You are listening to Megiddo Radio. Megiddo Radio is a radio ministry of Megiddo Films. For more, visit our website at www.megiddofilms.org. Good evening everybody. Welcome. This is Paul Flynn with Megiddo Radio for the 18th of October 2013. Thank you all for tuning in. On today's show we're going to be dealing with a different topic from last week and the last couple of weeks as people have been listening in. You can see that for the last number of weeks I've been dealing with the issue of William Lane Craig. William Lane Craig, a prominent apologist within what is viewed Christian orthodoxy, but if you will have seen the last few shows, and very much changing topic today because I don't like to go over the same issues over and over again, I think there are bigger things that can be dealt with with William Lane Craig, but I mean, you could do several other shows with similar things about him seeing Pope Benedict XVI as a defender of the Christian faith, or how he puts philosophy above the Bible, which I didn't really go into in huge depth, and his views on justification, and how he views Roman Catholicism as another branch of Christianity, in the same way C.S. Lewis did. these men are allowed to enter into the fold and devour the flock, mainly because people don't know the Bibles, it's really that simple. Or, there's a lot of... people don't know the Word of God enough. The discernment level is pretty woeful, and when people claim to be, you know, there's a lot of these discernment ministries out there that usually are pretty, some of them are very good, don't get me wrong, there's some really good ministries out there, but sometimes there's a tendency to want to rush out with sensationalism and not really go through the issues properly. They're often willing to get involved in a controversy without really understanding the issue at all. And a number of things have brewed up over the summer months, for example, over, oh there's been a number of things that went on and I remember I was completely disconnected over the summer months from a lot of the back and forth tail bearing that was going on between some online ministries and people are just repeating rumors that they've heard from one radio host or another without actually listening to the other side. And honestly, I just said I'm going to stay out of it. And I think people know who I'm talking about. There's a lot of back and forth. And I don't even know if it's still going on. I really haven't paid attention to it that much. I think the guys who are being slandered, and they know who they are, probably best just to move on and move on with other issues. Alan Kirshner, Chris Pinto I mean, I've actually gone through the shows, but people are still repeating mainly what James White said, unfortunately. I have to just put it out there a lot. There's just too much in reform circles. I think that's one of the, before we get into the topic that we're going to be dealing with today, we can decry in certain circles the kind of anti-intellectualism kind of going on because we've almost sacrificed our thinking and our own research and our own skills. And we might even acknowledge our own lack of skills at times to an authority. And there's just so much appeal to authority these days. And it basically boils down to somebody doesn't understand an issue. So they've read one book on a topic and then they just really just leave all the thinking to one guy. It's so dangerous. And I think In, I'll just give an example, in forum circles, something like James White has been given a lot of, James White, he was a Christian apologist, and does a lot of things really well. I will give him that, he does do a lot of things really well. But, he was one of the reasons why it took me so long, I'll be honest, he was one of the reasons it took me so long to come to the conclusion that adoption is great. I really thought He was incredibly arrogant. I really did think that. And I still kind of do. And I've listened to a lot of his talks and I've listened to a lot of his things. And there's a way you should approach people. There's a way we're not trying to, when we're trying to put forward this information, which I'll be covering, actually the information I'll be covering today is, I'm just going to go with the Bible, I'm not going to be going with histories of where these movements came from or anything like that. I know everybody says, oh I'm just going to go with the Bible, but here I go. On the topic of what does the last days mean biblically? that should be our primary goal, that should be our primary motivation to understand the Bible and what these terms mean biblically, not the things that have been put on them by modern Christianity, especially over the last 200 years. And so it was one of the reasons, I'm just going back to one of the reasons it took me so long to come to the doctrines of grace. One of the reasons, I'm not saying it's the only reason, I think it was after my flesh not wanting to and really just read the scriptures as they really were and I want to save that for another show. The issue that I want to say is that I'm not a guy who's constantly looking for controversies but this will probably be, I don't know how controversial this view will be, there's not a lot of people anymore with this view. Now this, I believe, from what I can see, is a historic view of what the last days in times mean. And I've come to this conviction, not through reading a book by reformers or anything like that, I've seen other people confirm what I believe I saw in the scriptures and then go, oh, wow. And this is other issues, but like, Oh, Matthew Henry's the same view of me. Oh, weird. Okay. I'm not going crazy. And it's not just me or the going through the Geneva Bible notes and realizing, Oh, wow. They, they saw the same thing. I saw not everything. I mean, they say a lot of things beyond me that I'm still not haven't delved into yet, but. And some of these things that I hope to share with you today on today's show, and we'll see how we go, we're already about seven minutes into it, why I've come to these conclusions, and I want to avoid the appeal to authority. And it is so easy for any of us to get into that. And I think what we need to do, we're so used to, the word end times and the word last days has become such a loaded term and the meaning has been hyped. Well, and I don't know if it's, it's probably not a new phenomenon at all. There's the, well, the modern view, if you want to call it the modern view, within the last 200 years, since a lot of pre-millennial movements came out of, especially I suppose you say England, movements like Irvingism. Irvingism is a movement that was like pre-Pentecostalism. Pentecostalism is something I covered in Of Chaos and Confusion in the Modern Church. Irvingism, which arose in the 1830s, quite a connection from what I can see in my early stages of research at this moment in time into John Nelson Daraby and the dispensationalist movement but I won't go any further because to be honest there's so much There's so much accounts that I want to go through and I don't want to be, oh, I found this article on the internet and spreading it around, really