9. The Latter Years and The Latter Days

“And now, behold, I go unto my people: come therefore, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days.” Who is prophesying? It is Balaam. Balaam is prophesying of events which will happen to the nation of Moab by “this people” [Israel] in the future: “the latter days”. [Numbers 24:14]

We are living in “the last time,” which time encompasses a time period of three thousand years, and includes “the times of the Gentiles” and concurrently the “dispensation of the Church,” which time duration forms roughly two thousand years … from 33 AD to our day in the 21st century: further “the last time” extends into the future to include the “Kingdom of Heaven,” which is the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem in Israel.

This “Kingdom of Heaven” is “the latter days” which are a subset of “the last time”. The pattern formed is this: God will turn again to Israel after the translation of the body of Christ occurs [which event is described in both First Corinthians chapter fifteen and in First Thessalonians chapter four, which see].

God will bring Israel through a seven-year tribulation, and this tribulation will begin the period of time known as “the latter days.”

For this, see with me in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter four and chapter thirty-one: “When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;” [Deuteronomy 4:30]

Note the description of the time given; it is called “the latter days.” “For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.” [Deuteronomy 31:29]

We see this phrase, “the latter days,” appearing again, and again in the book of Jeremiah, in the book of Ezekiel, in the book of Daniel, and, lastly, in the book of Hosea.

First, the prophet Jeremiah: “The anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.” [Jeremiah 23:20] “The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it.” [Jeremiah 30:24]

Now, for the prophet Ezekiel: “After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.” [Ezekiel 38:8] “And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.” [Ezekiel 38:16]

Now, for Daniel: “But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;” [Daniel 2:28]. “Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days.” [Daniel 10:14

And, lastly, the prophet Hosea: “Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.” [Hosea 3:5]

10. The Last Days

[James 5:3]: “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.”

We live in “the last days.” The Spirit of God [through the Apostle Paul] characterized the times that we all live in [the last days] as “perilous times”. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.” [2 Timothy 3:1]

Can you not see what is happening all around you? Yes, you can. Read this Scripture in Second Peter, chapter three, verse three: “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,” [2 Peter 3:3]

Do you not see that this is so? Yes, you can. We are indeed living in “the last days.”

From Hump Day [30 AD] on through the end of time, the Bible has defined the last two thousand years of time as “the last days.”

Notice for this what Scripture says in the book of Hebrews, chapter one, verse two: “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 1:2]

Next we need to consider the next thousand years ... into the future.

In the future millenium we will have the “the latter years.” The “latter years” are “the latter days,” and they are also called, “the last days.”

For this, look in the prophecy of Hosea: “Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.” [Hosea 3:5]

It will go well for Israel in “the latter days.” See the book of Acts: “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:” [Acts 2:17]

This is a prophecy which will be fulfilled in “the last days,” which days will come after “the times of the Gentiles” are over, and after the seven years of Jacob’s trouble [THE TRIBULATION]. “Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.” [Jeremiah 30:7]

The “last days” also coincide with the seventh millenium of time. In “the process of time”, the events described by the prophets will come to pass. “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” [Matthew 6:10]

[Acts 3:21: “Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”

In “the purpose of time,” THE KINGDOM of HEAVEN will come to this: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.” [Isaiah 2:2]

CONCLUSION: the prophets of God always shoot dead on with 100% accuracy. Here we go: “But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.” [Micah 4:1]

Next 11. The End