Are We Living in the Last Days? - Part A

There are some people who have an unhealthy preoccupation with prophetic things. That's all they're about.

That's all they study. They look for signs. They see signs in everything. There's a flower by the road that must be a sign of the end times.

It can become an unhealthy preoccupation, but it can also become a healthy occupation. The world is fascinated with the future and how the world might end one day. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip gives you a startling glimpse from Scripture at what you can expect in the future. But first, we want to let you know how you can stay updated on the latest from Skip and this ministry. Get encouragement and important announcements on social media.

Just follow Skip on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. That's at Skip Heitzig, at Skip, H-E-I-T-Z-I-G. Now, we're in 2 Peter as we join Skip Heitzig for today's study. When I was a little kid, one of the prayers my mother taught me to pray, let's see if you've ever heard of this prayer. Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

What's the next phrase? If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. That's a pretty heavy prayer for a five-year-old.

Here's a five-year-old being taught the possibility of the eminence of his death. If I should die before I wake. At the same time, however, it's a possibility for any of us. Every person will have an end of their life. And just like every person has an end, this world will have an end. This world, this universe, this earth, will someday come to an end. But when will it come to an end? Well, people have made predictions about that. One well-known Christian said, the last days are upon us.

Weigh carefully the times. Look for him who is above all time, eternal and invisible. What's interesting about that quote is it was not given by a modern-day prophecy expert. It was spoken in 110 AD by a church father named Ignatius. He said that we're in the last days. A church father named Hippolytus in 236 AD wrote that Christ would return by AD 500. In the 1500s, Martin Luther, the great reformer, wrote, and I quote, we have reached the time of the white horse of the apocalypse. This world will not last any longer than another hundred years.

And then a little known fact about Christopher Columbus. Did you know that he was a student of Bible prophecy? He even wrote a little volume called the book of prophecies where he predicted the world would end in the year 1656. And he even wrote, there is no doubt that the world must end in 155 years. A question that Christians have asked for every generation is, are we in the last days?

When will the world end? It's not a new question. It's not a new curiosity. Even the followers of our Lord Jesus Christ were curious about that. On the Mount of Olives, they came to him and said, what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? So it preoccupied their own thoughts. Are we in the last days?

Is this it? And it seems that every generation has its authors, its prophets, its prognosticators, and they get us thinking about that. I remember in the 1970s, a very popular book by Hal Lindsey was put out called The Late Great Planet Earth, sold millions of copies. It got people thinking about Bible prophecy again. And then in the 1980s, I still have the booklet in my office called 88 Reasons Why Jesus is Coming Back in 1988. Of course, 1988 came and went, followed by 1989, and Jesus hadn't showed up. So the author revised his dates, and Jesus didn't show up then. He revised it again and didn't show up then.

And finally, he just sort of went away. In 1996, another popular set of books was called the Left Behind Series. Not only was it a set of books, it became a set of films as well. And so, in 2012. And then, do you remember just before the year 2000, the fervor about Y2K? This is it.

All the chips are going to melt down. This is Armageddon, right? So what we're dealing with is an area of study that is called, in theological parlance, it's called eschatology. Eschatology is the study of last things.

It comes from the Latin word that means that, last things or last events or end time events. Now, we've been doing a series here on the weekends called 2020, Seeing Truth Clearly. And essentially, it's been a course on theology. We've looked at theology, the study of God, the nature of God, the attributes of God. That was followed by Christology, the person, nature, and work of Jesus Christ. That was followed by a few weeks on pneumatology, the study of the Holy Spirit, the work of the Holy Spirit in the world, the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. We did a few weeks on soteriology, the study of salvation. How is a person saved? What does salvation entail? We even did a week on angelology, the study of angels.

Way to go class. And then demonology, the study of Satan and demons. And then for three weeks, we looked at ecclesiology, the church. We talked about how the church is essential. We looked at Jesus praying for, anticipating certain characteristics of his church out of John chapter 17. Now we turn to another section and that is eschatology, the study of end time events. What I want to do today is look at the last days generally. Next week, I want to consider Jesus' promise to return for his church. And then we're going to look in the third week at the second coming of Christ.

I'm going to try to piece together sort of a calendar of end time events the best that I can during that time. Now I think you'll agree that the study of prophecy can be good but can also get weird. That there are some people who have an unhealthy preoccupation with prophetic things. That's all they're about. That's all they study. They look for signs. They see signs in everything.

There's a flower by the road. That must be a sign of the end times. I mean, it can become an unhealthy preoccupation.

But it can also become a healthy occupation. It can engender hope. And it's something that the church has had for 2,000 years, ever since Jesus taught the church to pray, thy kingdom come. We have been looking for that kingdom.

We've been anticipating it. So what I'd like to do is look at five hallmarks of the last days. Five hallmarks of the last days.

