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Email: <lelgee@voicenet.com>Almighty God has arranged the end of all things from the beginning.
If I may speak forthrightly, there is a lot of nonsense published about "the last days." According to all the writings found in the Holy Bible, "the last days" is a phrase peculiarly associated with the sons of Jacob, and the children of Israel. The phrase - in the Old Testament - is usually pointed toward "the last days" in which the kingdom of God is restored on earth to Israel.
The Hebrew word for last in this phrase is acharith. Acharith, an adjective, (as well as its adverbial form of acharon,) is also translated as latter and as end. The word acharith itself means that which is a specific terminal point; and like acharon refers to the context which it describes. Generally the context relates both words to the days, the years, or the times of a terminating event. In relation to Israel, these words refer to the time of the termination of all world government, and to a short time duration in which Israel is restored as a monarchy which becomes the dominion of God upon earth.
Many of the Scripture texts containing these words will be examined in this paper. The purpose of this is to establish the O. T. teaching concerning "the last days" -- so that when the phrase is met with in the N.T. writings, the reader may have a better understanding of its O.T. frame of reference, -- and will not have any cause to stumble in rightly reading and applying the context of any N.T. writing to its appropriate end in time.
In this frame of reference, the phrase first falls from the lips of that ancient patriarch, Jacob. We find it appearing in his words in Genesis 49:1, as following:
"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.'"
From Genesis 49:3-27, the words of Jacob concerning his twelve sons are recorded. The final fulfillment of his blessings are to come to pass "in the last days."
Reuben, you, my first-born, my might and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then you defiled it. He went up to my couch. -- Vv. 3-4.
Simeon and Levi, brethren, instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place. O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honor, be not united. For in their anger they slew a man and in their self-will they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. -- Vv. 5-7.
Judah, thou art whom thy brethren shall praise. Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies. Thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art go up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, and as an old lion, who shall rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a law giver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Binding his foal unto the vine and his ass's colt unto the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. -- Vv. 8-12.
Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the Sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships, and his border shall be unto Sidon. -- Vv. 13.
Issachar is a strong ass crouching down between two burdens. And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant, and bowed his shoulder to bear and became a servant unto forced labor. -- Vv. 14-15.
Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path that bites the horse heels so that his rider shall fall backward. I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD. -- Vv. 16-18.
Gad, a troop shall overcome him, but he shall overcome at the last. -- V. 19.
Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. -- V. 20.
Naphtali is a hind let loose. He gives beautiful words. -- V. 21.
Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. The archers have harassed him and shot at him and hated him, but his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty (God) of Jacob (from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel), by the God of thy father who shall help thee, and by the Almighty Who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts and womb. The blessings of thy Father have prevailed above the blessing of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. -- Vv. 22-26.
Benjamin shall consume as a wolf. In the morning he shall devour the prey and at night he shall divide the spoil. -- V. 27.
After the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt, when the people had just come into the promised land, they were met with resistance to their settling down there by the seven nations of the land of Canaan. Balak, king of Moab, with Midian, hired the prophet Balaam to curse Israel. "And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people -- for they are blessed." Balaam, nevertheless, did as he pleased, and went to Balak.
Balaam's first words against the people of Israel concluded with this question and plea:
"Who can count the dust of Jacob, and who can number the fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!"
Balaam's next words against the people of Israel concluded in this manner:
"God is not a man that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent. Hath He said and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken and shall He not make it good?
"Behold, I have received commandment to bless and He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
"He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel. The LORD, his God, is with him and the shout of a king is among them.
"God brought them out of Egypt. He hath, as it were, the strength of a wild ox.
"Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel. According to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, 'What hath God wrought?'
"Behold, the people shall rise up a great lion and lift himself up as a young lion. He shall not lie down until he eat the prey and drink the blood of the slain."
-- Numbers 23:19-24.
This is what Moses also told the Levites about what would become of their service toward God:
"For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you, and evil will befall you in the latter days; because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands."
-- Deuteronomy 31:29.
