The End Times or the Last Days Church

Days of Increase

There are two views of the last day’s church that the church has held.

1. A picture of a strong and church triumphant in the midst of persecution.
2. A weakened church grimly hanging on until the end when the Jesus comes to save her

The first picture is the one I believe is the scriptural one.

The second picture is drawn from verses like these:

Mat 24:10  And then many will be offended and repelled and will begin to distrust and desert [Him Whom they ought to trust and obey] and will stumble and fall away and betray one another and pursue one another with hatred. AMP

Luk 21:25  “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves,

Luk 21:26  people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ESV

In the last days all things increase – The power of God and also unrighteousness and difficult times.

God’s plan is to fill the earth with His glory

Num_14:21  But truly as I live and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, [Isa. 6:3; 11:9.]

In the last days the righteous and the unrighteous will rise together…

Jesus painted a picture of the kingdom as the last days approach.

Mat 13:24  Another parable He set forth before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.

Mat 13:25  But while he was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed also darnel (weeds resembling wheat) among the wheat, and went on his way.

Mat 13:26  So when the plants sprouted and formed grain, the darnel (weeds) appeared also.

Mat 13:27  And the servants of the owner came to him and said, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Then how does it have darnel shoots in it?

Mat 13:28  He replied to them, An enemy has done this. The servants said to him, Then do you want us to go and weed them out?

Mat 13:29  But he said, No, lest in gathering the wild wheat (weeds resembling wheat), you root up the [true] wheat along with it.

Mat 13:30  Let them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will say to the reapers, Gather the darnel first and bind it in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my granary.

The disciples asked – What is this parable all about?

Mat 13:36  Then He left the throngs and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him saying, Explain to us the parable of the darnel in the field.

Mat 13:37  He answered, He Who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.

Mat 13:38  The field is the world, and the good seed means the children of the kingdom; the darnel is the children of the evil one,

Mat 13:39  And the enemy who sowed it is the devil. The harvest is the close and consummation of the age, and the reapers are angels.

Mat 13:40  Just as the darnel (weeds resembling wheat) is gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at the close of the age.

Mat 13:41  The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all causes of offense [persons by whom others are drawn into error or sin] and all who do iniquity and act wickedly,

Mat 13:42  And will cast them into the furnace of fire; there will be weeping and wailing and grinding of teeth.

Mat 13:43  Then will the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God) shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let him who has ears [to hear] be listening, and let him consider and perceive and understand by hearing. [Dan. 12:3.]

In these last days the unrighteous will grow up with the righteous side by side as Jesus said He will allow this…

This teaching from Jesus allows us to see that within the church there are the true believers and then there are the pretenders.

Normally people do not see themselves as pretenders but when persecution comes they will not be able to stand.

Here is the sequence historically of the church, which at first was Israel and then the Gentiles were grafted in to the same olive tree.

God at the first preached the gospel to Abraham saying: In you shall the nations of the earth be blessed. Every Nation shall see the Glory of God and the Salvation of the Lord.

Jesus confirmed this when He commanded His disciples to go into all the world.

And then said, when the gospel has been published in EVERY nation then shall the end come. (Matt 24:14)

The Gospels give predictions about the church of the last days and what things will happen. See the whole of Matt 24, and the whole of Luke 21.

Summary of last times:

1. Be on your guard – there will be false Christs arise.
2. There will be wars, earthquakes, famines and pestilences.
3. You will be persecuted, betrayed, hated
4. Earthly Sign of second coming is armies surrounding Jerusalem
5. Heavenly signs of His coming is in the sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth

Old testament prophecies of the last days

In Acts, Peter says we are in the last days and the signs are:

Act_2:17  And it shall come to pass in the last days, God declares, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all mankind, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy [telling forth the divine counsels] and your young men shall see visions (divinely granted appearances), and your old men shall dream [divinely suggested] dreams. AMP

Peter is quoting the prophet Joel

Joe 2:28  And afterward I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.

Joe 2:29  Even upon the menservants and upon the maidservants in those days will I pour out My Spirit.

Joe 2:30  And I will show signs and wonders in the heavens, and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.

Joe 2:31  The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. [Isa. 13:6, 9-11; 24:21-23; Ezek. 32:7-10; Matt. 24:29, 30; Rev. 6:12-17.]

Joe 2:32  And whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered and saved, for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the remnant [of survivors] shall be those whom the Lord calls. [Acts 2:17-21; Rom. 10:13.] AMP

This pouring out of Gods Spirit was to be in the last days, which Peter declares to be at the time he preached at Pentecost. That was the beginning of the last days. The time we are in is the end of the last days.

