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FORMER ADVENTISTS PHILIPPINES FAP Bible Prophecy Seminar Saturday, May 2, 2026
| 7:00 PM |
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LESSON 5: FALSE EXPECTATIONS OF
THE END Matthew 24:4–14 |
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LESSON OVERVIEW Total Duration: 45 Minutes
• Format: Teaching with
Scripture Reading • Source: The Olivet Discourse Made Easy,
Chapter 5 |
Central Question: Were
the signs in Matthew 24:4–14 fulfilled in the first century, or are they still
future?
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OPENING & REVIEW Setting the Stage |
2 min |
Quick Recap from Last Week
• The disciples asked Jesus two
things: (1) When will the Temple be destroyed? (2) What is the sign of your
coming and of the end of the age? (Matt. 24:3)
• The Partial Preterist reading:
Jesus answers the disciples as people of their own generation first the
primary referent of the discourse is the AD 70 destruction.
Today’s Key Verse
Matthew 24:4–5 (ESV) “See
that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the
Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.”
Pastoral Note from R.T. France
“Try to hear Jesus’ words as they
would have been heard by his Jewish disciples uninfluenced by a tradition
which conditions Christian readers now to assume that these things can only
refer to the end of the world.”
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SECTION 1 False Christs (Matt.
24:5) |
6 min |
Main Point
•
Jesus warns that many false
messiahs will arise this is a first-century fulfillment, not a far-future
prophecy.
Historical Context
• Daniel 9: The only OT passage that gave Jews a timetable for the
Messiah. This fueled intense messianic expectation.
•
Silver: The generation before AD 70 witnessed “a remarkable
outburst of messianic emotionalism.”
•
Josephus: Lists at least 16 messianic pretenders and false prophets
between 4 BC and AD 73.
• Bar Kochba (AD 132): A false messiah endorsed by Rabbi Akiba proof the
pattern continued even after AD 70.
New Testament Confirmations
•
Acts 8:9–10: Simon Magus claiming to be “the Great Power of God”
•
1 John 2:18: “Many antichrists have come by which we know it is the
last hour.”
Key Bible Texts
Matt. 24:5 (ESV) “For
many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many
astray.”
1 John 2:18 (ESV) “Children,
it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now
many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.”
Acts 8:9–10 (ESV) “But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.””
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SECTION 2 Wars and Rumors of
Wars (Matt. 24:6–7a) |
6 min |
Main Point
•
These wars are signs specifically
meaningful to a first-century audience living under the pax Romana the Roman
peace that made war unimaginable.
The Pax Romana Context
•
Augustus established the Age of
Peace in 17 BC. Roman peace was unprecedented and empire-wide.
•
Pliny the Elder: “The immeasurable majesty of the Roman peace.”
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Epictetus: “Caesar has obtained for us a profound peace. There are
neither wars nor battles.”
•
This peace held steady until
Emperor Nero (AD 54–68).
The Breakdown: Year of Four
Emperors (AD 68–69)
•
Nero’s death in June AD 68
shattered the pax Romana. Civil wars erupted.
•
Four emperors rose and fell within
one year Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian.
• Tacitus: Revolts broke out in Gaul, Britain, Germany, Sarmatia, and
beyond literally “nation against nation.”
•
The Roman army itself went to war
with Jerusalem (AD 67–70) under Vespasian and Titus.
Key Bible Texts
Matt. 24:6–7a (ESV) “And
you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for
this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom…”
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SECTION 3 Famines and
Earthquakes (Matt. 24:7b–c) |
5 min |
Famines
•
Acts 11:28: The prophet Agabus predicted a great famine empire-wide fulfilled under Claudius (AD 41–54).
• Josephus: Famine in Jerusalem during the Roman siege was
catastrophic. A mother ate her own son (J.W. 5:10) a covenant curse (Deut.
28:55–57; Lam. 2:20).
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Tacitus: Of AD 51 only 15 days of food supply remained in Rome.
Earthquakes
•
Tacitus mentions quakes in Crete,
Rome, Apamea, Phrygia, Campania, Laodicea, and Pompeii all before AD 70.
•
Ellicott: “Perhaps no period in history has been so marked by these
convulsions as between the Crucifixion and the destruction of Jerusalem.”
•
Josephus: A devastating earthquake struck Jerusalem in AD 67 as the
Jewish War began with thunder, lightning, and earth tremors (J.W. 4:4:5).
Key Bible Texts
Matt. 24:7b–c (ESV) “…and
there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.”
Acts 11:28 (ESV) “And
one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would
be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of
Claudius).”
