Are We Living in the Last Days?
KEY TEXT ON THE COMING OF CHRIST
By David Mathis / Desiring God
I was driving our twin six-year-old boys to school when one of the guys asked, out of the blue, “Dad, do you know what year Jesus is coming back?”
Typically, I enjoy answering my sons’ questions with firm, confident, black-and-white truths, but this time I had to admit my ignorance.
The Bible does give us some very black-and-white things to say in moments like these, though. I told him that I did not know the year, and that even Jesus himself, when he was on earth, said that he didn’t know the exact time when he would be coming back (Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32). I also took the opportunity to emphasize that if anyone says that he knows, that person is false.
Then I added that even though I don’t know what year Jesus is coming back, I do know that his coming is near. And by “near,” I mean what the New Testament means when it tells us, multiple times, that his coming is near.
The Next Big Thing
God calls his church, in every generation, to live in light of this remarkable truth: nothing now stands in the way of Jesus’s return. After his perfect life, sacrificial death for us, resurrection from the grave, and ascension to heaven to pour out his Spirit on his church, the next major movement in the history of the world is the second coming of Christ.
“The next major movement in the history of the world is the second coming of Christ.”
In the church age, we Christians have no definite unfulfilled list of events which must transpire before his return. What the Bible promises will happen at the end is already happening, in significant measure, around the world today — and has been happening, in some sense, since the earliest days of the church.
As long as Jesus tarries, we do indeed have the concrete directives of the church age to continue pursuing, like the evangelization of the nations (Matthew 28:19) and the hastening of his coming through holy living (2 Peter 3:11–12). And yet we have no firm, certain list of unfulfilled conditions about which Jesus could not surprise us. His coming is the next big thing and could happen at any moment. That’s what the New Testament means when it says his return is near.
The End Is at Hand
Four particular texts in the New Testament, from four different human authors, say that the end is “at hand,” or literally, “has drawn near.”
Paul writes in Romans 13:12, “The night is far gone; the day is at hand.” The “times of ignorance” (as he said at Athens, Acts 17:30), the dark season of human history, now has passed with the coming of Christ. The previous statement clarifies the context: “You know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11). The day of Christ’s coming, Paul says, “has drawn near.”
Hebrews has the same nearness in view when he charges Christians in Hebrews 10:24–25 not to neglect “to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encourag[e] one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” By this, he does not mean, as is often misunderstood, “Get more serious about Christian fellowship sometime in the future, when you see the signs of the end begin to appear.” Rather, he means that he and his readers already are living in the end times. The signs of the end aren’t off in the future; they are already happening now. “All the more” now because they already see the Day drawing near. As we will see, Hebrews, as plainly as any New Testament author, says that Christians are living “in the last days.”
Peter, then, in 1 Peter 4:7, writes, “The end of all things is at hand.” Some have wondered whether Paul and Hebrews were referring to the coming destruction of Jerusalem (which happened in 70 A.D.) as the “day” that was “the Day drawing near,” but such alternative theories hit the wall here. Peter says, very simply, “The end of all things is near.” Even if Peter wrote his letter only to Jewish converts, it would be special pleading to take “the end of all things” as simply the destruction of Jerusalem.
Finally, James says plainly and unmistakably in James 5:8, “The coming of the Lord is at hand.” Jesus’s return is near. That’s what James, Peter, Hebrews, and Paul believed — and what the faithful church has lived in light of for two thousand years. And what we should believe, and be ready for, today.
How, then, do we square the New Testament’s claim that Christ’s coming is “near” with the fact that here we are, two thousand years later, and he has not yet returned?
Could Jesus Come Back Today?
I remember a book appearing at our local bookstore in the late 90s, when I was a teenager, with the title Are We Living in the End Times? I was intrigued.
Are we? Might Jesus return in my lifetime? My interest was piqued. I wanted to get that book and answer the question for myself whether we are living in the last days.
“It’s not about shortness of time as we conceive of it, but about nearness in history as God crafts it.”
Well, eventually I did get the book, and I was very disappointed. I remember it being speculative, and concerned with the transient political realities of late 90s. The book wasn’t nearly as convincing as I’d hoped it would be. But it wasn’t too long until I went to college and became involved with a campus ministry that pointed me to the Bible’s clarity about whether we are living in the last days.
As early as Acts 2:17, just after Jesus has ascended to heaven and poured out his Spirit on his church, Peter declares that the “last days” prophecy from Joel 2 is being fulfilled in their midst: “In the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.”
