False Ideas (4) Last Days
Most Christians believe that we are living in the last days. This is another false idea.
The Bible teaches that the "last days" are finished. Many readers will find this hard to accept, as I did. The reason we are surprised is that we confuse the last days (plural) of the Jewish nation with the last day (singular), that glorious day when Jesus will return. The last days are really the period of time between the ministry of Jesus and the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
An examination of the Scriptures shows that there are five references to the last days (Acts 2:17; 2 Tim 3:1; Heb 1:2; James 5:3; 2 Pet 3:3) and two referring to the last times (1 Pet 1:20; Jude 18). In four of the seven, the author considered that he was living in the last days. For example, Heb.1:2 states that Jesus ministry on earth was in the last days. This does not make sense, if the last days come just before the Second Coming. However, if the writer of Hebrews is referring to the last days of the Jewish nation, it makes a great deal of sense. When we remember that Hebrews, James (1:1), and Peter's letters were written to Jewish Christians and that Timothy was a Jew this really makes sense; all the references to the last days were in epistles written to the Jews. They would have understood that they were in the last days of their nation, at the time when they received these letters.
This means that Scripture references to the last days have already been fulfilled. They don’t describe a future event, so it is futile to believe that we are living in the last days now.
1 comment:
"And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh...in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy...before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day."
When we consider 1) that He is still pouring out His Spirit on all flesh 2) that 2 Timothy very well describes our times on a world-wide scale in many cases more aptly than time since it was written and 3) that 2 Peter 3 is in specific context of scoffers of the Last Day coming in the last days, I find this position presented totally unconvincing.
2 Peter 3:8 makes quite clear that God does not measure time the way we do, and v.9 tells us what we consider slow and what He considers slow are two different things. Both Acts and 2 Peter tie 'last days' and the 'Day of the Lord' together...so together I will consider them.
Post a Comment