(Blog) Salvation of The Elect - Ep. 922 - June 10, 2026

Who Are the Elect in Matthew 24?

Matthew 24 is one of those chapters people quote often and read loosely. That is how almost every war, crisis, or religious movement gets labeled as the tribulation.

On this episode of The Smith and Rowland Show, Jeff and Alan argued for a tighter reading. They tied Jesus' words to Daniel, Joel, Thessalonians, Romans, and Revelation, and they kept pressing one point: timing matters.

The video below sets that argument in motion before the details start to stack up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrJuNh_Ynb8

Why timing changes the whole reading of Matthew 24

The discussion started with a larger point about biblical prophecy. Some passages work through direct prediction and fulfillment. Others appear in patterns, where a prophecy shows up in partial ways before its full end-time fulfillment arrives.

That framework shaped everything that followed. Current events may echo prophecy, and headlines may stir people to think about Iran, Israel, war, and judgment. Still, an echo is not the final event.

Prophecy can repeat before it is finally fulfilled

Jeff and Alan described prophecy in two layers. First, there is the plain sense of prediction and fulfillment. Second, there is a cyclical pattern, where a word spoken by God enters history and continues to work until the end.

Their point can be summed up simply:

• Some prophecies have a direct and future fulfillment.

• Some prophecies cast earlier shadows before that final fulfillment.

• Once God speaks a prophetic word into the earth, its effects continue until the full event arrives.

That is why they connected Matthew 24 to John's vision on the Isle of Patmos. In their reading, John was carried by the Spirit into "the day of the Lord," and what he saw did not stay sealed off from history. The revelation entered the earth, and history has been moving toward that appointed day ever since.

This view explains why many generations have felt close to the end without already being in the day of the Lord. Events can resemble later prophecy without becoming its final form. The pattern rises, falls, and rises again with greater force.

That also shapes how they read the church's place in the timeline. The church, in this framework, will not witness the last outworking of tribulation from earth. The final fulfillment is still ahead, and believers will see it from heaven, not from within that period.

The church age is different from the day of the Lord

That distinction led them to the Thessalonian church. Paul had to correct believers who feared they were already in the day of the Lord. Their confusion matters because it keeps repeating. Every generation has people who think they are already inside the tribulation.

Their answer was direct: We are in the day of the church, and the church has not been raptured up.

Because of that, they argued that Revelation 2 and 3 speak more directly to the present church age than Revelation 4 and beyond. The later chapters describe judgments and events that unfold after the church is gone.

They also warned against reading Matthew 24 only as a personal lesson for today. Practical application is fine. Personal encouragement is fine. The problem starts when application replaces literal context. Once that happens, the passage gets pulled away from its setting and turned into a symbol for whatever feels urgent in the moment.

This is why they kept Daniel, Joel, Acts 2, Thessalonians, and Paul's teaching close at hand. In their view, Joel lays out a prophetic program, while Acts 2 shows an interruption, or parenthesis, that opens the church age. The "mystery" of the church belongs to grace and is later brought into full view through Paul.

The abomination of desolation sets the timeline

Matthew 24 does not leave the order vague. Jesus names an event, places it in a holy place, and then describes what follows. That sequence matters.

The key verse is Matthew 24:15, where Jesus says, "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place." For Jeff and Alan, that sentence alone settles several debates.

Why Jesus' wording points to a future temple

First, Jesus validated Daniel as a true prophet. He did not treat Daniel's words as a loose symbol or a legend. He referred to a real prophecy with a real fulfillment.

Second, they argued that Antiochus Epiphanes cannot satisfy this verse in its final sense. That event happened before Jesus spoke these words. Yet Jesus said, "when ye therefore shall see." In other words, he pointed his hearers to something future.

Third, the phrase "holy place" requires a temple. If the abomination of desolation stands in the holy place, then a temple must exist at that time. That is why they insisted that a rebuilt temple still belongs in the prophetic picture.

The rest of the passage also stays anchored in a Jewish setting. Jesus spoke of Judea, fleeing to the mountains, not returning from the field, concern for winter travel, and concern for the Sabbath day. Those are not random details. They keep the passage tied to Israel and to conditions on the ground in that land.

Great tribulation begins after the abomination

Their strongest timeline point came from Matthew 24:21.

"Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."

In their reading, "great tribulation" does not begin at the start of the seven-year period. It begins after the abomination of desolation. That creates a division inside the broader tribulation period.

They pressed this point hard because it affects how people read history. If someone says the prophecy was fulfilled in AD 70, then Jesus' words would mean no greater tribulation has touched the earth since that time. They rejected that outright. The Holocaust alone breaks that claim. World War I and World War II also expose the weakness of that view.

Their conclusion was plain. AD 70 may have been a real destruction and a real desolation, but it was not the final fulfillment of Matthew 24:21. When the event Jesus described arrives, people will not need to guess whether it counts. Its scale will testify for itself.

That line matters. If people still have to argue over whether a given crisis is "the one," then the event Jesus described has not yet come.

Why the "elect" in Matthew 24 points to Israel

The next major question was Matthew 24:22: "Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened."

Who are the elect in that verse? Their answer was consistent and firm. In this passage, the elect is not the church. The elect is Israel.

