Yes, of course we are. Before, however, you start packing for the Rapture Express, you might want to remember that your grandparents were also living in the last days. And their grandparents before them, and their grandparents before them. Luther lived in the last days, as did Aquinas before him and Augustine before him. Same for Polycarp, John the Revelator, Peter and Paul. We have been in the last days for close to 2000 years now. How much longer will the last days last? I don’t know.
The Bible itself describes its own times as being a part of the end times. Among other places, Peter, during his sermon at Pentecost describes what everyone was seeing by alluding to Joel’s prophecy of the last days, “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy (Acts 2:16-17).
Does that mean Jesus will return soon? He certainly might return soon, but this specific text does not say that. We commit the fallacy of equivocation, using the phrase “last days” in two different ways but act as though we are only treating it one way. If “last days” always means that Jesus is coming soon, and soon cannot be 2,000 years from now, then the Bible is in error. “Last days” however can refer to any number of things. It can refer to the last days of the old economy. When the New Testament was written the utter destruction of Jerusalem was coming soon, and with it the end of the temple system.
Last days can refer to those days immediately preceding the physical return of Jesus to earth. No one would dispute that. He is coming again, and my hope is that it will be soon indeed. Last days can also, however, refer to that time between the ascension of Christ to the right hand of the Father and His return. And that, we know, is a time period that has almost stretched to 2000 years by now.
All three of these uses are perfectly legitimate ways to speak of the last days, though each can be referring to actual days that are rather far apart. The old economy has come to a close. We are in the time period between His ascension and His return. And we might be just around the corner from His return. All of which means that we are called, as our grandparents were, and their grandparents were, to be ready for His coming, to pray for His coming, to look for His coming.
Jesus Himself, when He walked the earth, did not know the day or the hour (Matt. 24:36). It demands immeasurable hubris for any man to suggest that he knows what Jesus did not. May He grant us all the grace to long for His return, to prepare for His return. May He find us faithful.