The Last-days

In this chapter we are looking at two main issues: what does the tern last-days mean; and how do we interpret Matthew 24. To start with we want to make it clear that nothing in this chapter should be taken to mean that we do not believe in the Second Coming of Christ at the end of our current age. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the biblical context in which the apostles wrote. The next chapter shall discuss the Second Coming.

The term last-days gives us a problem. It was commonly used by the apostles for the day in which they lived, but that was almost 2,000 years ago. How should we interpret this? Does this means that the last-days started in the days of the apostles and are still going on today? Or does the term refer to a short period at the end of the world just before the Second Coming of Jesus. If this latter view is the case then the apostles were mistaken, for Jesus did not return near to their own time.

We believe that the term last-days does not refer to either of these two possibilities. In this chapter we look at the term as it is used in the New Testament context.

The other main issue that we look at is to do with Matthew 24. The disciples asked Jesus a question in relation to the temple. Our options here are to see that either Matthew was writing only about the disciple’s question, or he was also addressing issues beyond their intention that would relate to Christians living at the end of the world.

That is, does Matthew 24 relate only to the siege of Jerusalem leading up to 70AD, which this passage and the corresponding passages in Luke 21 and Mark 13 clearly portray, or does it also by extension, symbolism or double fulfilment relate to the end of this world and Second Coming of Christ? What was in Matthew’s mind when he wrote the passage? Can we give the passage a meaning that Matthew may not have intended when he wrote it?

After a brief survey of these issues we look at implications for interpreting scripture in relation to the New Covenant. Topics in this chapter include:

• The end of the age.
• Matthew 24.
• The coming of the Lord.
• Sun, moon and stars.
• The New Heaven and the New Earth.