Eschatology: Overview

David Morgan / Series: Basic Training / 07 November 2021 / Bear Swamp Baptist Church

Introduction

Worry:

“a chain of thoughts and images, negatively affect-laden and relatively uncontrollable. It represents an attempt to engage in mental problem-solving on an issue whose outcome is uncertain but contains the possibility of one or more negative outcomes. Consequently, worry relates closely to the fear process” (Borkovec, Robinson, Pruzinsky and DePree, 1983).

“anticipates non-existent dangers in the future and helplessly dwells on how to reduce them” (EDT, 62).

“Age of Anxiety” used to describe last half of 20th century.

Why are we worried about the future?

Is it because we don’t know the future?

Is it because we can’t control the future?

We worry about all kinds of things.

Money, debt, bills, financial security

Job security

Personal relationships. Singles worry about finding a mate. Married worry about the security of their marriage. Parents worry about providing for their children, or that their children will make good choices, etc.

Reputation. “What do others think of me?”

Purpose and meaning. “What should I do with my life?”

Health

Afterlife. “Will God accept me?”

God’s people shouldn’t worry.

About daily needs, Matthew 6:25 “25 “Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?”

About persecution, Matthew 10:19 “19 But when they hand you over, don’t worry about how or what you are to speak. For you will be given what to say at that hour,”

Purpose: to alleviate confusion and bring hope to the church concerning the future.

Question: Can we know what the future holds? Yes.

I will not be giving a play-by-play of “what happens next?”

I will proclaim, in broad strokes, how Scripture describes the future.

Illustration: When I was a little boy, my parents would encourage me when I was faced with a difficult task that I thought was impossible. It might have been giving a speech, or climbing a wall, or studying for a test. No matter what I was facing, my father and mother would encourage me: “You’re going to make it. Everything will turn out fine. You are going to do great!” They weren’t trying to tell me that every decision I made would be the right one, or that I would never fall and have to get back up. They were reassuring me that, even though hard times might come, everything would be ok.

That is what God is doing with prophecy. I don’t believe that we can know with great detail all the steps in their particular order. And I don’t believe that is God’s purpose is in giving us prophesy. I believe God’s main purpose is to encourage us. It’s as if He is telling us, “You will make poor decisions. You will fall and have to get back up. You will even suffer for My Name’s sake. But everything will be ok. I’ve got this!”

Transition: With that in mind, I want to briefly survey the three main phases of God’s plan for the future. The first is the Great Tribulation.

A Tribulation is Coming.

In Scripture

Matthew 24:21 “21 For at that time there will be great distress, the kind that hasn’t taken place from the beginning of the world until now and never will again.”

Revelation 7:14 “14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” Then he told me: These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

What will the Tribulation be like? Key Features

Words

OT Associated words: trouble, calamity, scourge, vengeance, wrath, desolation, darkness

NT Associated words: wrath, trial, judgment

Aka “Day of the Lord,” particularly in the OT.

Scope: all the earth. Similar to Noah’s Flood.

Antichrist

Four Horsemen: War, Famine, Disease, Beasts

Economic disaster (poverty)

Persecution by governments

Earthquakes

Dying vegetation

Meteor/Comet wipes out ocean life, ships; freshwater poisoned

Demonic possession/oppression, and possibly manifestation (cf Gen 6)

Sores

Sun scorches humanity

Supernatural darkness

Battle of Armageddon

Transition: This may not sound very comforting. Thankfully, the Great Tribulation is not the end. Better days are coming. The second phase in God’s plan for the future is the Millennium.

Christ Will Reign on the Earth: the Millennium

In Scripture

Zech 14:3, 9 “9 On that day the Lord will become King over the whole earth—the Lord alone, and his name alone.”

Revelation 20:1-7 “1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the abyss, closed it, and put a seal on it so that he would no longer deceive the nations until the thousand years were completed. After that, he must be released for a short time. 4 Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! The second dea…”

What is the Millennium?

1000 year physical reign of Christ from Jerusalem.

It will fulfill God’s promises to the Hebrew people.

Rule of the Saints under Christ’s administration.

When is the Millennium? Seems to immediately follow the Tribulation.

Transition: After the Tribulation, there will be one final battle at the end of which God finally puts an end to the rebellion began by Satan and casts him into the Lake of Fire. After this, God will establish His eternal kingdom.

God Will Establish His Eternal Kingdom

In Scripture: Rev 21

Key features

God with us, Rev 21:3, 22 “22 I did not see a temple in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.”

Removal of sin’s curse, Rev 21:4 “4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.”

All things new, Rev 21:5 “5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.””

Eradication of sin, Rev 21:8 “8 But the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars—their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.””

Application/Conclusion

For the saints

“Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints” (Rev 13:10).

Have faith in God. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you” (Isaiah 35:4).

Look for Christ, Rev 22:7, 12 “12 “Look, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me to repay each person according to his work.”

For the wicked: repent of your sins and believe the gospel.

Jesus will not forgive the unrepentant, Rev 22:12

Hell is the recompense of the unrepentant, Rev 22:14-15 “14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”

“Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price” Rev 22:17