The end of all things is at hand…

1 Peter 4:7a

Earlier, Peter had inferred that his readers were living in “the last times” (1:20).  John likewise wrote, “Children, it is the last hour…” (1 John 2:18), also stating that the visions he described in Revelation, including those describing the end of all things, “must soon take place” (Rev. 1:1; cf. 22:6) and that “the time is near” (Rev. 1:3; cf. 22:10).  Within Revelation, the Lord Himself said, “And behold, I am coming soon” (22:7; cf. 22:12, 20; 3:11).  The apostle Paul told Philippi that “the Lord is at hand” (Phil. 4:5), and informed Corinth that “the end of the ages” had come upon them (1 Cor. 10:11; cf. Heb. 9:26).  The Hebrew writer said, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay” (Heb. 10:37).  James wrote that “the coming of the Lord is at hand” and “the Judge is standing at the door” (James 5:8-9) after telling his readers that they lived “in the last days” (James 5:3).  The Hebrew writer also spoke of his readers living in the “last days” (Heb. 1:2), as did Peter on Pentecost (Acts 2:17ff).

However, note that Scripture also implies that Christ’s second coming would NOT be “at hand.”  For example, the parable of the talents, given contextually as part of Christ’s discourse on His second coming at the end of this universe (Matt. 24:35-25:46), has the master of the servants (symbolizing Jesus) coming back to settle accounts with them “after a long time” (Matt. 25:19).  The Spirit inspired Paul to inform Corinth that “he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence” (2 Cor. 4:14), inferring that he and his fellow apostles would die before the resurrection on the last day prophesied throughout the New Testament (John 5:28-29; 11:24; 1 Cor. 15:51ff).  He also taught the Thessalonians that “the day of the Lord” would “not come” until after the “apostasy” and “the man of lawlessness” had first come, a prophecy this writer believes refers to the coming of Catholicism and the papacy which took place long after Paul and the first readers of his Thessalonian letter had perished (2 Thess. 2:1-12).

Thus, a study of the meaning of this kind of terminology must avoid taking all these terms literally and recognize the nuances found in the meaning and contexts of each time these phrases are used.  For example, it is true that the age of Christianity is “the end of the ages” (1 Cor. 10:11; Heb. 9:26).  Thus, “the end of the ages” as well as “the last times” and “the last days” (1 Pet. 1:20; Acts 2:17ff; Heb. 1:2) apply just as much to us in the 21^st century church, as well as all Christians throughout the past 2,000 years, as they did to the early church.  Additionally, the visions throughout Revelation figuratively describe trials and persecutions from enemies of the cross which faithful Christians would face and overcome throughout the Christian age all the way to Judgment Day, thus making the promise that they “must soon take place” (Rev. 1:1) and “the time is near” (Rev. 1:3) mean that these burdens would begin to happen – rather than start and then end – soon after John wrote Revelation.  The Hebrew author, and possibly James (James 1:2), were writing to Jewish Christians a few years before Rome destroyed the temple, making their prophecies likely refer to that tragic event (Heb. 10:37; James 5:3, 8-9).

As for Peter’s text above, “the end of all things is at hand” (1 Pet. 4:7a), as well as references to “the last hour” (1 John 2:18) and Jesus saying He is “coming soon” (Rev. 22:7), should not be literally taken to mean that Peter and John thought the world’s end would come a few years later.  Rather, read 1 Peter 4:7-11 and compare it to a similar exhortation of Paul in which he wrote “the day is at hand” (Rom. 13:11-14).  Compare both passages to 2 Peter 3, James 4:13-17, and Matthew 24:35-25:46, passages which exhort Christians to always be faithfully obedient and thus prepared for the unknown time when life ends or Christ comes again.  Brethren, for every one of us “the end of all things is at hand.”  That’s why we must live our lives every day according to the will of God.

— Jon