Are These The Last Days?
Are These The Last Days?
For centuries it has been claimed that we are living in the last days. Are these the last days? What signs are there that one could definitively point to that marks our generation as the terminal generation? Some choose to use the newspaper headlines to get their clues.
Sensational stories always tend to move people emotionally especially when they are connected with the end times. Besides, can’t we find plenty of examples to “prove” that evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse deceiving and being deceived? Does not the inspired apostle say this was a sign of the last days?
Are These The Last Days? Must Be Answered in Context
Hebrews 1:1-2 records that God spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets but has in “these last days” spoken to use by His Son. Many who read that assume this refers to the red-letter “words of Christ” in some King James Version translations. However, the text speaks particularly of a time in history when Christ walked the earth.
Jesus appeared in the end of the age. However, without properly defining that age, we could wind up with a serious error on the identity of the last days. Pure logic and common sense reasoning says he did not appear at the end of the material world almost 2,000 years ago. That just doesn’t make sense. So, how could Christ appear at the end of the age, (Heb. 9:26)?
To understand this, we must identify that age. According to Galatians 4:4, Christ came in the fulness of the times, born of a woman, born under the law. The age in which he lived was that of the Law of Moses. The law was certainly temporary and on its way out as a covenantally authoritative system during the time of Christ, not by destruction but by fulfillment, (Matt. 5:17-18; Heb. 7-18-19, 8:13).
We submit that Jesus not only lived in that age, but also died in the last days of that age (Heb. 9:26; 1 Pet. 1:20). He also said he would return in the last days of that age. Therefore the terminology of the last days belongs to the age of Moses not to that of Christ. Are these the last days? Not if we understand the implications of these passages.
What About Evil Men and Impostors As Signs of the End?
Yes, there were evil men and impostors. They were very prominent in the last days of Moses’ covenant. However, their presence and influence was a sign that the end was near. Peter describes some as “scoffers in the last days.” Jude calls them “mockers.” Yet Peter wrote that the endtime had drawn near, 1 Pet. 4:7 and that the judgment had come, 1 Pet. 4:17.
