In the first posting of this series we studied the first application of God’s message to salvation seeking man which was “OBEY MY WORD.”  Now we will fast forward to the end of the age when Jesus will return to end this present world and create the Kingdom of God from which He and his Very Elect will rule the world and the universe forever.  Read God’s Very Elect: Future Caretakers of the Universe.  Key word–Caretakers.

In Matthew 24 we find the Lord and His 12 disciples coming out of the Temple in Jerusalem.  The disciples are remarking about the incredible structure, its finely-hewn stones and its accompanying buildings.  Jesus’s reply brought a future reality into sharp focus.  He told them that everything they were admiring would one day be destroyed.  The disciples then asked Him what would be the (singular) SIGN of His coming (return) and THE END OF THE WORLD?”  The Lord’s reply brings us to the end times in which we are living.  His warning “voices” (curses) have been “heard” (suffered) by mankind for many generations, just as He prophesied in Matthew 24 would happen.  Throughout the Scriptures continually warned mankind to “OBEY MY WORD” or suffer the consequences.  Man, including churchman, has chosen the second option.  Not knowing what sin is (the breaking of God’s Law), religious man is unable to repent of committing it.  Therefore, he “remains in his sins” (1 Cor. 15:16) while refusing to believe that with each sin he “crucifies Christ afresh” (Heb. 6:6) and “treasures up his sins for the day of judgment” (Rom. 2:5).  For this reason he is “ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the Truth” (2 Tim. 3:7).

In Matthew 24 Jesus answered the disciples’ question about “THE” (singular, premiere) SIGN of His coming by saying: “TAKE HEED THAT NO MAN DECEIVE YOU” (vs 4).  In verse 11 He again spoke about the SIGN, saying that, “… many FALSE PROPHETS shall rise (up from among you) and will DECIEVE YOU.”  In Jeremiah 14:14 Jesus (as the Old Testament God) had warned about deception and false prophets among the ancient Israelites in the first application of His “obedience message.”  He had told them that: “THE PROPHETS PROPHESY LIES IN MY NAME.  But I did not send them, nor did I command them, nor did I speak to them what they prophesy to you … they speak out of the deceit of their own hearts.”  Looking to the end times when the Gentiles would be welcomed into God’s church, Jeremiah prophesied that a time would come when they would proclaim: “Surely our fathers have inherited lies ….”  Unfortunately, the people believed and followed Satan’s false prophets into sin for which God punished them many times, but to no avail.  Eventually He sent both groups out of the Promised Land.  In 722 B.C. He sent the Assyrians to defeat and enslave the northern tribes, called “Israel.”  Then is 586 B.C. He sent the Babylonians to defeat and enslave the southern tribes, called “Judahites” who were nicknamed “Jews” by the King James translators.

Hundreds of years later we find that same God Who, having come to earth as Jesus of Nazareth, telling the descendants of those ancient Israelites (His disciples) that a day was coming when their (the disciples’) descendants would suffer the same consequences as their ancestors if they did not OBEY HIS WORDS.  We pick up His warning about the first SIGN they would see that would tell them that the end of the age was approaching.  That SIGN was FALSE RELIGION (Mat. 24:4).  Jesus would later show the Apostle John a vision (Rev. 6) in which four horses would traverse the earth issuing Christ’s warnings (“voices”).  The first horse (SIGN) was white (symbolic of purity) and was ridden by a false, crown-wearing christ who would spread FALSE RELIGION throughout the earth.  He would come “conquering (mankind) and to conquer (more of mankind).  As Jesus said in Revelation 12:9, by the end of the age the false christ (Satan) would have “deceived the whole world” into embracing his false religions.  The Book of Revelation describes the fate of deceived people alive on earth during the three and one-half years prior to Christ’s return.  Today that group numbers approximately 7.7 billion–the population of present day earth.

After warning the disciples, and through them the present world, about the first SIGN of His coming, Jesus went on to warn of wars, famines, pestilences (pandemics), earthquakes, etc.–His “voices”–which He described as “the beginning of sorrows” (vs 8).  It was because the world embraced the message of the white horse rider that God sent the other three horses.  In verse 12 He identifies the CORE LIE that would be preached by Satan’s false prophets–the first SIGN–INIQUITY.  Iniquity means LAWLESSNESS.  False prophets would convince the people that God’s Law had been “nailed to the cross.”  Read The Two Laws of God.  Key word–Two.  Read Christ’s response to that lie in Matthew 7:23.  This globally-embraced Law-nailed-to-the-cross “Bible truth” is the core sin from which all other sins arise.  The Apostle James speaks to this Truth in chapter 2 verse 10 where he warns that to break ONE of the Ten Commandment Laws was to break/transgress the entire Law.  The Apostle John speaks to this Truth by telling us that “To transgress the Law is sin, for sin is the transgression of the Law (1 Jn. 3:4).  Satan’s crowing glory was to deceive billions of God seekers to break (transgress) His 4th commandment which concerns His Holy Sabbath.  Iniquity (rejection of God’s Law) proves that people do  not love God.  Jesus Himself says in John 14:15,23; 15:10 that we prove our love for Him (Jesus) by obeying God’s Law, and that to abide in His love we must abide in God’s Law, just as He (Jesus) did.  Please read these passages.

God’s dual application of His one message–“OBEY MY WORD (LAW)”–is proclaimed by both the Old and New Testaments, which, together, form the Holy Bible–God’s Truth, His Word, His Law, will and way for all of mankind.  His first application (prophecy) was sent to Ancient Israel through His prophets.  His second application is to modern day Israel through His modern day prophets and apostles.  As was the case anciently, modern day God seekers refuse to believe and obey Him.  The Book of Revelation describes His treatment of those rebels, today known as Catholics and Protestants.  For the past 2000 years the apostate church has suffered from the effects of the four horsemen (Rev. 6) exactly as has the rest of the sinning world.  In God’s eyes there is no difference between the sinning world and the sinning church.  The same message has been received and rejected by one group of people on two different occasions–anciently and currently.  Man, including salvation seeking man, has consistently refused to hear God’s “voices,” believe His message, repent and turn to Him.  As Jesus warned in Matthew 24:5, “… many will come in My name, declaring that I am the Christ, and will deceive many.”  Only a few will obey His command to “OBEY MY WORDS.”  L.J.