23“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. 24 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. 25Behold, I have told you in advance. 26So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. 27For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
History has no lack of those who claimed to be Christ; we shouldn’t be surprised because Jesus clearly prophesied that such would happen. Those false-Christs and false-prophets, however, will sound quite convincing, so much so that even true believers (which Jesus referred to as “the elect”) will be tempted to follow them. They will even be able to do great signs and wonders, which at other places in Scripture were signs of the true apostles (see Romans 15;19, 2 Cor 12:12, Heb 2:4)! In fact, they will proliferate, as the apostle John writes about in his epistles. It seems that Satan, the Serpent from Eden, is still trying to coerce people to worship him instead of the true Christ. In fact, he tipped his hand when attempting to manipulate Jesus into worshipping him (see Matthew 4:9). It makes sense that as the end-times approach there will be an increasing effort to deflect worship of the true God toward a substitute. The devil is the ultimate anti-Christ!
So how do we avoid being deceived, since these false Christs and false prophets are so convincing? Well, they will be mere humans who will have to assert themselves, trying to prove who they are. The coming of the true Christ, however, will be without debate or discussion. There will be no question about who He is. Jesus said that the “Son of Man,” His favorite description of Himself, will come like a flash of lightening. It will be obvious to everyone on the planet from one horizon to the next. His presence will be overwhelmingly experienced. No question! It will be as certain as vultures gathering wherever there is a corpse. It will be what it will be.
There are many stories of people running off to follow some cult leader, usually a charismatic personality who mesmerizes his followers, leading them to unmitigated devotion. However, the point is that if anyone says that he is the Christ, we can be assured that he is not. When Christ does come back, everyone will intrinsically know it! As the false-Christs increase, we can be encouraged that the end times are drawing nearer—and so is the return of our Lord.
Lord, thank You that Your return will be so obvious, we don’t need to worry about being deceived. Help me Trust in You and Your Word only.
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