Andrew Meredith’s Reviews > Paradise Restored: A Biblical Theology of Dominion > Status Update
Andrew Meredith
is on page 117 of 318
Chapter 13: The Last Days
"The Last Days," "The Latter Times," and "The Last Hour," is the period between Jesus's Life and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The Early Church was living at the end of the old age (the aready "obsolete" Old Covenant) and the beginning of the New (Heb 8:13).
— Feb 04, 2026 02:31AM
"The Last Days," "The Latter Times," and "The Last Hour," is the period between Jesus's Life and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The Early Church was living at the end of the old age (the aready "obsolete" Old Covenant) and the beginning of the New (Heb 8:13).
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Andrew’s Previous Updates
Andrew Meredith
is on page 163 of 318
Chapter 19: A Brief Summary of the Revelation
Revelation is not impossible to understand, but it is extraordinarily deep. One could easily fill multiple volumes exploring the book fully. Thus, this survey will be just that, a thousand foot flyover. The next few chapters will zoom in to cover important symbols within the book, but first, getting the lay of the whole land is necessary.
— Feb 10, 2026 10:52AM
Revelation is not impossible to understand, but it is extraordinarily deep. One could easily fill multiple volumes exploring the book fully. Thus, this survey will be just that, a thousand foot flyover. The next few chapters will zoom in to cover important symbols within the book, but first, getting the lay of the whole land is necessary.
Andrew Meredith
is on page 157 of 318
Chapter 17: Interpreting Revelation and Chapter 18: The Time Is at Hand
There are two problems that confront us when we seek to interpret the Book of Revelation: (1) What checks and controls should we use to ensure that we do not force God's Holy Word into a mold of our own inventions and (too often) our runaway imaginations? (2) What do we do then with what we have learned? These chapters seek to tackle the first.
— Feb 08, 2026 04:02AM
There are two problems that confront us when we seek to interpret the Book of Revelation: (1) What checks and controls should we use to ensure that we do not force God's Holy Word into a mold of our own inventions and (too often) our runaway imaginations? (2) What do we do then with what we have learned? These chapters seek to tackle the first.
Andrew Meredith
is on page 140 of 318
Chapter 16: The Consummation of the Kingdom
The Last Day and the Last Judgment are synonyms. Biblically, they happen at the same time. This should be obvious, but there are only two resurrections: (1) Jesus as the firstfruits, and (2) the (simultaneous) Resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked on the Last Day (Dan 12:2; Jn 5:26-29; Acts 24:15; Rev 20:11-15).
— Feb 07, 2026 03:11AM
The Last Day and the Last Judgment are synonyms. Biblically, they happen at the same time. This should be obvious, but there are only two resurrections: (1) Jesus as the firstfruits, and (2) the (simultaneous) Resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked on the Last Day (Dan 12:2; Jn 5:26-29; Acts 24:15; Rev 20:11-15).
Andrew Meredith
is on page 133 of 318
Chapter 15: The Day of the Lord
Okay, so "the Last Days" are behind us, "The Great Tribulation" is behind us, "the Antichrist" is behind us, "Christ's coming on the clouds" is behind us... All were fulfilled in AD 70. Is there anything actually left to be fulfilled? And if so, how can we meaningfully distinguish it from all the stuff that has already happened?
— Feb 06, 2026 02:40AM
Okay, so "the Last Days" are behind us, "The Great Tribulation" is behind us, "the Antichrist" is behind us, "Christ's coming on the clouds" is behind us... All were fulfilled in AD 70. Is there anything actually left to be fulfilled? And if so, how can we meaningfully distinguish it from all the stuff that has already happened?
Andrew Meredith
is on page 125 of 318
Chapter 14: The Restoration of Israel
The last few chapters have been pretty bleak for the nation of Israel. They have by-and-large been excommunicated, cut off from the vine, and placed under cataclysmic judgment. But this presents us with a serious problem. What about God's promise to Abraham that the patriarch's seed would be established "throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant" (Gen 17:7)?
— Feb 05, 2026 02:30AM
The last few chapters have been pretty bleak for the nation of Israel. They have by-and-large been excommunicated, cut off from the vine, and placed under cataclysmic judgment. But this presents us with a serious problem. What about God's promise to Abraham that the patriarch's seed would be established "throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant" (Gen 17:7)?
Andrew Meredith
is on page 109 of 318
Chapter 12: The Rise of the Antichrist
We tend to think of the Apostolic era as a golden age of healthy, explosive Church growth, and while this is substantially correct, we must also seek to do justice to the rampant outbreak of heresy and apostasy that accompanied it. One of Jesus's given indications for the Last Days was a dramatic rise in falling away and false teachers culminating in the great Apostasy.
— Feb 03, 2026 02:41AM
We tend to think of the Apostolic era as a golden age of healthy, explosive Church growth, and while this is substantially correct, we must also seek to do justice to the rampant outbreak of heresy and apostasy that accompanied it. One of Jesus's given indications for the Last Days was a dramatic rise in falling away and false teachers culminating in the great Apostasy.
