The Last Days
Dear Friends,
One of the great doctrines out there and for some time has been the teachings of “the last days.” We have a movement today, where there has even been an institution set up to maintain and defend this viewpoint.
But just as sound bites are statements taken out of context and photo-ops utilized to exaggerate a point of view, so are there bible teaches who lift scripture out of context to try to substantiate their point of view. “Sound bite” theology is just as egregious as the news commentators that twist, skew, and spin the news.
But where does it come from where folks come up with that these are “the last days.” The answer is in Hebrews 1. Here is what the text says in most all, if not all modern translations.
“God, which in sundry times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son. Hebrews 1:1.
Go read it. There it is; these last days. We tend to think of a day as a 24 hour period.
People point this out, “Here it is,” they say… “These are the last days.”
But how could it mean “the last days” as we understand and apply the term if at the time of the writing of Hebrews, the first century, those days then were considered “the last days.” The last days are certainly are a long last days since it has been almost 2000 years of last days, since the time of the writing when it was first used. When will the last days finally end?
Those that stand hard and fast on “the last days” application to a now time frame struggle when you bring up this point; that the last days must have started in the first century.
Here is something to think about concerning translations. The book of Hebrews was originally written in Hebrew not Greek. So the term “last days” would have been rendered the “last Yom(s).” “Yom” was the Hebrew word for day. If you interpret the world Yom you would find that the term most accurately used in Gen 1, is to be understood as “Age” and not a 24 hour day.
So, check this out from a Hebrew point of view.
“God, which in sundry times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last YOMS spoken to us by His Son. Hebrews 1:1.
So, not to insult your intelligence, but just to be clear, the translations should then be in these “last age(s).” Just thought you’d like to think about this.
Ken