Deut. 28:55–57 (ESV) “…[he
will not share] the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has
nothing else left, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall
distress you in all your towns.”
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SECTION 4 Birth Pangs (Matt.
24:8) |
5 min |
Main Point
•
These are not merely signs of
doom. They are birth pangs suffering that precedes new life. As the old
Temple order dies, the new covenant kingdom is born.
OT Background of Birth Pangs
Imagery
•
Used in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and
Micah for God’s historical judgments (Isa. 13:8; Jer. 6:24; Mic. 4:9–10).
9 Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, that pain seized you like a woman in labor? 10 Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you shall go out from the city and dwell in the open country; you shall go to Babylon. There you shall be rescued; there the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies." Micah 4:9-10 (ESV)
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The rabbis used “birth pangs of
the Messiah” (chevlei mashiach) for the distress before the Messianic era.
NCT/New Covenant Significance
•
Heb. 8:13: “In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one
obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish
away.”
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Heb. 12:27–28: The old order is shaken so the unshakeable kingdom may
remain.
"25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire." Hebrews 12:25-29 (ESV)
•
Mark 9:1: Jesus promised that some standing there would not die
until they saw the kingdom come with power fulfilled at AD 70.
Key Bible Texts
Matt. 24:8 (ESV) “All
these are but the beginning of the birth pains.”
Heb. 8:13 (ESV) “In
speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is
becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”
Mark 9:1 (ESV) “And
he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will
not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with
power.””
John 16:21 (ESV) “When
a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she
has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a
human being has been born into the world.”
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SECTION 5 Persecution and
Apostasy (Matt. 24:9–10) |
6 min |
Main Point
• Jesus warns his disciples of
coming hatred from both Jews and Romans and of a massive wave of apostasy
within the church.
The Persecution
Acts 4 → Apostles arrested and threatened.
Acts 7 → Stephen stoned.
Acts 12 → James executed, Peter imprisoned.
Acts 13–14 → Paul and Barnabas persecuted in synagogues and cities.
• Roman persecution:
Nero (AD 64–68) → After the Great Fire of Rome, Nero blamed Christians.
Tacitus records Christians
were “hated for their crimes” by the entire population.
Brutal executions followed burned alive, torn by dogs, crucified.
This directly fulfills Matt. 24:9 “hated by all nations.”
The Apostasy
• 2 Tim. 1:15: “All who are in Asia turned away from me.” (Paul writing
near the end of his life)
• 2 Tim. 4:10: “Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me.”
• 1 John 2:19: “They went out from us, but they were not of us.”
• Hebrews: Written precisely to address Jewish Christians tempted to
revert to the Mosaic system (Heb. 2:1–4; 6:4–6; 10:26–31).
Key Bible Texts
Matt. 24:9–10 (ESV) “Then
they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be
hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and
betray one another and hate one another.”
1 John 2:19 (ESV) “They
went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they
would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain
that they all are not of us.”
2 Tim. 4:10 (ESV) “For
Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to
Thessalonica.”
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SECTION 6 False Prophets,
Lawlessness, and Endurance (Matt. 24:11–13) |
5 min |
False Prophets in the First
Century
• Acts 13:6: Bar-Jesus (Elymas), a Jewish false prophet and sorcerer, opposed Paul and Barnabas in Cyprus.
• Josephus (Jewish War 6.5.2) → Records multiple false prophets inside Jerusalem during the siege (AD 70). They deceived the people, urging them not to flee, which led to mass death.
• Apostolic warnings →
Peter (2 Pet. 2:1) → Warned that false teachers would secretly bring in destructive heresies.
Paul (1 Tim. 4:1) → Said some would depart from the faith, following deceiving spirits.
John (1 John 4:1) → Urged believers to “test the spirits” because many false prophets had gone out into the world.
Lawlessness and Cold Love
• Defined here as breaking God’s law by betraying fellow believers and abandoning the faith. It’s not just social disorder but spiritual rebellion a turning away from Christ and His covenant. This matches Jesus’ warning in Matthew 24:12: “Because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.”
• The Greek word skandalizomai suggests more than a stumble it points to total apostasy, a decisive falling away from professed faith. Instead of persevering in love, some abandoned the mark of true discipleship.
John 13:34–35 → Jesus said love for one another is the defining sign of His disciples. Apostasy destroys this witness, replacing love with betrayal and division.
The Promise to the Remnant
•
This speaks both of physical survival through the tribulation of AD 70 (escaping the destruction of Jerusalem) and spiritual perseverance in faith.
• Echo in Matthew 10:22 → Jesus gave the same command earlier when sending out the Twelve: endurance is the mark of true discipleship.
