Category: End Times

When interpreting the Time Prophecies of Daniel some writers set up Ptolemy’s Canon of Kings as a judge over God’s Word. When their interpretation of God’s message does not conform to the authority of Ptolemy’s Canon, then it just wouldn’t do. Concerning this, Martin Anstey, author of the Romance of Bible Chronology said:

“Ptolemy may be called as a witness. He cannot be allowed to arbitrate as a Judge. He cannot take the place of a Court of Final Appeal. He cannot be erected into a standard to correct the Chronology of the text of the Old Testament.”

I think Mr. Anstey was correct. Setting Ptolemy up as a judge has implications for the doctrines of inspiration of the Bible and the Omniscience of God.

INTRODUCTION

Claudius Ptolemy, circa AD 130, formulated the geocentric theory of the universe; the planets and stars revolve around a stationary earth. He was the greatest astronomer in antiquity because of his discoveries described in his Syntaxis (also called the Almagest). All modern Chronology and calendar of ancient history rest upon his calculations as outlined in his Canon of Kings (hereafter called Ptolemy’s Canon or the Canon) and this is the foundation of all secular Chronology. It is not known where or from whom Ptolemy got his dates. The Bible, on the other hand has its own Chronology and there are many differences between it and Ptolemy’s Canon.

In this blog, the main difference I am addressing is the duration of the Medo-Persian Empire. The Jewish rabbis gave 52 years to this period, Ptolemy has it at 205 years and the Bible (the books of Daniel, Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah) 123 years (calculated by Sir Robert Anderson in his book The coming Prince) giving a difference of 82 years between the Canon and the Bible.

Therefore, depending on whose chronology we use, there is a difference of 80-82 years between the Bible and Ptolemy’s canon.

In interpreting the time prophecies of the Bible, the chronology used is the essential thing. Therefore, all interpreters of Biblical prophecy who used any chronology based on this canon, would be misled. It is impossible to make these prophecies and the corresponding real Bible events agree with the chronology of Ptolemy by 80-82 (205-123=82) years for this period. This single fact makes many modern commentaries on Daniel’s Time Prophecies worthless, so far as their chronology is concerned.

Ptolemy’s Canon:

https://www.livius.org/articles/concept/ptolemys-canon/

 This list of reigns, begins with year 1 of Nabonassar, a vassal king of Babylon under Assyria, and covers over 900 years down to Ptolemy’s day. It lists the Babylonian and Persian kings, Alexander the Great and his Macedonian successors in Egypt (the Ptolemies), and the Roman emperors down to Antoninus Pius. Alongside each king’s name is the length of his reign and the cumulative total beginning from the year 1 of Nabonassar at noon on February 26, 747 BC (-746 since astronomers use a year 0 in place of 1 BC). The Canon used the ancient Egyptian calendar year of 365 days, with no leap year (not the 365 ¼ day Julian year in use in Ptolemy’s day) as the Alexandrian civil year.

This uniform 365-day year was adopted by astronomers outside Egypt, long before Ptolemy; for astronomical theory requires observational data over a long period and a scale of years to measure long intervals.

The dating system numbering years as “year of King XYZ” (Dan. 1:1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim) was inadequate. On the other hand, the 365-day Egyptian year allowed the computing of intervals of an exact number of days, an impossibility in the lunar calendars which had variable months and year. “Ptolemy’s Canon” was such a time scale.

PRESENT USE OF THE CANON

 Ptolemy’s Canon of Kings is the only secular Chronology for this period.

 Had Ptolemy never written, the connection between secular and Biblical Chronology before the end of the Persian Empire in the 1st year of Alexander the Great would be unintelligible and useless. Other than the Bible Chronology there is no other chronology in existence of the period from Cyrus the Great to Jesus Christ. Interpreters of Bible prophecy, especially Daniel’s “Seventy Sevens”, therefore, consult with Ptolemy’s canon to see if their results are in conformity.

I was able to trace this system as far back as Dr. Prideaux, however, it was subsequently enlarged by Sir Robert Anderson in his late 19th century book The Coming Prince.

There is no other chronology for this period except the Biblical Chronology given in the prophecies of Daniel, Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Therefore, although the Ptolemaic System of Astronomy was overthrown by Copernicus in the 16th Century, the use of Ptolemy’s Canon for Chronological purposes continues to this day.

Modern expositors of Biblical prophecy concerning this period, especially the time prophecy of Daniel of the Seventy Sevens (Weeks), use the dates of the Canon this way:

First, choose one of the Biblical chronologies compiled by various chronologists, Ussher, Lloyd, Clinton, Hales, Jackson or Marshall.

