Matthew 24:23-28: in context

Jesus is warning his disciples about the confusion that will come before the end, and specifically about people who will claim to have the Messiah cornered somewhere. If anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ, or there he is, do not believe it, he says. False christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, impressive enough to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen. And then he gets concrete about the form the deception takes: if they say, behold, he is out in the wilderness, do not go out; if they say, behold, he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it. The lie always comes with an exclusive location, a secret place, an insider claim: he is here, in this special spot, available to those in the know.

Against that, Jesus sets a completely different picture of the real thing. For as the lightning flashes from the east and shines to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. When Christ truly comes, it will not be a rumor whispered among insiders, not a secret you need a special guide to find, not something hidden in a wilderness camp or a private room for the initiated. It will be like lightning across the whole sky, unmistakable, public, seen by everyone at once. No one will have to tell you it happened. The mark of the false is that it is exclusive and secret; the mark of the true is that it is open and unmissable.

That is a needed discernment, because the pull of the secret and the exclusive is strong. There is always someone offering special access, hidden knowledge, a private spiritual reality available only through this teacher, this group, this inner circle, and it flatters me to imagine I could be among the few in the know. Jesus warns that the genuine things of God are not hidden in inner rooms for the initiated; the real coming is like lightning, not a secret. Am I being drawn toward some exclusive, insider spiritual claim, a secret Christ in a private room, when Jesus says the true things of God are not hidden that way at all?