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NASB | Acts 2:17 'AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,' God says, 'THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS; |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Acts 2:17 'AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,' says God, 'THAT I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT UPON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE [divinely prompted] VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM [divinely prompted] DREAMS; |
Subject: Are these the last days? |
Bible Note: ARE THESE THE LAST DAYS? by Ray C. Stedman ____________________ "...Scripture itself makes very clear that the last days began with the first coming of Jesus." ____________________ 'Are these the last days? 'It is easy to answer that question with a hasty, "Yes." It is easy to compile from the Scriptures a few dramatic descriptive passages that would make most of us say today, "This is it. We are facing those very conditions." But I am rendered cautious in doing that, first, because I know that historically this has been done scores if not hundreds of times in the past. You can read back through a few generations of Christian life and for the last three centuries, at least, there have been groups that were absolutely sure that their days were the last days. Some of them even set dates for the return of Christ. Other groups have been sure, as they observed the appearances of their own times, that these were the days before the return of the Lord. Yet we know that all of them were wrong. Therefore, it ought to be a caution to us, it ought to give us pause, before we do the same thing in our own times and immediately pronounce that we are in the last days. 'Furthermore, I am made cautious by the fact that Scripture itself makes very clear that the last days began with the first coming of Jesus. There is a very strong sense in Scripture that for twenty centuries we have been living in the last days -- that these last days began with the coming of Christ. When Scripture uses the term, "the last days," it is not talking about the time immediately before Christ returns; it is speaking of the whole period of time in which the life of the church has been going on, some 2,000 years. 'Let me show you some of the passages that reveal that. Sometimes Bible teachers are not very fair in their use of Scripture. They tend to pick up a few passages here and there and call these the last days. They ignore other passages that speak very clearly about what these last days truly are. In the opening words of the letter to the Hebrews the writer begins in this way: 'In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. (Hebrews 1:1-2 RSV) 'There is the very phrase, "these last days." The writer says they began when Jesus appeared and spoke to men in his first coming, therefore the last days are still continuing. The writer sees them as going on until the ultimate end predicted in the Scripture; the whole period is known as "these last days." 'Another well-known passage is found in the letter to the Romans. The Apostle Paul writing from Corinth, says in Chapter 13, Verse 11: 'Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed; the night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; (Romans 13:11-12 RSV) 'It is clear from that that Paul speaks as though the end were almost upon the people of his day. "The night is far gone, the day is at hand. The hour has come," he says, "when our salvation, which we have been looking for, is almost upon us." Yet that was written in the 1st century. Twenty centuries of time have gone on since then. In First Peter, Chapter 4, Verse 7, Peter puts it very bluntly: 'The end of all things is at hand. (1 Peter 4:7 RSV) 'Again, this was written to those in the 1st century. Now either we have to believe that the Bible is mistaken about this, or we have to understand that the Biblical phrase, "the last days," does not mean the immediate end before the return of Christ; it covers a longer period. In this sense, therefore, it is perfectly proper to answer our question this morning, "Yes, we definitely are in the last days," but we have been there for twenty centuries.' To read more go to: www.pbc.org/dp/stedman/misc/3699.html |
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oneness holy | ||
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GUSISREALTOME | ||
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goneracin | ||
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DocTrinsograce | ||
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kalos | ||
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kalos | ||
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kalos | ||
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kalos | ||
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fro5tbite | ||
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cuhigher |