THE FEAR OF BEING DECEIVED?
Understanding Matthew 24:24 in Its Proper Context
One of the greatest fears I have encountered among Christians is the fear of being deceived. I have talked with people who are genuinely afraid to question what they have been taught because they believe that entertaining a different understanding of Scripture could lead them away from the truth.
And one of the passages frequently used to support that fear is Matthew 24:24.
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Matthew 24:24
For years, I heard this passage preached as a warning to Christians living in our modern world. Deception was on a rampage and around every corner. We were told that in the last days deception would become so powerful that even God’s elect would nearly be deceived, believing we were the elect, the remnant. We were warned about false prophets, false religions, The Antichrist, taking the mark and a coming worldwide deception preceding the return of Jesus Christ.
But there is something extremely important that we must establish before applying this passage to ourselves.
WHO WAS JESUS TALKING TO, AND WHEN DID HE SAY THESE THINGS WOULD HAPPEN?
Matthew 24 did not begin with Jesus addressing Christians living two thousand years in the future. It began with Jesus speaking directly to His disciples about the coming destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.
And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
Matthew 24:1
Jesus immediately responded by telling them that not one stone of that temple would be left upon another.
This troubled the disciples, and they asked Him when these things would happen.
From that point forward, Jesus began describing the soon events that would unfold during that generation, including wars, famines, persecution, false prophets, deception, and the great tribulation.
Notice what Jesus had already warned them about earlier in the chapter.
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
Matthew 24:4
Who was the “you” in that passage? It was the disciples standing before Him.
And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Matthew 24:11
Again, Jesus was describing the circumstances surrounding the approaching judgment upon Jerusalem.
Now consider something else.
When Jesus warned about false Christs and false prophets in Matthew 24:24, He was not introducing an entirely new subject. He was continuing the same conversation about the events leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem.
And we have New Testament evidence that these warnings were already becoming a reality during the days of the apostles.
For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
2 John 1:7
Notice that John did not say these deceivers would first appear thousands of years later. He said they had already entered into the world.
John also wrote:
Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
1 John 2:18
This is extremely important!
John identified the presence of many antichrists as evidence that they were living in the last time. He did not point his readers toward a generation thousands of years removed from their own.
Paul also warned the elders at Ephesus that false teachers would arise from among them, speaking perverse things and drawing disciples away after themselves. Acts 20:29–30.
The danger of deception was real, but it was a danger confronting the first-century church.
Now let’s talk about the very elect.
Jesus said that these false Christs and false prophets would show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect.
Now let’s talk about the VERY ELECT:
They were God’s chosen people in Christ, yes, the faithful remnant who believed in Jesus while the Old Covenant age was approaching its end.
Paul spoke about this remnant.
Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Romans 11:5
Notice Paul’s words: “at this present time.”
There was a remnant according to grace living during Paul’s own generation. These were believers who had embraced Jesus Christ while much of Israel continued rejecting Him.
There is no longer a remnant or an elect awaiting fulfillment today.
They were living through an extraordinary covenantal transition. The Old Covenant was growing old and ready to vanish away, as Hebrews 8:13 declares, while the New Covenant had been established through Jesus Christ.
And during that transition, deception was one of the great dangers facing those believers.
They were surrounded by religious opposition, false teaching, persecution, and pressure to abandon their faith in Christ.
This is the historical and covenantal setting in which we should understand the warning about deceiving the very elect.
But notice something else about the language Jesus used.
He said, “if it were possible.”
He did not say the elect would certainly be deceived. He was emphasizing just how persuasive the deception would become.
And yet the passage does not teach that God’s people should spend their lives terrified that every unfamiliar interpretation of Scripture might lead them into deception.
There is a tremendous difference between being deceived and discovering that something we were previously taught may have been incorrect.
Changing our understanding of a passage because we have examined its context is not automatically deception.
In fact, refusing to examine Scripture because we are afraid of what we might discover can prevent us from growing in our understanding of God’s Word and keep us in deception.
The Bereans were commended because they searched the Scriptures daily to determine whether the things they were hearing were true. Acts 17:11.
They were not condemned for examining what Paul taught. They were called noble for doing so!
Again, here is the verse that settles the time frame.
Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Matthew 24:34
Jesus did not leave His disciples guessing about when these events would take place.
He said THIS generation.
Not a generation thousands of years later. Not a generation that would suddenly appear after a prophetic clock began ticking again.
The generation standing in the presence of Jesus would witness the fulfillment of the things He had described.
That includes His warnings about false prophets and deception.
The destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in AD 70 brought that Old Covenant age to its decisive conclusion.
Now, does that mean deception no longer exists today? Absolutely not!
People can still be deceived. False teachers still exist. Religious manipulation still exists. And Christians should continue exercising discernment and examining everything in light of Scripture.
But recognizing that deception exists today does not give us permission to remove Matthew 24:24 from its original audience and historical setting.
I’d like to close this with something that is very important to me.
I have witnessed what fear based teachings about the last days can do to people. I have seen Christians become deeply troubled by the thought of being left behind, missing the rapture, following the Antichrist, taking the mark or being deceived in the final days of human history.
Some have carried these fears for decades. I’ve witnessed this.
And when someone begins questioning those teachings, the fear of deception can become even stronger.
But our hope was never supposed to rest in a prophetic escape plan.
Our hope rests in Jesus Christ!
The New Covenant is not a temporary arrangement while we wait for God to establish something better. It is the better covenant, established upon better promises. Hebrews 8:6.
Jesus did not fail to accomplish what He came to do. He established His Kingdom, fulfilled the promises, and brought His people into a relationship with the Father that the Old Covenant could only anticipate.
I am not suggesting that every question is easy or that every interpretation I hold is beyond examination. I am saying that we should never be afraid to open our Bibles and allow Scripture to speak within its own context.
Truth does not need fear to protect it.
Just because a teacher has a different interpretation than the view you support does not make them a false prophet. We are all on a journey. I would surely disagree with myself on some things I believed years ago. It’s called growth.
And when Jesus said that even the very elect could nearly be deceived, He was warning His first-century disciples about the extraordinary deception that would accompany the end of their age.
The warning was real. The deception was real. And the generation Jesus identified was real.
We must never confuse the fear of changing our theology with the fear of being deceived.
Sometimes what we call deception may actually be someone discovering that the Scriptures say something different from what they have always been taught.
Our responsibility is to search the Scriptures, examine the context, and follow Jesus Christ wherever the truth leads us.
Yes, we are on a theological path and that is great but our focus and confidence should be in Christ not our ability to defend everything we have ever believed.