#4 The Last Days do NOT refer to the end of time, but the last days of Old Covenant Jerusalem and its System of Law.
The very first reference to the last days is, ironically, in the book of beginnings (Genesis) and it refers to what will BEFALL Israel’s sons in THEIR last days. "And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall BEFALL YOU in the last days." (49:1)Just so that we know that is true, notice what he says about Judah and the time period he refers to in verse 10: The scepter shall not depart from Judah,Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,Until Shiloh (Jesus) comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
Deuteronomy 32 teaches the same thing regarding THEIR latter end.
20 And He said: ‘I will hide My face from them,I will see what THEIR END will be, (Israel as a covenant nation will have an end)For they are a perverse generation,Children in whom is no faith.(quoted by Jesus in HIS day)21 They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God;They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols.But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation;I will move them to anger by a foolish nation. (quoted by Paul as fulfilled in HIS day)23 ‘I will heap disasters on them;I will spend My arrows on them.24 They shall be wasted with hunger,Devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction;I will also send against them the teeth of beasts,With the poison of serpents of the dust.25 The sword shall destroy outside;There shall be terror within 29 Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this,That they would consider THEIR LATTER END!... 43“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people;For He will avenge the blood of His servants,And render vengeance to His adversaries;He will provide atonement for His land and His people.”
Do you know when this was fulfilled? In the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD.
Notice…Revelation 6:10, “and they were crying with a great voice, saying, 'Till when, O Master, the Holy and the True, dost Thou not judge and take vengeance of our blood from those dwelling upon the land?'” (YLT)
Revelation 18:24, "In her was found the blood of the prophets and saints, and of all who were slain ON THE EARTH."
What did Jesus say regarding them in HIS generation?
Matthew 23:34“Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, 35 so that upon you may fall THE GUILT OF ALL THE RIGHTEOUS BLOOD shed ON THE EARTH, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36“Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon THIS GENERATION.
The last days were the last days of Jerusalem before the temple was destroyed. This is why the author of Hebrews (along with many other NT writers) said,
Hebrews 1:1-2; 1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in THESE LAST DAYS spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
Hebrews 9:26, He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but NOW, once at the END of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. In fact the author of Hebrews goes on and in chapter 8 says, 13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.(it was ready to vanish away because it was about to be destroyed in just a few short years)
1 Peter 1:19-20, "...but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in THESE LAST TIMES for YOU."
1 Peter 4:7, "But the END OF ALL THINGS IS AT HAND; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers."