(he eschate hemera): Repeatedly used by Jesus in John 6:39, 40, 44, 54; John 11:24; John 12:48, for the day of resurrection and judgment (see ESCHATOLOGY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT). Compare the usage in the Old Testament (Isaiah 2:2 Micah 4:1) and the New Testament (Acts 2:17 2 Timothy 3:1 2 Peter 3:3 1 John 2:18 Jude 1:18) of "last days" and "last time" to denote the Messianic age.

See LATTER DAYS; LAST DAYS; LAST TIME.

In John 7:37, "the last day, the great day of the feast" refers to the eighth day of the feast of Tabernacles. This closing day was observed as a Sabbath (Leviticus 23:36). On it the libation of water made on other days was not made; hence, the allusion of Jesus to Himself as the Giver of the living water.

James Orr

JUDGMENT, LAST

1. A Transcendental Doctrine:

In Christian theology the Last Judgment is an act in which God interposes directly into human history, brings the course of this world to a final close, determines the eternal fate of human beings, and places them in surroundings spiritually adapted to their final condition. The concept is purely transcendental, and is to be distinguished from the hope that God will interfere in the history of this world to determine it undeviatingly toward good. The transcendental doctrine is possible only when an exalted idea of God has been attained, although it may afterward be united with crasser theories, as in certain naive conceptions of Christianity at the present day.

2. The Doctrine in the Religion of Israel:

In the religion of Israel, the doctrine of the Last Judgment arose from "transcendentalizing" the concept of the "Day of the Lord." Just as hope of immortality replaced desire for length of days on earth, just the as for "the rejuvenation of Palestine" was substituted "an eternal abode in a new earth," so the ideal of a military victory over Israel's enemies expanded into God's solemn condemnation of evil. The concept thus strictly defined is hardly to be sought in the Old Testament, but Daniel 12:1-3 may contain it. The first unequivocal assertion would appear to be in Enoch 91:17, where the final state is contrasted with a preceding reign of earthly happiness. (If there has been no redaction in the latter part of this section, its date is prior to 165 B.C.) Hereafter the idea is so prevalent in the Jewish writings that detailed reference is needless. But it is by no means universal. Writings touched with Greek thought (En 108; 4 Macc; Philo) are content with an individual judgment at death. A unique theory is that of the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs (Levi 18:8-14, e.g.), where the world grows into final blessedness without catastrophe. But much more common is the persistence of the non-transcendental ideas, ingrained as they were in the thought of the people (even in Philo; compare his prophecy of national earthly glory in Excr 9). This type of thought was so tenacious that it held its own alongside of the transcendental, and both points of view were accepted by more than one writer. Then the earthly happiness precedes the heavenly (as in Enoch 91), and there are two judgments, one by the Messiah and the other by God (2 Esdras 7; Syriac Baruch 30). So in Revelation 19 where Christ overcomes the enemies in battle-symbolism and establishes the Millennium, while the Last Judgment is held by God (20:11;). Otherwise the Messiah is never the judge except in the Parables of Enoch, where He appears as God's vicar uniformly (in 47:3 God fixes the time of judgment only). Possibly in The Wisdom of Solomon 4:16; 5:1 men share in the judgment-act but otherwise they (and angels) appear only as "assessors" or as executors of the sentence. In The Wisdom of Solomon 3:8, "judging" is used in the Old Testament sense of "rule" (Judges 3:10, etc.), as is the case in Matthew 19:28 parallel Luke 22:30 1 Corinthians 6:2, 3 (in the last case with the word in two senses). Further studies in the variation of the (rather conventionally fixed) details of the judgment will interest the special student only.

For discussions of the relevant Biblical passages, see DAY OF THE LORD; ESCHATOLOGY; PAROUSIA. The doctrine has real religious value, for it insists on a culmination in the evolution (or degeneration!) of the race as well as of the individual. So it is contrasted with the pessimism of natural science, which points only toward the gradual extinction of humanity through the cooling of the sun.

LITERATURE.

The variations of the concept are treated, fully only in Volz, Judische Eschatologie. For general literature see ESCHATOLOGY; PAROUSIA.

Burton Scott Easton

LAST TIME, TIMES

(kairos eschatos, chronos eschatos (also plural), eschaton tou chronou, hora eschate): In the King James Version this phrase occurs in 1 Peter 1:5; 1 Peter 1:20 (plural); 1 John 2:18 Jude 1:18. The Revised Version (British and American) has, in 1 Peter 1:20, "at the end of the times," and in 1 John 2:18, "the last hour," in closer adherence to the Greek. The conception is closely allied to that of "the last day," and, like this, has its root in the Old Testament conception of "the end of days." In the Old Testament this designates the entire eschatological period as that which the present course of the world is to issue into, and not, as might be assumed, the closing section of history. It is equivalent to what was later called "the coming aeon" (see ESCHATOLOGY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT). In the New Testament, on the other hand, the phrase "the last time" does mark the concluding section of the present world-period, of the present aeon. In three of the New Testament passages the consciousness expresses itself that these "last times" have arrived, and that the period extending from the appearance or the resurrection of Christ until His Second Coming is the closing part of the present age, that the writer and readers are living in "the last times." In one passage (1 Peter 1:5) "the last time" is projected farther forward into the future, so that it comes to mean the time immediately preceding the reappearance of Christ. Both usages can be readily explained. The days of the Messiah were to the Old Testament writers part of the future world, although to the later Jewish chiliasm they appeared as lying this side of it, because differing from the world to come in their earthly and temporal character. To the early Christians the days of the Messiah appeared more closely assimilated in character to the future world, so that no reason existed on this score for not including them in the latter. Still it was also realized that the Messiah in His first appearance had not brought the full realization of the coming world, and that only His return from heaven would consummate the kingdom of God. Accordingly, the days in which they lived assumed to them the character of an intermediate period, marked off on the one hand from the previous development by the appearance of the Messiah, but equally marked off from the coming eon by His reappearance in glory. From a formal point of view the representation resembles the Jewish chiliastic scheme, but with a twofold substantial difference:

