The Last Days
One of our findings when translating the Bible is the amazing harmony of its symbolic words when found in prophecies. For, where you find a certain word in one place that indicates a particular event or meaning, the same event or meaning is usually implied wherever you find that word throughout the Bible. So, although many may try to interpret the meaning of a prophecy through human reasoning, the Bible really provides its own interpretation if you search for the constant words.
Yet, the Bible was written by dozens of individuals over a period of almost four-thousand years, most of whom never knew each other. This remarkable fact seems strong proof to us that the Bible has a single author, God.
Just a few of these words that seem to carry a harmonious meaning whenever they are used in prophecy are: mountain, seed, sea, earth, sky or heavens, Israel, Jerusalem, Egypt, Babylon, wild animal, time of difficulty, resurrection, time (when referring to a specific period), etc. And we are finding that two words, Last Days, when used in prophetic settings, usually appear to apply to just two situations, and both have to do with the Last Days of something called Israel and Jerusalem.
Why did we say ‘something called Israel?’ Because, the Last Days that are spoken of in the Bible refer to the actual Last Days of the capital city of Israel, Jerusalem, before it was destroyed by Rome in 70-C.E. And then there is obviously a later and greater fulfillment, of which the earlier event is prophetic, and this appears to be a final destruction upon a people called Israel, who aren’t necessarily fleshly Israelites, but Christians.
In Greek, the words tas hemera eschata are the ones that are translated as the Last Days. And this is the beauty of translating what is called the ‘Old Testament’ from the Greek Septuagint, because other words may be used when translating texts from Hebrew, but in the Septuagint we can see the same words that Jesus’ Apostles and Disciples read and wrote. So, there is no question where this term was used in the Greek ‘Old Testament’ or in the Greek ‘New Testament.’
The Last Days in Daniel Chapter Two
It is particularly in the book of Daniel that we read of the Last Days, and this is significant, because these were the prophecies that Jesus referred to in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 when referring to the then-coming destruction of Jerusalem. And although he didn’t actually speak the words ‘Last Days,’ his prophecy is believed to have a greater fulfillment in our time, since we have been witnessing an even more striking fulfillment of his prophecy since the beginning of World War One.
The first use of the words ‘Last Days’ in Daniel (found only in the Septuagint) are found in Chapter Two, verse twenty-eight, where we read, ‘However, there is a God in heaven who uncovers mysteries, and He has made known to king NebuChadnezzar what is going to happen in the Last Days.’
This prophecy, which was given to Babylonian King NebuChadnezzar in a dream, was of a huge image with a head of gold, arms and shoulders of silver, belly and thighs of brass or bronze, legs of iron, and feet of iron mixed with baked clay. It was thereafter destroyed by a rock, which was cut out of a mountain without the aid of hands that hit the image on its feet and destroyed it. Then this rock became a mountain (God’s Kingdom) that filled the whole earth.
Daniel then interpreted the dream, explaining that each part of this image represented a king (or empire) that would come into existence before the Last Days, and Babylon was the head of gold. This was followed by the empires of Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and then a final, unnamed empire. And it is ‘during the days of those (the last) kings’ that the Last Days would come and usher in God’s Kingdom.
Now, many people have their own interpretations of what this prophecy was foretelling, but let’s consider the rest of the prophecies about the Last Days before we jump to any conclusions.
The Wild Animals of Daniel Chapter Seven
Although there is no reference to the Last Days in Daniel 7, here another Babylonian king has a dream of four unusual wild animals that conquer each other in succession, which prove to be (according to Daniel’s interpretation) the same kings or empires, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. So, it’s a vision of the same things that lead up to ‘the Last Days.’ The last (unnamed) empire is just pictured there by a horn that arises from the last animal (that pictures Rome). And this great horn ‘has the eyes of a man’ and it speaks great things… which appears to be a democratic form of government. Then it is judged by God and it is destroyed.
So to this point, we’ve learned that a final king will arise after Rome, then all the empires will be judged and destroyed, and God’s Kingdom will rule the whole earth. And verse 27 goes on to say, ‘Then the Kingdom, the authority, and the greatness of all the kings under the sky will be given to the Holy Ones of the Most High. His kingdom will last through the ages, and all the countries will serve and obey Him.’
That’s the meaning of the Last Days, and it just hasn’t happened yet.
The Wild Animals of Daniel Chapter Eight
In the Eighth Chapter of Daniel, he himself has a vision that is very similar to the last, in that he saw unusual wild animals that also picture kings or empires, but this time he only saw two, a ram and a billy goat. As he was told by God’s messenger Gabriel, the ram pictured the Medes and the Persians, and the billy goat that conquered them would be the Greeks under their first leader (Alexander the Great). And after his death, the kingdom would be split up four ways (among his generals), and from one of them would grow a great and terrible horn or king, which proved to be Rome, particularly under Julius Caesar. And this is where the Last Days get interesting.
