Last Days/End Times Bible Study

There is much confusion about the so-called "last days" or "end times" of the Bible. Eschatology is very controversial among Christians, and different Christian sects have different opinions on how to interpret critical passages. But very few Christians have really searched Scripture for the truth about this, relying on newspaper theology rather than true scholarship. Hopefully, the serious student will find this short article helpful as an introduction to eschatology. Pray for discernment.

At the bottom of this article is an exhaustive list of “Last Days/End Times Passages” in the New Testament. Included are some additional passages referenced for context. Before that are some helpful prerequisite passages about the changing of the covenants, which may be applicable to the “last days.”

Deuteronomy 28-32. In this section Moses foretold that there would come a time, at the time of “THEIR END” (Deuteronomy 32:20), when the Jews would become so unfaithful that God would take VENGEANCE and destruction on them. Their rights to the kingdom of God were always conditional and would be forfeited for unfaithfulness in the LATTER DAYS (Deuteronomy 32:29, 35, 43). In Luke 21:22, 32 speaking of his generation, Jesus said that the DAYS OF VENGEANCE had arrived. In Luke 9:41 Jesus further proclaimed his Jewish contemporaries to be the faithless and twisted generation prophesied in Deuteronomy 32:5.

Daniel 12—This important prophecy states the TIME OF THE END would come when the power of the holy people would be shattered and sacrifices for sin would cease. That happened in AD 70 when the temple was destroyed. Jesus confirmed the time-line in Matthew 24:15 by referencing the Abomination of Desolation predicted by Daniel 12:11, tying it to the coming destruction of the temple.

Matthew 21:33-45 (The Parable of the Tenants, also called the Parable of the Wicked Vine Dressers). Jesus told the Jewish leaders of his day that the blessings of the covenant kingdom were being taken from them and given to another group—obviously Christians. The text says that the Jews knew Jesus was talking about judgment against them in his parables. The Jews, of course, knew the Old Testament prophecies about this. Jesus' proclamation about the fulfillment of those prophecies angered the Jewish leadership and was certainly a contributing factor to Jesus' trial and execution.

Matthew 22:1-14 (The Parable of the Wedding Feast). In this parable, which follows immediately after the Parable of the Tenants, we see that the “king” would send his troops to destroy the murderers and burn their city. While this parable is often thought of as being fulfilled in the future, its context seems to be the first century as a follow-on to the Parable of the Tenants. In Luke 21:20-24, in an apparent parallel, Jesus talked about a time when those in the first century would see Jerusalem surrounded by armies—in the context of the coming destruction of city and the temple in AD 70. FYI, Revelation continues many of these themes and the marriage of the Lamb is mentioned in Revelation 19:7.

Matthew 23:29-39. In this passage Jesus puts an exclamation point on the coming judgment of Old Covenant Israel. Jesus declared that ALL THE RIGHTEOUS BLOOD EVER SHED ON EARTH would be judged against THEM (Old Covenant Israel) in THEIR GENERATION. (Vindication of the martyrs is found elsewhere in the New Testament. Compare this passage with Revelation 6:10; 16:6; 17:6; 18:24, and 19:2—and note that Revelation is about events that "must shortly take place," "soon, "near," etc. per Revelation 1:1-3 and 22:6-20.)

Now consider also these passages about the DURATION OF THE EARTH: Psalm 78:69; 104:5; 148:3-6; Ecclesiastes 1:4; Ephesians 3:21 (KJV).

Below are the New Testament passages. Were these passages referring to past, present, or future? The best explanation may be that the last days/end times were the end of the Old Covenant order, rather than the end of the world. Indeed, the Bible speaks of the end of the age, not the end of the world.

MATTHEW 24:2, 3, 14 (ref. Matthew 24:34). Read Matthew 24:3 in the KJV, then in modern translations, and note the difference in "world" vs. "age." The following passages indicate that the gospel had been preached to the whole world, as Jesus predicted, by the time Paul was writing, thus fulfilling Matthew 24:14--Romans 1:8; 10:18; 16:25-27; Colossians 1:6, 23.

The book The Late Great Planet Earth came out in the late 70’s. It was a translation of Revelations.

It predicted the Eagle and the bear fighting the dragon.

At the time the Cold war was going strong so I thought it was nuts. But now it’s eased about a millimeter or two and now we aren’t as worried about a nuclear attack from Russia as we use to be.

Bottom line. Who knows. But just in case behave.

See that is the problem. There is no doubt that no one knows the day nor the hour; the scripture does not give a precise time line. On the other hand, the scripture gives you very specific things about events God does want you to see.

