Many of us are very well acquainted with the line from the movie The Wizard of Oz where the main character, Dorothy, is walking along the yellow-brick road with the Tin-man and the Scarecrow, worrying about being attacked by wild animals. Specifically, they are on the lookout for “lions, tigers, and bears, oh my!”
For any of you that grew up in the faith traditions similar to those I grew up in, you may have been taught to do the same thing when it comes to the study of eschatology, a fancy word for the study of the “last things.” Today, it is often referred to as the study of “The Last Days.” In traditions and churches that are hyper-focused on the topic of the study of eschatology, many have been taught not to look out for “lions, tigers, and bears,” but rather “famines, pestilences, and earthquakes” or maybe “famines, pestilences, and wars and rumors of wars.” Either way, we have our own “oh my” moments wedged into our collective consciousness when it comes to current events.
If that describes some of your thoughts lately, don’t worry, you are not alone. With earthquakes in places like Utah and Idaho, among others internationally, massive locust swarms moving across the continent of Africa, rumors of conflict in the mideast, and all of this overpowered by the news of a hundred-year, worldwide pandemic, many are asking questions about what this all means in the timeline of God’s eschatological plan. Others are so sick of hearing would be prophets proclaiming the end of the world that they have largely grown deaf to the topic.
Over the next few posts, I want to provide some clarity to any of you that might have anxiety and/or confusion around this topic. Today’s post will simply give you some overarching ideas on the topic of eschatology that will hopefully focus our eyes in the right direction. In this post, I am going to give three summary ideas that will set the baseline for future posts. Then next time, I will provide four final summary ideas, paving the way for us to look at scripture’s discussion on “last things.”
1) Eschatology Is A Secondary Item That No One Can Be Sure About
Growing up in an environment where words like “Rapture” and “Antichrist” were used almost more than resurrection, justification, love, righteousness, and justice, I became very assured of a given view of eschatology. I attended churches and was involved in conversations that were constantly looking at the headlines, trying to match them to scripture, and making claims that were quite honestly misleading. But here is the honest truth about the end things, what we know for sure is very simple: This life will come to an end (Eccl. 9:3, Heb. 9:27, among others), we will all face the judgment seat of Christ (Heb. 9:27, 2 Cor. 5:10, Rev. 20:12-15, among others), Christ will return to physically establish His Kingdom (Acts 1:11, among others), every human will be resurrected either to eternal life or death (Dan. 12:2, 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 and 50-53, among others), and those that are His will be with Him forever (1 Cor. 15:20-28, 1 Thess. 4:17b, among others). Other than that, especially regarding the questions of when, what order, and how, we are purposefully not given much information. (For those that might protest at this last statement, read ahead in my further posts to see why I teach this…) If there is a truth that needs to be proclaimed now, or the days directly preceding Christ’s return, whenever that is, it is these facts. Churches who are truly teaching God’s Word will have been teaching this and will teach this in the future, regardless of what is occurring in the world.
In fact, when asked about the question of when, Jesus is purposefully vague. He says statements like ““But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” (Matthew 24:36). When asked specifically for a date, look at what Jesus says to His disciples: “He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” (Acts 1:7)
The reality is that there are amazing men and women of God who believe in all sorts of different interpretations of the “when” and how” and they all love Jesus. But none of us can be sure in our interpretation. As a pastor and Bible teacher, I use the best hermeneutical tools I have to unpack scripture so that I have a general perspective from which to teach. I can tell you most assuredly, as one who started on one end of the eschatological spectrum and, over years of study, has now ended up on the other side of the eschatological spectrum, that there is strength in a number of arguments, but no one can fully know anything outside of those earlier facts listed above. That is why it is a secondary item that we hold very loosely.
2) When Christ Returns, We Will Know It
Some may respond to the above statement with, “So if we can’t be certain on the eschatological timeline, how will we know when Christ returns?” This was a question that made its rounds often in the last 2,000 years. It was part of the concern voiced by the church at Thessalonica that motivated Paul to respond with a statement about the coming of the Lord in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5. Paul also had to publicly rebuke two men that were causing harm in the church by preaching errant eschatology that they thought to be 100% true in 2 Timothy 2:17-18.