At this time Balak was rather angry at Balaam for his inability to curse Israel. Balaam responded to Balak, in these words:
"Spoke not I also to thy messengers whom thou sentest unto me, saying: "If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the LORD to do good or bad of mine own mind; what the LORD saith that will I speak,?"
"And now, behold, I go unto my people. Come and I will advise thee what this people shall do unto thy people in the latter days."
-- Num. 24:14.
Balaam's final prophecy concerning the people of Israel ended in this manner:
"I shall see Him, but not now. I shall behold Him, but not near. There shall come a star out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel and shall smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the sons of Sheth. And Edom shall be a possession. Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies, and Israel shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall he come who shall have dominion and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.
And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable and said,
Amalek is the chief of the nations, but his latter end shall be that he perish forever.And he looked on the Kenites and took up his parable and said,
Strong is thy dwelling place and thou puttest thy nest on the rock. Nevertheless, the Kenite shall be wasted whither Asshur carry thee away captive.And he took up his parable and said,
Alas, who shall live when God doeth this? And ships (shall come) from the coast of Chittim and shall afflict Asshur and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish forever."
-- Num. 24:17-24.
Balaam's prophecy concerning "the ships of Kittim" alludes to Daniel 11, and to the Revelation, (8:9; and 18:17, 19) where a great destruction of "the ships" is noted.
Balaam's first prophecy from Peor concluded in this way:
"Balaam, the son of Beor, hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said - he hath said who heard the words of God, who saw the vision of the Almighty, falling in a trance but having his eyes open:
How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob and thy tabernacles, O Israel! Like the valleys are they spread forth! Like gardens by the river's side! Like the trees of aloes which the LORD hath planted! Like cedar trees beside the waters! He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted!
"God brought him forth out of Egypt. He hath as it were the strength of a wild ox. He shall eat up the nations, his enemies, and shall break their bones and pierce them through with his arrows. He crouched. He lay down like a lion. And like a great lion, who shall stir him up?
"Blessed is he who blesses thee and cursed is he that curses thee."
-- Numbers 24:3-9.
Balaam refers to the last days in which the blessed Israel "eats up" all adversity.
Because of the LORD's promises to the Hebrew patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He has a constant concern for the Land which He has promised to give to Abraham's "seed." This is what Moses said regarding the LORD's care for the land:
"But, the land to which you go to possess it - a land of hills and valleys - drinketh water of the rain of heaven; a land which the LORD, thy God, careth for. The eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
-- Deuteronomy 11: 11-12.
Moses declared the following to the children of Israel, shortly before they were to enter into the promised land, "Take heed unto yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD..." And this, they subsequently did. Moses also warned them at that time:
"When thou art in tribulation and all these things are come upon thee even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God and shalt be obedient unto His voice - for the LORD thy God is a merciful God - He will not forsake nor destroy thee nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He sware unto them."
-- Deuteronomy 4:30-31
Notwithstanding this warning from Moses, the gracious gifts which the LORD has conditionally bestowed upon the children of Israel have generally been lightly esteemed by them. The Holy Spirit, speaking in the words of The Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32, also said these things concerning Israel's end:
"Of the Rock who begot thee thou art unmindful and hast forgotten God Who formed thee. And when the LORD saw, He abhorred ... because of the provoking of His sons and His daughters. And He said, I will hide My face from them, I will see what is their end; for they are a very perverse generation, children in whom is no faith. ... Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
- - Vv. 18-20, 29.
The latter end for the people of Israel, therefore, has been described in the words of Moses, the great prophet of Israel, as well as in words from Balaam, and from the mouth of their father, Jacob.
All these things then considered, concerning Israel's end, the LORD said this:
"Is not this laid up in store with Me, and sealed among My treasures? To Me belongeth vengeance and recompence; their foot shall slide in (due) time. For the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. For the LORD shall judge His people, and repent Himself when He seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left."
-- Deuteronomy 32:34-36.
This is the gist of the most ancient facts divulged concerning events affecting the nation of Israel in "the last days." From the beginning, Israel is a people blessed of the LORD. At their end, Israel is a people blessed of the LORD too. God is true to His revealed word.
