generationword.com home page
Bible School Home Page
Real Player Audio | Quick Time Audio | i-tunes |
---|---|---|
Written Notes | Review Points & Questions |
Theology (part ten): Eschatology, the Study of the Last Things (End Times); Pre-, Post-, & A- Millennialism; Covenants; Israel; Rapture; Tribulation
Eschatology - The Study of Things to Come
The word eschatology is from the word escatoV eschatos which means last or final. So eschatology is the study of last things. We commonly call it the study of end times. Much more is involved in the study of eschatology than the end of the world. Eschotology includes any part of scripture that speaks of events in the future from when it was written. Generally when we refer to the word we use the prophecies that have been fulfilled as a basis to study the prophecies that are yet in the future in our day.
Foundational understanding of the eschatology is built on the covenants that God has established in the past particularly with Abraham, the nation of Israel and David. There is a wide range of interpretation concerning eschatology but as we have studied through church history and theology we have seen that all areas of theology have been, and continue at some extent, to be controversial. The church yet debates on the meaning of the Trinity, baptism, the deity of Christ, the sovereignty of God, the gifts of the Spirit, forms of church government, the authority of scripture and on and on. It is no different with the area of theology we call eschatology. A large portion of the Scriptures deal with future events because God wants us to know where we are going. Eschatology is a source of joy (2 Corinthians 4:17), a reason for holiness (1 John 3:3), a proof of Scripture, a testimony to God’s nature, a revelation of God’s plan and information about who we are and where we are going. Like all Scripture, the study of eschatology is:
“. . . useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of
God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16
The Covenants
A covenant is similar to a contract, a deal, an agreement, a testament. There are two types of covenants that God makes with man: conditional covenant and unconditional covenant.
The Abrahamic Covenant is introduced in Genesis 12:2-3 when God said to Abram, the Chaldean from Ur:
“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
The Abrahamic Covenant included these things:
There were no requirements or time limits. These are things God was going to do. Eschatological we are interested in the establishment of a nation that was going to carry an unconditional promise of being blessed for the purpose of blessing all other people.
In Genesis 15:1-21 the Abrahamic Covenant is actually cut or signed in a covenant ceremony where God clarifies that this covenant also included a section of land:
“On that the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates.” Genesis 15:18
The land God speaks of is the land of Canaan. The land we know as Palestine or Israel plus parts of Lebanon, Syria. So, in addition to an unconditional covenant of blessing the nation coming from Abraham God also unconditionally gave this nation the land of Israel.
The Davidic Covenant is introduced in 2 Samuel 7:11-16 when God speaks to David through the prophet Nathan:
“The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son . . . Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be establishes forever.”
This is another unconditional covenant. David receives a promise of son who will reign on a throne in a dynasty from David that will last forever.
The David Covenant combined with the Abrahamic Covenant has established forever:
Interpreting these covenants and understanding their application are foundational to your views of eschatology. There are three basic views of the end times that are based on interpreting these covenants as figurative or literal. Do these covenants represent something that could be fulfilled with spiritual realities such as believers in Jesus Christ are Abraham’s promised people, the Promised Land is Heaven and the eternal king is Jesus having ascended to heaven. Or do these covenants mean a literal nation from Abraham, in the literal Promised Land being reigned over by an eternal, physical son of David?
Postmillennialism, Premillennialism and Amillennialism
The word millennium refers to a period of time spanning 1,000 years. The Scriptures do not use the term “millennium” but they often speak of the kingdom, the day of the Lord, a reign of the Messiah or Christ and in Revelation 20:2-7 the reference to a period of a thousand years is mentioned six times. Different groups of Christians approach the concept of a 1,000 year millennial reign of the Christ, the royal son of David from these three basic positions:
Praeterist – One other descriptive word should be presented here. There are some who hold to the Praeterist view. Praeterist is a Latin word that means pre- or before in fulfillment. This view believe that almost all, if not all, Bible prophecy has already been fulfilled in Christ and in events that followed his first coming. One of their key points is that Jesus and his apostles taught that his coming and the end of all things was near. Events in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 are believed to have already occurred and that Jesus’ return occurred in 70 AD.
