But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 Timothy 3:1 (NKJV)
These are days where danger can lurk around every corner. Life, by society, has been deemed cheap or of little value. To kill a baby in the womb of a woman is legal even though it is no longer determined to be a constitutional right. Evil people will use a gun, knife or club to kill people that they have never met. And, as the Bible says of the last days, “evil men will grow worse and worse.”
This reference to the last days reveals Paul’s sense of urgency. In his first letter to Timothy, Paul had written,
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will renounce the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons”
1 Timothy 4:1
But warnings about the last days were certainly not unique to Paul. It was a common theme among the leaders of the early church (see Acts 2:17; James 5:3; 2 Peter 3:3; Jude 18). Terrible times means “hard to bear, dangerous, troublesome.” Paul’s warning deserves our full attention.
Some say the last days began after Jesus’ resurrection, when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers at Pentecost and will continue until Christ’s second coming. Paul could speak about the last days as a future event (emphasizing conditions present at the close of the last days), or as a present reality (emphasizing the truth that the state of depravity in the world is always ripe for harvest). This means that we are living in the last days; perhaps, the last of the last days. It should not surprise us, then, to see the moral degeneration of society all around us. Paul warned us that it would happen, as did Jesus (see all of Matthew 24).
While we can see the depravity all around us, we must not despair for we know that God is still in charge and each passing day draws us closer to our eternal home. God’s message to you and me is still, “knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for our salvation is now nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Romans 13:11-12 (NKJV)
Friend, let’s get ready and stay ready. Amen and amen.
