Finally Revealed: Definitive Proof that the "Last Days" Are Upon Us
Justin Taylor Blog | July 3, 2012
In addition to "last days" this present-day category can also be called "the last time/s" (Jude 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:20) or "the last hour" (1 John 2:18).
You can see the references below:
"Children, 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." (1 John 2:18)
"He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you. . . ." (1 Pet. 1:20)
"Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come." (1 Cor. 10:11)
"And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams." (Acts 2:17)
Comments:
July 4, 2012 at 03:26 PM
I always thought it was "psych"?
July 4, 2012 at 02:32 AM
I'm attracted to some aspects of preterism but applying the preterist grid across the whole NT leads to some problems. For example, 2 Peter 3 tells us the that "last days" culminate in a fiery judgment of the world and the establishment of the new heavens and earth in which righteousness dwells. If preterism is correct, we are living now in the new heaven and earth era in which righteousness dwells. That's hard to fathom,I would suggest. Another example: various passages of the NT suggest that the "last days" end with the resurrection of the body. Would preterists have us believe this has already happened? Well, as a matter of fact, some do so assert. But that gets us into some really weird and dangerous theology ...
July 3, 2012 at 12:30 PM
[...] Justin Taylor: [...]
July 3, 2012 at 12:10 PM
I would agree #postmil - my comment above was in reference to the 'sike' nature of this post that will attract those certain that we are in the last days and Christ's return is imminent
July 3, 2012 at 11:52 AM
I would suggest that these passages about the last days are referencing the period of time between the first coming of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. These are the last days of the OT era when the old sacrificial system was destroyed and the judgment many of the prophets (and Jesus in Matt 23) spoke of came to pass.
July 3, 2012 at 11:43 AM
I am very skeptical that "last days" and especially "last hour" refer to an at least 2,000 year period. That really stretches the meaning of language.
July 3, 2012 at 11:20 AM
Very nice
July 3, 2012 at 05:31 PM
[...] to Justin for this timely post, highlighting Scriptural references that refer to the present “last days” (including [...]
July 3, 2012 at 04:49 PM
I throw my hands up in the air on this stuff and am constantly boggled by it. Last times = 2000 years does seem to stretch the language and the imagery of Jesus' parables. But equally, end = destruction of Jerusalem 69 AD seems to stretch a lot of the language with the millennium, glorification, and resurrection in a lot of preterist stuff I've read. Both sides have to cave in somewhere. I don't know what to do with it except say it will make sense one day.
Daniel
July 4, 2012 at 05:57 PM
Rob,
I'm not sure any passages specifically tie "last days" language to the bodily resurrection of the saints.
And as for 2 Peter 3, John Owen actually understood that passage preteristically (his sermon on 2 Peter 3:10-13), and I think it makes good sense to take it that way, for the reasons Owen gives and others that he doesn't mention.