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[[Eschatology]] ([[Greece|Greek]] '''εσχατος''' or ''eschatos'' the last and '''λογος''' or ''logos'' a word) is the study of the last things that the [[Bible]] predicts will happen to the world and mankind.
== Does the world have an end? ==
[[Jesus Christ]] made repeated reference to a sorting-out of saved and lost people at "the end of the world." Moreover, most of the [[prophets]] whose writings survive today made some reference to prophecies that would not be fulfilled within the time frame of the Bible--including many that, many commentators suggest, remain unfulfilled to this day.
== Different schools of thought ==
Eschatology is one of the most difficult and vexing questions for [[Christian]]s today. At least three different disputes have surfaced over the centuries since the last words of the Bible were written.
=== The Economy of the God-and-man Relationship ===
The [[Bible]] describes multiple [[covenant]]s that God has held with mankind in the thousands of years since [[creation]]. In this regard, two competing theories are current.
# [[Covenant theology]] holds that God has had only ''one'' covenant with mankind, despite the plethora of apparent covenantal decrees throughout the [[Old Testament]]. Before the coming of [[Jesus]], God's covenant was with national [[Israel]], this theory states; now that Jesus has come and gone and will come again, the blessings initially provided to Israel now apply strictly to the [[church]]--defined in this context as the body of believers in Jesus as the looked-for Christ (literally, "Annointed One," transliterated ''Messiah'' from [[Hebrew]]). Detractors of this school of thought often call it "replacement theology," the notion being that the Christian church somehow "replaces" the [[Judaism|Jews]] in God's favor.
# [[Dispensational theology]], however, holds that God's relationship with mankind has undergone a number of changes from one ''dispensation'' to the next. Most dispensational theorists identify seven of these dispensations, of which mankind is now in the sixth--and the seventh remains for mankind to experience. No replacement of the Jews is expressed or implied--because God will physically [[Rapture (Christian)|remove]] the present membership of the church and concentrate all His Attention on the Jews.
=== A Thousand Years of Peace ===
The Book of [[Revelation]] makes prominent reference to an era lasting for a thousand years, during which God will physically confine [[Satan]], and after which Satan will be released for one last period.<ref>{{Bible ref|book=Revelation|chap=20|verses=1-3|version=KJV}}</ref> But [[Jesus]] says, in the [[New Testament]], that He will return to earth again after ascending into [[heaven]]. The obvious question arises: when will Jesus return, in relationship to this thousand-year period of peace?
# [[Premillennialism]] holds that Christ will return to earth ''before'' the thousand years begin, and that during that thousand years He will rule the world and mankind directly from the city of [[Jerusalem]], which He will use as His capital city.
# [[Postmillennialism]] holds that Jesus will wait to return ''after'' the thousand years have passed--and that the thousand years have either already passed or are passing right now.
# [[Amillennialism]] holds that no such thousand-year period of peace has occurred or will occur. The "thousand years" mentioned in Revelation, adherents say, are merely a metaphor for a long period of promulgation of the [[Gospel]] to the world.
=== Unfulfilled Prophecy? ===
Certain prophecies that the author of [[Revelation]] and other prophets (including [[Daniel]], [[Isaiah (prophet)|Isaiah]], [[Jeremiah (prophet)|Jeremiah]], [[Zechariah (prophet)|Zechariah]], and [[Malachi (prophet)|Malachi]]) wrote down, did not come to pass within the time frame of the Bible. Some say that they ''still'' have not come to pass, and herein lies perhaps the most bitter of the disputes among prophecy students:
# [[Futurism]] holds that these prophecies have not yet come to pass, and still remain to come to pass. Futurists closely follow current events for signs that these prophecies are about to come to pass in the present day. A key concern of futurists is the baleful prophecy that in the last seven years before Jesus' return to earth, a totalitarian dictatorship will arise that will exceed by several orders of magnitude the power, the scope, and the atrocity of [[Nazi]] [[Germany]] during the [[Second World War]].<ref>{{Bible ref|book=Revelation|chap=13|verses=1-18|version=KJV}}</ref> This concern has led many of them to express great fear that the [[United Nations]], or alternatively a possible reinvention of the [[Baghdad Caliphate]], will be that dictatorship, or its progenitor.
# [[Historicism]] holds that the specific prophecies mentioned in Revelation chapters 6 through 16 actually reflect world history as it has unfolded since the destruction of the [[Temple of Jerusalem]] in 70 AD.<ref>[http://www.historicism.com/ Historicism.com]</ref> Historicists fear no future dictatorship because any such dictatorship has already risen and fallen.
# [[Preterism]] holds that everything mentioned in Revelation, took place long ago and culminated in that same destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple mentioned above.<ref>[http://www.preteristarchive.com/index.html The Preterist Archive] online</ref> The dictatorship mentioned in Revelation chapter 13 is identified as Imperial [[Rome]] under the emperorship of [[Nero]]. The key support for this theory is the assertion, which not all prophecy students or Biblical scholars accept, that Revelation was written during the Principate of [[Claudius I]] and ''not'', as futurists insist, during the Principate of [[Domitian]].
# [[Idealism]] (also called ''Spiritualism'', but not to be confused with the popular "faith" in communion with the dead) holds that the prophecies of Revelation and elsewhere, rich as they are in the symbolic language of [[Hebrew]] poetry, are just that: symbols of non-literal truths. No literal dictatorship producing "trouble not equaled before and never to be equaled again" actually exists or existed.
== A Synoptic Representation ==
Different schools of thought in any one subject area mentioned above tend to be consistent with particular schools of thought in other areas. This table gives a brief summary:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Economy
!Millennium
!Events
|-
|[[Dispensational theology]]
|[[Premillennialism]]
|[[Futurism]]
|-
|[[Covenant theology]]
|[[Postmillennialism]]
|[[Preterism]], [[Historicism]]
|-
|
|[[Amillennialism]]
|[[Idealism]]
|}
== Mutual criticism ==
Debate between and among holders of different eschatological doctrines is often highly contentious. Non-futurists often accuse their futuristic co-religionists of "[[newspaper]] [[exegesis]]," or what they see as a wrongful attempt to interpret the [[Bible]] from the pages of a daily newspaper or similar current-events organ. Futurists, for their part, often accuse preterists of "triumphalism," or inferring that frail human beings will actually accomplish victory in a war that, they say, [[Jesus]] alone can and will fight and win.
== Eschatology in Bible History ==
At least two major Biblical figures, namely [[Moses]] and [[Elijah]], are held by many to have a further role to play in human history. Moreover, the [[Bible]] mentions at least one secular leader--[[Nebuchadnezzar II]]--who had the privilege, or the burden, of receiving a vision of a future far beyond his time.
== References ==
<references/>
[[Category:Bible]]
[[Category:Bible study]]
== Does the world have an end? ==
[[Jesus Christ]] made repeated reference to a sorting-out of saved and lost people at "the end of the world." Moreover, most of the [[prophets]] whose writings survive today made some reference to prophecies that would not be fulfilled within the time frame of the Bible--including many that, many commentators suggest, remain unfulfilled to this day.
== Different schools of thought ==
Eschatology is one of the most difficult and vexing questions for [[Christian]]s today. At least three different disputes have surfaced over the centuries since the last words of the Bible were written.
=== The Economy of the God-and-man Relationship ===
The [[Bible]] describes multiple [[covenant]]s that God has held with mankind in the thousands of years since [[creation]]. In this regard, two competing theories are current.
# [[Covenant theology]] holds that God has had only ''one'' covenant with mankind, despite the plethora of apparent covenantal decrees throughout the [[Old Testament]]. Before the coming of [[Jesus]], God's covenant was with national [[Israel]], this theory states; now that Jesus has come and gone and will come again, the blessings initially provided to Israel now apply strictly to the [[church]]--defined in this context as the body of believers in Jesus as the looked-for Christ (literally, "Annointed One," transliterated ''Messiah'' from [[Hebrew]]). Detractors of this school of thought often call it "replacement theology," the notion being that the Christian church somehow "replaces" the [[Judaism|Jews]] in God's favor.
# [[Dispensational theology]], however, holds that God's relationship with mankind has undergone a number of changes from one ''dispensation'' to the next. Most dispensational theorists identify seven of these dispensations, of which mankind is now in the sixth--and the seventh remains for mankind to experience. No replacement of the Jews is expressed or implied--because God will physically [[Rapture (Christian)|remove]] the present membership of the church and concentrate all His Attention on the Jews.
=== A Thousand Years of Peace ===
The Book of [[Revelation]] makes prominent reference to an era lasting for a thousand years, during which God will physically confine [[Satan]], and after which Satan will be released for one last period.<ref>{{Bible ref|book=Revelation|chap=20|verses=1-3|version=KJV}}</ref> But [[Jesus]] says, in the [[New Testament]], that He will return to earth again after ascending into [[heaven]]. The obvious question arises: when will Jesus return, in relationship to this thousand-year period of peace?
