<p>24:11&nbsp;<i>And many false prophets-&nbsp;</i>A comparison of Mt. 24:11 and 24 suggests that there will be two particular periods of false prophet activity- at the outbreak of the persecution, and then immediately prior to the Lord's return. This latter group reason that Christ's second coming has already occurred in some non-literal form. Thus :27 speaks as if the clear return of Christ in the clouds will prove them wrong. These men would equate with Peter's description of some within the ecclesia of the last days saying &quot;Where is the promise of His coming?&quot;. The language of false prophets suggests they arise from within the community of believers (see on :10). The &ldquo;many&rdquo; whom they deceive are presumably the same &ldquo;many&rdquo; who shall stumble from their faith (:10). The &lsquo;false prophets&rsquo; of our age are hardly very credible. But if these false prophets have apparent access to Holy Spirit gifts and claim to do miracles, as passages in Revelation suggest, then they may well have more credibility. This particular sign was fulfilled in the first century, for &ldquo;many false prophets s.w. are gone out into the world&rdquo; (1 Jn. 4:1).</p><p><i>Shall arise</i>- The reference is to the LXX of Jer. 29:15, where we read of false prophets arising amongst Israel whilst they were in Babylon. The message of those false prophets was that Judah would be saved from Babylon without repentance, and that in practice, spiritual separation was not required from Babylon. And this will be the precise context for the false prophets in latter day Israel.</p><p><i>And shall lead many astray</i>- False prophets of both Old and New Testaments were associated with immorality or at least, an easy, fleshly &lsquo;spirituality&rsquo;. With harsh persecution and death sentences for true faith in Christ, the environment will be ripe for such false teachers; and false prophets are believed because people want to believe their message. Four times the Lord repeats this warning against being deceived, using the same word (:4,5,11,24). The words for deception and &lsquo;false prophet&rsquo; recur in Revelation, again in a latter day context (Rev. 12:9; 13:14; 18:23; 19:20). The source of the deceit is &lsquo;Babylon&rsquo;, the latter day confederacy of anti-Israel and anti-Christian powers around Israel.</p>