‘Mid-Acts-hyper-dispensationalists’ divide nearly everything! Several years ago, as I sat at lunch with a main leader of the ‘grace movement’ (as they call it) .... I mentioned that both Peter and Paul wrote of ‘the last days’. He immediately took charge of that issue, and told me that there were 2 sets of ‘last days’ .... and that Peter’s ‘last days’ were different than Paul’s ‘last days’. He said Peter wrote about ‘the last days’ for Israel’s program, just before the 2nd coming of Christ to set up His earthly kingdom .... and Paul wrote about ‘the last days’ for the body of Christ, just before the rapture of the church and before the tribulation and Daniel’s 70th week. At the time, I nodded my head and smiled. But I had already been wondering WHY ‘we’ always made the same phrases and the same words -- be different things. Privately I had begun to question ‘mid-Acts’ doctrines of 2 appearings, 2 comings, even 2 Jesus’.
Both the prophets Isaiah and Micah wrote almost the exact same words about blessings ‘in the last days’:
Isa 2:2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
Mic 4:1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
At Pentecost, Peter quoted Joel’s prophecy about both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ events that will happen ‘in the last days’:
Acts 2:14-21 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17 And it shall come to pass in [en] the last [eschatos] days [hemera], saith God,
I will pour out of 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:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
(FYI: When we reference Joel (Joel 2:28-32), the phrase ‘in the last days’ is the word ‘afterward’.)
Joel 2:28-32 And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.
Paul warned about fierce, troublesome times ahead. If ‘the body of Christ’ was NOT going to be on Planet Earth during ‘the last days’ .... why would God prepare the saints, to whom Paul wrote, for them? He wouldn’t! That’s why the ‘mid-Acts-ers’ invented 2 sets of ‘last days’. They don’t want to ‘endure’ ‘the last days’ .... they don’t ‘want’ to be here then .... so they make 1 set of ‘last days’ for Peter, James, and John (together) .... and they create a completely different set of ‘last days’ for Paul:
2 Tim 3:1 This know also, that in [en] the last [eschatos] days [hemera] perilous times shall come.
This context also shows the persecution of the righteous:
2 Tim 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
In the very next chapter, the context near ‘the last days’ is the appearing of the Lord to judge and reward in His kingdom .... when He raises the dead and changes the alive (1 Cor 15:50-54):
2 Tim 4:1,8 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at [en] that [ekeinos] day[hemera]: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
James wrote about ‘the last days’, in the context just before the coming of the Lord. His writings also reveal the approaching danger when the wicked will persecute the righteous and put them to death, just as Jesus also prophesied (John 16:2, Matt 10:21, Mark 13:12, Luke 21:16). James’ context is also about the Lord’s judgment when He comes:
James 5:3-10 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for [en] the last [eschatos] days [hemera].
(FYI, notice that the same Greek word [en] which was translated ‘in’ in Paul’s 2 Tim 3:1, was translated ‘for’ in James 5:3.)
4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. (see Jer 12:3)
6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.
10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
Peter wrote about 'the last days', also in the context about the coming of the Lord and His judgment of the wicked, and the bringing of new heavens and a new earth (2 Pet 3:13):
2 Peter 3:3-4,7 Knowing this first, that there shall come in [epi] the last [eschatos] days [hemera] scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 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.
7 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 perdition of ungodly men.
Last night I heard a ‘mid-Acts’ preacher make a division between ‘the last day’ (singular) and ‘the last days’ (plural). He said, "The last day has to do with the resurrection and judgment .... but the last days is something else."
Interestingly, the Greek words are the same .... whether ‘day’ is singular or ‘days’ is plural.
John also wrote about ‘the last day’ (singular). It had to do with judgment .... which we already saw about ‘the last days’ (plural) in Joel, by Peter in Acts, by Paul to Timothy, by James, and by Peter in his epistle:
John 12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him
in [en] the last [eschatos] day [hemera].
When John prophesied about ‘the last day’ (singular), it also had to do with resurrection .... which we already saw in the context of ‘the last days’ (plural) by Paul to Timothy.
(FYI, in these next 2 verses, there is not a Greek word for the word ‘at’. It was added and included with the words ‘the last’.)
John 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life:
and I will raise him up at the last [eschatos] day [hemera].
John 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life;
and I will raise him up at the last [eschatos] day [hemera].
(FYI, in this next verse, the same Greek word [en] that has been translated ‘in’ was translated ‘at’.)
John 11:24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again
in the resurrection at [en] the last [eschatos] day [hemera].
‘The last days’ or ‘the last day’ .... of persecution before the Lord returns, and when Christ appears with resurrection and judgment .... the point is, not to think you can divide yourself apart .... but, to be ready, come what may!
This is David Dowell, saying, "Think about it!"
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