Election language belongs to Israel's prophetic program

They based that on more than one point. First, the context is Jewish from top to bottom. The temple, the holy place, Judea, and the Sabbath all point in that direction.

Second, the church is not the audience of this tribulation warning in their framework. If the church has already been raptured before these events unfold, then the church cannot be the group protected by shortened days inside great tribulation.

Third, they tied "elect" to Old Testament language about God's chosen people. Isaiah 42 uses the word for the Lord's servant: "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth." In their view, the language of election tends to stay close to Israel's prophetic calling and identity as God's chosen people.

That also explains why they resisted folding every use of "elect" into later debates about predestination. Their point was narrower. In prophetic passages, election language often belongs to Israel.

They even suggested that some of Paul's uses may still sit close to that overlap, because Paul's congregations included Jews and Gentiles together while one dispensation faded and another came fully into view.

Election and grace are not the same category in this reading

Alan made a larger theological claim. In his view, election belongs more to prophecy than to grace. The church belongs to the mystery revealed in the age of grace. Those two streams can appear side by side for a time, especially in Paul's letters, because the early church included Jewish believers learning to live in a new order of faith.

That overlap matters. Jewish believers had grown up with covenant, law, signs, and prophetic expectation. Then they were brought into a Spirit-filled life where the Holy Ghost indwelt them. Alan described that movement as a shift from head faith to heart faith.

The hosts also stressed that the church is described with different language than Israel. When those categories get flattened into one, the result is confusion.

The gospel of grace is not the tribulation message

Their discussion made a sharp distinction between the present age and the tribulation period. This chart shows the difference as they explained it:

The cross does not change in this view. The Savior does not change. What changes is the period of history and the way obedience is described inside that period.

That is why they said, plainly, that they would never tell someone today, "Endure to the end to be saved," as the present gospel invitation. Yet they also said that language will belong to the tribulation period. If that period were already underway, that message would already be in force. Their argument was that it is not.

They extended that logic to Gentiles as well. During the tribulation, a multitude from the nations will receive the kingdom message. In their reading, those Gentile believers must also endure to the end.

False christs, signs, and the "very elect"

Matthew 24:24 adds another layer: "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."

That phrase, "the very elect," became one of the most important lines in the discussion.

The "very elect" is the remnant that will not be won over

Jeff connected "the very elect" to Israel's future salvation. He tied it to Paul's statement that "all Israel shall be saved." In that reading, Israel's blindness continues up to the point where the abomination of desolation exposes the true nature of the Antichrist.

Once that happens, the remnant sees clearly.

That is why the phrase "if it were possible" mattered so much to them. Jeff argued that it points to a limit. False christs and false prophets will show great signs and wonders, but the very elect, the saved remnant of Israel in that period, will not finally be drawn away.

This is also why God shortens those days "for the elect's sake." Their endurance is real, but God's mercy is also active. He cuts the days short so that flesh may survive and the elect may come through.

Signs and wonders can still be part of deception today

When the conversation shifted from future prophecy to present danger, both hosts agreed that signs and wonders can be part of deception even now.

They drew a line between different kinds of deception. Some deception is fleshly. A person sins, then tries to make that sin look righteous. They cited modern efforts to call homosexuality holy as an example of that kind of moral deception.

Another kind of deception is openly spiritual. This is where false prophets use signs and wonders in a religious setting to draw people away from truth. In that case, the deception is more than human confusion. It is satanic in origin.

They also linked this to Paul's statement that Jews require signs, while Greeks seek wisdom. Signs matter in Jewish history because God often confirmed his dealings with Israel through dramatic acts, from the Red Sea to manna in the wilderness. Because of that, signs can become a powerful tool in false religion as well.

Jeff added a warning for the present church. Many Christians think revival must include miracles that defy natural law or else God is not near. He rejected that idea. Revival can come in suffering. Revival can come in persecution. Revival can come without spectacle.

Three modern delusions and the cost of revival

The hosts named three broad delusions that, in their view, shape much of the world's religious confusion: Islam, Judaism, and apostate Christianity.

That claim was not a side note. It fed into their larger warning that deception is already at work, even before the tribulation begins in full force. The deceiver is already loose in the earth. What changes later is the scale, the power, and the setting.

They also argued that the tribulation period may be one of the most miraculous periods in world history, both in acts that come from God and in counterfeit wonders tied to Satan. In that sense, it may also become one of the greatest revivals the earth has ever seen. Yet it will come at a terrible cost.

That cost led to one final practical point. People often say they want revival, but revival has never been cheap. In the future period they described, it will cost more than most people can imagine.

For more teaching from the same ministry, visit Kingdom Prophetic Society.

Final thoughts

The strongest point in this discussion is simple: Matthew 24 depends on sequence, audience, and setting. Once those details stay in place, the passage reads less like a symbol for every crisis and more like a future warning centered on Israel, the temple, and great tribulation.

That is why the word elect matters so much here. In this reading, it points to God's chosen people in a prophetic context, and "the very elect" points to the remnant that will not be lost to end-time deception.

When timing is ignored, every headline starts to look like the end. When timing is honored, Jesus' words become sharper, more demanding, and much harder to misread.