"And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days...The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be," (Gen.49:1-10).
"For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands," (Deut. 31:29).
"But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days...And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever, (Dan.2:28-44).
"Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days," (Dan.10:14).
"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt," (Dan.12:1f).
Isaiah, along with all the prophets, prophesied of a coming period of time in Israel's history referred to as the last days, which the Hebrews writer identified as the then current age (1:1-2), in which Jesus appeared to put away sin by His selfless sacrifice, and he specifically delineated it as, "now..., in the end of the age" (9:26); this is the same the last days of 2 Pet.3:3ff, in which Peter was reminding his readers of what the prophets had spoken, which was not for them, but, which Peter states, "...the end of all things IS (in Peter's lifetime) at hand," (1 Pet.4:7). Peter said Christ was, "verily...foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest←[phaneroō] in these last times..." and, Paul said Christ, "...must often have suffered from the foundation of the world. But now once for all, at the completion of the ages, He has been manifested←[phaneroō] for putting away of sin through the sacrifice of Himself," (LITV).
Peter said Christ was "phaneroō" in these (during Peter's lifetime) last times, and Paul said Christ was "phaneroō" now (during Paul's lifetime), at the completion of the ages; therefore, since it is irrefutable that Christ did not "phaneroō" in the end of the [Christian] age, then the Biblical last days inarguably was the end of the [Jewish] age which occurred during that first century generation; furthermore, Peter said, "Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days," (Acts 3:22).
Isaiah, in his prophecy of chapters 2-4, states that the mountain of the Lord's house would be established in Jerusalem in the last days (2:2-3; cf. Mic.4:1ff), a passage which most church of Christ preachers quote to authenticate the inauguration of the Lord's church on Pentecost day, and thereby, validate the uniqueness of the church of Christ in that it began exactly when and where prophecy specified; however, what has been consistently overlooked through the decades, yea, even centuries, is the continuation of this prophecy, which includes judgment (the very next verse!), and that throughout this prophetic judgment language, Isaiah reiterated three times, that at, "the day of the Lord" (2:12), and with the establishment of the house of God, "...they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty..." (2:10, 19-21), a prophecy which Jesus applies specifically to the destruction of Jerusalem:
"Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us," (Lk.23:28-30).
This same prophecy is also reiterated by John the Revelator just prior to the opening of the seventh seal:
"And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" (6:12-17).
As verse 19 continues, Isaiah says, "...when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth..." The prophet Haggai reveals exactly what this Hebraism of shaking heavens and earth means:
"For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts...Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth; And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen," (Hag.2:6-22).
So we see that in Hebrew thought, the shaking of heavens and earth signifies regime changes in overthrowing the powers of kingdoms, which is exactly how Jesus used this hyperbolic language in the Olivet Discourse when He said, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled," (Mt.24:29 & Lk.21:27ff).
Holy Spirit applies the identical language, through the Hebrews writer, to the receiving of the new Jerusalem, i.e., the Messianic Kingdom (12:22ff), as the Old Covenant law of Moses (the then present heavens and earth) was "ready to vanish away" (8:13), and would soon be removed, notice: "Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken←[the powers of the heavens, (Mt.24:29)], as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved... (12:26-28).
Isaiah then goes on to prophesy that during this time of "the last days," (2:2ff); during this time when the Lord "stands to judge the people" (3:13), that, "Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war" (3:25), a prophecy Jesus applies specifically to the destruction of Jerusalem, notice: "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Lk.21:24), which Jesus said immediately after saying, "And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh...For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled," (Lk.21:20-22), all of which He said would be fulfilled before His generation passed away (Lk.21:32). This glaringly obvious prophetic connection is systematically obfuscated by the skillfully-trained anti-preterist!
The prophet Joel also prophesied that, "...the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come," (1:15), which would occur in, "the last days" (chapters 2-3), in another church of Christ proof-text, from which Peter quotes on Pentecost day, through Holy Spirit, and says, " ...this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:" (Acts 2:16-20).
Again, as with Isaiah's prophecy, what is interesting is the consistently ignored continuation of Joel's prophecy: subsequent to the portion that Peter indicated the fulfillment of on Pentecost day, which was to transpire just, "before the great and terrible day of the Lord" (2:31), Joel continues with, "For←[a conjunction], behold, in those days, and in that time..." (3:1), indicating that the events he is about to describe would likewise be fulfilled in this same time frame of the last days.
As Joel's prophecy continues, what he also posited in the last days, and, in those days, and in that time, was "the harvest," when he said, "Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great" (3:13). This too, is cited in the Revelation vision, notice: "And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe," (Rev.14:15). By the way, this imagery shows us that the Biblical harvest has nothing to do with the destruction of the physical planet!
