INTRODUCTION TO ESCHATOLOGY (Overview of the 3 Christian views)

The Challenge and Blessing of Studying Eschatology

So, one of the most challenging things to study is the topic of eschatology. And this just simply means the study of last things or the study of the end times. And I think so many people find this fascinating because we are limited creatures, right?

We are people that have a birth, a beginning, and we have an end, but we don't know the future. So, when we start talking about biblical prophecies, that will really draw a crowd a lot of times. Tell me what the future holds because we look to God who knows the future.

So, I don't think it's any surprise that we find these topics very fascinating, what the future is going to be like, and how God is going to restore all things. But I've been a part of a lot of Bible studies where pastors have made the study of the book of Revelation, eschatology, somewhat discouraging.

People have said, well, it's too complex and we might as well not even study it. Don't take it too seriously. And I want to take a step back and say the book of Revelation may be hard to understand, but this book perhaps glorifies Jesus as God more than any other book in the Bible.

So, I don't want us to be discouraged as we approach the topic of eschatology. In fact, I want you to understand that it actually promises blessing as you begin to study it. Revelation 1 verse 3 begins by saying, blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and those who keep the things which are written in it for the time is near.

And so, I believe our time will be blessed when we read any part of God's word. But this is almost promising double blessing when you study the book of Revelation. You'll be blessed. You'll see that Jesus is King and that God wins in the end.

And we are more than conquerors in Christ. So I just wanted this to be an encouragement that all of history is going somewhere. God is sovereign. There's nothing random in this universe. And I believe there are many principles found in Revelation that gives us a glimpse of where all of history is going towards and it is Christ being King over everything.

Essentials: Christ's Return, Resurrection, and the Eternal State

So one way that I want us to begin this study of eschatology is I want us to look at our statement of faith here at 12 .5. If you go to our church website and you look at our statement of faith, section 14, we have a tiny passage about eschatology, the study of last things.

Let me read that. Regarding eschatology, we apply the dictum, in essentials unity, in nonessentials liberty, in all things charity. We believe that the doctrines regarding the personal eschatology, the coming of Christ and the eternal state are clearly expressed in the scriptures and are therefore essential.

Yet we hold that the fulfillment of God's promises to Israel and the nature of the millennium are less clear and therefore nonessentials. Therefore various corporate eschatological views are free to be discussed and taught side by side as long as unity is maintained and love is preeminent.

So please hold on to that because this is our stance at 12 .5 Church. We say you have these essential truths that are so important to affirm when you start studying eschatology, getting into the book of Revelation, the Olivet Discourse, looking at the book of Daniel.

There are certain things that we know are true because it's so tethered to the gospel and our blessed hope. Then there's another category of nonessentials that we are free to disagree with and sharpen one another and we want to do this in a way where we don't look down upon somebody that believes in a pre-tribulational rapture.

Hey, that's orthodox. Many men throughout history and women have held on to this view and then some people believe that there is no rapture that takes place before a tribulation. Those are things that we are free to discuss.

So I want to really differentiate between the essential things and the nonessential things. When we start talking about the nonessential things, there are three views in eschatology that are orthodox, that are wonderful, and there's room for disagreement and sharpening one another.

Before we dive into that, let's talk about the essential points of eschatology. Look back at our statement of faith that says, we believe that the doctrines regarding personal eschatology, the coming of Christ, and the eternal state are clearly expressed in scripture and are therefore essential.

And so there's kind of three big points that I'd love for you to follow along in your handout with me on. Number one is concerning the second coming of Christ. This is so important. When you're studying the end times, eschatology, understand that Jesus came to earth one time at the first coming.

We just got through the Advent series. Christmas time is really referring to Jesus coming, born of a virgin. He lived a perfect, sinless life. He suffered, he died on the cross, he was buried, he was resurrected, and he ascended to the right hand of the Father.

This refers to his first coming, but Jesus is coming back, and that's the second Advent. So Jesus is coming, and the future is going to be bodily, physically, and he is going to restore all things, and he is going to judge the living and the dead.

And so this first major point is Jesus' future physical coming, his return. So that's number one. And so number two, believers are going to receive resurrected bodies, okay? And not just believers, but the unjust, those that died in their sin, they will also receive a resurrected body fit for eternal justice, okay?

But there is going to be a resurrection of the dead, and that is also in the future. We look to a few different places that tell us that we receive a resurrected body fit for eternity, but one big thing about receiving a new resurrected body is it will no longer be cursed by sin.

Does anybody have any hurts or pains ever when you get up out of the bed? Or when you're 30 and you try to play basketball and you're like, oh man, I just don't move like I used to. This is actually a result of our fallen nature, right?

But ever since the garden man sin entered the world, the whole world has now spiraled into decay. Things are expanding and breaking down over time. But the book of Revelation gives us this reality to look forward to in Revelation 21 verse 4.

Jesus says that he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away. This is a part of our blessed hope.

Jesus is coming to set up his eternal kingdom and we as believers will receive new resurrected bodies. When I say new, it's going to be something brand spanking new, right? It's still going to be Ryan Russell, but in a transformed body, right?

I'll have the perfect looking beard, us together. And so we have that to look forward to. We're not going to have those hurts and pains. There's going to be no more death because the presence of sin is going to be no more.

And so that's kind of under resurrected bodies. So number three, write this down, eternal state. The eternal state is when Christ has come, set up his eternal kingdom and all things are transformed. Remember how I said our bodies are affected from the fall and because of sin, the whole world also is cursed in light of sin as well.

Romans chapter eight, the apostle said, for the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children.

Of God.

So this should be a wonderful encouragement that when we are in Christ by faith and faith alone, we know with certainty that Jesus Christ is coming. He's going to resurrect the dead and he is going to restore the entire world.

This is a lot of time referred to our blessed hope.

Okay.

And these are future promises that we cannot wait for. So those three points real quick are number one, Jesus Christ will return bodily to rule and reign and to judge the living and the dead. Number two, the saints will receive resurrected bodies fit for eternity to rule and reign with Christ.

And number three, this current world will pass away, but God will restore this new heaven on earth for the saints.

Okay.

So these are the essential truths that we lock arms with and we all can talk about the non-essential things, but these are the things that are non-negotiable, right? These are things that are actually tethered to the gospel itself.

Dispensationalism and Covenant Theology on Israel's Promises

So let's think through some of the non-essential points of eschatology. So look back with me at your statement of faith again, where we continue to read, yet we hold that the fulfillment of God's promises to Israel and the nature of the millennium are less clear and are therefore non-essentials.

Therefore various corporate eschatological views are free to be discussed and taught side by side as long as unity is maintained and love is preeminent. So there are two things here that I want you to see that are non-essential, right?

Number one, it's the fulfillment of God's promises to Israel and the nature of the millennium. Now just because we say that these are non-essential, these are still very much important. And so what I'm saying is we see these taught in scripture.

God has promises that he's given to Israel and there is a millennial reign of Christ. Those things are true because we see them plainly taught in scripture. But what does that mean? How do we interpret what these passages are ultimately getting at?

Well, we can continue to sharpen one another along the way. But we lovingly talk through these difficult passages and concepts and we sharpen one another in these truths. So we have essential truths over here and we have non-essential truths and so it's very important that we distinguish those.

So I want to spend not just a ton of time talking about the promises of God to Israel, but I want to give you two broad methodologies of historically how this has been understood. And so number one, maybe you've heard of this view called dispensationalism.

I have a lot of friends and they just do this at me. They say, Jeremiah, don't tell me anything about dispensationalism. I'm not interested. And I just want to point out that there are different understandings of dispensationalism.

It sounds like I'm making up phrases left and right here. I'm just telling you what's emerged out of church history. So there is a view of dispensationalism that says God is sub-sovereign, that he had plan A with Adam, he failed.

Then he sent Israel, they failed. And so God had to send in the big guns of Jesus Christ, plan C. And that is awful. That is not the God of scripture, that's not the God we serve. And so there are forms of dispensationalism that teach that and that there have been different methods of salvation from the Old Testament to the New Testament.

Any dispensationalism that teaches that, tell them, not interested, right? Because we know that God is sovereign. Plan A will succeed, amen. And so salvation has always been by grace through faith. That's true for the Old Testament saints looking forward.

That's true for New Testament saints looking back to who the Messiah is and what he accomplished. But not all dispensationalism teaches that. The big things that dispensationalists teach that are fine as a methodology trying to harmonize scripture is that there is a distinction between Israel and the church.

Okay?

And so this view within dispensationalism, they are really trying to understand national ethnic Israel. And so that's different than the church today. They would look to Ephesians 2 and say, okay, you had this new man, this new church that no longer has a divide between Jew and Gentile.

And so dispensationalists see this hard divide between Israel and the church. This view sees that Israel's promises will find their ultimate fulfillment in a future millennial reign of Christ. So this view says, okay, God promised Abraham a land.

He never saw that land. So oh no, God's promises have to come true. The dispensationalist says, oh, that will come true in the future during a thousand year reign. And I respect that view because they're trying to harmonize the text.

Now, this is one of those non-essentials that we can have a different methodology and have loving disagreement. This view also sees that ethnic Israel, right, we understand that they rejected the Messiah.

But this type of eschatology says, well, ethnic Israel will eventually look upon the one whom they've pierced and be saved at a future point.

Okay?

So we're talking about dispensationalism. And I want to encourage you. Many people have heard of Dr. John MacArthur. This is the view that he holds. And so when people get really mad and don't understand the distinctions between different kinds of dispensationalism, I'm saying, look, that is a faithful man that stands on the word of God, and it's okay to disagree with him on certain non-essentials of eschatology.

Okay?

And so dispensationalism is one way of understanding God's promises to Israel. Number two, the second view is called covenant theology. This is another way of seeing how God fulfills his promises to spiritual Israel.

Okay?

So that would mean that the promises find their fulfillment in Christ, who is the Israel of God. And in essence, the church reaps the benefits of those fulfillment blessings as the new Israel. So they just simply say, yeah, all the promises that you see given to Israel, yeah, the church has grafted in, and they get to reap those benefits.

And so men that I look up to, like R .C. Sproul, Votie Bauckham, they would hold to this type of methodology called covenant theology. And so the last thing I want to say to you, no matter where you land at on the spectrum of dispensationalism and covenant theology, is how you interpret the millennial reign.

Revelation 20 and the Meaning of the Thousand Years

So we just talked about God's promises to Israel. This is a type of non-essential where we can talk about the nuances of that. And then we have another really big non-essential topic when we talk about the thousand year reign of Christ.

Is that thousand years meant to be literal and future, or is this symbolic? And is it referencing a timeframe that's not necessarily meant to be a thousand years? I'd like to invite you, if you would, please turn with me and your Bible to Revelation chapter 20.

So this passage has been literally debated for 2 ,000 years, so we're going to solve it all right here and right now. Let's examine the opening 10 verses, and I want you to hear how many times the word thousand is referenced here.

So Revelation chapter 20 begins by saying, then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

And he threw him into a pit and shut it and sealed it over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until a thousand years were ended. After that, he must be released for a little while.

Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom 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. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. And this is the first resurrection. 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. And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are from the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle.

Their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints in the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them.

And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.". So we see the phrase thousand years being repeated six times.

And so the question of the evening is how literal or how symbolic do we take these thousand.

Years?

Some people say, well, it says a thousand and it says it six times. How many more times does John have to say it to be literal? Well, that's an argument, right? And then some people would say, well, when we look into the Old Testament, we read a thousand cattle of a thousand hills.

God owns all the hills. Or God makes a promise to a thousand generations. Well, he makes a promise to all the generations. So that's kind of the question. How symbolic or how literal do you take this passage?

