Eschatology

What do you think of when you hear the word escatology?

Most of us have probably gone through a period in our Christian lives (or are still there) when we thought about little else than what the Bible says about end times prophecy.

Eschatology The study of the end times, including death, the intermediate state, the afterlife, judgment, the millennium, heaven, and hell. Also refers to the time of Jesus’ second coming. The word eschatology comes from a combination of Greek words meaning “the study of last things.”

Introduction

Eschatological ideas develop progressively throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament, the word שְׁאוֹל (she'ol) refers to the Underworld, the place where human souls go after death (e.g., Psa 6:4–5). The word ᾅδης (hadēs) is used in the Septuagint, which was translated around 200 bc. The New Testament uses ᾅδης (hadēs), which is often rendered “Hades” or “the grave” in English translations.

The Old Testament

Eschatology in the Old Testament may be said to begin with the garden of Eden, where God is in full presence with Adam and Eve. After the fall, humanity fell out of relationship with God. The remainder of the Old Testament and New Testament tell the story of God’s plan to restore His holiness among a holy people. For example, in Exod 25:8, He commands the Israelites to build a sanctuary so that His presence may rest with them wherever they go. In the last chapter of Revelation, John the Apostle illustrates God walking once again with His people in holiness at the end of the age.

The Old Testament idea of the afterlife has two distinct periods of development.

1. Pre-exilic Hebrew literature, particularly the Psalms, which speaks about life, death, and the afterlife.

2. Postexilic literature, which presents a greater understanding of the eschaton.

The concept of שְׁאוֹל (she'ol) is central to the pre-exilic idea of eschatology. It is the earliest conception of afterlife found in the Old Testament, and describes a general place where all the dead go regardless of their choices in life. For example, Job 7:9 speaks of the place where persons go and never return as they dissipate like a cloud or vapor. Psalm 6:4–5 asks who in שְׁאוֹל (she'ol) can give God praise.

The Old Testament also depicts God rescuing individuals from שְׁאוֹל (she'ol). For example, in Jonah 2:2, Jonah states that God heard his crying out of the depths of שְׁאוֹל (she'ol). In Psalm 86:13, the psalmist records how God’s love rescued him out of the depths of שְׁאוֹל (she'ol). Such scriptures suggest that God provides a place outside of שְׁאוֹל (she'ol), which may be termed “heaven” or the place of the presence of God.

Postexilic Old Testament literature presents a more developed view of the afterlife. It presents an abstract idea of resurrection and the afterlife in the presence of God. The prophets envisioned a close communion with God after death, and some alluded to resurrection, but were uncertain as to its importance or extent. Such allusions to resurrection and afterlife may be seen in various references in the books of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and parts of the Psalms.[1]

The New Testament

The New Testament writers examined both personal and corporate eschatology that centered on God’s people being reconciled into God’s presence in the New Jerusalem, thereby symbolically returning to the garden of Eden.

The eschatology in the Gospels centers on the breaking in of the kingdom of God. Opposition to God’s kingdom builds in the Passion Narratives, and Jesus foretells the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the “end of the age” in His Olivet Discourse (Matt 24:3–25:46; Mark 13:3–37; Luke 21:5–36). This continues the temple analogy started in the Old Testament as a symbol of God’s presence with His people. Since God’s judgment was pronounced on the temple system, the fate of the temple in Jesus’ time was sealed. The judgment on the temple was not “the end” by any means. Rather, it was the beginning of God’s purposes now being centered upon Jesus and the Church.

In the Gospels, more words are used for the description of שְׁאוֹל (she'ol) and heaven. The word γέεννα (geenna) (Matt 5:22, 29; 10:28; 18:9, for example) originally denoted a valley near Jerusalem, the “Valley of [the sons of] Hinnom,” which was associated with idolatry and child sacrifice (2 Chr 28:3; 33:6; Jer 19:5–6; 32:35). However, in New Testament passages, it is used to describe separation from God’s presence. Those who are separated from the presence of God are described as experiencing a punishing fire (Matt 5:22; 18:9; Mark 9:43).