being like somebody who really doesn't know what he's talking about. So I'm going to hold on there. But it's an interesting thing to study for those people who are so inclined to go in that direction. Edward Irving was, if anybody doesn't know, it was a leader in a movement called Irvingism. And he was believed he was getting special revelation, speaking in tongues, all this kind of stuff that became so prominent now within the last, ever since about 1959 with, ever since Van Nuys, California and Richard, or not Richard Bennett, sorry. Father Bennett who was an Episcopal priest who came forward in the Episcopal Church stating that he received the gifts of the Holy Spirit and in a meeting of the Full Businessmen's Fellowship International meeting that went on this movement that started from 1953 onwards didn't really gain steam until 59 and that was when the movement over spilled and that's why it's so prominent today but these views were always seen as well heretical by the churches for so long even some people who held some strange views at times but by and large they recognize that the extraordinary gifts of signs and wonders, signs pointing towards something, not the actual manifestation of what God was doing. It was pointing towards deeper spiritual truths. But if you look at the movements of pre-millennial movements from the early 1800s, The change from what was historically seen in the Bible that the basically in a nutshell that what comes after Christ returns was the eternal state. that people saw that for a very long time. Now, it's not to say that everybody who believed otherwise previously that I was an absolute heretic. There was some good people who believed that, and there's many good people around today who do believe in a premillennial position. But that was by and large the dominant position, at least in orthodox circles. And when I mean by orthodox, I mean reformed and good sound teaching institutions, churches, etc. And you have this kind of a movement, this is like probably the historical introduction if you were, if you will, that goes from about the 1830s and I won't say it originated there, absolutely not, there's little smatterings around the place, of people believing that we're in the last generation. Now, It's fine for people to say, well, maybe we are. If you're of an all millennial persuasion, I guess certain people would say, well, okay, there's a good possibility we're the last generation. But there is just this linking between last days, those terms, the last days and end times as being the last generation. The thing that I want to do is challenge that fact. Is that supported by the biblical text? is this that became so prominent, from what I believe at this moment in time, came so prominent through Irvingism, the later holiness movements of the 1800s. And again, within these movements, you have good people. The problem is sometimes when somebody learns about a heretical movement, anybody within that movement automatically gets denounced. Be careful with that. And as it's gone on, more and more, this end times fever, that we're in the end times. And look, I'm going to state out front, we are in the end times. But the Bible states we've been in the last days, the latter days, the end times for the last 2000 years. The Bible states that. And the first verse, and this is the first verse I'm going to go to, that convinced me of this fact, and there's plenty of others. I mean, we're going to go through a number of them today, and some of the main reasons why people all believe, well, the last days are when this happens, this happens, and this happens, and there's a seven-year tribulation, and all this kind of thing. I want to start off with what does the last days mean? Because it's such an important phrase because it's used so many times in the Bible. It's not that we ignore the warnings of scripture in relation to there shall be scoffers and evil men seducing worse and worse in the last days. But what does that mean? What does it mean? We go to Hebrews, if you've got a Bible in front of you, go to Hebrews chapter 1. And actually, if you're on YouTube and I have a sermon already preached on, which is preached at Aaron Reformed Baptist Church, and we also have another YouTube page for Aaron Reformed Baptist Church, I preached a message on Hebrews chapter 1, verses one to two to the end of half of these last days spoken unto us by son but i'm going to read from hebrews one and just continue from there and i'm going to point go a couple of places throughout the bible that i believe shows where it's talking about the end times and defines what the end times are biblically Again, this is not a cause for sensational fanaticism. Yes, the Lord will return. Yes, he will. But as he told those at Thessalonica, don't that they were claiming Thessalonians that the day of Lord had already come, but he was warning them that the Antichrist must come, and that's another issue that I have to get into as well because of so much futurism around today, but that these things, the apostasy must come first. The number of things must happen before the Lord returns. 2 Thessalonians 2 Hebrews 1-2 It states that God, who at sundry times in diverse manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. And that was the verse I preached on. I believe it all kind of goes together really well. God, who at sundry times, it says in various different periods of time, and in diverse manners, different ways, conveying his truth, and I go through this more in the message called, in these last days, God has spoken. It says, in time past, in time past, that's the first time it's mentioned, unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days. It's interesting how the Apostle Paul, or the author of the Hebrews, I know there's always a bit of a debate over the authorship of Hebrews, I strongly believe it's Paul, Because I think one of the reasons is not because people are liberals or anything for doubting it, it's because Paul does not sign his name to it, which is a little bit unusual, a little bit different from his other letters, but I strongly do believe that it is Paul. Hath on these last days, these, this epistle was written in the first century. Hath on these last days spoken unto us by his son. Now, well, you go into the Greek, basically says, well, last days, it's like natural day, last days. So it talks about two different, if you want to call it, dispensations. Two different dispensations. You have the old dispensation, the old covenant dispensation, And then you have the new covenant dispensation. These last days. So according to this, we're already in the last days. Now, this is not the only part, but we have to deal with the way the term last days is used, because unfortunately what we've done is we've loaded it with we're in the last generation. Oh, these things. Oh, they're scoffers. Oh, we're in the last generation. Whereas, is that what the Bible is saying? Because the problem is we're in our carnal heart. In our carnal heart. This is kind of the main reason I'm doing this show. Not so I can say, oh you're wrong, this person's wrong, or whatever this case may be. But the people would focus