Andrew Meredith
is on page 101 of 318
Chapter 11: Coming on the Clouds
For most, what I've said so far sounds strange but fairly plausible on the surface (at least not heretical, I hope). Unfortunately, Matthew 24:29-31 just clearly doesn't work within the interpretation being offered here. It's really quite the insurmountable hurdle because isn't it obvious to anyone with eyes to see that none of what Jesus predicts in this passage has happened yet?
— Feb 02, 2026 10:25AM
For most, what I've said so far sounds strange but fairly plausible on the surface (at least not heretical, I hope). Unfortunately, Matthew 24:29-31 just clearly doesn't work within the interpretation being offered here. It's really quite the insurmountable hurdle because isn't it obvious to anyone with eyes to see that none of what Jesus predicts in this passage has happened yet?
Andrew Meredith
is on page 91 of 318
Chapter 10: The Great Tribulation
Scripture interprets Scripture. We must not seek for authoritative interpretations of Scripture's meaning anywhere outside the Bible itself. This to say, the Bible was not dropped from the sky in the twenty-first century. Now, with this in mind, let's tackle "The Great Tribulation." It's actually not that difficult to understand.
— Feb 01, 2026 08:38AM
Scripture interprets Scripture. We must not seek for authoritative interpretations of Scripture's meaning anywhere outside the Bible itself. This to say, the Bible was not dropped from the sky in the twenty-first century. Now, with this in mind, let's tackle "The Great Tribulation." It's actually not that difficult to understand.
Andrew Meredith
is on page 81 of 318
Chapter 9: The Rejection of Israel
The constantly used imagery of the people of God as a "vineyard" in both the OT and the NT has an obvious direct connection with the idea of the Garden. Israel was a garden planted, watered, and tended to by Yahweh (Ps 80; Is 5). This is an important concept when reading one of Jesus's most striking parables: the story of the Wicked Vinegrowers (Matt 21:33-39).
— Jan 31, 2026 05:37AM
The constantly used imagery of the people of God as a "vineyard" in both the OT and the NT has an obvious direct connection with the idea of the Garden. Israel was a garden planted, watered, and tended to by Yahweh (Ps 80; Is 5). This is an important concept when reading one of Jesus's most striking parables: the story of the Wicked Vinegrowers (Matt 21:33-39).
Andrew Meredith
is on page 73 of 318
Chapter 8: The Coming of the Kingdom
The coming Kingdom of the Messiah was a major theme of the Psalms and the prophets. With the coming of Christ, that kingdom has arrived and is expanding across the world, just as Daniel prophesied when he foretold the Rock that would strike the feet of Rome and then grow into a world-consuming Mountain (Dan 2:35, 44).
— Jan 30, 2026 08:34AM
The coming Kingdom of the Messiah was a major theme of the Psalms and the prophets. With the coming of Christ, that kingdom has arrived and is expanding across the world, just as Daniel prophesied when he foretold the Rock that would strike the feet of Rome and then grow into a world-consuming Mountain (Dan 2:35, 44).
The author of Hebrews very much believed himself and his hearers to be in the "Last Days" (1:2), "the end of the ages" (9:26), as did Peter (1 Pet 1:20-21; 4:7). When Christ came, the Last Days arrived with Him.
On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Church, and the miraculous phenomenon of "tongues" began to occur (Acts 2). To explain what was going on to the gathering onlookers, Peter quotes Joel 2:28-31 saying, "This is that which was spoken of through the prophet Joel" indicating that what the Jews were witnessing was the beginning of the very fulfillment of Joel's words.
Much in this passage has already been touched on before, but the crucial thing to note here is that Peter declares the Last Days to have arrived. Jerusalem was now on the clock for desolation. Therefore the Apostles pleaded with the crowd, "Be saved from this perverse generation!" (Acts 2:40)
Here we should note the eschatological significance of the gift of tongues. As Paul said (1 Cor 14:21-22), the gift of tongues was a "sign" for unbelieving Jews that the end of the Old Covenant was at hand. It was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy that God would speak to His wayward people in "foreign tongues" before "the overwhelming scourge passes through" and Jerusalem "becomes its trampling place" while the covenant breakers "stumble backward, are broken, and snared, and taken captive" (Isa 28:11-19).
[Andrew's Thought Bracket: I have listened to and read a couple of charismatic theologians persuasively argue that the gift of tongues was given to the Church as a sign for the Last Days, and here we wholeheartedly agree! I just believe that the Last Days ended in 70 AD, while they believe we are still in them (some long last days, these). Once the Old Covenant ended, so concluded the Last Days, and along with them, the sign gifts.]
With the persecution from the Jews ramping up and up and up, the Apostolic encouragment that Christ would soon come to rescue His people "from this present evil age" (Gal 1:4) is all over the New Testament, if you have eyes to see it.
"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), wrath that was "coming upon the Jews to the uttermost" (1 Thess 2:14-16). The Lord was at hand (Phil 4:5). He was "standing at the door." (Ja 5:7-9). He was coming in judgment "like a thief in the night" (1 Thess 5:1-5, 9), but the Christians were to "stay awake" and ready "knowing the time" for "the night is almost gone, and the day is at hand" (Rom 13:11-12).
Thus, early Christians prayed "Maranatha!" Come quickly, Lord Jesus, and save us!