The Last Days
By Ron Boatwright

     The apostle Peter says in Acts 2:16-17, "But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘ And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams".  What was happening in Acts chapter 2 was the beginning of the last days.  Then we read in Hebrews 1:1-2, "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds".  We are living in the last days or the last dispensation of time.

     The first dispensation was the "Patriarchal" dispensation, which was from Adam to Moses and lasted about 3500 years.  The second dispensation of time was the "Mosaical" dispensation, which was from Moses until the death of Christ and lasted about 1500 years.  We are now living in the last dispensation (the last days) or the "Christian" dispensation, which stared from the death of Christ to the end of time.  The "Christian" dispensation has lasted about 2,000 years.  There will be no more dispensations or days after this dispensation.  No one knows how long the "Christian" dispensation will last.  It could end today or it could last for 10,000 years.

     Man does not know but only God knows when the end of time will come.  Jesus says in Mark 13:31-32, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.  But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father".  When this dispensation does end, 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 says, "And to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power".  At the end of the last days the Judgment will occur when Christ appears.  "I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing" (2 Timothy 4:1).

     No one knows when the Lord will come back.  "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? " (2 Peter 3:10-12).  At the end of the last days which is the end of this dispensation the earth will be burned up.