What are the "Last Days?"

[Curtis]

So you reject everything I just said by deflecting to the Abomination of Desolation? Luke 21 identified the "Great Tribulation" as the time stretching from the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD to the last day of the age. And so, you now talk about the AoD?

This is a whole different subject. But there is no consensus on what the AoD will be. In the Early Church, a number of Church Fathers believed it was the Roman Army, come to destroy Jerusalem 66-70 AD. I believe the same. It was to happen in the very generation of the Apostles, as Jesus himself said.

Regardless, diverting to another subject does not change what Jesus said in Luke 21, in his description of the Great Tribulation. It was a Punishment of the Jewish People for rejecting their Messiah in favor of carnal living. It was a national apostasy, bringing Israel into their "Last Days."



This is no new revelation to me. But did you get the memo? When Jesus spoke about the Great Tribulation, he was still in OT times! He was addressing Israel, who at that time was still the only chosen nation. The addition of Gentiles to the Church was yet to come, following the resurrection. What happened to Israel as a nation was to become a model and a warning for future Christian nations.



How is the destruction of 1/4 the earth any worse than the Black Plague, which killed 1/4 of Europe in the 14th century? How is the beheading of saints during the reign of Antichrist any worse than Nero's beheading of Christians in the ancient Roman Empire? No, what makes this Tribulation worse than all others in Israel's history is the sheer length of this punishment, lasting throughout the entire present age! And it lasts so long that it threatens the extermination of Israel. If the State of Israel had not been reborn, the Jewish People could have perished. But the threat to Israel continues even with the Jewish State. And so, Israel must be saved out of it.

Nowhere is the reign of Antichrist called the "Great Tribulation." The Church is saved out of the tribulation of the entire NT era. In the same way, the Jewish People have suffered great tribulation throughout the entire NT era.

Furthermore, I'm not a Preterist. Shame on you for slandering me that way! Viewing prophecies as being fulfilled in the past is not Preterism. Preterism tends to look at *all prophecy* as already fulfilled, including the book of Revelation. I don't. I believe the Olivet Discourse referred primarily to the judgment of Israel in the present age, beginning in 70 AD. But I also believe in a future Antichrist. The AoD of the Olivet Discourse is, however, a reference to the Roman Army 66-70 AD, and not to the Antichrist.

Don't lie about those who you disagree with. That's not the way to make your argument.



Not only have you failed to rebut my argument, but you don't even cast the argument well. What makes the Great Tribulation the worst in Israel's history is the length of time that punishment lasts, threatening the existence of the Jewish People. The punishments inflicted on Israel biblically were sometimes numbered in years. This final punishment is so "great" that its length is not even numbered. It lasts until the "time of the Gentiles come to an end," as Jesus said.

You ignore 2 critical factors here.
1) Jesus called the Great Tribulation or Great Distress a *Jewish Punishment.*
2) Jesus said this Great Tribulation would last from the fall of Jerusalem (70 AD) to the end of t he age.

Furthermore, Jesus did mean to apply the example of Israel to the Gentile Church, which would also accumulate nations for God. They were given warning from Israel's experience to prepare for something similar in their own national experience.

Wrong on both counts. The destruction of the temple and their temporary dispersion was because Israel failed to recognize their time of visitation.

Explain how a local tribulation of only the Jews, affects the whole world to the point that a third of the world is burned up, and one fourth of mankind killed - to the point Jesus said unless the time was shortened NO FLESH would be saved - and explain how local events concerning only Israel, can be a worse time of trouble that a WORLDWIDE WAR with 50 MILLION deaths?

The obvious answer is: you can’t.

Romans 11 - Israel is currently ungodly and blinded, but in the end the entire nation of Israel will be saved, “when the deliverer- Jesus - is seen by them coming out of Zion - Jerusalem” they will realize He’s their real Messiah and be saved by faith.

God still has plans for Israel, the nation will be brought back to the land in two gatherings: the first in rebellion and unbelief, just as we see today in Israel.

In fact Jesus returns to Mount Olive where He ascended from, and with all His saints, just in time to save Jerusalem from total destruction, and then makes the city His home.

 

[Iconoclast]

I heard the term "last days," and see a basic confusion with many who are trying to understand this term. What are the "last days," if they were designated as such in the apostles' time, and are also used for the end of the age?

