I remember seeing the movie: The Last Days of Pompeii, when I was a young boy. It was developed from a book by the same name, authored by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1834, and his novel was inspired by the painting: The Last Day of Pompeii by the Russian painter Karl Briullov. So, we have the Last Day(s) of Pompeii, the painting, the novel and the movie. What are the last days that the Bible is concerned with, and how many last days are there to occur? Many Bible scholars believe the last days, as they pertain to the Bible, are the last days of creation itself and the end of the space / time continuum. However, the last days of Pompeii concerned only one city, caused by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Might the Biblical scholars who derive their understanding of the last days from chapter three of Peter’s second epistle be wrong about the universal character of the last days of the Bible?
The last days are mentioned by Isaiah in the second chapter of his prophecy: “…in the last days the mountain of the LORD’S house will be established in the top of the mountains, and will be exalted above the hills; and all nations will flow unto it” (Isaiah 2:2). The problem with believing this is the nation of Judah and physical Jerusalem is that the prophecy goes on to say that the Lord had forsaken the house of Jacob, because they are a nation of soothsayers (Isaiah 2:6), and their land is full of idols (verse-8). The Day of the Lord would come upon them in judgment (verse-12), and they would flee to the rocks and mountain for fear of what the Lord has come to do to them (verse-21).
The understanding of Peter’s last days (2Peter 3:3) comes from the prophets (2Peter 3:2). The prophet, Daniel, for example, spoke of a time of trouble unequaled in the history of the Jewish nation to the time he mentioned. At that unique time, the people whose names are written in the book of the Lord would be delivered, and those who slept in the earth would awake to everlasting life, but some would awake to everlasting contempt and shame (Daniel 12:1-2). Certainly, everyone who believes Peter’s last days are the end of the space / time continuum would refer to this time in Daniel when judgment would occur at the resurrection of the just and the unjust. So, Peter’s claim that the prophets who spoke of the last days would include Daniel.
Would we also include Isaiah’s second chapter? We must, if the Bible speaks of only one unique time in which the last days occur, and I know of no Biblical scholar who believes there are more than one last days in the Bible. The problem with including Isaiah, however, is that it points to a time of judgment upon the Jewish nation and Jerusalem. So, we have a problem, if the last days include a time when the “mountain of the Lord’s house” would be established as the top (supreme, best, highest) of the mountains (nations), why would the Lord **at that time** destroy the universe, as is interpreted by many Biblical scholars? Does it make sense that, when one reaches his goal everything gets terminated?
Notice that Isaiah says those who are judged in the Day of the Lord would flee to the rocks and mountains for safety in an effort to avoid the wrath of God, as he shakes the earth or the land (Isaiah 2:19, 21). To shake the earth means to remove those things that can be shaken so that those that cannot be shaken would be seen to remain (Hebrews 12:26-28). When Jesus was on his way to be crucified, he mentioned to the women who wept for him that the time was coming when their children would run to the rocks and the mountains for safety (Luke 23:30). Many scholars believe Jesus spoke of the coming judgment of Jerusalem in 70 AD,[1] but if this is the case, then Isaiah 2:21 is saying that the last days (Isaiah 2:2), which are the Day of the Lord (Isaiah 2:12), refer to 70 AD. Similar to The Last Days of Pompeii, the last days of the Bible refer to only one locality, one nation and one city in particular. This, of course, agrees with Jacob’s understanding that the last days referred to his descendents (Genesis 49:1) and Moses’ understanding that Israel would reject the Lord in the latter or last days (Deuteronomy 31:29) and would be removed from the Lord’s Presence (Deuteronomy 32:20-26; Hebrews 12:26), thus, ending his covenant with them (Hebrews 8:13).
Of course, the point of all this is: did Jesus actually do what he said he was going to do? At the end of the age (Matthew 24:3), which is the last days, he would come in a time unequaled in Jewish history (Matthew 24:21; cp. Daniel 12:1), gather the elect (Matthew 24:30-31; resurrection according to Daniel 12:2), and he would do it before the then current generation would pass away (Matthew 24:34; cp. 16:27-28). Did Jesus do this, or should we, as he challenged all men to do (John 10:37-38), reject him as the Messiah?
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[1] Josephus, himself, claimed an entire city in Galilee fled to the mountains at the approach of the Romans. See Wars of the Jews 2.18.9 (504).
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