Eschetological Living

This post is a follow-up to The Cross in Redemptive History (May 24, 2012).  That post detailed some changes in my thinking regarding the centrality of Christ and the cross not only to salvation and sanctification, but to theology.  The cross was The Fundamental Shift in God's plan for His people.  The changes that took place there were more dramatic than the changes which will take place in the future when our bodies are raised and we enjoy the presence of God in heaven.  The cross began the process of the re-creation of God's people and world.  The cross fulfilled God's promises, some of which we have yet to experience fully.

It seems in Scripture, that the fulfillment of God's promises is tied to what we term eschatology.  Eschatology is defined as the study of last things - and "last things" is generally defined to mean the judgment and end of the world and the return of Christ.  Other terms which can be used synonymously with "last days" are "latter days," "those days," and "the days are coming."  Scripture does use "last days" terminology to refer to the wickedness of the world (2 Timothy 3:1, 2 Peter 3:3), but often, Scripture ties "last days" terminology to the fulfillment of God's promises.

"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah." (Jeremiah 31:31)
"But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD." (Jeremiah 31:33)
"Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit." (Joel 2:29)
"And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh...even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit and they shall prophesy." (Acts 2:17-18)
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD" (Hebrews 8:10)
"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the LORD." (Hebrews 10:16)
"Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son." (Hebrews 1:1-2)

When reading these verses, and others like them, it seems that the New Testament writers meant more by "last days" than simply chronology.  It seems that they saw the "last days" as the time when God fulfills His promises.

Today, we often hear that we are "living in the last days."  This can be presented to mean that we are living chronologically near the end of the world and the return of Christ.  However, the phrase is packed with much greater significance.  To live in the last days means to experience the fulfillment of God's promises.  To live in the last days means to receive revelation from God through the living Word, Jesus Christ as recorded in Scripture.  To live in the last days means to have the permanently indwelling Holy Spirit.  To live in the last days means to enjoy a covenant relationship with God as His people through the salvation provided by the New Covenant.  Much of Christianity views the "last days" as a terrible time of godlessness which believers fear, but in the "last days", God gives to His people such glorious blessings as would have been unimaginable before the cross.