The first four paragraphs of this kind of surprised me..... thus, the rest was quite interesting.
An eschatological theme that is as widely misunderstood as it is commonly discussed in popular prophetic literature is the "last days.” This factor of eschatological chronology is an important concept that requires a deep appreciation of the complexity of God's sovereign governance of history and the outworking of His redemptive purposes. Unfortunately, the idea of the last days is greatly abused by many.
In a popular work, the writer comments about those that were living among the "generation” (Matt. 24:34) of World War I: "There is no question that we are living in the last days. The fact that we are the generation that will be on the earth when our Lord comes certainly should not depress us."
The average Christian believes his is the very last times, that he is living in the shadow of the Second Coming. Consider some representative statements pointing in alarm to the imminence of the end in the "last days":
(1) The Antichrist "is now close at hand.”
(2) "The world is failing, passing away, and it witnesses to its ruin, not now by the age, but by the end of things.” Because of this the Christian should know
(3) that "still more terrible things are imminent.” Indeed,
(4) "Already the heavenly fire is giving birth, already the approach of divine punishment is manifest, already the doom of coming disaster is heralded.”
(5) Because of world circumstances the plea is: "Consider, I beg you, whether the age can bear this for long?”
(6) "All creation now waits in suspense for his arrival. The world, which must be transformed anew, is already pregnant with the end that is to come on the final day.” How often have we heard such cries of the end? Are not these the concerns of so many of the current crop of prophetic studies so wildly popular in our time?
I should confess to the reader, though, that I have not been entirely up front. All of the statements in the immediately preceding paragraph were made, not by contemporary prophetic writers, but by Christians living well over a thousand years ago. The following is a list of the sources:
Number (1) is from Tertullian (160-220), De Fuga 12.
Numbers (2) and (3) are from Cyprian (A.D. 195-258), De Mort 25.
Number (4) is from Firmicus Maternus (ca. A.D. 346), De Errore Profanarum Religion 25:3.
Number (5) is from Evodius of Uzala (ca. A.D. 412).
Number (6) is from Paulinus of Nola (A.D. 353-431). Too many have misunderstood the eschatology of Scripture and the function of the "last days” in eschatology — and that, for untold hundreds of years.
Properly understood the idea of the last days is focused on the most important episode of history: the life of Jesus Christ lived out in fulfillment of divine prophecy and of redemptive history. Christ is the focal point of all Scripture. He is anticipated in the Old Testament revelation and realized in the New: "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). As such He stands as history's dividing line — hence the historical appropriateness and theological significance of dividing history between B.C. and A.D.
There are many prophetic references looking forward to the "Messianic age of consummation” introduced by Christ. This era is frequently deemed "the last days” or "the latter days." "The expression then properly denoted the future times in general; but, as the coming of the Messiah was to the eye of a Jew the most important event in the coming ages, the great, glorious, and crowning scene in all that vast futurity, the phrase came to be regarded as properly expressive of that. It was a phrase in contrast with the days of the patriarchs, the kings, the prophets, etc. The last days, or the closing period of the world, were the days of the Messiah." His coming was "nothing less than the beginning of the great eschaton of history."
It is when Christ came that "the fullness of times” was realized: "The phrase pleroma tou chronou, Gal. iv. 4, implies an orderly unrolling of the preceding stages of world-history towards a fixed end." Hence, the preparatory preaching at the beginning of His ministry: "The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15; Matthew 4:17). Prior to this, the Old Testament era was typological and anticipatory. The Old Testament era served as the "former days” (Mal. 3:4) that gave way to the "last days,” the times initiated by Christ's coming: "God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things” (Hebrews 1:1-2).
Thus, we find frequent references to the presence of the last days during the New Testament time. The last days are initiated by the appearance of the Son (Hebrews 1:2; 1 Peter 1:20) to effect redemption (Hebrews 9:26) and by His pouring out of the Spirit (Acts 2:16, 17, 24; cf. Isa. 32:15; Zech. 12:10). The "ends of the ages” comes during the apostolic era (1 Cor. 10:11). These will run until "the last day,” when the resurrection/judgment occurs to end history (John 6:39; 11:24; 12:48). But before the final end point is reached, perilous times will punctuate the era of the end (2 Timothy 3:1) and mockers will arise (2 Peter 3:3).
The last days of Old Testament prophecy anticipated the establishment of Mount Zion/Jerusalem as the enduring spiritual and cultural influence through the era. This came in the first century with the establishment of the New Covenant phase of the Church, the focal point of the kingdom of Christ (cf. Joel 2 with Acts 2:16ff; Hebrews 12:18-27).
Because the last days have been with us since the first-century coming of Christ, there are no days to follow. There is no millennium that will introduce another grand redemptive era in man's history (see discussion of "Millennium” below). With the coming of Christ, earth history reached "epochal finality." The idea of the appearance of Christ as the "Last Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45) is indicative that there is no different historical age to follow. The finality has come, though it has undergone continuous development since its arrival in the ministry of Christ.
It is primarily in the dispensational literature of the millennial discussion that reference to the "last days” generates erroneous conclusions. Dispensationalists point to contemporary international social decline as indicative of the onset of the "last days": "The key that would unlock the prophetic book would be the current events that would begin to fit into the predicted pattern." "The conflicts that we see in our world today are symptoms of the day in which we live. They may be symptoms of the last days." Such observations overlook the biblical function of the "last days” in regard to the grand sweep of redemptive history. The "last days” of postmillennialism comprise the great era of redemptive history that gradually will issue forth in historical victory for the Church of Jesus Christ; the "last days” of dispensationalism introduce the collapsing of culture as the Great Tribulation looms (after which will follow the discontinuous personal reign of Christ on earth).
