The Old Testament Scriptures have a great deal to say about the "last" or "latter" days.  The phrase looks forward in a general way to the coming of Messiah and the establishment of His kingdom (Gen. 49:1, Num. 24:14, Deut. 4:30, Isa. 2:2, Dan. 2:28, 10:14, Hos. 3:5, Mic. 4:1).  Several similar phrases are used in connection with the same events, such as: "last time," "latter time," "the days come," "His days," "those days."

The coming of Messiah and the establishment of His kingdom in the last days is the goal of prophecy.  Indeed, even the New Testament Scriptures view Messiah's coming and kingdom as the great climax of the prophetic program (Mark 1:15, Luke 1:68-75, Acts 3:21-24, I Peter 1:11).
 
 

When Peter stood up nineteen centuries ago and declared that the last days had come (Acts 2:16,17) he showed that he was totally ignorant of God's plan to usher in a dispensation of grace before the return of Christ.

We must not suppose, however, that this ignorance was due to some human failing in Peter himself, for on the day of Pentecost the followers of Christ "were all filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:4).

Moreover, what he said was Scripturally correct.  In the light of all that had so far been revealed, these were the last days.  The prophets had said nothing about the dispensation of grace or the body of Christ.  There had as yet been no hint of any interruption of the prophetic program.

In Joel's prophecy concerning the last days, Pentecost is followed by the great tribulation and the return of Christ.  Indeed, the prophets had "testified beforehand" only "the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow" (I Pet. 1:11).  Now that the sufferings were over, it seemed as though the glory would soon follow, for no one could deny that the signs of "the day of the Lord" had begun to appear.¹

So Peter was not ignorant of the revealed program of God concerning the day in which he lived.  Taught by the Lord (Acts 1:3) and filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4), he had an intelligent understanding of just where he stood in the divine plan.  Hence the dynamic power of his message.

The apostles had expected the Holy Spirit to be "poured out" before the great tribulation and the return of Christ, and our Lord had promised them in commissioning them that they would then be supernaturally empowered to speak with other tongues (Mark 16:17).  Thus when the Spirit came and they began to speak in other languages Peter knew exactly what was happening and, pointing to Joel's prophecy, said without qualification: "THIS IS THAT."

"These are not drunken, as ye suppose - - 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 . . . and . . . show wonders . . . and signs . . . before that great and notable day of the Lord come" (Acts 2:15-20).

All this is clear if we simply remember not to anticipate revelation; if we remember that God's purpose concerning this present dispensation was then still a "mystery." As far as God's revealed plan was concerned, the last days--the days so long foretold--had begun.  Israel's long-promised Messiah had appeared, had died and risen again, had ascended to the Father's right hand and had sent the Holy Spirit to guide and empower His own.  The next number on the prophetic program was the tribulation period with the judgment of the nations and Messiah's return, and the signs of these things were already beginning to appear.
 
 

It is important to notice, however, that not all the signs of "the day of the Lord" appeared at Pentecost.  There were the "signs in the earth beneath" but not the "wonders in the heaven above."  There were the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, the tongues and visions and prophesying, but not the "blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke," nor as yet was "the sun turned into darkness and the moon into blood" (See Acts 2:17-20).  Furthermore, the signs which did appear soon passed away again (I Cor. 13:8) as the prophetic program made way for the unfolding of "the mystery," God's secret, eternal purpose.

Just before our Lord's ascension the apostles had asked: "Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6).  Our Lord, of course, had known that Israel would reject the offer of the kingdom, but He could not tell the eleven this for they could not then have put much heart into their appeal to Israel and Israel, in turn, might have had some excuse for further rejecting Christ.  Thus our Lord declined to answer their question and said:

"It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power.

"But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and YE SHALL BE WITNESSES UNTO ME BOTH IN JERUSALEM, AND IN ALL JUDAEA, AND IN SAMARIA, AND UNTO THE UTTERMOST PART OF THE EARTH" (Acts 1:7,8).

