john said:
I was always under the impression that, for the most part, the last days were from the time of Christ until His second coming. So, we are still in the last days even now. I realize you alluded to the fact also. I do agree that the last days may have different meanings or more than one meaning (for example, a current and future one) depending on the passage. I guess what I'm saying is that I think we are living in the last days now and have been for the past 2000-odd years.
Yes in an important sense we are still in the last days. But this present time is better described, I believe, as "the millennium" (not a
literal period 365,000 24-hour days give or take for leap years) than "the last days."
The Apostle John wrote "hear the words of the prophecy and heed the things that are written it, for
the time is near (Rev 1:3, 22:10) and
I am coming quickly (3:11, 22:7, 12). Quickly can mean suddenly - but "the time is near" means exactly that.
I really have a hard time believing that blood ran up to a horse's bridle. There may have been enough splattering around that a horse's bridle was soaked with blood, but "ran" signifies a river which is quite a different story. Do you have references for that?
To be fair, a Roman bridle wasn't the thing that went in the horse's mouth, but something that ran around the horse's belly. And also to be fair, the reference in Revelation 14 could certainly refer to the Second Coming rather than to the events of 70 A.D. in Jerusalem. The Jewish historian Josephus described a massive slaughter there in which blood gathered in places to that depth.
I am not saying that the Second Coming took place in 70 A.D.!! That would be heresy! But obviously whatever terrible judgement-coming of Christ was to come in "
this generation" (Matthew 23:36 and 24:34 - see also 16:28) happened just as Jesus said it would.
I believe we should count the "last days" in such passages as Joel 2 and Acts 2 and Hebrews 1 etc as the period between the Lord's ascension and the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70, and "the last Day" as the time yet future when the Lord returns to catch away His bride and judge the earth. This is
orthodox preterism. It has been the doctrine of the historic Christian religion for most of it's nearly 2,000 year history. Most Charismatics have never heard of it.
In my own Charismatic days I thought that all Christians believed in the "left behind" scenario. It's all I had ever heard. But in fact, the idea of a secret "rapture"
separated by years of time from the Second Coming is a very recent teaching, little more than a hundred years old.
The reason that orthodox preterism makes such a difference when it comes to Pentecostalism is that
the things that were signified by the sign gifts have already come to pass, thus the sign gifts have no validity beyond their fulfillment.
Please post any questions about eschatology in the Theology Forum - but before doing so, be sure to have a look at the articles on eschatology right
here at the Highway. This site has an awesome library!
-Robin