These mixed peoples may be discovered on a modern map of the Middle East to be mostly incorporated into the body of Jordan - on the East, and within Syria and Lebanon, and the (Assyrian) countries beyond them, to the North. Israel's adversaries today are the same as their ancient adversaries. In addition to these surrounding enemies, Israel must deal with the pressures from the Gentile nations which have economic and religious interests in the promised land.
From the most ancient testimonies we have discovered that "the last days" is a phrase peculiarly associated with the children of Jacob, and the sons of Israel, and with their final deliverance from the hands of their enemies. The association is clearly related, from the words of Deuteronomy 32:34-36, to the days of the LORD's judgment of His people, and His judgment of the surrounding nations for their continual hostilities against the children of Israel..
This theme of deliverance in "the last days" reappears mainly in the prophecies of Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Isaiah, where the theme is more fully fleshed out by the Word of the LORD.
Daniel, in visions, watched as the judgment of the final last days were presented to his sight by the LORD. Since The Revelation was sent to John on Patmos about 95-96 A.D., and since the Jewish commonwealth was destroyed by the Romans in the war of 70-73 A.D., these two facts are major indicators that "the last days" of Daniel's prophecy did not, and cannot, refer to any time before John received the prophecy.
The judgment awaits "the last days" for its setting.
Some recapping needs to be done, for the education of those who have been led by the historical writers having supersessionist sympathies, and by writers who maintain other negative views regarding the Jew and the reason for his existence on this earth. The earth and its 'supporting cast of characters' was made for a Jew: the Lord, Jesus Christ. Without the Jew there is no hope for life, neither any hope for the incorruptibility, the immortality, or the eternal life of God, the Father.
Man, alone, is like the grass, which is a perishable thing. Made of the earth, he grows up, flowers, casts his seed, withers away and dies, and disintegrates into the dust again. Man is like the green herb; the green herb has no immortality or hope in God. He is a perishable thing, of flesh, with flesh like an animal's flesh. Like the animal, he is a perishing creature.
The dominion of God on earth was first established by God, the Father, with Moses - a prophet of the LORD - in the position of mediator between the people and the LORD. God's purpose concerning the chosen people was foreordained, as shown in the above texts of O. T. Scriptures. The inheritance of the land was made conditional upon the obedience of the sons of Jacob.
Desiring a king "like the nations" the Jewish people were given Saul; Saul reigned for 40 years beginning about 1095 B.C.. But then, that man's rule proving an evil choice of the people, God anointed David, the son of Jesse, as His choice of a man for the throne of His kingdom. David also reigned for 40 years until about 1015 B.C., when Solomon received the throne after David's death. About 945 B.C. the ten tribes revolted from Judah's rule. The ten rebellious tribes, who chose their own rule, "To your (own) gods, O Israel," 1 Kings 12:16 LXX, were all taken into captivity among the nations in 722 B.C.
The first occupation of the land was made to cease finally in the overturning of the throne of Judah, in 586 B.C. This occupation of the land had lasted only a little over 500 years altogether.
The evil brought upon the children of Israel by the priesthood - according to the word of Moses - was to result in the final days of the kingdom's existence. The priesthood has not existed since the destruction of the temple. But Jacob's prophesied blessings upon Judah, and upon Joseph are for the time of the restoration of the people during their final last days presence in the land, when the priestly service is restored.
The second occupation of the land was made to cease in 70-73 A.D., after the chief priests and the elders rejected the Messiah. This occupation had lasted a little over 650 years. Thus were fulfilled the words of Jacob in Genesis 49:5-7, and the words of Moses from Deuteronomy 31:29:
"For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you, and evil will befall you in the latter days; because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands."
The people were sent into dispersion into all the surrounding nations, and beyond them, into all parts of the earth, following the LORD's judgment of the nation, of the common people and of the priestly ruling classes. The "diaspora" in the Gentile lands still is ongoing, although the more responsive Jews have returned to claim the land...
Although many decades have passed during the movement which urged the people to return to the land, this last ingress by the "sons of Jacob" to take possession of the land did not actually happen until 1948 A.D., when Israel reclaimed a portion of the ancient land of Canaan (under British-mandate) as "their own."
This third presence of the children of Israel in the land continues during our own generation of time.