The house of Israel, then, received a bona fide offer of the return of Christ and the establishment of His kingdom as Peter cried:

"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when [that so] the times of refreshing shall [may] come from the presence of the Lord:

"And He shall [may] send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you" (Acts 3:19,20).

This, of course, was an appeal to the nation.  It did not mean that if that one audience had repented Christ would immediately have returned to bring in the kingdom, for we know that several prophesied events would first have had to be fulfilled.

But the question may be asked: If the prophetic program had run its course and a repentant Israel had finally been brought to Messiah's feet, how would God have brought in the dispensation of grace?  The answer is simply that He knew that they would not repent and that this was a factor in His plans to usher in the dispensation of grace.

The fact which concerned the people of Israel at that time was that a bona fide proposition was being made to them that if they repented the kingdom would be ushered in and Christ would return to occupy the throne of David.  God was holding Israel accountable for her acceptance or rejection of Christ and His kingdom.  As we know, the apostate nation did not repent but joined the Gentiles in their rebellion against God and could not have complained had the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy continued and God's wrath been poured out upon them.  Indeed, those who did repent were filled with the Holy Spirit in preparation for the ordeal through which they were expected, as a result of Israel's rebellion, to pass.

Thus the world was ripe for the wrath of God more than 1900 years ago and if the prophetic program had not been graciously interrupted, the judgment would have fallen then.

"BUT WHERE SIN ABOUNDED, GRACE DID MUCH MORE ABOUND" (Rom 5:20).

It was to Paul, that other apostle, that God first made known "the mystery [secret] of His will" (Eph. 1:9), "His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (II Tim. 1:9).

In Eph. 3:1-3 the apostle says:

"For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,

"If ye have heard of THE DISPENSATION OF THE GRACE OF GOD which is given me to you-ward:

"How that BY REVELATION HE MADE KNOWN UNTO ME THE MYSTERY . . ."

Paul, like the twelve, would have launched his ministry from Jerusalem, but to him our Lord revealed what He could not tell the eleven before His ascension.  In Acts 22:17,18 we have Paul's own account of the incident:

"When I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance;

"And saw Him [Christ] saying unto me, MAKE HASTE, AND GET THEE QUICKLY OUT OF JERUSALEM: FOR THEY WILL NOT RECEIVE THY TESTIMONY CONCERNING ME."

At that time Paul, supposing that his reputation as a former persecutor of Christ would have induced the Jews to listen to him and doubtless feeling too that he owed them an explanation of his conduct, began arguing the point with the Lord.  But the Lord replied simply:

"DEPART: FOR I WILL SEND THEE FAR HENCE UNTO THE GENTILES" (Verse 21).

This whole passage in Acts is most significant.  Why did our Lord insist that the twelve begin their ministry at Jerusalem, yet refuse to allow Paul to begin there?  Because Paul's ministry was to constitute an interruption of the commission and program of the twelve.  The Lord said to Paul, in effect: "They did not listen to the twelve; neither will they listen to you, so leave Jerusalem and go to the Gentiles." Thus God concluded Israel in unbelief, along with the Gentiles.  It is significant that after the raising up of Paul we find no further offer of the kingdom to Israel.² God had done this, however, "that He might have mercy upon all" (Rom. 11:32).

"O THE DEPTH OF THE RICHES BOTH OF THE WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD! HOW UNSEARCHABLE ARE HIS JUDGMENTS, AND HIS WAYS PAST FINDING OUT!" (Rom. 11:33).

And so an interruption of the prophetic program was begun in order that God, through Paul, might offer to all men everywhere salvation by grace, solely through the merits of the crucified, risen Christ.

"And that He might reconcile BOTH [Jews and Gentiles] unto God in ONE BODY by the cross . . ." (Eph. 2:16).

During this interruption or parenthesis, then, while the establishment of Christ's kingdom is held in abeyance, God is forming the body of Christ from Jews and Gentiles reconciled to Himself by the cross (Cf. I Cor. 12:13, II Cor. 5:14-21).

