48. CUF: The Last Day : By Grace

The Last Days

Whilst adjusting to the remarkable conditions of this present Administration of God's Grace, where there is no law and no judgement, I was drawn to consider all the prophetic statements concerning 'The Last Days'. As I studied them, the conviction grew that each statement related to one specific period of time, the time described in the gospels and the Acts period, and that period immediately preceding the Second Coming of The Lord Jesus Christ. There are three main reasons for this:

[1] The definite article preceded all Scriptural uses of the phrase [The Last Days] in the Old Testament, but not always in the New. The use of the definite article in the O.T. must therefore define one particular period. The Last Days are not defined in the N.T. This strongly implies that without this need, the phrase always relates to that which has been defined in the O.T. Because of this, we can understand that the statement 'and the days of Jacob were the years of his life, seven years and a hundred and forty years’ [Genesis 47:28] should be considered as the basis of the meaning of this phrase ‘The Last Days’. See: the article A Purpose of Jacob's Life Span, in leaflet: By Grace No.5.

[2] In only three places is the context of the phrase referring to current events.

[3] The speakers or recorders of the phrase in the whole Scripture assume that those to whom the statements refer, understand what is meant, they never question it, neither is it explained. Therefore, its meaning was understood by those to whom it was directed.

After studying all nineteen references, because of this, I had to accept that all of them related to one period only. A detailed analysis is given in By Grace No.39. There are five New Testament references as shown in the chart on the following page.

The first three, 15, 16 and 17 are in the present tense and relate to the first phase of the establishment of The Kingdom of God in Israel. This was recognised and announced by the apostle Peter's statement at Pentecost:

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 ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, 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:

And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs

in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Acts 2:14-21

These signs have not yet been fulfilled, so we can expect them when The Last Days recommence, during their second phase. This statement also establishes that The Last Days period precedes The Day of The Lord which is the subject of The Revelation of Jesus Christ. The apostle John tells us:

I was in the Spirit on The Day of The Lord and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet....[Rev 1:10]

With regard to the two remaining New Testament prophecies which are in the future tense, those stated in Peter and Timothy's letters, they will be fulfilled when The Last Days recommence at the time of that second phase of The Kingdom.

I recognised this well defined period of The Last Days with all the details of its various prophecies, particularly its acknowledgement at Peter's proclamation, and its end when all the world's Kingdoms are consumed, when 'The God of heaven shall set up His kingdom, which shall never be destroyed': See Daniel 2: 27-44:

Daniel answered in the presence of king Nebuchadnezzar, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded [concerning his dream] cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, show unto the king; But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the last days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.

Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.

And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. ............And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

The remarkable statement concerning the 'stone cut out without hands' is understood to be the Second Coming of The Lord Jesus Christ and brings to an end all of The Last Days. Christ then rules the earth through His kingship of Israel by His Personal Presence upon the earth for one thousand years.

This prophecy also reveals that during The Last Days the Kingdoms of the world will initially be ruled by a resurrected King Nebuchadnezzar. Those scriptures referring to the kingship of Nebuchadnezzar in Jeremiah chs. 27 and 29 cover only to first 70 years of Israel’s servitude. The reference to Nebuchadnezzar’s kingship during The Last Days in Daniel 2:28 and 38 is described as a World Empire….’wheresoever men dwell’. Not being limited as that described in Jeremiah.

This did not occur in The Last Days when they were present during the Acts period. Therefore it is a condition which will be granted to God’s servant, Nebuchadnezzar, when The Last Days recommence in 2022ad. Christians who adhere to the Evangelical faith cannot accept this clear prophecy because:

They are taught to believe that the majority of the events of the symbolic multi-metal image have already occurred.

They are taught that: wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all, relates only to the known world of that time, the last two kingdoms extending through to to-day.
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Contrary to this, the Scriptures clearly tell us that a resurrected Prince David will rule over all Israel at the time during The Last Days when God will rule from Heaven:

And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. [Eze 37:24]
Also:
And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. [Eze 34:23]

During the first part of the introductory phase of The Kingdom of God in Israel, at the time of the apostles, The Lord Jesus Christ worked with them in every attempt to persuade the Jews to accept His kingdom. Their response was not wholehearted . As we have pointed out above, God postponed the introduction of His Kingdom to introduce The Secret Administration of His Grace. When this is concluded, God will complete the second part of the introductory phase of The kingdom which will result in Jesus Christ assuming His Throne in Heaven and giving the full answer to the apostles question: 'wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel?'. [Acts 1:6].

And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD. Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? [Isaiah 65:24]

Thus The Christ will rule from His throne in Heaven until this period of The Last Days ends at His Second Advent, when He will become personally present for 1000years.and beyond