Then Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:1, “Understand this, that in the last daysthere will come times of difficulty.” And the times of difficulty he refers to were already happening for his readers. He was saying, in effect, “Don’t be surprised that life is tough; these are the last days, remember?” And 2 Peter 3:3 makes a similar assumption, and gives a similar reminder: “Scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.” For Peter’s readers, and for us, the scoffers aren’t future; they are here now. We are living in the last days.
James denounces the unbelieving rich by saying, “You have laid up treasure in the last days” (James 5:3). James, his readers, and we today are already in the last days, and those who lay up earthly treasure now do so, tragically, in this final season of history before Jesus returns.
Perhaps most prominent of all, and unmistakable, is the first two verses of Hebrews: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” The first coming of Christ ushered in this final season of world history — these last days — and his second coming is the next major step in history.
History of Salvation
Unlike many other major systems of belief around the world, Jews and Christians view history as linear. History is God’s story, and it is going somewhere. It had a beginning, and it will have an end. There were first days, there were the days of the patriarchs and the many seasons (so many ups and downs!) in the history of Israel, and there were four hundred years of prophetic silence, and then the days Jesus walked the earth.
“History is God’s story, and it is going somewhere. It had a beginning, and it will have an end.”
And since then, we have been living in the last days. We don’t know how long this present season of history will last. It has been almost two thousand years so far. But we do know that this present season of history, which began with the early church, is the last one until Jesus comes. The next major, literally epoch-making event to come is not some especially great persecution (as if Christians haven’t been persecuted for the last two thousand years and aren’t being persecuted in horrible ways around the world today); and it’s not God intervening to rapture Christians from being persecuted. God has better plans than to keep his people from hard times (Acts 14:22; 2 Timothy 3:12).
The next big step is that Jesus is coming back. That’s what the New Testament means when it says his return is “near” or “at hand.” It’s not about shortness of time as we conceive of it, but about nearness in history as God crafts it. And it should make us a people who anticipate it, pray for it, and live in light of it.
The coming of Christ is near. This is what we teach our children, and remind ourselves. We are living in the last days.
David Mathis (@davidcmathis) is executive editor for desiringGod.org and pastor at Cities Church in Minneapolis. He is a husband, father of four, and author of Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines.
http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/are-we-living-in-the-last-days
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Whistler Blowers, Insiders
There is one event that is soon to be fulfilled that has never been fulfilled and that is the complete destruction of Damascus. Just one of many prophesies that have to be fulfilled. Even though there is nothing new under the sun Jesus said that these events will happen more frequently and more destructive that even hearts will fail because of fear.
These prophesies that have been publicized by christian leaders, but not fulfilled, makes christianity look bad – surely a tool used by Satan. People will fall away from the faith saying, “Where is your return of Jesus.” They will mock every prophesy.
We have been living in the “last days” for almost 2000 years. A day is thousand years and a thousands years is one day to Yahuah.
So it is Friday now, sometime near the evening before the Shabbath (millennial) or thousand year of peace and rule of Yahusha.
I agree…and someone who knows their Hebrew names long removed from “chuch bibles”.
no thats probably hundreds of years in the future
No its probably not. Know how i know? Because the last generation will be a standalone generation as in a drastically different time period than all the rest. Plus all the other factors are occuring at this time…in our time, this generation. Thats how we know that we are the one. People need to get it through there thick heads that though we dont know the exact moment, we do know that the period of time that sees the endtime events is now. Not only is this the last generation, its 70 yrs or more into it. Giving that fact look at whats going on. Bible prophecy is real its true and its happening in our day. It is really real daggumit. Sorry to disappoint you christian and bible haters and scoffers….you are wrong so get use to it.
