- Jesus is coming back. We don't know when. He'll come in what is called the rapture.
- He'll set up a reign on earth for 1000 years. I was cloudy on the details.
- At some point, there will be a judgment.
- At the end, whenever that is, Christ will defeat Satan and throw him into Hell or the lake of fire.
- There's a tribulation (7 years?) in there somewhere.
Pastor John moderated a discussion entitled "An Evening of Eschatology", of the three main views of the millennium: Premillennium, Post-millennium, and Amillennium. It was very interesting and very spirited. They do a pretty good job of giving an overview of the three viewpoints.
Since I think I am leaning toward an Amillennial view of the millennium period and of eschatology, I sought out one of the experts in this area, Kim Riddlebarger. He is also one of the guys on my oft mentioned favorite podcast White Horse Inn. If you're interested in a more extensive explanation of Amillennialism, you can listen to Kim's lectures here. I finished the first one today at lunch and it was a great overview. One thing I appreciate about his argument is that he says all of us come to every argument with certain presuppositions. These need to be brought out in the open and tested.
Here is a helpful article by Pastor John with some definitions of important terms in these discussions.
A few main texts that are always talked about in these end times discussions are the following.
- A couple of places in Daniel
- Matthew 24
- 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 & 2 Thessalonians 1:5-2:12
- Revelation 20
3 comments:
I will admit, that I haven't put much thought into this. This issue feel too complex. Much more complex then, say, the Calvinist / Armenian debate.
Plus, at our church, it is not stressed very much and there are multiple viewpoints among the pastors.
I guess I'm apathetic. And I'm apathetic about being apathetic.
Since it's 6:30am you're probably not going to get much of a comment from me on this topic.
I did a Beth Moore study on the book of Daniel, half of which was eschatology focused. I still don't have an opinion. Frankly, I didn't understand a lot of it. It's hard stuff and I guess I'm ok with saying that. If it were easy, we'd all have an opinion...and we'd agree.
The biggest hang up for me was knowing how to decided my opinion. I like facts and I like to base my decisions on these facts. It seems that your theology in this case is based on an interpretation of the scriptures and I don't know where to land.
So, basically, I don't know.
Good for you for jumping into it. I hope you enjoy. Have you read the end times series by LeHay? :)
I don't know where I am with that whole issue, except to say that I'm sure Jesus is coming again, and I need to live in such a way that I won't be ashamed when He does.
I too have heard lots of sermons preached on the end times, most of which I found confusing, thus my lack of conviction about the time table.
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