Eschatology - Study of last things

 

27% of the Bible is prophetic.

1 out of 30 verses refers to the Second Coming of Jesus or the End Times.

300 verses prophecy Jesus first coming.

600 verse prophecy Jesus second coming.

What will happen when Christ returns?

 

Jesus tells us: “I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3)

 

Jesus also says:

“the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matt. 24:44)

 

So, what is the healthy way to view this? 

Fear - obsession with end times?

Apathy - no urgency for the lost?

 

Jesus told His disciples: Matt. 24:42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

Most of us are familiar with the “Left Behind” views of End Times:

 

Signs are fulfilled

Believers are raptured

Tribulation for 7 years - (Some will persevere, Jewish Witnesses, Israel saved)

Christs return (parousia)- battle to defeat Satan- Armageddon, bodily resurrection of believers

Millenial Kingdom (in one form or another) believers reign with Christ, non believers separated

Great White Throne Judgement

New Jerusalem - Heaven Comes to Earth

The Rapture

Traditional view - pre-trib

Secondary view - mid-trib

Another view - post trib

 

Signs - 

“The gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations” (Mark 13:10; see also Matt. 24:14)

 

“This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel” - Ezekiel 37:21-22

 

Millennialism

Rev 20:1-6 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its 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 ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

 

View 1 — Amillennial: The millennium is now, and when it ends, Jesus will return The simplest view of the millennium is that Revelation 20:1 – 6 describes not a future time but the present church age. Christians who hold to this view believe that many or all of the previously mentioned signs occurred early on in church history and that Christ could really return at any moment.

 

View 2—Postmillennial: The millennium will come gradually, and Jesus will return after the millennium Other Christians believe Jesus will return after the thousand years mentioned in Revelation 20:4-5. As the church grows and Christians continue to have a greater and greater influence, society will begin to function more and more in line with God’s standards. Gradually, a “millennial age” of great peace and righteousness (not necessarily a literal one thousand years) will come about on the earth. Christ will not physically reign on earth during this period; instead, Christians will have a tremendous influence in society, and Christ’s reign will come about through this influence of Christians.

 

View 3—Premillennial: The millennium will come suddenly, and Jesus will return before the millennium. Finally, there are Christians who believe Jesus will return before the events of Revelation 20:1 – 10. This is called the premillennial view because it holds that Christ will return before the millennium. This view also holds that prior to Jesus’ return there will be a time of great suffering suffering on the earth, sometimes called the great tribulation (see Matt. 24:21 – 31). According to the premillennial view, Christ will return and physically reign on earth for the thousand years mentioned in Revelation 20:4 – 5 (not necessarily a literal one thousand years). When Christ returns to begin his millennial reign, all who have believed in him will be raised from the dead to reign with him. This is the meaning of Revelation 20:4, “They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

In this premillennial view, after the thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth, the final judgment will occur, and those who believe in Jesus will continue to reign with him for eternity; those who rejected him will be condemned for eternity.

 

Response:

We don’t obsess over it

We don’t dismiss it

 

Blessed are those who read this prophecy - Revelation 1:1-4

Watch - Jesus said to watch for his return

The Kingdom of God is now. Things are on motion towards His return.

Holy urgency - Go and and make disciples of all nations.

Love Your Neighbor.

Understand who you are in Christ -  perspective, we are not of this world…

Live with the joyful anticipation that Jesus will one day return bringing healing, justice and shalom to His Creation.

 

Additional reading:

 

The Non Prophet’s Guide to the End Times by Todd Hampson

The Book of Signs by Dr. David Jeremiah

 

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