And try to answer the question, are we in the last days? Now I ask you to turn to 2 Peter for a very important reason. The theme, or at least one of the themes, or at least a sub-theme, a major sub-theme of the book of 2 Peter, is our theme, the last days. That's what Peter is talking about, talking about features of the end times, of the last days.

So I'm going to begin with you in chapter three of 2 Peter, and I'm going to give you these five hallmarks. And the first is that the last days are foreseen by scripture. They're predicted. They're talked about.

They're written about. I want to take you to chapter three, beginning in verse one, and I'm going to read down a few verses because I want you to see the phrase that's in here. Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle, in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days.

There's the phrase, the last days, walking according to their own lusts. Now I'm going to get back to the meaning of those verses in a minute, but let's just think of that phrase for a moment, the last days. It's a phrase that shows up five times in the New Testament, five times.

Once by Luke in the book of Acts, once by Paul in 2 Timothy, once by James in that little epistle he writes, once in Hebrews, and then once here in 2 Peter chapter three. So five authors in the New Testament use the phrase, the last days. Now the Old Testament speaks of the same period of time generally, but under a different designation. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and Micah use the term, the latter days.

Daniel calls it the end, also Daniel calls it the appointed time, also he calls it the time of the end, and finally Daniel designates it the end of days. Back to the question, are we in the last days? Here's my answer, yes we are, but we've been in the last days for 2,000 years. Now I want you to get this because according to the scriptures, we have been in the last days. If you look at all of world history from the beginning, whenever that beginning was the beginning, the time between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ falls under the designation, the last days.

So let me show that to you. In Hebrews chapter one, the author begins by saying, God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to our fathers by the prophets, listen, has in these last days spoken to us by his son whom he made heir of all things and through whom also he made the world. These last days. Then you remember Peter on the day of Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost, you know what happened, the church gets together and they are filled with the Holy Spirit, they begin to speak in tongues, the people in Jerusalem don't know what to make of this, and so the best they can come up with is these Christians are drunk, right? Remember that? And so Peter gets up and he says, you men of Jerusalem, these are not drunk as you suppose, since it's only the third hour of the day.

Guys, it's only nine in the morning, they're not drunk. He says, but this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel, who said, and he quotes the prophet Joel. Yeah, I will pour out in, it shall come to pass in the last days, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh your sons and daughters will prophesy. So he's saying, this, what you are seeing, is a fulfillment of what the prophet says that in the last days, this is going to happen. So according to Peter, he was living in the last days. So to answer your question, are we in the last days?

Yes, we are. But so was Christopher Columbus, and so was Martin Luther, and so was Ignatius, and so was the apostle Paul and Peter. Now, having said that, obviously when you're dealing with a 2,000 year period, some parts of that are much later than others, and so you're dealing with the are much later than other parts, and so we are much further along 2,000 years than Paul or Peter. But you know, Paul taught the church to anticipate the return of Christ, to look for it. In Titus chapter 2, Paul writes, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Did you know that the early church had a greeting, a one-word greeting?

I wish we'd bring it back. I love the greeting. It's a word maranatha, a single word. It's an Aramaic term. It shows up in the old King James translation, but it was a word that even replaced the common greeting shalom, peace. Christians would see each other and they would say maranatha, which means the Lord is coming. It's a great word. It's a great reminder to say to one another maranatha, the Lord is coming.

In C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, I know I've quoted that a few times the last few weeks, but in one of the volumes called The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, there's a conversation C.S. Lewis writes about Aslan, this Christ-like figure lion, who has a conversation with little Lucy once again. And Aslan says, do not look so sad. We shall meet soon again. And she says, please, Aslan, what do you call soon? And Aslan says, I call all times soon.

And then he vanished. Are we in the last days? Yes. Is Jesus coming soon? Yes. So, yeah, that's sort of an easy way out. No, it's not.

It really is true. We are in the last days and we were given signs about the very end of days. And Jesus said, when these things start to happen, lift up your head for your redemption draws near. There are indicators.

We'll look at those later on. With this thought in mind, go back to chapter one for just a moment. We haven't started there, so let's look at chapter one. And I'll take you to a couple of verses. I'm going to begin with you in chapter one of verse 16, because what Peter is going to do here is talk about the coming of the Lord based upon an experience He has already had with the Lord. Verse 16, chapter one, for we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the excellent glory. And here's the voice, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, or as the authorized version puts it, we have a more sure word of prophecy. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart. Now, Peter is telling them of the fact that Jesus is coming, but the prediction is based upon an experience He has already had.