Verses 11 and 12 tell us, ‘Then, when the commander-in-chief is captured and [his] blood is poured out, the rage of the ages will come upon his place, the sacrifices will end, and the Holy Place will be destroyed. His sacrifice will be offered for sins and justice will be thrown to the ground, but the righteous things that he does will be blest.’
In other words, Jesus (the commander-in-chief) will be unjustly captured and killed by Rome, he will die for our sins, the ‘the rage of the ages’ will come upon his place (Jerusalem), and the Temple in Jerusalem (the Holy Place) will be destroyed. So, this was a prophecy of the Last Days of Jerusalem, a rejected form of worship of God.
The Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks
Then (in Daniel 9:24) he was told, ‘Exactly seventy weeks will come upon your people and the holy city to finish off sin, to set a seal upon sins, to end Law breaking, to pay for sins, to bring justice through the ages, to put a seal upon the vision and the prophet, and to anoint the Holy of Holies.’
If you read the latter portion of this Chapter and the Notes, you’ll see that this was a description of the actual date when Jesus would appear, when the Christian Congregation would be formed, and when the first gentiles would be converted, but it was also a description of when the Last Days of Jerusalem would begin.
The ‘Last Days’ of Daniel Ten, Eleven, and Twelve
We then find the term ‘Last Days’ used once again at Daniel 10:14, when Daniel was given a detailed account of all that would happen to the great world empires up to the time of Rome and the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple. Here, although many have tried to give modern interpretations to Chapters 10, 11, and 12, saying that ‘the Last Days’ referred to there are the Last Days of our time, the series of events seems to end primarily with the empire of Rome.
But, what about the ‘resurrections,’ the ‘great time of difficulty,’ and being granted ‘life in the age?’ Well, all of these things did in fact happen at the hand of Jesus and before the fall of Jerusalem, so the series of events described there seems to have been mostly fulfilled.
Notice, for example, the periods mentioned in Chapter Twelve, verses seven, twelve, and thirteen, all three of which speak of periods somewhere between three-and-a-half and four years. These seem to be speaking of the brief period of 66-C.E. to 70-C.E. when the armies of Rome attacked Jerusalem, then left, and then returned and destroyed the city.
Yet, there’s still an indication that there might be a greater fulfillment in our day, because Revelation 7:14 (which was written well after Jerusalem’s destruction) speaks of people in our day who ‘have come out of the great time of difficulty.’ How does that tie into Daniel’s prophecy?
Well, in Jesus’ prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem, he mentioned the same words at Matthew 24:21, when he said, ‘Then there will come a great time of difficulty such hasn’t happened since the earliest [days] of the world until now, nor should ever happen again.’
And he said this shortly after he had just said (in verses 15 and 16), ‘When you see the disgusting destroyer standing in the Holy Place, then those in Judea should run to the mountains.’
This coincides with what was prophesied in Daniel 12:12, where we read, ‘From the time when the disgusting destroyer will come and the [daily] sacrifices will end, is one-thousand, two-hundred and ninety days.’
So, the fact that Revelation speaks of the great time of difficulty as future, when Jesus used the same words to indicate a difficult time for Jerusalem in 70-C.E., indicates that Jesus’ prophecy will also have a modern fulfillment. As the result, it appears as though we will see ‘the disgusting destroyer’ standing in the Holy Place (as both Daniel and Jesus said) for a period of about three-and-a-half years before what was pictured by Jerusalem will be destroyed, and that’s when (as Jesus instructed) true Christians should ‘run to the mountains.’ For, that’s when the destruction of unfaithful Jerusalem begins.
On Pentecost
Hundreds of years after the time of Daniel, on the day of Pentecost 33-C.E., when the Holy Breath of God was poured out on Jesus’ Disciples who were gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem, Peter explained what was happening by quoting the prophecy of Joel 2:28, where he said, ‘In the Last Days I will pour out some of My Breath on all flesh, and your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will have visions and your old men will dream dreams.’
So, as you can see, in this instance Peter was speaking of his time as ‘the Last Days’… that is, the Last Days of Jerusalem and its Temple. However, many believe that this First Century fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy will also see a greater fulfillment in our day. For more information, see the linked document ‘The Powers of God’s Holy Spirit.’