Key Bible Texts
Matt. 24:11–13 (ESV) “And
many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness
will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to
the end will be saved.”
Matt. 10:22 (ESV) “You
will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end
will be saved.”
John 13:34–35 (ESV) “A
new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved
you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you
are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
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SECTION 7 The Gospel to the
Whole World (Matt. 24:14) |
8 min |
The Futurist Objection
The Preterist Response: Three
Keys
1. The Meaning of oikoumene (“whole world”)
In Luke 2:1, “all the world” (oikoumene) clearly refers to Caesar’s Roman Empire, not the entire globe. No one claims Augustus registered the Americas.
In Acts 11:28, Agabus’ famine “throughout all the world” (oikoumene) was likewise limited to the Roman world under Claudius.
Therefore, in Matthew 24:14, “whole world” (oikoumene) means the inhabited Roman world, not every continent.
2. The Meaning of ethnos (“all nations”)
Ethnos simply means Gentile peoples beyond Israel.
In Matthew 10:5, Jesus restricted the Twelve from going to the Gentiles (ethnē).
In Matthew 24:14, that restriction is lifted the gospel must go to the Gentiles, not just Israel.
It does not require a global satellite broadcast, only the inclusion of Gentile nations in the mission.
3. Paul’s Witness
Romans 1:8 (~AD 55) → “Your faith is proclaimed in all the world.”
Uses kosmos (broader than oikoumene), showing the gospel’s reputation had spread empire-wide.
Romans 10:18 → “Their voice has gone out to all the earth.”
Paul cites Psalm 19 and treats it as already fulfilled (aorist verb).
Colossians 1:6, 23 (before AD 70) → “The gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven.”
Paul explicitly states the mission was accomplished in his own day.
Acts 2:5 → At Pentecost, Jews were present “from every nation under heaven.”
The gospel began reaching the nations immediately after Christ’s resurrection.
Key Bible Texts
Matt. 24:14 (ESV) “And
this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a
testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Rom. 1:8 (ESV) “First,
I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is
proclaimed in all the world.”
Rom. 10:18 (ESV) “But
I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for ‘Their voice has gone out to
all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’”
Col. 1:6 (ESV) “…the
gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit
and increasing.”
Col. 1:23 (ESV) “…the
gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven.”
Acts 2:5 (ESV) “Now
there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under
heaven.”
Luke 2:1 (ESV) “In
those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be
registered.”
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CONCLUSION Matthew 24:4–14 is not a vague template for every
generation. It is a historically specific prophecy fulfilled in the
first century. |
✦ Fulfillment of the Signs
Matthew 24:4–13 → Every sign Jesus listed (wars, famines, earthquakes, persecution, apostasy, false prophets, lawlessness, cold love) has documented first-century fulfillment in Josephus, Tacitus, Paul, and the apostolic letters.
These are not “recycled signs” for any era they are anchored to Jesus’ words about this generation (Matt. 24:34).
✦ The Gospel to the Whole World
Matthew 24:14 → “Whole world” = the Roman oikoumene.
Paul himself testified that the gospel had already reached the Roman world before AD 70 (Rom. 1:8; Col. 1:6, 23).
✦ Theological Meaning
As AD 70 approached, the old covenant order died with the destruction of the Temple.
The new covenant kingdom was born in full, inaugurated by Christ and confirmed through the tribulation.
We are now living in those new covenant “last days” not waiting for them, but participating in them. "1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world." Hebrews 1:1-2(ESV)
👉 In short: All the signs in Matthew 24 were fulfilled in the first century, culminating in AD 70. The prophecy is not about a distant Tribulation but about the transition from the old covenant to the new covenant kingdom, which we live in today.
Closing Verse
Heb. 12:28 (ESV) “Therefore
let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let
us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.”
Take time to
reflect and share. All three questions are for group discussion after the
lesson.
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1 |
Many Adventists and
dispensationalists say Matthew 24 is mainly about the future about a coming
global tribulation. But based on what we studied tonight, how does reading
the signs in their historical context (first-century Roman world, pax Romana,
Josephus’ records) change the way we understand what Jesus was warning about?
