The Last Days

The last days can apply to the conclusion of any given period of time. The last days that the writer of the letter to the Hebrews has in mind refers to God's present dealings with the human family, in contrast to the former days, when he spoke in different ways. In former dispensations, men received a partial revelation of God, but in these last days he has given to us a perfect revelation through his sons.

God is by no means limited to the agencies that he may choose to use to make himself known, but all the agencies of Old Testament days prove to be fragmentary, and the full and perfect revelation of God was not known before Christ, God's Son, came into the world. In those earlier days, God spoke to men on a number of occasions through dreams and visions. By this means he instructed men.

It may be that God may still use this means of communication in regions where the full of the Holy Scriptures are not available, but it is rather doubtful that God would use dreams where men have access to his divine, complete revelation. We must remember that Satan takes advantage of the subconscious moment. He is not satisfied with controlling the minds of men while they are awake, but he would fill their minds with filthy dreams.

Then, too, he may use this same means to fill their minds with lies regarding the way of salvation. For instance, a man may be convicted of his sin and may begin to inquire about the way of salvation. Satan will immediately seize the opportunity to quiet that troubled soul, and he may do it by causing that man to dream that he went to heaven and received a grand reception.

Some people who are inclined to be emotional will conclude from such a dream that all must be well with the soul. They may refer to that dreamy experience as a conversion, but such events may be subtle tasks set by the devil. God is not in the habit of saving people in a dream, nor do men receive the assurance of salvation while they are asleep.

There is no record in the Bible that God spoke to men in a dream after the written word was completed. So the channel of dreams was used by God only in earlier days, but in these last days he has spoken more distinctly through his son. In the Christmas story that has just occupied our attention during the past few weeks, we were reminded that God also spoke to the human family by the medium of angels.

The heavenly messenger was dispatched by God to visit Zacharias while he was performing the duties of priest, burning incense in the temple of the Lord. Just a little later, the same visitor from heaven appeared to Mary in the city of Nazareth to announce to her that she was chosen among many women to be the mother of the long-awaited Messiah. For a period of some four hundred years, heaven was silent, that is, no message from heaven was given until Gabriel appeared to Zacharias.

A few months later he appeared to Mary, and a short time after that a heavenly host appeared with the angel who came to announce the birth of Christ to the shepherds in the meadows of Judea. For a little while the messengers of heaven were very active in carrying news from heaven to earth. This means that communication was used frequently before the New Testament was completed.

But since we have a complete revelation from heaven, the ministry of angels has not been used. There are a few religious cults who have tried to sell their strange religions on the basis that an angel appeared to announce the new religion, but their claims are very questionable, because the messages that these late angels are supposed to have brought are in opposition to the word of God. I rather think that if some of these latter-day angels were examined very closely, it would reveal that they are mongrels, or horned angels.

When Paul wrote his letter to the Galatian Christians, he defended the gospel of grace which he preached, and went so far as to say that even if an angel from heaven preached any other gospel, he would be accursed. Perhaps Paul knew that false gospels would arise with a claim that they were true because some freak angel appeared to introduce the newfangled idea. From all that we read regarding the ministry of angels in the Bible, we may conclude that they served a very important purpose before the divine revelation was completed, but since that time there is no need for their ministry.

For God, who spoke in time past by these various means, is now in these last days speaking to us through his Son, and the divine revelation that God has been pleased to give concerning his beloved Son is a complete revelation. The record that God has given of his Son is very simple, so that the most illiterate can understand. Even a child can grasp the truth of God's revelation of his only begotten Son.

Christ came to do for us what we could not do ourselves. He came to take our sins away. Surely this was something that we could not do ourselves.

God's righteousness demanded that sinners must be cleansed before they can be admitted into heaven, and that cleansing required the life's blood of a sinless substitute. Earth could not supply that blood. No being under the earth could supply that atoning sacrifice.

Only heaven could provide a sinless substitute, and the Lord Jesus Christ was willing to shed his own blood to cleanse us and to make us fit for the presence of God. 1 John 1.7 We read, The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. John pointed to him and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Perhaps I should pause to ask my radio friend, has he taken your sins away? He died on the cross for your sins. He was punished for you, but you will never enter into the good of that unless you claim him as your Savior or your substitute. The very moment that you will rest your soul upon his finished work, he will cleanse you from all sin and make you eligible to enter his spotless heaven.

He is waiting to do this cleansing work in your heart, and as soon as he gets your permission or your expression of desire to have it done, he will cancel the record of your sins, and to you he will say in the language of Isaiah 44.22, I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgression, and as a cloud thy sin, return unto me, for I have redeemed thee. Now let's look at another portion of the scripture where the expression, The last days, is used. This time I turn to 2 Peter 3. 3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

Scoffers have been present to announce their conceit and ignorance ever since God has spoken to man. But their numbers shall increase as we approach the closing days of this glorious gospel age. The truth of God's word which appears to be the most ridiculous to these self-elevated scoffers is the glorious truth of the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Since all of the promises of God's word are of equal value, I have no more difficulty in believing the truth of the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ than I have regarding any other promise in God's infallible word. The unbelievers of two millenniums ago did not believe that Christ would come the first time, but he came, and he came exactly according to the details of the prophecies of the Old Testament scriptures. God's prophetic clock is ticking away the hours, and when the appointed hour shall arrive, he who promised to come again will come again to complete the great work of redemption, that is, the redemption of our bodies.

Each passing year brings us closer to that great event when every living Christian will be caught away from the earth, changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. This glorious event is the grand anticipation of every blood-bought child of God, but there is a sad portion that accompanies this truth, for it is preparatory to days of judgment which shall come upon the earth for all who are left behind. The proud scoffer who now raises his head in a scornful attitude will then join those who cry to the rocks and the mountains to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb.

It may bring some sense of satisfaction to be a scoffer now, but there's a terrific afterward which must follow. The seat of the scornful is always occupied by a very little fellow who requires very little to occupy his mind. To put it in barnyard language, Peter is saying, in the last days there shall be a lot of little bantams strutting around, scoffing at the second coming of Christ.

As Christians face another year, we do so, exclaiming, Perhaps this year is the year when his blessed promise, I will come again, will be fulfilled. If so, the new year means a speedy trip to heaven and home. I'm thankful that I can say I'm ready to go, for there was a time when I dreaded even the mention of his coming again.

I knew it would mean that I would be left behind. I praise God for the assurance of God's precious word that all who are resting in Christ and his atoning sacrifice are ready to go even without a moment's notice. I covet this peace and assurance for you who have never put your trust in Christ.

I ask you to lay aside your arms of rebellion. I ask you to forsake all your efforts to save yourself, and as a lost and undone sinner, trust the Savior who loved you and died to save you.