No 19
(The Many Differing Views)
The word “eschatology” was invented in 1844 and it is derived from the Greek
word “eskhatos” meaning the last, the
furthest, the remote.
In theology it means the study of end-time events. There are several views of the end-time
events and some are Post-millennialism, Amillennialism, Pre-millenialism
and within Pre-millenialism there is pre-tribulation rapture, mid-tribulation
rapture and post-tribulation rapture. As
you can see, there is no lack of choices; so one could say – which one is
right? Good question, but we won’t
debate this in this E-Mail and we won’t define each one;….
well we will look at one and say that it has almost disappeared; the one I’m
referring to is Post-Millennialism.
This view basically states that Jesus
Christ will establish His 1000 year reign as described in Revelation 20 after
(Post) the world gets to a point that it is so “good” that He will return and
be Lord and master. Much doubt was cast
on this view when WW1 happened and when WW2 happened, it was practically
discarded altogether. And of course anyone who follows world events, even at a
glance, realises that the world is on a crash course of self destruction.
Getting back to end-time events notwithstanding,
there are some truths on which all
true Christians agree:
V Jesus Christ
will one day return a second time as “…King of kings and Lord of
Lords” (
V The next event
in God’s time-line is the Rapture of the Church “16 For the Lord himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of
God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and
remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in
the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thess 4: 16, 17)
V No one knows
when Jesus will return, only God Himself “But of that
day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” (Matt 24:36)
Up to now this has been an introduction
to the main point of this study which is as follows. The Lord gave us the Bible as a guide for us
to know Him better, as a weapon to defend our faith in Him and as a source of
encouragement for us because of all the promises that it contains. I don’t believe that God intended us to argue
about end-time events and as much as it seems that we are in effect arguing, I
like to believe that we are rather talking
about Him and not arguing.
Let me take this point one step further,
God’s intention was for us to be united and not divided. In the book of Ephesians in chapter 4 verse
13, the Bible says “Till we all come in
the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”
End-time events are something to be
joyous about not argumentative. May we
be blessed in the study of the Bible knowing it is God’s Word for mankind.