For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Jesus spoke these words privately on the Mount of Olives across from the temple to Peter and James and John and Andrew. They had asked Him when the destruction of the temple would happen and what would be the sign when all these things would be fulfilled, including His coming and the end of the world. He began His answer by commanding them to watch out so that no one would deceive them. The warning itself is that many will come in His name claiming to be Christ and will deceive many.
The warning does not stand as a separate prediction about Jerusalem alone but belongs to a prophecy about Jerusalem's destruction that mingles with and reaches beyond that event to the great day of His coming, the final judgment, and the final conflagration when the Lord punishes the world for iniquity. The two great crises were blended in mercy because the disciples could not have endured the future events as Jesus saw them, leaving them to study out the meaning for themselves. The whole discourse, including this warning, was given not for the disciples only but to instruct later believers and those living in the last scenes of earth's history and to help them prepare for the great conflict. In this time of the world God's people must therefore discern these foretold signs of the times, recognize their dangers, and reach a higher standard.
Jesus spoke these words privately on the Mount of Olives across from the temple to Peter and James and John and Andrew. They had asked Him when the destruction of the temple would happen and what would be the sign when all these things would be fulfilled, including His coming and the end of the world. He began His answer by commanding them to watch out so that no one would deceive them. The warning itself is that many will come in His name claiming to be Christ and will deceive many.
The warning does not stand as a separate prediction about Jerusalem alone but belongs to a prophecy about Jerusalem's destruction that mingles with and reaches beyond that event to the great day of His coming, the final judgment, and the final conflagration when the Lord punishes the world for iniquity. The two great crises were blended in mercy because the disciples could not have endured the future events as Jesus saw them, leaving them to study out the meaning for themselves. The whole discourse, including this warning, was given not for the disciples only but to instruct later believers and those living in the last scenes of earth's history and to help them prepare for the great conflict. In this time of the world God's people must therefore discern these foretold signs of the times, recognize their dangers, and reach a higher standard.