t h e K e y o f D av i d R e p r i n t S e r i e s
A rt ic l e n u m be r R502
Matthew 24
C h r i s t ’ s m o s t p i vo t a l p r o p h e c y
R e pr i n t e d f rom t h e P h i l a de l ph i a Ne ws , Ja n ua ry-Fe brua ry 19 9 9
By Gerald Flurry
W
hen Christ walked this Earth, He
proclaimed His most important prophetic
message. It is written in the 24th chapter of
Matthew (Mark and Luke also wrote their
versions). Matthew, of all the disciples, seemed to be the
most detailed in what he wrote. How exciting that must
have been, to be there with the Son of the living God. What
an honor beyond measure!
But we live in exciting times as well. If we are willing,
we get to introduce Jesus Christ to this world. When you
look at the book of Matthew, on the surface—especially
chapter 24—there is a lot of bad news there. That is all being
fulfilled right now. But there is also inspiring good news
beyond description.
Matthew 24 contains more prophecy than any other
single Bible chapter. It’s been called the apocalypse of the
Gospels. Christ is speaking this Himself, and Matthew is
doing everything he can to record it just as Christ spoke it. If
you are a Christian, you are “one who follows Christ.” And it
is rare to see a person who really does that. Many talk about
Christ, but how many really obey Him?
Many people reject the prophecies of Matthew 24, even
though they talk a lot about Matthew. Why? What about
Matthew 24 seems to bother people? Is it the talk of the end
of the world? People have talked about the end of the world
for a long time. But Jesus Christ talked about the end of this
age, a time entering into a wonderful world so beautiful it’s
difficult to describe.
Read Matthew 24:1-2. The second temple, which was
destroyed in a.d. 70, didn’t fulfill this prophecy: There is a
more complete destruction coming in this end time. A time
is coming very soon when there won’t be one stone on top of
another, and Christ is not talking just about Jerusalem—but
all Israel—America and Britain. It is a terrible time to
come, with unparalleled destruction.
I’m not trying to frighten anybody, rather just tell people
what Christ said. Every single word will come to pass, and
many scriptures prove that the a.d. 70 crisis was only a type
of greater end-time events. If people understood the depth
of this destruction, it would drive them to their knees.
Copyright © 2005 Philadelphia church of God
Christ mentions that those who are loyal to Him will
be protected from all these things (verses 15-20, 40), just as
in the first century when Pella was the place where God
protected His people. And yet, in a.d. 70 when all of this
terrible destruction was going on, there was human canni-
balism. Although we don’t like to think about or talk about
that, it happened; and God says it’s only a type of what is
coming upon us in this end time if we don’t heed His mes-
sage. This is a message of love, and it’s the only hope in this
terrible world.
In verse 3 the disciples asked for a sign, and Christ gave
one major sign that shows we’re almost to the time of His
return. Verse 4: “And Jesus answered and said unto them,
Take heed that no man deceive you.” This is religious decep-
tion. Be careful when you listen to someone like me talk to
you about the Bible. Jesus Christ said the biggest problem in
the end time is religious deception. We have a responsibility
to prove whether someone is speaking from this book the
way they should. Most do not.
Christ is speaking to His disciples, and He said they
would be deceived too. People who have the Spirit of
God—who knew Christ and who were given all these
prophecies—will be deceived. An amazing prophecy! We
must be awfully careful and deeply learn the Bible. Don’t
trust me—trust Christ.
This sign is about the gospel. But what is that? So many
different versions of the gospel exist today. Christ said to
beware, because people will tell you they are following
Christ. Most of them are probably sincere; but so was Hitler!
Sincerity, of itself, is not enough.
A well-known religious leader said, “The Bible says
clearly that God has already revealed Himself fully and
completely to us.” That is terribly wrong. “If we accept who
Jesus is, as He is presented to us in the New Testament, then
we will not look for any further revelation, nor has God
promised any. God’s revelation is complete.” He’s saying that
you don’t need any revelation after the first century.
But you need all kinds of revelation. Remember, the
whole world is deceived (Revelation 12:9)—religiously as
well. One third of the Bible is prophecy and 90 percent of it
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is for today—90 percent of prophecy in the Bible won’t even
be understood till this end time (Daniel 12:4, 9). Christ spoke
of a man in this end time, an end-time Elijah—a human
being—who would restore all things just before Christ
comes—including the true gospel (Matthew 17:10-11). If he
had to restore all things, then, as far as truth was concerned,
everything must have been nearly lost. These are scriptures
ministers in the world do not usually come to grips with.
