The End of the World

The end times, are they near? We now have the fullness of the Scriptures, the last of the prophets was John the Baptist (Matthew 11:13). The Old Testament was given by the prophets, and the New Testament was given during the time of transition from the old covenant to the new covenant, and was given by the apostles. The apostles are all dead, and so are the prophets. With the end of the days of Christ on Earth, and the reception of the Holy Spirit, we have been in the last days since the day of Pentecost. The Last Days is the time between the time of Christ and the Second Coming. The Last Days will continue until the day of judgement, which will not come until the fullness of His sheep are gathered into the fold (2 Peter 3).

History is divided into three sections; the first is Eden, beginning with the 144 hour transition period of creation, the second is the Old Testament, beginning with the transition period of The Fall, and the third is the Last Days, beginning with the transition period of the Time of Christ. There is a fourth period, Eternity, beginning with the transition period of the End Times or Final Judgement. Eden established what harmony with God is, and displayed how things should be. The Old Testament established and displayed who God is and who humans are, the distinction between sin and righteousness, the wrongness of sin, the greatness of God, and the distinction between Israel and non-Israel, clean and unclean, God's chosen and the Sons of Perdition, saved and unsaved; preparing the way for Christ, displaying the need for Christ, and proclaiming the coming of the Messiah. The Last Days are the time of the gathering of God's people, Christ has come, redemption and salvation has come, the sacrifice has been made, the Law has been given, and fulfilled; the time of God's people coming to Him and awaiting the coming of Christ. In the Last Days, Christ has come and established His spiritual kingdom, and with His sacrifice purified unto Himself His bride, the Church. We are now gathering the Elect and awaiting the Marriage Supper of The Lamb. People feel as though the Final Judgement is soon, the End Times are nearly at hand, and the Second Coming is immanent, and so it is, but in light of the duration of eternity, any finite time is well nigh nothing. Even in the Time of Christ, 2000 years ago, they thought that the End Times were soon.

It is unknown for certain how old the Universe is. If we are to accept the reasonable calculations performed by the Bishop of Usher, the second period of history is approximately 4000 years. According to historical records, such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, we are now about 2000 years into the third period of history. It is unknown how long the first period was, for the Biblical account of the length of Adam's life says he lived 130 years, and begat Seth (Genesis 5:3), but the term for "lived" means "could have died", so therefore is not the number of breathing years, but the number of breathing years while mortal, and so the clock starts with the fall, and the time in Eden before the fall is unknown. We assume it was a brief time, and logically it would seem so; the purpose of Eden, and the Biblical account of the events in Eden, do not necessitate very much time.

Eden was a preparation for Old Testament times, and Old Testament times was a preparation for the Last Days. The Last Days is the most important period of history, for all the rest is preparing for the Last Days, when God's Church is on the Earth, gathering the harvest, preaching the gospel, and redemption is available, with the Messiah come and His prophesy fulfilled. Before the Time of Christ, history was preparing for Christ. History has been making ready for the Last Days. Although we seem to think that the Last Days should be a short time, what if it is actually the longest time in history? The other times are periods of transition or preparing, the Last Days is it. Although it is popular to think that the Last Days will end soon, what if they last for another 10,000 years? That would make the Last Days a period of 12,000 years, three times as long as its preparation era. If the Second Coming is not going to occur until the fullness of the sheep are gathered, and the first two periods of history are preparation for the Last Days, and the Last Days is the time of the gathering, wouldn't such a time be the longest, with the most significant time of history being the gathering of the sheep? Why must the Last Days be a short time? Why not the longest period of history?