The Age of Fulfillment: “The Last Days”

The “last days” marked a time of fulfillment.   It is important that we place the work of the Holy Spirit in the context of the last days of the Jewish era and the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ.   The last days are referred to by Paul as the “fullness of times” (Gal. 4:4).  Jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets (Matthew 5:17), which included the Holy Spirit coming before the great and terrible day of the Lord (Joel 2:28).   Many references throughout the New Testament speak of “this generation,” “at hand,” or “coming soon” to reflect this as the age of fulfillment.   They were mentioned with reference to the judgment, the gathering of the elect, the end or completion of the age, and the coming of Jesus.   Many elements of this era combine to complete God’s scheme of redemption.   We are reminded that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15).  This child was “born of woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law (Gal. 4:4).   All of history prior to that time was pointing and leading to this final age of fulfillment or as Paul describes it, “the fullness of time.”   To bring us to this point, however, much preparation was given to the production of nations and the choice of one from whom God would make His special people and through whom the Christ would be born.  They were given the law and what a glorious occasion on that day when Moses returned from Mount Sinai with the commandments in hand.  Yet, it would not compare to the glory of the New and better covenant written upon the hearts of men and women who would make up the kingdom of Jesus Christ.