One of the interesting parts of any book or movie about time travel is watching the characters try to figure out the progress and customs of the time in which they have landed.
Their clothing, speech and knowledge are usually all wrong. It’s almost like seeing an Amish wagon clattering down a highway as sports cars and tractor trailers zip past. Clearly, somebody doesn’t understand the times.
In 1 Chronicles 12, the armies of Israel are described according to their tribes and abilities – some are armed for war, others are mighty men of valor, and some are even famous men. It is the men of Issachar, however, who are described as having “understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do” (32).
Besides possessing strength in might and numbers, it is necessary, then, to count the cost of making war, lest you go down to quick and decisive defeat because of ignorance or failure to plan (see Luke 14:25-35). We want to understand the times in which we live, so that we can do battle with the forces that oppose truth and obtain lasting victory.
The Last Days
Usually, the phrase “last days” is used to describe the final few moments before the return of Jesus Christ. The phrase is frequently appropriated by Premillennialists and other speculators to incite fear or fervor concerning what they think is the imminent commencement of tribulation and the rapture. All this results from a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the kingdom of God, which in fact was founded by Jesus Christ in the first century in the form of his church (Acts 2:29-33, Matthew 16:13-19). Today, and for nearly 2000 years now, he has been seated upon the throne of David in Heaven, ruling over that realm as King of kings and Lord of lords (see 1 Timothy 6:15).
Neither the word “rapture” nor the concept it represents appears in the Bible anywhere, nor does any passage suggest that Jesus will ever walk on Earth again (First Thessalonians 4:13-18). The phrase “last days” first appears in the New Testament on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4, 12-17), an allusion to the prophet Joel, who had used a word that really only meant “afterward” or “hereafter” in the text cited by Peter. The apostle, then, was speaking interpretively when he specified that this fulfillment of prophecy began the “last days” (Lenski 73).
The last days began when the church began and the sun has risen and set more than 700,000 times since – the last days is the age of the reigning Messiah. The kingdom has come and its law has gone forth as the gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the Earth (Isaiah 2:2-5). Micah also used almost the same language in describing the kingdom age of the Messiah (4:1-3). We and our parents and grandparents and their grandparents have lived in the last days, but that gives us no specific indication that Judgment Day is necessarily imminent, for “concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matthew 24:36).
On Pentecost, the business of completing God’s revelation to mankind began, as the Lord poured out his Holy Spirit on the apostles and then distributed abilities of prophecy and knowledge to others as well, including the other part of “all flesh,” Gentiles like those in Acts 10. The Holy Spirit’s mission was to remind the apostles of what Jesus had taught them on Earth and to guide them into even more truths that they had not been prepared to receive then (see John 14:26). By the time the last apostle died, all truth that God wanted man to receive was in circulation, so that we live in age of completed revelation, governed according to a perfect law of liberty (James 1:25), guided by a faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3) and blessed with all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).
Troublesome Times Are Here
These, however, are still dangerous times in that a form of godliness exists among a majority of people, but it is a perverted form that conceals real degeneration inside a pious costume (2 Timothy 3:1-9). Great evil is committed in the name of service to God by those who have a form of godliness but deny its power through disrespecting God’s word and his authority (Titus 1:15-16). They purposely stop short of his will or go beyond it, but in any event, they refuse to speak only as the oracles of God and subscribe to their own creeds, opinions and fallacies. This makes for difficult times as the church tries to convert the lost because opposition sadly appears both within and without through perverted faiths.
Furthermore, the god of materialism has added to his power in the last 2000 years, so that greed and covetousness appear to be much more potent idols than Molech or Baal ever were (James 5:1-6). James assails the greedy who hoard their blessings, who take advantage of the worker, who lived in luxury while others suffer and who care nothing for the plight of the innocent and helpless. The commercial culture that expands around us every year is continual evidence that these last days are just as God promised and that evil men do indeed wax worse and worse, but the allure of materialism is so strong that even many saints submit to it.
In the last two centuries, we have seen more and more that the last days are within an era of gathering doubt and even disdain for matters of faith (2 Peter 3:1-4). The very notion of a Judgment Day is cause for mockery among many who simply no longer believe they are in any danger of facing God for their deeds, good and evil. That doubt expands so that men question, not only their Redeemer, but also their Creator, and their immoral behavior reflects that creeping doubt.
In spite of all that negative news, this remains the age of Christ and he continues to reign over a church that he can perfectly number and protect and govern (Hebrews 1:1-4). God has spoken to us by the very savior whom the builders rejected and at whom moderns sneer in their hasty pursuit of things that perish instead with the using.
Fruitful Last Days
The Hebrew writer promises that there remains a rest for the people of God, but that it is found nowhere in this life or within the uneasy boundaries of these last days (see Hebrews 4:1-10). Our rest is for when we cease from all our works and take our place in Heaven with God’s son; for now we must remain busy like true servants and faithful stewards (Luke 12:35-43). Indefatigable diligence is the order of the day (Hebrews 4:11-13).
The influence of so many, even who are religious, in these last days, causes us to let down our guard and indulge small doses of wicked things, so that we gradually lose our edge (1 Thessalonians 5:1-10). For this reason, Paul urges older women to teach younger women discretion and he demands that all men be exhorted toward sober-mindedness (see Titus 2:1-9). Sober-mindedness is clarity of thought, unimpaired by the deceptiveness of temptation and the leaven of hypocrisy (First Peter 5:6-9).
There is no time to waste on doing the wrong things in the expectation that someday you will somehow grow out of the habit; now is the time to shed your ignorance and choose holiness (1 Peter 1:13-16). As the last days wear on, participate in transformation and refuse conformity to the ways and lusts of this world that bring such despair and doom.
By way of being prepared for Jesus to return, we make ourselves ready also to share our convictions with lost people who need to own them and with struggling brethren who need to grow in them (1 Peter 3:13-17). If we are aware that these are the last days and that our own lives are terribly brief, we have to make the business of winning souls a higher priority (Colossians 1:27-29).
One of the best ways to keep your faith from shrinking it to make certain that it is always growing. Too many spend the year in an ugly cycle of taking one step forward and then two steps back, spinning their wheels and making no real progress in terms of devotion, knowledge, ability or effort. Grow in grace and knowledge–study harder and apply more frequently.
Conclusion
Like the sons of Issachar, we are intent upon understanding the times and knowing what to do, even beyond any power or might we may possess.