# [[Premillennialism]] holds that Christ will return to earth ''before'' the thousand years begin, and that during that thousand years He will rule the world and mankind directly from the city of [[Jerusalem]], which He will use as His capital city.
# [[Postmillennialism]] holds that Jesus will wait to return ''after'' the thousand years have passed--and that the thousand years have either already passed or are passing right now.
# [[Amillennialism]] holds that no such thousand-year period of peace has occurred or will occur. The "thousand years" mentioned in Revelation, adherents say, are merely a metaphor for a long period of promulgation of the [[Gospel]] to the world.
=== Unfulfilled Prophecy? ===
Certain prophecies that the author of [[Revelation]] and other prophets (including [[Daniel]], [[Isaiah (prophet)|Isaiah]], [[Jeremiah (prophet)|Jeremiah]], [[Zechariah (prophet)|Zechariah]], and [[Malachi (prophet)|Malachi]]) wrote down, did not come to pass within the time frame of the Bible. Some say that they ''still'' have not come to pass, and herein lies perhaps the most bitter of the disputes among prophecy students:
# [[Futurism]] holds that these prophecies have not yet come to pass, and still remain to come to pass. Futurists closely follow current events for signs that these prophecies are about to come to pass in the present day. A key concern of futurists is the baleful prophecy that in the last seven years before Jesus' return to earth, a totalitarian dictatorship will arise that will exceed by several orders of magnitude the power, the scope, and the atrocity of [[Nazi]] [[Germany]] during the [[Second World War]].<ref>{{Bible ref|book=Revelation|chap=13|verses=1-18|version=KJV}}</ref> This concern has led many of them to express great fear that the [[United Nations]], or alternatively a possible reinvention of the [[Baghdad Caliphate]], will be that dictatorship, or its progenitor.
# [[Historicism]] holds that the specific prophecies mentioned in Revelation chapters 6 through 16 actually reflect world history as it has unfolded since the destruction of the [[Temple of Jerusalem]] in 70 AD.<ref>[http://www.historicism.com/ Historicism.com]</ref> Historicists fear no future dictatorship because any such dictatorship has already risen and fallen.
# [[Preterism]] holds that everything mentioned in Revelation, took place long ago and culminated in that same destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple mentioned above.<ref>[http://www.preteristarchive.com/index.html The Preterist Archive] online</ref> The dictatorship mentioned in Revelation chapter 13 is identified as Imperial [[Rome]] under the emperorship of [[Nero]]. The key support for this theory is the assertion, which not all prophecy students or Biblical scholars accept, that Revelation was written during the Principate of [[Claudius I]] and ''not'', as futurists insist, during the Principate of [[Domitian]].
# [[Idealism]] (also called ''Spiritualism'', but not to be confused with the popular "faith" in communion with the dead) holds that the prophecies of Revelation and elsewhere, rich as they are in the symbolic language of [[Hebrew]] poetry, are just that: symbols of non-literal truths. No literal dictatorship producing "trouble not equaled before and never to be equaled again" actually exists or existed.
== A Synoptic Representation ==
Different schools of thought in any one subject area mentioned above tend to be consistent with particular schools of thought in other areas. This table gives a brief summary:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Economy
!Millennium
!Events
|-
|[[Dispensational theology]]
|[[Premillennialism]]
|[[Futurism]]
|-
|[[Covenant theology]]
|[[Postmillennialism]]
|[[Preterism]], [[Historicism]]
|-
|
|[[Amillennialism]]
|[[Idealism]]
|}
== Mutual criticism ==
Debate between and among holders of different eschatological doctrines is often highly contentious. Non-futurists often accuse their futuristic co-religionists of "[[newspaper]] [[exegesis]]," or what they see as a wrongful attempt to interpret the [[Bible]] from the pages of a daily newspaper or similar current-events organ. Futurists, for their part, often accuse preterists of "triumphalism," or inferring that frail human beings will actually accomplish victory in a war that, they say, [[Jesus]] alone can and will fight and win.
== Eschatology in Bible History ==
At least two major Biblical figures, namely [[Moses]] and [[Elijah]], are held by many to have a further role to play in human history. Moreover, the [[Bible]] mentions at least one secular leader--[[Nebuchadnezzar II]]--who had the privilege, or the burden, of receiving a vision of a future far beyond his time.
== References ==
<references/>
[[Category:Bible]]
[[Category:Bible study]]