The Last Days (3) - Mercy

The Last Days were not an important season for the Gentiles, as the ministry of Jesus had opened up salvation to everyone. The gospel had gone out into all the world and that would continue to happen after the season had ended.

The gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world (Col 1:6).

The Last Days were a season of mercy for Israel. This short season gave all the adults who were present when Jesus was crucified the rest of their lives to change their attitude to him. Anyone who was an adult in AD 33 when Jesus died would be quite old by AD 70 when the Last Days came to an end. This season of mercy gave them a chance to admit they were wrong and put things right with God.

Jesus had prophesied that the religious and political leaders of Israel would continue to reject him (Matt 23:33-39). However, God is always fair, so he gave the Jews plenty of time to acknowledge Jesus as their messiah. Nearly forty years would pass before their fate was set in stone. Unfortunately this season of mercy was mostly wasted.

What should have happened? When Jesus made his perfect sacrifice on the cross, the Jewish leaders should have put a stop to the sacrifices in the temple. These sacrifices had always pointed forward to Jesus perfect sacrifice, so once it had come, they were obsolete. When Jesus ascended into heaven and was ordained as the perfect high priest, the priests in Jerusalem were out of a job. They should have resigned and gone home, or better still, gone out and preached the good news. Once the Holy Spirit had been poured out at Pentecost, every believer was a temple of the Holy Spirit, so there was no need for a special place for God to dwell on earth. The temple in Jerusalem was redundant and could be turned into a museum.

However, the priests and political leaders were so attached to their old order that they could not let it go. They continued to offer animal sacrifices in the temple. These offerings could not point to Jesus anymore, so they became a blasphemous insult to him. The priest who carried on in their role became usurpers of Jesus ministry.

Worse still, the Jewish leaders attacked the fledgling church right from the start. Throughout the Acts of the Apostles, the most serious persecution came from the Jewish leaders.

During the Last Days, the gospel was preached throughout Israel, but most of the people hardened their hearts.

What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened (Rom 11:7)

The Jews did not take advantage of the mercy shown them during the Last Days of the old order, so God had no choice but to bring the temple system to and end and scatter the people among the nations.