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.