VERSES 9-14 of this chapter describes what the true disciples of Christ will have to face during history, and history for the last 2000 years testifies to the truth of that which Jesus foretells here.

The NIV opens verse 10 with the words “At that time..”. This seems to suggest that the words refer to a particular time, which one would most likely understand as the period immediately before Christ's return. In fact the Greek opens verse 10 in the same way as verse 9 with the word “then”, and so no particular time is suggested, but all the time leading up to the return of Christ. What the church of Christ has to face and accept is what Jesus warns in these verses. History has proved this to be true.

Jesus warns us that Christians will be persecuted by the world all down history. This persecution will sometimes lead to death. Jesus goes on to say that his disciples will be hated by the world because of our love and allegiance to Jesus. We have no trouble accepting these words as true, because we have only to read history at any time over the last 2000 years to find examples of persecution of the disciples of Jesus. It commenced soon after Christ ascended into heaven. Christians were sent into the arena to be devoured by lions, etc. Where there has been true faith in Christ, there has always been examples of persecution, and often this persecution has come from those who have claimed to be followers of Christ, the visible church. Persecution has often been most virulent when the true church has been most alive and the Good News of Christ has been preached accompanied by much blessing from God.

Together with the direct persecution of the world, Jesus warns that there will be many who will leave the fellowship of believers because they are not prepared to suffer for Christ. This apostasy shows that the faith which was professed was not real, and they never were true disciples of Jesus.

Jesus also warns that the true church will be afflicted by false teachers seeking to divert people from faith in Jesus and from the true teaching of God's word. Jesus warns that these false prophets will gain success. Again the church has seen many examples of this through the centuries. We have them today in the cults and false religions, and there is no doubt that Satan has gained many followers in this way. We have only to give one example of the Jehovah's Witnesses. They have had remarkable success in leading people astray and away from salvation.

One of the sad facets of this false teaching is that those who have been deceived, then betray those who remain faithful to Christ. Within the visible church even today, much false teaching has crept into the teaching and practice of the church, in all denominations, and often it is those who remain faithful to the truth as it is in Jesus who find themselves persecuted by the rest of the visible church, because they stand firm against departure from the truth.

It has always been a fact that when there is has been the most virulent attacks against Christ's disciples, that those whose faith has not be real, fall away and disown those who remain faithful. The love of many does grow cold.

Jesus then points out that the only sure proof of true discipleship, and that a person is redeemed and an inheritor of eternal life, is if that person stands firm to the end, the end being to the end of their life, or when Christ returns and the end of the world has arrived. Only those who stand firm prove they have believed unto eternal life.

Matthew is not alone in recording this teaching of Jesus. Both Matthew and Luke give their synopsis of this teaching of Jesus, and John, reporting Christ's final words to his disciples in John chapters 14-16, speaks of the world's hate of Christians in chapter 15:18-25. In John's Gospel Jesus tells us that we must expect the hate of the world, because the world hated him, and so those who are Christ's will be hated also.

All this may seem strange and inexplicable, but it conforms to the whole message of the Bible. The Bible speaks of only two kingdoms. One is the the Kingdom of God and Christ, and the other is the kingdom of Satan and the world. The world has many nations, but they all make up one kingdom in the end, with Satan as its god. The disciples of Christ have been born again into the Kingdom of Christ. We have been translated from the kingdom of this world into the kingdom of heaven. Although believers live in this world, they live spiritually in the kingdom of God, and are citizens of God's kingdom, and so are aliens in Satan's kingdom while we live our earthly life. Satan hates the believer, and he mobilizes the world against Christ's citizens. The more faithful to Christ we are, and the more active in promoting his kingdom, the more virulent will be the world's persecution.

One factor is fundamental to the return of Christ. Before the end can come, Jesus tells us the Gospel of the kingdom must be preached in the whole world, and preached as a testimony to all nations. It is a fact that the last 100 years has seen a greater advance in the Gospel being preached throughout the world than the centuries before, but the task is not yet ended. At Christ's return the world will find that the Gospel proclaimed throughout the world will rise up and accuse them.