Good News for All Nations

The Last Days, the time of fulfillment, began with the Death, Resurrection, and the Enthronement of Jesus Christ . When we hear the term “ Last Days ” we assume it refers to the final few years of history just before Christ’s return. Nevertheless, the New Testament presents this period as the era of fulfillment that began following the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, and the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost. In Christ, the “ ends of the ages ” have come upon the Church, the people of God – (1 Corinthians 10:11).

Paul anchored all that God has done for us in the resurrection of Jesus, which also inaugurated the Messianic Age - Galatians 1:1-5. The source of Paul’s apostleship was the same God who raised His Son from the dead to “ deliver us from this evil age .” In his Letter to the Galatians , the Apostle responded to certain “ men from Jerusalem ” who were working as if the old era of the Law was still in effect, insisting that Gentiles must be circumcised and keep the Jewish calendar. They also questioned Paul’s apostolic authority.

Jesus has come in these last days to provide salvation for men, women, and children of all nations, and everlasting life in the age to come . After his resurrection, Jesus declared, “ All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me! Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations .” Christ sent his disciples to announce the salvation accomplished by his death “ to the ends of the Earth .” The promise of the Abrahamic Covenant to bless all nations is now being fulfilled by Jesus Christ.

Paul argued that adopting the rite of circumcision would constitute regression to something rudimentary, and an earlier stage in the redemptive history of God’s people. If Gentile believers did so, they would be obligated to keep the whole Law, and they could easily find themselves “ severed from Christ ” - (Galatians 5:1-4).

The death of Jesus inaugurated the messianic age with consequent changes in the status of God’s people . In his epistle to the Assembly in Galatia, Paul declares that his apostleship originated from the same God who raised Jesus from the dead, the Messiah of Israel who gave his life to “ deliver us from this evil age .” His declaration anticipates his proposition in the body of the Letter that the arrival of Jesus changed the status of the Law for the people of God, the “ children of Abraham .”

The outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost signaled the start of the Last Days and the time of fulfillment . The application of Joel’s prophecy to the events of the Day of Pentecost links the outpouring of the Spirit to the last days. The death, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus inaugurated History’s final stage before the Day of the Lord, and now, he reigns and bestows the gift of the Spirit on his Church.

When the subject of the Second Coming is raised, quite naturally, the question of what “sign” or “signs” will precede it is asked, and invariably, wars, earthquakes, tsunamis, famines, and similar catastrophes are proposed as harbingers of that day. Yet Jesus himself gave us the  definitive answer  to this question, namely, the  completion of the mission of the Church  to proclaim his salvation and lordship to all nations.

God has spoken His decisive and superior “ word ” in His son, and He did so “ upon the last of these days .” This refers to the end of the period epitomized by the Levitical code with its priesthood and repeated animal sacrifices, a system of worship centered in the Tabernacle and the later Jerusalem Temple. With the appointment of Jesus as the High Priest “ after the order of Melchizedek ,” a new and final era of salvation commenced.

The gift of the Spirit is foundational to the New Covenant. It is the beginning of the New Creation and the gathering of the nations . The history of Israel includes descriptions of the sins that caused the expulsion of the nation from the Land of Canaan. God foresaw the failures of Israel, and therefore, He determined to make a new covenant, one that is energized and characterized by the Holy Spirit.