When I spent a lot of time with folks immersed in eschatology (the study of the end times), they gave me a set of lenses through which to see the world. These lenses changed how I viewed news reports, world leaders, natural disasters, and most notably, they affected how I read Scripture.
When I encountered biblical phrases, like Tribulation, Armageddon, Millennium, Antichrist, and Last Days, my “end times radar” perked up, and I interpreted the passages through that very specific set of lenses. In this study, I’d like to point something out to you that I wish I had known sooner about the study of the end times. I hope you’ll hear me out and stick with this study until the end so you can be equipped for the next time you hear someone use the phrase we’re going to study.
The phrase “last days” appears a handful of times in the New Testament. One of the events that is going to happen in the “last days” is “the day of the Lord.” In 2 Peter 3, Peter says scoffers are going to come in the last days, wondering when God will fulfill His promise of the coming of the Lord. Peter reminds us that God’s timeline is not our timeline. His patience is not our patience. But sometime during the last days:
The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
2 Peter 3:10
Given that Peter says this day (singular) is going to happen during the last days (plural [v. 3]), many have asked, “Are we in the last days now?” What people often mean by that question is, “Are we the final generation before the return of Christ?”
Here’s a timeline people have in mind when they form these types of questions. The New Testament gives us the works of Jesus, the ministry of His apostles and prophets, and the spread of His first-century church. This begins the Christian age. This Christian age has already spanned centuries and generations and will continue until the last days. According to this timeline, the last days begin the final generation, or the final years and months that lead up to the return of Christ—that final day.
With this timeline in mind, people ask, “Are we in the last days now? Are we the final generation before the return of Christ?” Even though most people use those questions as if they mean the same thing, the Bible presents them as two different questions. First, yes, we can know conclusively from Scripture that we are living in the last days. We’ll talk about that in a minute. Second, no one among us knows if we are the final generation before the return of Jesus.
The Bible does not mean “final generation” when it speaks of “the last days.” The timeline that influences so many people today comes from men’s teachings, not God’s. And it’s beautiful to know what the Bible does mean when it refers to the last days. Are you ready to take off those lenses and see what I mean?
The first time the New Testament uses “last days” is in Acts 2. In this passage, the apostles were beginning what is often called their Great Commission to take the gospel to all nations. Using the gift of tongues from the Holy Spirit, they preached the gospel to thousands of Jews on the day of Pentecost just weeks after Jesus’ resurrection. People were asking, “What’s going on here?” Here’s the answer:
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
Acts 2:14–17
‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.’”
Peter was explaining what the Holy Spirit was doing in that moment. He went on to preach the life, works, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. If you haven’t read the entire passage lately, plan to do so soon. In that moment, the Holy Spirit was confirming the words of the apostles. Joel had prophesied that God would do this through the Holy Spirit. When would He do it? In the “last days.” Weeks after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Spirit said that the world was living in the last days.
Here’s how the Hebrews author explained it:
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.
Hebrews 1:1–2
There are a lot of implications from this one passage alone. The one I want to explore here is that the gospel work of Jesus marked the beginning of the last days. Here’s the timeline the Bible provides:
- There were the patriarchal days. That’s when God spoke directly to the heads of families, like Adam (and even Eve), Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
- There were the Mosaic days. God sent Moses to be the mediator of the covenant with Israel. During this time, God also sent many prophets to teach and reinforce the Law of Moses. In fact, the last prophet of the Old Testament did just that when he told the people of God who were waiting for the Messiah, “Remember the Law of Moses, My servant” (Malachi 4:4).
- Now that Jesus has brought His new covenant, God “has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.”
Since the word and authority of Jesus (which includes whatever He sent His apostles and prophets to teach in the New Testament) will never be replaced, we have God’s word given to us in the last days. There’s not going to be a New Testament: Part 2, or a Newer Testament. Scripture has been completed, and ever since the first century, we have been living in the last days. John was able to say to Christians living back then:
Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.
1 John 2:18 NASB
In a moment, we are going to ask a question where the word antichrist comes into all this. But right now, we need to learn that the New Testament does not use “last days” and “last hour” as end-times terminology, at least not in the way people try to use the phrases today. The world has been living in the last days since the time of Jesus, and the world will be living in these last days when He returns. Are we the final generation? I’ve got no idea, but I do know these are the last days. The Bible uses that phrase to refer to the age in which Christ Jesus is Lord of lords and King of kings, having defeated death and been seated at the right hand of God. The New Testament church was living in the last days, and so is the twenty-first century church. How does it feel to look at the Bible without those tinted glasses?
Since the first century, God’s prophets have been warning: the Lord is coming! The point Peter was making in 2 Peter 3 is that since we are living in the last days, the Lord could return at any time. I saw a meme recently that said, “You tell people bad weather is coming, and they prepare. You tell them Jesus is coming, and they do nothing.” Make sure you’re not part of that “they” this meme is referring to.
In the same way we did with the words “last days,” we can also approach the very popular subject of antichrist. Did you know the Bible uses that word only five times in only two books of the Bible? You might be surprised which book is not one of those two. If you’re curious, check out this study.