Jesus' Words Only

Was Paul Conned to Think Satan Was Jesus Talking Three Times? Pt 1 Introducing Matt 24

Aug 2, 2022

Video Description

Introducing Matthew 24.

5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. (Matt. 24: 5)

23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is the Christ, or, Here; believe it not.

24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

25 Behold, I have told you beforehand.

26 If therefore they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the wilderness; go not forth: Behold, he is in the inner chambers; believe it not.

27 For as the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming of the Son of man. (Matt. 24 : 23-27 ASV.)

This is an obvious question about Paul's encounter, given the clear import of the words of Jesus. Even commentators summarize the clear meaning of Jesus in a way that one must wonder how commentators' minds never questioned whether Jesus' warning might apply to Paul.

For example, Henry Alford (1810-1871), D.D., Dean of Canterbury (see bio at this link), in his The New Testament for English Readers (Rivingtons 1868) at page 162 commented on Matthew 24 verses 4-5:

[vv. 4-5] 'For many' ...This was the first danger awaiting them: not of being drawn away from Christ, but of imagining that these persons were Himself." [Emphasis in original.]

Alford then explains the reference to "in my Name" means the false Jesuses say they are Jesus as "the ground for their pretences."

Alford did not address the clear import of what he was saying as applying to Paul's encounter. It involved Paul claiming an appearance of the risen Christ to himself, making himself a witness to the Resurrection along with the men with Paul who hear the voice saying "I am Jesus" (Acts 9:7).

Paul in fact later testifies in court that Ananias, a devout man and well-regarded person (not a prophet) told him at Damascus a short while after Paul's experience outside Damascus that the "Holy One has chosen thee ... for thou shalt be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard." (Acts 22:15.) (Please note Ananias did not quote God's words telling him this; Ananias just affirmed it.)

It is clear Paul claims, and Ananias understood the same, that Paul saw and heard the Lord Jesus outside of Damascus. And so too his companions had a shared sensory experience of this "Jesus."

But what Alford never applied to Paul's experience, we will do so here.

Alford's Further Proper Summary of Matthew 24

Alford then discusses the warning in Matthew 24: 24-27 as about someone coming in the wilderness saying he is Jesus. Alford explains that Jesus said this to "guard them against the impostors who led people out into the wilderness (see Acts 21:38) or invited them to consult privately...." Id., at 168. More precisely, Jesus said the appearance to be warned about was in the wilderness. Thus, even though Alford did not address whether this "impostor" scenario out in the wilderness applies to Paul's encounter in the same book of Acts where Alford saw at least one parallel in history (i.e., an Egyptian who led people into the wilderness), we will examine the Paul-parallel here.

Finally, Alford says the fact Jesus' next appearance on earth after ascending to heaven would instead be seen like "lightning" from east to west, and not privately or in the wilderness, meant it "shall be a plain unmistakeable fact, understood of all, ...sudden and all pervading." Furthermore, because the lightning is from "both ends of heaven at once," Alford says this is like Rev. 1:7 which says at Christ's return "every eye will see him." Id., at page 168. The stress is on the "universality" of this event as the discriminating factor between an impostor Jesus and the true Jesus.

So, again, likewise, we will apply this final criteria to the experience of Paul where he sees a light and hears a voice saying "I am Jesus" but this event is neither unmistakeable nor universal, but instead is in the wilderness and private. We will ask the question that no reputable commentator has asked even though it appears painfully obvious.

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