THE "LAST DAYS" PHRASE
The Biblical term "last days" and the popular term "end time" do
not always refer to the same thing. "Last days" and "end times"
can refer to the current church age, or they can refer to the
future culmination of God's plan for Israel.
LAST-DAYS VOCABULARY
Several biblical expressions refer to the end times....which
will end with the second coming of the Messiah to the earth. We
must distinguish between the last days of the church age and the
last days of Israel's tribulation.
Note the following chart, which classifies and distinguishes
between passages referring to the end of the church age and the
last days for Israel:
END-TIMES TERMS (NASB)
ISRAEL
"latter days"
Deuteronomy 4:30;
31:29; Jeremiah 30:24;
48:47; Daniel 2:28;
"last days"
Isaiah 2:2; Jeremiah
23:20; 49:39; Ezekiel
38:16; Hosea 3:5;
Micah 4:1; Acts 2:7
"last day"
John 6:39-40,44,54;
11:24;12:48
"latter years"
Ezekiel 38:8
"time of the end"
Daniel 8:17
"end of time"
Daniel 12:4
"end time"
Daniel 12:9
"end of the age"
Daniel 12:13
CHURCH
"latter times"
1 Timothy 4:1
"last days"
2 Timothy 3:1; Hebrews 1:2;
James 5:3; 2 Peter 3:3
"last times"
1 Peter 1:20
"last time"
1 Peter 1:5; Jude 18
"last hour"
1 John 2:18
When a verse references the last days, the context shows
whether it is relating the term to Israel or the church.
Some Bible readers believe that specific signs relate to the
end of the church age. However, this is too strong a statement.
Instead, the Bible indicates what the condition of the
church will be - the general course of the age - and then warns
about some general trends toward the later part of the church
age. Passages like 1 Timothy 4:1-5, 2 Timothy 3:t-5, and 2 Peter
3:3 most likely refer to the second half or latter part of the
church age. These passages warn believers that worldly beliefs
and lifestyles will become common in the church. They do not
speak about the general moral decline of society but about a
specific, predicted decline within the church as part of the
increasing apostasy.
This decline is hard to quantify. No matter how bad things
get today, they can always get worse tomorrow. We cannot possibly
know how bad things must be to qualify as prophetic signs. With
the general condition of the church, "evil men and impostors will
proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived" (2
Timothy 3:i3). Jude states that apostasy had already occurred in
the church in the first century (verses 3-4). Thus, since the
earliest times, apostasy within the church has been proceeding
from bad to worse.
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE CHURCH AGE
In several New Testament passages, "last days," "last
times," and "last time" clearly refer to the entire present
church age. The writer of Hebrews says, "God, after He spoke
long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in
many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son"
(Hebrews 1:1-2). The context of this passage shows that "last
days" is a reference to the current church age. In the same way,
Peter says, "He was foreknown before the foundation of the world,
but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you" (1
Peter 1:20). "These last times" must refer to the last 2000
years. John adds support a to the two previous writers when he
says:
"Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that
antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared;
from this we know that it is the last hour" (1 John 2:18). Jude,
speaking of things going on in his own day, says, "In the last
time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly
lusts" (verse 18).
Though the New Testament certainly provides information
about the end of the world, it also references the present age as
the last days. The last days of what? The last days before the
coming of the messianic age. In at least four clear references,
New Testament writers use end-times vocabulary to refer to their
own day and the entire church age. Thus, in that sense, we are
clearly living in the last days because the entire church age is
considered the last days. However, that is not what most people
mean when they ask, "Are we living in the last days?" They want
to know if God is fulfilling the final prophecies of Scripture in
our time. To answer that, we need to look into the Old
Testament's use of end-times terminology.
OLD TESTAMENT END-TIMES TERMINOLOGY
To the Jews, history consisted of two ages. The first was
this present age, the age in which Israel was waiting for the
coming of the Messiah. The second was the "age to come," the age
in which God would fulfill all promises and covenants, and Israel
would enter into her promised blessings as a result of Messiah's
coming. A time of judgment and devastation, leading up to the
Messiah's advent and Israel's deliverance, was to terminate the
present age and introduce the coming age.
