Mike Owens
docbrat@yahoo.com
Eschatology is literally a discourse about the last things. It is a doctrine concerning life after death and the final stage of the world. The origin of this doctrine is almost as old as humanity; archaeological evidence of customs in the Old Stone Age indicates a rudimentary concept of immortality. Even in early stages of religious development, speculation about things to come is not wholly limited to the fate of the individual.Ancient Explanations
Belief in a life of the spirit is typical of eschatology. The belief in judgment after death was introduced when standards of right and wrong were established according to particular tribal customs; the spirits themselves were made subject to the laws of retribution. Through this twofold development the future life was thus made spiritual and assumed a moral character, as in the eschatology of ancient Egypt. In Persia and Israel, the old conception of a shadowy existence in the grave, or in some subterranean realm, in general retained its hold. Escape from such an existence, however, into larger life, with the possibility of moral distinctions among individuals, was provided by the conception of a restoration and reanimation of the old body, thus ensuring personal identity.
The ancient Greeks arrived at their eschatology by considering the functions of the mind as a purely spiritual essence, independent of the body, and having no beginning or end; this abstract concept of immortality led to the anticipation of a more concrete personal life after death. The belief in a coming destruction of the world by fire or flood is found among groups in the Pacific islands as well as among American aborigines.
The ancient Persians, who adopted the doctrines of their religious teacher Zoroaster, developed the basic idea of the coming destruction of the world by fire into the concept of a great moral ordeal. According to this belief, at the end of the world the worshipers of the lord Mazda will be distinguished from all other people by successfully enduring the ordeal of molten metal, and the good will then be rewarded. This concept is found in the Gathas, the earliest part of the Avesta, the bible of Zoroastrianism. The Avesta or Zend-Avesta is the prayer book of Zoroastrianism. It forms the sacred books of the present-day Zoroastrians known as Parsis, who live in small communities in Iran and in India and Pakistan. The original home of these worshipers and of their holy scriptures was ancient Persia, and the faith they profess was that founded by the ancient Persian Zoroaster, one of the great religious teachers of the East. It is not certain that the idea of a resurrection from death goes back to the period represented by the Gathas. But the Greek historian Herodotus seems to have heard of such a Persian belief in the 5th century BC, and Theopompus of Chios, the historian of Philip II, king of Macedon, described it as a Mazdayasnian doctrine.
Similarities can be seen between the ancient Greek concepts of heaven and hell and those of Christian doctrine. The Homeric poems and those of Hesiod show how the Greek mind conceived of the future of the soul in Elysium or in Hades. Hestia, in Greek mythology, was the virgin goddess of the hearth, the eldest daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. She was believed to preside at all sacrificial altar fires, and prayers were offered to her before and after meals. Although she appears in very few myths, most cities had a common hearth where her sacred fire burned. In Rome, Hestia was worshipped as Vesta, and her fire was attended by six virgin priestesses known as vestal virgins.
Through the Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries this thought was deepened. Elysium, also known as the Elysian Fields, in Greek mythology was a pre-Hellenic paradise, a land of perfect peace and happiness. In the works of Homer, Elysium was a land at the farthest and westernmost edge of the world to which the great heroes were carried, body and soul, and made immortal. There they were free to pursue their favorite activities, and worries and illness were unknown. Soon, however, Elysium came to be regarded as the abode of the blessed dead, where the souls of dead heroes, poets, priests, and others lived in perfect happiness, surrounded by grass, trees, and gentle winds and enveloped in rose-tinted, perpetual light. In Roman mythology, Elysium was a part of the underworld and a place of reward for the virtuous dead. For some it was only a temporary paradise. At the edge of its soft, green meadows flowed the Lethe river of forgetfulness, from which all souls returning to life in the world above had to drink.
That the future of nations and the world also played an important role in Greek and Roman thought is evident from the prophecies of the Sibyls. An eschatological philosophy dominated the epoch ushered in by the conquests of Alexander the Great, and Greco- Roman thought became suffused with Oriental ideas in its speculation upon the future of the world.
Jewish and Christian Beliefs
In early Israel the Day of Jehovah was a coming day of battle that would decide the fate of the people. Although the people looked forward to it as a day of victory, prophets such as Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Zephaniah, and Jeremiah feared that it would bring near or complete destruction, associating it with the growing military threat from Assyria. To Jeremiah, this forecast of judgment was the criterion of true prophethood. Later, the books containing their pronouncements were interpolated with prophecies of prosperity, which themselves constituted significant signs of the expansion of eschatological hopes. The Book of Daniel voices the hope that the kingdom of the world will be given to the saints of the Most High, the Jewish people. A celestial representative, probably the archangel Michael, is promised, who, after the destruction of the beast representing the Hellenistic kingdoms of the Middle East, will come with the clouds and receive the empire of the world. No messiah appears in this apocalypse. The first distinct appearance of this deliverer and king is in the Song of Solomon.
After the conquest of Palestine by the Roman general Pompey the Great in 63 BC, the Jews longed for a descendant of the line of David, king of Israel and Judah, who would break the Roman yoke, establish the empire of the Jews, and rule as a righteous king over the subject nations. This desire ultimately led to the rebellion in AD 66-70 that brought about the destruction of Jerusalem. When Jesus Christ proclaimed the coming of the kingdom of heaven, His disciples were convinced that he would return as the Messiah upon the clouds of heaven.