You have to voluntarily prove this. Jesus Christ won’t
force this on you. That’s why we have trials—we have to see
what we have done to ourselves, and then say, God, let me
follow somebody other than a man. Most have to learn that
by suffering. But you don’t have to learn it that way, if you
choose to follow God now.
Verse 9 of Matthew 24 says people would kill Christ’s
disciples. This is dual. All of the first-century disciples were
killed (except John) and the two witnesses will be killed in
the end time—and we don’t know who else. People don’t
like the truth; so, rather than accept the message, they kill
the messenger.
Verses 10-11: “And then shall many be offended, and shall
betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many
false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many [“most of
you,” Revised Standard Version and Moffatt].” This is for
the end time more than any other time and is directed at
Jesus’s disciples. It is not easy to follow God. But what a joy-
ous, wonderful way of life it is.
Jesus Christ—the Son of God—ended up with only 120
disciples. People don’t exactly want the truth, do they?
Verse 12: “And because iniquity shall abound [moral
decay], the love of many shall wax cold.” “Iniquity” really
means lawlessness. And today, it abounds. The main theme of
the whole Bible is the law of God—the Ten Commandments.
Yet many say they have been done away. They haven’t! Christ
said that you must keep the commandments if you want to
enter into the Kingdom (Matthew 19:16-19). I’m not sorry
if that offends people, because they must hear that. Jesus
is speaking of what we hear on the news practically every
night—adultery, lying. It abounds—it’s all over the place.
Everybody’s getting into lawlessness today.
The only way to fight that is to get on
your knees and pray to God for the power
to fight against it, to develop the kind of
character He says we must have to
ever get beyond this life.
Romans 13:8-10 equate the law with love, because they
are one and the same. The law tells you how to love each
other. In other words, if you love a person, don’t commit
adultery with his wife; don’t steal from him; don’t covet what
he has; don’t murder him. If you love that person, keep the
Ten Commandments. Love is the fulfilling of the law. The
love of God is that we keep His commandments (1 John 5:3).
What is sin? It is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4).
Christ specifically used the word lawlessness and said
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it will abound in the end time—so bad that it even affects
God’s people who should know about the law. Most of them
also have contempt toward the law.
The love of many will wax cold. This is translated from
the Greek agape—the love of God, the love He has to give
to His Spirit-begotten people. They will lose the love He
gave them.
Herbert Armstrong said in 1981 that moral decay is
becoming a bigger problem than the nuclear bomb. A num-
ber of studies have shown that moral decay is the chief
cause of nations falling. We’re all sinners, and I’m not trying
to cast stones, but it is time to stop sinning. Christ sends His
message of love trying to stop moral—or spiritual—decay.
It’s just a message now; He won’t send the Great Tribulation
until He’s sent His message, His final warning. Then He will
let us bring our own problems upon ourselves.
Everybody’s getting into lawlessness today. The only way to
fight that is to get on your knees and pray to God for the power
to fight against it, to develop the kind of character He says we
must have to ever get beyond this life (Matthew 5:48).
The Week magazine, January 16, 1999, talks about how
depraved Britain has become: terrible things like the rap-
ing of 80-year-old women. How can it get more disgusting?
Soon, in Britain, the family will become a minority and
those just living together the majority. In the recent White
House scandal, many said, “It’s just about sex.” No, it’s about
fornication, adultery and lying! If we listen to Christ, we
know what it’s about. Usually, when people talk about “inap-
propriate behavior,” they’re talking about lawlessness. Isn’t it
time, when talking about the well-being and survival of our
nation, to call it what it is? That kind of sin abounds—not
just in the leaders, but in everybody.
Moral decay will tear the nations of Israel apart. When
the family is upside down, that’s when Israel falls (Isaiah 3:12).
We’re all inclined to sin, because the carnal mind is enmity
toward God (Romans 8:7). But it doesn’t happen overnight;
we wax cold. It’s just like the frog in the water: Put him in
the pot and turn the fire on low and just let it heat gradually,
and he’ll boil to death.