Revelation 6: The four horsemen are not allegorical but specific.

First, the White Horse: The clue is that the only tape the networks had on Saddam were him riding a big white horse shooting his AK 47 in the air at the prior May day festival. The White Horseman goes forth “conquering and to conquer”. Like Saddam and Kuwait. Maybe lots of white horsemen, right?

Second, the Red Horse: First US army unit in Iraq at the beginning of the first Iraq war—the Red Horse Armored Cavalry. Lots of Red horses around also, right?

Third, the Black Horse: A measure of wheat for a denarius and three measures of barley for a denarius; and see that the oil and wine are not hurt? Simple. Wheat trading at three times the price of barley. Only one time during the Church Age—Spring 1992 during the US floods.

The Oil and Wine? Fall 1962, in the GATT negotiations, the US imposed a 200% penalty tax on French cooking oil and wine to induce them to give up in the negotiation. They did; the 200% penalty was withdrawn and the oil and wine were not hurt by the tax.

The Fourth Horseman: The Pale Horse; and power was given to them over a quarter part of the earth to kill with the sword and death and the beasts of the earth. The quarter of the earth is 90 degrees of longitude; Slick Willys war on Bosnia; the beasts of the earth—eating the flesh communicated Ebola.

Next—Christians being persecuted wonder why God is letting them get away with this: a little while longer; before the sixth and last condition—a Great Earthquake; the Sun becomes black as Ashes; all the mountains and islands were moved out of their places. Sounds like what happens when Yellowstone goes off.

That is next.

Revelation 6:17: For the Great and Terrible Day of His Wrath is at hand and who shall be able to stand.

Amen. Praise the Lord for the Truth of His Word!

The best explanation may be that the last days/end times were the end of the Old Covenant order, rather than the end of the world. Indeed, the Bible speaks of the end of the age, not the end of the world.

The Bible speaks of both the "end of the age", and the "end of the world". Two events separated by the "Millennial Reign" of Christ.

The "last days/end times" occur around the time that Christ returns to save Israel from total annihilation. Remember Christ's words:

Matt. 23:38-39 Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you that you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

There are many holes in your theory that we're living in a post end of age period. Above is one and the Damascus prophecy is another - I could go on and on with other examples based on fact and not subject to one's poor interpretation of scripture.

For example, historians and archaeologists believe Damascus may be the oldest continually inhabited city in the world and there is no record in ancient history of it ever being fully destroyed.

Isaiah 17 says this, "... special word about Damascus: “See, Damascus will no longer be a city. It will be destroyed and laid waste."

Damascus is still inhabited:

The biggest problem with covenant (replacement) theology is that they completely ignore the terms and details of the new covenant as specified in Jeremiah ch 31.

Who are the people that are the subject of that covenant? What will they act like when the covenant is enacted? Are Christians fulfilling those terms these days?

This is a real problem. It is funny, read anything written by a reformed/covenant theologian on the subject. Every other word and thought talks about the covenants of Jehovah and yet they totally ignore the terms of the new covenant.

The other major problem is covenant/reformed believers think that Jehovah cast aside the Jews due to their unfaithfulness but that they themselves are immune from such action because they think they live such godly lives as detailed in the sermon on the mound.

Question: If Jehovah, who tells us in Scripture that he keeps his promises and is willing to break his past promises to the sons of Abraham, what makes the Christian in 2019 think that he will not break his promises to them? What makes Christians, those who’s personal sin and imperfect life is washed by the blood of Christ, immune from the corporate sins of the church?

No need to answer this because I already know that Jehovah doesn’t break his promises and he also knows how to communicate to us via his infallible word.

Fun Fact. Covenant theology as we know it today was unheard of until the reformation era. I mention this because our reformed brethren like to insist that any theological idea that they personally disapprove of is a modern invention.

I think in watching world events we can understand quite clearly that there is a group of “globalist people and organizations that are the driving force for a “One World Government”.....and that their driving force is money power and authority... These groups are said to control a huge percentage of the world’s wealth. Their objective of course is to dominate the ‘world commerce’ and ‘politics’ for their own purposes.

We’ve also watched these groups functioning within the UN as they chip away at nations through treaty arrangements wherein nations loose their sovereignty a piece at a time....Additionally they’ve also created Non Governmental Organizations such as NGO’s and the like which are citizen and young students groups all over the world designed to ‘sell’ the programs and those objectives to the world populace as they sing their song of diversity and multiculturalism...

..So their strategy is a gradual inching toward globalism so as not to awaken/jolt too many people as to what is going on.

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