Transcript

“The May 1984 National Geographic showed through color photos and drawings the swift and terrible destruction that wiped out the Roman Cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in A.D. 79.

The explosion of Mount Vesuvius was so sudden, the residents were killed while in their routine: men and women were at the market, the rich in their luxurious baths, slaves at toil. They died amid volcanic ash and superheated gasses.

Even family pets suffered the same quick and final fate. It takes little imagination to picture the panic of that terrible day.

“The saddest part is that these people did not have to die. Scientists confirm what ancient Roman writers record—weeks of rumblings and shakings preceded the actual explosion.

Even an ominous plume of smoke was clearly visible from the mountain days before the eruption. If only they had been able to read and respond to Vesuvius’s warning!”

There is a day of judgment coming that will surprise and suddenly overtake the world after the Rapture.

The Apostle Paul teaches the Body of Christ about the “rumblings” that will take place in the last days prior to the dispensation of grace ending.

Only in the epistles of Paul, specifically in 1 and 2 Timothy, do we find the trends that will mark the end of this current dispensation. The Lord’s return for the Church at the Rapture could take place at any time.

As ambassadors for Christ, we have a responsibility to warn people of the judgment to come that will follow the Rapture, so that by trusting Christ as their Savior they will not be tragically swept away like those at Pompeii.

Acts 2:16-20: “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 shew 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 that great and notable day of the Lord come.”

There are two last days taught in Scripture, one for each of God’s programs: prophecy and the mystery. God has two programs to complete: His earthly program with Israel and His heavenly program with the Body of Christ.

When Peter stood up at Pentecost to speak, the people present didn’t know what was going on (Acts 2:6-13), but, by the Holy Spirit, Peter knew exactly what was happening. Prophecy was being fulfilled!

The fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy about Israel’s last days had begun, and without qualification, Peter proclaimed to the crowd of Jews and proselytes: “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.”

He does not say, “This is somewhat similar to what Joel prophesied.” Peter states plainly, “This is that,” or this is what Joel had prophesied and that Israel’s “last days” had begun.

Peter had recently been taught for forty days by our risen Savior “of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”

On the day of Pentecost, he was filled with the Holy Spirit (2:4 cf. John 20:22). Peter had an intelligent and perfect understanding of where he stood in the program of God.

It’s difficult to dislodge a belief once it has been stated for so many years as the truth. And over the years, so many have pointed to this chapter, to Pentecost, a Jewish feast day, as the beginning of the Church, the Body of Christ.

But Peter did not say that the coming of the Holy Spirit was a sign of the first days of the Church, but rather a sign of the LAST DAYS for God’s program with the nation Israel.

Miraculous signs and wonders were to accompany the last days of God’s prophetic program.

According Joel’s prophecy, these signs include: the pouring out of the Spirit, the gift of prophecy, visions, dreams, wonders in the heavens above: such as the darkening of the sun, the moon turning into blood, wonders in the earth beneath: such as blood, fire, and vapor of smoke.

These things in Acts 2 agree with what you find in the prophetic Scriptures, the Gospels, and the Book of Revelation regarding Israel’s last days and the Tribulation period.

In the prophetic Scriptures in Isaiah 13:9-10 we read: “Behold, THE DAY OF THE LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

“For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: THE SUN SHALL BE DARKENED in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.”

In Ezekiel 37:14, the Lord told Israel that under the new covenant, “And shall put MY SPIRIT in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.”

In the Gospels in Matthew 24:29 we read: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall THE SUN BE DARKENED, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.”

In Revelation 6:12: “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the SUN BECAME BLACK AS SACKCLOTH OF HAIR, AND THE MOON BECAME AS BLOOD.”

Revelation 8:7-8: “…and there followed hail and FIRE mingled with BLOOD, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with FIRE was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became BLOOD.”

Revelation 9:18: “By these three was the third part of men killed, by the FIRE, and by the SMOKE, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.”

