This lawlessness will cause people to greatly lack mercy, forgiveness and love (Matthew 24:9 - 10, 12). Humanity will increasingly adopt a negative attitude toward God's laws and reject keeping them. The Bible lists several events which will gradually lead to the great tribulation period. Peter also warned the church regarding the state of the world near its end (2Peter 3:3). The Apostle Paul warned his friend Timothy about the period before the return of Christ when he wrote, 'Know this also, that in the last days perilous times shall come' (2Timothy 3:1, HBFV unless stated). This second part of the great tribulation represents God's direct punishment of unrepentant humanity. The second or last piece, the 'Day of the Lord' (Isaiah 2:12, Joel 2:11, 2Peter 3:10), is about 18 months in duration. The first piece is about two years (24 months) in length. The 42 months (see Revelation 11:3, 12:6) of the last or final period before Jesus return can further be divided into two relatively distinct pieces. It will a time, just before Jesus' Second Coming, when the Beast and the False Prophet will rule the world through their counterfeit version of God's kingdom. The last days (Great Tribulation) is a period of roughly 3 1/2 years or 42 months (Revelation 11:2 - 3) that will shortly come upon the entire earth.

Jesus directly discusses the End Time and the events that both lead up to it and are in it in Matthew 24 and Mark 13. The phrase 'the last days' as it relates to the timeline of prophecy, occurs exactly seven times in the King James Bible. How long is this prophetic period? How will the world be prepared for the rule of the Beast and False Prophet? What will be the first actions taken by the evil duo? This is the first of our multipart timeline on the last days, also known as the end times.

Timeline of the bible