The Last Days - 3rd time around!

We’re living in the Last Days right now but don’t appreciate that this has happened twice before already. God requires a proper, or appropriate, response from mankind - as Jesus inferred when he said, “But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying: ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; We mourned to you, and you did not lament.’ (Mt11:16,17) And as God also inferred when He said that, “He was sorry that He made mankind on the earth, and it grieved Him to His heart” (Gen6:6); as mankind had frustrated God’s Will by not obeying the commandment, “Do not eat...for in the day you eat of it, you shall die”. Let’s look at previous Last Days as recorded in the Bible and re-assess how we should respond to God today.

Noah’s Day was the Last Days

God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with violence through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” (Gen 6:13) This indicates that Noah’s day was the Last Days. God wanted to destroy the corrupt, evil world which had been ruled by Satan since the time of the human Fall. He intended once and for all to purge sinful history, biblically reckoned as 1,600 years, by the Flood. In its aftermath, God intended to raise up Noah’s family, who worshipped Him and no other, and resurrect the world of God’s sovereignty upon the foundation of their faith. This is how the time of Noah can be considered the Last Days. Nonetheless, when Ham, the second son of Noah, committed a sinful act which reaffirmed the Fall, Noah’s family could not fulfill its portion of responsibility on behalf of humankind, and the Will of God was frustrated. (Gen 9:22) 

Jesus' Day was the Last Days

God has foreordained the fulfillment of His Will; hence, the goal of the providence of restoration is unchanging and shall be fulfilled without fail. Therefore, even though the providence of restoration was not accomplished through Noah, God called upon other prophets to prepare anew the basis of faith. Upon this foundation, God sent Jesus to vanquish the satanic sovereignty which has held this world in thrall and to establish the God-centered ideal world. Accordingly, Jesus’ day was also the Last Days. This is why Jesus said that he came to bring judgment, (Jn5:22) and why Malachi prophesied of Jesus’ coming: Behold, the day comes, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up . . . so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. (Mal 4:1) 

Jesus came to restore the original, ideal world. However, when the people of Israel did not believe in him, the human portion of responsibility was left unaccomplished. This meant that the fulfillment of the Will of God had to be prolonged until Christ’s Second Advent. 

The Day of Christ’s 2nd Advent is the Last Days
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When the disbelief of the chosen people led Jesus to go the way of the cross, he could accomplish only spiritual salvation. It remains for him to return and accomplish the goal of the providence of restoration both spiritually and physically and restore the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Hence, the day of the Christ’s Second Advent is also the Last Days. For this reason Jesus said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of man” (Luke 17:26) and prophesied that many natural calamities would break out at his return. (Matt. 24:7, 29)

What can be learned from this? Could you have taken seriously someone who built a boat on a mountain? Could you have followed Jesus even though John the Baptist denied he was the Elijah (thus negating Mal 4:5) and who didn’t even follow Jesus?
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And if the 2nd Advent comes in the same way that Jesus did (born on the earth) then it won’t be easy to recognize him, right?

Check out Eschatology (doctrine of the Last Days) in the Exposition of the Divine Principle of Sun Myung Moon. (part 1, Chapter 3)

Andrew Derricutt