Disciples Digital Library

Jesus has come in these last days to provide salvation for men, women, and children of all nations, and everlasting life in the age to come . After his resurrection, Jesus declared, “ All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me! Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations .” Christ sent his disciples to announce the salvation accomplished by his death “ to the ends of the Earth .” The promise of the Abrahamic Covenant to bless all nations is now being fulfilled by Jesus Christ.

After decades of disappointed expectations and false predictions, it is time to reexamine popular ideas about the last days and the return of Christ . In my youth, I was greatly impressed by the book, ‘ The Late Great Planet Earth ’, authored by Hal Lindsey . It was exciting to discover that Bible prophecies were being fulfilled before our eyes and reported in the daily news headlines, or so we were told.

Jesus has come in these last days to provide salvation for men, women, and children of all nations, and everlasting life in the age to come . After his resurrection, Jesus declared, “ All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me! Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations .” Christ sent his disciples to announce the salvation accomplished by his death “ to the ends of the Earth .” The promise of the Abrahamic Covenant to bless all nations is now being fulfilled by Jesus Christ.

The previously hidden mysteries of God are revealed in Jesus, and especially so in his Death and Resurrection, History’s turning point . The Bible   speaks of the “ mysteries ” of God, His ways that are hidden from human wisdom and defy expectations. As Jesus declared, not everyone can understand the “ mysteries of the Kingdom .” It is God who reveals the deep and obscure things to whomever He pleases, and in His Son, He has done so for all men to see. Or at least, for those with “ eyes that can see .”

The presence of false teachers in the Church demonstrates that the period known as the Last Days is underway . In his first epistle, John declares it is the  Last Hour . As evidence, he points to the presence of false teachers who are disrupting his congregations. The deceivers are the instruments of the “ Spirit of Antichrist ” that is active in the world. These same men are forerunners of the final “ Antichrist ” who is yet to come.

The Last Days, the time of fulfillment, began with the Death, Resurrection, and the Enthronement of Jesus Christ . When we hear the term “ Last Days ” we assume it refers to the final few years of history just before Christ’s return. Nevertheless, the New Testament presents this period as the era of fulfillment that began following the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, and the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost. In Christ, the “ ends of the ages ” have come upon the Church, the people of God – (1 Corinthians 10:11).

The outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost signaled the start of the Last Days and the time of fulfillment . The application of Joel’s prophecy to the events of the Day of Pentecost links the outpouring of the Spirit to the last days. The death, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus inaugurated History’s final stage before the Day of the Lord, and now, he reigns and bestows the gift of the Spirit on his Church.

The gift of the Spirit is foundational to the New Covenant. It is the beginning of the New Creation and the gathering of the nations . The history of Israel includes descriptions of the sins that caused the expulsion of the nation from the Land of Canaan. God foresaw the failures of Israel, and therefore, He determined to make a new covenant, one that is energized and characterized by the Holy Spirit.

According to Moses, “ When the prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh and the word does not come to pass, that is the word Yahweh has NOT spoken .” If this guideline remains applicable, many churches have embraced an interpretive school of prophecy that does not represent what the Bible says, namely, Dispensationalism, and this is demonstrated by its long history of failed predictions, speculations, and expectations.

Just as unprepared men were destroyed by Noah’s Flood, so unrepentant men and apostates will be overtaken by destruction when Jesus arrives . Jesus compared the final years before his return to the days before the Great Flood. “ Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be ” when the “ Son of Man ” returns. Some interpreters take this as a prediction of the return of the same conditions that existed in Noah’s day, including the moral anarchy and violence that prompted God to send the floodwaters.

Popular preaching often claims that Jesus commanded his disciples to “discern the times and the seasons” so they may know when the end of the age draws near. They must know and understand the “signs” so they can be prepared to meet Jesus on his return. Though we may assume this is an established fact, Jesus never stated anything to this effect. At no place in the New Testament does he command his followers to know all the times, signs, and seasons. He taught them something rather different.

The use of Joel’s prophecy by Peter on the Day of Pentecost links the arrival of the Spirit to the start of History's final era. With the Spirit’s outpouring, the “ Last Days ” began in earnest.  The Gift of the Spirit is the “ Promise of Father ,” and an integral part of the  New Covenant  prophesied in the books of  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel . Its arrival pointed to a fundamental change of eras - The time of fulfillment had commenced  - (Joel 2:28-32, Acts 2:17-21).

An angel commanded Daniel “ to close the words and seal the Scroll until the season of the end ” after the last of his visions. In contrast, the Scroll is open in the  Book of Revelation , and its contents are unveiled. Daniel was told to “ seal the Scroll ,” but the angel commanded John  NOT  to seal the Scroll. The verbal parallels are deliberate, and  Revelation  informs us that the time of fulfillment has arrived, and the Book is open.

When the Spirit was poured out on Pentecost, all 120 disciples present in the “ upper room ” were “ filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance .” Additionally, what appeared to be “ tongues of fire ” came to rest on each disciple. And so, two supernatural manifestations accompanied the arrival of the Spirit, one visual and the other audible.

The term “antichrist” occurs only in the second and third letters of John, and the Apostle applies the plural form of the Greek noun to deceivers who were spreading false teachings in his congregations. The presence of “ antichrists ” constituted irrefutable evidence that the “ Last Days ” were underway, and the false teachers were the product of the “ Spirit of Antichrist ,” forerunners of the final “ Antichrist ” who was yet to come.

The death of Jesus inaugurated the messianic age with consequent changes in the status of God’s people .  In his epistle to the Assembly in Galatia, Paul declares that his apostleship originated from the same God who raised Jesus from the dead, the Messiah of Israel who gave his life to “ deliver us from this evil age .” His declaration anticipates his proposition in the body of the Letter that the arrival of Jesus changed the status of the Law for the people of God, the “ children of Abraham .”

Paul claimed that the source of his apostleship was the same God who raised His Son from “ among dead ones ” (literal rendering). This same Messiah died and was raised from the dead to “ deliver us from this evil age .” In  Galatians , The Apostle was responding to certain “ men from Jerusalem ” who were operating in the Assembly as if the old era was still in effect, insisting that Gentiles must be circumcised and keep the Jewish calendar, and challenging Paul’s Apostolic authority and credentials.

"In the last days, mockers will come with mockery, saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming?’.” Over the last year, we have witnessed significant failures by the “leaders” of the “Prophetic Movement,” and the last failure was so spectacular that many “prophets and apostles” found it necessary to issue public “apologies.” Unfortunately, this has not stopped them from repackaging themselves as they continue to “prophesy” in the name of the Lord.

Why are so many church leaders seeking to divine God’s will and the future by using astrology and calendrical calculations?  Where in the New Testament do I find Jesus or Paul teaching us how to divine “spiritual” insights or even the future from Hebrew year numbers or month names? And increasingly, Christians are seeking omens in perfectly natural events, including lunar and solar eclipses, the appearance of a comet, and even unusual cloud formations.

Paul links the start of the “ Last Days ” with the death and resurrection of Jesus. The time of fulfillment arrived, and all God’s promises now find their “ Yea and Amen ” in the risen Savior. Similarly, the  Letter to the Hebrews  declares that “ in these last days ,” God has “ spoken ” His definitive “ Word ” in His Son who now sits at the “ right hand of the Majesty on High .” History reached its pivotal point in the life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God.