Beyond the Book of Revelation and the Last Days
History records that in the year of AD 70 of the first century, exactly 40 years after Jesus prophesied on the Mount of Olives and within the span of one Biblical generation, the Roman armies, led by Titus, destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple.
This was the same temple that was standing when Jesus foretold of its destruction. (Matthew 24:1-2) Clearly Jesus was not referring to some future “third” temple that was to be supposedly rebuilt centuries in the future which is what many preachers and churches advocate today.
This distant future “third”-temple theory definitely contradicts the words of Jesus. Jesus set a definite time limit for the “last days” of Biblical Judaism. Every New Testament reference to the “last days” or to equivalent terms such as “last times” or “last hour” confirms what Jesus said.
Without exception, they literally refer to that first century time frame in which those writers were living there and then. Hebrews 1:1-2 clearly affixes Jesus’ earthly ministry to the period termed “the last days”.
Notice what the New Testament Scriptures say about the last days. (Acts 2:17, 2 Timothy 3:1, James 5:3, 1 Peter 1:5,20, 2 Peter 3:3, 1 John 2:18, Jude 18)
It was this time-restricted period that was to encompass the full redemptive work of Messiah:
His birth,
His anointing,
His teaching,
His death,
His burial,
His resurrection,
the sending of the Holy Spirit,
the ending of the Jewish Age, and
the ushering in of the everlasting Kingdom of God.
These Biblical “last days” were never to be the last days of the world, of the planet Earth, of human history, or of the Church of Jesus Christ; but rather they were the “last days” of the Age of Biblical Judaism.
Crucial to our understanding of end time Bible prophecy is the proper identification of this end time period. The Prophet Daniel tells us in Daniel 12:7 that the defining characteristic of the “end time” would be when the power of the Holy People would be broken.
This is what happened in AD 70. Forty years or one Biblical generation had been given to the Israelites to repent and accept Jesus as their Messiah. Many did; many did not.
After this 40-year period, the time of God’s grace was over, and it was time for Judgment to begin with the people of God and at the house or Temple of God. (1 Peter 4:17)
This judgement came during the final portion of Israel’s “last days”. After AD 70, the “last days” were over. We are now living in the Everlasting Spiritual Kingdom of God.
We are not looking for “end times”. There was an end to the physical kingdom of the Old Covenant, but of the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, there can be NO end! There can be no last days to an Everlasting Kingdom. (Jeremiah 31:31-33, 32:40)
All the words of the Old Testament prophets from Moses to Malachi were fulfilled. From John the Baptist to John the Apostle, the author of the Book of Revelation, the words of the New Testament writers regarding the Day of the Lord’s wrath upon His Covenant-breaking people were also fulfilled. (Luke 21:22)
The destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 was the great and awesome Day of the Lord spoken of by all the Apostles. (Matthew 3:7, Luke 21:23-24, Romans 2:5, James 5:8-9, 2 Peter 3:7, Revelation 6:16-17)
As John described in the Book of Revelation, the woes of the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls of wrath that were poured out. Had you been in Jerusalem in those days, all these indescribable horrors would have been played out right before your very eyes.
The Mark of the Beast, the Spirit of Antichrist, the Battle of Armageddon; these are all history. Blood and fire, the graphic images of the Book of Revelation, and the great day of wrath all concern the Nation of Israel who made and broke a Covenant with God. That day is forever past! Daniel’s 70-Week prophecy on the Jews and Jerusalem was fulfilled completely in AD 70. (Daniel 9:24)
The Bible is about the use of physical words being used to denote Spiritual realities. It is one book with a central theme, cast of characters, plot, and climax.
The beginning and the ending are integrally related. The New Eternal Covenant Age had dawned. Being a child of Abraham has nothing to do with a person’s genes or ancestry but has everything to do with faith and obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Acts 2:37-39, Galatians 3:16, 28-29)
What a person believes affects the way he lives. For that reason, it is important that we seek and find the Truth, or we too may believe the wrong things and make wrong decisions.
People who seriously believe that Jesus is going to come soon to rapture them away and to destroy the Earth may not plan for the future here. They may not save money for education or retirement. They would have no reason to care about protecting the environment. Why bother if everything will soon be destroyed?
If on the other hand, we believe we are NOW living in the New Heavens and New Earth under the New Everlasting and Eternal Covenant of Jesus Christ, our outlook will produce a different behaviour.
We will want to take care of the physical Earth for the benefit of our own future and for the future of our descendants. We will be motivated to encourage good government and wise living. We will be motivated to be the Salt of the Earth, to be a preservative of society.
Conclusion
Today, the hope of eternal life is wonderful. The Israel of the Bible had this hope, but we today have the assurance of this hope. They lived in hope; today, we live in “the have”. In other words, we actually live as possessors of this hope. (Hebrews 11:38-40)
The Will of God is for us to experience His joy unspeakable in the knowledge that He has done what He promised. (1 John 2:25) The Lord Jesus Christ is HERE today reigning in His Spiritual Kingdom.
We, as born-again Christians, live in THAT day! (Isaiah 13:2-4, Ezekiel 37:26-28, Hebrews 12:22-23, Revelation 21:3)
We truly are living beyond the Book of Revelation!