First, what is eschatology? Eschatology is the study of the end times and the “last things” (the 2nd coming, the resurrection, the judgement). There are 5 basic views of eschatology. The word “millennial” is based on the 1,000 years (a millennium) of Revelatioin 20 that Christ and the saints will reign for a thousand years, the end of which will be the battle of Armageddon.

1)A millennial –Realized Millennial. (Greek: a – “no” + millennialism) is the view in Christian eschatology which states that Christ is presently reigning through the Church and that the “1000 years” of Revelation 20:1-6 is a metaphorical reference to the present church age which will culminate in Christ’s return (the 2nd coming). .

2_ Post-Millennial – The 2nd coming will be at the end of the millennium. This was a popular view in the 19th and 20th centuries among abolitionists and social gospel reformers who hoped to create a 1,000 years of social reform that would enable the 2nd coming to happen.

3) Pre-Millennial – Historical. After the tribulation, the 2nd coming will be the beginning of the millennium. From gotquestions.org “Historic premillennialism was held by a large majority of Christians during the first three centuries of the Christian era. Many of the church fathers such as Ireneaus, Papias, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Hippolytus, and others taught that there would be a visible kingdom of God upon the earth after the return of Christ. Historic premillennialism taught that the Antichrist would appear on earth and the seven-year tribulation would begin. Next would be the rapture, and then Jesus and His church would return to earth to rule for a thousand years When Christianity became the official religion of Rome in the fourth century, many things began to change, including acceptance of historic premillennialism. Amillennialism soon became the prevailing doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church.”

4) Pre-Millennial – Dispensational. A 2nd coming to rapture the church, followed by a 2nd coming with the church after the tribulation that will begin the millennium. 7 periods or dispensations are emphasized:

Here is a chart that compares the first 4 views of eschatology. There are several variations of some of these views, but this chart summarizes the basics.

5) Preterism. Preterism is a Christian belief that most or all Bible prophecies have already happened. The term comes from the Latin word preter, which means “past”. Full preterism believes that all have already happened by 70 AD when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. The resurrection, the 2nd coming, and the judgment all happened at 70 AD. The millennium is the 40 year period from the beginning of the church on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) in 30 AD to 70 AD (thus the 1,000 years of Revelation 20 is a figurative number, not a literal 1,000 years). The new heavens and new earth is the new Messianic system and age that replaced the old heavens and earth (i.e. the Jewish system and age). The new Jerusalem is the church that replaced the old Jerusalem that was destroyed in 70 AD. The new temple (Ezekiel 40-48) is the church in which God dwells.

Does eschatology even matter? Is it even important or worth the time to study eschatology? Isn’t faith in Jesus and living the Christian life all that really matters?

One’s view of eschatology is not necessarily a “heaven/hell” issue that a believer must understand correctly in order to be saved. No one will get to the pearly gates and be refused entrance b/c he/she misunderstood the correct view of eschatology above. One’s view of eschatology could, however, cause a believer to lose faith in the Bible prophecies and lose faith in the Bible being the inerrant word of God if that particular view of eschatology was proven to be false. That could in turn cause him/her to lose faith in the central message of the Bible, which is salvation by grace through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus as the sacrifice for our sins. If you think the Bible prophecies did not come true as predicted, then the Bible is full of false prophesy. Why would you believe that the Bible is right about the salvation part if you think it is wrong about the eschatology part?

I would encourage you to stop now and read this article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Disappointment about the “great disappointment of 1843 AD. William Miller had predicted the 2nd coming would be in 1843 based on Daniel 8. People sold their possessions and waited on house tops on October 22, 1844 but nothing happened. “Henry Emmons, a Millerite, later wrote, ‘I waited all Tuesday [October 22] and dear Jesus did not come;—I waited all the forenoon of Wednesday, and was well in body as I ever was, but after 12 o’clock I began to feel faint, and before dark I needed someone to help me up to my chamber, as my natural strength was leaving me very fast, and I lay prostrate for 2 days without any pain—sick with disappointment’.” The followers of Miller were mocked after the prediction failed. Most of the Millerites did not lose their faith in the Bible. They came up with possible explanations for the failure and started new groups. One of those groups started when Hiram Edson theorized that Christ did return on Oct 22, 1844 but his return was an invisible event in heaven where he entered the Most Holy Place in the heavenly sanctuary and began investiagative judgment that would end in his visible 2nd coming. Ellen G. White became the prophetess of this group which became the Seventh Day Adventists. She taught that a major fault of Milerism was the church worship on Sunday instead of the sabbath day. The 7DA’s meet on Saturday.

