Mark 13:21-23 (NIV): At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect–if that were possible. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.
Whenever there is trouble in the world or in a nation, people are easily drawn to those who claim to have the solution. And the more desperate the trouble, the quicker we are to turn to whoever seems to have the most charisma, the smoothest line, or who tells us what we want to hear in the most convincing tones.
As Gamaliel pointed out to the Sanhedrin (Acts 5:35-39), before the days of Jesus there were leaders who claimed to be the solution to the problems of the people. And some even received these men as their Messiah, their deliverer. But in the end, they proved to be mere men, they were destroyed, and their followers, who put such stock in their promises, were scattered.
Jesus saw that, as the tide turned against the Jews, and as the net closed in around Jerusalem, there would again rise up people who would claim to be the answer, the One, even the Messiah Himself. And, because the times would be desperate, many people would turn to them. Some of these men would even seem to do signs and miracles that would deceive many, drawing them into the deception. These miracles would be spectacular enough to draw the attention of even the elect! But, in the end, they will not be able to deceive them. And a key reason why the elect will not be deceived is that Jesus is warning them in advance so that they will be on their guard against these charlatans and pretenders.
Modern times are not immune to the same deceptions. When times get hard, people flock to leaders and politicians who promise to lead them to better days, even promising to pull off miracles if only the people will support them or elect them. And as has always been the case, these men and women never turn out to be the deliverer that they claim to be. Programs fail, problems get worse, or the side-effects of their solutions cause problems of their own.
Only Jesus, the real Messiah, was able to completely deliver what He promised: restoration of relationship between God and whoever is willing to turn away from their sinful lifestyle. And only Jesus is able to save in the day of trouble, the day of disaster.
Father, sometimes I think that the reason we turn to human “messiahs” for solutions to our problems is that they promise easy solutions, and the cost of following Jesus is too high for many. After all, following Jesus requires us to turn away from sinful behaviors that we have grown to enjoy, to relinquish control of our lives to You, to take up our cross daily, and to take on Your agenda as our own instead of trying to persuade You to bless our agendas. That seems like such a steep price to many. But in the end, we really lose nothing of eternal value when we come to You. Instead we gain an eternal inheritance that thieves cannot steal, and that moth and rust can never destroy. Amen.