The Very Last Days

2 Timothy 3:1-5 KJV

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

I can imagine that men of a number of eras thought this passage was a good description of their own day.

• The early days of the dark ages of Europe when, after the fall of Rome, men were left at the mercy of Germanic raiding parties. There was no government and no one capable of helping them.
• In the latter days of those same dark ages when Catholicism, having won the rule of nearly all of Europe, reached out with vengeance to squelch any Christian doctrines opposed to their own.
• The beginning years of the Cold War when the threat of Communism spread throughout Russia and Asia.

But as we have the ability not only to see our own circumstances but those of the past, it is apparent that the description of this passage is much more pronounced today than at any time in history.

Other eras were more violent but our era is the most emotionally and spiritually detached from any time previous.

• Can the days get darker than they are right now?
• Can evil wax worse than it is today?

I am sure that it can and therefore cannot say with absolute certainty that these must be the very last days before the Lord returns. But it does seem like our days match those Paul describes with amazing accuracy.

I do not know when Christ will return but I know it is sooner than when I first believed. These are days to be ready. The redemption of the Lord draws nigh.