At Pentecost, the Spirit was poured out on Israel in accordance with prophecy and in preparation for the prophesied time of the Tribulation and the Millennial Kingdom to follow. However, the predicted wrath of the Tribulation and the glory of the earthly kingdom never came, because the prophetic program with Israel was interrupted.

When Israel continued in her unbelief and rejection of her Messiah and King, even throughout the one-year period of the Holy Spirit’s miraculous ministry in early Acts, all was ready for judgment to fall.

When the leaders of Israel stoned and killed Stephen with their own hands, a man “full of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 7:55), that was when the prophesied wrath of God would have been poured out on this world in fulfillment of the 70th week of Daniel. Instead, God temporarily set Israel aside in unbelief, and turned to the Gentiles.

In boundless grace, God saved Paul on the road to Damascus, the chief of sinners and leader of the rebellion against His Son, and He called him to be the “apostle of the Gentiles.”

Christ revealed the dispensation of the grace of God to Paul “which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men” (Eph. 3:5).

Then the Lord sent Paul out to the world as the herald and the living demonstration of the grace He is showing to all today.

We know the whole story by the completed Word of God and the revelation of the mystery, but Peter on the day of Pentecost did not know that God would break off these signs, hold back the day of judgment, and usher in an age of grace.

The prophets of Israel predicted the sufferings of Christ, the time of judgment in the Tribulation, the Second Coming, and the glory of the earthly kingdom, but they knew absolutely nothing about the dispensation of grace or the Church, the Body of Christ.

And neither did Peter on the day of Pentecost, because the message of grace for today was still “hid in God” (Eph. 3:9). It was later revealed to Paul.

The last days according to prophecy began at Pentecost, but they were temporarily interrupted by the dispensation of grace. Now this dispensation has its own last days! Thus, there are two last days, because God has two programs to complete.

For the subject of the last days to make sense in God’s Word, a distinction must be made between the last days for Israel according to prophecy and the last days for the Body of Christ according to the revelation of the mystery.

When the last days of grace and the Rapture of the Body of Christ takes place, Israel’s last days will pick up where they left off and run their course to their completion.

At that time, all the prophesied end times, last days events for Israel will take place just as God has said, which includes: the seven-year Tribulation—with its wars, pestilences, natural disasters, and judgments—the Second Coming of Christ, the Battle of Armageddon, and the Millennial Kingdom.

Peter later learned the answer why the last days for Israel had not run their course, why the promise of Christ’s Second Coming and the kingdom which had been declared as “at hand” (Matt. 10:7) had been delayed.

He wrote in 2 Peter 3:15 that the answer is found in “the wisdom” given to Paul by the Lord. That wisdom teaches that God’s program with Israel was temporarily set aside, God turned to the Gentiles, and the dispensation of grace was ushered in, a dispensation which has continued for nearly 2000 years…and counting.

1 Timothy 4:1 reads, “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the LATTER TIMES some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.”

When the Apostle Paul writes in his letters about the “last days” or the “latter times,” he is speaking of the closing days of the current dispensation of grace.

When the “last days” are mentioned outside of Paul’s letters, it is speaking of the last days for Israel’s program.

For example, Isaiah 2:2-3 says, “And it shall come to pass in the LAST DAYS, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

“And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the LAW, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

The last days for Israel pertain to the millennial kingdom, Jerusalem, the law, the temple. Whereas the last days for the Body of Christ pertain to the Rapture, heaven, and grace.

The last days for Israel were prophesied, but the entire dispensation of grace is an unprophesied time, including its last days. This means that no prophecy is being fulfilled today. No current event was ever foretold in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Matthew, Luke, etc.

No natural disaster, no tragedy, no war, no heavenly phenomenon in this dispensation is a fulfillment of any Bible prophecy. The terror attack of 9/11 has nothing to do with a single prophecy in your Bible.

