Christian Eschatology:

The Doctrine of the

Last Things
 Introduction
The study of eschatology has elicited different
responses from virtual avoidance to total
preoccupation with the doctrine.
Both extremes must be avoided.
Millard Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 1155.
The term eschatology is based on the passages of
the Scripture that speak of “the last days, Isa.2:2
(bə-’a-ḥă-rîṯ hay-yā-mîm); Mic 4:1, “the last
time” (eschatos ton chronon), I Pet.1:20, and
“the last hour,” escheta hora), I John 2:18.
OT prophecy distinguishes only two periods,
namely, “this age” (olam hazzeh), Gr. Aion
houtos), and “the coming age” (ollam habba’ Gr.
Aion mellom).
The coming of the Messiah and the end of the
world is coinciding, the “last days” are the days
immediately preceding both the coming of the
Messiah and the end of the world.
 • THE DAY OF THE LORD
• The great day of the LORD is near, near and
hastening fast. Zeph.1:14
• EBERHARD ARNOLD “ The Day of the Lord” in Bloesch, Donald. The
Last Things: Resurrection, Judgment, Glory. Downers Grove, IL:
InterVarsity Press, 2006,62
• The day of the Lord will come unexpectedly,
like a thief in the night.
1Thes. 5:2 NLT
• The end of the world is coming soon.
Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your
prayers.
• 1 Peter 4 : 7 N L T
• The day of the Lord in both Testaments
indicates the time when God acts to deliver his
people and all peoples from both natural
disaster and spiritual death. It is both a day of
judgment (condemnation) and a day of grace
(vindication). Indeed, God's grace is revealed
through his judgment.
• At first in biblical history the "day of the Lord" applied only to
Israel. Gradually it was extended to the whole world as the day
when Yahweh would manifest himself in his power and glory.
This "day" would mark the final victory of God over his
enemies. In Daniel the day of signifies the "end of the world"
(cf. Dan 9:26-27; 11:27; 12:13).  
• The Lord of the Lord in the New Testament is
also called "the day of our Jesus Christ" (1Cor
1:8), "the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil 1:6), “the
day of God" (2 Pet 3:12) and "the day of
Christ" (Phil 1:10; 2:16).
• EBERHARD ARNOLD “ The Day of the Lord” in Bloesch, Donald. The Last
Things: Resurrection, Judgment, Glory. Downers Grove, IL:
• InterVarsity Press, 2006,62.
The name “eschatology” calls attention to the fact that the history
of the world and of the human race will finally reach its
consummation. It is not an indefinite and endless process, but a
real history moving on to a divinely appointed end.
According to Scripture that end will come as a mighty crisis, and
the facts and events associated with this crisis from the contents
of eschatology.
There is a “general eschatology” and “individual
eschatology” which happens when one dies.
 
Eschatology, What it is Not
From John Fowler’s materials on Eschatology

1. Not a crystal ball to look into the future.

2. Not a study to satisfy human curiosity of the
future. More than human future. It is a divine
activity.
3. Not an appendix of theology. While it is not
the first word of the Gospel, neither is it an
optional after –thought.
4. While history is moving toward it, and while
we have a right to attribute biblical and
existential significance to it as an event, it is not
the center or the heart of the Christian faith. The
finality of the Cross precede, the Second Advent
The finality of the Cross ensures the finality of
the end of this age.
 What it is

1. Eschatology is first of all good news. It is the

blessed hope (Titus 2:13). It is the final promise
(John 14:1-3).

