These Last Days

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 Letter to the Hebrews, for example, declares that “Upon these last of the days,” God has spoken to His people with great finality in His Son. Elsewhere, the Letter describes how God manifested Jesus at the end of the ages to deal definitively with sin through his self-sacrificial death.

[Sunset Photo by Dawid Zawiła on Unsplash]

When doing so, the Author of Hebrews uses “ages” in the plural number. Jesus will appear once more to complete the process set in motion by his death, this second time, not to deal with sin (“apart from sin”), but for judgment and the salvation of his people:

• “But now, once at the end of the ages, he has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that judgment; so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, he will appear a second time, apart from sin, to those who are waiting for him, for salvation” – (Hebrews 9:26-28).

• “In many parts and in many ways of old, God, having spoken to the fathers in the prophets, has upon these last days spoken to us in a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the ages” – (Hebrews 1:1-2).

While Hebrews provides minimal information about events preceding the return of Jesus, it lets us know just how significant this change in eras is. Jesus is the High Priest greater than all his predecessors. He is the “priest forever” after the “rank of Melchizedek.” He holds his position inviolate and nontransferable because of his resurrection life - (Hebrews 7:24-25).

Unlike the Levitical system, the Son’s “once for all” sacrifice did “achieve the purification of sins,” and his “New Covenant” rendered the old one obsolete. The New Oder inaugurated by Jesus provided a permanent solution to the problem of sin for his people - (Hebrews 8:13, 9:28, 10:10).

Similarly, Paul writes that “the appointed time has been shortened <…> For the forms of this world are passing away.” The last verb is in the Greek present tense, and it signifies ongoing action. The forms and institutions of this present age are in the process of passing away even now - (1 Corinthians 7:29).

Paul describes how the Hebrew Scriptures were written for our instruction, the ones “upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” He made a similar point to the congregation of Galatia when he declared: “When the fullness of time came, God sent forth his Son” to redeem His people - (1 Corinthians 10:11, Galatians 4:4).

The Apostle Peter, in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost, changed the opening clause of the passage he cited from the Book of Joel from “afterward” to “in the last days.” Peter thus linked the outpouring of the Spirit to the period Scripture calls the “Last Days.” The era predicted by the Prophet Joel had commenced.

Likewise, Peter wrote years later that Jesus was destined “before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake” - (Joel 2:28, Acts 2:17, 1 Peter 1:20).

THE SPIRIT

The Apostle John warned his congregations that “it is the last hour, and as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come; therefore, we know that it is the last hour.” John pointed to the false teachers in his congregations as evidence that the “Spirit of Antichrist” was active already. The presence of deceivers in the Church proved that the “Last Days” were underway - (1 John 2:18).

The Hebrew Bible presents History as divided into two ages - the present evil age and the “age to come.” The coming age would begin when the Messiah arrived, and two events would mark its start. First, the outpouring of the Spirit; and second, the resurrection of the dead - (Joel 2:28-32, Ezekiel 37:26-27).

Those two promises came to fruition in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, though not in the way many expected.  Jesus inaugurated the “Kingdom of God,” and his resurrection marked the start of the general resurrection of the dead, which is why Christ’s resurrection is called the “first fruits” of our future resurrection:

• “But now has Christ been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep <…> But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then they who are Christ's at his coming” - (1 Corinthians 15:20-23. Compare Romans 8:11).

Likewise, the Gift of the Spirit is the “first fruits” or foretaste of our bodily resurrection:

• “And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, the redemption of our body” - (Romans 8:23).

The Spirit is the “earnest” or “down payment” on our resurrection, the “guarantee” that God will complete what He began with the resurrection of His Son:

• “To the end, that we should be for the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ, in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance, for the redemption of God's own possession, for the praise of his glory” - (Ephesians 1:13-14. See also 2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5).

[Rainbow Photo by Andi Kleeli on Unsplash]

The “Last Days” have been underway since Christ’s resurrection and the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. The Cross was far more than just the execution of Jesus or a model for selfless martyrdom and ethical conduct.

In His Son’s death, God defeated all the “powers and principalities” that have enslaved us since Adam’s sin.  The final victory was won in the sacrificial death of His son and validated when God raised Jesus from the dead. That triumph was Cosmic in scope and effect – (1 Corinthians 2:7-8, Colossians 1:12-18, Ephesians 6:12).

History has entered its final phase. The existing order is undergoing its death throes. The term “Last Days” is not a chronological marker but a theological concept. It refers to the final age that began with the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.

In Christ, the “age to come” has invaded the present. There is an overlap during which the old order “passes away” while the Kingdom of God progresses across the Earth. This process will continue until the Gospel has been preached to all nations and the consummation of all things when Jesus returns. That final day will include the resurrection of the dead, the judgment of the wicked, and the unveiling of the New Creation in all its splendor – (Matthew 24:14).

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SEE ALSO:

• This Evil Age - (The death of Jesus inaugurated the messianic age with consequent changes in the status of God’s people)

• The Season is Here! - (In Revelation, the period known as the Last Days began following the death, resurrection, and enthronement of Jesus)

• Resurrection and the Spirit - (The Gift of the Spirit is the First Fruits of the bodily resurrection and the Guarantee of our participation in the coming New Creation)

• Diese Letzten Tage - (Die letzten Tage, die Zeit der Erfüllung, begannen mit dem Tod, der Auferstehung und der Inthronisierung Jesu Christi)