In These Last Days
HEBREWS 1:1-4
NAS Hebrews 1:1-4 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; 4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.
“IN THESE LAST DAYS”…
THE GREEK WORD FOR “LAST” IS εσχατας (es-ka-tos)… It is found 54 times in the Greek N.T. and is translated usually in the (AV) “last,” but also “lowest” (John 14:9) and “uttermost” (Acts 1:8). Because the term “last days” is an eschatological term in Scripture, there are differences of opinion as to what exactly are these “last days” to which the writer is referring. The word “eschatology” is the theological term used to refer to the last things, the end times. The English word “eschatology” comes from the Greek word εσχατος.
IN ONE OF MY SEMINARY CLASSES YEARS AGO, I can remember studying all the different instances of the term “last days” in Scripture. A general definition would be, simply, the time between the two comings of Christ. That is to say, the “last days” began when Christ came 2,000 years ago and will end when He returns. There is much more to be said. The Second Advent of Christ is really a whole complex of events, some of which precede, some of which follow the appearing of Christ again on earth.… It was interesting to me that more than half of the numerous commentaries I investigated this week basically skipped over the question of to what exactly does the term “last days” refer. Let me read you one of the ones I found that did have something to say. The commentator shows the different shadings that can be placed upon the term.
“THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS TO INTERPRET THE PHRASE, ‘in these last days.” It could refer to the last days of revelation. Or it could mean that this is the final revelation in Christ, there being nothing else to add to it. Or it could mean that in the last days of revelation it came through God’s Son.
SOMETIMES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT WE SEE THAT ANOTHER TERM IS USED SYNONYMOUSLY FOR “LAST DAYS.” I’m speaking of the “last hour.” The “last hour” – singular – may be shown to mean roughly the same thing as the “last days” – plural. Both terms refer eschatologically (or prophetically) to the end times. Here’s an example of what I’m saying:
NAS 1 John 2:18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen; from this we know that it is the last hour.
“THE DOMINANT SENSE OF THE EXPRESSION (‘LAST HOUR’ OR) ‘last days’ in the N.T. is that of a period of suffering and struggle preceding a divine victory. Hence the phrase in 1 John does not refer to the end of the world, but to the period preceding a crisis in the advance of Christ’s kingdom, a changeful and troublous period, marked by the appearance of ‘many antichrists'” (that is, many false teachers and people who deny Jesus is truly God) – Vincent
THE TERM “LAST DAYS” MAY BE LOOKED AT A NUMBER OF WAYS… It seems best to me, however, that the writer should be seen to be making a messianic reference (Messianic means Messiah. It is a term that refers to coming Messiah who, of course, is Jesus). The phrase “the last days” was very familiar to the Jews of that day and had a distinctive meaning. Whenever a Jew saw or heard these words he immediately had messianic thoughts, because the scriptural promise was that in the last days Messiah would come…” – MacArthur
NAS Micah 4:1 And it will come about in the last days That the mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills, And the peoples will stream to it.
BECAUSE HEBREWS IS A HEAVILY “HEBREW” BOOK, I agree with the commentator that the phrase “last days” should be seen in this Jewish context. The writer of Hebrews is, therefore, most probably saying that “In these prophesied (or “promised”) last days, the Messiah has come and has spoken through His words and His life the final revelation of God”…
‘THE LAST DAYS ARE DAYS OF FULFILLMENT. In the O.T. the Jew saw the last days as the time when all the promises would be fulfilled. In these days Messiah would come and the Kingdom would come and salvation would come and Israel would no longer be under bondage. In the last days promises would stop and fulfillments begin. That is exactly what Jesus came to do. He came to fulfill the promises. Even though the millennial, earthly aspect of the promised Kingdom is yet future, the age of kingdom fulfillment began when Jesus arrived, and it will not finally be completed until we enter into the eternal heavens. The O.T. age of promise ended when Jesus arrived.” – MacArthur
OBLIGATION… God’s Word is not only unfathomable and humbling, it is also knowable and convicting. God’s revelation to man carries a responsibility, an obligation, for us. Consider again what Hebrews 1:1-4 is telling us: God has spoken. That means He has a reason for speaking. God is not speaking just to hear Himself speak; He is talking to us for a reason. That also means He expects us to hear. “Hearing” is a two-dimensional word in the Bible, particularly in the O.T. “Hearing” means not only to hear or to listen with the ear or the mind, but it means also to obey. “Hearing” to the Hebrews meant obeying. That is food for thought as we begin our week…
…WHATEVER “LAST DAYS” MEANS, it includes now and it is directed to us. We are either in the middle of these last days now or we are rapidly approaching the climactic last days. In either case, God has spoken to us through Jesus and the Word He has for us today is to be found in His Word the Bible. There is direction from God for us in 911s. There is comfort for us in hurricanes, and whatever else may hit us. God has spoken in these last days in Jesus that’s a comforting thought, is it not?
“BIBLE TEACHER A.T. PIERSON TELLS ABOUT A NEW CONVERT to Christ who had a strange dream in which he was trapped down in a very deep well in the night. He looked up and saw a single star shining far above him, and it seemed to let down lines of silver light that took hold upon him and lifted him up. Then he looked down, and he began to go down again. He found that by simply keeping his eye on that star, he rose out of the well until his foot stood on the firm ground. The dream was a parable, said Dr. Pierson. ‘Get you eyes off yourself and on your Savior, get them off your disease and on your physician… Now and here, turn your eyes to the Lord Jesus.’ ‘Satan, the Hinderer, may build a barrier about us,’ Hudson Taylor once said, ‘but he can never roof us in so that we cannot look up.'”
IN THESE LAST DAYS, KEEP YOU EYES ON JESUS…Jesus is the Word – the last Word – God has spoken to us in these last days, He is the radiance of God, our light in the darkness of these last days…
– Professor’s Thomas A. Rohm