Obviously since the prior two occupations of the promised land by Israel did not bring to the people the fullness of the promised conditions of the LORD's covenants with the patriarchs, there is a hope remaining that their third occupation of the land will bear the true fruit of the promises.
When are the prophecies about the "end" of the nation to bear their good fruit?
The prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel offer the bulk of the testimony concerning "the latter/last/end days" in which the nation of Israel is at last finally restored as the kingdom of God on earth. Because of the bulk of this testimony, not all passages with the phrase "the last days" will be examined. The reader is left to do his own verification of the passages thus omitted from this study, especially as they may be repetitious of same things. Daniel's prophecy relies upon the reader's familiarity with the contemporary prophecies of these other three prophets of the LORD, in addition to the Word of God through the writings of Moses for accurate understanding. ["The last days" in Daniel will not be considered in this study, since the study of Daniel may be viewed in its entirety by clicking above.]
In addition to Jacob, 1836 B.C.; Moses, 1500 B.C.; Balaam, 1451 B.C.; and Job, these are the prophets who spoke of "the last days," and the approximate date of each prophecy, B.C.:
The reader will note, however, that Daniel prophesied after all these prophets of the LORD, which is reasonable evidence that the prophets who preceded him spoke of the same "last days" as did Daniel.
And who is not familiar with the words of Job, who boldly declared, "For, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter (day) upon the earth; And though after my skin (worms) destroy this (body), yet in my flesh shall I see God!?"
The prophecy of Hosea speaks mainly toward the nation's betrayal of their love of God on account of the people's lack of knowledge of His ways. It speaks of the LORD's humility and love, and of His intention to take His vengeance for their sins. In lamenting He says, "I will go and return to My place till they acknowledge their offense and seek My face. In their affliction they will seek Me early." - 5:15.
The Holy Spirit, moving in the prophet, speaks thus about God's departure from the presence of His people. But Hosea also says concerning the people's reconciliation with the LORD:
"Afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days." - 3:5.
The prophecy of Amos speaks of the judgment which is immediately to come upon the land of Israel on account of sin, and upon the surrounding nations on account of their sins against Israel. In his prophecy of coming judgment there is also a foretaste of the judgments of the final day of the LORD.
Both Hosea and Amos make specific references to events of the ancient prophecies, and the manner in which their fulfillment shall come about in the judgment of the end. The reader must read these short prophecies himself to verify that this theme concerning "the last days" is consistently carried throughout the Word of God.
In Isaiah the theme concerning "the last days" is dispersed throughout the years of Isaiah's prophecy, touching upon and revealing the likeness of events during the true "last days" as each historical event of the prophet's own time comes to pass. The generation of Isaiah's time quite literally experienced the nature of the things which shall also literally come to pass at the end of the time which restores the kingdom to Israel.
While the theme is not limited to the single text in which "the last days" is quoted, the following passages (in context) from Micah and Isaiah do reveal things related to the theme of the latter/last/end time:
After Isaiah, there is a period of over fifty years in which there is no further word of prophecy delivered to the people.
But note that things spoken by the LORD through Job, Hosea, Amos, Micah, and Isaiah are reaffirmed in the following years by the three prophets: Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. These things are a true revelation of the continuing history of Israel's disobedience toward compliance to the covenant relationship with the LORD. God maintains His Word consistently even though the nation continues to be "like the nations."
Of the three prophets, Daniel wrote the book which ties together the "end," (soph; last), "of the matter" (dabar,7:28, "word"), with the "sum," (resh; first, head), "of the matters" (dabarim,7:1, "words") for the nation's restoration. Because, Daniel directly addresses the questions uppermost in the mind of every 'observant' Jew ever in a captivity - How long until we receive all things of Thy covenants and promises, O LORD? How long until we inherit the land forever? ...Will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? - this paper will not go into Daniel's prophecy at any greater length. The reader may consult Daniel in order to discover there the things concerning "the end."
The reader would be particularly wise to learn how to separate the three "ends" of Israel's appointed time from the "finish" decreed for the nation.
New Testament references to "the last days" will be treated of in a second writing.