Those whose eyes and ears are open will readily note more unmistakable prophetic connections here of the Son of man (Jesus) sitting on a cloud (cf. Mt.16:27-28; 24:30ff; Acts 1:9ff), and the angel proclaiming that the harvest is ripe, which is the identical language used by Jesus in Mt.13:37-43 where He says, "...the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age" (NKJV), emphatically, and unequivocally applying the harvest to the consummation of the then current Jewish age, (cf. Jn.4:35). Unless one can demonstrate, exegetically, two end-of-the-age harvests with the Son of man coming on the clouds, then these predictions are synonymous!
The force of this exegesis is devastating to the futurist paradigm in that John's application of Joel's last-days-harvest prediction being synchronized with the last trump signaling the resurrection (Rev.11:15ff; cf. 1 Cor.15:52) is simultaneous with, "...another angel fly[ing] in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people," (Rev.14:6). Since the gospel to be preached to them that dwell on the earth cannot find its application at the end of the Christian age, and since the gospel to be preached to them that dwell on the earth is concurrent with the last trump which signals the resurrection, then the inescapable conclusion is the resurrection cannot be at the assumed end of the Christian age!
This conclusion is further reinforced by a number of synergistic facts, such as:
1) When we consider that John said, "...in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets," (10:7). Paul points out to the Colossians that the, "hope of the gospel" had been, "preached to every creature which is under heaven;" he goes on to say of himself, "Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest←[phaneroō] to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory," (Col.1:24ff);
2) "...in the days of the voice of the seventh angel," John is told that he, "must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings," (10:11), just as John also sees, "...another angel fly[ing] in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people," (14:6);
3) "...in the days of the voice of the seventh angel," would also be when salvation would come as John hears, "a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation..." (12:10), which agrees perfectly with what Jesus told His disciples to be looking for in the days when Jerusalem would be surrounded by armies; for at time, said Jesus, "...when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh," (Lk.21:20,28);
4) "...in the days of the voice of the seventh angel," would also be when Christ would come in His kingdom with power, as the loud voice says, "Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ," (12:10), which comports perfectly with:
►"For the Son of man shall←[mello: is about to] come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom," (Mt.16:27f);
►"Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power," (Mk.8:38-9:1);
►"For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels. But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God," (Lk.9:26f);
►"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other," (Mt.24:30f).
But, let's continue with Joel's prophecy: "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision," (3:14). Please observe the succession of events listed in this prophecy, i.e., "the day of the Lord is near," which sequentially was to transpire after the events on Pentecost day, which Peter said initiated the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy! Since the Corinthians, living in the last days were expectant of the day of the Lord (1:5:5; 2:1:14), as were the Thessalonians, (1:5:2); since Peter, who identified his generation as living during the last times (1 Pet.1:20), was hasting unto the day of God, (2 Pet.3:10ff), and since James said that the parousia-coming of the Lord had drawn nigh (Js.5:8), this irrefutably demonstrates that when Jesus said, "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom" (Mt.16:27-28), He was not speaking of Pentecost day, much less the crucifixion, or worse still, His transfiguration!
"The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining, The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel," (Joel 3:15). It is highly interesting that, consistent with Isaiah's predictions, the identical motif found in Joel's prophecy is applied by Jesus, again, specifically to the fall of Jerusalem: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds: of heaven with power and great glory," (Mt.24:29-30).
This harmonizes perfectly with the Son of man sitting on the cloud (Rev.14:15) when the heavens and the earth would be shaken (Isa.2:12, 19-21; Heb.12:26ff), and in the same breath, Jesus says, "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away," (Mt.24:34-35).
Remembering that Jesus said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Mt.5:17-18), the unbiased exegesis of these passages leaves no room for doubt that the prophetic dissolution of the heavens and earth predicted to occur in "the last days," was not the forecast of a Hollywood-style cataclysmic time-ending fiery conflagration of the material universe, thousands of years removed from His audiences; rather, it was the impending consummation of the Mosaic covenant/age, which was decaying, growing old, and was "ready to vanish away" (Heb.8:13) with the imminent siege and destruction of Jerusalem, and the Jewish temple, just as James says, "Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand," (5:7-8, ESV).
As we continue to consider the prophecies of Isaiah, he speaks of the time when the Gentiles would be brought into covenant relationship with Jehovah:
"And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising," (60:3);
"For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name," (62:1f);
"And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name: That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes. For, behold, I create new heavens: and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem: a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying," (65:15-19).