on the centrality of the gospel. not spend an absurd amount of time trying to predict the future. Trying to have almost like a crystal ball that has become so prevalent in conferences and all this kind of thing, and it becomes so destructive. It is not that we don't study these things, but It's because we've spent so much time having a pre-packaged view of eschatology, but good eschatology comes out of a right understanding of the gospel. We have to get back to the gospel. And unfortunately in our day, we don't understand the gospel by and large. We have to get back to what the gospel talks about. Jesus' parables primarily were all about the gospel in its various glorious aspects. And until we do that, we're never going to have good eschatology. So according to the writer of this epistle, and I don't want to just go with this, but let's go to another place that really shook me up because I am a former dispensationalist, a former dispensationalist. Now, I was never a classic dispensationalist. but I was what is commonly referred to as a progressive dispensationalist at one point or it's also called progressive covenantalism but it's not really covenantalism at all and this that's a topic for another day when I really want to I think it's such an important term to understand. And what I'm encouraging people to do is go to everywhere it says the word last days. Another place where it has the word the last days or the latter days is in Genesis. Genesis 49. This term is used a lot around the Bible. It's used quite a number of times. It's used in Genesis 49, 1. It's used in Isaiah 2, 2. It's used in Micah 4, 1. But in the last days it's come to pass that the mountain of the house of God shall, in Acts 2, 7. 2 Timothy 3, 1. Hebrews 1, 2 that I just read. James 5, 3. And 2 Peter 3, 3, which everybody quotes 2 Peter 3, 3. There should come scoffers walking after their own lusts. But what is it talking about in terms of time? Because it's so important that we realize the period of time it's talking about. Are we in the last days? How long have we been in the last days? I do believe we're in the last days. I do. Absolutely. The Bible declares we're in the last days and we have been for 2,000 years. And Jacob, this is the part where Jacob gathers all of his offspring together and declares these things. And it says in Genesis 49.1, 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. This is a very, just give a little look at the Hebrew. The word, I'm not even trying to pronounce it properly, and I'm completely dependent upon lexicons here. But I'm not against lexicons like some people are. Afterpart. End is another way you could end. End time. Yom. Yom is the second one. Yom is either translated time, day, or year in Hebrew. Hebrew is very much determined by its context because there's less words as you get with some languages. Generally with languages The more words, and I'm talking about generalities, the more words, the more specific the words are, the less they are determined by the context in with their definition. But if you've got a language with a lot fewer words and fewer expressions, then those words, very much by the context, can have a wider range of meaning at times, depending on in what context it's used. So that's why you can kind of get that with the Hebrew. So another way you could translate in the end time, or sorry, I just gave it to you there. In the last days is the end times. Now that is to say, now he, Jacob's talking about the end times. So let's find out what he's talking about. Now the part that I want to, he says, gather yourselves together and hear ye sons of Jacob and hearken unto Israel your father. Now I'm going to skip on just for the sake of time. I don't want to skip on, read Genesis 49 for yourself just to show you that I'm not leaving out any relevant or necessary content here. I really want to go through this carefully. not in some kind of vainglory or anything to write a book or anything like that like some people are doing and rushing up books and trying to prove that Revelation 17 says something about New York or Jerusalem or something like that and make some ludicrous articles because you didn't take your time and I really do believe that's what's going on here. To have people focus in on what we should be focusing on the end times on the Lord Jesus Christ But we're not. Again, we need to get back to the gospel, but I pray in the spirit of any of the meekness that the Lord has given me that this will benefit some people. I really do. He says to Judah, his son, Thou art he whom the brethren shall praise. Thy hands 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 gone up, he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion who shall rouse him up. This is the important part here. The scepter, well, it's all important. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. These things are going to happen in the last days. So he's going to, the context is that, that I may tell you that which should befall you in the last days. Now, of course, I probably going to go, oh, well, last days of Israel, that time has passed. But no, the scepter, this Genesis 49.10 is clearly referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. At least any good commentary I've seen and good notes like the Geneva Bible notes. Equally, I don't know if anybody disputes this, and could dispute this, the scepter shall not depart from Judah. And he came from the line, he was known as the line of Judah. How a lawgiver, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come. referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the word Shiloh is an interesting study. It's also one of the first place of this. It was the first place to set up the congregation of Israel. There's a lot of pictorial, figurative language kind of going on there, but you have to do a study of the word Shiloh to dig into that. It's something I'm doing at the moment. But until Shiloh come, the Lord Jesus Christ, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Christ came. So here's another indication and actually giving you even stronger indication that the end times has been, at least since Christ's earthly ministry, Verse 11 states, Are we waiting for that? Are we still waiting for Him to wash away the sin of His people? Clearly not! So here you have Jacob describing what would happen in the last days. Okay. Now, I want to look at another one. This might be controversial, but let's go for it. In Acts 2, and this is actually an area I've actually covered in the film of Chaos, Confusion, and Modern Church. And I've actually changed my mind on this passage. The way I used to interpret Acts 2, and I'm going to read the part and I want to just talk about this now. Obviously, it would be more ideal if we had more time to go through these issues, but Lord willing that this will get people started in the process that they may look into a lot of these things. In Acts 2, from verses 16 on, and actually I'll read verse 14 on just to give a bit of a context, and a lot of them are mocking because in, this is around the time of Pentecost, and a lot of the Jews from places like Parthians and Medes and Elamites and dwellers of Mesopotamia and Judea, it was from all different countries, all different languages, all different tongues, and they were speaking in languages and tongues, in dialectos, the Greek says, and Cretes and Arabians, and do they hear them words in their own languages, the wonderful works of God, they were praising God with His miraculous gift. And they were all amazed and doubted and goes on to talk about how they taught Peter and all of these people were drunk on wine. But Peter, I read from verse 14 hours, but Peter standing up with the eleven lifted up his voice and said unto them, Ye men of Judea and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem. Be this known unto you and hearken to my words, for these are not drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. And this is the key point I want to put into this here. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. and it shall come to pass in the last days." Now, the way this is commonly interpreted and the way I used to read this is, well, it's not the last days yet, so this is just a foretaste or a partial fulfillment of that which shall come. Many prominent, very good theologians believe this. like John MacArthur. I've got a lot of respect for him, but often I've got times when I really disagree with John MacArthur. At times I love John MacArthur. I respect him. He is, some of the exposing he does in certain passages are exceptional. He's an exceptionally gifted communicator and teacher at times. But there comes times when you gotta go, ooh. And I agreed with his interpretation of this passage that a lot of dispensations have, well, this is only a foretaste. The day of the Lord has not come. Oh, the day of the Lord and the days of the Lord and when Christ comes in judgment, especially on Jerusalem and things like that and throughout history in the book of Judges and various points in Joshua, where the angel of the Lord, and many commentators refer to that as with the sword in His hand, who many men bowed before and didn't refuse His worship, that this was God Almighty coming in judgment or coming in great presence of His glory in the same way that the cloud filled the tabernacle with the glory of God. A lot of this figurative language I'm going to go into in a minute about and the problem is most people don't see this figurative language anymore normally because they don't understand the Pentateuch and while those things were talking about literal things but they were pointing towards the true that will come later. Why do I believe that? Because Hebrews 9 tells me that the temple and all these other things are pointing towards the true. Ark of God, the true sanctuary, the true temple, all these kinds of things. And these pictures that were given and they were fully revealed, these mysteries that were kept secret for before the foundation of the world were revealed. Peter states that, and this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. The more I read this, the more I don't believe that this is, no, this is a foretaste of what Joel was talking about. This is just, this is just a forerunner and the proper thing will be in the last days. Going by other passages and what it states when it talks about the time, the period of time within the last days come, then this is completely consistent with this. This is that which was spoken about a prophet Joel. And in the film of Chaos and Confusion, I had the other view that I used to have, and that this is a foretaste and in the future, and it opens up a lot of can of worms, will be further revelation to the Jews, all this kind of thing. Whereas, The way I read this now, and it makes much more sense, is that these things are done. And we're done within a very short period. We're done before 70 AD and the destruction of Jerusalem. Peter states, but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. I want to emphasize, this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. Not this is a kind of a thing. No, this is the fulfillment. and it shall come to pass in the last days." So he's saying this is what Joel was talking about. Not as a little taster, there's no indication in the passage that it is. Now you say, well, the sun and the moon, this is the argument that I've seen and I've read these arguments and I believe them myself, but the sun and the moon were not turned into darkness and the moon into blood. But the problem is it's quoting from Joel. A book that everybody, everybody that I can see at least, recognizes as a figurative book in the same way Isaiah is a figurative book. Not that they're not literally true, but we speak, when I use the word figurative, we speak in figurative language all the time. I saw in a video there one time, I think it was Brother in the Lord showed me this video, I can't remember the actual quote exactly, but he was making the illustration you know we speak in figurative language all the time and he says no we don't and i think many people probably know the video i'm referring to that We don't literally speak all the time. We don't say, oh, we say that kind of thing all the time. No, we don't. Sometimes we stop talking. Sometimes we sleep. So it's a figurative language. It's pointing towards the true, but it doesn't mean what the figurative language is not itself true. The Bible even tells you in Hebrews that it employs figurative language, that these things are pointing towards the true. that it should come to pass in the last days. And Hebrews is talking about, in these last days, God has spoken unto us by His Son. God has spoken. And what is His Son? Who is His Son? His Son is the Word, the Word made flesh and dwelt among us, John 1.14. God has spoken in these last days unto us by his son. I think that's such a power of a verse in in Hebrews one, two. In these last days, God has spoken unto us by his son. In Acts 2 17, it states, and it should count to pass in the last days. The last days were still future in Joel's time. This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And I haven't even got on yet. Said John, I will pour my spirit upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. This happened in the first century. This very much happened. There was dreamers of dreams, there was people having revelation, things like that, when the canon of scripture was being completed. And it goes on in verse 8, And all my servants and all my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy. And it will she wonders in the heaven above and signs in the earth beneath. This is the part that throws people. Blood and fire and vapors of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. I said, well, the day of the Lord didn't come. That's clearly the end. And often. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Okay, we could read more, but that's the context that I want to deal with here. This is usually the argument that's made, and it's the best argument, but the problem is you're claiming that every time that the Bible uses this language, it's talking about the end of the world. And there's many times when it talks about the sun and the moon being darkened. Figuratively and when she wanders in the heavens above and signs in the earth beneath blood and fire and vapor smoke The Sun should be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great notable day of Lord come It's like the cloud filling the tabernacle These pictures and these language languages also used later on in Revelation that the Sun and the moon should be darkened and this Peter's telling you that this has been fulfilled right here. So we have to go by what the apostles, the way they employ hermeneutics, not the way people try to get black helicopters and all this kind of stuff out of the book of Revelation. They come up with all sorts of... interpretations, because we're not comparing scripture with scripture. We're comparing scripture with headlines. We're comparing scripture with what the latest movie star says. Unfortunately, we've become so driven by media that we're not studying our Bibles enough. And I think it's the greatest indictment. We're so influenced by the Left Behind series, and all these people are into interfaith, hate true biblical soteriology, and just love lumping in the bandwagon. attack the reformed faith. Like when Dave Hunt, for example, wrote that book, What Love Is This, if you just look at the back of the book and the endorsements, it's like a who's who of heretics. I mean, for example, and probably some of the best people on the back of that, and I'm saying some of the best people on the back of that, were people like Tim LaHaye, and Tim LaHaye's involved in interfaith, and Chuck Smith, and Chuck Smith was saying things in 1995, and he probably said it other times, that Roman Catholics were our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the kind of people we're dealing with you don't like. It's going to, but that's kind of, I'm digressing a little bit. I strongly believe if you compare scripture with scripture and the fulfillments of these things that these is talking figuratively. That when it employs this language, it's basically saying God is coming in great blessing or in great judgment. Now, tongues in its own way was a picture of pointing towards judgment. Because, how would I put it? There's so many times when this kind of language is used. pointing towards God coming in great glory and great power and quoting from books that themselves are figurative, like Isaiah and Joel. And this view, by the way, is not completely unique to me. I mean, this I'm just going to quote here from Lorraine Bettner's book on the Millennium. I remember he has a chapter called The Last Days of the Latter Days. And just give you a comment from somebody else and he saw the same thing I did but he wasn't the only person who saw the same thing I did. Many people for hundreds of years saw this. It's only really in recent times that men have really drifted drastically from this. That we're just just so focused on political processes in Israel. We're so focused in on all this stuff, but we're not focused and jealous over the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. These things must be said. I don't see these things, what if somebody's pre-millennial, and all this kind of stuff, as a point of division. Now, it depends on your hermeneutic and how strange your hermeneutic is. If you're denying many of the pictures of the United States, eh, I, you know. But, I digress. Can you have much unity when you don't agree in the gospel? The fact that we're now in the last days does not necessarily mean that we're near the end of the age. Now, he's making this point He's critiquing premillennialism, but he makes a really good point here. Paul wrote, but know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come. 2 Timothy 3. And the context makes it plain that he was speaking of the days then present. For after enumerating the evil things that categorizes the grievous times he admonished Timothy, for these things turn away. On the day of Pentecost, Peter explained the events that were happened as having prophesied by the prophet, Joe. And then proceeded to quote, and should come to pass in the last days, saith God. Acts 2 verses 16 to 17. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrew says, But now, once at the end of the ages, hath he been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice himself. Hebrews 9.26 John says, He ye have laid up your treasure in the last days. in enumerating the things that happened to the children of Israel during the wilderness, Paul said, Now these things happened unto them by way of example, that they were written for our edition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come. Now this is quoting from the American Standard Bible in case people want to double check this in their authorized version or anything like that. Paul and the people to whom he was writing were those upon whom the ends of the ages had come. Peter says that Christ was manifest in the end of the times for your sake. 1 Peter 1.20. I don't know how much of these scriptures we're going to get a chance to look at. And again, the end of all things is at hand. Hence, these expressions often are used with reference to the entire Christian era and Christian, basically from Pentecost. onwards, or from Christ's earthly ministry, or from that point onwards. I don't know if I can necessarily put a definitive point where it's his birth, where it's the crucifixion, but we are in the last days. The Bible is clearly, every time you study those terms, I'm further and further convinced that it is talking about... it's talking about now, and I don't think many people in the camps are saying that this must talk about the last generation. But this is talking about the entire Christian era, or the last 2,000 years in other words. How does that work out practically? If you look at these things through that lens, then it's no longer panic, panic, panic, we need to warn people the antichrist is coming. There's other scriptures that people probably need to study. Realizing that A lot of the dispensationalist futurist eschatology is based on very few verses. The separate pre-tribulational rapture is based on very few verses, and verses that are strongly believer, taken out of context. They're not talking about what they want them to talk about. And this is really hard for people as well, and I know as being a person who believes strongly in the pre-tribulational rapture, who believes in all these things, but it was really from reading from Genesis to Revelation back and forth, back and forth, hours with highlighters and circling things in my Bible. And I don't want to be one of these people who says, well I studied for four years so I'm an expert and I don't have to give you any quotes. I do, I have to present my case to you. And what I'm saying is, compare everywhere in the Bible, in your own study, where it uses the term the last days or the latter days. I want to go to some of these verses that he's talking about. 