Deeper Reflection
MANY CHRISTIANS THINK OF “THE LAST DAYS” ONLY AS A period at the very end of history. “The popular understanding in the church today that the latter days concerns only the yet future end of the world needs correction.”⁶⁵God is the Creator King of the universe who rules over the whole history of humankind. The history of humankind is framed by God’s creation of the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1) and the “new heavens and new earth” (2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1), and pivotally and climatically marked by two defining historical-theological events: the First Coming and Second Coming of Christ. The First Coming of Christ is defined by God as “the fullness of the time” (Gal 4:4). Jesus, who Himself embodies the kingdom of God, defined the beginning of His messianic ministry as “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mk 1:15). God, after He spoke long ago in the prophets in many portions and in many ways (in the Old Testament), “in these last days has spoken to us in His Son” (vv.1-2). The First Coming of Christ was the most definitive self-revelation of God in human form – God “has spoken in His Son” – and this marked the beginning of the “last days”. The descent of the promised Holy Spirit on Pentecost was “in the last days” (Acts 2:17). The “last days” has begun already in the first century at Christ’s First Coming and continues on into our present day. Believers in Christ are people “upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Cor 10:11).

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⁶⁵ G. K. Beale, 19