I’m studying Matthew 24 again, so I’m calling this Matthew 24 Revisited. I’m included the notes and studies on Matthew 24 that I did prior to this one. Parts of this study will include 3 different periods of study. When I get to Matthew 24 in my current book by book study I may or may not just repost this one.

Matthew 24

 ¹ And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.

Revisited notes:In Matthew 23 Jesus was in the temple teaching and while he was teaching he rebuked the religious leaders and exposed the hypocrisy they lived by. When he departed the temple with his disciples they came to him to show him how magnificent the temple was. It comes to mind how we get caught up looking at the building and miss the point. The church or temple aren’t the fire, God that dwells in the temple is. This temple was spectacular. I’m not going to even pretend to understand the implications of the temple being mentioned here before the end time events unfold, but I can see clearly how this is absolutely related because it is at this site that the abomination of desolalation stands in the holy place (Matthew 24:15  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:) and Daniel 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
When Jesus returns after the tribulation he will reclaim his holy place and take his throne so it’s fitting that the teachings of the end time events start with the temple. For more stats and information on the Temple of Herod/the second temple… Click Wikipedia Second Temple

² And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

Revisited notes:This happened in 70AD, led by the future Emperor Titus the Romans invaded and destroyed the temple… looting it and leaving it leveled completely… not one stone left on another.
Roman forces blocked in the 100,000 people in Jerusalam causing a severe famine for them. Then they breached the walls and set fire to the temple…the stones of the temple were all toppled. The temple was looted of the items inside and were later depicted in carvings on the Arch of Titus that still stands today. Arch of Titus-Wikipedia link

³ And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

Prior notes:The disciples are asking 3 questions. 1. When shall these things be. 2. What are the signs of thy coming. 3. What are the signs of the end of the world. Take note of the very first thing Jesus says, because this is vital.
Revisited notes: In Matthew 23, Jesus rebukes the scribes and the Pharisees who were the teachers of the Laws of Moses Matthew 23:2. Jesus affirms the Law, but confronts the teachers of the Law Matthew 23:3.Jesus then points out the sinful way the Pharisees burdened the people with things they themselves weren’t doing. What he said to these Pharisees could also be said of these modern day mega churches who put on a great show of faith, but don’t actually live it. This should be a warning to us today…to stop building grand impressive churches that teach false doctrine…where the leaders are blind leaders of the blind Matthew 23:16, 19, 24, 26. The final statement in Matthew 23 ³⁷ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!³⁸ Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.³⁹ For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Revisited notes:After Jesus finished speaking to the people in verse 23 Jesus told his disciple that the temple was going to be levelled. I couldn’t understand how the levelling of the temple played in to end time events, however… it’s clearer now. Jesus was going to be crucified soon and the age of salvation through faith in Jesus alone, but grace alone was going to begin, the Law has been fullfilled. The age of the prophets is over…and the temple is going to be reduced to rubble for the reasons Jesus went over in Matthew 23 as he declares in verse 38″ Behold your house is left unto you desolate”. This is not the abandonement of Israel or the rejection of them as the chosen people. This last verse tells them that this is for a season. It is prophecy that the temple will be rebuilt again just before the Lord returns. We must reject all inclinings of Replacement Theology or Supersessionism.
***********As with any teaching, if you are reading this… do so with prayer and an open Bible to check this against… reject anything that can’t be supported by scripture and if you happen to find something I got wrong or miss, please let me know.

⁴ And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

Prior notes with added clarity:The beginning of the great tribulation starts when Jesus removes the first seal and the White horse is released. This is also where Jesus begins this teaching to his disciples on the actual events that will unfold…. with a warning not to be deceived.
REVELATION 6:2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
The white horse- The antichrist. He’s coming forth conquering and to conquer. His goal is to murder you and his mission is to deceive everyone…. change the truth into a lie…
Romans 1:25 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.
Jesus says, TAKE HEED THAT NO MAN DECEIVE YOU! This is the first statement because the times Jesus is talking about will be a massive time of deception that will sweep over the earth and take out person after person EVEN PEOPLE WHO CLAIM TO BE CHRISTIANS who will be led away from sound doctrine. If you don’t get this part right, all that other stuff doesn’t matter because you will be lost. The only way to be lost is to not accept Jesus as your savior. You can be sure that the deception will come from all directions deceiving people into atheism,false religions,convincing people that they are saved because God is love and wouldn’t send them to hell, worship of a false God that condone sin and accepts you just as you are without repentence or turning away from sin, the rise of false Jesus’s that deny the virgin birth and the death on the cross,…the list is endless as to how a person can be lead away into deception…. wide is the gate indeed. This is why it is VITAL to study the word… and to view yourself through the filter of the word… allowing it to expose us if we are in Jesus.
Right now, with the internet and the flow of information that is available 24 hours a day, people can research just about anything. Here’s the problem, there is MORE misinformation out there than there is truth. Then, you have people who want to control the flow of information and what you’re able to see and what you’re not able to see… they do this by classifying information at their discretion as true or false, then they block or label the information they call false so that you can’t access it easily. This is also invading the Christians and the Church…. there is so much going on that the spirit of confusion is just laying in wait for Christians. We see division and anger and people inciting anger in others. There’s a reason the bible says in
Ephesians 4:26-32 ²⁶ Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:²⁷ Neither give place to the devil.
If we give the devil even an inch of space in our hearts for hatred, our love will die, and we become open to deception and every evil work.
Revisited notes:A tactic of satan is to expose us to ungodly things that riles up righteous indignation in us… then if we aren’t careful to control that anger so that it doesn’t shift from righteous indignation to fleshly anger, we give space for the devil in our hearts. Even a small amount of unchecked unrighteous anger can breed hatred and multiply. We must address all indignation we feel with the word and prayer so we remain in love. The love of God changes things, the anger of man destroys.