Think of how much we’ve waxed cold since our fore-
fathers established the Constitution. A founder of the
Constitution, James Madison, said, “We have staked the
whole future of American civilization … on the capacity of
each and every one of us to govern ourselves according to the
Ten Commandments of God.” Can you imagine a president
saying that today? We’re awfully close to collapse unless we
wake up. Another founder, John Adams, said, “Children
learn the meaning of morality, religion and respect for law
from the habitual fidelity of their parents to one another.”
Those men understood that. Abraham Lincoln said if we
forsake God, we will not bring this nation back together.
“The Lewinsky scandal has sparked a political
Armageddon in which almost every rule is broken, almost
every tradition mocked” (Newsweek, January 7, 1999). We
should be patriotic toward our country, but it’s mocking
traditions today. The National Review stated, “Years of peace
and prosperity have made it into a feminized country in which
compromise is valued over action and tough choices are
deferred for as long as possible.” This is about lawlessness.
To solve our problems we will have to see that—or it will get
a lot worse, and fast! When a society like this unravels, you
will see problems like you’ve never seen; so says your Bible.
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“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in
all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall
the end come” (Matthew 24:14). This is the one specific
sign Christ mentioned. Thayer’s Lexicon states, “What end
is intended the reader must determine by the context.” So,
which “end” is this about? Obviously, when the gospel stops,
Matthew 24 will begin to be fulfilled at a rapid pace like
never before—no more delay (Revelation 10:6). God will not
hold it back any more.
There’s a two-fold sign here: 1) the gospel being preached
around the world, and then we’re in the end time; 2) when it
stops—and it has—we’re on a countdown to destruction, if
we don’t heed God’s Word. That’s where we are. Everything
really begins to accelerate after the man who preached the
gospel is taken out of the way (2 Thessalonians 2). (For more
information write for our free book, Malachi’s Message.)
Jesus said this gospel will be preached around the world,
and that will be a sign that the end of the age is here. If the gos-
pel had been preached around the world in a.d. 800 or 1,200,
that would have been the end of the age. So the gospel wasn’t
preached around the world from the first century to the last,
or it couldn’t be a sign. Christ is speaking of the true gospel.
God gets specific: One man in this end time restored all
things—including the gospel (Matthew 17:10-11). “Behold,
I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the
great and dreadful Day of the lord” (Malachi 4:5). He has
come and gone.
After the gospel ceases, then an ominous sign: the
abomination of desolation (Matthew 24:15). This is where
all the trouble will be for America, Britain and Israel.
Although we don’t know the day or the hour, we know
when this is at the door. God says watch the events. And He
says, let those who read this understand, or they are in trou-
ble—because here is what we will have to do: “Then let them
which be in Judaea flee into the mountains” (verse 16). Be
serious about your religion. God says you must have enough
faith that when you see all this you run for your life.
Why isn’t religion more concerned about this today?
These are Christ’s words. And He says if you don’t warn people,
you’re guilty of murder (Ezekiel 33). I take that seriously.
“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not
since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever
shall be” (verse 21). Suffering like never before because of
nuclear, chemical and biological warfare.
“And except those days should be shortened, there
should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days
shall be shortened” (verse 22). The good news is God will
shorten things and save us alive. But if He did not intervene,
there wouldn’t be anyone alive on this planet. He will let it
go a long way, so people learn they can’t rule themselves.
Men don’t know the way of peace. God knows—and if you
keep His law of love, it will bring great joy and happiness
in your life.
Winston Churchill said after World War ii, “Mankind
has never been in this position before. Without having
improved appreciably in virtue or enjoying wiser guidance,
it has got into its hands, for the first time, the tools by which
it can unfailingly accomplish its own extermination.” We
can now exterminate human life. That’s the great, ultimate
achievement of man!
If that is our ultimate accomplishment, isn’t there some-
thing terribly wrong with man? And he still won’t turn to
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God! This prophecy is obviously about nuclear warfare, yet
people say, So what. Will they have to experience it before
they say more than “so what”? If we won’t listen to someone
like Churchill, we ought to listen to Christ. Not one word
of His will fail.
“Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ,
or there; believe it not” (verse 23). Don’t listen to men who say
they know what Church you should be in; listen to Christ!
