Last Days - Past or Future

THE LAST DAYS: WHICH DAYS WERE THEY?

When most people hear the words “the last days,” their minds immediately jump to our generation. Wars. Earthquakes. Political turmoil. Moral decline. Israel. Technology. A coming Antichrist. A rebuilt temple. The end of the world.

For many of us, that is simply how we were taught to read the Bible. We were told that somewhere near the end of human history, the world would enter a period called “the last days.”

But there is a problem.

The New Testament writers said they were already living in the last days nearly 2,000 years ago. Now, instead of asking, “Are we living in the last days?” perhaps we should first ask: What did the biblical writers mean by “the last days”?

THE LAST DAYS HAD ALREADY BEGUN

But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.

Acts 2:16–17

Peter did not say, “This will happen thousands of years from now.”

He said, “This is that.” Peter meant what Joel actually prophesied then was happening now. "This is that."

The last days were already underway at Pentecost. Notice something else. Peter was quoting Joel, and Joel's prophecy did not end with the outpouring of the Spirit. It moved toward judgment and the Day of the Lord.

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Joel 2:31

Peter applies that same prophetic passage to his generation. The outpouring of the Spirit and the approaching judgment belonged to the same covenantal transition.

THE WRITER OF HEBREWS SAID THEY WERE IN THE LAST DAYS

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.

Hebrews 1:1–2

Notice the language carefully “In these last days.” Not those last days thousands of years in the future. The writer and his original audience were living in them. But the book of Hebrews gives us an even stronger clue concerning what was coming to an end.

In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

Hebrews 8:13

Something was growing old. Something was decaying.

Something was ready to vanish away. This was the Old Covenant age with its temple, priesthood, sacrifices and covenantal administration.

THE 40-YEAR TRANSITION

This is where the historical setting becomes incredibly important. The last days were not the last days of planet Earth. They were the closing days of the Old Covenant age and the transition into the fully established New Covenant order.

That transition stretched approximately 40 years, from the ministry, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ into the apostolic generation, culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70. Think about the biblical pattern.

Israel came out of Egypt and experienced a 40-year transition before entering the promised land.

Likewise, the New Covenant people experienced another generation-long transition as the Old Covenant world passed away. During that period, the gospel went forth, the Spirit was poured out, the apostles established the churches, persecution intensified, and the old temple system continued operating even though Christ had already offered the final sacrifice.

Then came AD 70. The temple was destroyed. The Levitical priesthood lost its functioning sanctuary. The sacrificial system ceased. Jerusalem experienced the covenant judgment Jesus had warned His generation was coming.

JESUS GAVE THE TIMEFRAME

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Matthew 24:34

Jesus did not leave His disciples guessing about the generation He was addressing.

He had already told them what was coming upon their generation.

That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth... Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

Matthew 23:35–36

Then Jesus walked out of the temple and said:

There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

Matthew 24:2

The disciples naturally asked Him when these things would happen. Jesus' answer culminated with: “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.”

The timeframe was built directly into the prophecy.

PAUL KNEW THE END OF THE AGE HAD ARRIVED

Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

1 Corinthians 10:11

The Greek word translated “world” here is aiōn, referring to an age. Paul did not say the end of the physical planet had come upon them. He said the ends of the ages had come upon them. They were standing at the convergence of the ages. The Old Covenant age was passing away while the New Covenant reality established in Christ was being revealed.

JOHN SAID IT WAS THE LAST HOUR

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

1 John 2:18

Some translations render this even more literally: “It is the last hour.” John did not say the last hour was thousands of years away. He said “it is.” And how did John know?

Because the signs he had been taught to expect were already appearing in his own time.

THE LAST DAYS WERE THE END OF AN AGE, NOT THE END OF TIME

This changes the entire conversation. The biblical last days were not describing the final few years of human civilization. They were the last days of the Old Covenant age, a period of transition in which one covenantal world was passing away and the New Covenant kingdom established through Christ was being revealed. That is why the New Testament repeatedly uses language such as: these last days, the ends of the ages, the last hour,

ready to vanish away, and this generation.

Those statements meant something to the people who first heard them. The Bible was written for us, but it was not originally written to us. Some roll there eyes when they hear this because they earnestly believe the Bible was written to them. The have steeped outside of the Hermeneutical guidelines.

When we honor the original audience, historical setting and covenantal context, the “last days” stop being a frightening prediction hanging over every generation.

They become part of the story of Christ completing the Old Covenant age and establishing something better.

The last days were not announcing the end of God's kingdom. They were announcing the end of an age.

And out of that transition stood a Kingdom that cannot be shaken.

Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace.

Hebrews 12:28