Paul’s Prophecy to Timothy
Paul (the Apostle) also wrote of the Last Days in his second letter to his young protégé Timothy at 2 Timothy 3:1-5, where he said, ‘Recognize that the Last Days will bring fierce times. People will love themselves and money. They’ll be braggers, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to their parents, unthankful, and disloyal. They won’t love their families or be willing to agree on anything; they’ll be slanderers who don’t have any self-control; they’ll be wild and won’t love anything that is good; they’ll be betrayers who are headstrong and proud; they’ll prefer pleasures to caring about God, and they’ll have a form of religion, but they won’t follow it.’
What ‘Last Days’ was Paul speaking of here? Well, Paul was surely aware of the fact that Daniel’s prophecy spoke of the Last Days of Jerusalem. And whether he believed that there would be a greater fulfillment thousands of years later on a spiritual Jerusalem, we don’t know, because the Bible doesn’t tell us. But the situation he was describing was the type of moral decay that would warrant God’s wrath.
As the result, the ‘fierce times’ that were to come surely had to be true in Jerusalem at the time of her destruction. And since the prophecies on ‘the Last Days’ also appear to apply to our time, the situation of falling into moral decay that Paul prophesied must picture what is happening among the vast throngs of those calling themselves Christians today… so it is also their ‘Last Days.’
Modern Israel and Jerusalem
While many believe that all the prophecies concerning Israel and Jerusalem center around their physical location in Palestine today, when ‘New Testament’ Bible writers spoke of these places in prophecy, they didn’t do so in literal terms, but symbolically. For example, where we read prophecies about ‘the twelve tribes of Israel,’ the reference appears to be to the twelve symbolic tribes that make up Christian Congregations or Churches. For more information, see the linked document ‘Jerusalem and the Israel of God’.
So, when Jesus told his eleven faithful Apostles (at Luke 22:28-30), ‘However, you are the ones who stuck with me during my trials, so I’m making a Sacred Agreement with you, just as my Father made a Sacred Agreement with me, for a Kingdom… that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom and sit on thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel,’ he was saying that they would judge all who claim to be Christians.
That this conclusion is correct is verified by the words of Peter at 1 Peter 4:17, which says, ‘The time of judgment has come, and it’s starting with the House of God. And if it’s starting with us first, how will those who don’t obey the good news of God end up?’
So, those who are first to be judged (before Armageddon and the destruction of the wicked), are those who say that they are in a Sacred Agreement with God. And we can soon expect a judgment on all Christendom and Christianity, because that was what Jesus told his Apostles that they were going to do – judge the twelve tribes of Israel. Then the destruction of the unfaithful (as in Jerusalem) will be delivered through a world empire, for that is how God has done it in the past.
Our Conclusions
From the above, we have concluded that ‘the Last Days’ the Bible speaks of have two fulfillments. The first came upon Judah and Jerusalem, starting from the time that Jesus began his earthly ministry, and running until 70-C.E., when the armies of Rome destroyed an entire form of worship that was based on a Sacred Agreement with God and which was centered around worship at the Temple in Jerusalem. However, during that time, judgment on the Christian Congregation (those in the New Sacred Agreement) began in the form of intense persecution.
So, the second and greater fulfillment of the Last Days isn’t primarily upon the wicked of this world; it comes upon those who claim to be God’s servants today, Christianity and Christendom (spiritual Israel). This appears to be the meaning of the destruction of Babylon the Great as described in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Chapters of Revelation. And, (as in the ancient type) it will start with the intense persecution of those who are serving Him faithfully. Thereafter, the beastly governments and those who have their mark will be judged and destroyed. So in a sense, it is also their Last Days.
Then, can we say that we are now living in the Last Days, as many religions are teaching? Well, many of the signs seem to be happening in our time. Jesus foretold world war, famines, natural disasters, plagues, and a cooling of the love of many… and many people are truly lovers of money, braggarts, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, and disloyal. Also, many don’t love their families and are unwilling to agree on anything; they are slanderers, without any self-control; they are wild, and they don’t love anything that is good. They are in fact headstrong, proud, and betrayers who prefer pleasures more than caring about God. And they have a form of religion but they don’t follow its teachings.
However, although many may choose to disagree, we have yet to see the type of outpouring of God’s Holy Breath that was seen on Pentecost of 33-C.E., which was near the start of the Last Days of Jerusalem. If we look to the type, Jesus appeared first, and then the 40-year Last Days began. And although some claim that Jesus came (as a heavenly presence) in 1914, Jesus himself described his coming as a time when (according to Matthew 24:29-31) ‘the sun will grow dark and the moon will not light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all tribes of the earth will beat themselves in grief when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with great power and glory. Then he’ll send his messengers [blowing] loud trumpets, and collect his elected from the four winds… from one end of the sky to the other.’
And such things simply haven’t happened yet.
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