Watch Out for False Saviors

Ah, one “elect” lemming in the bunch

Since 1958 when Disney filmmakers staged a herd of rodents running off a cliff to drown in the depths below, the myth of suicidal lemmings has persisted. Not because it’s true (it’s not—lemmings aren’t suicidal), but because it’s an irresistible metaphor for the truth of mass hysteria that sometimes manifests in mob psychology and behavior as people search for someone, anyone, to save them from problems, fears, enemies, lack of hope.

I don’t want to be deceived by any messianic pretenders, but if false christs and false prophets/teachers will perform highly believable signs and miracles, then how can I make sure not to be led astray with the many who will join the madness of crowds and march to their deaths. In Mark 13:17-23 Jesus tells us the prophesied sign of the temple’s first century destruction preceded the Lord’s “coming” to judge the generation that rejected the true Christ. Let the Christian (both then and now) understand the Lord’s instructions to watch out for deceitful christs in order to be saved from tribulations at the end of the age.

Jesus’ doctrine of the last days is his most difficult teaching to interpret. Verses 14-23 are the middle (part 2 of 3) of Mark 13 regarding when the temple will be destroyed and what will be the sign of Christ’s coming at the end of the age. He already introduced the idea of false saviors coming (Mk 13:6), and then explained what to expect when the true sign (the abomination of desolation) appears. Now he elaborates with more detailed instruction about how to watch out (!) for them.

Watch Out (!) for the True Sign

For Christians then: the abomination of desolation (Mk 13:14a)

Understand Jesus gives his apostles a description of the true sign of his coming so they won’t be fooled by false saviors appearing with many signs and wonders, but without the true sign. Daniel the OT prophet was the first to predict a man known as the abomination of desolation (Dan 9, 11, 12). At the dawn of the NT era Jesus added to this prophecy that had been partially fulfilled about 200 years earlier in the Greek Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes who had desecrated the Jerusalem temple.

Jesus predicted another abomination of desolation who would destroy city and temple in the generation of the apostles. Both these abominable men, prophesied to come in the future by Daniel and Jesus, are now historical figures of 167 BC and AD 70. For first century Christians, Roman general (later to be emperor) Titus, besieging Jerusalem and razing the temple, was the true sign for whom Jesus told his followers to watch out.

The true sign preceded the end of the age as Jesus understood it: in terms of God’s people, the end of the primarily Jewish dispensation with Jerusalem and its temple at center stage of redemptive history, and the beginning of the times of the Gentiles when God’s kingdom center shifted from Israel to the nations.

For Christians now: the man of lawlessness (2 Thess 2:1-4)

Yet there remains a true sign that Christians now should watch out for. The apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church about a “man of lawlessness” who would certainly precede the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thess 2:1-12). That man will not come on the scene until God is ready to bring history to a final crisis before Jesus appears from heaven coming on the clouds in glory. Thus the last abominable man—the final fulfillment of the abomination of desolation, is the true sign of the end of the age when God will set in motion events that will soon culminate in the last judgment on the last day and thereby usher in the eternal state.

At first glance, it might seem the man of lawlessness, otherwise known as the final antichrist figure whose spirit is always at work in the last days from Christ’s first coming to his second, is an obviously grotesque character who projects blatant evil. But Jesus and the apostles teach that Antichrist with a capital A will be deceptively wonderful, appearing to many as a savior, or to idolaters as The Savior.

Isn’t that always the way it is in the world? False saviors, like the devil, present themselves as angels of light. We fall into temptation and are deceived by believing their lies that only they can understand us, love us, and save us. The worst tyrants begin as benevolent strong men. We fall under their spell when we foolishly put our hopes in their promise to save and deliver.

Watch Out (!) for False Hopes

Those days might be doubly terrible under certain conditions (vv. 17-18)

That’s why Jesus forewarned the apostles to watch out for false hopes. For first century believers needing instruction tailored to what they would face in Judea only decades later, Jesus explained how bad the Jerusalem crisis could get for the most vulnerable. In verse 17 the Lord lamented for pregnant women and nursing mothers when the moment would arrive to flee to the mountains. How awful it would be for mamas and babies who cannot move fast and who need lots of clothes, equipment, and accessories for survival! More generally, pregnant women and nursing mothers represent anyone who might need to flee under particularly difficult circumstances.