2. It provides a concept of human history when

the God of heaven will set up His kingdom
(Dan 2:44) (Assurance)
3. It
is the ultimate liberation toward which
creation groans and awaits (Rom 8:21).
Eschatology provides a cosmic context for the
ultimate extinction of sin and the triumph of
righteousness in the great controversy.
4. It
is the everlasting gospel for the proclamation
of which we are charged (Rev. 14:6-12). The
proclamation involves faith, life, judgment,
readiness distinction between the forces of good
and evil, and the call to a choice between the
two.
5. It
is a call to live in the kingdom [now] even as
you anticipate [future] the kingdom.
Walking and waiting are two complementary
sides of Christian faith. One without the other is
an impossibility.
• 6. Parousia is God's activity, not human's.
• As such God controls its timing and its
initiative. The parousia is called apocalypsis,
the revelation. The subject of revelation is
God. There is a hiddeness of God that will be
removed at the parousia, and this is an area
which dare not probe with either speculation
or sensationalism.
 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF
BIBLICAL ESCHATOLOGY
Principle I The Bible is its own interpreter: Through immediate
and the wider contexts.

The NT is God's authoritative and final application of the OT.

• Matt 24:23-46; 2 Pet 1: 19-21; 2 Pet 3: 1-2,13-16. 2 Peter 3: 1-
4 (NRSV)
"Beloved...I am writing you...to arouse your sincere intention by
reminding you that you should remember the words spoken in the
past by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and
Savior spoken through your apostles. First of all you must
understand this, that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing
and indulging their own lusts and saying, ‘Where is the promise
of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things
continue as they were from creation!” 2 Peter 3:1-7 (NRSV).
“They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God
heavens existed long go and an earth was formed out of water
and by means of water, through which the world of that time was
deluged with water and perished. But by the same word present
heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until
the Day of Judgment and destruction of the godless"
Principle II
A. That the Messianic Prophecies of the OT are fulfilled in
Christ, and

 B. That Israel's whole history of salvation is fulfilled in Christ.

Principle III
A. The ecclesiological fulfillment of God's promises of a new
covenant with Israel. Exo 19:4-6 applied to 1 Pet 2:9; Rev.
5:10, Jer. 31:31-34 applied to Heb. 8:7-13 and Heb. 10:15-
22; Gal.3 :28-29.
B. God's promise of Israel's Restoration and Gathering is fulfilled
in the church.

• Deut. 30:1-3 applied to John 10:15-16 -one people one

shepherd
• The RC church claims to be this one united under the Pope
-one day of worship
• EGW PK chs. 31 & 59; DA 106; EW 74-76
• There will be a counterfeit shepherd
Principle IV
That the end-time prophecies of the OT -including Daniel's
outline series need to be equally applied according to the Christo-
Centric principles of the NT. The Gospel of Christ determines the
application of all apocalyptic terms and symbols because end-
time prophecy is transformed by its passing through the historic
cross of Christ. The faithful Israel of the end-time prophecies
becomes the faithful universal remnant church of Christ. The
enemies of Israel become symbols: of the universal enemies of
the remnant church.
Principle V
The immediate and wider contexts of Revelation 20-22 teach that
the millennium, the New Jerusalem, the cosmic judgment and the
destruction of Satan will all find a literal historical fulfillment
IV. TOWARD A CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY OF
ESCHATOLOGY
 