This picture contains two parts:

1. The pouring out of God’s Spirit – a significant world changing impact
2. The signs to be expected in the heavenlies

The fact that these two pictures are linked in the one prophecy gives us the timing of the events as being together

God wants us to see the church as He sees it…. Strong, Holy, Godly, Powerful and overcoming, because it represents Him. There is mixture in the church; the wheat and the tares are growing up together but the humble in heart will have discernment and will see the true believers, and will cling to God’s mercy.

 Latter rain

Principle – Ecc_7:8  Better is the end of a thing than the beginning of it, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. AMP

Eg. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, first adam, better covenant, wine at wedding

The former Versus the Latter

Joe_2:23  Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord, your God; for He gives you the former or early rain in just measure and in righteousness, and He causes to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain, as before.

Hag_2:9  The latter glory of this house [with its successor, to which Jesus came] shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts; and in this place will I give peace and prosperity, says the Lord of hosts.

Isa 2:2  It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be [firmly] established as the highest of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it.

These verses prophesy that these last of the last days will be more glorious than the former days such as the times of the early church.

The last days church in our times and continuing to the second coming of Jesus is a better and more powerful church than even the book of acts church.

Revelation gives us a picture of the church triumphant.

Rev 6:9  When the Lamb broke open the fifth seal, I saw at the foot of the altar the souls of those whose lives had been sacrificed for [adhering to] the Word of God and for the testimony they had borne.

Rev 6:10  They cried in a loud voice, O [Sovereign] Lord, holy and true, how long now before You will sit in judgment and avenge our blood upon those who dwell on the earth? [Gen. 4:10; Ps. 79:5; Zech. 1:12.]

Rev 6:11  Then they were each given a long and flowing and festive white robe and told to rest and wait patiently a little while longer, until the number should be complete of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

Rev 6:12  When He [the Lamb] broke open the sixth seal, I looked, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun grew black as sackcloth of hair, [the full disc of] the moon became like blood. [Joel 2:10, 31.]

Rev 7:9  After this I looked and a vast host appeared which no one could count, [gathered out] of every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. These stood before the throne and before the Lamb; they were attired in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.

Rev 7:13  Then, addressing me, one of the elders [of the heavenly Sanhedrin] said, Who are these [people] clothed in the long white robes? And from where have they come?

Rev 7:14  I replied, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are they who have come out of the great tribulation (persecution), and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. [Gen. 49:11; Dan. 12:1.] AMP

Here again we see the signs in the heavens linked with the multitude of God’s outpouring of salvation in the earth.

The church of the last days as described in the Epistles

A Church without spot or wrinkle

Eph 5:24  As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands.

Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her,

Eph 5:26  So that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word,

Eph 5:27  That He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such things [that she might be holy and faultless].

God is at work in the church to perfect her, and make her ready for His son the bridegroom.

At the same time the devil is at work to prevent the church from becoming that pure bride.

Eph 4:12  His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church),

Eph 4:13  [That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him.

 Paul warns that perilous times shall come:

 2Ti 3:1  BUT UNDERSTAND this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear].

2Ti 3:2  For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane.

2Ti 3:3  [They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good.

2Ti 3:4  [They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God.

2Ti 3:5  For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them].

2Ti 3:13  But wicked men and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and leading astray others and being deceived and led astray themselves. AMP

There are many warnings that ungodly people will get worse in the last days

1Ti 4:1  BUT THE [Holy] Spirit distinctly and expressly declares that in latter times some will turn away from the faith, giving attention to deluding and seducing spirits and doctrines that demons teach,

1Ti 4:2  Through the hypocrisy and pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared (cauterized),

2Pe_3:3  To begin with, you must know and understand this, that scoffers (mockers) will come in the last days with scoffing, [people who] walk after their own fleshly desires

1Jn 2:18  Boys (lads), it is the last time (hour, the end of this age). And as you have heard that the antichrist [he who will oppose Christ in the guise of Christ] is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen, which confirms our belief that it is the final (the end) time.

1Jn 2:19  They went out from our number, but they did not [really] belong to us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But [they withdrew] that it might be plain that they all are not of us.

Jud_1:18  They told you beforehand, In the last days (in the end time) there will be scoffers [who seek to gratify their own unholy desires], following after their own ungodly passions. AMP

Conclusions

The last day’s church will be powerful and glorious.

The result will be huge multitudes of people coming into the kingdom.

Joh 14:12  I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father.

At the same time there will be great persecution. This persecution God allows to sort out the true believers from the pretenders.

How should we then live?

What are the requirements of the people in this last day’s church.

1. Don’t be deceived, because deception will rise – SO Be filled with the Holy Spirit of truth and love truth.
2. Don’t be afraid because calamities must occur. – SO walk in faith.
3. Persecution will rise – SO Trust in God’s protection and His voice.
4. Worldliness will rise – SO Stay pure and walk in righteousness.
5.  Be ready because the Jesus is coming back at an hour when you do not expect Him. – SO stay close to Jesus, keep short accounts with God