The End is Near!! (right?) - Part Three

             Before we get started with sequencing the events that make up the total picture of the "last days" it will help us to try to give them some general definitions and list some of God’s purposes and plans behind these events.  These definitions are drawn from the Word using our chosen “Literal or Plain” hermeneutic.

There have been many before us who have spent their entire lives studying and sequencing these events.  Even so, there is tremendous disagreement between these people who have studied the same Word and drawn drastically different conclusions.  This is mostly due to their chosen hermeneutic.

THE RAPTURE

            The rapture is defined as the “catching up” of believers by Christ at the time of His return. The word came into use by way of the Latin rapio used to translate the Greek term of 1 Thessalonians 4:17, harpagesometha.

1 Thessalonians 4:17 (NIV)

After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

             Living believers are "caught up" to meet the Lord at His coming. Those of varying millennial views about end time events all hold firmly to the biblical truth of such a rapture. However, it is within the premillennial view that the teaching of the rapture finds major emphasis.

           

This view sees a tribulation period immediately before the second coming of Christ.

Pre-tribulationists see the rapture occurring prior to the tribulation. This approach places the church in heaven during the time of tribulation on earth.

           

Mid-tribulationists place the rapture at the mid-point of a seven-year tribulation period. The church remains on earth for the first half of the tribulation, but escapes the last half that is seen to be the time of intense or great tribulation. This view, along with the previous one, sees the second coming of Christ in two phases. The first phase will be a secret coming in clouds to rapture the church. The second will be His return with the church to reign on earth.

            Post-tribulationists hold the church will remain on earth during the tribulation period. While that time will be one of wrath upon the world system, the church will be protected from divine wrath although experiencing tribulation. This view avoids dividing the return of Christ into two phases

THE TRIBULATION

            Trouble or pressure of a general sort; in some passages a particular time of suffering associated with events of the end time. In this sense it is described as tribulation surpassing any trouble yet experienced in human history (Matt. 24:21).

Matthew 24:21 (NIV)

For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

Revelation 7:14 (V)

…. I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

           

        Reference to "the great tribulation" as Revelation 7:14 (NIV) refers to an end time period. Dispensational Pre-millennialism (MUCH MORE LATER) connects such a seven-year tribulation with the seventieth week of a prophetic framework taken from Daniel 9:24-27.

Daniel 9:24-27 (NIV)

“Seventy ‘sevens’ (weeks) are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish  (restrain) transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. (Most Holy Place, or most holy One)  “Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree (word) to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens’, (weeks) and sixty-two ‘sevens’ (weeks). It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.   After the sixty-two ‘sevens’, (weeks) the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing (or off and will have no one, or off, but not for himself). The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.  He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven’ (week). In the middle of the ‘seven’ (week) he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him (it). (additions mine)

            A distinction is sometimes made between the two halves of the seven years. The last half, often called the Great Tribulation, is measured variously as three and a half years (Dan. 9:27), forty-two months (Rev. 11:2; 13:5), 1,260 days (Rev. 11:3; 12:6), or "a time, and times, and half a time" (Rev. 12:14). Distinctive to this view is the teaching the church will be raptured at the beginning of the tribulation period.

THE SECOND COMING

            This is the biblical teaching on the return of Jesus to earth at the end of the Tribulation to establish His earthly Millennial Kingdom. In the latter portion of His ministry, Jesus told His followers that He would be leaving them but would return again to the earth. Jesus warned His followers that they should be prepared to welcome Him back

            Matthew 24 (NIV)

Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings.  “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; everyone will be thrown down.”

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.   For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.   You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.   Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.   All these are the beginning of birth pains.

 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.   At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.   Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’  spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—  then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.  Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house.  Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak.  How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!  Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.  For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.  If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.   At that time if anyone says to you, ‘look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.  For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible.  See, I have told you ahead of time.

 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.  For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.  “Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ 

 “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.  And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.  Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.

Jesus talks of His return placing it after the Tribulation.  Immediately after His Second Coming Jesus establishes his Millennial Rule on Earth.

            The differences between the Rapture and The Second Coming are clearer when we talk about timelines and sequencing and reasons that necessitate two separate events.  We will talk more about these things later.

THE MILLENNIUM

            A term not found in Scripture but taken from Latin to express the "thousand years" mentioned six times in Revelation 20:1-7.