1 Peter 1.20 And I've seen this over and over again as I've gone through various... The problem with today's show is almost like, well, where do I exactly look at? And I think people, ministers especially, who can see these things need to get this information out to people because often people can get so caught up in a frenzy, in a fanaticism almost, into this kind of end times fever where everything becomes about, let's face it, the state of Israel. the ethnic state of Israel. What they need is not a political process. What they need is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I don't think there's anything obviously anything wrong with loving the Jews. I think we ought to love the Jews. And I actually believe that God is not done with the Jews, in the ethnic Jews. I do strongly believe that it's ethnic Israel, as talked about in Romans 11.26, that in the future there will be a mass revival in Israel. I really do believe that as I've studied through the scripture. So I don't believe God has done with Israel at all. But they're not going to be the main players in the future glorious age that the Bible talks about. They're not going to be that. They're just going to be another nation grafted in as the nations are made disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1 Peter 1 20 1 Peter 1 20 who verily was foreordained to talk with the Lord Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world and But was manifested in these last times for you these last times manifested in these last times Let's look at various verses that I've just already dug up myself. Now, the common ones that are looked at... Okay, well let's go to another one. Let's go to one that's used often because by... Futurists, I guess you could say. Now... I can already imagine this is already opening up a can of worms and I'm probably going to get a bunch of emails. So I'm probably going to do a couple of follow-up shows on why I'm not a futurist anymore, why futurism is impossible. Biblically, I don't want to go into, well, That system was started by this guy, so ergo it's all false. I don't want to argue it like that because it is not convincing, at least for me, and it's never really worked that way. If you go by that, you'll end up in all sorts of falsehoods. You need to go through biblically, verse by verse, and I know everybody says that. I know it sounds like such a cliche, but you really need to do it. And I will happily change my position straight away if somebody can prove to me that it's not true. Obviously, I'm trying to stay away from that ad hominem. Ad hominem, the favorite argument of today. This group of people believe this, this group of people believe this, and you have more than the first three chapters just basically just mocked your opposition. That's most modern Christian books in the modern year. Unfortunately, I wish that was not the case, but it's how we've stooped. We should not do that. We should, if people are sincerely brothers and sisters in the Lord, we should respect them, respect what they've done well, respect the great argument, the great preaching and the glory that has been given to the Lord by what has been done through them. But we must get away from this kind of celebrity Christianity. We must get away from following personalities. We must get away from these things. The great men of God, and if you want to argue there's no great men of God, just weak pitiful men of God who've been used by God in a mighty way through manifestation of His power. But those men of God were not used in a dynamic way because they followed after previous men of God in a slavish manner. They were wholly given over to the Scriptures in the way that Tyndale was described as a man completely, almost addicted, singularly addicted to the Holy Scriptures. This is what we have to get back to. if we're going to understand the typologies that the Bible is talking about, that the Lord may reveal these things onto us, that they may belong to us and to our children forever, as Deuteronomy 29, 29 states. God must reveal these things to us. Pride and arrogance of our heart is just asking for blindness. We must humbly come before the throne of grace, asking for him to show us these things, because otherwise we're not going to see them. And we must come in weak and bowless. And even if God shows you these things, how dare you, if you treat these things as some kind of boastful pride? That's one of the biggest problems in reform circles today, the arrogance of some of the younger people. And I pray in my carnal, that I've never got in there. And I probably have. I probably have. And I need to repent of that. But I pray for Reformation I pray for I pray for the things that the things of God may be known and published throughout the nations In truly God honoring ways, and I believe that this is one of the ways that will be done Okay, so 2nd Peter finally I'm gonna get on to this verse 2nd Peter 3 3 2nd Peter 3 3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last day scoffers walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the province of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. And this they were willingly ignorant of. that by the word of God the hearers were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. But the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word, are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and against the perdition of ungodly men. That's normally what's in talks about various things. Knowing this first, and that should come in the last days, scoffers walking after their own loss. And that word, whenever it sees, oh, it sees the last day, oh, we're in the last days, because there's so many scoffers around. There's always been scoffers around. There's always been mockers. There's always been people who hate God. Always, ever since Adam's transgression in the Garden of Eden, all men have failed, all men are dead and transgressed in their sins, all men are dead and destitute, are vile before God, are creatures of wrath and disobedience. That's all they've ever been since Adam's transgression. In Adam, all die. Not this idea of, well, before the flood they were worse than they were now, or after they're getting progressively going back to the way... Nothing in scripture suggests that. And I know, oh, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man. But what's that verse talking about? It's clearly giving several examples that that's not what it's talking about at all. We read so much in the verses that is not plainly given to us by Scripture. We have to compare Scripture with Scripture. We need several witnesses. We need two, three, four, five, as many, at least two. Don't give us one. You need at least two. Scripture must interpret Scripture. As Joseph said, does not interpretation belong unto God? God interprets it. Word interprets the word. Not what you believe it says, but the word states it clearly in other places. When it's obscure, you go to another point. So this is the part that's normally put forward. The word last days. But let's read the context. I'm just going to read from the start of our chapter, three hours. This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you in both which are stir up pure minds by way of remembrance that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior. Knowing this verse that there should come in the last days scoffers walking after low and lost. There's no indication he's talking about a future time. In all these times when last days is mentioned, it's always with, we're there. We've been in them for a very long time and there's always been scoffers. Another place I want to look at. It's like these warnings are made to some future generation that they had nothing to do with the first century church, when they had everything to do with the first century church, because these epistles were written unto them. You know, they're also written unto us, and the Word of God is written unto us. God, in these last days, has spoken unto us by His Son. But, we have to realize that it wasn't completely useless to these people, this warning. They were in the last days. As Hebrews chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 states, there was time past in the latter days. There's no other time period with that grouping ever given. Of course, people are going to talk about Daniel's 70th week being in the future. And I may do a show, I'm going to have to do a separate show on that. But if you study that, I believe sincerely, just study Daniel 924. If you've got any doubts. 