Also, is this future or has this started at some point in the past? So when you step into the world of eschatology, these are the types of questions we ask when we're looking at the nature of the book of Revelation.

So I think it's very fair to say that when you look at these three different orthodox views, they almost agree on 90 of the Christian life, right? Where they disagree mainly are on the non-essentials of the nature of the millennium and the promises that God has given to Israel, okay?

So we're going to do just a brief flyover this evening over these three big views. So I want to encourage you, continue to take notes. And at the end, we're going to ask questions. And there is no way that I explain everything so well that no one has questions.

So I think it'll be fun. This is a time where we can bring our differing perspectives together to sharpen one another, but we're really going to key in on the things that unify us together in these three main views of eschatology.

Premillennialism and the Chronological Reading of Revelation

So number one is premillennialism, okay? So this place is the return of Christ before or pre the thousand-year millennium. So if you look on this chart or this little picture I have here, so we're living in this kind of church age now, according to premillennialism.

And then you have the second coming of Christ. I just, I envision the sky just opening up and then Jesus, and I think on a white horse,.

Right?

I'm super literal. And then you've got the saints coming with him. And how the whole world can see that? I don't know. But he comes and then the thousand years starts after his first coming, okay? So do you see why it's premillennialism?

Jesus comes pre or before the thousand-year reign. And so I want to show you an example of how the premillennialists would understand a passage. In Revelation 19, we read, and the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.

And from his mouth, Jesus, comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. And he will rule them with a rod of iron, and he will tread the winepress of fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

And on his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Okay, good.

And so this is about the closest we see to Jesus having a tattoo, having King of Kings on his thigh. But that's a super, that would be a super literal look at this passage. You can obviously see the symbolism here, right?

The word of God coming out from his mouth, right? And so the premillennialist says, well, we would understand this. He will rule them with a rod of iron. This passage is talking about the second coming of Christ, okay?

So the premillennialist sees chapter 19 coming before chapter 20. So you're like, no doubt. Well, the premillennialist sees the entire book of Revelation unfolding like a story,.

Okay?

So you might make a note on the side of this. I know it'll be filling out here in a second. In fact, I think it's the next point. The premillennial view depends heavily upon a chronological view of the book of Revelation,.

Okay?

So that's why when you look at chapter 19 and say, okay, this is the second coming, and then in chapter 20, you see that thousand year reign that we just read about, okay? So to me, that is a really compelling point within premillennialism.

If you can establish that the book of Revelation is unfolding like a story, that it's unfolding chronologically, well, then it seems natural to see the second coming in 19 and then the millennial reign in chapter 20.

And so, like I said, John MacArthur holds this view, and he makes an interesting point in Revelation 1 verse 19. He says, perhaps this gives us the bullet points of how to understand the book of Revelation.

Jesus is talking to the apostle John on the island of Patmos and says, right therefore, the things which you have seen, think past, those things which are present, and the things that will take place after this.

So you kind of have this mindset of past, present, and future. And so, if you take this to be an outline of the whole book of Revelation, well, John received this vision in the past in chapter 1 of Revelation, and then chapter 2 and 3 are the things which are this church age.

We look at the seven churches of Asia Minor, and you see all different types of churches that existed historically, but they also represent different types of churches, right? Those lukewarm churches where God said, I would rather spew you out of my mouth.

You're neither hot nor cold, and you need to repent. Or you have faithful churches, healthy churches like Philadelphia, right? And so, in this view, that would be the time period that we currently are living in and share with the apostle John.

So the things which were, past tense, Revelation chapter 1, the things which are Revelation 2 and 3, and the things that must take place after this, this would be all in the future, Revelation 4 through 22, okay?

Now, remember, we're just talking about pre-millennialism. You have to first adopt that umbrella view, and this is everything that kind of flows from that. And so, like I said, this is understanding the book of Revelation chronologically.

There are other contextual clues where the apostle John says, after this takes place, then I saw this take place, and then I saw this take place. And so, this would be further, perhaps, evidence of Revelation unfolding like a story.

