Paradise Restored

The Last Days 119
The early Church looked forward to the coming of the new
age. They knew that, with the visible end of the Old Covenant
system, the Church would be revealed as the new, true Temple;
and the work Christ came to perform would be accomplished.
This was an important aspect of redemption, and the firstgeneration
Christians looked forward to this event in their own
lifetime. During this period of waiting and severe trial, the
Apostle Peter assured them that they were “protected by the
power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:5). They were on the very threshold of
the new world.
Expecting the End
The Apostles and first-generation Christians knew they were
living in the last days of the Old Covenant age. They looked forward
anxiously to its consummation and the full ushering in of
the new era. As the age progressed and the “signs of the end” increased
and intensified, the Church could see that the Day of
Judgment was fast approaching; a crisis was looming in the near
future, when Christ would deliver them “from this present evil
age” (Gal. 1:4). The statements of the apostles are full of this expectant
attitude, the certain knowledge that this momentous
event was upon them. The sword of God’s wrath was poised
over Jerusalem, ready to strike at any time. But the Christians
were not to be afraid, for the coming wrath was not aimed at
them, but at the enemies of the Gospel. Paul urged the Thessalonians
to “wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from
the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come”
(1 Thess. 1:10). Echoing Jesus’ words in Matthew 23-24, Paul
emphasized that the imminent judgment would be poured out
upon “the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets,
and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile
to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they
might be saved; with the result that they always fill up the
measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the uttermost”
(1 Thess. 2:14-16). The Christians had been forewarned
and were therefore prepared, but unbelieving Israel would be
caught off-guard:
Now as to the times and epochs, brethren, you have no need of