Second, assume the correctness of the selected chronology.

Third, search for a decree of a Persian king corresponding with the “The going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild…”. Here Ptolemy enters.

Fourth, search the New Testament for an incident in the lifetime of Christ, which would be close to 483 or 490 years away, depending on the interpretation of the prophecy, from the decree chosen above and according to the selected chronology.

An examination of this procedure shows the interpretation of time prophecies being controlled by the selected chronology which in turn relied on Ptolemy’s canon for the Medo-Persian period at least. Therefore, every interpretation which does not agree with Ptolemy’s Canon must be rejected.

Every existing chronological system covering the period from the beginning of the Medo-Persian monarchy to Christ is based upon the Canon although the supposed length of the reign of each monarch can be nothing but guesswork.

LIMITATIONS (CRITICISM) OF PTOLEMY’S CANON

Ptolemy had no means of accurately determining the Chronology of this period, so he contrived to make a Chronology (See below). He was a great astronomer and constructor of synthetic systems, however he cannot and should not be compared to Yahweh who knows “the end from the beginning.”

The Canon is contradicted by:

(1) the national traditions of Persia,

(2) the national traditions of the Jews. The Jewish Chronologists go upon the principle of no other kings of Persia other than those mentioned in their Scriptures and limiting their reigns to the number of years mentioned there. I believe this to be reasonable.

(3) the testimony of Josephus, and

(4) the conflicting evidence of authenticated events as the Conference of Solon with Croesus, and the flight of Themistocles to the court of Artaxerxes Longimanus.

The procedure is incorrect.

This procedure (above) is fundamentally wrong. It tries to make the events of Bible prophecy and its consequent history conform with a manmade chronological scheme. It pits Ptolemy, a man, against God with the sure result of the man coming out on top. But Ptolemy had no facts as to the length of the Persian period from Darius and Cyrus down to Alexander the Great. His guess that this period was about 205-207 years long has caused all the uncertainty for anyone attempting a construction of a Bible Chronology.

The opinion of other astronomers

Ptolemy’s reputation first came under scrutiny by Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 – 1543) and was overthrown in his heliocentric system “De Revolutionibus”. More recent, in 1977, John Hopkins physicist Robert Russell Newton, in his book, The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy, https://archive.org/details/crime-of-cladius-ptolemy, labelled him the “the most successful fraud in the history of science.”

Newton’s meticulously documented study of Ptolemy’s works, revealed three things:

1. fabricating regnal dates, in the absence of records,
2. he worked backwards from results he was trying to prove, and made observations that could not have been done from Alexandria.

Newton concluded, “his models … conflict violently with elementary observation…Astronomy would be better off if Ptolemy’s Syntaxis (Almagest) had never been written.” The data at Ptolemy’s disposal was insufficient for him to fill the gaps in the secular chronology, much less fix the dates of the Chronology of this period.

Errors by Interpreters of prophecy who depended on the Canon.

Many scholars and writers, in the past used Ptolemy’s canon as authority, and have set dates for the return of Christ which proved to be wrong. A Google search of this makes interesting reading.

John the Baptist, Jesus Christ and John the Revelator taught that the Kingdom of God would begin in their time. They had no knowledge of the non-prophetic scheme of Ptolemy. Teachers and interpreters today, explain away this by saying the Jews rejected their Messiah King and therefore the Kingdom was “held in abeyance” until they are willing to accept Jesus as their Messiah. Other prophecies are still held to be some time in the future although the New Testament writer/historian Luke said, “all which are written” (Luke 21:22) would to be fulfilled in the destruction of the Holy city and Temple which occurred in AD 70.

The testimony of Josephus

Josephus’ gives six monarchs for the Medo-Persian Empire instead of Ptolemy’s ten. His last is contemporary with Jaddua, the son of Johannan, the son of Joiada. So that Jaddua was contemporary with Alexander the Great, and Jaddua’s father or uncle, the son of Joiada, was contemporary with Nehemiah, who chased him (Neh. 13:28). Therefore, from Nehemiah and Joiada to Alexander the Great is only one generation but Ptolemy makes it 100 years and when Artaxerxes of Nehemiah is identified with Darius Hystaspes, it is approximate to150 years. Josephus’ successions of the Jewish High Priests and the Kings of Persia are also good evidence against Ptolemy’s canon and in accordance with the Chronology of Daniel and Nehemiah.

