Interpretations often go awry when they ignore
or misunderstand New Testament statements about the “the last days.” This involves not just end time prophecy but
other key topics; for example, the gift of the Spirit and its significance in
the redemptive plan of God.
When we hear “last days” we assume it is a
reference to a final short period of history just before Jesus returns. But the
New Testament presents the “last days” as an ear of fulfillment that began with
the death, resurrection and exaltation of Jesus.
(Hebrews 1:1-3) – “Whereas, in
many parts and in many ways of old, God spake unto the fathers in the prophets,
At the end of these days, He hath spoken unto us in his Son,—whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, through whom also he hath made the ages; Who,
being an eradiated brightness of his glory, and an exact representation of his
very being, also bearing up all things by the utterance of his power,
purification of sins having achieved, sat down on the right hand of the majesty
in high places.”
The book of Hebrews begins with a declaration
of how God has “in these last days spoken to us by a Son.” Hebrews 9:26 describes how Jesus “appeared
once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself.”
The Apostle
Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “the appointed time has been shortened…For the
forms of this world are in process of passing away” (1 Corinthians
7:29). The last verb is in the Greek present tense, which signifies
continuing action; the forms and institutions of this age have been in the
process of passing away since the victory of Jesus over sin and death.
A few
passages later, Paul described how the Hebrew scriptures were written down for the
instruction of Christians at Corinth, the ones “upon whom the end
of the ages has come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). The Apostle made a
similar point to the Galatians when he declared that “when the fullness
of time had come, God sent forth his Son” (Galatians 4:4).
Peter, in
his sermon on the Day of Pentecost changed the opening word of Joel 2:28
from “afterward” to “in the last days it shall be, God
declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh…” (Acts 2:17).
He linked the outpouring of the Spirit on that day to the last days; the gift
of the Spirit demonstrated that the era predicted by Joel had begun.
Similarly,
Peter declared that Jesus was destined “before the foundation of the world
but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake” (1 Peter
1:20).
John in
his first epistle warned his congregations that “it is the last hour;
and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have
come; therefore we know that it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18).
Such New
Testament references about the “last days” has caused confusion for some and
provided fodder for critics. For
example, some voices argue that the first Christians, including Jesus, believed
the second coming would occur in their day.
They, obviously, were quite mistaken. But this misunderstands the Bible’s
concept of the “last days.”
The Hebrew
Bible sees history divided into two ages; the present evil age and the “age to
come,” the latter a term used several times in the New Testament. The coming age, the promised messianic one, would
be ushered in when the Messiah came.
Beliefs about the details may have varied within Israelite society but
the basic outline remained the same.
By the
first century, some Jewish leaders looked for a royal and militaristic messiah
who would destroy their nation’s enemies and free Israel from foreign
domination. Others waited for a priestly messiah.
Two scriptural
promises became key messianic expectations:
the expected outpouring of God’s Spirit on His people, and the
resurrection of the dead (Joel 2:28, Ezek. 37:26-27). Related were
promises of the establishment of God’s kingdom. Such expectations were in mind
when faithful Israelites spoke of the “last days.”
The very
same expectations came to fruition in the life, death and resurrection of
Jesus, only not in the ways expected by his Jewish contemporaries. In his ministry, Jesus inaugurated the
kingdom of God; no term is found more often on his lips in the gospel accounts
than the “kingdom of God.” In his exorcisms and healings Jesus was reclaiming
“territory” for God and “binding the Strong Man,” that is, Satan. Such miracles
demonstrated the arrival of God’s kingdom and the activity of His Spirit.
The task
of gospel proclamation assigned by Jesus to his church is to herald the arrival
of God’s kingdom and call all who will heed to act accordingly. In Jesus, God
has inaugurated His reign on the earth, and it will continue to move forward to
its final consummation when Jesus comes again.
The resurrection
of Jesus commenced the general resurrection of the last days. This is why in the
New Testament his resurrection is the “firstfruits” of our own (1 Corinthians
15:20); the “firstfruits” of a harvest is of the same kind as the
final harvest. The gift of the Spirit is
also called the “firstfruits” of the future redemption of our bodies (Romans
8:23).
The Spirit
is linked with bodily resurrection because resurrection is an act of new
creation. From the beginning, God’s
Spirit has been the agent of creation and the source of all life (Genesis
1:1-2).
The gift
of the Spirit is our “earnest” (arrabōn) or “down payment” on the
future bodily resurrection and the New Creation, the rock-solid “guarantee” that
God will complete what He began in the resurrection of His Son (2 Corinthians
1:22, 5:5, Ephesians 1:13-14).
The “last
days” have been underway since the resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of
the Spirit on the church. The Cross was
far more than the execution of Jesus or a model for selfless martyrdom. On it, God defeated all the “powers and
principalities” opposed to Him that have enslaved mankind. The final victory has already been won and it
is cosmic in scope.
With Calvary,
history has entered its final phase. The existing order has been winding down
to its final destruction ever since as it undergoes its final death throes. Jesus
through his church is now engaged in a “mopping operation,” primarily by proclaiming
the good news of God’s kingdom to all the nations.
The “last
days” is NOT a chronological marker but a theological concept; it refers to the
state of affairs that has been in existence since the death and resurrection of
Jesus. Satan has been defeated and, to a
large extent, bound.
Salvation is
now available to all who will receive it.
God is establishing His final rule over the earth. He has constituted his people, Jew and
Gentile, a “kingdom of priests” to mediate His presence to a darkened world.
The church is God’s people and now lives “between the times.” She belongs to
the coming age but still lives in the present one in unredeemed bodies.
In Jesus
and, subsequently, in his church, the future age has irrupted into the old one. The early church did not have an otherworldly
outlook but a future-oriented one. It looked for salvation in the
coming age when Jesus ushered in the final consummation at his arrival in glory.
At that time, he will resurrect the dead and bring in the New Creation. The end
result will be a New Heaven and Earth.
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