Okay, so far we've introduced the topic of eschatology, defined it, discussed the "already, but not yet" character of life after Jesus according to the Bible, and addressed one underemphasized theme on the topic of personal eschatology (see previous posts). Now we turn our attention to general eschatology, which addresses the question, "Where is world history going?"
So, let me be the first to tell you, "THE END OF ALL THINGS IS NEAR!!!" (1 Peter 4:7, ripped bleeding from its literary context)
Yes, the Bible does talk about the future, and we have good reason to believe that what it says about the future will genuinely come to pass. For starters, it's happened before - the Old Testament prophets foretold a great many events that came to pass, both in their own generations and in the person of Jesus. Jesus himself predicted the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, an event that came to pass 40 years after his ascension. So, when the Bible talks about things that it claims are yet to come, we have good reason to believe they're coming.
How should we respond to that truth? In my first post in the series, I talked about the two most common responses - ignore it or sensationalize it. Let's talk a little about the sensationalistic tendency. It's a very understandable response. A person comes to see the Bible as an authoritative book; like all of us, they have a natural human curiosity about the future; they learn that the Bible has something to say about the future that can be trusted; they try to figure out the future based on the Bible. This is where it gets tricky - the passages that talk about the future seem clear as mud to the average 21st-century reader; someone (maybe the person themselves, maybe someone else) suggests a way to interpret these passages that makes them fit together in an understandable picture; the person accepts this picture and uses it as a lens through which to interpret any and all biblical passages that might be talking about the future, so that the Bible makes sense in a way it didn't before. The person feels satisfied now. And depending on that interpretive method they have bought into, the person might start to interpret CNN in light of the picture they think the Bible gives us of the future. "THE END OF ALL THINGS IS NEAR!!!"
On the other hand, let's think of some different people. These people were the original audiences of the biblical texts - Isaiah, Daniel, Matthew, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Revelation, etc. These people keenly felt the brokenness of their world. Some were in exile from their homeland, while others were suffering persecution for their faith. They needed hope. Along comes a new message - from a prophet, from Jesus, or from a trusted leader in the global Christian community. This message says, "yes, times are hard. But God is in control! The future is his! He has promised that he will one day set all things right! Take courage!" The audience receives just what they needed - hope.
And that's the idea. In the Bible, apocalyptic books - books like Daniel and Revelation, wherein God reveals mysteries like the future - were not written to satisfy the curiosity of those of us with some time on our hands to "crack the code." They were written to give hope to people living in desperate circumstances. God has plans for an unprecedented redemption in the future, and you are a part of his plans. What you're going through now will not last forever. Therefore, our primary response to language about the future in the Bible should not be to stimulate our curiosity, but to dare to hope in the midst of life's crap.
Next post: read the signs.
