Last Days or Kingdom Age?
Within evangelical Christian circles these days I
often hear the statement that “time is short – we are in the last days you
know!” Some Christians spend a great
deal of time studying “end time prophecy” and looking for “signs of the end” in
current events and international politics.
I would like to present a refreshing, Biblical alternative to all of
that.
Last Days
My
proposal is that the term “last days” as it was used by the New Testament
writers referred to the last days of the Old Covenant age, and that age ended
in 70 AD with the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem by the Roman
legions. If this is true then we do not
need to worry about the great tribulation, the anti-christ, the “mark of the
beast”, etc. because all of those prophetic elements were fulfilled nearly 2000
years ago.
One
of the favorite “end-times” passages for many Christians is Matthew 24 in which
Jesus responds to some questions from his disciples about the destruction of
the Jerusalem temple. In order to
understand Jesus’ response we must understand clearly the questions that the
disciples asked him. Verses one and two
of the chapter set the context: “Jesus
left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him
the buildings of the temple. But he answered
them, ‘You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be
left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down’” (Matthew 24:1-2). Then comes the questions from the disciples
in verse three: “Tell us, when will
these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of
the age?”
Three Questions
So to
summarize this, the disciples ask Jesus three questions:
1. When will the Jerusalem temple be destroyed?
2. What will be the sign of your coming? (Note that “coming” is the Greek word parousia, best translated “royal
appearing.”)
3. What will be the sign of the close of the
age?
My Questions
As
I have thought about this some questions have come to my mind. First of all, why would the disciples ask
Jesus what the sign of his coming would be? He had not gone away so why would
they be asking him about “coming again?” Maybe the term “parousia” did not mean
“second coming” at all in their minds.
Perhaps the thought was more along the lines of “when will you reveal
yourself as Messiah and King to the people of Israel?” This is more in line with the 1st
century usage of the Greek term parousia.
This term literally means “presence” and was associated in ancient
literature with the royal appearing of a king.
This
was sort of the question they asked him after his resurrection as recorded by
Luke in the Book of Acts 1:6: “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom
to Israel?” The disciples were expecting
a Messiah like King David, who would be a military leader. They expected this leader to free them from
Roman oppression and to restore the independent kingdom of Israel that had
existed under King David’s rule some 900 years earlier. This is why even after his resurrection they
were still expecting Jesus to restore the Davidic Kingdom. Jesus was proclaiming a different sort of
Kingdom – a spiritual kingdom, and that idea was not yet clear to the
disciples.
The
second question I have is when the disciples wondered about timing of the “close
of the age”, what age did they have in mind?
Studies of Jewish eschatology (beliefs about the end of time) in first
century Palestine show that Jewish people believed that time was divided into
two ages: the present age and the age to
come. We see Jesus speaking of this
belief in passages such as Matthew 12:32, Mark 10:30, Luke 18:30, and Luke
20:35. There were different schools of thought in what is called Second Temple
Judaism regarding the “end times,” but the general thinking seems to be that
their present age would end when God
broke into human history in a supernatural way, bringing judgment on the wicked,
resurrection life for the righteous dead and a new society marked by justice
and peace. We see this belief expressed
by Jesus in John’s gospel chapter 5 where Jesus remarks that the time is soon
coming when “…everyone in the tombs will hear his voice [the voice of God’s
Son]. They will come out – those who
have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to
the resurrection of judgment.”
Timeframe Given by Jesus
When
we study Jesus’ answer in the following verses of Matthew 24 (parallel passages
are found in Mark 13 and Luke 21) we see that he predicted several things but
they are all restricted by a very specific timeframe which Jesus gives us in
verse 34: “Truly I say to you, this
generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” Jesus had also spoken of judgment coming on
the present generation one chapter earlier in Matthew 23 verses 35 and 36:
“…so
that on you [the scribes and Pharisees he was speaking to] may come all the
righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of
Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the
altar. Truly, I say to you, all these
things will come upon this generation.”
Notice the phrase “this generation.”
The
substance of Matthew 24:4-34 describes the events that would come upon this
generation of Jewish people living in Palestine in the years from approximately
30 to 70 AD, culminating in the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem
by the Roman armies. When we try to
apply these verses to some time in our future in the 21st century or
beyond we are violating the clear time condition given by Jesus. Jesus clearly said that these things would
all happen during the lifetime of his listeners. Therefore we know that everything in that
passage (Matthew 24:4-34) has already taken place. We will see that Scripture and history
verify that each element in the prophecy of Jesus was fulfilled by 70 AD.
Eight Elements of Jesus' Prophecy
The
first element is false messiahs (Matthew 24:5).
The Jewish historian Josephus records that there were several false
messiahs who rose up during the time from 30 AD to 70 AD. One of these, named Theudas, is mentioned by
Josephus in his Antiquities (book XX,
chapter 5) and in the book of Acts (Acts 5:36).
Another one, an Egyptian, gathered 4,000 followers and threatened the
Roman garrison in Jerusalem. He was
defeated by the Roman forces. He is
mentioned by Josephus in Antiquities (book
XX, chapter 8) as well as in Acts 21:38.
The
second element is wars and rumors of wars.
Josephus records that the Jewish wars began in 66 AD and continued until
the destruction of the temple in 70 AD.
In other parts of the Mediterranean world the Roman Empire was fighting
wars of conquest and consolidation.