Absolutely nothing that happens today in this dispensation is found in the Book of Revelation. Revelation is all future; it will all take place after the Body of Christ has been taken to heaven.

Any preacher, teacher, author, television personality, website that attempts to equate a current event with a prophecy in your Bible, is in error.

When they do so it shows that they don’t know or understand the mystery, that body of truth for the present dispensation which God “kept secret since the world began” (Rom. 16:25). We live in an unprophesied time, unseen by the prophets in the past.

Now, it is very possible that God could be setting the stage for the Tribulation, but none of what is happening in the world today is a direct fulfillment of any prophecy outside of Paul’s letters. Thus, no tsunami, earthquake, tornado, hurricane, war, terror attack, corrupt leader, pandemic, or strife between nations is a sign that we are in the last days.

In the last days of Israel’s program, during the Tribulation, there will indeed be specific signs preceding the Second Coming of Christ to earth to judge and reign.

Some of these signs were the sun being turned to darkness and the moon to blood, such as Peter noted in Acts 2.

Regarding these signs of Messiah’s return, Israel was taught: “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28).

However, when Paul speaks of the last days of the present dispensation of grace, he speaks of trends rather than specific signs or events that will precede its end.

One such trend is that “some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Tim. 4:1).

But there are no signs given to reveal that the Rapture to catch the Body of Christ to heaven is near and that then we should look for His coming.

Nothing whatsoever is taught in Paul’s epistles as to how long this dispensation will last or when it will be brought to a close.

Every day is a day of pure grace in which God is giving everyone an opportunity to be saved before the judgment of the Tribulation is poured out on this world.

Every single day is a day Christ could come. We are taught to be constantly “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). The Rapture is always imminent.

This in turn makes sharing the gospel with the world always urgent, because we don’t know when grace will end and judgment will begin.

The imminent hope of the Rapture is also God’s way of keeping Christ on our hearts and minds, which is key to our spiritual growth. We look for Christ, not for signs. We walk by faith, not by sight. Living by faith in the Rapture can transform our lives.

Because by knowing and believing in the daily possibility of appearing before the Lord, the Creator, and our personal Savior, is to inspire and challenge us to live for Him, and to live a life which honors the One who died for us, rose again, and is coming for us.

God’s heart is huge. His longsuffering, grace, mercy, and love is so great toward sinners, that in giving all people an opportunity to be saved, this dispensation could go on another 50 years, 500 years, 5000 years, or 5 million years. Or, according to His perfect plans and purposes, He could come in the next 5 minutes! We just don’t know.

2 Timothy 3:1 says, “This know also, that in the LAST DAYS perilous times shall come.”

Maybe you’ve heard the old joke about the guy who was told, “Hey, cheer up. Things could be worse.” He replied, “I did as I was told. I cheered up, and sure enough, things got worse.” That’s what Paul taught Timothy: things will get worse and worse in the last days of the dispensation of grace.

Paul warns Timothy, “This know also,” or “I want you to understand this.” It was like Paul poking Timothy in the chest with each syllable.

And in the original Greek, it is in the present tense, so it means, “Know this, and keep on knowing this.” In other words, we need to know and remember.

The “this” that Paul wanted Timothy to know and remember is that in the last days of grace, perilous times will come.

Paul gives Timothy and us, the Church, a correct orientation about the future. He teaches that things are not going to get better and better and we shouldn’t expect that. Things will go from bad to worse, and will get worse and worse before the Lord comes.

In 2 Timothy 3:1, the “last days” refers to this age of grace, this current mystery program. Paul is writing to us, the Body of Christ, and he teaches that “perilous” times would come and mark the last days of grace.

The Greek word for “perilous” is used only one other time in the New Testament. It is used to describe two demonized men living in the caves near Gadara:

“And when He was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding FIERCE, so that no man might pass by that way” (Matt. 8:28).

These two men were possessed by demons and empowered by evil. They were wild, uncontrollable men, who broke the chains that bound them and terrorized the region with extreme violence. The verse says they were “exceeding fierce.”

