Matthew 24:14-25

¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

The whole world will get a chance to repent and accept Jesus before the end comes. At the end of the time of grace, judgment falls on the people who rejected Jesus and these people will be without any excuse because all of them will have had their chance to accept Jesus as their savior. What comes to mind is Moses holding up the serpent telling the people of Israel to “Look and live” (Numbers 21:6-9).

¹⁵ When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

Instead of putting the verses here, I’ll include the link to them for deeper study on this topic of the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place. (link https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel%209%3A27%2CDaniel%2011%3A31%2CMatthew%2024%3A15&version=KJV )
This is a huge topic, but I will keep it brief because it’s a topic that deserves a deep study on its own, and I’m not educated on the topic enough to do a complete synopsis on it at this time, but it is on my list of topics to do a deep study on. I do have some knowledge on it, and I’ll share that.
The abomination of desolation is the antichrist, and here in this verse it speaks of the time when he will enter into the tabernacle/temple and take the seat that belongs to Jesus. Then he will stop the Jews from offering sacrifices. As of this time, the temple has not been rebuilt but, in a very short time, this could change since all that is needed is for a tent to be put up using the diagrams in the Old Testament (Exodus chapters 25-31). The verse in Daniel 11:31 says that the abomination of desolation puts and end to sacrifices, so this means that the Temple will have to be in place and sacrifices will have to start. But this could happen rapidly… so don’t use these facts to gage the time off in the distant future, be aware that even this could come rapidly.

¹⁶ Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

At the point in which the abomination of desolation seats himself in the temple and stops sacrifices, the children of Israel are told to flee quickly… not even to pack or return home for a couple of things… just go quickly. This speaks of the tremendous danger the children of Israel are in at that time.

¹⁷ Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:

¹⁸ Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.

¹⁹ And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

²⁰ But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:

²¹ For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

When you consider the fact that they were throwing children alive into the furnaces in prison camps in Nazi Germany… when you consider how many Jews were murdered in these camps…. and then all the other times in history when the Jews were targeted for slaughter and oppression… this verse hits hard and speaks to our need to be ready and prayerful… what is coming is far more cruel and murderous than anything that has ever been unleashed before. Daniel 7:7 ⁷ After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.

²² And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

²³ Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.

²⁴ For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

If it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect…A word of caution against prideful boast and proclamations. Consider Peter… while his flesh was willing, his spirit was weak. Mark 14 :29-31 ²⁹ But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I.³⁰ And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.³¹ But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all.
This verse isn’t saying that it’s not possible to deceive the very elect, it’s saying if there is a way to do it, it will deceive them. Your goal is to close up any and all avenues to those possibilities with the word, prayers, intimacy with Jesus, your walk with God… your pureness of heart… your commitment… and humility. You aren’t going to power through this, it will take the power of God that you invested in before the trial comes and the night falls.

Romans 1- the whole chapter (link https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%201&version=KJV ) Just read it… it shows the deceived mindset. What happens when a person wants salvation, but they don’t want Jesus to control their life? They begin to gravitate toward developing a false religion that allows them to live the way they want with the approval of God. Of course, God is NOT on board with this… his way is already set in stone and is perfect and unchangeable. What this looks like is when a person hunts the scripture to find verses in the bible they can use and twist to allow for their sin. An example are the churches who are redefining scripture that defines homosexual behaviors as a sin and then going on to say that Love is Love, and it’s not a sin.
Romans 1:25 ²⁵ Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
When man changes the truth (God’s word) into a lie so that it allows them to stay in their sin with God’s approval, they are serving man and not God… they are changing their idea of God to suit the sinful nature of man and not changing man to conform to the perfect nature of God.
Romans 1:28 ²⁸ And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Because they wanted to change the word of God to allow for sin and sought this out with their entire heart, God allowed them to deceive themselves. This is not the same as when a person falls into error, but has a heart to want to please God and has a correctable spirit. The ones given over to deception are those people that are driven to conform God to their needs and not themselves to God.
Thank God he is a righteous judge!
Galatians 5:9 9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
As Christians, we have to guard our hearts with a serious fervor against compromise. The first thing is to get sound doctrine… to know the word and to walk in the word always… even in private. We also need to settle it in our hearts that no matter what, we will crucify the flesh and follow the will and word of God. We will not give an inch to the things of the flesh. The second we start listening to our need when it suggests to us a way around the truth, we are in danger. This looks like statements that start with “God will understand if you….” and “You can repent afterward” . This is temptation, and we need to combat that the way Jesus did with a “Get thee behind me, Satan” and be ready to quote the verses against such behavior. Quoting the scripture takes away the space for this temptation to dwell in… if left unchecked, it will grow and become a bigger issue. The Christians, who are snared by deception, had no light. The bible is the word of God, but the bible is also JESUS… John 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Jesus is also the light… John 8:12 2 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Back to those 10 virgins again…. 5 of them were without oil and could not light their lamps to see. Remember virgins represent Christians, so they had accepted Jesus, but did not go further than that, they had the lamps, but not the oil.
In the end times when the trials of faith come down, only those who have the word are going to stand… remember we stand by faith…. and the bible is also clear about how to build faith… it says, Romans 10:17 ¹⁷ So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
There is no getting around it… we must know Jesus… and we do this by reading his word… by praying and by walking in the Light. This commitment can not be one you place last on your list of things to do… it needs to be first. None of the things that occupy your time right now have the ability to save your soul. If you place Jesus in his rightful number 1 position, all the other things in life will fall into place.
Matthew 6:19-21 ¹⁹ Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:²⁰ But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:²¹ For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

²⁵ Behold, I have told you before.

You have been warned.