A Premillennial Sequence of Events
Rapture of the Church
The concept of the rapture of the church comes from these verses:
“I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” John 14:2-3
“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
“We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17
“Now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2
Beginning in the 1800’s these verses began to be compared with other verses speaking about the Lord’s return at the Second Coming. Verses that speak of the Lord’s return to the earth as King of kings indicate he will return to the Earth, physically land on the Mt. of Olives, overthrow the anti-christ, judge the nations, enter Jerusalem and sit on his throne. Among other things the verses mentioned above contrast the Second Coming since they:
The Rapture involves this order of events:
Eschatological events for the church that follows will include:
Comparing the Rapture with the Second Coming |
|||
Rapture |
Second Coming |
||
Jesus meets believers in the air |
Jesus returns to earth with believers |
||
Believers are raptured |
No mention of rapture. People watch from earth |
||
Believers are taken to heaven |
Saints are resurrected for inheritance on earth |
||
No judgment is mentioned |
Judgment is key - Sheep and Goat judgment |
||
Focus is the church |
Focus is the kingdom |
||
Believers are changed; mankind is not |
All of mankind is involved or affected |
||
Believers meet and see him as he is |
Every eye will see him |
||
Satan is never mentioned |
Satan is bound |
||
Anti-christ is not mentioned |
Over throw of the anit-christ is a main focus |
||
No prophecy needs to be fulfilled before |
Multitude of prophecies need to be fulfilled first |
||
No signs prelude it |
Multitude of signs are given |
||
Imminent – Paul was waiting for it |
Occurs after seven year tribulation |
||
Occurs before the wrath |
Occurs after tribulation |
||
Bema seat of Christ and rewards in heaven |
Church is not judged; nations judged on earth |
||
Church taken to marriage supper |
Church, the bride, returns with Jesus |
||
After rapture the tribulation begins |
After Second coming the Kingdom reign begins |
||
Rapture Verses |
Second Coming Verses |
||
John 14:1-3 Romans 8:19 |
1 Timothy 6:14 |
Isaiah 63:1-6;59:16-18 |
Acts 1:9-11; 3:19-21 |
Pretribulation, Midtribulation, Pretribulation and Partial Rapture Theories
The distinction of these rapture theories is the timing of the rapture. The pretribulation rapture ends the church age and is followed by seven years of tribulation on the earth. The midtribulation rapture takes place at the half-way point, which is the three and a half year mark, of the tribulation. In this theory the church is part of the first half of the tribulation. The posttribulation rapture occurs when Christ returns at the second coming. The church would participate fully in the tribulation. As Christ returns to the earth the believers are raptured to meet him in the air and instantly return to the earth in their glorified state. In the partial rapture theory there are several raptures of believers through out the tribulation of different groups depending on holiness, nationality or a ministry. This is similar to the amillennial view of the rapture. It is difficult to support a doctrine that does not address the verses of scripture describing the rapture but there are a variety of times it can take place.
The Tribulation
The Tribulation is the seven year period right before Jesus’ Second Coming. It is a time when Israel is severely tested, the anti-christ appears and God’s wrath is poured out on the earth forcing men to make a decision concerning their fate. The tribulation is spoken of in detail in the Old Testament, which is the first clue it is not part of the Church age or a time experienced by the church. People who say the church must go through this seven year Tribulation for a time of testing and purification need to study church history and the conditions the church faces today outside the Western world. Thousands upon thousands of Christians have lived lives under oppression, persecution and faced martyrdom over the last two thousand years. It is recorded that more people died as Christian martyrs in the 1900’s than all the years of the church age leading up to the 1900’s.
The tribulation is called the “time of Jacob’s trouble” in Jeremiah 30:7. Jesus described it as a time of “great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equaled again” (Matthew 24:21). This indicates it probably wasn’t the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD when we consider the fact that Rome had destroyed many cities before then and there have been many similar, if not more severe, wars since.