The Bible student should always remember that the formation of this "one body" is not the subject of prophecy, but of the mystery first revealed through Paul.  Nor is it the fulfillment of any covenant promise.  It is the product of pure grace, through the redeeming work of Christ.  This is why the unadulterated preaching of "the gospel of the grace of God" has always been the special object of Satan's wrath.  In this connection Paul writes to Timothy:

"Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

"WHO HATH SAVED US, AND CALLED US WITH AN HOLY CALLING, NOT ACCORDING TO OUR WORKS, BUT ACCORDING TO HIS OWN PURPOSE AND GRACE, WHICH WAS GIVEN US IN CHRIST JESUS BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN" (II Tim. 1:8,9).
 
 

Paul, like Peter, has much to say about "last days," but since his message concerns mainly this present dispensation of the mystery, and not the prophetic program, he generally has reference to the last days of the dispensation of grace, after which the prophetic program will again be resumed.

With all that was revealed to Paul about the dispensation of grace, there was one thing he never learned about it, namely, how long it was to continue.  This still remains a mystery.  No man knows how long it will last.  God has not promised that it will continue for any specific length of time.  There are no "times and seasons" for the body of Christ, nor any "signs of the times." The apostle mentions only trends toward the close of the age; trends which, in fact, had their beginning in his own day.

Paul himself had no idea that the day of grace would be extended until the present time for, writing to Timothy some nineteen hundred years ago concerning the "last days," he instructed him (Timothy) how to conduct himself under the circumstances (I Tim. 4:1-7, II Tim. 3:1-17).  Paul must have expected the dispensation to close very shortly, for to the unsaved of his day (as well as of ours) he wrote:

"We then as workers together with [God], beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

". . . behold, NOW is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation" (II Cor. 6:1,2).

And to the saved of his day (as well as of ours) he wrote:

"See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

"REDEEMING [BUYING UP] THE TIME, BECAUSE THE DAYS ARE EVIL" (Eph. 5:15,16).

Now that God has delayed His judgment of the world for some nineteen centuries let us beware of presumption, for every moment of delay is a moment of pure grace and at any moment this dispensation of grace may suddenly be brought to a close.  We cannot promise the lost one more hour in which to be saved, but must cry with more urgency than Paul: "NOW is the time!"³ and must ourselves buy up every opportunity to rescue the perishing, since the days are evil and the time probably very short.
 
 

PAUL AND THE LORD'S RETURN

Peter's ministry in early Acts, of course, had the Lord's return to earth in view; His return to reign in Jerusalem over Israel and the nations.

Paul also has much to say about the Lord's return, but again there is a difference.  To Paul it was revealed that the dispensation of grace would be brought to a close by the coming of Christ to catch away the members of His body, before the outpouring of His wrath and His return to earth to reign.⁴

That this was part of the "mystery" concerning the body, which had been revealed to him by the glorified Lord, is clear from his own words:

"FOR THIS WE SAY UNTO YOU BY THE WORD OF THE LORD, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [precede] them which are asleep.

"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

"Wherefore comfort one another with these words" (I Thes. 4:15-18).

"BEHOLD, I SHOW YOU A MYSTERY; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (I Cor.15:51-52).

Note again, from these passages, that Paul could not have expected the dispensation of grace to last for many years, for he says: "WE shall not all sleep" and "WE which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them [those risen] to meet the Lord in the air." Moreover, he consistently instructs believers from his day on to be waiting and looking for the Lord to come and take them to heaven (Phil. 3:20, I Thes. 1:10, Tit. 2:13).

Space does not permit a thorough study of this wonderful subject in this volume, but let us say here that God's grace and longsuffering in prolonging the present dispensation and delaying the world's judgment for nineteen hundred years should fill our hearts with wonder and gratitude, while at the same time the "blessed hope" of His coming for us should keep us continually watching and waiting, for He may come before the reader has finished reading this volume.
 
