There will be many pretenders, Jesus says. Many people will say they are the Christ, the messiah, the one who is to come. Many people will point to someone as the ultimate answer.

In fact, Jesus spends most of Matthew 24 talking about all the ways that people will try to convince people that they are God or at least God’s gift to humanity. There will be a steady stream of new answers, of new saviors, of the latest truth, of the best understanding. There will be people constantly working to drag people away from the simple truth of who Jesus is and what he has done.

I know that people inside church focus often on “the world” when we read about this. But Jesus is clearly identifying false prophets, people who are coming along, using his name.

• “God told me that you need to do this.”
• “God told me that you need to do that.”
• “I read a verse once and it told me that everyone up until this point didn’t understand what God was saying, but now I and I alone have had the truth revealed to me and you must do what I say.”
• “I know that I should do that, but I think I can figure it out better for myself, just like you can figure it out for yourself.” (I think false prophets may even be in our own heads.)

And Jesus points out that these pretenders will come doing amazing things. They will seem to be miracle workers. They will look real.

But, Jesus says, when it’s Me, you will know. Like a lightening bolt makes everything bright, leaving no question about what just happened, Jesus will make it clear when he’s back.

In the meantime, don’t stop living as if he isn’t here yet.