Pay attention to #2 in light of #3……..123’s of true Christianity v popular & damnable heresies
#1 God is ONE, not three different persons who are “one being”: which is as ridiculous as claiming three different cars are the “ONE VEHICLE”; if different persons are only one is purpose then your god is no different then pagan deities you fools! ….TRINITARIANS CONFESS JESUS /THEY ARE NOT POLYTHEIST BUT ARE MONOTHEIST LIKE A LIAR & THIEF WHO “CONFESS” THEY DO NOT LIE OR STEAL The simple fact is that just because you confess or deny that you are in an adulterous relationship and denounce all forms of adultery has nothing to do with whether or not it is in fact adulterous! .. …A rose by any other name is still just a rose AND calling it a water lily does not change the definition of what a water Lilly or a rose is either!…No, Trinitarians confess & preach literally …”ANOTHER JESUS” 2 Cor 11:4
- Like a thief in your house caught stealing your things insisting he was not there stealing “I CONFESS I am NOT stealing”. You just do not “properly understand” what he is doing/saying. Further, since you never had a “proper understanding” of what he is doing/saying you have no business accusing him since you do not even know what you are talking about in the first place. It is with and in your own ignorance that you base your “false accusations” & “ad homonym attacks” against him…… Ridiculous of course it is ……2Thess 2:11; Titus 1:16; 2Tim 3:5;
…… should have given you a hint, harking back to Satan in The garden…God said you will die…Satan comes along and states no you will be more WISE……today .God said He is one; but Satan’s children come along and say no three is more WISE and humble in the face of God’s grandeur only “a mystery” that can be understood “in faith”. God uses head and right arm to explain the distinctions between father and son.. However, the Trinitarian heretics say to the effect: “NO, that is just a figure of speech, or that is not what God really means. What God is really saying is that God is three different persons”. Fools, hypocrites and blind guides, God said he was One and by your traditions and vain imaginations have taken the words of God and made them of no effect, refashioning God into your vain imaginations because God is three different person is NOWHERE IN SCRIPTURE!……PART 4 & 5 HOW MANY GODS ARE THERE FOR THE ONE GOD TO TALK TO?? Who was Jesus praying to??!?…. The real question should be … How does having multiple different persons keep this one God/being/entity from praying to himself?! (The trinitarian “schizophrenic” “god-head”) The Trinitarians want to have their cake and eat it too as the saying goes. On the one hand they need to say they only worship one indivisible God being/ entity but on the other hand they feel the need for some reason to keep Jesus or God from praying and talking to himself by dividing him up into different persons!?! It never occurs to them that that since there is only one indivisible God to pray too and Jesus is that indivisible God come in the flesh that he would need to talk to himself as to show us how to live, suffer, pray and die for our/ flesh) benefit not his!?!….. So while Trinitarians are quick to complain that God was not talking to himself at Christ baptism or in Gen “let us” they ignore the logical demands of their own theology! If Jesus is the ONE GOD in flesh and the Father is the SAME ONE GOD in heaven then Trinitarianism demands THE ONE GOD is talking to HIMSELF the same “being”! Claiming that God is multiple different persons as the reason for why God is not talking to himself (because God is three different “selfs”) only demonstrates that what they really worship is in fact not a ONE GOD who talks to himself but three different god “selfs”/ and they all talk to each other! When they speak about who God was talking and praying to, they are quick to say “the other person, NOT HIMSELF!” But if you ask them how many gods do they pray to then they will say “ONLY ONE”!?! They expect you to believe that those three different persons are THE ONE GOD-BEING” which is like calling three different cars “THE ONE VEHICLE” (they are text book examples of prov 26:12)
Mark 12:28…Which is the first commandment of all? 29. …Hear, O Israel; THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD: 30. And ………..this is the first commandment….. 31. And the second is….. IF YOU CAN’T GET THIS “FIRST OF ALL COMMANDMENTS” RIGHT, ALL THE REST OF YOUR “FAITH” AND PREACHING ON LOVE & SIN IS MOOT
PART 6: THE ANTI CHRIST….WHERE? WHERE?….EVERYWHERE!!! …..IT”S YOU O TRINITARIAN!
“WHO” it was (what person) that came “IN THE FLESH”, IS THE DETERMINING FACTOR IN WHAT IT MEANS TO BE “ANT-CHRIST”! Even Islam claims Jesus was the Jewish messiah/Christ who was to come in the flesh) they all deny “WHO” it was (what person) that came (to be the Christ) in the flesh!?!…….To deny the father is to deny the son because they are one and the same person that came in the flesh!
JOHN 14: 8-20 ….Note Isaiah 9:6. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: …: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, … the everlasting Father ….The son, father/Holy Spirit are all the same person, NOT like two different persons working together even as “one flesh” ….The “oneness” between Christ and the father is not comparable to a man & his wife, for only a fool would say “When you have seen me you have seen my wife, how sayest thou then, Shew us your wife?” Notice they asked to see THE FATHER and the response was Jn 14:9 ..“HAVE I BEEN SO LONG time with you, and yet hast THOU NOT KNOW ME, Philip…..Now image some fool trying to claim that statement if you asked to see his wife!?!!? You want to see the FATHER but have I been with you but you don’t know me!?!?!