“Fierce” is translated from the same Greek word as “perilous” in 2 Timothy 3:1. And thus, the last days of grace will be like these two men: wild, uncontrolled, evil, and exceeding fierce as people cast off all moral restraint.

“For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Tim. 3:2-5).

Nineteen different characteristics are spelled out in four verses which give strong reasons why the closing days of this age will be perilous days.

And if we didn’t know any better, these verses almost sound like what we just read on our news app on our phone or watched on television today! All of these things are things we see in the world today.

With the promotion, acceptance, and boldness of evil, deception, and immorality in our world currently, it’s easy to see how the time we live in could be the last days.

Because we are constantly hearing about another murder-suicide, of a mass shooting, of a baby in a dumpster, of financial corruption and fraud within major corporations.

We see preachers on TV in $50,000 suits telling people to send him money and promising that God will bless them if they do, and people do it! False teachers set dates for the end of the world and people believe it.

We see political corruption from greedy, proud, power hungry, lying rulers in government.

You can’t take your children to public places without covering their ears from people who can’t control their tongues, and who cuss without abandon.

We see injustice, immorality, indecency on every hand. And it all makes you wonder, Lord, is this it? Are these the last days? And the answer is possibly yes, and possibly no.

Because every generation during this dispensation could very easily claim the sin and wickedness listed in 2 Timothy 3 as being true of their time and their generation.

The trends that Paul outlines for us here have always been present in this world.

In Romans 1:21-31, we learn about the guilt and sinfulness of man from the very beginning, thousands upon thousands of years ago. Note the similarities, between that passage and this one:

“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, NEITHER WERE THANKFUL; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened…Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, COVETOUS, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

“Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, PROUD, BOASTERS, inventors of evil things, DISOBEDIENT TO PARENTS, Without understanding, COVENANTBREAKERS, WITHOUT NATURAL AFFECTION, implacable, unmerciful.”

Mankind doesn’t change. Mankind has been evil, is evil, and will be evil. What we’re taught here in 2 Timothy 3, is that evil will intensify in the last days of the dispensation.

This list of sins and wickedness is not and should not be surprising to us to find in the world among unbelievers. However, these things would be surprising to find in the Church among believers.

Thus, I believe that people’s morality will so degenerate and wickedness will so intensify and the days will become so perilous, that these things will also be prevalent even among the Church in the last days.

The word “men” in 2 Timothy 3:2, speaks of mankind as a whole, in other words, all people everywhere, young and old, male and female, unbelieving AND believing.

And for all the godlessness in the last days, Paul began with the root problem in verse 2: “For men shall be lovers of their own selves.” All the characteristics and sins that follow can be traced back to and attributed to this root problem.

As we approach the consummation of this age, Paul says people will become more and more self-centered. Self-love is a humanistic attitude which is taught as a philosophy of life in the world today.

This is a base and narrow passion. It is diametrically opposed to the teaching of Scripture which says we should love God and love others. Loving self is what leads people to try to find their god within, and to boldly believe that they can be their own savior.

And loving self is what leads people to be covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, unthankful, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, and so on.

To sum up Paul’s list for the last days, it is: anything goes, there’ll be no rules, no respect, no restraint. Like in the days of the book of Judges, every man will do that which is right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25).

All these trends will increase in intensity and frequency in the last days of grace among all people.

When the Lord comes, however, in the twinkling of an eye, we’ll leave all this behind. We don’t know for certain when He’s coming, but as we see these trends so widespread in the world today, it reminds us that every day really is a possibility.

Knowing that this is so, may we remember to warn and reach out to the unbelieving around us, who stand in danger every day of being left behind to face the judgment to come in the Tribulation period.

And to share the wonderful gospel of the wonderful grace of God that God loves you and Christ died for your sins and rose again, and just trusting this good news you are saved from all your sins and heaven-bound.