Daniel calls it the 70th ‘week’ or ‘seven’ of the ‘seventy-sevens’ (Daniel 9:24-27) which refers to a total of 490 years (70 x 7). This last ‘week’ or seven years is divided in half when Daniel says “in the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering (Daniel 9:27). This half, or 3 ½ years, is also identified as 42 months (Revelation 11:2 and 13:5) and 1,260 days (Revelation 11:3 and 12:6). It is also defined as “a time, times and half a time” (Revelation 12:14; Daniel 7:25; 12:7) which means “one year, two years, and half a year” (1+2+1/2= 3 1/2 years)
Tribulation Verses |
|
Old Testament |
New Testament |
Time of Jacob’s Trouble – Jeremiah 30:7 |
Day of the Lord – 1 Thessalonians 5:2 |
The Millennium
The early church fathers believed in the 1000 year millennium:
Papias, "Among these things, Papias says that there will be a millennium after the resurrection from the dead, when the personal reign of Christ will be established on this earth (Eusebius, citing Papias around 120)
Justin Martyr (160 AD), "I and others who are right-minded Christians on all points are assured that there will be a resurrection for the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built. . .For Isaiah spoke in that manner concerning this period of a thousand years."
Irenaeus (180 AD), "It is fitting for the righteous to be the first to receive the promise of the inheritance that God promised . . .It is fitting for them to reign in it, when they rise again to behold God in this creation that will have been renovated. . .For it is just that in that very same creation in which they toiled or were afflicted they should receive the reward of their suffering. It is fitting, therefore, that the creation itself, being
restored to its pristine condition, should be under the dominion of the righteous without restraint.
Irenaeus, (180 AD), "The promise of God that He gave to Abraham remains steadfast. . .Yet, Abraham did not receive it during all the time of his journey there. Accordingly, it must be that Abraham, together with his seed will receive it at the resurrection of the just."
Tertullian, (200), "At that time, the manifestation of the children of God will have delivered the animals from evil. For they had been "made subject to vanity." At that time, the cattle will be restored in the innocence and integrity of their nature and will be at peace with beasts of the field. At that time, also,
little children will play with serpents."
Tertullian (207 AD),"We do confess that a kingdom is promised to us upon the earth, although before heaven only, it will be in another state of existence.
For it will be after the resurrection for a thousand years in the divinely-built city of Jerusalem "let down from heaven."
Origen, (225), "Certain persons . . . adopting a superficial view of the letter of the law . . . are of the opinion that the fulfillment of the promises of the future are to be looked for in bodily pleasure and luxury. Therefore, they especially desire after the resurrection to have again bodies that will always
have the power of eating, drinking, and performing all the functions of flesh and blood . . . consequently, they say that after the resurrection, there will be marriages and the begetting of children. They imagine to themselves that the earthly city of Jerusalem is to be rebuilt, . . .Moreover, they think that the natives of other countries are to be given them as the servants of their pleasures. . .The millennialists desire the fulfillment of all things looked for in the promises, all according to the manner of things in this life and in all similar matters. . .However, those who receive the interpretations of Scripture according to the understanding of the apostles, entertain the hope that the saints will indeed eat - but that it will be the
bread of life that can nourish the soul with the food of truth and wisdom."
Victorinus, (280 AD), "They are not to be heard who assure themselves that there is to be an earthly reign of a thousand years. They think like the heretic Cerinthus. For the kingdom of Christ is already eternal in the saints - even though the glory of the saints will be manifested after the resurrection."
You can see that the early church believed in the earthly millennial reign of Christ, but with the introduction of allegorical teaching by Origen and his school of thought in Alexandria, Egypt the church began to leave the literal interpretation of scripture. This opened the door for the entrance of human
ideas through allegorical interpretation.
These are some facts taken from the scriptures that prophecy concerning the Kingdom reign of the Messiah on the earth:
Bema Seat, Sheep and Goat, Great White Throne Judgments
There is a universal understanding both in the Christian world and the Pagan world that there will be a final judgment of mankind by God. The Scriptures give us details concerning this judgment and the various times and groups it is applied to. Scripturally all men, believers and non-believers, will be judged or evaluated.
“He has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out – those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.”