Jn 14 continued….…………..17. Even THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH; (Jn 14:6 I AM the way, THE TRUTH,) whom the world cannot receive, .. for HE DEWLLETH WITH YOU, (present tense/standing next to them in the flesh) and SHALL BE IN YOU… (future tense “In them”) 18. I will not leave you comfortless: I WILL COME TO YOU (future tense “In them”) Note: The spirit of Christ is the sprit of God and the holy spirit that is why Christ said “I will come to you” (to comfort them, because Christ is the comforter). The spirit was standing next to them in flesh… ….latter it would come to them to be inside of them (inside of their flesh as the spirit we are given)…..that is why. he would send the spirit…… However, Jesus himself here makes the point that the same person who was the HOLY SPIRIT that would come was standing next to them but lets them know “I will come to you again to be Inside of you”
The whole point to Gal 3:20.a mediator is NOT A MEDIATOR OF ONE, (HEIS) but GOD IS ONE. (HEIS) again, point blank, identifies the number of persons of God! The “but” points out the contrast between multiple persons in a mediation party v the “one” of God. God is not like a mediation party with multiple different persons. …..”the express image of his person” ( the person of God; singular not plural).Any attempt to lay claim otherwise is willful ignorance and delusional nonsense
You can download the complete FREE book from
https://www.scribd.com/doc/305367608/The-Trinity-Heresy
OR
https://www.academia.edu/23463667/THE_TRINITY_HERESY
or
http://www.globethics.net/gtl/10920799 THE TRINITY HERESY
#2 SECOND COMING Thou Fool! “I come quickly” so “Hold fast
till i come”… NOT …“in another 2000 yrs I might be coming soon any time now, so hold fast”!?! …those that deny the second coming of Christ in the war of AD70 are practicing a damnable heresy in denying the lord that bought them ( 2Peter 2:1-2 ;2Tim 4:8/ you cant love an appearing you deny& the context is the 2nd coming not the first)… Mat 7:23..”I NEVER KNEW YOU” …..Mat 10:33. But whosoever shall deny me before men……..sound familiar?…. If I said I am coming to your house in this generation when these things happen but no one knows the day or hour what fool would think I might be coming in 2000 years latter!?!? ..2 Tim 4: 4. And
they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be TURNED UNTO FABLES.
Christ promised that only HIS PEOPLE would see him ….John 14:19. Yet a little while, and THE WORLD SEETH ME NO MORE;….. [2 Cor 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ AFTER THE FLESH, yet NOW HENCEFORTH KNOW WE HIM NO MORE….(here the Context of John 14 is his second coming)…..continued…..but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. 20. AT THAT DAY .. 21. He that hath my commandments, and KEEPETH THEM, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and WILL MANIFEST MYSELF TO HIM……(again taking note “as he is” or 1Jn 3:2)
22. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, HOW IS IT THAT THOU WILT MANIFEST THYSELF UNTO US AND NOT UNTO THE WORLD? 23. Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, HE WILL KEEP MY WORDS: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.( Rev 3:20) 24. He that loveth me not.. (1Cor 16:22)…. KEEPETH NOT MY SAYINGS: ( REV 9:16-20)
REVELATION 1:7. Behold, HE COMETH WITH CLOUDS; and EVERY EYE SHALL SEE HIM, …. There are two point to be made here (1) this is a partial quote from OT (Zech 12:2&10; also note Rev 16:15-17 & Zech 14:1-3 with Joel 2:28-3:1,2,12,16 et al) note the context it IDENTICAL to Mat ch 24/ Lk 21/ Mark 13 et al….you know, where Jesus described his second coming with the destruction of Jerusalem!?!?!!?…. (2) there parallel here with ………….Exodus 24:10. And THEY SAW THE GOD OF ISRAEL : and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. 11. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also THEY SAW GOD, and did eat and drink………..But Christ said….. John 1:18. NO MAN HATH SEEN GOD AT ANY TIME; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. A person can see with their understanding and or see with their eyes…. It can see “seen” for certain that everything that Christ described was seen by the folks of that day in His coming but do they perceive that was him? …So what Christ said is true every eye saw him but the world does not see him….. With the eye they and folks still today can see everything Christ described to have taken place, but they do not “keep” ( believe and understand) his words as such they do not see him nor shall they ever.