Really, I think we need to understand that the term often reflects the fall of a civilization, such as when Israel declines as a nation of God, and is close to national judgment. It involves a state of apostasy from the true faith, and is accompanied by an imminent judgment of God against that nation. That is why it is termed "the last days," because a nation is close to coming to an end.

The entire NT era is, as I often point out, a period of "great tribulation" for the Jewish People. In Jesus time, Israel was coming to an end. It was the "last days" for Israel in the present era. They were engaged in the worst kind of apostasy--the rejection of their own Messiah, and the rejection of his eternal atonement for their sins. They were insistent in living in their own sin nature, independent of God, and covering it up with a facade of allegiance to the Law of Moses.

Their judgment would come about 40 years after Jesus was crucified by the Romans, in 70 AD. Clearly, those were the "last days" for Israel, even though there remains a future Hope for Israel, when Messiah returns.

So Israel came into a time of punishment called "the Great Tribulation." They were destroyed as a nation by the Romans, and sent into an age-long exile called the "Jewish Diaspora." Some like to identify the "Great Tribulation" as only 3.5 years at the end of the age, when Antichrist rules, persecutes the Church, and brings all kinds of calamities upon the earth from God.

But the truth is, the "Great Tribulation" began with Israel's "last days," when Israel fell into great apostasy and lawlessness, and came under an age-long period of judgment. During this same period, the Gospel message has been extended to non-Jewish nations, to enable them to learn the same lessons that Israel has learned, with the same results. Nations rise, become Christian, and then they backslide, sin, and come under judgment. Their "last days" ensue.

I hope this helps you understand why, biblically, the "last days" started back in the time of Israel's Roman judgment and continues until today? It isn't just the Rule of Antichrist, or an end-time period in which plagues are sent out into the earth. No, this is an age-long process in which nations hear the Gospel, respond, and then ultimately fall away, with few remaining to be faithful to the Lord.

You are correct. Scripture tells us exactly; Heb.1
1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:

 

[Iconoclast]

Both Isaiah and Micah referred to the exaltation of the "mountain of the house of the Lord in the last days." Since the temple itself was destroyed 2000 years ago, the "last days" had to begin with the destruction of the temple. God's Law, which had originated out of that temple, would somehow be distributed among the nations. This in effect renders it a new Law, but nevertheless originating out of the old Law.

The "Last Days" began with the crucifixion of Christ, marking Jerusalem as the very last place that could ever be depicted as the "mountain of the house of the Lord." We cannot allegorize it, since it was a real geographical, historical reference in its day.

Peter's reference in Acts 2 to the endtime outpouring of the Spirit also referred to the time around when Jesus came. It cannot refer to the end of the age.

Paul in 2 Tim 3.1 referred to the "last days" as they existed in his own days. Heb 1.2 does, as well. James 5.3, as well. 2 Pet 3.3, as well. What this means is that most of the apostles and NT authors viewed the "Last Days" as beginning in their own time.

1 John 2.18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.

Correct. The decalogue is in the heart of NT. believers;We obey our King as He reigns from the heavenly Zion and Jerusalem.Heb12:22-29

 

[Randy Kluth]

Wrong on both counts. The destruction of the temple and their temporary dispersion was because Israel failed to recognize their time of visitation.

Explain how a local tribulation of only the Jews, affects the whole world to the point that a third of the world is burned up, and one fourth of mankind killed - to the point Jesus said unless the time was shortened NO FLESH would be saved - and explain how local events concerning only Israel, can be a worse time of trouble that a WORLDWIDE WAR with 50 MILLION deaths?

The obvious answer is: you can’t.

Romans 11 - Israel is currently ungodly and blinded, but in the end the entire nation of Israel will be saved, “when the deliverer- Jesus - is seen by them coming out of Zion - Jerusalem” they will realize He’s their real Messiah and be saved by faith.

God still has plans for Israel, the nation will be brought back to the land in two gatherings: the first in rebellion and unbelief, just as we see today in Israel.

In fact Jesus returns to Mount Olive where He ascended from, and with all His saints, just in time to save Jerusalem from total destruction, and then makes the city His home.

