It seems that speaking about the end of age today is a taboo which should not be mentioned in any circumstances and when someone or some organizations do they are considered as dangerous to the people living in peace and they are rejected as cult. If we think about the bible, however, we can see the prophets of God proclaiming the end time all throughout the bible. Even Jesus and the disciples who were taught by him preached the end time. Then should we consider them as cult too and reject them to be dangerous for us? We cannot. It is because they bible is in nature concerned about the end time.
2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
Again and again the bible warns us about the end of age, but what is important in these warnings are not the destruction itself, but the salvation which will be completed at the end.
2 Peter 3:12 That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
Therefore, those who long for the kingdom of heaven must seriously consider about this end time and must look forward to the salvation completed at that time. And they also must make effort so that they would be saved at that time.
Prophecies of the End Time in the Bible
Eschatology should not be a taboo, but should be considered as part of the teachings of God. If Eschatology or the study of the end time or the day of judgment should be rejected as cult, Jesus also should be regarded as one including the disciples. Even God should be rejected because he proclaimed the end time always through the prophets of God.
Ezekiel 7:5 Disaster! Unheard-of disaster! See, it comes! 6 The end has come! The end has come!
Isaiah 66:16 For with fire and with his sword the Lord will execute judgment on all people, and many will be those slain by the Lord.
Zephaniah 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord’s wrath.”In the fire of his jealousy the whole earth will be consumed, For he will make a sudden end of all who live on the earth.
What should we consider about all these prophecies of the end time? Should we dismiss them as cult? No, rather we should accept the eschatology as part of the bible. God gave these prophecies of the end time, not to intimidate us, but to give us chances to prepare the Day of Judgment so that we would receive salvation, not destruction on that day. In this sense, the prophecies of the end time should be actually recognized as essential part of the bible.
These prophecies are important especially for us because we are actually living in the end time prophesied in the bible. Therefore, according to the teachings of God in the bible, now is the time for us to get prepared so that we would receive salvation rather than destruction. If we lose this chance given to us, we would not be given another one.
A Prophetical Understanding of Time
Then let us understand our time through the prophecies of the bible. Knowing the time frame they are living in is a prerequisite for salvation and we can see this through the words of Jesus 2000 years ago.
2000 years ago to the Jews who had been suffering under the persecutions of Roman, the Savior they had long expected came to them. But the Jews did not recognize him and lost their chance for salvation. This happened mainly because they did not realize the time frame they were living.
Luke 19:43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.
The main reason the destruction was proclaimed to them was because they did not know the time frame they were living and they rejected their God who came to them as man in the flesh to give them salvation. This is a warning given to us who are living in the last days. If we do not realize the time frame we are living we would make the same mistake and in turn we also will lost our chance for salvation. Then what is the time frame we are living in?
To understand this first we should look at the concept of time in the bible. The prophetical time in the bible is different from the physical time we are living in. For example, a day physically is composed of 24 hours, but in the prophecies of the bible a day can be counted in a different way. First, in some cases a day can be considered as a year in some prophecies of the bible.
Number 14:34 34 For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.
Ezekiel 4:6 After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.
Through these two instances we can see the prophetical calculation of time is different from the ordinary time concept. Prophetically, one day can be considered as one year. And also one day can be considered as one thousand years in the prophecies of the bible.
2 Peter 3:8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.
With these things in mind let us think about the prophetical end time or the last day.
The End Time or the Last Day
The end time is the period when God makes his judgment for the people who would be destroyed and grants salvation to his people who would enter the kingdom of heaven. About the salvation which would be completed at the last day, Jesus prophesied like this:
John 6:40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.
Then when is the last day? If we can find out the time frame for the last day, we can know the time frame we are living in. Then when is the last day? When would the work of God finish and complete his creation work? In the book of Genesis we can see the Six-Day Creation in which God created everything in six days and on the seventh day he took rest to commemorate the completion of his creation work.
If we understand this creation work literally, we must understand that the creation work of God is over and nothing needs to be done. But this is untrue. Jesus who appeared way after the Six-Day Creation said that the work of God is not over yet.
John 5:17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.
Through this he is teaching that the creation work of God is still in progress and it is not completed yet. We can see the same teaching in the Book of Hebrews too.
Hebrews 4:3 And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.” 5 And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.” 6 Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest.
