The Bible gives
us another name for the season between the ministry of Jesus and the destruction of
Jerusalem. This name for the time of the new order is surprising. Many readers will find
this hard to accept as I did. This season is called the last days. 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.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 this refers to the last
days of the Kingdom of Israel before it would be destroyed by the Roman
Emprie this 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.
The Last Days refers to the period between Jesus birth and the
destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, when the Roman Empire would end the
Kingdom of Israel, destroy the temple and scatter the Jewish people
amongst the nations.
Of course, God promised to protect the Jewish people, and bring
them back to the land again, but that happens in the Times of Distress
(and has nothing to do with the Last Days).
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.