1. I don’t know. My current understanding is that the millenium is the beginning of the last days.
2. I think the last days end after death, the last enemy, is done away with and there is no longer a sun and moon and the NHNE come down from heaven.
3. I think the very, very last day is when satan and those who side with him are destroyed and the NHNE come down.
If you recall, from the beginning I said I think ALL of the systematic eschatologies try to jam some verses where they cannot fit.
The millennium is not the beginning of the last days. The earthly ministry of Christ is. The last days are now and the last day is the climactic second coming. The Old Testament prophecies of “the last days” relate to the period following the Messiah’s first appearance when He introduced the kingdom of God to this earth and opened up the Gospel to the nations. Christ’s earthly ministry ushered in the period of the last days. This is confirmed in different New Testament passages.
Hebrews 1:1-2 declares,
“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.”
The last days commenced with the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ of which this passage provides indisputable proof. The Incarnation inaugurated the final era of God’s great plan of salvation for mankind.
Hebrews 9:26 also says,
“now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
1 Peter 1:19-20 also confirm that,
“Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world … was manifest in these last times for you.”
Peter declared in Acts 2:16-17, alluding to the happenings on the day of Pentecost,
“this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”
John twice testified in I John 2:18,
“it is the last time (
eschatos hōra or
last hour).”
2 Timothy 3:1-9 highlights the stark decline that exists before the Second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is certainly not speaking of period following the return of Christ. 2 Timothy 3:1 testifies:
“in the last days perilous (or hard to bear, troublesome, dangerous, harsh, fierce, savage)
times shall come.” Christ’s return brings an end to all this rebellion and wickedness. He comes to ushering eternal righteousness
.
2 Peter 3:3-13 speaks of the sceptics who are mocking and scoffing as to the actuality of the Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It reads:
“there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming?” (v4). If the last days relate to a future millennium, why would they be scoffing at an event that already occurred? They are mocking an impending future event. They are mocking the very idea of the second coming. Manifestly the “last days” occur before the coming of Jesus. It relates to the period we are now in.
James 5:3 also alludes to the last days and places that period before Jesus return. He to shows the last days to be a time of greed and folly. The return of Christ brings an end to such rebellion.
These passages demonstrate that we are in the end times since Christ’s first Advent and that the last days don’t relate to another age after Christ’s appearing, as Premillennialism imagines. The “last days” clearly relate to the intra-Advent period and find their conclusion at the “last day” – Christ’s Coming. I see the “last day” (singular) of the “last days” (plural) as the all-consummating appearing of Christ, which witnesses the total destruction of the world/wicked and a general resurrection / judgement. I believe Scripture shows that the “last days” (plural) terminate at the “last day” (singular) with the raising and judging of both the righteous (John 6:39-44, 54, 11:23-24) and the wicked (John 12:48). In all these references, the wording in the original for “last day” is always the same –
eschatee heemara. The Greek word
eschatee used here comes from the root word
eschatos, from where we get our word English eschatology, and simply means end, last, farthest or final.
Whilst this prophecy was initially given to Judah and Jerusalem, which at the time was the exclusive place of God’s favour on this earth, I do not believe this prophecy is restricted to them. In fact, the detail embodied within this passage proves the contrary and the fact that Isaiah was speaking of a time when the Gentiles would join the Jews in the house of God. I believe that period started with the commission of the disciples nearly 2,000 years ago.
Of the many other passages mentioning “the last days" in Scripture, there is not one "last days" passage that is identified with the period after the second coming. They all relate to the Church in the here-and-now.
What happens on the final day?
John 11:21-27 records:
“Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.”
Christ did not rebuke this understanding of the last day. In fact, it was in complete agreement with what Christ had previously taught in John 6:39-44, 54, where He said,
“And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day …No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day ... Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
The righteous are resurrected! When does this happen? When Jesus Comes. This is clear and simple (to those who not have a man-made school of thought to defend.
That is not all.
Christ tells us in John 12:48,
“He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”
There you have it! The same day that the righteous are raised is the same day the wicked are judged. Please note there is no mention of some imaginary period of 1,000 years separating this. Not here or in any other passage in Scripture.