Revelation 20:1-7 (NIV)

 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain.  He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.  He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison

            Dispensational Pre-millennialism takes the thousand years to be literal both as to fact and number. The millennium is seen to follow a seven-year tribulation period. At the beginning of the tribulation, the church will be taken out of the world. The rapture of the church is seen as the first phase of the second coming of Christ. During the millennium, Christ will reign on the earth with His saints while Satan is bound in the bottomless pit.   This rule is established suddenly through supernatural methods rather than gradually over a long period of time by means of the conversion of individuals.  The Jews will figure prominently in the future age because they will be converted in large numbers and will again have a prominent place in God's work.  Nature will have the curse removed from it, and even the desert will produce abundant crops.   Christ will restrain evil during the age by the use of authoritarian power.  Despite the ideal conditions of the golden age there is a final rebellion of wicked people against Christ and his saints.  This exposure of evil is crushed by God, the non-Christian dead are resurrected, the last judgment conducted, and the eternal states of heaven and hell established.

            Don’t let the different “ism’s” bother you.  We will hit them again later and then we will put them in their place.  Just try to remember the main events.

Till next time.

An after Saturday thought

   I am kind of disappointed this morning; disappointed that I am still on this earth after Saturday.  Disappointed, but not surprised, by the cynicism and derision that my fellow man is heaping upon sincere people who actually had the gall to act on their belief, misguided as it was.  Held out for particular ridicule was the gentleman who liquidated his 401k and purchased space on bill boards across the country proclaiming the end of the world and how it was not too late to repent. Was he doing this for himself? Carving out a little of the pie for him and his?  No.  He was concerned about people going to hell and genuinely interested in keeping them out of it. As Bugs would say, “what a maroon”.  All of this makes me want to pray for the people who did actually have something material or spiritual invested in Saturday’s final act.

Anybody who visited the web site and saw the math involved with the prediction, and understood the basic scriptures, knew that it was kind of far-fetched.  But one can still hope, and scripture clearly teaches that one should hope.

 Romans 8:22-25 (NIV)   We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.  Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.   For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?  But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NIV)Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.  We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.  According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.  Therefore encourage each other with these words.

So, are we to be looking for dates?  I don’t think so, Jesus clearly teaches us to be aware of the signs, but he never tells us to circle a date on the calendar.  Jesus, God as man, was certainly aware of our tendencies.  Why pay bills, why mow the lawn, why tune the car, why do anything except wait with our eyes on the clouds if we know the date that the Rapture (more on this in later lessons) is going to happen?  No, we were saved for a purpose.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV)  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.   For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

What could these works be?  They are you using your gifts in a body of local believers.  Being hospitable, being generous, being loving, and showing others Jesus in you.  If you are doing these things when Jesus does finally come, you are obeying scripture.  IN 2 Thessalonians Paul says:

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5 (NIV)   Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers,  not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come.  Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.  He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.   Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things?

Because of this supposed coming people had grown lax and lazy.

2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 (NIV)  In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.   For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you,  nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you.  We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow.   For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”

 We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies.   Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.  And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.

 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed.  Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

I swear we will get back to the lesson next time.

All quotes are from “The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.”

Time out.  I got asked whether I was going to discuss the difference between predictions and prophecy.  I hadn’t planned on it so I did what everyone does, I got on the web.  I love the web.  If it is written there it has to be true….right?  Anyway a lot of people have discussed this already and the following is one of them.  There is nothing wrong with looking at the web for information (pssst….it is what you are doing now), just check it against scripture, and if you are still not sure, talk it over with someone you trust, then check it against scripture, then if you still are not sure, learn it yourself, then check it with scripture.

“…humanity is completely misinformed of the meaning of Jesus Christ's message. Only authentic inspired prophecy can cure that lack at once, while prediction can do nothing.

1 - Authentic Prophecy is based upon eternal wisdom and the complete understanding of God's person, His principle, law and grace. Predictions are 50/50 suppositions of what could, or could not be so, a gamble with human lives in separation from God.

2 - Authentic Prophecy knows the beginning and the end simultaneously, for all is timelessly in existence now. Prediction relies on linear progression of 'time'.

3 - While predictions reside in the earthly realm, prophecy combines heaven and earth into paradise, or God's final intent.

4 - Predictions take what 'is' and shifts, shuffles and rearranges it for a different result in the future, while inspired prophecy knows the higher outcome and the ingredients for its achievement, regardless of what 'is' now.

