VERSES 9, 10: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and
shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s
sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one
another, and shall hate one another.”
Here is a brief description of the afflictions and martyrdom of the church
of Christ. Thousands of the faithful followers of Jesus were most cruelly
put to death by pagan Rome; yet the prophecy doubtless applies more
particularly to the long period of papal persecutions, in which not less
than fifty millions of Christians were put to death in the most cruel
manner that wicked men and demons could devise. In these verses we are
brought down over the long period of the martyrdom of the church of Jesus
Christ, to near the present generation. These verses being parallel with
verses 21 and 22, this subject will be noticed again.
VERSE 11: “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive
many.”
A true prophet is one who speaks for God. The spirit of prophecy is the
testimony of Jesus. Rev. 19:10. It is Jesus Christ speaking through human
lips or pen to his people. _Pseudo_, or false prophets, speak through the
agency of wicked spirits and the power of Satan. Their work is to deceive.
And while this is true of those who are under the direct inspiration of
superior beings, good or evil, it is true in a more restricted sense that
consecrated teachers of divine truth may be regarded as God’s prophets;
and teachers of error may properly be called false prophets. True and
false prophets may be known.
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