Are we living in the last days? This article considers how this term is used in Scripture, and suggests that Christians are not living in such last days.

2 pages.

The Last Days? When and Again?

One of the most important principles of biblical interpretation is that the entire Bible was written for the believer but it was not all written to the believer.  That is, the bible is always relevant but we have to consider its historical context when interpreting any given passage.  If the bible student fails to keep this before him then the result can be ‘exegetical chaos’ where the Scriptures, like the universe, are without form and void before God said ‘let there be light.’  The purpose of this article is to shed some light on the phrase and concept of the ‘last days’ or ‘end times.’

There is a lot of interpretive confusion today in the Church regarding this issue with the consequence that believers often have zeal about current events but sadly it is often accompanied by ignorance.  And the net result is a misdirected and less than effective witness that we should have.

In recent days the issue of ‘end times’ has received new impetus with the near collapse of financial markets. Added of course to this mix are the ongoing tensions in the Middle East and the general instability of global geo-political events.  The question is thus perennially on people’s minds, are we not in the last days as foretold by Jesus?  Let me attempt to clear up the confusion.

To begin with, when the Bible uses the phrase the ‘last days’ we must ask “the last days of what?”

The Bible uses this phrase eight times (Gen 49:1; Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1; Acts 2:17; 2 Tim 3:1; Hebrews 1:2; James 5:3; 2 Peter 3:3).

In Gen 49:1 the clear reference is to ‘the days to come’ (ESV) of Israel’s future history before Christ (see vv. 8-12).  No one that I have encountered would debate that this was giving a prophecy of the time period until ‘Shiloh’ came.

Isaiah 2:2 and Micah 4:1 are clear references to the first of coming of Jesus Christ in which He established the Kingdom of God.  This Kingdom would be the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies that God’s Kingdom would be multi-ethnic.  Of course this multi-ethnicity of the Kingdom was always God’s purpose but the Jewish nation had largely made it ‘ethno-centric’ in violation of God’s revealed will.  And this disobedience on their part meant that the days of the Israel were indeed ‘numbered.’  God would one day put an end to the religio-politico rule of Judaistic Israel when the multi-ethnic church would then become the vehicle through which God would fulfil His prophecies to Israel.  That is, the days preceding the destruction of the city of Jerusalem with its all important Temple would be the ‘last days.’

When the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth, this was ‘technically’ the beginning of the ‘last days’ of a Temple-centred Israel.  Jesus warned over and over that their days were numbered (see especially Matthew 23) and yet in spite of this they crucified Him.  And as Peter made clear on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) this murder of their Messiah was the last straw: the last days had begun with a vengeance.  

Many argue that indeed that last days began with Jesus’ first coming but that these days will continue until His final coming.  But do the Scriptures support this interpretation? I believe that they don’t for the following reasons.

First, Acts 2:17 clearly states that the last days, spoken of by Joel, were being fulfilled right then and there.  To stretch these last days out for some additional 2000 years makes no sense, especially when you consider that what characterized those last days (vv. 17-21) has not been seen for nearly 2000 years!

Second, the remaining usage of ‘last days’ in the New Testament (2 Tim 3:1; 4:1; Hebrews 1:2; James 5:13; 2 Peter 3:3) each has a particular time frame reference to those who received the epistles.  That is, the expectation was that right then and there they were in the last days.  Though the Church today does face some of the same problems experienced by the first century church our times cannot be said to be the last days for the simple reason that Judaistic Israel passed off of the scene in 70 AD.  In other words, when Paul and Peter wrote (all of the New Testament was written before AD 70) of the last days they believed that they were then in existence and that a new day was coming.  That new day did arrive upon the destruction of Jerusalem.

Of course this raises the issue of the relevancy of these passages, and for that matter, the relevancy of the entire New Testament, for us who live today and for the church of tomorrow. 

As stated on other occasions, just because events are in our past does not make their inspired record irrelevant for us.  The events of Exodus will never be repeated and yet we are blessed by the abiding principles that this revelation of God has for us there. We therefore must have the same level-headed approach to New Testament passages which describe events that too are in our past.

Both the biblical and historical facts substantiate that the Lord Jesus did come in judgement upon an apostate Judaism and Israel in the first century and there is nothing in Scripture that tells us that we are heading for such ‘last days’ again.

The challenge as we read the prophetic language of destruction in the New Testament is that we have pre-conceived notions.  We wear ‘interpretive glasses’ which influence us to read ‘apocalyptic’ language as referring to our day, or to days in the near future.  We need to take these spectacles off and let Scripture interpret itself.  And when we do so we will find ourselves free of a ‘my-generation’ bias which makes the biblical prophecies personal words to ourselves!

We are not living in the ‘last days’, at least as far as the Scriptures use that phrase, but rather we are living in the days that came out of those last days.  We are living in an age in which Jesus Christ continues to conquer the nations through the gospel.   Yes, we live in some tough days but these days are under the control of our Sovereign Saviour who will one day return to consummate His Kingdom, not begin anything new.  That is, our Lord is not awaiting the last days in order to usher in new days; rather, ever since AD 70 when Jesus Christ brought to an end the last days, He has been working to fulfil these new days until the end of all days!  So then, perhaps the question that we may ask is, “Are we in the final days before Christ will physically return to judge the living and the dead?” Well, I don’t know.  All I know is that we should be glad that we don’t live in the last days that the New Testament describes but that we must learn from those who did experience them.  We should learn from them to persevere for the best days (not the last days) are yet to come!   

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