Matthew 4:7, “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.”
Since there have been wars, famines, pestilences and the same evils mentioned in Matthew 24:7 for thousands of years, this is a bit perplexing for some readers. Here is Pastor Ironside's intriguing Bible commentary for Matthew 24:4-8:
Matthew 24:4-8. "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 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. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows."
The conditions depicted here have marked all the centuries since the Lord returned to heaven. They do not in themselves tell us of the nearness of His return, but they show us how badly this poor world needs a competent Ruler and how all creation groans as it waits for His advent.
"Take heed that no man deceive you." Satan works by imitation. He seeks to ensnare by counterfeiting everything that is of God. Hence the necessity to be on guard constantly against his deceptions. We need to test everything by the Holy Scriptures.
...Verse seven depicts a series of great wars in which many nations and kingdoms will be engaged. Such conflicts have been frequent during the past nineteen hundred years and have increased in intensity and frightfulness during the last century; so that the World Wars of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 have been the worst mankind has ever known. As the aftermath of widespread warfare there invariably succeed famines and pestilences, To these plagues are added her earthquakes in many places which would seen to imply a great increase in natural convulsions as the end draws nigh.
SOURCE: Pastor Harry A. Ironside, Matthew, p. 314; ©1948, Loizeaux Brothers, Inc.I think Pastor Ironside did a great job explaining these Scripture verses. We've never seen war as we have in these modern times. Sadly, approximately 150,000,000 people (mostly civilians) have been killed due to war over the past 200 years. War is an ugly thing. Anybody would be horrified after learning about the atrocities of war, and God forbid, experiencing them firsthand. We live in a fallen world. I read somewhere that in all of history, only 8% has been without war. But clearly over the past century we have seen warfare on an unprecedented new scale, and now the nations have nuclear missiles to launch at each other from across the planet! From all that history has taught us, it is just a matter of time until someone pushes the big red button!
And then when wars are over, there is much famine and pestilence. Look what the Coronavirus has done to America! A little virus that is so tiny that we need a microscope to see it, has put 35,000,000 Americans out of work! Unfortunately, 40% of those unemployed Americans won't be getting their jobs back! If a tiny unseen enemy can do this to us, what can a visible enemy do? Russia and China would love to conquer the United States! Maybe God will let them in Revelation 18, which I think describes a nuclear attack, destroying the nation by fire in one hour. Look what this little tiny virus has done to cripple our nation's infrastructure! It wouldn't take much to totally cripple our nation, and then we would suffer famine and pestilence, as did China during the reign of terror of Mao (60,000,000 Chinese people starved to death). It can happen here! We take so much for granted. Yes we do!
And yet the Word of God teaches us not to worry, but to be of good cheer in Christ our Savior. John 16:33, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” God will take care of His saints! Luke 12:29, “And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.” I do not worry about where this Coronavirus mess is headed. 1st Timothy 2:1-5 commands me as God's child to pray to God for my government's leaders, that I may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. In other words, God is in control! Men may think that they are in control, but God has the final say in everything! God answers prayer folks, don't ever stop praying!!! 1st Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.”
It is interesting, in the front cover of my Bible commentary on the book of Matthew, by Dr. Ironside, someone wrote that it was a birthday gift to a friend. I love that, giving a Bible commentary as a birthday gift! That was in the year 1960 it says. Today, people give movie tickets and music CD's! Our nation sure has changed for the worse! We've become a nation of Bible ignoramuses! No wonder the daily news is so horrific!
And finally, I also wanted to mention a commonly misinterpreted passage of Scripture from Matthew 24:13, which says: “he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” That does not refer to salvation, which is made clear by Matthew 24:22, "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.” God will cut the Tribulation period short, lest every human being (flesh) be destroyed, and there be no surviving saints to enter into the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ our great King.
Matthew 24 and 25 go together, often referred to as: "The second Sermon On The Mount," because Jesus is speaking to His disciples while sitting upon the Mount of Olives.
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