Paul’s Letters develop personal and corporate eschatology even further. He uses phrases such as “fallen asleep” to describe believers who have died but still await the return of Christ (1 Cor 15:18). At the same time, he speaks about the imminent return of Christ. Paul develops the theme that the kingdom of God is here now, but that Christ still is yet to come (1 Cor 15:24). Believers live within the tension and wait anxiously for the return of Christ. Paul encourages Christians to be ready for the day of Christ’s return, though they do not know the exact day or hour (1 Thess 4:13–18). Until the time of Christ’s return, the temple is no longer in Jerusalem but rather in the heart of the believer (Eph 2:22).

The book of Revelation culminates in chapters 21 and 22, where John speaks of his vision of the new Jerusalem. The description of the new Jerusalem echoes the garden of Eden in its statement of God’s dwelling among people (Rev 21:3) and its inclusion of the tree of life (Rev 22:2; compare Gen 2:9).

A clearer picture of both personal and corporate eschatology appears by the end of the New Testament. The concept of the Old Testament שְׁאוֹל (she'ol) are broadened and deepened to include a vivid description of the eternal destinies of believers and nonbelievers. The coming of the kingdom of God begun with the ministry of Jesus finds its fulfillment in the restoration of God’s people, who live in God’s presence at the end of the age.[2]

Now. I am not going to do into the different views on end times and what they. We do not have the time or space for that here. What I want to show you is that any system that is first brought as an idea or paradigm to the Bible instead of letting the Bible tell it’s story, is putting the cart before the horse with respect to Biblical interpretation. My point is not to take any positions (I don’t); but it is to show you that much of what you think is secure about end times beliefs is far from self-evident and depends on assumptions brought to the text. Because what I know is this.

…..not only was Jesus unsure of precisely when he would return (Matt 24:36), but we aren’t going to figure that out any time soon either. No end times scheme is self-evident (or “biblical” as adherents like to say). There are intentional ambiguities in the biblical text when it comes to prophecy. And by intentional I mean that prophecy is deliberately cryptic. There were very good reasons why, even after the resurrection, the disciples had a hard time understanding what was going on (Luke 24:44–45).

Why is end times prophecy so unclear?

The idea that the Bible’s teaching about end times is not self-evident—that you can’t just study the Bible and get a clear, beyond-any-reasonable-doubt answer to what’s going to happen—may be new to some readers. If so, you need only to spend some time studying other views of end times besides your own. Don’t fear such an enterprise; it’s good for you. You’ll discover that biblical passages related to eschatology really can be read in more than one way. The fact is that all of the end times systems look beautiful and elegant—until their assumptions are challenged by other systems. All end times reconstructions cheat where they have to in order to take care of “problems” (i.e. passages that raise the possibility the system could be wrong). That’s just the way things are. And in my view, God intended that to be the case.

Illustrating the ambiguities

It’s not difficult to demonstrate from Scripture that beliefs about the end times lack certainty. Let’s take the question of the nature of the kingdom of God. Many Christians default to a future earthly millennial reign when they see or hear that phrase. But Paul viewed Christians as already having been put into the kingdom (Col. 1:13). The apostles regularly linked the gospel with the kingdom of God (Acts 8:12; 28:30-31). The kingdom is an already-present reality in the book of Revelation (Rev. 1:6; 5:10) before one ever gets to the “millennium” passage in Revelation 20:1–6.

The reason a literal millennial kingdom is expected by so many is because of the land promise given to Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:17-20). Since a specific land was promised to the people of God—the children of Abraham—and those promises were unconditional, then, so the reasoning goes, the future kingdom promises are tied to the physical land of Israel and ethnic Jews. But were the promises of Abraham unconditional? Not according to Genesis 17, where inheritance of the land is promised with a condition—faithfulness to Yahweh of Israel:

1When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, 2that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly. . . . 8And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

Genesis 22 echoes the same idea:

15And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies . . . 18and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

In addition, the land described by God to Abraham (Gen 15:18-19; Exod. 23:31) aligns very closely to the land brought under the dominion of Israel at the time of Solomon (1 Kings 4:21). The implication would be that the land promise to Israel was fulfilled in Solomon’s day—so there’s no need to expect a future fulfillment.

But on the other side of the issue, there are relevant rebuttal questions. First, while the Abrahamic covenant had conditions, does that mean that it was also unconditional? Paradoxically, yes. Parsing the covenant exegetically leaves one with the realization that it was indeed unconditional (God would have a people and a kingdom—including an earthly one—because that’s what he wants), but how that unconditional purpose was accomplished, and what people participated in those purposes, depended on loyalty to Yahweh. One could not worship another god, or no god at all, and expect to be part of God’s family and kingdom at any time, including the future.

