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(From a book I happen to be reading right now.)
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 of us 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."45
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?
45. Tim LaHaye, The Beginning of the End (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1972), pp. 171-172. See also Charles H. Dyer, The Rise of Babylon: Sign of the End Times (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1991). The latter book has to do with Saddam Hussein in contemporary Iraq.
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).46 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).47 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.48
There are many prophetic references looking forward to the "Messianic age of consummation” introduced by Christ.49 This era is frequently deemed "the last days” or "the latter days."50 "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…….
(...... and I will spare you any more reading. I think you get the point.)