924 and see. I went about that the wrong way and I used to do calculations, 483 years and all this kind of stuff and when did the continent go forth and all this kind of thing. The key thing is, is the list in Daniel 9.24 finished? And if it is, which it clearly is, then Daniel's 70th week is in the past. It creates a lot of dilemmas, doesn't it? But this is what so many men of old believed, and it started changing. This is why I brought up Irving. This is why I brought up the, well, let's bring it up, the dispensationalist movement. This is why I bring up the premillennial movements. What Benjamin B. Warfield talked about, this premillennial extravagancies, were rife at the time. A form of early Pentecostalism and this early fanaticism was spreading throughout. That has really been the huge thing that's changed. And anti-intellectualism and liberalism has grown because people have drifted from the scriptures since that time. There has been a drifting. The last 200 years has been a sliding from about the 1830s onwards. Started, I believe, by the Industrial Revolution. There's basically the ceasing of passing on knowledge of God from generation to generation because the fathers, because of the Industrial Revolution, were out working and family worship suffered, began to suffer from that point on. Let's look at 2 Timothy 3.1. And let's see if we can shine any more light on a lot of these verses. I'm trying as much as possible to not be showing, oh, you're only showing one verse, why not show the other verses? Well, I'm going to try and show these verses. And know this first, and this know also, that in the last days, perilous times shall come. So, oh well he's talking about the last days. But you see, the problem is, what does it mean by the last days? The last days are talked about in the Old Testament scriptures. It is not a new concept that's brought in. And when it talks about the last days, it talks about the time when Shiloh shall come, when he shall wash his garments in the blood of grapes. These things which are done, Since the first advent, what is the last days from the first advent all the way to the second? The last days. Why do we keep assuming that's the last generation? Why do we keep assuming it's the last, I don't know how many years? Because we're using our imaginations to come up with these things. We want it to be true so much. We want to be part of Hollywood movies because so many people are so enamored with Hollywood, are so addicted to Hollywood movies, that when they see these things, rather than seeing that these things are figuratives, not all the time but sometimes, they impose Often science fiction. And people, John Bunyan didn't see these things. What I'm showing you is not something new by any stretch of the imagination. This is something old. This is something old. The thing about it is once you realize that in the last days perilous times shall come, dangerous seasons. Let's talk about seasons that will rip and tear at the truth progressively. That started in the first century. There's nothing unique about that. Because what we say, well, perilous times should come in the last days. So, ergo, things are just gonna get worse and worse. And I hear it so often. The thing about it is, If you examine how many Christians are on the earth today, how many Christians are on the earth 2,000 years ago? Are things getting worse and worse and worse and worse and worse? I'll leave that to your own discretion. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, pride, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. Is that new to now? Nothing in this context shows that it's the last. generation or anything. Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, hatey-minded. I'll just make a side point. We've often romanticized the past so much, that, oh, things used to be so good 100 years ago, or 50 years ago, things were so good, that we almost believe it, that things were great, and just things are getting worse. Well, in the last 200 years, in the last 100 years, in somewhere like the United States, in Europe, places like that, things have gotten worse in the last 100 years. But how about the last 2,000 years? I mean, have really people thought about the Christians being butchered, given over to lions by the Roman Empire? I mean, there is persecution of Christians going on, but we've almost, I don't know, people are so quick to believe all these things. God, spoken unto us in time past, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. These last days. First century, we're in the last days. So all those warnings, not that they're not important, they are really important, but just because you see these things happening doesn't mean you go, that the rapture's about to come, or something like that. What does the last days mean? It's important in the context of not being thrown about by every wind of doctrine. Often, one of the other ones that's kind of linked in with the last days is Daniel's 70th week. And I'm just going to leave you with this thought because it'll probably be another week before I get to do it on the show or over an hour. Apologies if I have not covered an issue in substantial detail. What I'm really encouraging people to do is go through every place where it says latter days, last days, and you'll see it's so much more consistent, way more consistent to say it's been the last 2,000 years. This is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel. It doesn't mean that those things continued on. And people think that, oh, well, oh, you're saying that it's on the moon that the day of the Lord has come. No, no, the day of the Lord is coming in the future. But there's been other days of the Lord when Christ has come in judgment as the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament. To judge Israel at times, different nations, the angel of the Lord with a sword in his hand, etc. And unfortunately we don't have time to cover all these issues today, but I just want to read Daniel 9 24. Just to show you, Daniel 70 week is not in the future. And they create, oh, when was it? Now, that's an issue for another day. But you just have to ask, have these things been fulfilled? 