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Here is my fourth study in Matthew 24.

The Lord Jesus gave to His disciples a picture of the state of Christianity in the days just prior to His return.

There has been a very obvious decline and, as is always the case, error and the lies of the devil have enlarged.

In mercy to those believer who will be found in Jerusalem in those dark times, He issues a warning regarding the Antichrist and also directions regarding their response to that which will signal the start of the “great tribulation.”

I trust the opinion I give on verse 28 will prove to be helpful and edifying for you all, though I emphasise it is only my attempt at explaining a difficult verse.

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster

THE BEGINNING OF SORROWS, Part 4

“All these are the beginning of sorrows,” Matthew 24:8.

Thoughts arising from my reading of this chapter as part of my daily reading and which form the third section of a brief study of Mathew 24:1-31.

I hope to continue the study on a weekly basis.

In our last study, we considered how that the Saviour indicated to us all that in the midst of the darkness of the final years of this age, just before His return in glory and great power, there would be a faithful remnant upheld in the very heart of the ‘fire’ of tribulation, in the Antichrist’s dominion.

1. I repeat, while many will “wax cold”, others will “endure” and bear witness to Christ and His gospel. They will ‘bear patiently’ the trial that will beset God’s people. By their endurance the light of the gospel witness will be maintained.

So it has ever been. Paul said to Timothy: “But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry,” 2 Timothy 4:5. Enduring affliction and doing the work of the evangelist have always gone hand in hand! Even in the best of times it has been so. The record of the labours of men such as George Whitefield and John and Charles Wesley testify to that.

Just before the end of this age, the “gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come,” Matthew 24:14. (more…)

“And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.  I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel,”  Amos 4:6-12.

We have all seen and heard the daily broadcasts by the news media, when commentators vie with each other as to who will sound the most dramatic and sensational in their reports of the extent of the natural disasters that are hitting many countries, not least the United Kingdom, especially the south of England and Wales.

There are reports from all over the world of drought, vanishing water supplies, uncontrollable forest fires, harvests lost through lack of water, fields of grain destroyed by fire, animals in distress because of thirst, likewise fish and other aquatic creatures suffering because of low river levels and a consequent drop in oxygen content. (more…)