I have no need to convince you--I'm just trying to serve you with the limited info I have. The "Great Tribulation" Jesus spoke of was not a world-wide conflict. It was Israel's "punishment." Nevertheless, what happened to Israel will happen to the whole world, as well, particularly since the Gospel has gone out to the whole world, making many Christian nations. And as they backslide, as Israel did, they also will come under divine punishment. Though Christians are stuck in this, the punishment is not on them, but rather, we remain a witness to God's love to the end.

 

[Oseas]

I heard the term "last days," and see a basic confusion with many who are trying to understand this term.

Heb.1
1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:

The Scriptures speak of the last days and also the last day.

LAST DAYS
The book of Hebrews quoted above by Iconoclast refers to the last days, of course, it because refers to the Covenant or Dispensation of the New Testament whose length was prophetically predetermined to be two days-Hosea 6:v.2.

The FIRST four days or four millenniums endured from Adam to JESUS. The LAST two days or last two millenniums endured from JESUS unto our days. In fact, we are living in the beginning of the first century of the third millennium according Christian calendar(or third Day).

JESUS said: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up-John 2:v.19

The last Day

See, six complete Days have already passed from Adam until our days, and we have just entered in the seventh and last Day according GOD's Plan - Genesis 1 and 2:v.1-3. In fact we are speaking of the Lord's Day and also of the Day of GOD's rest in the seventh Day or seventh millennium.

Hosea 6:v.2-3
2 After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight.

3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

The Word is GOD.

 

[Randy Kluth]

The Scriptures speak of the last days and also the last day.

LAST DAYS
The book of Hebrews quoted above by Iconoclast refers to the last days, of course, it because refers to the Covenant or Dispensation of the New Testament whose length was prophetically predetermined to be two days-Hosea 6:v.2.

The FIRST four days or four millenniums endured from Adam to JESUS. The LAST two days or last two millenniums endured from JESUS unto our days. In fact, we are living in the beginning of the first century of the third millennium according Christian calendar(or third Day).

JESUS said: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up-John 2:v.19

The last Day

See, six complete Days have already passed from Adam until our days, and we have just entered in the seventh and last Day according GOD's Plan - Genesis 1 and 2:v.1-3. In fact we are speaking of the Lord's Day and also of the Day of GOD's rest in the seventh Day or seventh millennium.

Hosea 6:v.2-3
2 After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight.

3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

The Word is GOD.

Yes, you're talking about the Millennial Day theory. Makes sense to me! :)

 

[Curtis]

This is a whole different subject. But there is no consensus on what the AoD will be. In the Early Church, a number of Church Fathers believed it was the Roman Army, come to destroy Jerusalem 66-70 AD. I believe the same. It was to happen in the very generation of the Apostles, as Jesus himself said.

Whatever it is is completely irrelevant to the fact that it takes place in the middle of Daniels 70th week, which BTW is therefore how long the tribulation lasts - 7 years - and thus is a mid trib event, and in Matthew Mark and Luke, occurs just before the rapture of the elect, making the rapture a mid trib event.

Even if the AOD was an invasion of little green men from Mars it is still a mid trib event - which is the obvious point that YOU deflected from.

How is the destruction of 1/4 the earth any worse than the Black Plague, which killed 1/4 of Europe in the 14th century? How is the beheading of saints during the reign of Antichrist any worse than Nero's beheading of Christians in the ancient Roman Empire? No, what makes this Tribulation worse than all others in Israel's history is the sheer length of this punishment, lasting throughout the entire present age! And it lasts so long that it threatens the extermination of Israel. If the State of Israel had not been reborn, the Jewish People could have perished. But the threat to Israel continues even with the Jewish State. And so, Israel must be saved out o

Because if you add all those deaths up, it’s nowhere near 50 million.

One fourth 9 billion people will die during the tribulation - that’s 2.2 BILLION deaths during the 42 month great tribulation period. Not even close to being a local Middle East event. There are 9 million in Israel.

Nowhere is the reign of Antichrist called the "Great Tribulation." The Church is saved out of the tribulation of the entire NT era. In the same way, the Jewish People have suffered great tribulation throughout the entire NT era.

