t think of ourselves more highly than we ought [Romans 12:3] but consider how the place of teacher brings stricter judgment on us [Romans 2:21; James 3:1].
Do you love the attention you get for your faith? Are you drawing others to your charisma rather than to God? Are you living for Jesus’ reversed inheritance?
KCS
The Parable Mirror
“‘When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.‘” Matthew 21:34-37
As a gardener I’ve learned that, even in a small vegetable patch, the harvest begins one day and continues daily for weeks or even months. Sucessive plantings create a second or even third harvest time.
And then there are perennial crops like grapes that come back on their own each year, without needing to be planted again. But perennial literally means–lasting or existing for a long or apparently infinite time; enduring or continually recurring.
So this harvest season–typically an average of at least two months for a grape crop–is not a single occurrence. It continues annually or even more frequently as grapes ripen. And in world history, the harvest is as perennial as the constancy of human existence.
Throughout the generations God sent His servants–a.k.a. prophets–to the Israelites and, by extension the world at large, to harvest the hearts that were ready [Jeremiah 4:2; John 4:35]. But many in those generations had hard hearts equivalent to unplowed, hard-packed ground [Jeremiah 4:1-3; Hosea 10:12; Matthew 13:4; Mark 4:4; Luke 8:5]. They not only rejected the prophets, but did in fact verbally abuse, physically punish and even killed them [2 Chronicles 24:21; Hebrews 11:36-37].
Jesus warned the disciples, and those of us who have followed, to expect the same mistreatment and persecution [Matthew 23:34-37]. Because Jesus–God’s One and Only Son [John 3:16]–was also rejected by the world He came to save.
God knew Jesus would be rejected. He did not think as the human vineyard owner in the parable. But those who heard the parable would have thought the vineyard owner’s conclusion–that the son would be respected–was logical. The hearers would have been appalled at the way the tenants treated both the servants and the son.
The only question left was whether or not the hearers would have recognized themselves honestly mirrored in the parable’s characters.
Today, we are the tenants entrusted with the soul harvest of God’s vineyard. God is still sending His servants into the world to harvest the hearts that are ready. The question is, how are we responding?
Who are we in the parable? Would the story be different if Jesus had been speaking about us? Are we preparing hearts for harvest? Are we busy about the Lord’s work? Do we recognize His servants? How do we treat them and others? Are we ourselves ready for the Lord’s return?
KCS
Q & A & Q Again
“‘John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?’ They discussed it among themselves and said, ‘If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.’ So they answered Jesus, ‘We don’t know.’ Then he said, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.'”Matthew 21:25-27
The people loved John just as they loved Jesus. Crowds gathered, intrigued by and hungry for the truth of God.
But the religious leaders were as fearful of losing their face of spiritual authority to this Son of Man and His baptizing harbinger as Herod had been of losing his throne to the baby King [Matthew 2:16, 3:7-10 & 11:9].
Crowds can be a dangerous thing. The will of the people can turn on a leader and crush them in a moment. The religious leaders knew this full well. They questioned and calculated carefully. They plotted secretly–though Jesus knew their plans perfectly.
Yet, day 2 in Jerusalem was not the day it was meant to end. There was still a work to finish.
So Jesus asked them a question that they were too afraid to answer. He didn’t need to worm His way out of a mess. He didn’t sneak out the back door and hide or pick a fight in self-defense. In Godly wisdom, He shut the conversation down–though it riled this brood of vipers [Matthew 3:7].
When we face adversity for our faith, we too can rely on God’s wisdom [1 Corinthians 2:16].
He can give us the discernment to understand the intention behind the questions. Is it because they want to argue? Is it because they want to twist our words? Is it because they want to get us in trouble with earthly authorities? Is it because they truly want to know?
He can give us the wisdom to answer [1 Kings 3:16-28].
And He can give us the questions to ask in response.
Do you rely on God’s wisdom or your own in times of confrontation?
KCS
A Bottomless Wellspring of Compassion
“As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!’ The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted louder, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!’ Jesus stopped and called them. ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ he asked. ‘Lord,’ they answered, ‘we want our sight.’ Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.” Matthew 20:29-34
As Jesus moved closer to His appointed end in Jerusalem, though He was in a new geographic area, people still clung to Him. large crowds still followed Him. Those who needed a physical touch still sought healing from Him. But the most amazing thing to me is that Jesus’ compassion remained intact.
Just like we saw after His cousin John the Baptist was beheaded. Though Jesus grieved and withdrew to do so, when the crowds followed Him, He had compassion on them and healed their sick and fed all of them [Matthew 14:13-21].
At this time, Jesus Himself was nearing great suffering. And we know that He later anguished over His coming death in the Garden of Gethsemane [Matthew 26:38; Luke 22:44]. We don’t know how much the nearness of it all weighed on Jesus’ mind as He left Jericho to walk the last part of His earthly journey, but we do know that even now He had compassion–sympathy/concern for the sufferings and misfortunes of others.
Jesus wasn’t self-absorbed in anyway though His own death was looming. He saw these two blind man and had compassion on them.
In true Godly fashion, He asked a question–not because He didn’t already know the answer, but to give the blind men the opportunity to consider their heart. He knew they wanted to see physically. But He knew that, as we all do, they needed to see spiritually. He knew that they needed forgiveness of sins. So He asked them how much they truly wanted from Him.
Our physical sight, please Lord.
And then they followed Him as well.
Perhaps their spiritual sight gained clarity when their physical eyes were healed. We don’t know if they later sought forgiveness of sins or salvation. But Jesus healed them all the same.
As humans, our mercy and compassion run short. When things come against us, we tend to withhold goodness from others. But not our Lord.
As we allow ourselves to be transformed into the likeness of Christ by the renewing of our minds, let us remember His loving mercy and His faithful compassion for all. Let others not come to our well of goodness and light and find it all dried up in any circumstance.
Does God’s constant wellspring of life, full of mercy and compassion for others, flow through you? Or do you allow the troubles of this world to dry up His goodness to dry up in you?
KCS
Generation Heroes 