“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and
As all these horrible signs come, we know
Christ is about to return. The gospel has
already been preached worldwide, and now
this final Matthew 24 warning is going out
to the world. God says in Amos that He
won’t pass this way anymore; He’s giving
one final warning. Christ will allow the
Tribulation and then He will return.
shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it
were possible, they shall deceive [lead astray] the very elect”
(verse 24). But they can’t be led astray. They know what
Christ said and won’t let it go. They will have the highest
reward in God’s Kingdom because of their loyalty when
most were turning away from Him.
Verses 29-30 actually contain good news: As all these
horrible signs come, we know Christ is about to return. The
gospel has already been preached worldwide, and now this
final Matthew 24 warning is going out to the world. God
says in Amos that He won’t pass this way any more; He’s
giving one final warning. Christ will allow the Tribulation
and then He will return.
“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is
yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer
is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things,
know that it is near, even at the doors” (verses 32-33). Christ’s
return is right at the door. He’s really coming back, and He
will rule this world and show people, through a great turn-
ing point in the history of man, how to be successful and
build a paradise on Earth.
Christ rebuked the Pharisees because they couldn’t
read the signs of the times (Luke 12:54-56). They couldn’t
see that a.d. 70 was almost upon them. The Son of God,
Creator of the universe, was pleading with them, and they
still wouldn’t listen. So that doesn’t make me feel inferior if
some don’t listen today.
Robert Harris, in the Sunday Times, January 10, 199, said
that if you want to be a superpower, you need a strong leader,
unity, and willingness to sacrifice your blood. America cer-
tainly falls short in the latter two conditions. And what if
we have a crisis like the Great Depression? There will soon
be chaos as never before, Christ said.
Either every word of this will be fulfilled, or God lied
(Matthew 24:35). “Two women shall be grinding at the
mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left” (verse 41). A
woman is a type of the Church. Two churches of God: one
that turned away, and one which God will protect.
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“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord
doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house
had known in what watch the thief would come, he would
have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be
broken up” (verses 42-43). Noah warned for 120 years; people
still didn’t listen, and the Flood came suddenly. And in the
end time crisis will also come suddenly. Be alert for it.
Meanwhile, Christ is upset with His lukewarm, or
Laodicean, Church, because they wouldn’t give meat in
due season (verses 44‑45); they wouldn’t speak God’s Word,
and 95 percent of them turned away instead of delivering
His message.
The International Herald Tribune of December 19, 1998,
reported: “Earlier than many observers expected, Japanese
investors are shifting out of U.S. dollars and into the curren-
cies of Europe ….” China has already put half of its reserves
in the euro. “A major exodus from the dollar into the euro
by Asians, and in particular by Japan, ‘is the one thing the
Americans walk in great fear of at the moment,’ said Noriko
Hama, an economist at the Mitsubishi Research Institute
in Tokyo” (ibid.).
The U.S. is the greatest debtor nation ever (but still,
a nation that has all the wealth and the blessings due to
Abraham’s obedience). But almost nobody talks about the
debt. What would happen if Japan didn’t support our debt
anymore? That is serious, considering that one Japanese
leader said a few years ago, We might sell our U.S. Treasury
bonds, and the market dropped 200 points in a day, just
from hearing these words! Is this truly a strong economy if
people have such fear?
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For God’s loyal people, He wants to make them rulers
“over all his goods” (verses 46-47). That’s a fantastic prom-
ise—the whole universe. Hebrews 2 states, in one translation,
“I will give you control over the whole universe.” But we have
to build some character first, or we’d wreck it, as Satan did.
You have to build character through keeping God’s law.
That’s so wonderful. How do you contain yourself when you
really understand that?
Most of God’s people, since Christ didn’t return when
they expected, have said, “My lord delayeth his coming”
(verse 48) and have given up and decided to break the law
like everyone else.
“And shall begin to smite his fellowservants [or get
carnal and do what everybody else does], and to eat and
drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come
in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that
he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint
him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth” (verses 49-51). Fifty percent of God’s
people lose their eternal life, and 50 percent turn it around
in the Great Tribulation (Matthew 25:1-11).
Satan has been cast down, and he’s full of wrath (Revelation
12:12). He is like a roaring lion and hates anybody who would
dare obey God. He desperately tries to destroy them.
Out of billions of people, we have the unparalleled honor
and opportunity of hearing God’s warning and receiving
His love and understanding His message. That is uniquely
wonderful, but it requires obedience. Jesus Christ told us to
take heed and be ready. If we do this, He will make us rulers
over all His goods. And God has a lot of goods! ■