Since Daniel tells us the tribulation period is 7 years, and since the AC/beast is given power for exactly 42 months, or 3.5 years, to give the mark and defeat the saints, it is rather obvious that the last half is the GREAT tribulation.

Jesus Himself splits it up into THE tribulation, followed by the GREAT tribulation, with the mid trib AOD/SOP event in between.

Jesus describes the tribulation, then says that after THE tribulation (not the GREAT tribulation) of that day, the AOD event occurs, then the gathering together of the elect is immediately after.

Right after describing the mid trib AOD event, and the subsequent mid trib gathering of the saints, He states, then there shall be GREAT tribulation- the last half, 42 months, of the 7 year tribulation period.

Thus there is THE tribulation- general tribulation sans the mark of the beast - then the Mid trib AOD event and then rapture - followed by the GREAT tribulation.

Furthermore, I'm not a Preterist. Shame on you for slandering me that way! Viewing prophecies as being fulfilled in the past is not Preterism. Preterism tends to look at *all prophecy* as already fulfilled, including the book of Revelation. I don't. I believe the Olivet Discourse referred primarily to the judgment of Israel in the present age, beginning in 70 AD. But I also believe in a future Antichrist. The AoD of the Olivet Discourse is, however, a reference to the Roman Army 66-70 AD, and not to the Antichrist.

There are full and partial preterists.

 

[Keraz]

six complete Days have already passed from Adam until our days, and we have just entered in the seventh and last Day according GOD's Plan - Genesis 1 and 2:v.1-3. In fact we are speaking of the Lord's Day and also of the Day of GOD's rest in the seventh Day or seventh millennium.

Actually there has been 5991 years since Adam to today.
Much will happen in these final 9 years.

Yes, you're talking about the Millennial Day theory.

One day to God in heaven; 1000 years earth time.

 

[Ziggy]

What are the "Last Days?"


BUCKLE UP

 

[Curtis]

The last days started exactly on the day of Pentecost.

They received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and Peter in Acts 2 said what just happened was the fulfillment of the Joel prophecy that in the last days God would pour out His Spirit.

Thus the last days - that the New Testament deals with - started then.

They end when the age of the gentiles is fulfilled, IMO.

 

[Randy Kluth]

Whatever it is is completely irrelevant to the fact that it takes place in the middle of Daniels 70th week, which BTW is therefore how long the tribulation lasts - 7 years - and thus is a mid trib event, and in Matthew Mark and Luke, occurs just before the rapture of the elect, making the rapture a mid trib event.

Even if the AOD was an invasion of little green men from Mars it is still a mid trib event - which is the obvious point that YOU deflected from.

Not deflecting at all--shame on you for thinking so. Daniel's 70th Week must be connected to the previous 69 Weeks directly, or one cannot call it a "70 Weeks period" at all! Rather, it would then be a 69 Weeks period and a separate, future 1 Week period.

But that doesn't make sense to me, and neither do I have any need to deflect. And there is no Mid-Trib indicator, except that some believe Mid-Trib is proven by the fact there is a Coming of Christ in the middle of the book of Revelation, in ch. 11.

Of course, that is easily explained by Postribbers like myself simply by explaining that the Postrib Coming of Christ is portrayed not just once, but several times, in different visions in the book of Revelation. A vision of Christ's Postrib Coming in ch. 11 is simply one of several visions of the same Postrib Coming. The book of Revelation is not all a single chronologically-ordered set of visions.

Because if you add all those deaths up, it’s nowhere near 50 million.

One fourth 9 billion people will die during the tribulation - that’s 2.2 BILLION deaths during the 42 month great tribulation period. Not even close to being a local Middle East event. There are 9 million in Israel.

You're arguing degrees of intensity, as indicated by the sense that this will be an unrepeatable degree of tribulation. But the extreme length of the NT age would also qualify as unrepeatable.

But what puts your theory to rest is the fact Jesus said this Great Tribulation is a Jewish Punishment lasting from the destruction of Jerusalem (70 AD) to the end of the age. This cannot be episodic, but age-long. No matter how you wish to compare one historical episode of suffering with another, they will not qualify as an age-long event.

Since Daniel tells us the tribulation period is 7 years, and since the AC/beast is given power for exactly 42 months, or 3.5 years, to give the mark and defeat the saints, it is rather obvious that the last half is the GREAT tribulation.