And do you remember what that experience was? It's called the, begins with a T, transfiguration. The transfiguration. It mentioned in three gospels when Jesus appeared or was changed in front of them, transformed miraculously with a bright light, along with Moses and Elijah. What Peter, James, and John saw at the transfiguration of Jesus is what they call in the movie industry, a trailer, a preview of coming attractions, a clip, if you will, a highlight. You know, do you guys remember the days when there were movie theaters and people went there and saw films? Well, at the beginning of those, just to refresh your memory, at the beginning of movies, they would show previews of other films that would be released. And what I have often discovered is that those trailers are actually better than most films in their entirety.

You're seeing the best parts put together. What Peter saw was a clip, a trailer, a preview, highlights of an event that is described in detail in Revelation chapter 19, the second coming of Jesus Christ, Jesus coming in his glory. What Peter is saying in these verses is I saw with my eyes what the scripture predicts will happen and is confirmed by the Old Testament writings. And if what the prophets predicted of his first coming happened, then what they predicted of his second coming is sure also to happen. So are we in the last days?

Yes, we are. But what is the focus of the last days? Is the focus of the last days Mark of the beast? Focus of the last days, the European common market?

No. Nor is the focus of end time prophecy the Antichrist. The focus of prophecy or the end days is Jesus Christ.

And that gives us the second hallmark as seen by Peter. Not only are the last days foreseen by the scripture, but they're focused on Christ. Now go back to chapter 1 verse 16. We did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

This is the transfiguration. For he received from God the Father honor and glory. When such a voice came to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Now let me tell you about what happened.

You know it because you've read it. But at the transfiguration we are told that Jesus took Peter, James, and John, took them to a high mountain where he was transfigured before them and they saw him in glory. And we are told that Peter, James, and John had fallen asleep and then they woke up and they see this glorious vision of the transfigured Christ. And Peter starts talking. And you remember what Peter says? He says, let's build three tabernacles here. One for you Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. And the Bible says, Peter said this not knowing what to say.

You know what it is? You wake up and you just the words just come, whatever words. So these are Peter's words. And what Peter records that God said was God interrupting Peter's interruption. Peter said, let's build three tabernacles. Essentially the idea is I'm placing Jesus, Moses, and Elijah all on the same level. And so God spoke from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

Listen to him. It's a very important message in what Peter learned and he is recounting here. God is saying, I put Jesus, my son, on stage center when it comes to Bible prophecy.

He is the star on center stage. He is the focal point of Bible prophecy. He is the capstone of the last days. In fact, you could take, and I'll make it even easy for you, you want to sum up the whole Bible, all 66 books written by 40 authors over 1500 years, you could sum the entire Bible up by saying it's about one person and two events. It's about one person and two events.

Jesus Christ is the one person. The two events are his first coming and his second coming. His first coming to deal with sin, his second coming to rule and reign with people who have been forgiven of their sin. That's the whole Bible in a nutshell. So he is the focal point of biblical prophecy. That's why we talk about the scarlet thread of redemption. You can follow it all throughout the scriptures. When Jesus had died and risen from the dead, we are told that he appeared with two unnamed disciples who were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus one day.

It's recorded in Luke chapter 24. These two guys are walking down the road and they're talking to each other about what happened. They don't know Jesus has risen and they don't know that the stranger that comes walking up to them is Jesus. So they start talking to this stranger and he goes, what are you guys talking about? As if he doesn't know. I'm talking about this guy named Jesus. Haven't you heard the things that have happened? And the stranger Jesus says, what things? So they start telling him about the things that have happened and then at a certain point Jesus says this, oh foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have written, ought not the Christ to have died and enter into his glory?

Listen to the next part. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in the scriptures all the things concerning himself. If there was ever a Bible study I wish was transcribed or we had on MP3, it's that one. What did Jesus tell them? He expounded to them in all the scriptures, all the things concerning himself.

That's Skip Hyten with a message from the series 2020. Now we want to tell you about a resource that will help you live with a bold faith as you follow Jesus wherever he leads you in life. What stands between you and a more fruitful walk with Jesus? Find out how four prominent women in the Bible faced their struggles in a new teaching series from Lenya Heitzig called Queens of the Bible. Here's Lenya on the Queen of Sheba. Hearing is the first step toward spiritual blessing.

Right now hearing is a step toward blessing because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Hear more from Lenya as she explores the faith and the failings of four different queens in scripture. The Queens of the Bible collection of teachings is our way of saying thank you when you give $35 or more today to support this Bible teaching ministry. Look, the cost of following Christ is to go wherever he leads. Get your copy of these unique teachings when you call 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer. Connectwithskip.com slash offer. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Hyten shares why you can face the last days with hope. If the Bible clearly predicts the last days, which it does, and if the Bible in depicting the last days describes it as being full of hope, and if the Bible in depicting the last days describes it as being full of spiritual apostasy, and it will, and if also in the last days it will be filled with secular mockery, and it will, then for those of us who are believers it should evoke a Godly response. Connect with Skip Hyten is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.