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Deception About the End
“Don’t be deceived.” Vss 23-28 tell you that if someone says that Christ’s final return in person has happened, don’t listen. His return will not be in secret or like that of a normal person; His final return will be so incontrovertible that no one will be able to miss it. Notice that the deceivers are wrong on at least two critical points: One, they’re wrong on the timing (there’s that word again). They’re too early! The deceivers are those who claim He’s walking around on earth as a regular person when He’s really in heaven sitting at the right hand of the Father.
Two, they’re wrong on the manner of the final return. It will be like lightning traveling across the sky – fast, bright and blinding, not secret nor easy to miss. The entire idea of predicting His final return is fool-laden, for it shall need no introduction nor explanation to keep His people from missing it. The bottom line: You don’t need any preliminary events to tell you when it will happen. It will be undeniable.
Where is the carcase? The Greek word for carcase is ptoma, and it means a fall into sin and death. The air creatures, translated in the King James version as “eagles,” are what gather around this fall. The English Standard Version translates verse 28 this way: “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.” There are numerous ways to interpret this interesting verse about the eagles gathering around a carcase, but what does it mean? Particularly in light of the context – how not to be deceived about Christ presence on earth.
Let the bible interpret itself. Jesus didn’t hang around carcases, except to raise them from the dead. He told one man to “let the dead bury the dead.” Matthew 8:22. He was life, and following Him was all that mattered. The Hebrew bible (Old Testament) states that a carcase is unclean and to be avoided, if possible. Therefore, the carcase can’t be where we’ll find Jesus. Those who pretend to be Him or pretend to know He’s walking the earth live in death; avoid them!
There is a specific carcase about which Jesus is referring in this passage, and avoiding that carcase is a major part of Jesus’ warning to His disciples. Do you have it figured out yet? Who or what is that carcase in the first century? Matthew 23, which is a discussion directly before, perhaps only minutes before, the Chapter 24 discourse. In fact, because the Chapter 23 discourse probably inspired the disciples’ comments about the beautiful buildings at the beginning of Chapter 24, I’ll assert that the Chapter 24 discourse is a continuation of the Chapter 23 discourse, only for a different audience. Chapter 23 is a prophetic rebuke for the evil, and Chapter 24 is a prophetic warning and advice for the faithful.
It seems to be the verses directly after Jesus’ warning about not being deceived that get people off track. The main reasons for this mis-targeting are 1) the desire to be at the end instead of live responsibly and advance His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, 2) the failure to use the bible to interpret the bible, and 3) the failure to follow Jesus’ own words about His final return and the way to not be deceived. Thus, most interpreters are irresponsible, and they promote irresponsibility. Most people use the newspaper to interpret Jesus’ words. This method of interpretation will always lead you astray. Also, most people think His words refer to future events, thereby ignoring Jesus’ words in yet another way.