Matthew 24:10–12

He spoke as though the disciples in front of Him would be there at the end, because He saw them as representatives. The "brothers" spoken of at the end of the discourse are the disciples of the last days, and the disciples of the first days, whom the Lord was addressing, stood for them. A little later the Spirit baptised these first disciples into the one body, which is the church, as recorded in Acts 2. But at that moment they were simply a remnant of Israel who had found the Messiah in Jesus and joined themselves to Him.

But this persecution from outside would cause people to fall away inside. Many would stumble. They would turn against those who had once been their companions, betray them and hate them. And because lawlessness was spreading, many hearts that were not fed straight from the flame of Christ's love would grow cold.

There would be false profession, and hatred of those who were true, even among themselves — not only troubles from outside... So there is a set period of endurance. An end will come, as surely as there was a beginning of sorrows. But what trial, darkness, suffering and scandal before that end comes! When our Lord speaks of the Christian's lot in John's Gospel, He never names a beginning or an end. Instead He implies that a Christian should expect trouble all through his life: "In the world you will have tribulation."

As well as the outward sufferings of the remnant, their trials from within will be sharp. Under the fierce temptation of that time, some will treacherously desert their ranks, causing all the shame and disappointment such failures must bring. Ties will be torn and friendships broken... The "many" here must mean many of the remnant. It could not mean Israel as a whole, because they will be hardened and estranged from God, as they are now. So those whose love grows cold must be people who had love that could grow cold.

Opposition from outside is bad, but opposition from inside is far worse. They hate, betray and trip up one another... Losing trust, respect and affection for each other is the greatest loss of all. When people cannot be trusted like this, faith in God must be very strong, because His support alone can hold a person up.

Both Gospel writers speak of hatred, persecution and betrayal, but the character of it is different. Luke foretells the sufferings that the early Jewish Christians would suffer at the hands of their own countrymen and closest relatives... In Matthew, though, the persecution is a very different one. It comes from the Gentile rulers who oppressed the nation before the Lord's coming in power. So Matthew leaves out the feature of family conflict.

So the Lord prepares the Jewish disciples, the faithful remnant, for their special trials. This was partly true after His own departure, until Jerusalem was destroyed. It will be more fully proved before Jerusalem is owned again, after the destruction of the Antichrist… There would be false profession and hatred of the true, even among themselves — not only troubles from outside… So there is a defined period of endurance. An end will come as surely as there was a beginning of sorrows.

Here false prophets and their deceptions stand out. Luke does not mention them, for there the warning is meant for believers before the siege of Jerusalem. But for the Jews waiting for Christ's return, the danger from this source will be very great. So the warning carries special emphasis, and it foretells how far the deception will spread.

False prophets are attractive because they always predict things that fit men's desires and seem perfectly reasonable. We must be on our watch, for false prophets are everywhere today in the pulpits of Christendom. The devil knows that if he can deceive men about Christ, he can deceive them in everything else. To be rooted in our knowledge of the true Christ makes us proof against the attractions of the false ones.

This Scripture prophesies of false prophets. They prophesy false things — the reverse of God's judgment of the world. They will speak of the world's abilities and its greatness, of man being made perfect, and of the world's institutions becoming his noble state. And the world listens to them.

Minds in such a condition welcome the words of the false prophet. Those words turn many aside from the truth and deceive them.

False prophets will arise, misleading many. The Jewish age has false prophets; the Christian age has false teachers. "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies" (2 Peter 2:1). Evil spirits will possess these false prophets who come at the end of the Jewish age. The same thing happened in Israel's great falling away under King Ahab. The Lord then allowed a lying spirit to take control of the false prophets, as the prophet Micaiah revealed (2 Chronicles 18:18-22).

False prophets also have arisen during this age, as they will at the end. "As you have heard that antichrist is coming… so now many antichrists have come" (1 John 2:18), and they have deceived many.

In tender concern for our weakness, then, the Lord, through His servants, has warned us in advance of what we have to expect among His professing people. Two important things follow. First, only in the light of the Scriptures can we read the state of professing Christianity correctly. Second, if we do not know the teaching of the Word of God, we are open to disappointments and deceptions of every possible kind.

Luke records the parts of the prophecy about the events before the destruction of Jerusalem. He leaves these verses out completely, because no such falling away as the one foretold here happened then. But such a falling away will be one great feature of the days Matthew's prophecy speaks of. Many who begin to wait for the coming of the Messiah will grow cold. They will grow weak under the persecution and oppression they will suffer then.

There were also their own immediate sorrows and trials. Men would hand them over to be afflicted and killed, and all the nations would hate them for Christ's sake. But this persecution from outside would produce desertions inside. Many would take offence. They would turn against people who were once their companions, betray them and hate them. And because lawlessness was everywhere, many hearts that were not fed straight from the flame of Christ's love would grow cold.

Opposition from outside is bad, but opposition from inside is far worse. People hate one another, betray one another and take offence. False prophets will rise and lawlessness will spread, while love grows cold. The loss of mutual trust, respect and affection is the greatest loss of all. When people cannot be trusted, faith in God must be very strong, because only His support can hold a person up.

The "many" here must mean some of the faithful remnant. It could not mean Israel at large, because they will be hardened and far from God, as they are now. So those whose love cools must be people who had love that could cool. Some will desert and betray, while many others will become half-hearted — which will surely grieve the eager and true ones.

"The many" is the mass of the people, in contrast with the godly remnant. They are the ones who will make the covenant.

"The love of many will grow cold" — and no wonder, when self-love grows so hot… Once a man makes self his whole aim, that is the end of loving others or praying for them. Love cannot live in a house as narrow as the self-lover's heart. In fact, love is opposed to it: love "does not insist on its own way" (1 Cor. 13:5).

You might have imagined that widespread lawlessness would stir believers to greater warmth, but it does not. Growing prosperity leads to growing lawlessness in the world. That does believers harm too, turning them away from the spiritual realities that are their true life.

"Because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold" — this is a common, natural experience. The heart has been let down by the world around it. It had promised itself much from that world, and in earlier days it did gather something there, so now it tends to shut itself up. But it was not so with Paul. His heart was as large, as earnest and as loving as ever. If it could not go out and spread over a wider area, it would turn back and pour its warmth on the little that was left to it.