Description
A Fresh Look at the Last Days. From Obscurity to Clarity
* Pertinent to the 1st Century. Meaningful to the 21st Century.
* Did Jesus mean what He said? Was He wrong?
* Judaism doesn’t believe in the First Coming of Christ, though they talk about it a lot. They say, “it hasn’t happened yet”
* Christendom doesn’t believe in the Second Coming of Christ, though they talk about it a lot. They say, “it hasn’t happened yet”
Just a few days before penning this, I was conversing Last Days stuff with an old friend. She commented, “there’s so much about the Second Coming and The End that I don’t know, and can’t know, that I just avoid it.” Sort of like the “Pan-Millenialist” that says “oh well, it’ll all pan out in the end.” Acceptingly. Acquiescently. It just is what it is, yes?
Uh, no. At least, not so much.
If I may express, considerately, there is much about the Last Days and The End that is more knowable than people typically know. I suggest that much of the apparently UN-knowable stuff has been hidden behind speculations, prognostications, curious interpreta-tions, exaggerations, and twist-ifications(!) of the words of Jesus and His apprentices. My effort in this Fresh Look at the Last Days is to explain, simply as I am able, how much Scripture that seems impenetrable is quite intelligible. The whole enchilada of the Last Days? Perhaps not. But much, if not most of it? A definitive yes.
Much of the obscurity at a first-glance of New Testament Prophecy is because of how it is approached. Watch out now! The Gospel accounts and Epistles and Revelation were not written to us in the 21st Century. They were written to the Ephesians and Philippians and Corinthians, etc. of that day and culture. Is the New Testament inspired? 100% yes. But when read with 21st Century lenses, obscurity can affect the interpretation. What did those words of Jesus and the Apostles say & mean to the readers and hearers of that day? To obtain understanding of what it SAID to them, is so helpful to know what it MEANS to us. And yes, it is all so meaningful to us.
Simply put, when reading the NT, we are reading someone else’s mail.
The New Testament is the Scripture-Record of Jesus’ first coming, yes? That would include His continuing work through the Spirit and the efforts of the Apostles, after He ascended Home. Twenty-five percent of that First Coming record was about His Second Coming and the End of the Age. Twenty-five percent?? Yes. Minimum. So, if I embrace the NT as inspired, it may not be a great option for me to ignore twenty-five percent of it. You may have noticed that the Teacher and His apprentices were quite interested in teaching and writing about the Last Days.
The Last Days of WHAT? That’s what this little book is about.
I do video blogs called “Thought Provokers”. Most of my Provokers are just a few minutes long. This book is the same material I share in a series of twenty-seven Provokers. Obviously, whether videos or pages, it is all a monologue. I try my best to give at least a conversational tone. No pontificating. Just thought-provoking.
Remember the Bereans (Acts 17)? They liked what they heard the apostle say, but they went home and checked it out for themselves. It says that made them “noble”. I’m hoping you like what you read here, and then think it through for yourself. As in, “eat the chicken, and throw away the bones.” (I’ll avoid dishing out bones, best I can.)
You will notice some R&R’s (repeats & redundancies) in this Fresh Look. I hope they don’t bore or irritate you. I left some in there for the sake of emphasis and clarification. That will also let the “Summary & Review” fill just one chapter (Chapter 25).
Let’s go !
Sincerely,
Bob N.
