Matthew 24 - Part 18

In our examination of Matthew 24, we have arrived at verse 12, which states:  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. In our previous study we considered the term, iniquity, so we will pick this up from there. But before we do that I wanted to clarify something from our previous lesson.

We were discussing the word shall rise [egeiro:G1453] in verse 11, which is also found in verse 8 of Luke 11:5-8, which is a very significant passage having to do with feeding sheep in our present, prolonged day of judgment: And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; {6} For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? {7} And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. {8} I say unto you, Though he will [egeiro:G1453] not rise [egeiro:G1453] and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. ‍

After I wrote the newsletter I realized that I did not explain what was taking place spiritually in these four verses, which I will now try to do. The expression midnight has to do with judgment and spiritual darkness which has enveloped this entire world, since May 21, 2011. The man who is a friend is a child of God, and he goes to another friend at midnight to ask for three loaves as another friend has come to him, and he has nothing to set before him. The friend in the house that he goes to is God Himself who says: Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. Notice that the door is shut (with regards to salvation), and the children (i.e., the elect) are with the Father in bed, signifying that all have been saved who were predestinated from ...before the foundation of the world. The three loaves represent spiritual nourishment from the Word of God, which God ends up giving to the elect child of God, as stated in verse 8. The spiritual food which the friend receives from the Father he is now able to share with his friend that has come to visit, which is the essence of this new Commission that God's elect are to feed God's saints spiritually.

Let's proceed to the rest of verse 12, ...shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold, as we already discussed the word iniquity in our previous study.

Shall Abound [plethyno:G4129]

The expression, shall abound, with respect to iniquity is only translated this way in this verse. In the 11 other citations in which it appears, it is rendered as some form of the word, multiply, as these next verses illustrate, highlighting the fact that God has allowed sin to increase dramatically:

Hebrews 6:14 records God's promise to Abraham, pointing to all the elect who make up the Body or Bride of Christ: Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying [plethyno:G4129] I will multiply [plethyno:G4129] thee.

Acts 7:17 recounts the tremendous growth of the nation of Israel which started with Jacob's family over the course of their 430 year sojourn in Egypt: But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied [plethyno:G4129] in Egypt,

Acts 12:24 traces the growth of the early church that began on the day of Pentecost: But the word of God grew and multiplied. [plethyno:G4129]

The Love [agape:26] Of Many [plys:G4183] Shall Wax Cold [psucho:G5594]

The phrase, the love of many shall wax cold, is made up of three Greek words that only surface in this verse, but we will have to investigate them individually in our next newsletter.

Prayer And Praise

•Your continued prayers for our daughter Maria are very much appreciated.

•We have begun video broadcasting our programming on Sundays. You now have the option to select video or audio on our website, or you may watch the video on    our YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/c/BibleMinistriesInternational

•We have also added a live call-in feature to our Sunday Question and Answer Program (4:30 PM PDT - 7 PM PDT). You may post questions on YouTube as well as in   our Facebook group, as we are also live streaming both the Bible Study as well as the Q & A in our Facebook group. The number to call is: (605) 472-5520. When   prompted, the access code is: 615301#. BMI is willing to extend our Sunday Q & A programming even longer, provided that there are enough participants. This past   Sunday we were greatly encouraged by a man who was listening from India, and we pray that there will be many more from around the world who will tune in to ask   their question from the Bible, as God permits.

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