A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE BIBLE

To illustrate I will use Daniel’s prophecy of the Seventy Weeks which does not need a chronology as the prophecy contains its own chronology. This divinely revealed time-measure, starts from the return of the Israelites out of Babylon and reached to the redemptive ministry of the Messiah and the destruction of the sanctuary and the Holy city.

The confusion associated with this prophecy lies in the attempt to make it conform to the man-made chronology (Ptolemy’s Canon) which is known to be different from the Bible’s chronology. The nature of bible prophecy guaranteed that in the Scriptures themselves, everything will be found for a right and clear understanding. Further, the whole interpretation must lie within the capacity of ordinary Christians. Based on Sola Scriptura, with confidence, they can understand every prophecy and its interpretation, and see for themselves whether it be supported by the Word of God.

The book of Daniel deals in a very special way with Christ and the nation through which He came into the world. He is seen in the fiery furnace delivering those who trusted in their God (3:25); and receiving an everlasting Kingdom (7:13, 14). Daniel was given the exact amount of time from the decree of Cyrus, an event in his own day, to the coming of Christ. God also revealed to Daniel the time of the crucifixion of Christ, as well as the judgment of his nation Israel, in the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the Temple.

The decree of Cyrus, allowing Israel to return to the land and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple was the starting point of the “determined” period of seventy sevens. This is clearly seen from the prophecy itself in connection with Ezra 1:1; Isaiah 44:28; 2Chronicles 36:22,23 and other Scriptures. His decree was also the termination of the Babylonian captivity, where one period ended, and another, seven times as long, began. Yet Ptolemy placed this event in the reign of Artaxerxes II and modern expositors of the prophecy has this king, rather than Cyrus, as ending the Captivity and making the decree.

The facts that the prophecy and related history was fulfilled long before Ptolemy’s Canon was devised, and before Dionysius Exiguus invented the present Chronology for the period, are entirely ignored. GOD was very clear about who He would use to free the Children of Israel from Babylon. He decreed it would be Cyrus the Great and it would be after 70 years desolation of Jerusalem was fulfilled. It was not Artaxerxes II. The resulting history recorded in the Bible shows that God was correct, yet writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries insist that it was Artaxerxes II.

There is one alternative, the prophecy of Daniel 9:24 – 27 which fixed the period “between the going forth of the commandment to return and to build Jerusalem (in the first year of Cyrus)” to the destruction of the Temple and the City of Jerusalem as a period of “seventy sevens”. During this period the Messiah would arrive to make a new covenant with Israel, fulfill His Redemptive Ministry to the Jews and be killed, and the temple and the city of Jerusalem destroyed.

This is the true Chronology of the period from the 1st year of Cyrus to the Destruction of Jerusalem. His chronology leaves only 123 years, instead of the 205 in Ptolemy’s Canon, for the duration of the Persian Empire.

Jewish tradition claims the last year of Darius Hystaspes as the year in which the prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi died and the spirit of prophecy ceased from among the Children of Israel. It is also claimed that this is the “sealing up of vision and prophecy” spoken of by the prophet Daniel (Dan. 9:24). The same tradition make the Medo-Persian Empire ceased in the same year, for they believe this was the Darius whom Alexander the Great conquered, and the length the Persian Empire was only 52 years,

Darius the Median reigned                                               1 year.

Cyrus                                                                                3 years.

Cambyses (Ahasuerus who married Esther)                    16 years.

Darius (the son of Esther)                                               32 years

Total years of Empire                                                      52

The choice is between:

1. The Jews tradition of 52 years.
2. The prophet Daniel’s account together with Ezra and Nehemiah of 123 years.
3. Ptolemy’s canon of Kings 205 years.

Duration of the Persian Empire 123 years (Confirmed by Sir Robert Anderson).

Beginning of Greek Empire to Christ 332 years.

From Christ to Destruction of Jerusalem and Sanctuary 70 years.

Therefore:

123 + 332 + 70 + 1* = 526 solar years of 365 ¼ days. Or 52.2 sevens.

*We must add 1 because there is no year 0.

Therefore, Seventy sevens = 526 solar years.

Is this Chronology represented anywhere in the Bible? I believe it is in the Chronology of Matthew where we are told of 14 generations between the carrying away to Babylon and Christ’s generation, the generation destroyed in AD 70.

A generation is 40 sabbath years and Jesus’ generation lived to AD70; so, 14 x 40 = 560 sabbath years. A sabbath year is defined as 49 weeks (7 x 7 = 49; See Leviticus 23 & 25 and Daniel’s Seventy Sevens).

