Matthew 24:9-14 (NIV) “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. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Here Jesus expands the vista of His presentation far beyond the mere destruction of Jerusalem, but there is much in His words that pertained to the group of disciples that was standing with Him on the mountain.
First, He warns them that they will be hated and persecuted by people all around them. This didn’t take long to begin. It was just weeks after Jesus’ ascension that Peter and John were hauled before the Sanhedrin and commanded to stop teaching in the name of Jesus (Acts 4). It was within just a few years that James, the brother of John, was beheaded by King Herod (Acts 12:1-2). And before they were finished, each of the original 11 apostles that remained after Judas killed himself would undergo extreme persecution. Nearly all of them ended up being executed.
As for the false prophets that Jesus foretold, Paul warned the Ephesian elders that they were on their way (Acts 20:29-30), and Jesus’ letter to the Church in Ephesus in Revelation 2:2-3 shows that many had indeed arisen. The rise and influence of false prophets was a problem that the early Church had to deal with, but also one that has persisted through the ages, and still exists today. Unfortunately, too many people, even among those who name Jesus as their Lord, are too quick to listen to and believe people who claim to speak for God, and too slow and reluctant to test the words of those people by the truth of Scripture. So this will continue to be a problem for the Church until the end.
Because of all of these distractions, because of the tendency for organization to take precedence over organism, the love of many in the Church has a tendency to cool, as traditions and ritual take the place of relationship with God. Because of the felt need to focus on survival during times of persecution, as well as the draw to protect one’s family and resources, many Christians end up forsaking their first love (cf. Revelation 2:4-6). Each new generation of believers must come to Jesus, forging their own relationship with Him instead of merely inheriting the forms and structures of the religion of their parents. And each generation must respond actively to the call for renewal, revival, and the call back to their first love for God and Jesus, or their love will cool completely, and their light will go out entirely.
Jesus’ statement that the end would not come until the gospel has been preached in the whole world should have been both a strong clue that the end would not come soon, and a strong motivation to push the good new continually out to the edges of the world until everybody has heard. The sad fact is, this goal could have been accomplished already, but the evangelistic zeal of God’s people has waxed and waned over the centuries, and far too many are willing for others to do all the work of taking the gospel to the people of the world.
God’s plan hasn’t changed, but to draw all things to a close, He wants everyone to be saved that can possibly be saved; for all who are willing to turn to be given the opportunity. That still requires, as Jesus implied, people whose love for God and for their fellow man burns so white-hot that they are willing to face trials, hardships, persecution, and even death to push the gospel out to the farthest reaches of the world. People who will speak God’s words clearly and truly, and who will stand firm to the end. Then the end will come, and the harvest at the end of the age will be great.
Father, I’m afraid far too few of us realize that we actually have a vital role to play in Your plan for the salvation of the world. We are content to go to church, and to do good things in our own small circle. But very few of us burn with passion for the lost souls around us, and those in the other parts of the world. Forgive us, Lord. Inspire us and set us aflame with Your love and with the power of Your Holy Spirit, so that we can be powerful and strongly motivated witnesses of Your gospel, so that all the world can know You. Amen.