“Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” (Matt. 24:23–28)

It is instructive that the concept of a secret silent sudden coming of Christ unknown to multitudes is condemned by the Lord. In times of trouble, people look for hope.

Some look for hope by believing promises that no harm will come to them.

Some look for hope in a charismatic leader.

The true hope of Israel was to embrace Jesus as their Messiah and obey His commandment to flee to the mountains. Only then would they be saved from “the wrath to come” in AD 70 (Matt. 3:7; 1 Thess. 1:10).

False christs and false prophets, mentioned earlier (v. 5) were not to be believed by His disciples when they spoke of the return of the Messiah to deliver them from the great tribulation. These charlatans could be persuasive as they displayed great signs and wonders. Even the elect could be taken in by their arguments, if they were not guarded by the power of God.

Jesus told His disciples they were not to give any credibility to the claim He had returned, especially in a secret silent way. This would be contrary to what the angels would later tell the disciples about the return of Jesus in Acts 1:9–11: “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”

Regarding the false prophets, a word has to be said about the idea that Satan can empower those who follow him to work a miracle.

Consider the proposition that Satan has never had, or ever will have, power to perform a bona-fide miracle.

The Bible speaks of lying signs and wonders (2 Thess. 2:9). These are false signs and wonders, magic tricks if you will, designed to deceive.

A clever ventriloquist can make any statue or idol “speak.” When Moses went before Pharoah, the Lord gave him supernatural power. When Aaron threw his staff on the palace floor, it became a snake. But the magicians of Pharaoh seemed to be able to do the same. They threw their staffs on the flood, which turned into snake. However, Aaron’s snake swallowed all of the snakes of the magician and revealed the sorcerers (kashaph, magicians) were performing “enchantments” (lahat; magic).

The inability of Satan to work a true miracle is important to realize because the miracles of Jesus and the miracles of the Apostles are appealed to as proof that they were of God.

Jesus said, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matt. 12:28).

In John 14:11, Jesus said, “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.”

Jesus commanded people to believe in Him for the works He did as proof He was from God. If Satan can do miracles or give power to men to perform a miracle, then the appeal of the New Testament to miracles to authenticate Jesus and the Disciples is of no use.

The followers of Christ could dismiss the reports of the return of Jesus because,

“as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so, shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (vs. 27)

When Jesus returns the Second Time (Heb. 9:28), His coming will be visible and apparent to all, like a streak of lightning across the sky.

The coming of the Son of Man will not be secretive and a subject for rumors.

It will be undeniable.

Eleventh Sign: The Gathering of Eagles

“For whosesoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” (vs. 28)

A carcass is the body of a dead animal. In the sight of God, Israel was dying and the instrument of her final demise would be the Roman army, whose primary symbol was the eagle The emblem of an eagle was mounted on every standard of every legion. When the Romans armies, led by General Titus, surrounded Jerusalem, they saw their carcass. Peter, James, John, and Andrew had asked for a sign for the end of the age.  (Mark 13:3)

And Jesus said in Luke 21:20: “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you will know that her desolation is near.”

Before Jerusalem fell, Jesus said the Jews would see the eagles gathering around the carcass, and gather they did. Seventy thousand Roman soldiers gathered around the carcass, just outside the city walls. The soldiers were waiting for the word for them to swoop down on Jerusalem and devour the carcass.