Another interesting group that eventually resulted from the great disappointment was the Baha’i faith. “Members of the Baháʼí Faith believe that Miller’s interpretation of signs and dates of the coming of Jesus were, for the most part, correct. They believe that the fulfillment of biblical prophecies of the coming of Christ came through a forerunner of their own religion, the Báb, who declared that he was the “Promised One” on May 23, 1844, and began openly teaching in Persia in October 1844.”

Most of the Millerites still kept their faith in the Bible, which is good. I think that was b/c people just generally believed that the Bible was the inerrant word of God back in the 19th century. They might admit that Miller was wrong on his date for the 2nd coming, but they would never say that he was right on the date but that the Bible had made a false prophecy about that date. So they just came up with possible explanations for the failure, hoping that someone else would figure out the correct interpretation of the Bible on the 2nd coming prediction. There have been many since then who predicted date for the 2nd coming. The Jehovah’s Witnesses predicted 1975. Herbert Armstrong of the Worldwide Church of God predicted 1936, and then 1942, and then 1972. Jeane Dixon predicted 1962 and later changed it to 2020. Charles Manson predicted that Helter skelter, an apocalyptic race war, would occur in 1969. Chuck Smith, the founder of Calvary Chapel predicted that the generation of 1948 would be the last generation and the world would end by 1981. In late 1976, Pat Robertson predicted on his The 700 Club TV programme that the end of the world would come in that year, but later changed it to 2007. Edgar Whisenant predicted in his book 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Could Be in 1988 that the Rapture of the Christian Church would occur between 11 and 13 September 1988. Harold Camping predicted the Rapture would occur on 6 September 1994. When it failed to occur he revised the date to 29 September and then 2 October of 1994, but eventually changed it to 2011. Isaac Newton predicted that Christ’s Millennium would begin in 2000 in his book Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John. Yisrayl Hawkins, pastor and overseer of The House of Yahweh, predicted in his February 2006 newsletter that a nuclear war would begin on 12 September 2006 (that one interests me b/c one of the young men I trained in Trinidad to be a preacher later converted to the House of Yahweh). Hal Lindsey ublished a book, The Late Great Planet Earth, suggesting Christ would return in the 1980s, probably no later than 1988. During and before 1999, there were widespread predictions of a Y2K computer bug that would crash many computers at midnight of 31 December 1999, causing malfunctions that would lead to major catastrophes worldwide, and that society would cease to function.

Things have changed since the 19th century when most in the U.S. believe the Bible to be the inerrant word of God. Now, only about half believe that the bible is the “inerrant” word of God, i.e. without errors, fully inspired by God. About 1/4 of the world population are Muslims and 7% are atheist or agnostic. Then there are the non Christian Jews (only 0.2% of the world population). There are about 16% that are “religiously unaffiliated” (not connected to any particular rellgion) made up of atheists, agnostics, and even believers in God who aren’t connected to a church (the “nones” in religious surveys). These groups do not believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God. So, when they read of a failed prediction of the 2nd coming, they tend to say that means that the Bible is full of failed prophecies, that it is written by fallible men who make false predictions. They say that the Bible is not reliable and cannot be trusted.

That leads us to the core of the full preterism eschatology. Jesus predicted his own return or 2nd coming only 4 times in the synoptics (Matthew 10:23; 16:27,28; 24:30-34; 26:64 and in the parallel passages in Mark and Luke). In all 4 predictions, Jesus predicted that he would return within the lifetime of the people he was speaking to. In Matthew 24 He predicted ²⁹ “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰ Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ³⁴ Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. The Greek word for “generation” is genea and always in the New Testament refers to a 40 year period or the people living in a 40 year period.

He even predicted: Matthew 16:²⁷ `For, the Son of Man is about to (the Greek word is mello which always in the New Testament means something about to happen although most translators incorrectly translate it “certain to happen”) come in the glory of his Father, with his messengers, and then he will reward each, according to his work. ²⁸ Verily I say to you, there are certain of those standing here who shall not taste of death till they may see the Son of Man coming in his reign.’ Jesus is not predicting, as some claim, his transfiguration which occurred after he made this prediction b/c the context is a coming in judgment and the transfiguration was not such a coming. It is a clear prediction of the 2nd coming within the lifetime of those he was speaking to and that some of the ones he was speaking to would still be alive to see his 2nd coming. There is no plausible way to avoid this interpretation of what Jesus was predicting. The Muslims, atheists, and non Christian Jews see this and conclude that Jesus was a false prophet. I mean, what do we conclude about all those failed predictions by men that I mentioned earlier? We conclude they were false prophets and we should not want to follow those false prophets in their varioius groups they started. Why would anyone follow Jesus and be a Christian if he was a false prophet? I wouldn’t.

