“And they will say to you, ‘Lo, there!' ‘Lo, here!' Go not away, nor follow after them,”
Nor are they to be deceived by any who claim to be reintroducing those days and claiming that they are again setting up ‘the days of the Messiah' in this physical world. For when He does return it will not be ‘here' or ‘there'. Thus such people must not be heeded. Compare the similar phraseology in Luke 21:8, ‘Take heed that you are not led astray, for many will come in My Name saying, ‘I am the one', and ‘the time is at hand'. Do not go after them.' So any earthly claimants to Messiahship are to be rejected out of hand, for the final conclusion to the days of the Son of Man will not be introduced in that way. It will not be something earthly. In the chiasmus this warning is the central point. Central to all, He is saying that He is warning them not to be taken in by false claimants to Messiahship, and that it is a warning that must be heeded. They must recognise that what is now in mind in the future is not some small earthly series of events, but God's mighty working from Heaven. The future Kingly Rule of God is to be heavenly not earthly.