When are the Last Days? (3) Deuteronomy 4:25-31

So far we can say the last days are the time when the Messiah will reign on the earth.  This is the key event of those days.  This passage also says the last days involve certain events that lead up to the Messianic Kingdom.

·        Deut. 4:25-31: Moses described the latter days as a time when Israel would be gathered from the nations and would turn to the Lord.

o   In Deuteronomy Moses gave the Law of Moses in connection with Israel’s entrance into the land of Canaan.  Israel’s obedience to the Law will determine both their prosperity and longevity in the land.  God will never revoke the promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  In that covenant He promised them the land of Canaan (Gen. 12:1,6-7; 13:14-17; 15:18-21; 17:8; 26:1-5; 28:3-4,13-15).  I encourage you to read these passages carefully as they make clear that the promised land is a specific land.  

o   God also promised to drive them from the land and scatter them among the nations if they are disobedient.  This is related to the Mosaic Covenant.  The specific issue is idolatry and the transgressions associated with worship of other gods.  Deut. 28 is specific about God’s response to Israel when she grows more and more sinful.  God will progressively take away Israel’s prosperity and then will remove them from the land.

o   Because of God’s faithfulness and mercy His promise to Israel was that, in the latter days, when Israel was in great distress among the nations, they would return to Him and He would bring them back to the land.  We mentioned that the covenant made with the fathers promised a specific land.  We also note that later, when the prophets were calling the people to repentance and warning them about judgment to come, that those prophets also understood the land to be very real.  Take for example Ezekiel 34:11-16.  God promised through the prophet to seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered … gather them from the countries … bring them to their own land.  This regathering will take place in the time of the Messiah (Ezek. 34:23-24).  

o   We should also note that in this time (i.e. the last days) this regathering and cleansing of Israel will be the evidence to the world that the God of Israel is the true God.  Men will know that God is the LORD when the land is inhabited again (Ezek. 36:11), Israel is cleansed (Ezek. 36:22-32) and Israel is again the center of true worship (Ezek. 37:24-28).  The nations will finally understand that Israel’s centuries of wandering and suffering was just what Moses said it would be: the result of their iniquity.

At this point we can say: the last days are the time when God seeks out Israel from the nations so He can purify them and reestablish them as His people.  If we take this literally, and why shouldn’t we, we are in the last days.