Are We Living In The Last Days?

Are we living in the last days? There are many people who believe that we are, mainly because they hear about wars, rumors of wars, the moral decay that's going on, and others because of long-held traditions. Then there are some who look around themselves everywhere in the world and think that they're seeing signs of the coming of the Lord, and others who say, well, there's no way to determine that. But neither of those are biblical ways of determining the last days. If we were to search the scriptures, they tell us that the last days begin in the days of John the Baptist. This is why our gospels pretty much begin with the ministry of John the Baptist in Matthew chapter 3, in Mark 1, in Luke 3, and also in John chapter 1. Furthermore, when John came on the scene, he came preaching, repent for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near. Jesus said all the law and the prophets were until John, but since that time the kingdom of God is preached and every man presses into it. He also said the time was fulfilled that the kingdom of God had drawn near, repent and believe the gospel, Mark 1, 14 and 15. Now we have in Malachi chapter 3 and verse 1, where he says, behold, I send my messenger before your face and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly appear in his temple. And so the Lord whom they sought would come, but his coming would be a sign that the end was near. That's why in Malachi chapter 4 and verse 5, he says, behold, I send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. And lest he come and smite the earth with the curse. Now, when we read Matthew chapter 17, the vision of the Lord's coming, where he's transfigured before Moses and Elijah with Peter, James, John, and Andrew, they understood that that was a vision of the coming of the Lord, according to second Peter 1 in verse 16. So they asked the question, Lord, why then do the prophets say that Elijah the prophet would come? And he said, well, Elijah has already come and they've done to him, whatever they listed of him. Then they understood that he spoke to them of John the Baptist. You see, that was a sign that the end was near that they were already in the last days. Furthermore, in Hebrews 9 26, the Bible says Jesus died in the end of the age. And Paul recorded in first Corinthians 10 and verse 11, that the end of the ages had come upon them, meaning in the first century generation. That's why Jesus said in Matthew 3 and verse 34, when speaking about his coming, that that generation would by no means pass away till all those things were fulfilled. And thus, when the temple was being destroyed by the Romans in AD 70, he said, these are the days of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled. So we're not to look to the future for the last days. We should look back in the first century when the temple was destroyed in AD 70 by the Romans in that first century generation, because that's when the last days were fulfilled in the first century.