Winter could make a hasty flight extremely problematic and circuitous. In the land of Israel, winter is the rainy season when rivers and streams swell and flood, becoming impossible to cross on foot for people and animals. Such obstacles would pen in refugees, preventing them from reaching a place of safety and decreasing the chance of survival. Moreover, cold winter storms usually transformed roads into impassable mud bogs. Ancient Jewish historian Josephus recorded that in AD 68 refugees from Judea fleeing the Roman armies became trapped by the Jordan river flooding. Their pursuers caught up and slaughtered them.

So according to Jesus, those days during the first century crisis might be doubly terrible under certain conditions. The message Jesus relays is clear: “Don’t get your hopes up, naively trusting that it won’t be that bad because God would never let that happen.” Doubly terrible is within the realm of possibility, so Jesus urged the Christians then to pray the true sign will not show himself in winter and not at a time when your women are pregnant or nursing. Because Jesus knew the first century crisis would be terrible and could be doubly terrible. And he also knows the final crisis that is still future for Christians now will be terribly and possibly doubly terrible.

So pray for God’s mercy and deliverance as he brings his swift judgment upon the wicked! First, pray that you will be counted among the righteous—those who are found abiding in Christ by faith in him as the true Savior. Second, pray that you will not be caught up as collateral casualties in the sweeping earthly destruction, but instead that you would escape the terrors of Judgment Day. Don’t take it for granted that those days will be pain-free for you, your family, your friends, and your church. Jesus says, “Pray!”

Those days will be incomparably terrible, yet God will mercifully cut them short (vv. 19-20)

Still, Jesus also knows a secret about God’s mercy. In the days of the first century crisis, and by the principle of multiple prophetic fulfillments, those days then and those days still to come may accurately be described as incomparably terrible. From the beginning of creation up until AD 70, from God’s cosmic perspective and the perspective of Israel, no tribulation surpassed what the Lord Jesus predicted in that generation would visit Jerusalem, the temple, and the people caught up in that judgment.

Think about Christ’s comparison. No tribulation up to that point was worse. Not the fall and subsequent exile from the Garden. Not the Flood. Not slavery in Egypt. Not the wilderness wandering. Not the cycles of oppression during the era of the Judges. Not the rampant idolatry and injustice under the reigns of wicked kings. Not the fall of Israel in the Assyrian conquest under Tiglath-Pileser. Not the fall of Judah and the Babylonian exile under Nebuchadnezzar. Not the threat of Jewish extinction while Esther was queen of Persia. Not even the abomination of desolation preceding the Maccabean wars for Jewish independence.

No, Jesus insists the first century crisis will be incomparably terrible. Not only because of the high toll of human misery, but especially because of what those days symbolized: woes of culminating judgment on the scribes and Pharisees who spiritually led God’s people to reject and murder the Son of God (Mt 23:34-39).

Praise be to God who loves his elect people, his remnant who he reserves for himself, those whom he chose. For their sake alone, Jesus says that God cut short those days because the Lord abounds in mercy. Mercy is the favor God gives us when he doesn’t give us the punishment we deserve. If God ever withholds his mercy, then no human being can be saved, because every single person desperately needs God’s mercy to be saved from death in this life (physical death) and in eternity (spiritual death).

Even though those days were incomparably terrible, God cut them short so his beloved chosen people might be saved from being swept up in his wrath. Because God does not change, but is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8), those days of the final crisis will follow the same pattern. The book of Revelation leads us to expect the last days surrounding the final crisis will be incomparably terrible (even worse than AD 70 which was but a preview of the last day) as Christ’s second coming in judgment arrives (Rev 6:12-17; 14:17-20; 16:17-21; 19:17-21). Yet we should expect God will also cut those days short for the sake of his beloved chosen people—the elect ones saved by grace for Christ.

