Matthew 24

From Bible.com, KJV.

Matthew 24

'1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.'

He was right about that. The temple has been destroyed. But the wailing wall is left, so I'm not sure if it will also be torn down in the future, or not.

'3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?'

I also want to know! I thirst dreadfully to know what will happen, so that I can be prepared. I don't want to be left behind!

'4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.'

Now this has happened already I think, but nothing that has been noticed worldwide, as far as I know. Nobody has been taken seriously. I met a guy who claimed he was JC, but I think he may have been joking... or a bit short upstairs.

'6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.'

Firstly, yes, all those things have happened, many times over since JC went to heaven.
And verse 8, the beginning of sorrows? Man, that is a bit spine-chilling.

'9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.'

I don't want that to happen! But I don't want to give up my faith, I can't help but wish that I can just cruise through life. However, many people have died for Jesus, and if I have to, I hope they kill me quick so I don't chicken out. I don't know if I have the guts to stand up and be counted when the time comes to choose or die... I can only ask God for the strength.

'10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.'

That is in the church and in the world.
Churches always squabble. And worldly people hate each other anyway.
After all, to many people, being a Christian is just like being in a club. But it's not, and it doesn't make you any better than anyone else.
It's like you were blind and suddenly could see, but everyone else around you is still blind, and they think that you think you're better than they are, but you know you aren't.
It's not that easy, you don't just become perfect at the drop of a hat. If anything, it's worse to be a Christian because you see things you didn't want to see before, you have to look and you can no longer ignore the things that were easier to ignore before.
It's harsher than people think.
Maybe I sound too proud, like I'm carrying the world on my shoulders, but it's not like that. You can't be proud in anything but God because you understand how dirty you are. It's quite a shock.
Of course there are good feelings too, but in order to be happy you have to understand how sad you are, and deal with that first. Anyway, get off the podium Rebekah... sorry!

'11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.'

Oh man, don't get me started! Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, many others, them healers are trouble. They seem straight at first. But then when you read their stuff you see they are making things up. Like, Benny Hinn said that originally women were supposed to give birth out of their sides... Whatever! I could tell you more, but you should decide for yourself. I just think they are wrong, and have lead people astray.
Anyway, I already started going on about how a lot of people look to the preacher and not to God. That can go to your head, you know. Why wouldn't it? If you were a pastor or preacher, and popular. People always being nice to you, asking your advice, asking you to help them, pray for them, bless their house, bless their family, heal them etc.

'12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.'

What does that mean? Hmm, well I think it means that because so many people sleep around and have many 'partners', love will be much sought after, and hard to find or keep. Oh, wait, that has already been happening! Maybe this Jesus guy is RIGHT??????
How awful though. For your love to wax cold... an empty heart, desperate for the warmth of love, and never finding it, seeking solace in sex.
I won't let that happen to me.
If that is you and you are reading this, maybe you need to give up on the sex thing, it will never work out. Anyway, the older and uglier you get, the less you're going to get, (for free anyway) lets face facts here. The world is pretty shallow.
I myself am a virgin and I intend to save myself for my husband. If God doesn't want me to get married, I will not be bitter. Most relationships look so hard and full of heartache anyway.

'13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.'

I am not too sure about this bit. Because I am not too sure if I am going to be taken away before the tribulations really start or not.
I haven't decided on my belief about that yet. I'm working towards my decision.
Whether I am pre-trib or post-trib.
This means, do I believe I will be taken away by Jesus before the terrible troubles listed in revelation, or do I think that I will have to suffer with everyone else for a while (3 and 1/2 years is the popular hope, half the time, the tribulations are apparently going to be for 7 years) and then be taken?
Anyway, I might die before the tribulations happen. I cannot be sure.
So many people argue this over and over, and try to prove their points but I cannot choose yet.
A lot of people say that it doesn't really matter, but I think it does.
If you are at home and your parents are out, you know they will come home one day, so you want to know when, so you can be ready. Clean up and so forth.
That's my philosophy.

'14 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.'

Wellll..... this is also tricky. I don't know whether the gospel of JC has been preached to the ends of the earth yet. It may have been, but I can guarantee that out there, some people don't yet know about God.

'15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) '

Now, this could mean three things.
Firstly, it could mean what's going on now, which is that the Palestinians are using the site of God's House, ie, His old temple site, to worship Allah. (Some people say that God and Allah are the same person, but I don't, so let's skip that whole argument right there.)

Or it could mean that the antichrist will set himself up there as the ruler of the world, and demand that everyone worship him. Actually its possible the antichrist might be female... but probably not.

Or it could mean something else. The popular belief is the antichrist one. But I myself am not yet decided.

'16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.'

Ok, pretty straightforward. Everyone who is Israeli, get outta there, head for the hills to hide.
Don't waste ANY time, get outta the cities. So the moral of that is, be ready. Have a backpack with stuff in it ready to grab as soon as you hear anything. Thats what I would do.

'19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:'

Basically He is saying that it will be very tough on you. It'll be very hard for women with babies and pregnant women. And you better hope it's not winter or on the sabbath. Winter because its cold, (duh) and sabbath because you aren't supposed to work on the sabbath day according to Jewish law.

'21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.'

Hard times ahead, basically. Gives me the willies. And I'm not even Jewish.

'22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.'

Here this is tricky. He is saying, 'If we didn't shorten this time, everyone would die, but because of the chosen ones, we shortened the time.'
I am one of the chosen. If you are a Christian, you are too! Yay!!!! If you aren't, you need to become one. Anyone can join, as long as they abide by His rules. Don't be left behind!

'23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.'

Now these verses are very heartening for me. They help me to take courage in my beliefs. You see, a lot of Christians do believe in the healing evangelists, and I distrust them, I never knew why, and I still do not really know why. I just get this bad feeling. It guides me. I'm not saying all of them are bad, but most seem to be, unfortunately.
Anyway Jesus is saying, 'Don't believe what men say, if they say that Christ has come.' He wants us to wait for Him to talk to us, and show Himself.
Further on in the Bible somewhere it says that when Jesus comes, everyone will know, everyone on the whole earth, there will be no doubt.
Jesus also says that there will be people saying they are Him, and there will be false prophets, and they will show signs and wonders. They might even deceive some Christians. I always mistrust 'miracles' performed on tv or publicly. It seems to me that God wouldn't want to advertise Christianity as a faith of signs and wonders, and miracle cures. Thats not what He wants us to expect. Chritianity is about saving your soul more than anything else.

'25 Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.'

In other words, don't look for Jesus on the earth, He isn't there, He will be in the sky when He comes, and you will know for sure, without doubt. Don't listen to others.

'27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.'

He's coming out of nowhere, and fast too, basically.
Nobody can say where He will show up.

'28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.'

This is a controversial verse. I have been told it means that we, the chosen, will be watching the tribulation from the sky, with Jesus, like eagles hovering over a dying person, and when the sinners die, we get the spoils. But I don't think that sounds very nice, somehow. I have a feeling it might be something else. However, I do not know what.

Let's leave it at that for now.
Hope I didn't freak you out.
God bless you!