In Mathew 24 one of the first things Jesus tells us is not to let anyone deceive us.
He says this before he gives any end times prophecies.
So what would be the purpose of saying this so early in the discourse?
Mathew 24:1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 or many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
There have been deceptive people since the beginning of time.
But there will be the biggest deceiver of all - the antichrist, performing miracles and wonders - so awesome he fools even God's people.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 67772525 The antichrist is the one who will stand in the "holy place".
An item of controversy is - will the temple be built
that the antichrist defiles?
Many say it doesn't have to be built, others say there will be a physical temple.
I'm leaning towards the temple being built - or the
replica used by temple mount faithful to train priest.
How do we know it will be a temple?
Well - there are several sources supporting this belief.
One is Paul - being an x-pharisee he most certainly should know what a temple is:
2 Thessalonians 2
3 Let no man deceive you..and that man of sin be revealed
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
We Also have daniel in several places telling us he will stop the daily sacrifice and declare he is God in the temple :
Daniel 12
9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
13 But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.
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There has to be a temple/physical structure, or how could the daily sacrifice be done?