And so, lastly for this view, a lot can be said about the rapture. Anybody watched the Left Behind series? Any Kirk Cameron fans out there? When you start thinking about the rapture, at least I do, I start just thinking about clothes just falling out of thin air and cars just swerving off the road.

I watch those movies. So, but rapture is not actually found anywhere in the Bible. And you say, oh, it's unbiblical. Well, the Trinity is not found in the Bible either, right? So, you have to ask the question, what does that word mean, right, and does the Bible support that?

Well, the word rapture comes from the Latin word raptura, which means to be carried off. And so, the apostle Paul taught in 1 Thessalonians 4, 17, that we will be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

I believe he further expounds on this spectacular event in 1 Corinthians 15, where believers will be transformed from mortality into immortality. There he says, we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye.

The dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed. Okay, and so all orthodox views, the premillennial, all millennial, and postmillennial, we all believe in a type of rapture, right? And so, within the premillennial scope, they try to understand when the rapture is going to take place, right?

This transformation from this tangible body, right, that's decaying, and then being resurrected and transformed into a glorious heavenly body, okay? And so, the rapture is a biblical teaching, but where people have disagreement is on the timing of the rapture, okay?

So, we're talking about premillennialism. So, I want you to understand tribulation is the time of trial and testing on God's people, and so within the premillennial view, we understand the tribulation to be a seven-year period.

Why is that? Well, when you study the book of Daniel, there's this idea that God is going to deal with his people for 490 years. He's going to deal with them 70 years times seven, okay? And within this, it says, okay, there's a special seven years that's reserved for a future judgment on God's people, and within premillennialism, they see a lot of this taking place in the book of Revelation and back further in Daniel chapter 9.

So, seven years in your mind, divide it in half. You got three and a half years, and then you have another three and a half years, okay? All of that is the tribulation, and within this view, most premillennialists see the first three and a half years as being a false peace, okay?

You kind of have this antichrist coming into power, unifies all these different world religions, and there's this peace on earth, okay? And then everything hits the fan after that first three and a half years, okay?

And the second half is called the great tribulation, okay? So, we got kind of a chart going on here. So, you kind of have the church age where we're at. You have a pre-tribulational rapture view, meaning the snatching of God's people comes right before the first three and a half years, and then this is where all the great judgments that Revelation talks about, the seal judgments, the trumpet judgments, and the bowl judgments start pouring out on the whole earth, okay?

And if you go Google, you can find so many different charts and connecting the dots, and it's pretty interesting, right? But it's all built on understanding the book of Revelation chronologically, unfolding as.

A story.

All right, do you care to pull up that next slide? So, we're talking about the timing of the rapture, right? The snatching away of the church or God's people. Well, some people say, well, God's gonna protect the church from this great tribulation, okay?

So, they have it right before the seven-year period starts. But then you have some people that have a mid-tribulational rapture view, right? That we'll be a part of that false peace, and you might say, there might not be a ton of judgment along with that, but they're gonna get snatched away right before all the judgments start flowing, okay?

So, like I said, you have the seal judgments, right, which get pretty intense. There's another view that's called the pre-wrath rapture, meaning that the church will be around for those seal judgments, will be snatched away right before the intense judgments of the bowls and the trumpets.

And so, that next slide, please. And then you have the post-trib rapture, where the church goes through all the tribulation, and then at the end, as Christ comes, the church is raptured up to meet him, transformed, and then comes back with him.

And what's neat is we're talking about pre-millennialism. What I've been talking about is really more of a dispensational pre-millennialism. The early church actually held to something that they weren't dispensational, but they did see a future thousand years where the church, they didn't have it all mapped out like this, but they didn't think the church would be raptured up, but would have to endure under the Antichrist and all these different events.

And so, these are different looks of how to understand the rapture in relation to the tribulation. So, these are wonderful things that we can talk about and disagree with and sharpen one another. And so, pre-millennialism, it all goes back to how you understand the promise of God giving promises to Israel.