What difference does it make in how we read the Bible if we follow this
Partial Preterist approach? |
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2 |
In Matthew 24:12, Jesus said
that “because lawlessness is increased, the love of many will grow cold.” We
saw that apostasy was a real and serious problem in the early church people
abandoning the faith during persecution. For us today, especially those of us
who have come out of Adventism or other religious systems, what are the
modern pressures or temptations that can cause our love for Christ and for
fellow believers to grow cold? How does the command to “endure to the end”
(v. 13) speak to our situation? |
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3 |
Paul wrote in Romans 1:8 and
Colossians 1:23 that the gospel had already reached “all the world” even
before AD 70. This is a remarkable statement of confidence in the power of
the gospel. Thinking about Former Adventists Philippines and our ministry context
here in the Philippines how should the postmillennial hope and the reality
of gospel expansion encourage us in our work of reaching Adventists and other
religious groups with the truth of the New Covenant? What does it look like
to join that same worldwide gospel movement today? |
COMPLETE
BIBLE REFERENCES (ESV)
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Matt. 24:2–4 |
Jesus predicts the Temple’s destruction stone by stone;
warns disciples to not be led astray. |
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Matt. 24:5 |
Warning: false christs will arise and lead many astray
in Jesus’ own name. |
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Matt. 24:6–7a |
Wars and rumors of wars; nation against nation; kingdom
against kingdom — not yet the end. |
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Matt. 24:7b–c |
Famines and earthquakes in various places. |
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Matt. 24:8 |
All these are the beginning of the birth pains. |
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Matt. 24:9–10 |
Disciples delivered to tribulation; hated by all
nations; many will fall away. |
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Matt. 24:11–13 |
False prophets; lawlessness; love growing cold; the one
who endures to the end will be saved. |
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Matt. 24:14 |
Gospel of the kingdom proclaimed in the whole world
(oikoumene) to all nations (ethnos); then the end comes. |
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Matt. 24:34 |
Temporal anchor: “This generation will not pass away
until all these things take place.” |
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Matt. 10:5, 18, 22 |
Earlier restriction to Israel; anticipation of Gentile
testimony; endurance to the end. |
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Matt. 21:9 |
“Son of David” — nationalistic Messianic expectations at
the Triumphal Entry. |
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Mark 9:1 |
Some standing there will not taste death until they see
the kingdom come with power. |
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Luke 2:1 |
Caesar Augustus ordered “all the world” (oikoumene) to
be registered — meaning the Roman Empire. |
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Luke 19:44 |
Jerusalem will be leveled because it did not recognize
the time of its visitation. |
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John 6:15 |
The crowd tried to make Jesus king by force — messianic
political expectation. |
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John 13:34–35 |
The new commandment: love one another as I have loved
you. |
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John 16:21 |
Birth pain imagery: sorrow gives way to joy at birth. |
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Acts 2:5 |
Jews from every nation under heaven present at
Pentecost. |
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Acts 2:17 |
“In the last days,” says God, “I will pour out my
Spirit’ — the last days have begun at Pentecost. |
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Acts 8:9–10 |
Simon Magus — a false messiah figure claiming to be the
Great Power of God. |
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Acts 11:28 |
Agabus prophesies a great famine over all the world
(oikoumene) — fulfilled under Claudius. |
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Acts 13:6 |
Bar-Jesus (Elymas) — a false prophet in the first
century. |
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Rom. 1:8 |
The faith of the Roman church proclaimed in all the
world (holos kosmos). |
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Rom. 10:17–18 |
The word of Christ has gone out to all the earth and the
ends of the world (oikoumene). |
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Col. 1:6, 23 |
The gospel bearing fruit in the whole world; proclaimed
in all creation under heaven. |
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1 Cor. 10:11 |
Written for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages
has come. |
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2 Tim. 1:15 |
All who are in Asia have turned away from Paul. |
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2 Tim. 4:10, 16 |
Demas deserted Paul; at Paul’s first defense everyone
deserted him. |
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Heb. 1:2 |
“In these last days” God has spoken through his Son. |
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Heb. 8:13 |
The new covenant makes the first (Mosaic) one obsolete
and ready to vanish. |
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Heb. 9:10 |
The old order imposed until “the time of reformation”
(kairos diorthoseos). |
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Heb. 12:22, 27–28 |
The heavenly Jerusalem; the shaking of the old; the
unshakeable kingdom remains. |
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1 John 2:18–19 |
Many antichrists have come — it is the last hour. They
went out from us. |
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Deut. 28:55–57 |
Covenant curse: eating one’s children during siege —
fulfilled in AD 70 (Josephus). |
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Lam. 2:20 |
Should women eat the fruit of their womb? — covenant
curse imagery for Jerusalem’s fall. |
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Isa. 13:8; Jer. 6:24; Mic. 4:9–10 |
OT use of birth pang imagery for historical divine
judgment, not end-of-world events. |
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Next Lesson: Chapter 6 — The Great Tribulation (Matthew
24:15–22) Investigating Adventism Philippines •
Former Adventists Philippines
• Pastor Ronald V. Obidos II |