Notice in Isaiah's predictions of when, the Gentiles would come to the light, and, see Jehovah's righteousness, Judah would be slain, and God's people would be called by a new name, which also was to be concurrent with the creation of:
1) The new Heavens;
2) The new Earth;
3) The new Jerusalem;
4) All tears wiped away;
5) The former things forgotten.
Let's compare Isaiah's prophecy, once again, with that of John the Revelator:
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem:, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away... And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride:, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God..." (Rev.21:1-4, 9,10).
What is the bride of Christ? Can anyone reasonably contest that the bride of Christ is the church? Would anyone argue that the church was not established in the first century? The honest Bible student should easily recognize that the new Jerusalem is just another designation of the church, and that the phrases, bride of Christ, new Jerusalem, holy Jerusalem, and the tabernacle of God are synonymous with the ekklesia / kingdom of God and Christ, (Eph.5:5).
Notice, then, that John's vision is the carbon-copy fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy:
| ISAIAH 65 | REVELATION 21 |
| THE NEW HEAVENS | THE NEW HEAVENS |
| THE NEW EARTH | THE NEW EARTH |
| THE NEW JERUSALEM | THE NEW JERUSALEM | ALL TEARS WOULD BE WIPED AWAY | ALL TEARS WIPED AWAY | FORMER THINGS TO BE FORGOTTEN | FORMER THINGS FORGOTTEN |
In the remainder of Isaiah's poetic / figurative language (65:20-25), after—AFTER—the creation of the new heavens, the new earth, and the new Jerusalem—language which indicates a transition from one age to the next—he depicts a time of peace and prosperity in which His people would build and inhabit houses; plant and harvest vineyards; marry and bear children who would live long lives; and the sinner who lived to be full of years would be accursed; language which absolutely, categorically, cannot by any stretch of an imaginative hermeneutic be applied to heaven; THEREFORE, the only conclusion possible for the fulfillment of this prophecy is to apply it to the transition out of the Mosaic age into the Christian age which occurred with the siege and destruction of Jerusalem beginning in February AD 66 through August AD 70, the time when Jesus said all things written would be fulfilled.
Unless and until someone can demonstrate that there will be sin and death in heaven, and, that all things written were not fulfilled at the demise of Judaism, contra the declaration of Jesus (Lk.21:20-22), then the application of this post-Mosaic-age scene must find its fulfillment somewhere during the Christian age. Since it is the case that all tears being wiped away precedes this poetic scene of peace and prosperity; and since it is the case that all tears being wiped away is concurrent with the resurrection, then the resurrection unquestionably cannot be in our future, and thus the entire futurist paradigm is eviscerated!
Paul told Agrippa that his doctrine of the resurrection of the dead was nothing other that what the prophets had predicted, notice:
"Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? ...Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come," (Acts 26:8, 22).
Paul discusses the resurrection in his letter to the Corinthians, and in the climax of this resurrection text, he says:
"For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory," (1 Cor.15:54f).
What is unavoidable here is that Paul unquestionably connects the resurrection to all tears being wiped away! Paul says the saying that is written—He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces... (Isa.25:8)—would be fulfilled in the corruptable-to-incorruption, mortal-to-immortal resurrection event.
Likewise, John says the wiping away of all tears is synonymous with no more death, which posits Paul's swallowing up of death in the resurrection at the coming of the new Heavens, new Earth, new Jerusalem, and the bride / wedding of Christ, (Rev.21:1-9).
►Since it is the case that the wiping away of all tears of Isa.25:8 is posited at the time of the wedding banquet, (25:6);
►Since it is the case that John posits the wiping away of all tears at the coming of the bride (Rev.21:2) because, "the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready," (19:7);
►Since it is the case that Jesus posited the wedding feast at the time when the, "...king...sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city, (Mt.22:7);
►Then the inescapable conclusion is that the resurrection cannot be in our future; rather, it was predicted to occur in the-last-days-end of the Jewish age, which Paul said had come upon them, (1 Cor.10:11).
The contextual harmony and power of these incontrovertible truths that I have just shown you should flow into the depths of your soul and utterly demolish any and all remnants of this denominationally-refurbished Catholic-spun doctrine of a future general judgment, an all-corpses-from-the-dirt resurrection, and an ocularly-visible-bodily coming of the Lord at the imaginary end of time. Since these events are inextricably linked, then when one is proven to be false, the entire paradigm crumbles. I have demonstrated, exegetically, and hermeneutically, with facts which cannot be refuted, that the Futurist's contention of a future-to-us resurrection in our assumed last days is a false theory, and therefore, we are not living in the Biblical last days.