⁵ For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

Prior notes:FOR MANY SHALL COME IN MY NAME- So this means there will not be a single source of deception. One of the most common misconceptions about the Antichrist is that he is going to pretend to be Jesus and people will believe him. I don’t think that is how he will come at all, I think he is going to come as a challenger to God’s authority and will attempt to upstage Jesus and get the world to bow down at his feet. So this warning about many coming in Jesus’s name isn’t the actual antichrist…. but CHRISTIAN DECEIVERS. Professing Christians with another doctrine. We see it now… with prosperity doctrines…. being that their the most promonent doctrine is properity now….and the focus on treasures here on earth instead of laying up treasure in heaven….there is also those that use the new age doctrines of manifesting. And, those that change the word so they can continue in their sin…there are so many religions that have false core doctrines … all coming in the name of Jesus and all of them will put you squarely in position of vulnerablity to the ultimate deceiver, the antichrist. Any departure from sound doctrine leads to deception. 1 Timothy 4:3-4 ³ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;⁴ And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
What this verse tells me is we can guard against this by not following doctrine because it fits what we want to believe, but instead follow the word and crucify the flesh so our walk fits the word. The deception doesn’t happen to people who aren’t volunteering through compromise… remember, compromise is the petri dish of deception. While it would also be nice to believe we can all determine in ourselves not to let this happen… that isn’t entirely all we need to do. What we can do is determine to follow Jesus and pray that the Lord keep us from evil… from a sincere heart…. then obey the Lord even when it means we have to deny the flesh. NEVER get puffed up in pride or arrogance…and remember we are here by GRACE and MERCY…. undeserved and gifted to us by God though his son Jesus.

Prior notes:The way people are going to be led away is by deception. FIRST, we must have the oil of intimacy and know Jesus as our Savior and Lord… we must have AND MAINTAIN a close relationship with him. When Jesus has become real to us, when we have learned to follow his voice…. when we know his word and how to rightly divide the word of truth, we are not going to be deceived by another doctrine or lie UNLESS we allow our relationship with Jesus to grow cold. Knowledge and Wisdom in the word of God and the infilling of the Holy Spirit guiding us is going to be our defense. On these things, the armor of salvation is built. Knowledge in the word is knowing what the word says, Wisdom in the word is knowing how the word is applied to our lives and situations…. the Holy Spirit teaches us both and brings it all to our remembrance as well as guides us in the spirit. WE MUST LIVE OUR LIVES IN THIS AT ALL TIMES…. And remember the helmet of Salvation… it’s on your head for a reason… because the body follows the head…. Keep Jesus as the Lord of your life with no compromises. The world is a place of compromise, but remember… you are not of this world. As I said, compromise is the petri dish for deception. (James 1:14 ¹⁴ But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.)

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.

Prior notes:We are going to hear of rumors of wars and evil things going on… and things being exposed for their corrupt nature…. all kinds of things like this, but remember, Jesus already covered all of it and warned us about it then he said…. see that you’re not troubled. That’s an action… it’s not something we can will into existence, we have to actively go after it. We are to keep up on what is going on around us… but do it from the lens of the Word. The Word informs us…. BUT IT LEAVES US WITH HOPE…. and that is where we need to be with this… holding on to hope. So when we hear of wars, we can to say, “Jesus told me about that. Praise God, I will not worry, I will trust in Jesus.”

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.

Prior notes:The word sorrow comes from the original greek word, OdinOn…. meaning pangs as in birth pains. This sentence tells an entire story because of the use of that particular word. The story is of a woman in beginning labor. She is going to be giving birth to something. We have seen this same analogy being used in Revelations 12:1&2 ¹And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:² And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
In the book of Revelation this woman is Israel and she is divinely protected from the antichrist. That’s not to say there won’t be times of trouble, but the Lord will deliver Israel.

