What does it mean that lawlessness will be increased in the end times (Matthew 24:12)?

But besides these things judgment would come: the contentions of nations, famine, pestilence, earthquakes in divers places. These were the beginning of the throes of Jewish sorrows in the midst of which they were to render their testimony. It was surely the heaving of the nations; but the effect considered is on the disciples in their service among the earthly people, though that testimony would go farther. But there was more. Their own immediate sorrows and trials; they would be delivered up to be afflicted, killed, hated of all the Gentiles for Christ's sake. But this persecution from without would produce defections within; many would be offended, would turn against those once companions and betray them and hate them, and, because of abounding iniquity, many hearts not nourished directly from the flame of Christ's love would wax cold. He that went through all the difficulty and pressure to the end would be saved. This gospel of the kingdom would be preached to the Gentiles, and then the end would come.

Besides the external sufferings of the remnant, their trials from within will be poignant. Under the strenuous temptation of the time, there will be treacherous defections from their ranks, with all the mortification and disappointment which such lapses must cause. There will be, too, the rending of ties and severing of friendships, as we read, "Then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And because lawlessness (dvopcia) shall abound, the love of the many shall wax cold" (Matt. 24:12). The "many" here must mean of the remnant. It could not mean of Israel at large; for they will, as now, be hardened in estrangement from God. Those, therefore, whose loye cools must be those in whom there was love that could be cooled. So while some will desert and betray, many will become half-hearted, to the grief, no doubt, of the zealous and true. Then follows a text which has troubled the peace of many a Christian, but which really belongs to the Jewish remnant of a future day — "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." It refers to salvation when the Lord appears in judgment. Many will fall away under the influence of the delusions of the time, but there will be a discriminating judgment when the Son of man appears. Then, there may be two in the field, and one may be taken and the other left. That is, one taken in judgment, and the other spared or "saved" to pass into eternal life on the earth under the Son of man in the millennium. Besides these things there will be to the godly remnant as to Christians now, all the dangers arising from personal unwatchfulness. "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" (Luke 21:34-36). Here, what is in view is clearly not the catching up of saints out of the world, but an escaping through judgments, and passing, saved, into the millennium.

We may state the matter thus: times of earthly prosperity are times of spiritual danger, and usually of spiritual decline. The history of Israel exemplified this. Swift decline followed the magnificence of Solomon's reign. The earlier history of the church exemplified it, for when the era of persecutions ceased, and under the patronage of Constantine the church emerged into favour and outward prosperity, rapid decline took place. It is not otherwise in some parts of the earth today particularly, we may say, in the English-speaking regions, where many are saying, they never had it so good, and are completely indifferent to spiritual things. And what about ourselves? Are we not too often exemplifying the truth of the Lord's words, "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold" (Matt. 24:12). One might have imagined that much iniquity would stir saints to increased warmth, but it is not so. Increased prosperity leads to increased iniquity in the world, and it affects saints adversely, diverting them from the spiritual realities in which their true life consists.

On the other hand, Matthew names features of the last time which have nothing corresponding with them in Luke's prophecy. He says, "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." (vv. 11-13.) Here prominence is given to false prophets and their deceptions. In Luke, where the warning is intended for believers, before the siege of Jerusalem, these are not mentioned. But to the Jews awaiting Christ's return, the danger from this source will be exceedingly great, and therefore the warning is specially emphasised, and the extent of the deception specially foretold. Again, in Matthew it is predicted that "because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold; but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." Luke, who is recording the parts of the prophecy relating to the events before the destruction of Jerusalem, entirely omits these verses, because no such apostacy as that which is here foretold then took place. But such an apostacy will form one great feature of the days spoken of in Matthew's prophecy, when numbers, who begin to wait for the coming of the Messiah, will grow cold, and faint under the persecution and oppression to which they will then be subjected. The verse, "He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved," is often used to show that believers have only a conditional security depending on their own faithfulness. It has, however, nothing to do with the subject, but refers only to the Jews waiting for a national redemption before the Messiah's advent. Some of these, God's elect, will stand faithful to the end. Others, seduced by false Christs or false prophets, or wearied out with the sufferings besetting the path of the faithful, will turn aside, and perish with the unbelievers.

