Eschatology ἔσχατος The End Times
The phrase indisputably refers to the end times of destruction and deaths, which happened in the coming few decades after 70 AD. There is a sense of urgency given, the reason for repenting and believing. The rescue ship came and says: Hurry up, death is near, the completion of time has comes, the time for indulgence and sluggishness is over, repent and be saved. Christ wants to save as many sinners among the children in the end times, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wing. The same urgency of the apocalypse as it was in the days of Noah and Lot, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. The phrase of end time, the day of the Lord/Son of Man, the Kingdom of God/Messiah refers to the end times of Israel. Another imperative for repenting and believing is given by Peter in Acts 3:19-21 that the times of refreshing and the times of restoration of all things may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Christ Jesus, which refers to the final coming of the Lord for the restoration of Israel and the judgment.
Most commentators say it merely refers to the fullness of times of the covenant dispensation. But there is absolutely no imperative and urgency for his audience on the ending of the covenant, as it is with their looming death under the Romans.
[Mark 13:32-37 ESV]
32“But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”
[Rom 13:11-12 ESV]
11Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
[Heb 1:1-2 ESV]
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
[1 Peter 1:20] "He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times ἐσχάτου τῶν χρόνων for the sake of you"
Ellicott comments:
In these last times—i.e., not merely “in modern times,” “lately,” but “at the end of the times,” showing St. Peter’s belief that the end of the world was not far distant. (Comp. once more Dan. 12:4; Dan. 12:9; Dan. 12:13.) Almost exactly the same phrase is used in Heb. 1:2; 2Pe. 3:3.
[Gal 4:4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
[Eph 1:10] as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
[Dan 2:44-45 ESV]
44And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, 45just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”