⁹ Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

Prior notes:This isn’t a climate that occurs suddenly… back when I was a younger Christian I had an idea that people were going to be following this one huge false Jesus who will tell them we Christians are all evil because we refuse to agree to him being Jesus and all the deceived would be mad at Christians for this and begin killing us or ratting us out so we are killed. In truth, this probably looks more like what we see today… a growing hatred for Christians who are standing up against homosexuality, child grooming and abuse, abortion and a wide variety of issues with the woke agenda. There is a Christian content creator who checked out the book titled, “This Book Is Gay” and read it so she could do an informative video for others who didn’t want to read the book for themselves….for example she gave a synopsis of the chapters and in some cases read directly from the book. One chapter contained information for gay kids to use in arguements against Christians who tell them what they are doing is a sin. The Author gave verse from the bible that the child could use against Christians who tell them that homosexuality is a sin. She read some of the verses… of course none of the ones she read show where the Bible condones the behavior…. instead it contained accusations of the Christians breaking Gods law… so a tactic of putting the Christian on the defense. Trouble was, the author doesn’t know the word. All of those scriptures they used were commanded of the Jews under the law…. and no longer apply and never applied to Christians that are Gentiles. What stands out about it though, isn’t that they want to prove God approves of their sinful lifestyle… it was just their attack on Christians values…. and was teaching the kids that read this that Christians were hypocrites. It was cultivating contempt and hatred. The activist homosexuals that confront conservative Christians on social media have an absolute hatred of Christianity …. of course not every single one, but many of them. So the hatred for Christians is being cultivated there and in other places like radical Islamic communities where Christians are being put to death under blasphemy laws and in Korea where they just sentenced a 2 year old to life in prison because his parents had a bible. So the hatred of Christians is and will be coming from many directions and it would not surprise me if these groups united eventually to put Christians to death. This intolerace for Jesus is being cultivated now… and has been for years. Wokism is the largest move towards it in the US at this moment. This is the same group promoting tolerance for themselves, but not for others.

¹⁰ And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

Prior notes:Did Jesus use the word OFFENDED? “Offended” is the woke mantra. We are seeing all of this unfold right now. Liberal colleges are cranking out “offended” young people by the thousands… all woke and hating anything conservative and especially anything CHRISTIAN. There are so many areas where people are being offended right now, people no longer voice their opinions for fear of offending a protected class. Laws are even being put on the books to criminalize offending people in these protected classes… like for things like using the wrong pronoun.

¹¹ And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

Prior notes:This is not the same as the warning in verse 5, this one is different. In times of trouble people start looking for answers and comfort. HEAR WHAT I’M SAYING…..this is why we have to have a close intimate relationship with Jesus RIGHT NOW… before all of this comes on us with full force… we need to know this is coming and be ready for it… so we can stay right with Jesus… walk uprightly…. hold on to the peace of God… and be confident in our salvation. The spiritually empty will seek a sign and comfort. They will be ripe and ready for a false prophet to tickel their ears with lies. Weak and desparate people will grab at anything that looks like a solution to their misery.

¹² And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

Prior notes:People do some of the most horrific things when they are starved.

Revisited notes:Since I wrote the prior comment a lot has happened, and I need to change this to include “People do some of the most horrific things when they think they are on the right side of history.” Even that is an oversimplification. There is a new term going around, “Suicidal Empathy” this is where a person has protective feelings for people who would harm them if given the chance. An example of suicidal empathy is where we have protesters in the street blocking ICE who are trying to remove illegal aliens from our country… and while not all illegals come here to commit violent crimes, they all need to go because the open borders allow for large groups of extremist to flood our country to bring about its demise must like we are seeing in England and other countries. These protesters have attacked and harassed ICE agents none stop… as was the case with Malinda Cook, a nurse who encouraged other health care professionals to harm ICE agents that came in to the hospital seeing care. This woman, like many others who feel the same way, are willing to kill someone they feel isn’t doing the right thing. I’ve listened to video after video of one group after another expressing their wish for harm or death against whoever they feel is against their personal beliefs. It’s like suddenly there are thousands and thousands of people expressing murderous rage…all of which believe they are on the moral high ground.

¹³ But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Prior notes:So all of these things are coming at everyone from all directions…. and from many different places…. and as times goes on, it gets worse and worse. Look at the covid lock downs… see how fast the food and supplies left the shelves and our lives changed. You know, a lot of people look at that as some sort of test run for the government or whatever…. but you know that can’t actually be proven beyond a doubt and it doesn’t matter…. the take away from that for me is how fragile our worlds are and how quickly normal life became something else. People were losing it because of mask and vaccines and being locked down etc… it showed us something about ourselves…. that we are not ready for the time of great testing if we were so shaken by those events. The covid fiascal is going to seems like a minor thing when compared to what is coming in the tribulation…. and during covid we had people fighting like animals over mask and treating one another horribly. We need to take a lesson from it.

To be continued.