 

We have seen that Peter was not wrong when he declared at Pentecost that the last days had begun.  They had indeed begun, but God had a secret purpose to give the world a period of grace before putting down the world's rebellion and sending Christ to reign.

But the interruption of the kingdom program by the dispensation of grace sheds light on some of Peter's last recorded words too.  Writing in his second epistle concerning the delay in Christ's return to earth and the ushering in of the day of the Lord, he says:

"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that ONE DAY IS WITH THE LORD AS A THOUSAND YEARS, AND A THOUSAND YEARS AS ONE DAY" (II Pet. 3:8).

Notice, this is not our feeble explanation now of the delay in Christ's return.  This statement was made at the beginning of this time of waiting; at the dawn of the age of grace, and it indicates clearly that Peter then recognized that an interruption in the program had taken place.  But let us go on with his statement:

"The Lord is NOT SLACK concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; BUT IS LONGSUFFERING to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9).

So the delay should not be counted slackness or laxness on the Lord's part, but longsuffering.  And now see verse 15:

"And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is SALVATION . . ."

Where did Peter get all this? How did he know about the dispensation of grace? Go on with verse 15:

"EVEN AS OUR BELOVED BROTHER PAUL ALSO ACCORDING TO THE WISDOM GIVEN UNTO HIM HATH WRITTEN UNTO YOU."

This was written more than 30 years after Pentecost and by that time Peter had learned from Paul about the dispensation of grace.

Thus Peter and Paul did not work at cross purposes or preach contradictory messages.  God simply gave Paul a further revelation of truth.

It was sometime after that Paul had been sent out with "the gospel of the grace of God," that he went to Jerusalem "by revelation" and communicated to Peter and the others "that gospel which [he preached] among the Gentiles" (Gal. 2:2).  Peter and the rest "saw" and "perceived" that a new revelation had been committed to him and, far from disagreeing, "gave to [Paul] and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship" (Gal. 2:7-9).

Thus while the last days of prophecy had indeed begun at Pentecost Peter, in his last epistle indicates a delay in Christ's return to judge and reign and acknowledges this as truth revealed through Paul (II Pet. 3:3-16).

Finally, both Peter and Paul teach that the delay is all of grace, with no assurance as to how long the dispensation of God's longsuffering will be extended (II Cor. 5:20-6:2, II Pet. 3:8).

What an effect all this should have upon our conduct and service for Christ!  We are living, so to speak, in the tense days between man's declaration of war on God and God's counter-declaration (Psa. 2:1-5); a few days of grace, as it were, in which the ambassadors of Christ are authorized to offer reconciliation to any individuals who will receive Him as Savior and Lord.  The next number on the divine program is the shout with which He will recall His ambassadors and declare war on those who have spurned His grace.
 
 

1.  What, in a general way, does the term "last days" refer to in Old Testament Scripture?

2.  Was Peter right or wrong when he said at Pentecost that the "last days" had come?

3.  Explain why.

4.  From what famous prophecy did Peter quote in his Pentecostal address?

5.  Did all the signs of that prophecy appear at Pentecost?

6.  Of what was Peter ignorant when he said the "last days" had come?

7.  What has happened to the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy?

8.  Why did not the Lord tell His apostles when the kingdom would be restored to Israel?

9.  When, according to Old Testament prophecy, would the world have been ripe for judgment?

10.  Where did the twelve begin their ministry under the "great commission"?

11.  Why?

12.  Where did Paul hope to launch his ministry for Christ?

13.  Where did the Lord send him instead, and why?

14.  Between what two great prophetic periods does the dispensation of grace come?

15.  What is the company of God's people in this dispensation called?

16.  To what "last days" does Paul refer in his epistles?

17.  Why are there no specific signs of Christ's return for the believers of this dispensation?

18.  Give two Scriptures to prove that Paul did not expect the dispensation of grace to continue for 1900 years.

19.  Give one Scripture each to show how Paul exhorted (a) the lost and (b) the saved, in this connection.

20.  Where, in Peter's writings, does he confirm what Paul has to say about the dispensation of grace?