What does it mean that God cut short those days for Christians then, and will cut short those days for Christians now? Simply that the terror of those days won’t go on forever. Like the waters crashing on the shore, God sets their boundary on the land and declares, “This far, and no farther.” Yes, God is a God of wrath. Yet his mercy is more because Christ has taken the wrath of God due to sinners and satisfied it. For all the elect, known to us as all those who repent of their sins, believe in Jesus as the true Savior, and bow to him as Lord, God’s mercy triumphs over judgment. Hallelujah!

Watch Out (!) for False Christs

Their false signs and wonders are so deceptive God must preserve his elect (vv. 21-22)

Isn’t it marvelous that the true Christ, known so well to his apostles, thought it necessary to tell them to watch out for false christs? I’ve often wondered how people who knew Jesus could possibly be at risk of the deceptions of a pretend Savior. Yet here is Jesus, the one who worked true signs and wonders in the presence of his followers, telling them the liars are going to be extremely convincing.

Notice how Jesus associates such counterfeit signs and wonders with the ministry and revealing of the coming Messiah. Jesus Christ the true Messiah, when he returns, will perform miracles and amazing deeds. False christs and false prophets will try to mimic such messianic manifestations (Ex 7:11, 22; 8:7; Dt 13:1-5; Mt 7:15-23; 2 Thess 2:9-10; Rev 19:20). By nature of who they imitate, false christs pretend to be God’s anointed deliverer, and false prophets pretend to be God’s appointed messenger. Such false signs and wonders will be stunning in appearance, so that without God’s protection even the elect would be deluded and led astray.

Again, history records how this happened. Josephus wrote about several first-century pretenders who promised to work miraculous wonders like Moses and Joshua. Christians now must watch out for the current-event prophecy pundits who present their timetables as the map of end times fulfillment. Such teachers are deluded and lead many astray. Scripture tells us plainly that no one knows the day or hour (or any other measurement of time) of Christ’s coming (Mk 13:32). We must not allow ourselves to be whipped into a prophetic frenzy regarding the second coming of Jesus, but rather must stay awake and alert (Mk 13:33-37). While watching out, Christians must prepare for persecution but not get discouraged (Mk 13:9-13; cf. Mk 8:34-38), always holding onto Christ’s promises until the end (Mk 13:11, 13).

From our perspective looking back with 20-20 hindsight on yesteryear, we imagine false christs and false prophets were obvious to spot. Ancient figures like Mohammed in Arabia, the founder of Islam, which began as an Abrahamic religion that explicitly denied the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Or from more recent centuries, cult leaders like Joseph Smith the founder of Mormonism or Charles Taze Russell who started the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Or those false christs who were raised up by Satan in living memory like Jim Jones and David Koresh, men who claimed to be Christ incarnate and led many astray spiritually but also to tragic deaths. I’m sure you could multiply obvious examples that don’t fool you. But it’s never so easy when it happens now.

What do false christs and false prophets look like today? We might struggle to answer unless we think about what being a “christ” or “prophet” essentially entails. The Bible draws a straight line from the OT false prophets to the NT false teachers (2 Pet 2:1). Hence the false prophets Jesus tells us to watch out for are people or organizations that teach lies as if they are true. Not merely disagreeable perspectives, like when someone says, “Well, I don’t know about that, but what about this?” False teachers more often peddle in the wicked deception of calling evil good and good evil.

Surely you hear how news media and educational propaganda repeat lies over and over, delivered in slick packages by award-winning producers to convince you not to believe your own observations or trust your own experience. Whereas false prophets traffic in the realm of information and edutainment, false christs travel in the realm of power and seduction. A false christ is basically someone that appeals to idols of money, sex, politics, and brute force—offering to save you from such threats by granting you power through them as long as you serve that someone as your savior.

People elevate false saviors on the pedestals of their hearts and give them idolatrous worship. In our country more and more of life is being politicized so that literally everything feels politically significant. If such trends continue, Christians also will be relentlessly tempted by the unbelieving voices in their lives—“What you really need is a political savior, the one candidate who alone can solve your problems and defeat your enemies.” President Donald Trump certainly has a cult-like following. But so does President Barack Obama, who many so uphold as “The One” to save, atone, and deliver America from its racist sins of the past and present. And today, insert here the political or spiritual leader who is currently being elevated as the Great Hope of America and the world.

