What are the Last Days?
This article will show that the “last days” refers to the last days of the Old Covenant age–not the last days of planet earth, and not the last days of the Christian age. The last days time period began at Jesus’ earthly ministry in approximately AD 30, and ended at the destruction of the temple in AD 70.
Jesus’s arrival (in AD 30) meant the last days time period had finally arrived: “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” (Heb. 1:1-2, italics mine; see also 1 Pet. 1:20). Messiah’s arrival started the countdown clock to the end of the Old Covenant age (and beginning of the New Covenant age). As that day drew near, the descriptions of the last days intensified. For example, by AD 65, it was no longer just the last days; by now, it was the last hour of the last day: “Little children, it is the last hour and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18, italic mine). Note: antichrists were people in the first century who denied that Jesus was the Messiah (1 John 2:22-23, 4:2-3; 2 John 7).
The Old Covenant age began in approximately 1500 BC, when Moses returned from Mt. Sinai with the ten commandments in hand (Exodus 34). This was the age of bloody animal sacrifices, the physical temple (where the animals were sacrificed), and Levitical priests (who sacrificed the animals). This was the age or “world” that was passing away during the last days time period (AD 30–70).
Although God himself had established the Old Covenant, aka: the Law, it was nevertheless deficient because it could not take away sin–at least not in a permanent, completed sense. As the writer of Hebrews said, “It is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats [animal sacrifices] to take away sin” (Heb. 10:4). While the Old Covenant was certainly important and good in that it convicted people of sin and showed their need for the Savior (Rom. 7:7), nevertheless, it was deficient because it did not contain the remedy for the sin it revealed. It left people spiritually dead and separated from God. As the apostle Paul said, “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died” (Rom. 7:9-10). The Law inevitably led to spiritual death / separation from God, which is why it was called “the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones” (2 Cor. 3:7). Since the Old Covenant could not “save” people from their sins (restore man’s broken relationship with God), it had to be replaced with the better New Covenant, which could save people from their sins and restore their broken relationship with God.
(600 BC) “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah–not according to the [old] covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jer. 31:31-34, italics mine).
This New Covenant age of forgiveness of sin / salvation finally arrived in the first century: “Now, once at the end of the ages, He [Jesus] has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Heb. 9:26).
When Jesus began his earthly ministry in AD 30, the Old Covenant had been in force for approximately 1500 year, ever since the time of Moses. Messiah’s arrival meant this Old Covenant age was finally coming to an end. This is what the last days were all about, the last days of the Old Covenant age. The last days time period was the forty-year period from AD 30 to AD 70, during which time the Old Covenant gradually passed away…and the New Covenant gradually appeared.
Consider two passages about this transitional period:
(AD 57) “But this I [Paul] say, brethren, the time is short…For the form of this world [the Old Covenant world] is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:29-31, italics mine).
(AD 62) “In that He [God] says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first [covenant] obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Heb. 8:13, italics mine).
When these statements were uttered in approximately AD 60, the Old Covenant age was growing obsolete and would soon vanish away. These passages are describing the last days of the Old Covenant age!
Jesus had also spoken about the end of the Old Covenant age in the Olivet Discourse, and he affirmed this same timing. The discourse begins with Jesus (in AD 33) pronouncing judgment on the temple: “Do you [disciples] not see all these things [the temple stones]? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Matt. 24:2). Then, the disciples ask: “When will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (v. 3, italics mine). The “end of the age” they were asking about was the end of the Old Covenant age. The reason why the disciples automatically thought “end of the age” after Jesus had mentioned the destruction of the temple is because the two events went hand and hand. The temple represented the Old Covenant age (Heb. 9:8-9), and its destruction would mean the Old Covenant age had finally ended. Without a temple, the vast majority of the Old Covenant requirements could not be kept. In fact, without a temple, only 77 positive and 126 negative commandments can be kept–out of 613! In essence, no temple…no Old Covenant. Note: the disciples also automatically thought “coming of the Lord” after Jesus had mentioned the destruction of the temple (Matt. 24:2–3) because such a judgment/destruction equated to a coming of the Lord. The Old Testament is filled with examples of such comings of the Lord (Isa. 13:9-13, 19:1; Zeph. 1:14-18), and they equated to judgment and destruction. See my article “What is a Coming of the Lord?” for more about this topic.
So when Jesus mentioned the destruction of the temple (Matt. 24:2), the disciples automatically thought “coming of the Lord” and “end of the age”…and they wanted to know when it would happen: “When will these things be?” (Matt. 24:3). Jesus answered their question by describing the various precursors–such as false messiahs, wars and rumors of wars, tribulation, etc.–and said: “But he who endures to the end shall be saved” (v. 13). This is the same “end of the age” that the disciples asked about earlier in the passage (v. 3); Jesus was simply answering their question. Then, Jesus said: “Assuredly, I say to you [disciples], this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place” (v. 24, italics mine). ALL THESE THINGS! Jesus explicitly said all these events would happen within a generation, which the Bible defines as forty years (Heb. 3:8-10, Num. 14:30-34, Neh. 9:21). Moreover, Jesus linked all these events to the destruction of the temple, which everyone acknowledges happened in AD 70.
This timing also fits perfectly with the many other statements by the apostles about the end of the Old Covenant age. For example, Paul said in approximately AD 57, “The ends of the ages have come” (1 Cor. 10:11). Likewise, Peter said in AD 63, “The end of all things [related to the Old Covenant age] is at hand” (1 Pet. 4:7). And, as noted above, the writer of Hebrews said in AD 62 that the Old Covenant age would soon vanish away (Heb. 8:13).
This is what the last days were all about: the last days of the Old Covenant age. It was the forty-year transition (AD 30–70) from the Old Covenant age of animal sacrifices, a physical temple, and the Levitical priesthood…to the New Covenant age of spiritual sacrifices, a spiritual temple, and a spiritual priesthood. In fact, Peter, in AD 63, spoke about just this transition: “You [Christians] as living stones are being built up a spiritual house [temple], a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people” (1 Pet. 2:4-9, italics mine).
In the New Covenant age, there would no longer be any need for a physical temple because Christians would be the living temple, of which Jesus is the Cornerstone. In the New Covenant age, all Christians would be priests, instead of just men from the tribe of Levi. In the New Covenant age, Christians would offer up spiritual sacrifices, instead of animal sacrifices. In fact, in the New Covenant age, even Gentiles could be priests and offer sacrifices, which was forbidden and repugnant under the Old Covenant system.
The physical temple that was still standing when Peter said this in approximately AD 63 represented the Old Covenant age; but the spiritual temple that was “being built up” (1 Pet. 2:5) represented the New Covenant age. The physical temple was temporary; but the spiritual temple would be permanent (Matt. 16:18). The former was a type/shadow; the latter would be the better spiritual reality/finality (aka: the anti-type).
This is what the last days were all about, the transition from Old Covenant age of types and shadows…to the New Covenant age of spiritual realities. And unlike the Old Covenant age, the New Covenant age will never end. “Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting [new] covenant make you complete in every good work…” (Heb. 13:20, italics mine; see also Jer. 32:40 and Isa. 61:8).
The New Covenant age is here to stay–which means “the last days” cannot possibly refer to the last days of the Christian age. The last days refers to the last days of the Old Covenant age, which officially ended when the temple fell in AD 70.
For more information about this topic, get my book The End Is Here: How the New Testament Prophecies Were Fulfilled.
By Alex Polyak, Director of The Bible Fulfilled, 1/26/25