(a) the chiliastic scheme restricts the Messiah and His work to the last days, and does not carry Him over into the coming world, whereas to the Christian the coming world, no less than the last days, is thoroughly Messianic;

(b) to the Jewish point of view both the days of the Messiah and the coming world lie in the future, whereas to the Christian the former have already arrived.

It remained possible, however, from the Christian point of view to distinguish within the last times themselves between the immediate present and the future conclusion of this period, and this is done in 1 Peter 1:5. Also in 1 John 2:18 the inference that "the last hour" has come is not drawn from the presence of the Messiah, but from the appearance of the anti-Christian power, so that here also a more contracted conception of the last stage of history reveals itself, only not as future (1 Peter 1:5), but as present (hence, "hour" not "time").

For literature see ESCHATOLOGY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Geerhardus Vos

DAYS, LAST

See LAST DAYS.

LAST DAY

See DAY, LAST.

LAST DAYS

See ESCHATOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

TIME, LAST

See LAST TIME.

2. (a.) Being after all the others, similarly classed or considered, in time, place, or order of succession; following all the rest; final; hindmost; farthest; as, the last year of a century; the last man in a line of soldiers; the last page in a book; his last chance.

3. (a.) Next before the present; as, I saw him last week.

4. (a.) Supreme; highest in degree; utmost.

5. (a.) Lowest in rank or degree; as, the last prize.

6. (a.) Farthest of all from a given quality, character, or condition; most unlikely; having least fitness; as, he is the last person to be accused of theft.

7. (a.) At a time or on an occasion which is the latest of all those spoken of or which have occurred; the last time; as, I saw him last in New York.

8. (a.) In conclusion; finally.

9. (a.) At a time next preceding the present time.

10. (v. i.) To continue in time; to endure; to remain in existence.

11. (v. i.) To endure use, or continue in existence, without impairment or exhaustion; as, this cloth lasts better than that; the fuel will last through the winter.

12. (n.) A wooden block shaped like the human foot, on which boots and shoes are formed.

13. (v. t.) To shape with a last; to fasten or fit to a last; to place smoothly on a last; as, to last a boot.

14. (n.) A load; a heavy burden; hence, a certain weight or measure, generally estimated at 4,000 lbs., but varying for different articles and in different countries. In England, a last of codfish, white herrings, meal, or ashes, is twelve barrels; a last of corn, ten quarters, or eighty bushels, in some parts of England, twenty-one quarters; of gunpowder, twenty-four barrels, each containing 100 lbs; of red herrings, twenty cades, or 20,000; of hides, twelve dozen; of leather, twenty dickers; of pitch and tar, fourteen barrels; of wool, twelve sacks; of flax or feathers, 1,700 lbs.

15. (n.) The burden of a ship; a cargo.

4983. Mattanyah -- "gift of Yah," the last king of Judah, also a ...
Mattanyah or Mattanyahu. << 4982, 4983. Mattanyah or Mattanyahu. 4984 >>.
"gift of Yah," the last king of Judah, also a number of Isr. ...
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314. acharon -- coming after or behind
... << 313, 314. acharon. 315 >>. coming after or behind. Transliteration: acharon
Phonetic Spelling: (akh-ar-one') Short Definition: last. ...
/hebrew/314.htm - 6k

319. acharith -- the after-part, end
... from achar Definition the after-part, end NASB Word Usage come (2), descendants
(1), end (20), final end (1), final period (1), future (7), last (8), latter (7 ...
/hebrew/319.htm - 6k

318. ochoreyn -- (a man) that turns backward
... << 317, 318. ochoreyn. 318a >>. (a man) that turns backward. Transliteration: ochoreyn
Phonetic Spelling: (okh-or-ane') Short Definition: last. at last ...
/hebrew/318.htm - 5k

570. emesh -- yesterday
... Word Origin of uncertain derivation Definition yesterday NASB Word Usage last night
(3), night (1), yesterday (1). former time, yesterday night. ...
/hebrew/570.htm - 5k

4646. mappach -- a breathing out
... << 4645, 4646. mappach. 4647 >>. a breathing out. Transliteration: mappach
Phonetic Spelling: (map-pawkh') Short Definition: last. Word ...
/hebrew/4646.htm - 6k

6119. aqeb -- heel, footprint, hind part
... 1), rear guard (1), steps (1), trail (1). heel, horsehoof, last, lier in
wait. Or (feminine) hiqqbah {ik-keb-aw'}; from aqab; a heel ...
/hebrew/6119.htm - 6k

6118. eqeb -- consequence, as a consequence of, because
... From aqab in the sense of aqeb; a heel, ie (figuratively) the last of anything
(used adverbially, for ever); also result, ie Compensation; and so (adverb with ...
/hebrew/6118.htm - 6k

6258. attah -- now
... Word Origin probably from anah Definition now NASB Word Usage already (2), last*
(1), now (411), so (1), then (5), this time (6), time (2), whereas (2), yet (1 ...
/hebrew/6258.htm - 6k