[Note: The following is an excerpt from my chapter in the book, Deceivers: Exposing Evil Seducers & Their Last Days Deception, edited by Terry James. Order your copy on Amazon (Paperback and Kindle)].
The Ten Signs
Jesus’ Olivet Discourse provided ten signs that answered the disciples’ three questions. I can tell you now, nine of them are absolutely awful. Awful is what one would expect to hear from a Bible prophecy teacher. But, Jesus always speaks the truth, and the signs He gave He felt must be shared. They simply are what they are. Nine of the ten signs cover the worst events that must happen in all of human history. The signs are:
- False Messiahs
- Wars and Revolutions
- Earthquakes
- Famines
- Pestilence
- Fearful Social and Economic Events
- Signs in the Sky
- The Persecution of Christians
- The Fall of Jerusalem
Sign number ten stands out as the only hopeful sign to believers in Christ. Hope finds its fulfillment when the baby finally arrives. The birth of the baby ends the labor pains. This “birth” is the return of King Jesus. Humanity must endure the labor pains before we get to the time–the birth–of the full realization of Christ’s Kingdom.
Sign of False Messiahs
The signs of the end times have been covered in another chapter, so let’s laser focus this chapter on the first sign—False Messiahs. We’ll now pick up with Jesus’ teaching in Luke 21:8. “Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time has drawn near.’ Therefore do not go after them.” We read the parallel passage of this statement in Matthew 24:4-5, “Take heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.”
Because of Prophetic Perspective, we know that Jesus answers the first question concerning when the Temple will fall, but He also explains what the signs of the end of the Church Age will be, as well as the signs that occur before His Second Coming. Jesus covers all three questions with His list of ten signs.
The first sign concerning false messiahs includes false prophets, false teachers, and false christs. These counterfeits stand out as foreteller-fabricators.
Notice that Jesus in His checklist of signs lists false messiahs as the very first sign. He did not just mention this sign once, but three times throughout His Olivet Discourse. False teachers are actually the most prolific end time sign that Jesus taught. Not only in Matthew 24:4-5 does He make mention, but then again in verse 11, “And many false prophets will arise and mislead many.” Then again in verse 24, Jesus warns, “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” Three times in this passage Jesus stated that false prophets and false christs would come claiming to be Jesus, and they would mislead many people with their heretical teachings.
God Himself believes that false teachers are the number one end time sign pointing to His soon return. Christians, therefore, should be alert to deception.
Jesus revealed that the closer humanity came to these three prophetic events—the fall of the Temple, the Rapture, and the Second Coming—the more false messiahs, prophets, and teachers would proliferate in frequency and intensity.
The Temple Falls
False teachers and false messiahs have been around for a very long time, even during the First Century. Satan works tirelessly, always trying to water down the message of God. Almost as soon as the Good News of Jesus Christ began being proclaimed through the Church, false teachers spewing unbiblical doctrines started proliferating on the scene in an attempt to muddy the doctrinal waters. Let us now address the disciples’ first question—”When will the Temple fall?”—and learn about Jesus’ “Near” answer concerning how foreteller-fabricators would perform as a living sign warning of the Temple’s impending destruction.
The Judaizers
One such group of false teachers were, and are sadly still with us today, the Judaizers. They plagued the fledgling Church, denying Christians Christ’s grace earned on the cross by burdening believers down under the yoke of living under the obsolete Mosaic Law. The Apostle Paul had some very harsh advice for these false teachers, telling them they should run off and emasculate themselves (Galatians 5:12)! These agitators made the Apostles very angry, for they denied Christ’s sacrifice by putting Christians back under a law Jesus had fully fulfilled with His own shed blood.
The Gnostics
Then there were the Gnostics. These deceivers were Greek-learned egomaniacs who believed they possessed superior knowledge about God. To them, Bible plus their knowledge equaled truth. They also believed Jesus couldn’t possibly have come to earth in human form because they shunned the material realm as evil and pronounced everything spiritual as good. They concluded Jesus’ spirit inhabited a body, and then at the Crucifixion, He vacated that body. Therefore, Jesus was never really crucified. By denying the Crucifixion, these deceivers denied the very sacrifice that provides mankind salvation from the just punishment for our sins.
Judas the Galilean
Acts 5:37 tells the particular story of a false Christ named Judas the Galilean. “Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away many people after him.” The Jewish historian Josephus added that Judas the Galilean told Jews “that it was shameful for them to be ‘consenting to pay tribute to the Romans and tolerating mortal masters after having God for their Lord.'”1
Judas was aided by a false prophet named Saddok. This slimy foreteller-fabricator had the gall to claim he was the fulfillment of the Malachi 4:5-6 prophecy which foretold Elijah would precede and announce the coming of the Messiah. Acts reports that these deceivers met their just end, as “He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed.” Despite his demise, Saddok’s followers would go on to found the anti-Roman Zealots, which Simon the Zealot, one of Jesus’ Apostles, once held membership.
Theudas
Acts 5:36 also lists another false Christ named Theudas. “For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, joined him.” Josephus added that in 45 A.D. Theudas convinced “the majority of the masses to take up their possessions and to follow him to the Jordan River.”2 He claimed that the Jordan would part for them at his command. Embarrassingly, the river refused, and this false christ was slain. Many of his foolish followers paid for their devotion with their lives, and the movement came to nothing.
An Unnamed Egyptian Jew
Acts 21:38 records a Roman commander asking the Apostle Paul, “Are you not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a rebellion and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness?” Josephus explained this false messiah “was a cheat, and pretended to be a prophet also, and got together thirty thousand men that were deluded by him.”3 Leading his followers from the wilderness to the Mount of Olives, Josephus reported, “He was ready to break into Jerusalem by force from that place; and if he could but once conquer the Roman garrison and the people, he intended to rule them by the assistance of those guards of his that were to break into the city with him.” Of course, Paul assured the commander he was certainly not that charlatan.
These are just a few different examples of the fulfillment of the sign of false messiahs, prophets, and teachers leading up to the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. Quite a number of First Century foreteller-fabricators greedily hungered for God’s power and so deceived many people during that time, just as Jesus had foretold.
Resource
Indoctrination disguised as education. The religion of climate change enshrined. Witchcraft and the occult made mainstream. Fake news. We live in a world where deception is rampant and true agendas are rarely revealed. Jesus foretold of this time as He answered His disciples’ question: What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? Bible prophecy experts present analysis of today’s issues and events in Deceivers, revealing that Christ’s prophecy is literally unfolding before us today.
Order the book, Deceivers: Exposing Evil Seducers & Their Last Days Deception, edited by Terry James, on Amazon (Paperback and Kindle)]!
References
1. Flavius Josephus, Wars, 2:118
2. Flavius Josephus, Antiquities, 20:97ff
3. Flavius Josephus, Jewish War, 2.261-262[1]