5 - Predictions use current circumstances & trends that are based upon erroneous thinking, and without correcting fundamental mistakes, projects the same mistakes into the future, while prophecy focuses on the restoration of original perfection (glory), through divine shortcuts.

6 - While authentic prophecy knows of the possibility of perfection, prediction accepts its impossibility by assuming less than perfect results.

7 - No prediction is absolutely accurate, because it is not concisely based on biblical principle, while prophecy in its consistent insight into the Alpha to Omega Plot cannot fail at all.

8 - Nothing can hide from the true biblical prophet, for all is there, there are no secrets, and it just has to be laid open to him, or her, while the human making predictions deals with partial truths and obscurity leading to a misunderstanding of the whole picture..

9 - Authentic Prophecy is true at the moment it is being made, while the receiver of predictions has to wait and see 'if' the results turn up.

10 - Authentic Prophecy is available to all. However, in their 99.9% Apostasy, humans look exclusively at predictions.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/105751”

Also with Jesus coming on Saturday………..what you haven’t heard?

            http://www.ebiblefellowship.com/outreach/tracts/may21/

None of this will matter anyway.  But if we do happen to still be here, here is another couple of interesting links and documents.

            http://www.sciencecabinet.wikispaces.com/file/view/Failed+Predictions.doc

            http://www.religioustolerance.org/end_wrl10.htm

Back to the lesson next……

The End is Near!! (right?) Part Two

See Part One

For the last century or so, different overall eschatological perspectives have usually been classified according to their viewpoint regarding the Millennium. The Millennium (from the Latin mille, meaning "a thousand") refers to the 1,000 year reign of Christ and His saints described in Revelation 20:4-6.

Revelation 20:4-6 (NIV)

    I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.  Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

            Within the Christian community there are three different views of this time period.  Along with the three, each different view tends to have characteristics that define people who hold to it.  That is in order to believe one of these views; it as a matter of course, helps to define your own personal theology.  With each view we will list some of the characteristics.  It is also important to note that some of the lines that separate each view are smudged.

Pre-millennialism

Pre-millennialists hold that Jesus will return at the beginning or before ("pre-") establishment of His Millennial Kingdom on this earth. This return will be necessary because forces hostile to God will be governing the world, and Christ must conquer them before He can rule. Towards the end of the millennium, evil will again arise, and it will have to be defeated once more before God's cosmic rule is perfected.

 

Characteristics:

·         Believes in a literal interpretation of scripture and prophecy.

·         View is popular among Fundamentalists and Conservative Evangelicals. 

·         Teaches that only Jesus’ literal return can conquer evil.

·         Usually holds to some form of teaching called Dispensationalism.

Post-millennialism

Whereas Pre-millennialists hold that Jesus will return before the millennium, postmillennialists maintain that He will return after ("post-") an earthly kingdom is established. This means, however, that the millennium will be simultaneous with an era of ordinary human history. This viewpoint was first comprehensively articulated by Augustine (354-430 A.D.), who regarded the establishment of the church since about Constantine's time as the rule of Christ with His saints. Postmillennialism has often been the general perspective of Roman Catholic, Reformed, and other socially established churches. Postmillennialism serves as a label for any eschatology that expects religious and social activity to play a large role in establishing God's kingdom. They hold that history and society in general have been and will be brought increasingly under Christ's rule and that the kingdom's advance is closely related to that of certain social and religious forces.

                                                                 

Characteristics:

·         Generally consider prophesy about Jesus' return and the final resurrection symbolic.

·         Belief in man's inherent good and ability of the Church to overcome the evil of the world.

A-millennialism

By adding the prefix "a-" (meaning "not"), a-millennialists express their conviction that no historical period called the millennium does or will exist. In general sense, a-millennialism can refer to everyone who interprets all language about a final, earthly realm of peace in a spiritual manner. A-millennialism tends to be individualistic, concentrating on the heavenly destiny of each person rather than on the future of this earth. During the nineteenth century, however, "a-millennialism" was applied increasingly to a more specific eschatology. Like postmillennialists, these a-millennialists believed that Christ was already reigning with His saints. They argued that He was doing so, however, in heaven with departed Christians, and not through specific movements. Like pre-millennialists, these a-millennialists expected Jesus to return, to conquer His enemies and to rule over a transformed earth. His perfected rule, however, would be established immediately, and not preceded by an interim called the millennium.

Characteristics:

·         Completely spiritualizes prophecy about the millennium  and most end times events.

·         Mostly emphasizes the individual destiny rather than what finally happens to the earth.