Second, while the land boundaries align well with Solomon’s kingdom, there are actually differing boundary descriptions of the “Promised Land” in the Old Testament (i.e., they aren’t consistently the same). Some of these do not conform to Solomon’s dominion. Does that matter for the kingdom promise? It may well, but we cannot know for sure. Consider a different example: the rapture. When you study all the possible references to what has to describe the return of the messiah (given Jesus’ identification as messiah) the descriptions do not match in all details. In some, Jesus touches down on earth (Zech. 14:4) and comes as a warrior (Rev. 19:11–16). But in others, Jesus is said to return “in the air” to take believers, living and dead, with him (1 Thess. 4:16–18). While the content of all the passages is closely related (Jesus returns), if the Bible student makes the decision to keep these descriptions separated, two returns of Jesus emerge, one of which has been described as the rapture, and the other the second coming. But is this the way we handle divergent wordings elsewhere in the Bible?

Rarely. When two closely related incidents or conversations in the Gospels disagree, Christians nearly universally say the solution is to harmonize the passages. Adopting that common strategy when it comes to passages about a messianic return systematically eliminates a rapture since the decision to harmonize produces only one return. So the question becomes, are you a splitter, or a joiner? The Bible contains no instruction manual for helping us make this choice—we are left with ambiguity on the issue.

https://blog.logos.com/end-times-prophecy-and-why-there-is-so-much-disagreement/

Wrap up!!

So putting this all together is the last step. We have talked about Doctrine. And all the main and plane things that make Christianity tick. I hope that if I have shown you anything it is that faith is about more than just mere belief.

We need to live as if we believe that as Believers we are brought into God’s family not to be observers but participants (Col. 1:13). Among the intentions of Jesus was to show people what Eden had been like, and what life with God would be like. In God’s family and God’s rule, there will be no disease and physical imperfection. There will also be no hostile powers. God’s ultimate kingdom is bigger than a garden, wider than Israel. The kingdom will be global. It will include all nations. And it will be everything Eden was—heaven on earth.Our task is to imitate Jesus. We can, like him, care for both body and soul of our fellow imagers, leading them to faith in the King and strengthening their resolve to be loyal to him. It doesn’t necessarily take supernatural power to “bind up the brokenhearted” and “proclaim liberty to the captives” in the steps of the messiah (Isa. 61:1), but these are supernatural acts at the core. They demand resistance to darkness and a strategic vision. No act of kindness will fail to be used by the Spirit to direct someone’s heart. No articulation of the gospel will be fruitless. Jesus’ kindness was congruent with his message. Neither diminished the other. This is a pattern any believer can imitate—and it is the job description for kingdom vision. Last, we are reminded again that intelligent evil not only has limitations, but it is vulnerable to kingdom vision and action. Jesus is already seated “at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him” (1 Pet. 3:22). We are “already but not yet” co-rulers with him (Col. 3:1; 2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 2:26; 3:21). The gates of hell will not withstand the progression and completion of the Church as God’s kingdom on earth. The decision to participate in the great reversal is ours.[2]

Many believers live their whole lives never really understanding their role or focusing on their mission. Instead they spend most of their lives thinking salvation is gained by moral perfection. One of the most dangerous things we can do as christians is to get caught up in a performance based view of who we are in God’s eyes. Salvation is a gift that comes by grace, through faith (Eph. 2:8–9). That in turn means salvation cannot be lost by moral imperfection. What is not at all gained by good performance cannot be lost by poor performance. Salvation is about believing loyalty—trusting what Jesus did to defeat Satan’s claim and turning from all other gods and the belief systems of which they are a part.

That is the message of God’s kingdom we are commissioned to tell to the nations (Matt. 28:19–20). And as we obey, the dominions of the enemy gods, the principalities and powers, shrink—soul by soul, moment by moment. The gates of hell, the realm of the dead, do not withstand the resurrection, and will not withstand the advance of the gospel.

[1]Brooks, P. (2016). Eschatology. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press. [2]Brooks, P. (2016). Eschatology. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.