The proof of Daniel’s 70 Sabbaths is that 560 x 49 = 27,740. There are 17 sabbaths from the 1 Nissan (beginning of the year) to the destruction of Jerusalem 9th Ab AD70 giving a total of 27,457 sabbaths.

Now, there are 365.25/7 = 52.2 sabbaths in a solar year. Multiplying, 526 x 52.2 gives us 27,457 sabbaths.

If, therefore, one begins by taking Ussher’s chronology (or any of the others) as the basis of his interpretation, he is forced to select a starting point about eighty years after King Cyrus, who (according to Scripture) was the true restorer, the man whom God specially raised up, and of whom He said, “He shall build My city.”

CONCLUSION

The dichotomy is summed up thus,

When interpreting the Biblical Prophecies, the authority of other extra-biblical sources can be corroborative or conflicting, but never the verdict of a jury pronouncing a judgement on the veracity of the Word of God. Therefore, Ptolemy’s canon may be compared with the Old Testament Record, but it must not be regarded as established truth and used to correct the testimony of the Word Of GOD. In the battle, Ptolemy versus God, God can never be the loser. However, this has not always been the case.

This important matter of the defective character of all existing secular chronologies is discussed in Martin Anstey’s The Romance of Bible Chronology, published in 1913, to which I refer those who wish to study the matter in more detail. A copy of this work is at:

https://ia600307.us.archive.org/26/items/romanceofbiblech01anst/romanceofbiblech01anst.pdf

THE END

THE LAST DAYS

Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Isaiah 46:9,10.

INTRODUCTION

Most Christians hearing the phrase “last days” assume it is referring to the last days of the world and think it is occurring presently, in our time. They would say the present generation of the 21^st Century is living in the last days. There are many others who believe we are in the last days of planet earth because they see all the middle east turmoil, technological advancements, “new world order,” etc. They claim that these are fulfilments of biblical prophecy proving we are in the last days.

One American writer on the last days said:

“Don’t you see ‘the signs of the times?’ ‘Mark this,’ Paul wrote: ‘There will be terrible times in the last days’ (2 Timothy 3:1). And what do we see now? America at war. Shootings in our schools. Disasters in the weather. Is it all coming to a climax? Will World War III soon be upon us? We are living in the last days!”

By “last days” he meant the last days of the world, the “last days” of planet earth.

Let’s examine what the Bible said about the “last days” and see if we can understand its meaning and when they were to take place. First, I will examine how the phrase was originally used in the prophecies of Hebrew Scriptures. Next, I will look for their fulfilment or lack of fulfilment in the New Testament.

LAST DAYS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

In Judaism the last days were also called the end time or time of the end. These phrases appear several times in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and in our English Bible was translated from achariyth hayamim; in the Textus Receptus, it is achariyth yome. The word achariyth is also translated as “end of” and “latter”. In the New Testament, the Greek is eschatais hemerais and was translated as “end times”, “last days” and “latter times”.

First used by Jacob.

The phrase first appeared in Genesis with reference to the sons of Jacob, not the physical earth (world) but to the infant nation of Israel. Jacob was on his deathbed, and he called his twelve sons to his bedside. He prophesied to them what would happen to them in the last days. Jacob’s stated intention was “…I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.” The entire chapter (49 of Genesis) described the fate of the Sons of Jacob or the Israelites in those last days. Note, it was not about the end of the world.

The prophecy of the last days concerned only the twelve sons of Jacob who later became collectively the nation of Israel. He told each of his twelve sons, beginning with the firstborn, Reuben, and ending with the last, Benjamin, “what shall befall you in the 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 (achariyth hayamim). Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father. Genesis 49:1, 2.

While prophesying about Judah, Jacob gave the time of the last days in the future. In verse 10, he said,

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

First, it indicated when Israel (Sons of Jacob) would be in its last days.

The Messiah would come to gather the people. The people were the nation of Israel not the whole world. This agrees with what Jesus at his first advent said:

But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matthew 15:24.

Paul added:

Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision (Jews or sons of Jacob) for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: Romans 15:8.

By the circumcision he meant the Jews or the sons of Jacob who were the only nation given this ritual by God.

Second, Shiloh is another name for the Messiah.

Therefore, the last days were associated with the first coming of Christ. The King of Judah when Jesus the Messiah was born was Herod the Great an Idumean; the scepter had departed from Judah!