In Christian doctrine, eschatology has traditionally included the Second Advent (or Coming) of Christ, or Parousia, the resurrection of the dead, the last judgment, the immortality of the soul, concepts of heaven and hell, and the consummation of the kingdom of God.
Although the great creeds of Christendom affirm the belief in a return to the Son of God to judge the living and the dead, and in a resurrection of the just and the unjust, Christianity through the centuries has shown wide variation in its interpretation of eschatology.
Eschatology, for the purpose of this study, concerns the Second Coming of Christ and the Rapture of the Church. This subject has two main themes: a pre-millennial theme, it will happen before the millennial reign of Christ; and post-millennial, it will happen after the reign of Christ. within these two themes are four views of when the Rapture will occur: Pre-tribulation, in which the Church is taken out of the world before the Tribulation period starts; Mid-tribulation, in which Church is taken out of the world after the Tribulation period starts but before the end of that period; Post-tribulation, in which the Church is taken out of the world at the end of this Tribulation period; and a-tribulation, which basically states that we are not literally removed, but it is to be taken spiritually. I will not cover this last view. Of the three remaining views, the Pre-tribulation view is by far the more vocal view. But, does this make it right? To quote a popular series of books today written by Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins:
In one cataclysmic instant, millions of people all over the world disappeared. They simply vanished, leaving behind everything material: clothes, eyeglasses, contact lenses, hairpieces, hearing aids, fillings, jewelry, shoes, even pacemakers and surgical pins. Millions vanished. But millions remained-- adults, but no children, and only a few young teens. All babies, including the unborn, disappeared-- some during birth. Worldwide chaos ensued. Planes, trains, buses, and cars crashed, ships sank, homes burned, grieving survivors committed suicide. A transportation and communications gridlock, coupled with the disappearances of many service personnel, left most to fend for themselves until some semblance of order returned.This is often the picture painted by those who hold this Pre-tribulation view. Yet, they claim that this is to be a secret coming of Christ. Doesn't sound too secret. The Bible, although faithfully reporting every other major catastrophe involving the people of God, fails to mention anything about this worldwide catastrophe. The only real reason for this event is to remove the Church from the tribulation period. Again, nothing like this before has happened in regards to God's people.
The great tragedy among Christians today is that too many of us are under the Word of God, but not in it for ourselves. What about you? Do you regularly read and study the Bible on your own? Or are you part of the majority of people who rarely if ever open the Bible for themselves? If you know there is more to the Word of God then you have discovered so far, if you sense there must be concrete answers to the complexities of life, if you want a bedrock faith that keeps you from being tossed around by conflicting philosophies in the world and church, if you want to be able to face the uncertainties of the future without fear, then inductive study will get you those results. It is a method anyone can use and it involves three simple skills that are easy to learn: observation, interpretation, and application.
All you need to use this method is a good study Bible and the desire to grow in God's Word. The word Inductive means: pertaining to or the process of logical reasoning from the specific to the general. In other words, you break something down to its details and examine them closely, then make a judgment on the whole based on what you have learned in part. In studying the written Word of God, it is disassembling each verse to its individual units, such as nouns, adjectives, verbs, then determining what these parts mean as a unit. Observation teaches you to see precisely what the passage says. It is the basis for accurate interpretation and correct application. The more time spent in good observation, the less time you'll spend and the better the results you'll have with interpretation and application.
Interpretation answers the question: What does the passage mean? If you have done a good job at observation, this part should be a real breeze for you. When you accurately interpret the Word of God, you will be able to confidently put its truths into practice in your daily life. Like many other people, you may have been taught a system of belief before you ever studied God's Word for yourself. Or you may have formed opinions of what the Bible teaches before you carefully examined the Scriptures. As you learn to handle God's Word accurately, you will be able to discern if what you believe is in agreement with Scripture.
Application answers the question: What does it mean to me personally? What truths can I put into practice? What changes should I make in my life? When you know what God says, what He means, and how to put His truths into practice, you will be equipped for every circumstance of life (2Ti 2:15). Ultimately, the goal of personal Bible study is a transformed life and a deep and abiding relationship with Jesus Christ. No matter how much you know about God's Word, if you don't apply what you learn, Scripture will never benefit your life. To be a hearer of the Word and not a doer is to deceive yourself (Ja 1:22-25). This is why application is so vital.
One final note before we continue on our study, Corrie ten Boom was a Christian who, during World War II as a young child, helped to hide Jewish families from Nazi death troops. She had a very strong and trusting walk with Christ through out her life. Over the course of her travels around the world, she had the opportunity to see first hand the end results of the Pre-Tribulation theory, this is what she had to say about it:
I have been in countries where the saints are already suffering terrible persecution. In China the Christians were told "Don't worry, before the tribulation comes, you will be translated-raptured." Then came the terrible persecution. Millions of Christians were tortured to death. Later I heard a Bishop from China say, sadly, "We have failed. We should have made the people strong for persecution rather than telling them Jesus would come first." Turning to me he said, "You still have time. Tell the people how to be strong in times of persecution, how to stand when the tribulation comes-to stand and not fear". I feel I have a divine mandate to go and tell the people of this world that it is possible to be strong in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in training for the tribulation. Since I have gone already through prison for Jesus sake, and since I met that bishop from China, now every time I read a good Bible text I think "Hey, I can use that in the time of tribulation". Then I write it down and learn it by heart.I will continue with this study looking at each verse related to the topic using observation, interpretation, and application. Together, I hope to try to determine What Does The Bible Say?