John 5:27-28
There is, of course, a difference between the judgment or condemnation the unbeliever will face and the evaluation and rewarding the believer will face. Here are a few of the final judgments revealed in scripture:
The bema seat judgment of believers takes place immediately after the rapture and has nothing to do with being saved since only the believers are taken in the rapture. With whole church assemble in heaven and the church age closed God will individually evaluate each believer to determine his eternal reward. Details of this judgment can be found in 1 Corinthians 3:9-15. The rewards are referred to in these verses: 1 Corinthians 9:25; 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20; 2 Timothy 4:8; 1 Peter 5:2-4; Revelation 2:10. This event is followed by the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven. At the completion of the Tribulation the church, now resurrected, judged, rewarded and clothed in glory, will return to the earth with Jesus as describe in Revelation 19:7-9; 14
The sheep are given into the earthly kingdom of God but the goats are cast off the earth into outer darkness (likely a reference to Hades, the underworld). The basis of their judgment was their works none by the people from all the nations to what Jesus calls “these brothers of mine”. In context this judgment takes place on earth, after the Tribulation has ended, after Jesus has returned to earth from heaven as the glorious king and by the Jewish man Jesus who said in the gospels several times he would be the man to judge all men (John 5:27). The tribulation will become a time of great persecution of the Jews including them fleeing into the mountains of Jordan for safety . The anti-christ will demand worship and obedience. The Jews then are “these brothers of mine” that Jesus referred to. Anyone who was willing to help feed, clothe, visit or care for the Jews during the later part of the Tribulation had to have an understanding of who the anti-christ really was and faith that the true Christ was the soon coming king. The actions of the sheep indicated their faith and understanding. The people from the nations that help the Jews in the tribulation had faith and are rewarded with entrance into the kingdom age.
The New Jerusalem and the Eternal State
The writer of Hebrews quotes from the book of Psalms describing the earth as a creation that will wear out and eventually be changed:
“In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.” Hebrews 1:10-12
After the Millennium the created world, the universe (heavens) and the earth, will be uncreated or destroyed.
“The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare (burned up) . . . That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.” 2 Peter 3:10-12
The new universe that God will create for the eternal existence is described in Revelation 21.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.” Revelation 21:1
Some details of this new earth are:
Another feature of the new earth is the presence of the eternal, heavenly city, or Heaven, itself called “New Jerusalem”. (Rev. 21:2; Heb. 12:22-24; 11:10)
KEY POINTS (back to the top)
OTHER SITES (back to the top)
BOOKS from Galyn's Shelf: (back to the top)
Braun, Ralph G., The Categorical Notebook: A Categorical Compilation of the Various Doctrines of the Bible, 1971.
Chafer, Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, 8 volumes, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI, 1948, ISBN 0-8254-2340-6.
Ewell, Walter A., Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1984, ISBN 0-8010-3413-2
Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1985, ISBN 0-8010-3433-7.
Freeman, Drue, Foundations: Building in the Faith, Village Ministries International, 2001
Geisler, Dr. Norman, Systematic Theology, 4 volumes, Bethany House, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2002, ISBN 0-7642-2551-0, 0-7642-2552-9, 0-7642-2553-7, 0-7642-2554-5.
Guthrie, Donald, New Testament Theology, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1981, 0-87784-965-X.
Harrison, Everett F., Editor, Baker’s Dictionary of Theology, Baker Book House, Grand Raids, Michigan, 1973, ISBN 0-8010-4042-6
Hodge, Charles, Systematic Theology, 3 volumes, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan, reprint 1995, ISBN 0-8028-8135-1
House, H. Wayne, Charts of Christian Theology and Doctrine, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1992, ISBN 0-310-41661-2.
LaHaye, Tim, Charting the End Times, Harvest House Publishers, Eugene Oregon, 2001, ISBN 0-7369-0138-8.
Oden, Thomas C., Systematic Theology, 3 volumes, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts, 1987, ISBN 1-59856-038-7
Pentecost, J. Dwight, Things To Come, Academie Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1958, 0-310-30890-9.
Ryrie, Charles Caldwell, Basic Theology, Moody Press, Chicago, 1999, ISBN 0-8024-2734-0.
Thiessen, Henry Clarence, Lectures in Systematic Theology, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1949, ISBN 0-8028-3529-5.
QUESTIONS (back to the top)