A laymans commentary on Matthew 24. Chapter Two, verses 3 - 6. When shall these things be - a common question these days.

 Chapter two.

Tell us when these things shall be, or evidence of the end of the age.

Matthew 24:3 “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?”

Anyone who has spent time looking at the disciples' lives knows that they had a very Jewish mindset, so it is necessary for your understanding to consider this when trying to grasp Jesus's response to them. Jesus had a direct connection to the Father (and so do we as believers) therefore what He is saying is clear and concise.

“And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”

The question may well be two questions. In conversation and observation, the Christian community seems to confuse Christ's return for His bride with His final return to the earth.

• “On the day of His return, He will touch down on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, and on that day, He will come prepared for war.”
  Zechariah 14:3-4

• “When He comes for His bride, He will meet them in the air and does not touch down.”
  1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

An aspect of Jesus's response to their question can be seen in Matthew 24:4,5.

Matthew 24:4,5 “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.”

Why would he say that?

Just a partial list off Wikipedia gives the names of 32 people that have taken that role. Some I recognize. Think about the ridiculousness of something like this. An example would be David Koresh. His teachings included his self-proclaimed authority to propagate children with the wives of men involved in the cult. That would not happen!

• This idea of someone coming in the name of Jesus becomes enormously important if you realize that Islam has it’s own version of Jesus.

Allah has some similar properties. The following is from Wikipedia about the Islamic Jesus.

• The belief that Jesus is a prophet is required in Islam.

• He is the son of Mary, not God (Allah).

• According to the Qur’an, Jesus, although appearing to have been crucified, was not killed by crucifixion or by any other means; instead, "Allah raised him unto Himself."

• Jesus is considered a Muslim (i.e., one who submits to the will of Allah), as he preached that his followers should adopt the "straight path" as commanded by Allah. (In other words, all must become Islamic and follow Sharia.)

• To aid in his ministry to the Jewish people, the Muslim Jesus was given the ability to perform miracles (such as healing the blind, bringing dead people back to life, calling fire down from the heavens, and causing it to rain where there has been none), all by the permission of Allah rather than of his own power.

• Muslims believe that 'Jesus' will return to earth near the Day of Judgment to restore justice and to defeat al-Masih ad-Dajjal ("the false messiah", known to the church as the Antichrist but to them it is our Jesus.) It's odd how they, too, have an understanding of the end-times pattern. The “false messiah” Islam looks for, is in direct opposition to Jesus Christ. They believe that the Antichrist is our Jesus. If you use the perspective that they serve the father of lies, then you might be able to comprehend why they are in opposition.)

• The Jesus of Islam will be a Jew. A priest of the lineage of Aaron, and therefore have access to the temple.

• He will defer to the Mahdi. (The Mahdi is their awaited savior. He is the 12^th or hidden imam, and several have already declared that the Mahdi is speaking through them. It is said that he will return on a white horse. This is the same white horse that we see in Revelation 19, and it is the only passage in our Christian bible that they believe is true.)

• He will be the enforcer of Sharia (the brutal set of rules that Islam uses to not only condemn outsiders but manipulate and control women within their religion.)

If all this is true, and there is someone who will take this role, then this makes all the sense in the world, and the ones that will be the primary targets of this deception will be the knowledgeable Jews. We happen to think of these as the religious of Israel.

Matthew 24:6 “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”

The immediate context is: what will be the signs indicating your immediate return to the earth to rule as the Messiah we anticipated.

• Wars, we are surrounded by them.

Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan are active war zones, but all those be-headings have become commonplace and boring, beside that, somebody powerful wants all this destruction, or it would not be happening. Syrian President Bashar even threatened Israel with a missile attack recently, to which Israel replied that they would flatten Damascus. The oddity here is that the prophecy tells us that Damascus will be utterly destroyed and uninhabitable; that can only happen if a nuclear weapon is used. The other news we are painfully aware of is the Ukraine. (The land of Gog)

Ezekiel 38:9-12 NASB: "You will go up, you will come like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you." (10) 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "It will come about on that day, that thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil plan, (11) and you will say, 'I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates, (12) to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world.'

Isaiah 17:1 LITV: “The burden of Damascus: Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruined heap.”

In case you haven't noticed Israel has been proactive in assassinations and bombings in and near Damascus and the airport there. If this were a baseball game we are in the last inning of the game. The end will be come soon.