Matthew 24:24

ψευδόχριστοι, in the same sense as in Matthew 24:5; there referred to as the cause of all the trouble, here as promising deliverance from the trouble they, or their like, have created. What would one not give for a Deliverer, a Messiah at such a dire crisis! The demand would create the supply, men offering themselves as Saviours from Rome's power, with prophets (ψευδοπροφῆται) preaching smooth things, and assuring a despairing people of deliverance at the last hour. μὴ πιστεύσητε, says Jesus (Matthew 24:23), do not believe them: no salvation possible; listen not, but flee. καὶ δώσουσιν, etc., and will give great signs and wonders. The words recall Deuteronomy 13:1. Desperate situations require a full use of all possible powers of persuasion: signs and wonders, or the pretence of them: easily accepted as such by a fanaticised multitude, and sometimes so clever and plausible as to tempt the wise to credence. ὥστε, with infinitive to express tendency; often inclusive of result, but not here. εἰ δυνατὸν, if possible, the implication being that it is not. If it were the consequence would be fatal. The “elect” (τοὺς ἐκλεκτούς) selected by Providence for safety in the evil day would be involved in the general calamity. Christians, at Israel's great crisis, were to be saved by unbelief in pseudo-messiahs and pseudo-prophets.