When we look at the Old Testament usage of end-times terms,
we see that it does not refer to the church age. The Old
Testament uses end-times language to refer to the Tribulation
period - the time leading up to the coming of the Messiah to set
up His kingdom on earth.
A clear example of this is Deuteronomy 4:30, which says,
"When you are in distress and all these things have come upon
you, in the latter days you will return to the Lord your God and
listen to His voice." The English word "distress" translates the
Hebrew word for tribulation - in this context, the Tribulation -
which means that this text equates the Tribulation with the
"latter days." Thus, the "latter days" are the Tribulation
period, which we are not currently living in but may be on the
brink of entering.... Deuteronomy 31:29 also uses "latter days"
as a reference to the Tribulation when it says, "Evil will befall
you in the latter days."
Jeremiah refers to the Tribulation as the "latter days"
twice (30:24; 48:47) Daniel also uses it this way: "There is a
God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to
King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days"
(Daniel 2:28). Daniel commences to reveal God's plan for the
future, which includes events that will unfold in the Tribulation
period. This is also true in Daniel 10:14: "Now I have come to
give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in
the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future."
The prophet Daniel uses a whole cluster of other "latter day"
terms that all refer to the Tribulation period, which prepares
the way for the kingdom reign of the Messiah. Terms like "the end
of time" (Daniel 8:17;12:4), "the end time" (Daniel 12:9), and
"the end of the age" (Daniel 12:13) speak of the end-time
Tribulation period, which is yet to come. These terms are used
three times in Daniel 12, which references "a time of distress
[tribulation] such as never occurred since there was a nation
until that time" (12:1). Thus, the entire context is once again a
reference to the coming Tribulation.
(The writer misses a few other passages in the Old Testament,
that have nothing to do with the "tribulation" period at the end
of this age. Genesis 49:1 is to do with what the tribes of Israel
would become in the "last days" - a period that is much longer
than the last 42 months of this age, which will be the "great
tribulation and day of the Lord." This period here in Genesis
49:1 is over a many centuries period, the last centuries of the
age before the "age to come" - the millennium age has arrived.
This chapter in Genesis goes hand in hand with Moses' prophecy of
the tribes of Israel as given in Deuteronomy 33 - Keith Hunt)
Daniel 12:4 says the teachings about the end times in Daniel
will be sealed up for the Jewish people until "the end of time."
Many commentators have long believed that shortly before Christ's
return, the world would experience an increase in the speed of
travel and an explosion of information according to Daniel 12:4,
which says, "Many will go back and forth, and knowledge will
increase." No one would quarrel with the fact that the last 100
years has indeed witnessed an exponential increase in both the
speed of travel and the accumulation of knowledge. This would
seem to be a sign in our time that the end is near. But is this
really what Daniel is saying in the passage? Probably not. The
meaning of the Hebrew words and the grammar do not support such a
view.
Charles Ryrie provides the correct interpretation of the
passage in his "Ryrie Study Bible" when he says, "As the end
approaches, people will travel about seeking to discover what the
future holds" (Ryrie, p.1332 ) - not just people in general, but
the Jewish people in particular. This means that during the
Tribulation, many Jews will study the book of Daniel to try to
find out what is happening. Harry Bultema says, "The movement of
to and fro may refer to that of the eyes through leaves .... Thus
considered, it seems to us that the text here speaks of the
diligent search of the Scripture at the end of time" (Bultema, p.
349). Thus, the scope would be limited to the future time of the
Tribulation and would not include our own day.
WHAT DAYS ARE WE IN NOW?
So are we living in the last days? Yes and no. We are
currently living in the last days because we are in the church
age, which is called the "last days," "last times," and "last
time." However, we are not in the last days as the Old Testament
speaks of Israel. The Old Testament terms "latter days," "last
days," "latter years," "end of time," and "end of the age" all
refer to a time when Israel is in her time of tribulation ...
This is a future time that we could very well be on the verge of
entering. Perhaps we are seeing the stage being set for last-days
or end-time events of the Tribulation. But we are not yet in
those times.