Again Matthew adds, "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations (or all the Gentiles); and then shall the end come." (v. 14.) In Luke the "end" contemplated is the destruction of Jerusalem, and it is well known that before that event the gospel was not preached to all the Gentiles. In his report, therefore, these words are wholly omitted. But in Matthew the "end" is that about which the disciples had asked, "Christ's coming, and the end of the age." And before that event the gospel will be preached to all the Gentiles. It is not, however, the gospel of God's grace, but "the gospel of the kingdom," a term never applied to Christianity, and referring to the proclamation of the kingdom of the Messiah which will go forth before His appearing. This goes forth not merely to all nations, but to all the nations, or Gentiles, as apart from the Jews; a distinction obliterated under Christianity, but of the utmost moment when the Lord is about to establish his earthly kingdom, with Jerusalem as the centre of His government, and Israel as the head of the nations.

The persecution and martyrdom of believers will be prevalent then, though we knew this has been anticipated during the entire history of the church on earth. Christians have been hated too, even though not being of the godly remnant of Israel. False prophets also have arisen during this age, as they will at the end. "As ye have heard that anti-christ shall come, even now are there many antichrists" (1John 2:18), by whom many have been deceived. After the church is taken, lawlessness will abound, causing the love of many to wax cold. This is the great apostasy: what appeared to be love on the part of many will issue only in cold indifference to the claims of God. Even now we see the portents of this before the rapture. Mere profession is being tested, and will prove empty.

Ver. 9. It will be so trying a time that we little anticipate how awful the pressure which will be brought upon them. We get a little inkling in the Psalms where we read of their crying "out of the depths." I suppose we all know that the Psalms are divided into five books, each with distinctive character. There will be those who will hate one another. "Many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many; and because iniquity shall abound the love of the many shall wax cold" (vers. 10-12). "The many" is the mass (in contrast with the godly remnant), who will make the covenant; but it is he that shall endure unto the end that will be saved (ver. 13). This passage has often been a trouble to anxious souls. Here it is in reference to the awful trial and pressure of God's earthly people in that coming day — being boycotted unless having the mark of the beast on the hand or forehead. "In their forehead" would denote a public owning; "in the right hand" a somewhat secret submission perhaps. Those who are obedient to the Lord's words will escape the worst of it. Those who fail to obey will have to bear the brunt of it.

Such would be the condition of things in the absence of the King. They would be the "beginning of sorrows." In addition to the persecution from without, there would be that which would cause them even greater suffering than the physical torments to which they might be subjected — many would be false to their profession. The persecution of the world tests the reality of the professor. Many such are offended, and instead of standing firm as confessors of Christ, they become, alas! betrayers and haters of those they once professed to love and serve.

With minds in such a condition the words of the false prophet find ready reception, and, turned aside from the truth, many are deceived thereby. The deadening effect of abounding iniquity is also seen in another way — the love of many waxes cold. Ephesus is not alone in this. Who is there among us who has not experienced it? Grace alone can keep.

"The love of many shall wax cold," and no wonder when self-love waxeth so hot. It was foretold also by the apostle (2 Tim. 3:1-2), "In the last days … men shall be lovers of their own selves"; and what a black regiment follows this captain, sin! If once a man makes self the whole of his aim, farewell loving of, or praying for others: charity cannot dwell in so narrow a house as the self-lover's heart; yea, it is opposed to it: "Love seeketh not her own" (1 Cor. 13:5).

But looking at this in another light, I might say, what a victory, in the heart of the apostle, all this expresses! "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold" — a common, natural experience. The heart has been disappointed in the scene around it, and from which it had promised itself much, and in other days had gathered something, and its tendency would be to shut itself up. But so was it not with Paul. His heart was as large, and earnest, and loving as ever; and if it cannot go forth and spread itself over a wider surface, it will return and spend its fervours over a little that remains to it.

There is a danger of being disheartened and "vexed" through the prevalence of evil, "Because of the abounding of iniquity, the love of many shall wax cold." How perfect the blessed Lord was in this! All was iniquity around Him, yet, in perfect communion with God, His spirit walked in peace, so that He could notice and recognise even all that was naturally lovely - the lily of the field - God's care of ravens - all that was of God here. But this is because He was perfectly near God (I speak of His mind as Man), but, for the same reason He judges perfectly man and all his thoughts and intents of heart.