Shema Living During End Times (9)

Then many will be led into sin, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will appear and deceive many,  and because lawlessness will increase so much, the love of many will grow cold. 

(Matthew 24:10-12)

The phrase, “Turn it up a notch” is often mentioned to encourage persons, like athletes, workers, students, and etc. in the effort they are giving in athletic competitions, work challenges, academic endeavors. Though the details in Matthew 24 does not depict a time for encouragement, the phrase does describe well that the notch has been turned up by the events to which Jesus is prophesying. With the onslaught of persecution and hatred already mentioned in verse 9, the following verses our Lord continues to give added description of what will transpire as the beginning of sorrows have begun to transition into the Great Tribulation.

The “many” could denote many followers, in particular, or many people as a whole. The greater implication from the context is on the Christ follower as their Christianity is the reason for the accusation against them. This pressure will lead many nominal or peripheral Christians to step away from an expression of public faith. The “many” would denote people who were not truly converted and believers in Jesus Christ as Lord. These false believers will be led into the ultimate stumbling of apostasy in which a non-heart belief in Christ exposes with anticipated benefits of peace and joy has been thwarted and replaced with threats on insult and persecution.

But falling away is only the first step. Their lives will seep and merge into the deceptive work of the false Christs as they, too, will betray those who are Christians. They will turn believing family and friends over to evil people in authority. (Mark 13:12; Luke 21:16) The word for “betrayal” is the same word employed to describe Jesus’ betrayal. The same fate that happened to Christ Jesus will happen to those who truly believe and hold to His name.

Finally, though introduced and taught the greatest love of all, the love of God as revealed in Jesus, they will completely remove themselves and now wholeheartedly embrace a lifestyle to “hate one another.” Though hard to comprehend, there are precedents. Josephus records of such strife and deception prior to the Temple’s destruction in AD70 as well as the 20th century moment of persons betraying and hating Jewish friends during Hitler’s regime in Germany.

Furthermore, though already mentioned as the first “birth pains” indicator (vv. 4-5), Jesus emphasized the continued great deception of false prophets. So, the parallel of betrayal and hatred from within runs parallel from the mounting pressure and ongoing deception from the world. Now, the additional component to the false prophets is the false sheep. As the role and value of a true prophet is reverently recognized and highly valued by the church, both past and present, the great deception of those who would be highly viewed as trustworthy will lead many people, including those espousing to be genuine believers, astray.

This mixture of apostasy, betrayal, hatred, false teaching, and gross deception will bring forth the cruel reality that “lawlessness will increase.” Many Bible translations replace “lawlessness” with wickedness. The heavy concentration of betrayal will move people to only take care of and do what is best for themselves. The Bible’s commentary of the time of Judges from the Old Testament will become true once again on an even larger scale, “Each man did what he considered to be right.” (Judges 17:6; 21:25) Each person will become a law unto himself or herself.  

The affective result will be “the love of many will grow cold.” As morals not only decline but become non-existent and human decency is avoided and replaced with increased and intensified wickedness, care and consideration of one’s neighbor diminishes. The verb “grow cold” means originally to breathe or blow. Spiritual life is chilled. In short, when self becomes so skeptical and distrusting one easily chooses to become entrenched to control and self-protect instead of love, reach out, care and consider others.

Yet, a question remains: is this love growing cold towards others, or God, or both? With theologians representing all three positions it seems wise to view this loss of love will be to both God and one’s neighbor. But I would believe, it would be ultimately, a heightened loss to love the Lord. Whether it is the apostate who now betrays Christians or the seeking to remain faithful believer, the delayed response of God to help and Jesus to return will afford opportunity for one’s heart to become calloused to a God of love. Again, this delay will reveal those who never truly knew God and had a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.

So, during the end times what will be “turned up a notch” will be a world-wide wickedness that will pivot towards an apostasy of false believers and their betrayal and hatred to true followers of Christ who remain faithful to “watch and pray.” Additionally, a horrible turn into grand deception on every level, from a myriad of sources will be experienced. The expanse and depth of the deception digresses the world into unbelievable wickedness, chaos, only taking care of self, and refusal to love God and others.

Our Father, Jesus has given us a tremendous prophetic picture of future reality that can be readily identified, on a lower scale, as accurate for our world right now. To think, these factors of betrayal, hatred, and wickedness will only become more frequent and burgeon with intensity is numbing. However, our hope remains in You. You not only got the whole world in Your hands, but what matters most is that you and the Father have us in Your hands. Thank You. Fully allowing You to live in and through us becomes an even greater request and desire. Lord, strengthen our desire to “watch and pray” so, we will be proved faithful to the One who has been so unendingly faithful to us. In Jesus’ name, amen.