BTW, there are no other predictions in the synoptics by Jesus of a return or coming back other than those 4 mentioned. I challenge someone to find a verse where he predicts a coming back that it not within the generation of those he was speaking to. Surely it would be there if this is a core teaching of Christianity for the past 2,000 years. BTW the apostles taught the same thing about the 2nd coming. James said the “coming of the Lord is at hand” (James 5:8). Peter said “the end of all things is at hand” (1 Peter 4:7). Paul taught that the 2nd coming was “already at work” as he was writing 2 Thessalonians 2. Paul said that “we (including the Christians he was writing to) shall not all sleep (be dead) but we shall all be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51) when the resurrection would happen and believers, dead or alive, would be given immortality. John said they were living in “the last hour” (1 John 2:18). God told John that the predictions in Revelation would “soon take place, the time is near” (Rev 1:1-3) and tied that to Rev 1:⁷ Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.” He repeated that in Rev 22:6 that the predictions “must soon take place” and added “behold, I am coming soon” (22:7). He added “the time is near” (22:10) and “surely I am coming soon” (22:20). Quotations from the ESV.

The predictions by Jesus and the apostles of an imminent 2nd coming within the lifetime of those they were speaking or writing to is obvious. If these predictions didn’t come true, then Jesus and the apostles were false prophets. One could say they were just “mistaken”, but if that was so then they are not inerrant and how could we trust any of the rest of the things they wrote?

But just as with the great disappointment, many Christians see this problem with those predictions but it doesn’t cause them to lose their faith in the Bible where those predictions are found. Even C.S.Lewis said that Jesus was wrong in his prediction of an imminent 2nd coming but he still chose to follow Jesus an Christianity. They come up with other possible interpretations of those predictions. Some say “yes, Jesus and the apostles predicted an imminent 2nd coming that would occur in their lifetime, but due to the Jewish rejection of Jesus He postponed or delayed that imminent 2nd coming”. The Hebrew letter refutes that idea. Hebrews 10:³⁷ For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay.” They try to make the word “soon” in Revelation 1 and 22 to mean “soon in God’s time frame, which could be thousands of years”. But John says “Rev 1:³ Blessed is the one who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things which are written in it; for the time is near.” It should be obvious that the reason the readers should keep the things written was that the time was soon or near in their lifeime. What if I told my students at school, “you better study hard on this new material b/c we are have a test on it soon”. I obiously mean “soon” in their time frame.

Such possible explanations of how Jesus and the apostles’ predictions did not come true might suffice most Christians and not cause them to lose their faith in Jesus or the apostles, but it would hinder my faith greatly. It also gives the atheists, skeptics, Muslims, and non Christian Jews plenty of arguments against Jesus and Christianity (which is the case in many of their writings). Instead, we are called to “always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). I, for one, am going to try to make a defense (apologia: Defense, Answer, Apology) on behalf of Jesus and God’s word. We get our word “apology” from that Greek word, but did not mean an apology for us being Christians. “ In the New Testament, “apologia” refers to a formal defense or justification of one’s beliefs, actions, or position. It is often used in the context of defending the Christian faith against accusations or misunderstandings. The term implies a reasoned argument or explanation, rather than a mere excuse.” Sometime it seems that Christians apologize for being Christians who claim that Jesus is the only way of salvation. For many, they seem to be apologizing for Jesus’ predictions of an imminent 2nd coming that didn’t come true, like “I know he said that but it didn’t really mean that or he didn’t really mean it like it sounds, but He is still the Savior”. I might say something radical that offends someone, and a friend of mine might try to apologize for what I said, “oh, he didn’t really mean that”.

Back to the 5 views of eschatology. The only view that fits the facts is the “full preterism” view. Again, this whole discussion might seem like a waste of time to some. “Interesting, but who cares. Eschatology doesn’t really matter”. But to some, a correct interpretation of Jesus and the apostles’ predictions of the 2nd coming might increase their faith in the Bible as the inerrant word of God. That in turn might increase their faith that the core message of salvation in Jesus is true. I had a friend recently tell me that this was indeed the case for her husband.

A correct understanding of all this should help us appreciate the church, which is the spiritual kingdom that Jesus said was “at hand” (Mark 1:15). He said ““My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” (John 18:36). He never came to establish an earthly kingdom, nor will he come back to establish one in our future. Believing that Jesus will return to set up an earthly, physical kingdom (like the OT kingdom of David) keeps many from: Eph 3:²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.” It puts an emphasis on possible future physical blessings instead of the spiritual blessings that we have right now in Jesus and in the church.

I hope this article is helpful to someone, or at least food for thought! Thanks for reading (i.e. if you made it reading it to the end!).