Daniel does not tell us the Tribulation period is 7 years. You're making that up. And I have no need to deflect from your own made-up beliefs about what Scriptures says.

Jesus Himself splits it up into THE tribulation, followed by the GREAT tribulation, with the mid trib AOD/SOP event in between.

Nowhere does Jesus talk about a split up 7 year period of Tribulation--nowhere!

Jesus describes the tribulation, then says that after THE tribulation (not the GREAT tribulation) of that day, the AOD event occurs, then the gathering together of the elect is immediately after.

So now you're distinguishing between "Tribulation" and "Great Tribulation?" On what basis are you doing so, and what refers to what?

Right after describing the mid trib AOD event, and the subsequent mid trib gathering of the saints, He states, then there shall be GREAT tribulation- the last half, 42 months, of the 7 year tribulation period.

Where does Scripture say that after 3.5 years there will be a Great Tribulation? Where?

Thus there is THE tribulation- general tribulation sans the mark of the beast - then the Mid trib AOD event and then rapture - followed by the GREAT tribulation.

Made-up theology requires no response. Assertions mean nothing without proof. You provide the most meager of evidences, and not proof.

There are full and partial preterists.

And I am neither. So you should apologize. Do you know the difference between making historical interpretations and being a preterist? You don't seem to know the difference.

 

[Iconoclast]

The Scriptures speak of the last days and also the last day.

LAST DAYS
The book of Hebrews quoted above by Iconoclast refers to the last days, of course, it because refers to the Covenant or Dispensation of the New Testament whose length was prophetically predetermined to be two days-Hosea 6:v.2.

The FIRST four days or four millenniums endured from Adam to JESUS. The LAST two days or last two millenniums endured from JESUS unto our days. In fact, we are living in the beginning of the first century of the third millennium according Christian calendar(or third Day).

JESUS said: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up-John 2:v.19

The last Day

See, six complete Days have already passed from Adam until our days, and we have just entered in the seventh and last Day according GOD's Plan - Genesis 1 and 2:v.1-3. In fact we are speaking of the Lord's Day and also of the Day of GOD's rest in the seventh Day or seventh millennium.

Hosea 6:v.2-3
2 After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight.

3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

The Word is GOD.

No...it refers to the last days of the Old Covenant Jewish theocracy, and the New Exodus in Jesus, the True Israel.

 

[Ziggy]

And history repeats itself.
Amen

 

[Oseas]

No...it refers to the last days of the Old Covenant Jewish theocracy, and the New Exodus in Jesus, the True Israel.

WRONG. What prevails is the Word of GOD. It refers to this time of Apocalypse, the END OF THE TIMES. In that He says, a New Covenant, He has made the FIRST OLD. Now that which decayes and waxes OLD is ready to vanish away.

Furthermore, the true Israel is not the carnal Israel which JESUS said they are sons of Devil-John 8:v.44-45

43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

44 Ye are of your father the Devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.



Matthew 23:v.29 to 35
29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.

32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

33 Ye serpents (sons of the Old Serpent-the Devil as above), ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:

35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

 

[Iconoclast]

WRONG. What prevails is the Word of GOD. It refers to this time of Apocalypse, the END OF THE TIMES. In that He says, a New Covenant, He has made the FIRST OLD. Now that which decayes and waxes OLD is ready to vanish away.

Furthermore, the true Israel is not the carnal Israel which JESUS said they are sons of Devil-John 8:v.44-45

43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

44 Ye are of your father the Devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.



Matthew 23:v.29 to 35
29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.

32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

33 Ye serpents (sons of the Old Serpent-the Devil as above), ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:

35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

I am not certain what you are saying.
I never said carnal Israel was the true Israel.

 

[Oseas]

Actually there has been 5991 years since Adam to today.
Much will happen in these final 9 years.

One day to God in heaven; 1000 years earth time.

1 Corinthians 14:v. 8 -
If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?

 

[Timtofly]

Whatever it is is completely irrelevant to the fact that it takes place in the middle of Daniels 70th week, which BTW is therefore how long the tribulation lasts - 7 years - and thus is a mid trib event, and in Matthew Mark and Luke, occurs just before the rapture of the elect, making the rapture a mid trib event.