An eschatological theme that is as widely misunderstood as it is commonly discussed in popular prophetic literature is the "last days.” This factor of eschatological chronology is an important concept that requires a deep appreciation of the complexity of God's sovereign governance of history and the outworking of His redemptive purposes. Unfortunately, the idea of the last days is greatly abused by many.
In a popular work, the writer comments about those that were living among the "generation” (Matt. 24:34) of World War I: "There is no question that we are living in the last days. The fact that we are the generation that will be on the earth when our Lord comes certainly should not depress us."
The average Christian believes his is the very last times, that he is living in the shadow of the Second Coming. Consider some representative statements pointing in alarm to the imminence of the end in the "last days":
(1) The Antichrist "is now close at hand.”
(2) "The world is failing, passing away, and it witnesses to its ruin, not now by the age, but by the end of things.” Because of this the Christian should know
(3) that "still more terrible things are imminent.” Indeed,
(4) "Already the heavenly fire is giving birth, already the approach of divine punishment is manifest, already the doom of coming disaster is heralded.”
(5) Because of world circumstances the plea is: "Consider, I beg you, whether the age can bear this for long?”
(6) "All creation now waits in suspense for his arrival. The world, which must be transformed anew, is already pregnant with the end that is to come on the final day.” How often have we heard such cries of the end? Are not these the concerns of so many of the current crop of prophetic studies so wildly popular in our time?
I should confess to the reader, though, that I have not been entirely up front. All of the statements in the immediately preceding paragraph were made, not by contemporary prophetic writers, but by Christians living well over a thousand years ago. The following is a list of the sources:
Number (1) is from Tertullian (160-220), De Fuga 12.
Numbers (2) and (3) are from Cyprian (A.D. 195-258), De Mort 25.
Number (4) is from Firmicus Maternus (ca. A.D. 346), De Errore Profanarum Religion 25:3.
Number (5) is from Evodius of Uzala (ca. A.D. 412).
Number (6) is from Paulinus of Nola (A.D. 353-431). Too many have misunderstood the eschatology of Scripture and the function of the "last days” in eschatology — and that, for untold hundreds of years.
Properly understood the idea of the last days is focused on the most important episode of history: the life of Jesus Christ lived out in fulfillment of divine prophecy and of redemptive history. Christ is the focal point of all Scripture. He is anticipated in the Old Testament revelation and realized in the New: "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). As such He stands as history's dividing line — hence the historical appropriateness and theological significance of dividing history between B.C. and A.D.
There are many prophetic references looking forward to the "Messianic age of consummation” introduced by Christ. This era is frequently deemed "the last days” or "the latter days." "The expression then properly denoted the future times in general; but, as the coming of the Messiah was to the eye of a Jew the most important event in the coming ages, the great, glorious, and crowning scene in all that vast futurity, the phrase came to be regarded as properly expressive of that. It was a phrase in contrast with the days of the patriarchs, the kings, the prophets, etc. The last days, or the closing period of the world, were the days of the Messiah." His coming was "nothing less than the beginning of the great eschaton of history."
It is when Christ came that "the fullness of times” was realized: "The phrase pleroma tou chronou, Gal. iv. 4, implies an orderly unrolling of the preceding stages of world-history towards a fixed end." Hence, the preparatory preaching at the beginning of His ministry: "The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15; Matthew 4:17). Prior to this, the Old Testament era was typological and anticipatory. The Old Testament era served as the "former days” (Mal. 3:4) that gave way to the "last days,” the times initiated by Christ's coming: "God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things” (Hebrews 1:1-2).
Thus, we find frequent references to the presence of the last days during the New Testament time. The last days are initiated by the appearance of the Son (Hebrews 1:2; 1 Peter 1:20) to effect redemption (Hebrews 9:26) and by His pouring out of the Spirit (Acts 2:16, 17, 24; cf. Isa. 32:15; Zech. 12:10). The "ends of the ages” comes during the apostolic era (1 Cor. 10:11). These will run until "the last day,” when the resurrection/judgment occurs to end history (John 6:39; 11:24; 12:48). But before the final end point is reached, perilous times will punctuate the era of the end (2 Timothy 3:1) and mockers will arise (2 Peter 3:3).
The last days of Old Testament prophecy anticipated the establishment of Mount Zion/Jerusalem as the enduring spiritual and cultural influence through the era. This came in the first century with the establishment of the New Covenant phase of the Church, the focal point of the kingdom of Christ (cf. Joel 2 with Acts 2:16ff; Hebrews 12:18-27).
Because the last days have been with us since the first-century coming of Christ, there are no days to follow. There is no millennium that will introduce another grand redemptive era in man's history (see discussion of "Millennium” below). With the coming of Christ, earth history reached "epochal finality." The idea of the appearance of Christ as the "Last Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45) is indicative that there is no different historical age to follow. The finality has come, though it has undergone continuous development since its arrival in the ministry of Christ.
It is primarily in the dispensational literature of the millennial discussion that reference to the "last days” generates erroneous conclusions. Dispensationalists point to contemporary international social decline as indicative of the onset of the "last days": "The key that would unlock the prophetic book would be the current events that would begin to fit into the predicted pattern." "The conflicts that we see in our world today are symptoms of the day in which we live. They may be symptoms of the last days." Such observations overlook the biblical function of the "last days” in regard to the grand sweep of redemptive history. The "last days” of postmillennialism comprise the great era of redemptive history that gradually will issue forth in historical victory for the Church of Jesus Christ; the "last days” of dispensationalism introduce the collapsing of culture as the Great Tribulation looms (after which will follow the discontinuous personal reign of Christ on earth).
