Over the past few decades those studying eschatology — the study of things to come — have focused on the phrase “in the last days” and trying to determine what will happen and when.
I think those folks have missed something significant. One thing
not often understood about Middle Eastern society and culture is that those who
live there don’t have the same relationship to time that we Westerners do;
thus, “in the last days” isn’t referring to some kind of specific timeline.
Rather, it’s probably better understood as “Someday…” and
refers to more of a wish, although one with the caveat “By God” (and I mean
that literally), “this will happen.”
And if you understand that, you might understand God’s intent.
Remember at the beginning at the Book of the Acts of the
Apostles, when one of the disciples asked Jesus, “Are you now going to
establish Israel again?” His response, in effect, “None of your business.” Most
of Israel, still wanting to be free from Roman rule (because the church at the
time was primarily Jewish, its members also had that hope), had misinterpreted
the prophecy of the Messiah to mean that he would destroy Rome.
There’s also the Revelation of Jesus Christ, a vision given
to the Apostle John, in exile on the Greek island of Patmos and by this time
the only Apostle left (the rest, including Paul, had met violent premature
deaths). Its purpose was to encourage other Jewish believers undergoing
persecution, and his audience would have understood the symbolism chock full of
it.
And indeed, the very intent of “prophecy” is only
secondarily about telling the future and primarily about declaring the heart,
mind and will of God. That’s why we see false prophets get some things right but
not others — in their desire to gain an audience, they missed God.
That’s why it’s important that the Word says, when it comes
to Jesus’ bodily return, just to keep an eye peeled. (When He was asked straight-out
when that would be He responded, “Only the Father knows” — which meant that He
Himself didn’t know.)
For this reason, trying to determine the identity of the
Antichrist, the “beast” and the “false prophet” are a fool’s errand distracting
from His commands, to, using a football analogy, “play until the whistle blows.”
Middle Eastern culture understands that the future will take care of itself — and,
as a result, so should we in the West.
