A Lamp Unto My Feet Bible Study Website
Matthew 24:3
Matthew 24:4-14
Lesson #59
MATTHEW 24 Continued
- Memory verse: Mat 24:14
- We continue our study of Matthew 24, answering the three questions that were asked of Jesus about His second coming.
- Question 3: What shall be the sign of the end of the age?
- Read Mat 24:4-14 (Luk 21:8-19,24)
- Spiritual deception or apostasy (Mat 24:4)(2The 2:3 1Tim 4:1-16 2Tim 3:1-17)
- One out of every three Americans is involved in some kind of spiritual deception today.
- Scoffers 2Pet 3:1-4
- Wars and rumors of wars (Mat 24:6)
- In recorded history for every year of peace there has been 13 years of war. However, since 1945 there have been over 300 wars without one day of peace.
- More than 180 million people died in wars in this century.
- Nation shall rise against nation (Mat 24:7)
- The word nation = ethnic groups.
- We have an international explosion in the last 15 years of the rights of different ethnic groups such as in Africa and in Bosnia.
- Since Hitler, the term “ethnic cleansing” has become a much used phrase.
- Iraq and the Kurds
- Serbs in Bosnia
- In Rwanda in Africa
- Kingdom shall rise against kingdom (Mat 24:7)
- The word kingdom = political groups.
- The clash of various political ideologies such as communism, socialism, Nazism, democracy has been a 20th century phenomena.
- Famines, water shortage (Mat 24:7 Joe 1:20)
- Famine usually results from war and political oppression because it is a food distribution problem and not usually over population.
- God told man to be fruitful and multiply. God is able to provide all we need if we trust Him.
- Famines since World War I:
- 1928-1929 China 3,000,000 die
- 1932-1934 Soviet Union 5,000,000 die
- 1941-1943 Greece 500,000 die
- 1943 Hanan, China 5,000,000 die
- 1943-1944 Bengal, India 3,000,000 die
- 1944-1945 Europe unknown
- 1944-1945 S E. Asia unknown
- 1967-1970 Biafra/Nigeria 3,000,000 die
- 1968-1974 Sub-Saharan Africa unknown
- 1976-1980 Cambodia 3,000,000 die
- 1979-1981 Uganda 250,000 die
- 1983-now Horn of Africa unknown
- 1984-1985 Ethiopia unknown
- Pestilences (Mat 24:7 Zec 14:12-15)
- E Bola virus
- Cancer
- HIV/AIDS
- Other sexually transmitted diseases
- Hantavirus
- COVID19
- Nuclear radiation
- Chemical warfare (40 nations have these weapons today)
- Famines since World War I:
- Spiritual deception or apostasy (Mat 24:4)(2The 2:3 1Tim 4:1-16 2Tim 3:1-17)
Anthrax
Bubonic plague (There is still no cure for it)
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- Pollution (Amo 8:9)
- Earthquakes in various places (Mat 24:7) = unusual places
- In 1992 an earthquake occurred in Egypt which never had one before.
- Every ten years the number of earthquakes doubles.
- Other associated natural disasters:
- Tidal waves (Luk 21:25)
- Storms (Rom 8:22)
- The great earthquakes of history:
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373 BC Helice, Greece
365 AD Eastern Mediterranean
476 AD Rome
526 AD Antioch (now Turkey) 250,000 die
1556 N. China 830,000 die. Worst death toll in history
1692 Jamaica
1707 Tokyo 200,000 die
1755 Lisbon, Portugal 60,000 die
1783 Calabria, Italy 30,000 die
1811 New Madrid, Missouri. Largest quake in the U.S.
1812 Venezuela
1868 Peru
1896 Sanriku coast, Japan 27,000 die
1905 Kangra, India 157,000 die 8.3
1906 San Francisco 700 die 8.3
1908 Messina, Italy 160,000 die 7.5
1920 Gansu, China 100,000 die 8.6
1923 Sagami bay, Japan 100,000 die 8.3
1931 Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand 255 die 7.9
1933 Long Beach, California 120 die 6.3
1939 Anatolia, Turkey 30,000 die 6.0
1950 Assam, India 30,000 die 8.4
1960 Agadir, Morocco 15,000 die 5.9
1960 Arauco, Chile 2,000 die 8.4
1962 Iran 12,000 die 7.3
1964 Anchorage, Alaska 114 die 8.5
1972 Managua, Nicaragua 10,000 die 6.2
1976 Guatemala City, Guatemala 23,000 die 7.5
1976 Tangshan, China 695,000 die 7.9
1978 Iran 25,000 die 7.7
1980 Algeria 20,000 die 7.5
1980 Italy 3,000 die 6.8
1985 Mexico City, Mexico 7,000 die 8.1
1987 Ecuador 4,000 die 7.3
1988 Armenia 25,000-45,000 die 6.9
1989 Northern California 67 die 7.1
1990 Iran 40,000 die 7.7
1992 Landers, California 1 die 7.4
1992 Flores, Indonesia 2,500 die 7.5
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- From 1900 to 1949 there were an average of 3 major quakes of 7.2+.
- In the 1950’s there were 9 quakes
- In the 1960’s there were 13 quakes
- In the 1970’s there were 56 quakes
- In the 1980’s there were 74 quakes
- In the 1990’s (to 1995) there have been about 127.
- There have been 24 major quakes in this century alone.
- There are 60 or more quakes of 6.5 or above registered each year around the world.
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- Signs in the heavens (Luk 21:11)
- In the early 1900’s there was an atomic type explosion from something coming from outer space that occurred in Siberia. It is still unexplained.
- We will see other unusual, unexplained astrological phenomena occur in the near future such as comets, asteroids, meteors, etc.
- The above signs continue into the first half of the tribulation. Jesus says they are the “beginning” of sorrows.
- From the middle of the tribulation, the following signs are evident because Jesus says “then…”.
- Persecution of Christians and Jews (Mat 24:9-10)
- In our present day over 300,000 Christians are martyred each year.
- 50,000 Albigensian Christians were beheaded in 24 hours in southern France during the days of the Inquisition.
- Over 1,000,000 were tortured at the end of the 13th century.
- Persecution begins with offense and betrayal (10) (deception) = division that destroys loyalty (11) (lawlessness and rebellion) = lack of love.
- Many false prophets (Mat 24:11)
- An abundance of sin (Mat 24:12) (Nah 3:5-6) (2Tim 3:1-9)
- Pornography, homosexuality, moral decay, government and business crime
- A lack of human love and good will (Mat 24:12)
- The gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all nations. (13-14)
- The number of born-again Christians has grown at a rate three times faster than the world population.
- 1430 AD 1 in 99 were Christian
- 1790 1 in 49
- 1940 1 in 32
- 1970 1 in 19
- 1980 1 in 16
- 1983 1 in 13
- 1986 1 in 11
- 1994 1 in 10
- During the tribulation the gospel is preached:
- By 144,000 Jewish witnesses.
- By a multitude of saved Gentiles.
- By the two witnesses.
- By world-wide satellite television
- Far East broadcasting and Transworld Radio had a plan to take the gospel via short wave to the entire world by the year 2000.
- By an angel
- It is unusual that an angel preaches the gospel because God gave that task to man.
- An unusual out-pouring of the Holy Spirit–signs and wonders. (Joe 2:23-28)
- “then the end will come” (Mat 24:14)
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Homework
More of Matthew 24
- Read Mat 24.
- Memory verse: Mat 24:32