The saints who have physical died faithful in the flesh (every man in his own order) are changed in the blink of an eye & caught up to sit on that Great white throne ( this congregation of the saints is the body of Christ that folks will answer to at the judgment and these saints will judge all men who cannot see Christ along with the rest of the world……Folks think they are waiting to see Jesus but they will NEVER see Jesus himself they will only see the body of Christ condemn them the saints judge the world (Rev 3:21; 1 Cor 6:2 et al) the saints are the body of Christ…that is the only part of Christ they shall see….only the saints shall see God face to face…..most peoples idea of the second coming & day of the Lord and the judgment is completely wrong
https://www.scribd.com/doc/305366745/Revelation-the-First-Gospel-of-the-Kingdom
or
http://www.globethics.net/gtl/5455069 Revelation The First Gospel of The Kingdom
or
https://www.academia.edu/23464127/REVELATION_THE_FIRST_GOSPEL_OF_THE_KINGDOM
DAY OF THE LORD”/ YEAR OF THE LORD – does NOT last for 24 hours!?!..Also means the day of resurrection & judgment do not last for one hour or one day either! They only begin (NOT END) in a certain hour & on a certain 24 hour day ….”SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS to arise”…..NOT..”come & get (your new resurrected body) it while it is still hot, only 24 hours of solar power left”!?!
https://www.scribd.com/doc/308485609/Day-of-Lord-Not-24-Hours-I-Come-Quickly
2Thess 2: 11. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12. That they all might be damned …
https://www.scribd.com/doc/305366745/Revelation-the-First-Gospel-of-the-Kingdom
or
http://www.globethics.net/gtl/5455069 Revelation The First Gospel of The Kingdom
or
https://www.academia.edu/23464127/REVELATION_THE_FIRST_GOSPEL_OF_THE_KINGDOM
978-1-4907-0590-3 (SC ISBN)
#3 There is a sharp contrast between THREE groups :
(1) “PREDESTINED DAMNED” who were NEVER written in the book of life ………..Rev 17: 8 WHOSE NAMES WERE NOT WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, …as contrasted …EPH 1: 4. According as he hath CHOSEN US in him BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD
(2) “MANY CALLED”= ONLY and ALL SAINTS (those who come to Christ) are written in the book of life … Philippians 4:3… ……Rev 21:27; (Only saints are Called and elect; Rom 1:6-7 et al) This is THE CHRUCH and ONLY these can have their names blotted out of the book of life ….….Heb 12:23 to the general assembly and CHURCH of the firstborn … WHICH ………are WRITTEN in heaven,
(3) THE FEW CHOSEN: Those saints who were alive in group #2 who are now physically dead. They died “faithful” these are the FEW that were chosen faithful…….Rev 3:5. ……; and I
will not BLOT OUT HIS NAME OUT OF THE BOOK OF LIFE, (Ps 69:28) …. These are the FEW that are CHOSEN and now that they have died and are saved then “once saved THEY CAN NEVER BE LOST”
Predestination….its true..its all true…download here
https://www.scribd.com/doc/306868420/Most-True-Christians-Go-to-Hell
http://www.globethics.net/gtl/10920800 Most true Christians go to hell
https://www.academia.edu/25217564/Most_True_Christains_Go_to_Hell
NO! We are not living in the last days. The last days were the last days of the old Mosaic covenant which was passing away when the book of Hebrews was written approx. 62 -65 AD. The last days were when Christ walked on this earth.
1 Pet. 1:20 “foreknown, indeed, before the foundation of the world, and manifested in the last times because of you,” (YLT)
Christ was manifested – shown on earth – in the last times. As He was manifested in the first century A.D., and the scripture says He was manifested in the “last times”, the the last times were the first century A.D.
Heb. 1:2, “in these last days did speak to us in a Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He did make the ages;” (YLT)
Christ spoke to the people in the first century A.D., and the scripture says He spoke to them in the “last days”, therefore the last days were in the first century A.D.
All of the future tense verbs of the NT books were pointing to a soon to happen, at hand event in their future…. not our future. Those future tense verbs were future for those who the books were written to in the first century. The event that was coming upon them, that all of Revelation said was about to happen to them was the destruction of Jerusalem and the destruction of their earthly temple which had become profane after Christ died on the cross.
The future tense verbs are not future to us today, because we are reading a history book in the NT. It is the history of His coming in the fullness of time (Gal. 4:4) to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 2:2), and of His second appearance to them in the promised destruction of Jerusalem.
That was His second coming in A.D. 70, and it was promised to them (Heb. 9:28). It was not promised to us, but to them. That is why all of these false prophets today keep failing. They do not understand the scriptures, and do not realize they have fallen for a lie.
The Zionist political machine wanted help to rebuild Jerusalem so that they could “control the world” from Jerusalem, and they got the Brits and the Americans to believe this lie about their “promised land” to send them weapons and money, and they are still spilling forth this false prophesy to deceive the entire world.
Go to https://shreddingtheveil.org and being reading from the bottom right post – Part I of It’s Not the End of the World, and go on through Part X. Connect the dots….