A. Eschatology as a basis for the Christian worldview.
1. A worldview answers the basic questions of life: who am I?
where am 1 going? What is true? What is good? What is
beautiful? Is there life after death?
2. A biblical eschatology provides us a worldview, such as Paul
had: “I know whom I have believed, and I am sure that he is
able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me"
(Acts 17:2g).
3. The Christian eschatology has the strength to address the
question of worldview: it provides defines: the contour of history
and the focal existential point for the individual. The Christian is
not a meaningless cosmic accident He stands in a particular spot
in an eschatological time tine that began before creation will
stretch without end till after the end of this age.
4. Moreover, eschatology provides the Christian that he has a
ground to stand on and affirm his faith, hope, love, and Iife -- in
short, his is existence.' "In many and various ways God spoke of
old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days
(eschaton) he has spoken to us by a Son" (Heb 1:1). The Christ-
event gives us the ultimate point of reference: the Christ who
created, who died on the cross, who sits at the right hand of the
Father, and who will return.
5. Eschatology shows that history is dominated by a
conflict of the kingdoms --of Christ and the evil one.
This conflict provides the vantage point: from which a
Christian can look at questions of life and its flow, and
draw several lessons.
a. The central issue in this GC is the character of God.
Can love and justice coexist in the nature of God? Are
His expectations of His creatures unfair, arbitrary, and
impossible of attainment? It is Satan's “studied plan. to
misrepresent the character of God as arbitrary, severe
and unforgiving" (ST 738).
 b. What is the role of the Christian in this controversy? "He
should see how this controversy enters into every phase of human
experience; how in every act of life he himself reveals the one or
the other of the two antagonistic motives; and how. Whether he
will or not, he is even now deciding upon which side of the
controversy he will be found" (Ed, p. 90).
 c. History is moving toward its inevitable climax.. Christian
eschatology shows the cyclic concept of history for what it is:
inherently meaningless and alien to biblical worldview. From
creation to restoration, the theme is an eschatological movement
testifying, "God is the God of history, history is His work, His
will, His revelation."
6. Eschatology posits a worldview that looks at the present as an
interim and that it is not without hope or destiny, The already has
occurred, The not yet is awaited. The One who brought the first is
about to bring in the second. The provider (of grace is also the
pronouncer of both reward and judgment
7. Out of an apocalyptic purging (2Pet3:10-13) will come forth
the "new heavens and the new earth". The emerging cosmos is
not a creation ex nihilo, but a cosmos in harmony with God's
eternal purposes, here, life "will be marked by perfect knowledge
of God, perfect enjoyment of God and perfect service of God"
(Anthony Hoekema, The Bible and the Future, p. 286).
8. The hope of that kind of restoration gives the Christian
worldview both direction and purpose. The anticipation
commands the Christian to look beyond the present, to press for
optimism in the midst of the opposite, to never despair when
answers re not readily available here and now.
B. Eschatology is historical
1. The eschatological elements of the NT are related to the
historical anticipations of the Old Testament. The OT eschatology
was primarily rooted in the coming of the Messiah, and in the
coming of the day of the Lord associated with it.
2. The cross is a historical event that brought about the coming of
the last days. The already aspect of the kingdom is a historical
event, and anticipates a future not-yet aspect
3. It is in history that the proclamation of the kingdom, including
the eschaton, is to be made. Matt 24:14 directly relate
eschatology to missions.
4. Life of faith, love, and hope of the Christian is lived in the
light of the Cross, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and in the
waiting for the blessed hope that must take place in history.
Parousia cannot be spiritualized (Acts 1:9-11; Heb 9:28).
C. Eschatology is soteriology (present and future).
1. Reconciliation, perfection, glorification, resurrection --all these
experiences await in their fullest sense the end time. The total
recovery of man is an eschatological event
2. So is the total healing of the cosmos. The final effect of the
Cross will not be seen until the final restoration is brought about
to the Universe, and in that sense. eschatology is essential for the
fulfillment of soteriology.
3. Then there is the restoration of God's image. "Godliness,
godlikeness is the goal to be reached" Is that not an
eschatological goal? When we see Him, we shall be as He is (1
John 3:2).
D. Eschatology demands a more humble, and understanding
Christian life.
1. We must see ourselves for what we are -• historically,
existentially, and eschatologically.
a. There is no room for spiritual or ecclesiastic elitism. A
better understanding of what is to come does not produce better
saints.
 b. There is no room for religious paranoia, judgmental
syndrome, or a persecution complex. Eschatology is not a fright-
inducing event of the future, but joyful culmination of the
journey of faith. In this journey, there is love for the other, but no
judgment; there is a reaching out, but not a shutting in.
2. We must view the church in a wholesome perspective.
a. Eschatology presents the church as a bride of Christ. It is
the body of Christ, and as such, my relationship should be an
altogether a reverent one.
 b. The church is corporate, but made up of
individuals. A proper eschatology will challenge my
relationship to both formats.
c. An eschatological church is in travail, awaiting its
Lord, fulfilling its commission. What would my role
be?
• d. Anticipation of the future does not mean
abandonment of the present--both in the church and
outside (mission) the church.