Now, I want to tell you this. So, how you understand that, you either will see a hard divide between Israel and the church, but if you see those really talking about the same people, that's going to affect how you interpret the book of Revelation.

Because in chapters one, two, and three of Revelation, you see the church mentioned a whole lot, and then you don't see the church anywhere until Revelation chapter 19, and all you see in between is Israel.

Well, if you see the church and Israel as almost synonymous, that's going to affect how you read that. But if you see a hard divide, then you'll probably be more in this pre-millennial framework. And so, I actually have a caution.

There we go.

I like my graphic there. So, I have a caution, and I've been guilty of this. I grew up very dogmatic pre-mill, right, because Johnny Mac, baby. He was my go-to teacher. But I started feeling myself and hearing other people.

It's like when they opened the newspaper, they were just trying to really discern the times through the events that they were reading the paper. And the caution I want to say is it's fine to try to be discerning with the times, but don't be paranoid.

Right?

God is sovereign. Please don't try to sell all your possessions and listen to the kooks that write books on when the rapture's going to happen. Don't get lost in it, right? There's a point to eschatology that we don't know the details of these things.

So, I just want to caution, though, especially within a pre-millennial paradigm, people that believe in a pre-tribulational rapture, no one knows the exact timing for when Christ is coming back and going to begin the process of setting his earthly kingdom.

I have some people that are constantly watching Israel, trying to figure out when are they going to rebuild that temple, right? That's fine, but don't worry yourself to death about it, right? So, just a caution.

We can learn all these things in balance, right? So, that is pre-millennialism in a nutshell. So, number two is all millennialism. Not all millennialism, not all the millenniums, but all millennial, which means that there is no millennium, okay?

You may say, what? That sounds crazy. These people not read Revelation 20? What this is getting at is this view does not see a future literal thousand years, right? So, it sounds a little weird to say that they believe in no millennium.

They do, but they see this more as symbolic, right? So, they do not believe in a future millennial reign of Christ, but he is ruling and reigning right now. And so, a few reasons why they would do this.

They're not going to see the book of Revelation unfolding like a story and chronologically, but recurring in cycles. And they're going to say, when you look to the book of Revelation, you see a lot of phrases that are found in the Old Testament.

That's where you should go to to understand what John is saying in the book of Revelation. So, the next slide, please. So, this is kind of how we would look at all millennialism. So, this is the thousand years, right?

We're actually living in the millennial reign right now. This began at Jesus' first coming when he resurrected and ascended into heaven, being this perfect high priest. That began this symbolic millennial reign, and the millennial reign is going to continue until Jesus returns.

Can you see how that's way different than the premillennial framework? Remember premill? It says chronology. The book of Revelation unfolds like a story. All mill says, no, things are happening in a cycle, and Revelation 20 is symbolic for now.

And it started at Christ's first coming, and it's going to continue until he returns. And so, this view says that Jesus is actually ruling and reigning now as a king, and that he gained victory over Satan and the curse of sin.

And so, you could understand this as inaugurate millennialism, meaning that Jesus is an inaugurated king. So that's a huge distinction between the premillennial view and all millennial view, is that all mill sees Revelation occurring in cycles.

It's cyclical. This view sees the bulk of Revelation as already being fulfilled back in the past, in the first century. All the tribulation, the stress, the trials that we see throughout the book of Revelation, the destruction of the temple, they're saying all that was in the first century with 70.

AD.

And so, remember, premillennialism sees the bulk of Revelation as being future. All mill says, no, the book of Revelation is primarily in the past. And so, I'm wanting us to just have a comparing and contrasting of these two views.

But what's interesting is they actually do share something in common. They believe that the times will get worse and worse until Christ returns. So that's about the only thing that they share apart from the essentials.

And so, I mentioned how all mill sees the bulk of Revelation occurring in the past. This means that they would be partial preterists. That comes from a Latin word, praetor, which means events that have already taken place in the past.