apostle John could write: “Young children, it is the last hour, and, just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now there have come to be many antichrists; from which fact we gain the knowledge that it is the last hour.” (1 John 2:18) This “last hour” could fittingly refer to the short final part of the apostolic period, after which the apostasy would spring into full bloom.

THE HARVEST IN “THE CONCLUSION OF THE SYSTEM OF THINGS”

However, as Jesus Christ had foretold, the apostasy did not take in the entire body of Christians; the true, loyal ones were to be as “wheat” associated with “weeds.” After Christ’s second presence begins, invisible, in spirit, and during “the conclusion of the system of things” (then existing) a clear separation and demarcation was to be made evident. The “weeds,” “the sons of the wicked one,” were to be ‘collected out of the kingdom of the Son of man.’ This cleaning out of the true Christian congregation would leave a field of clean wheat; the false imitation Christians would be outside the true Christian congregation. Whereas the ‘weed-like’ ones would finally be pitched into the “fiery furnace,” the ‘wheat-like’ ones would “shine as brightly as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (Matt. 13:24-30, 37-43) This definitely pointed to the concluding portion of the system of things under Satan’s wicked rule preceding its destruction.

Furthermore, the illustration suggested that the apostasy would bear its full fruitage of wickedness during the “conclusion of the system of things” under ‘Satan’s control. Reasonably, therefore, at that time the conditions described by the writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures as marking the “last days” would be in evidence on a large scale among professed Christians. There would be increasing lawlessness and disobedience to parents. Persons would be “lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power.” (2 Tim. 3:2-5) Also, there would be “ridiculers with their ridicule, proceeding according to their own desires and saying: ‘Where is this promised presence of his? Why, from the day our forefathers fell asleep in death, all things are continuing exactly as from creation’s beginning.’”—2 Pet. 3:3, 4.

The prophetic illustration of Jesus also showed that time had to pass before the ‘weed-like’ ones would become fully manifest, finally to be destroyed. Since the apostles knew this, their use of “last days,” “last hour” and like expressions in connection with the apostasy did not mean that they expected Jesus’ second presence and the subsequent destruction of the ungodly right away. As Paul pointed out to the Thessalonians: “However, brothers, respecting the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we request of you not to be quickly shaken from your reason nor to be excited either through an inspired expression or through a verbal message or through a letter as though from us, to the effect that the day of Jehovah is here. Let no man seduce you in any manner, because it will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness gets revealed, the son of destruction.”—2 Thess. 2:1-3.

“LAST DAY”

The Bible also refers to a “last day,” during which the resurrection of the dead is to take place. (John 6:39, 40, 44; 11:24; compare Daniel 12:13.) At John 12:48 this “last day” is associated with a time of judgment. Obviously, therefore, it denotes a time of a far more distant future than the end of the apostolic period.—Compare 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3; Revelation 20:4-6, 12.

LAST SUPPER

See LORD’S EVENING MEAL.

LATIN

A language belonging to the Indo-European family and the parent of the Romance languages, such as Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Romanian. The last half of the second century C.E. saw a move on the part of the religious powers of Rome to have Latin replace Greek as the language of the Roman bishopric. Among the results of this was the production of the Latin Vulgate, by Jerome of the fourth century C.E., second only to the Greek Septuagint as a noted ancient Bible translation.

Latin was the language of Imperial Rome and hence the official language of Palestine when Jesus Christ was on earth, though not the popular language of the people. It is therefore not surprising to find some Latinisms in the Christian Greek Scriptures. The word “Latin” itself occurs but once in the Bible, at John 19:20, where we are told that the inscription placed above Jesus on the torture stake was written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin.

Latin in the Christian Greek Scriptures occurs in various forms. They contain over forty proper Latin names of persons and places, such as Aquila, Luke, Mark, Paul, Caesarea and Tiberias. In this part of the Bible are found Greek equivalents of some thirty Latin words of military, judicial, monetary and domestic nature, such as centurio (Mark 15:39, army officer), denarius (Matt. 20:2) and speculator (Mark 6:27, body guardsman). Certain Latin expressions or idioms also occur, such as “wishing to satisfy the crowd” (Mark 15:15) and “taking sufficient security.” (Acts 17:9) The syntax or pattern of phrases and sentences sometimes suggests Latin influence. As to just how much, this is disputed by various scholars.

Latinisms are found mostly in Mark and Matthew, Mark having used them more than any other Bible writer. This lends credence to the belief that he wrote his Gospel in Rome and mainly for Gentiles, particularly the Romans. Paul made little use of Latinisms; none occur in the Septuagint.

The appearance of Latinisms in the Scriptures is of more than academic interest to Bible lovers. It is in keeping with what the Bible shows about Palestine’s being occupied by Rome when Jesus Christ was on earth. Further, the use of these Latinisms by the best secular Greek writers of the same period argues that the Christian Scriptures were indeed produced during the times about which they tell. This fact, therefore, further testifies to the authenticity of the Christian Greek Scriptures.

LATTICE

A framework consisting of crossed strips of wood or laths forming a network and generally used to cover a window. For centuries window lattices have been common in the Middle East. They have served to keep houses cool by blocking out the direct rays of the sun, while allowing for ventilation, and they also have contributed favorably to the general appearance of buildings. Some houses of Biblical times had ground-floor windows facing an inner courtyard and others facing the street. The latter were usually high up on the wall or in the roof chamber and were latticed.

A person in the house could look out through a latticed window and see what was taking place out of doors without being seen from the outside. In the song of Deborah and Barak the mother of slain Sisera is represented as futilely looking out from a window and watching for her son “from the lattice.” (Judg. 5:1, 28) It was from a window through a lattice that it was possible for an observer to look down on “a young man in want of heart” as he came in contact with a prostitute. (Prov. 7:6-13) Also, in The Song of Solomon (2:9), reference is made to “gazing through the windows, glancing through the lattices.”

Some window lattices were evidently hinged so that they could be opened or closed. The windows of Daniel’s roof chamber, from which he could be seen praying to Jehovah three times daily, may have had lattices that could be opened or shut.—Dan. 6:10.