A scepter is an ornamental staff carried by ancient rulers as a symbol of sovereignty. So, Jacob said Judah will be the royal or ruling tribe of Israel “until Shiloh come.” He predicted the long line of the Kings of Judah from David until the Messiah Jesus (See the genealogy in Matt. 1:1-16).

Third, there would be a gathering of the people of Israel when Shiloh the Messiah came (first coming).

There can be no doubt this prophecy was fulfilled in the 1^st Century when Jesus came to gather a remnant of the Jews who believed on Him, to himself:

These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matthew 10:5-6.

In this Prophecy given by Jacob, to his sons, GOD was “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:” (Isa.46:10).

Isaiah prophesied of the last days.

 Again, the Prophecy concerns Judah and Jerusalem (Israel, not the whole world). Everywhere the phrase last days was used to refer to Israel not the whole physical world.

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

And it shall come to pass in the last days (achariyth hayamim), that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

This prophecy was a prediction of the New Covenant which was inaugurated in the last days by the Messiah Jesus. Therefore, the last days must coincide with the preaching of the gospel by the Apostles.

Mountain and hills refer to places of worship. At the time of Jesus and the last days the mountain and hills were the Jerusalem temple and synagogues. The mountain of the LORD’s house refers to the Temple in Jerusalem. Verse 3 is a reference to the Gospel of Jesus Christ “going forth” from Jerusalem and all the nations (tribes of Israel) receiving it. All these things were to take place during the last days.

Ezekiel’s placement of the last days.

The prophet Ezekiel, writing during the Babylonian Captivity, placed the Roman invasion and destruction of Jerusalem of 70AD as occurring in the last days:

And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days (achariyth hayamim), and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. Ezekiel 38:16.

Some think Gog here refers to Russia and the invasion as taking place sometime in our distant future. However, this is an error. The Russians are not the only descendants of Gog. The Romans (Italians) were also descended from Gog. This prophecy is of the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in AD70 which ended the last days.

The angel Gabriel foretold the last days to Daniel.

 Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people (Israel) in the latter days (achariyth hayamim): for yet the vision is for many days.    Daniel 10:14.

And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end (achariyth) of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. Daniel 12:8-10.

­­­­­­­­­­­­Again, the prophecy has reference to “thy people”, Daniel’s people (Israel). It was approximately 538 BC when the Jewish exile to Babylon came to an end.

LAST DAYS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Most Christians would agree that the last days began around the time of Christ as we saw prophesied by various prophets of the Old Testament. The debate is whether those days have continued until now and whose last days they were. Hopefully, our study of the New Testament will help us answer these questions

Acts 2:16-20/Joel 2:28-32

This sermon by Peter placed the fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel as occurring in the last days. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh on the day of Pentecost indicated that the last days were already upon them. However, the great and notable Day of the Lord was still some 40 years in the future:

But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: and I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:

There is nothing in this passage linking its “last days” to present time.

Hebrews 1:1,2

The writer of Hebrews said, they (first century Christians) lived in the last days but does not identify those days with the present time (2024).

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;   Hebrews 1:1-2.

The writer contrasts “in time past” when God spoke “unto the fathers” with “these last days”, indicating he was writing during the last days, the time of the Son and His Apostles. The use of the pronoun “us” as well as the demonstrative pronoun “these” strengthens this argument. These last days must be those in which the writer lived. For in those days Christ appeared and spoke to the Jews, according to the prediction of Jacob, Moses, and Daniel.

2Peter 3:1-4

This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

Peter was not giving a new prophecy which would come to pass in the 21^st Century. But he was calling upon the disciples to remember a prophecy which was spoken before by the holy prophets, “that there shall come in the last days scoffers…”. He also reminded them that the scoffers were there present in the first century for they were saying “since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” Because there were scoffers at the time Peter was writing, he knew that the prophecy was fulfilled in his lifetime.

CONCLUSION

On examination of the relevant Scriptures, I believe the last days, prophesied of in the Old Testament, is the same last days that came to pass in the New Testament. Furthermore, the prophecies established a chronology or timeline of the last days which has no link to the present.

First, the last days began with the arrival of the Messiah Jesus to minister to and gather the Jews; then, during the last days the coming of the Holy Spirit with signs and wonders; and afterwards, the great and notable day of the LORD (judgement of Judah and Jerusalem in AD 70).

There is no biblical evidence which suggested that the last days are being fulfilled in our time or will be fulfilled anytime in the future. In the Old Testament, the phrase “last days” was used only in reference to the nation of Israel. There is no instant of it being used in reference to the Gentile nations or the physical world around us. In the New Testament, the same phrase was used in the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies to which they referred.