“But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass IN THE LAST DAYS, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:” Acts 2:16-18, KJV
NOTE #1: In Acts 2:16-18, the Apostle Peter — who had just been filled with the Holy Spirit — is clearly saying two things: Joel’s prophecy was being fulfilled at that time during the First Century, and that period was also the Last Days. The phrase last days does NOT mean from 30 AD to the 21st Century, as some modern, Futruist-leaning Bible teachers erroneously teach. That is a false doctrine of men.
“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that WE WHICH ARE ALIVE AND REMAIN [meaning Paul and other First Century Christians] unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then WE WHICH ARE ALIVE AND REMAIN [meaning Paul and other First Century Christians] shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18, KJV
NOTE #2: The fact that in 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18 the Apostle Paul includes himself by saying we is clear proof that he was expecting Christ’s soon return, and he was hoping to still be alive to witness it.
“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath IN THESE LAST DAYS spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;” Hebrews 1:1-2, KJV
NOTE #3: In Hebrews 1:1-2, the phrase “lasts days refer to the very end of the Prophet Daniel’s 70 weeks — or 490 years — prophecy. It has nothing to do with our modern times, as Futurists claim.
“For yet a little while, and he that shall come [meaning Jesus] WILL COME, and WILL NOT TARRY.” Hebrews 10:37, KJV
NOTE #4: In Hebrews 10:37, the phrase “a little while” does NOT mean 2,000 years in the future as the Futurists claim.
“Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together FOR THE LAST DAYS . . . Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for THE COMING OF THE LORD DRAWETH NIGH.” James 5:2-3, 7-8, KJV
NOTE #5: In James 5:2-3, 7-8, the Apostle James is likewise confirming that it was the Last Days, and he was convinced that Jesus would be returning soon.
“But the END OF ALL THINGS IS AT HAND: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” 1 Peter 4:7, KJV
NOTE #6: 1 Peter 4:7 confirms the phrase “in these last days” mentioned in Hebrews 1:1-2 above.
“Little children, IT IS THE LAST TIME: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby WE KNOW THAT IT IS THE LAST TIME.” 1 John 2:18, KJV
NOTE #7: In 1 John 2:18, not once, but twice, the Apostle John tells his readers that it is the Last Time, or the very end of the Prophet Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy.
Conclusion: Peter, James and John — who were Jesus’ inner circle — as well as the Apostle Paul, were all convinced that Jesus would return during their lifetimes, exactly as He had promised them in these verses:
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I WILL COME AGAIN, AND RECEIVE YOU unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also . . . I will not leave you comfortless: I WILL COME TO YOU.” John 14:2-3, 18, KJV
How can so many modern, Futurist-leaning Christians continue to resist the plain truth of the Scriptures?
Please also refer to the article called “Jesus Christ’s Return: Have We Been Deceived?”, which you can find at the following URL:
“While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.” John 17:12, KJV
“Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.” Philippians 1:27-28, KJV
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [day of Christ] shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, KJV
“But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” 1 Timothy 6:9-10, KJV
“Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” Hebrews 10:38-39, KJV
“But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Peter 3:7, KJV
“And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon [Destruction], but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon [Destroyer].” Revelation 9:11, KJV
“The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is . . . And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.” Revelation 17:8, 11, KJV
In the previous verses, the following Koine Greek words are used:
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I WILL COME AGAIN, AND RECEIVE YOU unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also . . . I will not leave you comfortless: I WILL COME TO YOU.” John 14:2-3, 18, KJV
“Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he [believed to be John] tarry TILL I COME, what is that to thee? follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry TILL I COME, what is that to thee?” John 21:22-23, KJV
“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that WE WHICH ARE ALIVE AND REMAIN [meaning Paul and other First Century Christians] unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then WE WHICH ARE ALIVE AND REMAIN [meaning Paul and other First Century Christians] shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18, KJV
“For yet a little while, and he that shall come [meaning Jesus] WILL COME, and WILL NOT TARRY.” Hebrews 10:37, KJV
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants THINGS WHICH MUST SHORTLY COME TO PASS; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:” Revelation 1:1, KJV
“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and THEY ALSO WHICH PIERCED HIM [meaning First Century Romans]: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.” Revelation 1:7, KJV
“And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the THINGS WHICH MUST SHORTLY BE DONE.” Revelation 22:6, KJV
“Behold, I COME QUICKLY: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” Revelation 3:11, KJV
“Behold, I COME QUICKLY: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book . . . And, behold, I COME QUICKLY; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be . . . He which testifieth these things saith, SURELY I COME QUICKLY. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Revelation 22:7, 12, 20, KJV
Please also refer to the article called “Jesus Christ’s Return: Have We Been Deceived?”, which you can find at the following URL:
“The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.” Job 18:10, KJV
“Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.” Psalm 91:3, KJV
“The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts.” Psalm 119:110, KJV
“Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.” Psalm 124:7, KJV
“The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set gins for me. Selah.” Psalm 140:5, KJV
“When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.” Psalm 142:3, KJV
“Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.” Proverbs 6:5, KJV
“The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.” Proverbs 29:25, KJV
“For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.” Ecclesiastes 9:12, KJV
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” 1 Peter 5:8, KJV
“(For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.” 1 Timothy 3:5-7, KJV
“And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” 2 Timothy 2:24-26, KJV