A Very Short History Lesson

Until the fourth century, the early church was generally pre-millennial. This perspective, which placed the church in sharp conflict with the Roman Empire, declined rapidly after Constantine made Christianity the Empire's favored religion.

In subsequent centuries radical groups at odds with state-supported religion often held a pre-millennial view.

Those who hold the general expectation that Jesus will return before establishing an earthly millennium are called "historic pre-millennialists."

            Now that we have talked about all the nice little boxes that people fit into, let's get down to it regarding eschatology.  A lot of what we believe about the "last days" comes from our own personal theology.  The way that personal theology should be developed is by determining what "hermeneutic" you think is valid. Then using that hermeneutic, interpret Scripture, using etymology, and then systemize your personal theology.  Let’s add some definitions:

Hermeneutics - The art or science of interpretation.  This science furnishes the principles of interpretation.  The two big ones are literal (Grammatical/Historical), and theological (Allegorical and/or Spiritualization).  These are the two large camps, most everybody else's, are combinations of the two.

Etymology - Explanation of the origin and linguistic changes of a particular word; the derivation of a word; the branch of philology concerned with the origin and history of words.

            So ideally, you use a valid hermeneutic to interpret Scripture and draw your own conclusions.  This is still the best way to do it, but people usually decide what to believe by what makes sense to them, and then go in search of Scripture to validate or back it up.  Not good.

For the purposes of this study we are going to go with the Literal, Plain or Normal hermeneutic.     This is also called the principle of grammatical-historical interpretation, since the meaning of each word is determined by grammatical and historical considerations.  It is also called "normal" since the literal meaning of words is the normal approach to understanding in any language. I was told once that the "Bible says what it means unless it says something else".  That is, it means what it says unless the way in which the words, or the context in which it is used says something different.

Jonah 1:17 (NIV)

But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

            Notice there are no qualifiers around the "great fish", it was literally a great big honkin' fish.  Now compare that to:

Revelation 8:8 (NIV)

The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood,

            Notice the phrase “something like” or "like a" or "as it were", these phrases along with the context of the word ‘mountain’, allow us to determine that John isn't talking about an actual mountain being tossed into the sea, but that particular word was the closest word that John had to describe what he was seeing.

            So the system or the hermeneutic we are going to use to look at the Scriptures concerning the last events of human history will be literal.

            Also the events that we will be talking about follow a definite time line.  That is, in the Scripture, there is a definite order in which the way the last things will unfold.  Another thing that we will discover is, that the last things deal with distinctive and different people and even nations.

Revelation 10:11 (NIV)

 Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”

Revelation 6:9-10 (NIV)

  When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.  They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”

All quotations from: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

More to come

The End is Near!! (right?) pt. 1

The Bible says:

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NIV)
      Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.  We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.  According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.

Romans 11:25 (NIV)    I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.

2 Peter 3:10-16 (NIV)   But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

   Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.  But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.  Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.  He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

Jesus says:

Matthew 24:26-32 (NIV)    “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.  For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.   Immediately after the distress of those days, ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’  At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.  And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.  Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.  Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.  I tell you the truth; this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

    No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;  and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.   Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

  Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”

Quotes from The Holy Bible: New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Eschatology literally means last things. The Greek word is ἔσχατος [eschatos /es·khat·os/].  This is what the Apostles didn’t want us to be ignorant of.  This is what the Lord Jesus told us to keep watch for. So let’s not disappoint, let’s talk about this subject. (Actually let’s blog about it)

The most typical way to study “the last things” is to focus on those final events or situations that have not yet occurred. These are, mainly, the Rapture, the Tribulation, the Second Coming, the Millennium, the Last Judgment, the Final Resurrection, Eternity Future (Heaven, Hell, and what comes after.)

As an aside, over the last century scholars generally agree that the New Testament was written in an atmosphere pervaded by eschatology. Early Christianity was rooted in the paradoxical conviction that the last things had "already" occurred, even though they were "not yet" fully completed. (Jesus' resurrection, for instance, was understood as the beginning of the final resurrection of the dead.) This conviction lay at the heart of the early church's joy and hope. It shaped its understanding of Jesus, salvation, mission, and all else.

We, for the sake of this blog, are going to study eschatology as it relates to the study of events still future.  That means we will be event focused.  For our purposes we are going to consider secondary, the effects of how the "last things" which in reality have already partially happened, affect today's Christian in his everyday life.