"Setting the Stage for the Second Coming"

by Pastor Ron Vandermey on 11/26/12

Matthew 24:26-28: Therefore if they say to you, Look, He is in the desert! do not go out; or Look, He is in the inner rooms! do not believe it.For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

I can remember even as a child when going for a taping of a TV show that some friend would be on that there was someone who would warm up the audience. He would tell jokes, have contests with prizes, have them practice clapping, etc. Occasionally, there would be someone who looked or acted like the actual person who hosted the show. The audience would gasp, and then there were told how they should react when the "real deal" came out.

These verses are warnings that even at the end of the world there will be people who will attempt to take the stage or draw the multitudes to some other person to draw them away from the Lord. There had been messiah's out in the desert, and they had gathered a crowd and then vanished (or the Romans executed them). In our day, we had many hundreds follow "Rev Jim Jones" to Guyana. He had even deceived President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter (not a real surprise there) who both spoke glowingly of Jim Jones'achievements. Jones led people to their death, not to life. That is what these instant messiahs will do in the endtimes.

The point of verses 27-28 is to say that the coming of Christ will be so marked by special events that no one will miss that event. Christ's coming will be in visible, manifested glory when He shines forth from heaven as lightning flaming all over the sky.

As the Great Tribulation moves on to its culmination apostate judaism, centering in Jerusalem, will be as a putrid carcase against which the eagles (or vultures) will be gathered together. This is a vivid picture of the gathering of the armies of "all nations against Jerusalem to battle" as foretold in Zechariah 14. We have not seen that day as yet, but when it comes, Christ assures the disciples that His return is imminent.

In a real sense, every day of our lives we should live as if the return of Christ were imminent. It is, in the time it has taken me to write this short devotional thousands of people all around the world have died. There is no waiting for Christ's coming or worry that it might be tomorrow. It has past, and sadly many of them were not ready. Oh, that each one reading this today would sense an urgency to get out the Word of God to a world that is dying in sin. It is exciting to see events lining up for Christ's return, it is more exciting to be a part of God's redemptive plan right now.