But Christ puts these fears to rest in His own words. As a contrast to the confusion that is sown by people saying that Jesus has come back or that there has been an “unseen” spiritual judgment like the Jehovah’s Witnesses did in the early 1900s, Jesus says that no one will miss His return. In Matthew 24: 24-26, Jesus warns the disciples not to fall for people who are falsely claiming something of eschatological significance has happened when it hasn’t. He finishes His statements with two metaphors in Matthew 24:27-28. Verse 27 is comparing His second coming to lightning that shoots across the fullness of the sky from east to west and illuminates all that is below it. Just as that can be seen by everyone, Jesus’ return will be seen by all. Secondly, verse 28 compares it to the fact that just as one can be assured that a corpse is below a circling vulture, it will be just as obvious when Christ returns, and His Kingdom is restored. Verse 30 follows saying, “All the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” When Christ comes, dear Church, there will be no wondering or confusion. Christ is here referencing the fact that when He returns again, all world powers will be destroyed by His Kingdom as discussed in Daniel 7:13-14. I don’t think we will have any confusion when that occurs.
So could the current trials that the world faces be an immediate precursor to the physical return of Christ? In truth, I have no idea, and neither does anyone else. With all my heart, I can honestly say that I walk through life daily, hoping that that day is the immediate precursor to Christ’s return. But no one will know for sure until He truly comes. More on that to come…
3) Eschatological Knowledge Puffs Up, But Love Builds Up
Some may respond to these first two statements with, “But I want to be ready when Christ returns and I want to know if this is the time of tribulation?” Let me answer each of these in turn. First, in regards to being “ready,” let’s look at what that meant for Christ. In Matthew 25, which follows closely on the contextual heels of the often used eschatological discussion in Matthew 24, Jesus used parables to describe “readiness.” The first parable in 25:1-13 illustrates the lesson that you do not want to procrastinate in your readiness or you may indeed attempt readiness too late. In other words, if you wait until the last second to respond to God’s invitation of relationship, you may not actually enter into the Kingdom of God because His coming will happen at a time when many are not ready for it. That is the whole point of Matthew 24:37-44.
The second parable in verses 25:14-30 is an illustration that adds to this lesson by saying that we who are true servants of the Master will be about His Kingdom business now. We will not need to wait for a special message or sign from the Lord, but will be about the business of God, regardless of what is occurring around us. Because we know His immense goodness and out of gratitude for His gracious provision, we will respond by going into the world and adding more to His Kingdom. The final section of 25:31-46 is an explanation of the judgment that is to come for all mankind in which God will judge our actions, and whether or not we reflected His Kingdom reign by those loving actions. If we pull these together, the entire chapter can be summed up this way, “True servants of the King don’t need to know when He is returning, so that they can figure out when to repent and start working, but are simply at work doing His will until He returns.” Jesus states clearly in Matthew 24:46, “Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.”
Dear brothers and sisters, rather than scanning the news for bread crumbs of eschatological riddles, perhaps our time would be better served loving our spouses, loving and training our children, checking in on our neighbors, praying for our healthcare workers and those working in necessary jobs, and reaching out to one another in love. In these, the Lord is surely pleased. And if we are doing this regardless, we will be “ready” when he returns. If we are not already doing these things then we do indeed need to repent…not because of Coronavirus or anything else, but simply because God has been calling us to repentance since the events of Genesis 3.
In a context outside of the study of the last things, Paul was discussing meat sacrificed to idols in 1 Corinthians 8. Some brethren in the church had “knowledge” that kept them from eating meat sacrificed to pagan idols, and they were looking down on brothers who did not have the same understanding. Paul’s response to this is fantastic and I am going to quote the NLT version here because I think it captures the main point wonderfully: “[W]hile knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church.” During this time of confusion and wondering, let’s not get twisted up in concerns about things that are outside of our control. Let’s put the newsfeed and social media feed down and instead love our families, our roommates, our neighbors. Let’s pick up the phone to brighten the day of someone in our body rather than ruminate over finding the eschatological key of scripture. If Christ comes to us soon, He will find us loving in His name and we will all rejoice in His presence. If Christ’s return is “far off” in our simple calculation of earthly years, then we will go to Him in knowledge that we will be welcomed into His presence with joy because we lived life being about His work.
In my next post, I will give four more basic ideas about eschatology that we can look at in this time. Then, Lord willing, I will unpack some scripture on the topic in subsequent posts. In the meantime, may we all be servants active in our work to build up the Church of Christ and draw many to His love. May the Lord bless you and keep you this week!