While explaining about the Six-Day Creation, Paul teaches the creation work has not been completed yet. He says that the fact that there are still a rest which will be given to the people in the future reveals that the true day of rest or the seventh day has not come yet. Therefore, the Six-Day Creation in the Book of Genesis is not the physical creation work which was completed in the six days at the beginning.
The Six-Day Creation was actually given as prophecies to teach us the completion of God’s creation work or salvation work. A day in the bible is calculated as a thousand years and through this we can see the Six-Day Creation is given to us to represent “the Six Thousand Years of God’s Salvation Work.” It means God will finish his salvation work in 6000 years just as he finished his creation work in 6 days and he will rest for a thousand years on the 7th millennium as we can see the day of rest given on the 7th day. The Book of Revelation which speaks about the last day shows this fact clearly by showing the rest of 1000 years after the 6000 years of salvation work.
Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
The 1000 year rest after the salvation work is described as 1000 year reign of God’s people with Christ. Then when is the last day? To find the answer we must look at the Six-Day Creation. Creation work was done for six days and in this creation work the last day is the sixth day when God created Adam and Eve and finished his creation work. Therefore, the prophetical last day is the end of the Sixth Thousand years since a day is a thousand years in the bible. Then what we need to know is how many years has passed since the start of the creation work.
The Span of Creation Work
How much time has passed since the creation of Adam and Eve? If we can find the answer for this question we can know when the last day is. There is a very interesting chronological study of the bible to figure out the time span extending from the creation in Genesis to our time.
SUMMARY OF THE TIME FROM ADAM TO JESUS
* Adam to Abraham ……………… 1948 yrs *
* Abraham to Egypt …………….. 290 yrs *
* From Egypt to Moses: (X) Let X = 63 63 yrs *
* X = (Kohath to Amram to Moses) *
* Moses to the Exodus ………….. 80 yrs *
* Exodus to death Joshua ……….. 70 yrs *
* Judges to Samuel …………….. 450 yrs (Acts 13:20) *
* Kings of Judah ………………. 513 yrs *
* Babylonian Captivity …………. 586 B.C.E. *
* ————— *
* Adam to Jesus 4000 yrs
Scholars have some different opinions, but largely they agree that the time span of the Old Testament from Adam to Jesus was about 4000 years. So about two thirds of the creation work had been spent before Christ’s coming and since his coming about 2000 years has passed until now 2016. So in total a little over six thousand years has passed since God started his creation work, which means we ARE living in the last day of the creation work, the Sixth Day.
Therefore, we can conclude that all the prophecies of the bible was actually given for us who are living in the last day or the sixth day. If that is the case, how can we dismiss the warnings of God lightly and say, “Oh, do not disturb my life with this kind of cultish nonsense.” We must remember the words of Jesus who proclaimed a judgment to the Jews because they did not realize the time frame they were living in. They were living in the time of salvation, but out of ignorance they rejected their Savior who came in the flesh.
The Savior in the Last Day
According to the bible who is the Savior in the last day? In the Six-Day Creation God created Adam and Eve on the last Sixth day. Then what is the prophetically meaning? According to the bible, Adam represent Christ or God the Father who came as man in the flesh.
Romans 5:14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.
If Adam represents Christ, then who does Eve, the wife of Adam represent? Eve parabolically symbolize God the Mother, who is the wife of Christ who would appear at the last day to give salvation.
Revelation 21:9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb (or the Christ).” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.
Galatians 4:26 But the Jerusalem that is above (in heaven) is free, and she is our mother.
The Book of Revelation shows the Last Adam and Last Eve who would appear in the last day to give salvation of eternal life to God’s people. They appears in the last day to give the water of life or the eternal life.
Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.
The Spirit and the Bride or the spiritual Adam and Eve comes and give the water of life or eternal life. This is the end of the creation work of God. To fulfill this prophecy the Holy Spirit Christ Ahnsahnghong and Heavenly Mother New Jerusalem appeared as the Last Adam and Eve to give us the water of life. Those who believe in the prophecies of the bible must recognize the time frame we are living in and come to the Spirit and the Bride for the water of life.
Conclusion
We are living literally in the last day when God finishes his creation work by completing his salvation work.
Genesis 1:26 26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
On the sixth day or the last day, God created Adam and Eve and gave them mission to rule over animals. Prophetically, Adam and Eve are the Spirit and the Bride, and the animals are Gentiles who are to be led by the Spirit and Bride to receive salvation, which completes the creation work.
The Spirit and the Bride are calling us to come to receive the water of life.