THOMAS ICE
......
Bibliography
Bultema, Harry. "Commentary on Daniel." Grand Rapids: Kregel,
1988.
Ryrie, Charles C. "Ryrie Study Bible." Chicago: Moody Press,
1978.
............................
NOTE:
The "Jamieson, Fausset, Brown - A Commentary" gives some good
notes on this "running to and fro and knowledge being increased"
verse of Daniel 12.
Quote:
- not refering to the modern rapidity of locomotion, as some
think, nor to Christian missionaries going about to preach the
gospel to the world at large (Barnes), which the sontext scarcely
admits; but, whereas now but few are for this prophecy of God by
thee Daniel, 'at the time of the end" - i.e. will scrutinize it,
running through every page. Cf. Hab.2:2, my note; Amos 8:12,
"They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord"
(Calvin); or "run to and fro," anouncing to all who come in their
way the explanation of the prophecy which shall then be unsealed;
it is thereby that "the knowledge (so the Hebrew is [viz., of
God's purpose as revealed in prophecy] shall be increased."
'Running' is the characteristic mark of one who professes to have
Divine communication to announce (Jer. 23:21, 'I have not sent
these prophets, yet they ran'). This is probably being now
fulfilled. God's prescience and His providence are becoming
better known by the diligent investigation of the prophecies of
Daniel. It is NOT a knowledge in general, but 'the knowledge' of
'the prophecy" which the Hebrew and the context show to be what
is meant here.
End Quote
THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROPHECIES OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL ARE NOW
UNDERSTOOD. YOU CAN KNOW WHAT THEY SAY TODAY. I HAVE GIVEN YOU
THE TRUTH OF THOSE PROPHECIES ON MY WEBSITE, AS I HAVE ALSO
EXPOUNDED TO YOU THE TRUTH OF ALL THE OTHER PROPHECIES OF BOTH
THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT.
THE DAY IS COMING WHEN THE TRUTH AND THE WORD OF THE LORD WILL
NOT GO FORTH AS IT IS GOING FORTH TODAY. THE DARK AGES OF THE
PAST WILL COME AGAIN WHEN ONLY THE TWO WITNESSES IN JERUSALEM
WILL PROCLAIM THE TRUTHS OF THE LORD AS A WORLD WITNESS.
THIS PROPHECY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH JEWS SEARCHING THE
SCRIPTURES DURING THE TRIBULATION PERIOD, AS SOME FUNDAMENTALISTS
WANT YOU TO BELIEVE. THE JEWS AT THAT TIME WILL BE IN CAPTIVITY,
AND WILL BE TRYING TO SAVE THEIR LIVES, NOT HAVING TIME TO
RESEARCH BIBLE PROPHECY. THE PROPHECIES WILL BE ALL AROUND THEM,
HAVING TAKEN PLACE, ONLY THE PROPHECIES OF THE DAY OF THE LORD
WILL REMAIN. THE TWO WITNESSES WILL PROCLAIM IT. WITH SOME COMMON
SENSE PEOPLE, THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO KNOW WHO SPEAKS THE TRUE WORD OF
THE LORD, BUT SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS RUNS DEEP.
WHAT THIS HAS TO DO WITH, IS THE TRUTH THAT GOD HAS SAID HE WILL
DO NOTHING BUT HE FIRST REVEALES IT TO HIS PROPHETS, WHO WILL
PROCLAIM IT TO THE WORLD - AMOS 3:7.
You now have the freedom to seek and search who are the true
servants of the Lord, and what is the truth of God's word.
The days come when all that will for a while come to an end, for
it is written: "Behold the days come, says the Lord God, that I
will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a
thirst for water, but of HEARING THE WORDS of the Lord. And they
shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east,
and they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord,
AND SHALL NOT FIND IT! (Amos 8:11,12).
YOU ARE NOW HAVING IT PROCLAIMED BY GOD'S TRUE SERVANTS!!
THEY ARE HERE AND THEY DO UNDERSTAND THE SECRETS OF THE BOOK OF
DANIEL!!
Keith Hunt
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