The
third element is famines and earthquakes and these certainly occurred in the region
of Palestine during the 40 years from 30 AD to 70 AD. . According to the book of Acts, the prophet
Agabus predicted a famine throughout the “inhabited earth” (Acts
11:27-28). Luke tells us that this
famine occurred during the reign of the Roman emperor Claudius. That would have placed it sometime during the
years 41-54 AD. Historians tell us of a large earthquake that devastated the
Asia Minor city of Colossae in 61 AD.
Most likely there were other earthquakes in the region during the 40
years from 30 to 70 AD.
The
fourth element is the persecution of the followers of Jesus and the great
“falling away”. This element is seen in
the New Testament, especially in the life of Paul as recorded in Acts. We see him being persecuted from city to city
by Jewish people who were enraged at his presentation of the gospel. In addition we find out that at the end of
his life many of the faithful had departed from the faith (see 2 Timothy
4:9-11). Church tradition tells us that
Paul was executed by Rome around 62 AD, so this falling away would have
happened by that time.
The
fifth element is the preaching of the gospel throughout the known world. Again this is confirmed by the New Testament
itself. Paul wrote to the Colossians
that “the gospel has come to you, just as in all the world also it is
constantly bearing fruit and increasing” (Colossians 1:5-6). In addition he tells them not to depart “from
the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all
creation under heaven” (Colossians 1:23).
When the writers of the New Testament made universal statements like
this they were referring to the known world – the populated areas around the
Mediterranean. So Jesus’ prediction that
the gospel of the kingdom would be preached to the known world as a witness
before the end of the age would come (Matthew 24:14) was fulfilled by the time
Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians (probably around 60 AD).
The
sixth element in the prophecy is the “abomination of desolation” standing in
the holy place. Jesus tells his
followers that when they see this event take place those who are in Judea
should flee to the mountains. (Matthew
24: 15-16). What does this mean? By studying the parallel account in Luke
21:20 we see this has to do with the Roman armies surrounding Jerusalem. “But
when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies…Then let those who are in Judea
flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let
not those who are out in the country enter it; for these are days of vengeance,
to fulfill all that is written."
The
Christian historian Eusebius tells us that Christians were aware of this
prophecy and that when Jerusalem was surrounded by Roman armies they fled to
the region of Pella (History of the
Church, 3:5:3). It is worthwhile to read this quotation:
“The whole body, however, of the church at
Jerusalem, having been commanded by a divine revelation, given to men of
approved piety there before the war, removed from the city, and dwelt at a
certain town beyond the Jordan, called Pella. Here those that believed in
Christ, having removed from Jerusalem, as if holy men had entirely abandoned
the royal city itself, and the whole land of Judea; the divine justice, for
their crimes against Christ and his apostles finally overtook them, totally
destroying the whole generation of these evildoers form the earth.”
The
seventh element in the prophecy is the signs in the sun, moon and stars. This is symbolic language which echoes the
language used in the prophetic books of the Old Testament to indicate a time of
God’s judgment (see Isaiah 13:9-11 which
is an oracle against the nation of Babylon, also Joel 2:28-32 speaking of
judgment on Israel itself). So Jesus was
using this language not to predict actual events in the heavens but to predict
a time of God’s judgment on Jerusalem.
The
eighth and final element that I want to look at is the parousia itself – the royal appearing of the son of man. Here is the
quote from Jesus in Matthew 24:30, “they will see the son of man coming on the clouds
of heaven with power and great glory.” Here Jesus
is answering the disciples question about the sign of his appearing by quoting a verse from the Old Testament prophetic book of Daniel. This verse would have been very familiar to
his first century Jewish audience. We find that verse in Daniel 7:13:
“I
saw in the night visions, and behold, with
the clouds of heaven there came one like a son
of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before
him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all
peoples, nations and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that
shall not be destroyed.”
Ascension Not Coming
This scene in Daniel takes place in heaven, not on
the earth. The son of man figure is
brought before God and given dominion over all the earth. This is essentially a coronation scene. God’s King is being crowned king over all the
earth. This brings to mind one of Jesus’
favorite passages from the Psalms: “The
LORD (YHWH) said to my Lord (Adonai), ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your
enemies your footstool” (Psalm 110:1).
So the event that Jesus refers to here is not his
coming again to earth – it is his ascension to heaven and his crowning by God
as King over the earth. Jesus is saying
that his crowning as King will be one of the signs of the end of the Old
Covenant age. Jesus was crowned King in heaven at his ascension which occurred on the same day as his resurrection. In addition I think Jesus is
suggesting in Matthew 24 that when the disciples see the destruction of the Jerusalem temple
they will know that he has been seated at God’s right hand in heaven as King
and he is in the process of subduing his enemies.
Conclusion
Going back to where we started from in this article,
we see the term “last days” used many times in the book of Acts and in the
epistles. These were all written after
the resurrection and ascension of Jesus.
I believe the term refers to the last days of the Old Covenant age,
which was completed with the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 70 AD. This happened exactly the way Jesus predicted
it would in Matthew 24. The great
tribulation was completed at that time and we don’t need to look for it in the
future. The resurrection/ascension of
the Lord and the judgment poured out on the apostate Jewish religious system in
Jerusalem ushered in the kingdom age. We
are now living in what was for the first century believers “the age to come” –
the age of God’s kingdom on earth administered through Jesus the King, who is
presently reigning at the right hand of God in heaven.
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