Post by Lee on May 31, 2014 2:53:28 GMT
Heb 1:2 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;
Paul had told the Hebrews that the days in which God spoke to them by His Son were the “last days.” This implies that there had been first days and middle days. “These last days” were certainly not what that phrase is widely imagined to import, the end of the world. Paul was living in them eighteen hundred years ago. Nevertheless they had relation to the end of a certain world, or order of things. That world was Israelitish not Gentile. The Apostle was then in the last forty years of the duration of the Jewish World. So was Jesus when he made proclamation concerning the kingdom to be restored to Israel.
The number 40 occurs several times in connection with the Jewish World, and has undoubtedly a representative meaning. The spies occupied 40 days in viewing the land of Canaan. Because of disobedience, these 40 days were made typical of 40 years of trial in the Wilderness Now the 40 years in the Wilderness were the first days of the Jewish World During that time the Jews were formed into a polity under Moses. It appears, therefore, that Jehovah had preapportioned the times of His nation, and that the “last days” were of the same length as the first. Luke informs us that when Jesus was baptized “he began to be about 30 years of age.”—Luke 3:23. And history informs us that the destruction of the Jewish World was finished A.D. 70. Jesus began to speak officially after his baptism, hence, he spoke for the Father in “the last (40) days” (of years) of the Jewish World, which came to an end in the year aforesaid.
1866 Christadelphian: Volume 3. 2001 (electronic ed.) (133–134).
Paul had told the Hebrews that the days in which God spoke to them by His Son were the “last days.” This implies that there had been first days and middle days. “These last days” were certainly not what that phrase is widely imagined to import, the end of the world. Paul was living in them eighteen hundred years ago. Nevertheless they had relation to the end of a certain world, or order of things. That world was Israelitish not Gentile. The Apostle was then in the last forty years of the duration of the Jewish World. So was Jesus when he made proclamation concerning the kingdom to be restored to Israel.
The number 40 occurs several times in connection with the Jewish World, and has undoubtedly a representative meaning. The spies occupied 40 days in viewing the land of Canaan. Because of disobedience, these 40 days were made typical of 40 years of trial in the Wilderness Now the 40 years in the Wilderness were the first days of the Jewish World During that time the Jews were formed into a polity under Moses. It appears, therefore, that Jehovah had preapportioned the times of His nation, and that the “last days” were of the same length as the first. Luke informs us that when Jesus was baptized “he began to be about 30 years of age.”—Luke 3:23. And history informs us that the destruction of the Jewish World was finished A.D. 70. Jesus began to speak officially after his baptism, hence, he spoke for the Father in “the last (40) days” (of years) of the Jewish World, which came to an end in the year aforesaid.
1866 Christadelphian: Volume 3. 2001 (electronic ed.) (133–134).