70 weeks are determined upon thy people. and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness." A lot of people say that, oh, well, it's when Christ comes back and sets up the new kingdom that he'll bring in everlasting righteousness. Hebrews 1.8. Are you seriously going to say that we have to wait for Christ to come back to bring in everlasting righteousness? But unto the Son, he saith, thy throne, O God. Christ is on his throne in heaven at the right hand of the Father right now. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is in, is the scepter of thy kingdom, thy kingdom. 70 words, so to bring in everlasting righteousness. to seal up vision, the vision and prophecy. And what I believe that is. Another one side issue to make or another issue to make about these verses, they're incredibly difficult and the entire Future 70s Week is based upon these verses, which is what made me look at them for a very long time. And this is the first time I've covered them on the show because it tied into these issues. To seal up vision, The vision and prophecy. Prophecy was sealed up with the completion of the canon and the scripture. I believe Daniel's 70th week was in the midst of it, was the crucifixion of Christ, talking about, and he shall confer the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease. Christ will cause the Jewish sacrificial system to cease. For the overspreading of abomination she shall make a desolate and unto the consummation and determined shall be poured out upon the desolate which is finally done in 70 AD. These are difficult passages, no doubt. The seal of vision and prophecy, going back to verse 24. And to anoint the most holy. All the way through the typology employed of the sanctuary, it's the church. It's the church. And some people believe it's God, which is fine, but either way, these things, everlasting righteousness, the seal of prophecy and vision, to close up, to cause, you know, to finish the canon, to anoint the most holy. Are we seriously waiting for the millennium, the future millennium for that to happen? Is it not everlasting righteousness brought in? And I know people will disagree with that because of what they've been taught. But what does scripture say? What does the Bible declare about these things, rather than what modern men are claiming that they say? I say this not in such a way that this is some kind of, well, we're going to just spend all our time on eschaton. The gospel needs to be made front and center again. If you made a prophecy seminar, and you say, oh, we figured out the book of Revelation, and you made it all sound as exciting and dangerous as possible, and these things and these super soldiers come upon the earth, then you will get so many people to listen. You do a conference on the Lord Jesus Christ, His holiness, His deity, His attributes, How many people would you get? You wouldn't get many. People are interested in having a crystal ball because people are interested in what's new. Their tickling ears want to hear what's new. Acts 17, when the Apostle Paul was preaching, They all wanted to just, on Marist Hill, they all wanted to just hear something new. I hope, I pray that this is, again, these topics can only be covered to such an extent. People need to do their own research and I hope this might start people off. Again, go to everywhere in the Bible where it talks about the last days. What's it talking about? Let the Bible interpret, let the Bible determine what the last days is. And I believe strongly that it doesn't... You're never going to come up with that it's the last generation. If you go with what the Bible says. Now if you go with most guys who are just so almost using the rapture, the pre-tribulation rapture as some kind of a gospel presentation. without using the way the apostles preached, presenting God in His wholeness, presenting man in his absolute destitute state, and how man is dead in trespasses and sins, and how God is holy, and the dilemma that puts, and dealing with the immense depths of the gospel, we're dealing with intricacies of future timekeeping. We're trying to predict with time and precision because we so want to know the future. I put forward to you that the Bible doesn't do things like that in order to edify, or not edify, in order to satisfy our carnal curiosities. The Bible is there so we will grow in the fear and admonition of the Lord, that we will love His truth, delight ourselves in His law, And we could meet our Maker at any moment. We could pass from time into eternity at any moment. And we will stand before either in the perfect righteousness of Christ, in Him, in Christ, as Ephesians 1, chapters 1 and 2 states about many, many times. Or we will stand naked before God and have His perfect, holy, just wrath poured upon us for all eternity. for God is a consuming fire. May we focus upon these things in this day and age, in these last days. Yes, we're there, but let's put it in context. These things, these challenges the church faces are not new. We must stop with the escapist, escapism almost, trying to get out of here. We can't wait for the rapture, all this kind of thing. labor diligently for reformation in our day, believing that God can save many, that God is not restrained from saving by few or by many. And we would proclaim the gospel, not the latest book on some speculative theory on anything. That we may go and diligently, yes, interpret those books, those difficult books, but with scripture, with scripture. that we may edify our brothers in the Lord, that we may exalt the primacy of the gospel in everything. Oh, brethren, that we may get back to these things in our day. Thank you all so much for tuning in. If you've got any questions, Megiddofilms.gmail.com, and I will try, if anybody's got questions, it's like, oh, you didn't, Paul, you didn't cover that adequately enough, and I probably didn't cover a lot of things. And you got questions and you say you should do this in the next show, please email me. This is the 100th show. of Megiddo Radio and I want to thank everybody who's been listening, who's been tuning in for so long and downloading and everything else, your prayers. Please pray for us here in Dublin, Ireland that God's work may continue and I just pray that that these things would edify and in no way shape or form cause unnecessary divisions among the brethren, that The unity that the Lord speaks about in Psalm 133 would be exalted, that His name would be exalted. We'd be closer to Him and ergo closer to each other, loving the Lord. I just pray that in this day and age that we would not get so distracted by the latest prophecy book, by the latest seminar, which has derailed so many people, I believe. So much is claimed to be known about these books in our day. And that's why I felt like covering this in the 100th show. God bless you all. See you next week. Thus he said, the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth. that shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. The only thing that will tie me in victory continually through the blood of Christ is my personal devotion to Him, the Son of God.