Even if the AOD was an invasion of little green men from Mars it is still a mid trib event - which is the obvious point that YOU deflected from.

Because if you add all those deaths up, it’s nowhere near 50 million.

One fourth 9 billion people will die during the tribulation - that’s 2.2 BILLION deaths during the 42 month great tribulation period. Not even close to being a local Middle East event. There are 9 million in Israel.



Since Daniel tells us the tribulation period is 7 years, and since the AC/beast is given power for exactly 42 months, or 3.5 years, to give the mark and defeat the saints, it is rather obvious that the last half is the GREAT tribulation.

Jesus Himself splits it up into THE tribulation, followed by the GREAT tribulation, with the mid trib AOD/SOP event in between.

Jesus describes the tribulation, then says that after THE tribulation (not the GREAT tribulation) of that day, the AOD event occurs, then the gathering together of the elect is immediately after.

Right after describing the mid trib AOD event, and the subsequent mid trib gathering of the saints, He states, then there shall be GREAT tribulation- the last half, 42 months, of the 7 year tribulation period.

Thus there is THE tribulation- general tribulation sans the mark of the beast - then the Mid trib AOD event and then rapture - followed by the GREAT tribulation.

There are full and partial preterists.

The whole earth will have died by the end of Armageddon. That is why it is the final harvest.

 

[Keraz]

The whole earth will have died by the end of Armageddon. That is why it is the final harvest.

Where does the Bible say this?
The Final harvest at the Last Trump, does not happen until the end of the Millennium. Revelation 20:11-15

After Jesus has disposed of Satan and his armies, Revelation 19:17-21, He will send out His angels to gather His own people, Matthew 24:31, and they will be His priests and co-rulers for the Millennium. Revelation 5:9-10

 

[Raccoon1010]

I heard the term "last days," and see a basic confusion with many who are trying to understand this term. What are the "last days," if they were designated as such in the apostles' time, and are also used for the end of the age?

Really, I think we need to understand that the term often reflects the fall of a civilization, such as when Israel declines as a nation of God, and is close to national judgment. It involves a state of apostasy from the true faith, and is accompanied by an imminent judgment of God against that nation. That is why it is termed "the last days," because a nation is close to coming to an end.

The entire NT era is, as I often point out, a period of "great tribulation" for the Jewish People. In Jesus time, Israel was coming to an end. It was the "last days" for Israel in the present era. They were engaged in the worst kind of apostasy--the rejection of their own Messiah, and the rejection of his eternal atonement for their sins. They were insistent in living in their own sin nature, independent of God, and covering it up with a facade of allegiance to the Law of Moses.

Their judgment would come about 40 years after Jesus was crucified by the Romans, in 70 AD. Clearly, those were the "last days" for Israel, even though there remains a future Hope for Israel, when Messiah returns.

So Israel came into a time of punishment called "the Great Tribulation." They were destroyed as a nation by the Romans, and sent into an age-long exile called the "Jewish Diaspora." Some like to identify the "Great Tribulation" as only 3.5 years at the end of the age, when Antichrist rules, persecutes the Church, and brings all kinds of calamities upon the earth from God.

But the truth is, the "Great Tribulation" began with Israel's "last days," when Israel fell into great apostasy and lawlessness, and came under an age-long period of judgment. During this same period, the Gospel message has been extended to non-Jewish nations, to enable them to learn the same lessons that Israel has learned, with the same results. Nations rise, become Christian, and then they backslide, sin, and come under judgment. Their "last days" ensue.

I hope this helps you understand why, biblically, the "last days" started back in the time of Israel's Roman judgment and continues until today? It isn't just the Rule of Antichrist, or an end-time period in which plagues are sent out into the earth. No, this is an age-long process in which nations hear the Gospel, respond, and then ultimately fall away, with few remaining to be faithful to the Lord.

What are the last days? You're in them!

 

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I heard the term "last days," and see a basic confusion with many who are trying to understand this term. What are the "last days," if they were designated as such in the apostles' time, and are also used for the end of the age?

I see the "last days" relying on context, as there were the last days of the old covenant, there will be the last days for the church, the last days for Israel, and the "latter days".

I've learned that when I come to that expression, or similar, to see specifically what it references.

Much love!