Dennis Edwards
I would like to prepare my own classes for you. However, due to my lack of technical know-how, for the moment I am compelled to use the work of others and then comment on it. Let us watch Nelson Walters' class and then talk a little. [Sorry video has been deleted]
After watching the video we can agree with much if not all what Nelson has shared with us. Scripturally, the Last Days started from the time of Christ. We read in Hebrews 1:1-2,
"God, who has at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by the Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds."
We also see in the book of Acts the Apostle Peter in 30 AD quoting from the prophecy in Joel 2:28-30 and applying it to the events taking place in Jerusalem with the disciples receiving the infilling power of the Holy Spirit. We read from Joel 2:28-29,
"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: and also upon my servants and upon my handmaids will I pour out my spirit."
Jesus had both male and female disciples in the upper room waiting for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came as Jesus had promised and they miraculously spoke in different languages which were understood by the Jews visiting Jerusalem from many different foreign cultures where they had been in exile.
Peter, quoting for Joel, believes at least that the initial part of the prophesy is being fulfilled under the disciples eyes. However, in quoting Joel, instead of using "afterward," as we find in the King James version which was largely translated from the Hebrew text, he uses "the last days," which may very well be according to the Septuagint which was a Greek translation of the Hebrew text widely quoted by both Jesus and the early apostles. It reads in the book of Acts,
Acts 2:17 "And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh..."
Therefore, Peter believed the last days were already upon them 2000 years ago. From Peter's second epistle we see him stirring up the minds of the believers to remember the words of the prophets concering the last days and how there would be "scoffers, walking after their own lusts."[2 Peter 3:3] Peter is therefore applying the last days to be from the time he was living in from 30 AD forward.
Apostle Paul has the same urgency of the Spirit that the last days are upon us or soon will be. In 2 Timothy 3:1-5 which Nelson mentions in his clip, Apostle Paul seems to be applying the description of the perilous days to come as a future event. He writes;
"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetess, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, dispisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."
Apostle Paul also warns the new believers that the Lord's promised coming will come as a thief in the night to those who are not prepared for it. He warns them not to be sleepers or drunkards, but to watch and to be sober that that day not overcome them as a thief.[1 Thessalonians 5:1-6] In Paul's second letter to the Thessalonoans he further warns that,
2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 "the coming of our Lord Jesus, and...our gathering together unto him,...shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition."
Clearly he is warning that the Antichrist, the man of sin, shall appeared and be revealed before "our gathering together" unto to the Lord in the Rapture.
Jesus also stated in Luke 17 that in the day that "the Son of man is revealed" it shall be as it was in the day of Lot.The people did eat and drink, they bought and sold, they planted and builded and were unprepared for the destruction that was to come and were caught by surprise and destroyed.[Luke 17: 28-29]
Luke 17:30 "Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed."
The rest of the chapter Jesus gives imagery of the Rapture event.
Many prophecy students believe the forming of the State of Israel is a fulfillmnt of an Old Testament prophecy. Isaiah 66:8 says,
"Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such a thing? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation [Israel] be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children."
Many Jewish and Christian eschatology students believe this verse to be referring to the really miraculous forming of the modern Israeli state in 1948.
Another prophecy from Isaiah reads,
Isaiah 27:6 "He [God] shall cause them of Jacob [interpreted here as the physical descandents of Jacob] to take root [in other words to be established]: Israel shall blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit."
Both Jewish and Christian scholars have interpreted the prophesy as being fulfilled since the return of the Jewish people to Israel largely from the time of the Balfour Declaration in 1917 through to the forming of the State of Israel in May 1948, when the people took root. Since that time Israeli ingenuity has turned the modern State of Israel into a major fruit producing nation.
It very well seems that the last days spoken of in the Bible, the days directly preceding the return of Christ are nearly upon us. Those days are also spoken of as "Jacob's trouble" and pretend to bring much
"distress of nations, perplexities [people not understanding what is happening]; the sea and waves roaring [symbolically referring to the people of the world rising up in protest and bringing uncertainity to the governments of man]; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming on the earth: for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken."[Luke 21:25-26]
Jesus Himself warned in the famous discourse of the signs of the end that many would be deceived and not recognize the signs of His coming.[Matthew 24:4,5,11,24] He mentions wars, rumours of wars, earthquakes, famines, pestilences [Matthew 24:6-7], and men's hearts hardening because of the increase in iniquity, as the warning signs of the beginning of sorrows.[Matthew 24:8,12] He then goes on to give a more specific sign to note the beginning of the great tribulation period[Matthew 24:15,21] which would precede His return to catch His bride away before the wrath of God is poured upon the nations.[Matthew 24:29-31] The period of great tribulation before his return is so horrific that he says, if He did not intervene and shorten it, all of hunanity would be destroyed. [Matthew 24:22]
Are we ready for these days so faithfully predicted by both our Jewish and Christian forefathers of the faith? No, we are not. But we need to be getting ready and the first step is to deepen our level of dedication and obedience to the Lord. Remember, the god of this world is actively working to blind our minds to the realities of Scripture, the realities that are taken place more today than ever before.
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