Wherever false christs and false prophets arise, or the hope that one will arise, watch out! Jesus commands you to stop your ears and then preach the gospel of the true Savior to your heart. Do not be caught up in the messianic frenzy! Only Jesus is the Son of God, the anointed One able to truly save and deliver. Do not put your trust in princes (Pss 118:5-10; 146:3). Put your trust in Christ the true Savior, the messianic Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6).

Jesus says false saviors and teachers will be on the prowl to deceive many in the last days (the era between Christ’s first and second comings). When you hear, “There is the Savior: look here, look there,” neither be alarmed nor fooled no matter how convincing their words and actions might seem. Jesus says these counterfeit saviors and teachers will be raised up for the very purpose of enticing God’s chosen ones. It’s a trap the enemy will spring to test your faith to reveal whether you are genuine. And these deceivers would succeed in leading even Christians astray if not for the protecting and preserving grace of God. That’s how enticing the bait, how grueling the test!

How will you be strong and know enough to resist? The question really is, how can you tell a counterfeit from the genuine article. Here’s the answer: know the true Savior, Jesus Christ, so well that you’ll instantly spot an imposter as God gives you eyes to see. You don’t need to become an expert on all the ways false christs and false prophets have deceived people throughout the centuries. Because if you try to become an expert on the cults and Christian heresies then your research will never cease!

The permutations of lying sin are endless, but the true way of the righteous is simple. As the old tried-and-true saying goes, “Know Jesus, know truth; no Jesus, no truth.” And the tried-and-true method of knowing Jesus better and better is to spend time with God in Bible study, prayer, and being around God’s people who are growing day by day to resemble Jesus.

In the end, the true Savior never disappoints and never crushes his worshipers. But in the end, every false savior always disappoints and always crushes its worshipers. If you follow after a false savior, it will never be able to keep its promises to you. Like a carrot on a string, extended over your shoulder always just out of reach, are the promises of reward for serving a false savior. Endless disappointment.

Conversely, a false savior’s demands of obedience for serving it have no room for love, grace, or mercy. Because you’ll never measure up to a false savior’s demands (no god can be served perfectly), you’ll constantly be weighed down as not good enough. You’ll be crushed by a false savior’s inflexible, demanding commands. Endless burden. Endless disappointment. Always. Because that’s what idols do—they perpetually disappoint and crush all who put their hopes in them. But thanks be to God for his promise to preserve his elect whom he loves.

Listen to Jesus the true Christ who warns his elect beforehand for their salvation (v. 23)

What a God we serve, who will not disappoint us, crush us, or leave us exposed to his wrath. He tells us the truth before temptation and deceptions arise so we might watch out. He knows we are prone to the sins of sloth and apathy on one hand, and the sins of aimless exertion and passion on the other. But instead of offering mere words, he prepares, empowers, and commissions us to a life of two-fisted faithfulness to build and fight.

Nehemiah is the OT image of a faithful person always on guard (Neh 4:15-23). In one hand a sword to fight off the temptations and troubles of false saviors. In the other hand a trowel for building the kingdom according to the true Savior’s assignment of duties. Jesus wants us to be saved from putting our faith, hope, and love in false saviors because he wants us to be saved for his coming.

How can you recognize the true Savior when he comes? He is the only Savior who revels in being the Lion and the Lamb. Most false saviors try to deceive people looking for a display of power and glory with signs and wonders. Rarely will a false savior portray himself as a sacrifice who dies a shameful, horrible death. But only Jesus Christ is both the all-powerful, majestic Lion worthy of all glory, honor, and strength, and the gentle, innocent, sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world by becoming that sin upon the cross.

For love of the elect, God is saving out of the world his chosen ones from the deceptions and tribulations that lead many astray. You will know the true Savior in the one who comes from heaven as the Lion of Judah who conquers, and the Lamb of God who lays down his life for the elect. Look for no one but him. Call upon his name alone to be saved from your sins and the coming tribulations of deception so you won’t be led astray with the many lemmings in the end. Amen.

Resources

Sermon outline & commentary

Sermon audio download