The Study of Eschatology: Are You Ready for What is Coming?

By Steve Regnault

The study of eschatology can be a daunting task, especially since the book of Revelation is one of the more difficult sections of the Bible to understand. As Steve Regnault makes clear in The Study of Eschatology, however, wrestling with the various approaches to end times theology doesn’t have to be an overwhelming chore. By compiling pertinent passages and examining them through the lenses of the major perspectives on the subject, he makes the analysis of this important doctrine accessible to all believers. User-friendly grading charts assist readers in evaluating their own eschatological viewpoint. Appropriate for personal or group study, The Study of Eschatology lends an enlightening voice to a critical conversation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Word Alive Press
• Release date: Dec 20, 2017
• ISBN: 9781486615230

Book preview

Bibliography

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Word Alive Press for the amazing opportunity and support they provided to me while helping me publish this book. I have greatly appreciated their expertise and professional courtesy. I also thank Sheri Hawkins for her help and advice when I needed it.

Introduction

Eschatology is a very complicated subject. Maybe God wanted to see how His children would treat each other when they had differing opinions, or maybe it’s just that the time of the end should be unknown. Various views exist on the topic of the end times, and as with other subjects, there are heated discussions about them. It’s a very important subject, but it’s sad to see some of the insults and attitudes that fly from one side of the argument to the other. It’s also amusing to see how both sides use similar arguments, such as We take the Bible literally, or We have history behind us.

Eschatology is not an issue that should come between Christians; it is not a foundational topic on which a person’s salvation depends. It is, however, an important topic that needs to be studied, because the Bible gives it much importance. As with other topics, it’s important to realize that godly men exist on all sides of the argument, so we should take all sides into consideration. Some perspectives are used more commonly by false teachers and false religions, and this must also be taken into consideration.

Although there are many different eschatological views, we cannot cover all of them. Not only is it difficult to understand all perspectives, but it’s not necessary. Many perspectives are closely related with only a few variations. We will look at two major theologies that encompass the other beliefs, represent two different perspectives, and give us an overall understanding of the important issues to be studied. They are preterism and futurism. I have chosen to describe the hyper-preterist view, as it is easy to understand where its adherents stand on all issues. The partial-preterist view is harder to nail down and much harder to compare.

The two main differences between the various teachings on eschatology concern the timing of the events described in the Bible. One perspective understands the book of Revelation and Matthew 24 as future events, while the other holds that these prophecies have already been fulfilled or are being fulfilled in our current age. Likewise, one perspective understands the millennium as symbolic and asserts that it has already begun, while the other understands it as a literal, future event.

It’s important to study these perspectives, because the church will have a different expectation of the future depending on which view it takes. The key question is not whether or not heaven or hell exist, or even if the second coming of Christ will occur, but if the church should expect a global revival and time of peace, or a time of great pain and distress … greater than the world has ever seen. If people know what to expect in the future, they can be prepared and live accordingly. I’m more interested in getting people to think and read about these things than I am in getting them to choose sides. Ideally, I hope that people become more certain about a particular view while at the same time coming to a better understanding of the opposite view.

What does the Bible say about the future of the church and this world? Should we expect a world-wide revival, or what some call victorious eschatology, or should we be prepared for great persecution and evil to come?

The Two Views

Representing all the different groups as being preterist is not accurate. Not only are we going to look at the preterist view, but we are going to examine the hyper-preterist view, which is not the most common. Various groups are lumped together in order to put them into a category that has a clear teaching on all eschatological subjects across the Bible. The historicists’ view, for instance, can be very different from the preterists’ view. The historicists have a wide range of understanding on almost all the topics covered in this book. Our goal will be to answer the following questions through the passages we will study in the Bible:

• Can the church expect a world-wide revival?

• Can the church expect the coming of the antichrist, who will bring in a world-wide religion?

• Can the church expect a growing time of peace on earth to come?

• Can the church expect a growing time of persecution to come?

• Should the church be on guard for a great deception to come?

• Should the church expect to have more influence in the world?

As you can see, the expectations of both sides are extremely different, so we should take much care in this study. The following is a list of the main issues that the various perspectives try to explain:

• a time of great distress (the tribulation period)

• the coming of an Antichrist

• the second coming of Christ

• the millennium (a time of peace and rule of Christ)

• the rapture (either seen as a separate event or the same as the second coming of Christ)

Eschatology doesn’t deal with the final judgement and the new heaven and the new earth; it’s more concerned with the events that happen here on earth before these two events occur.

A. The First Group Represented by the Preterists

• those who do not expect a literal tribulation to come

• those who do not expect the literal rule of the antichrist to come

• those who expect the church to grow in influence around the world

Preterism

The preterists believe that either all or most of the prophecies and predictions in the book of Revelation and in Matthew 24 took place in 70 AD at the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. They don’t believe in a future return of Christ, but instead assert that His physical reign is in heaven in the spiritual realm. The Christian goes up to Christ upon their death, but no rapture or second coming is to be expected in the future.

Historicism

Historicists believe that the events outlined in Revelation and Matthew 24 have been happening throughout the past 2,000 years. They hold that the prophecies don’t point to any specific event, but to several events throughout history. Eventually, there will be a second coming, but there will be no particular tribulation period or millennium. All the events in the book of Revelation reoccur throughout history and apply to all ages until the end comes.

Idealism

Idealists believe that the book of Revelation is not a book of historic events or of prophecy, but a resource for teaching about good and evil; therefore, we should not wait for these specific events to happen.

Post-millennialism

The post-millennialists do not believe in a tribulation time or in the rapture of the church. They believe that the church will gradually bring revival on earth, which will lead the world to Christ’s second coming and His judgement of the world. They believe that we are either already in a non-literal 1,000 years, or that the church will lead us into a time of 1,000 years of peace.

Amillennialism

The amillennialists believe much the same as the post-millennialists. They don’t believe in a literal 1,000-year reign of Christ on earth, but rather a reign in heaven spiritually and on earth through His church. The next event to come would be the second coming and judgement of all men, but this event will not come after a time of tribulation.

B. The Second Group Represented by Futurists

• those who expect a literal tribulation to come

• those who expect the literal rule of the Antichrist to come

• those who expect a literal physical rule of Christ on earth for 1,000 years

Futurism

The term futurist encompasses a variety of views. The futurist believes that many prophecies are yet to take place, as most of what is written in Revelation and in Matthew 24 is still to come. They believe that Christ will return to reign physically on earth once more.

Premillennialism

Premillennialists believe that there is a time of tribulation coming to earth followed by Christ’s second coming, when He will physically rule in Jerusalem for 1,000 years. In the end, there will be the time of judgement for all men. They believe in the rapture of the church before, during, or at the end of the time of the tribulation.

Both sides in this debate claim to take the Bible more literally than their opponents, or to be using the Bible better than the others. We must all decide in what way we should interpret the Bible. I want to be clear that I write on this issue from a pre-tribulational, pre-millennialist perspective. I hope to treat the subject fairly, but I will not hide the fact that I tend towards the futurist belief. We should all pray that God will guide us into the truth, and be willing to change if He leads us to. The way you think about the future—whether you believe there is a revival time coming or a period of persecution—will change the way you live.

I’m going to look at all the events Jesus predicts in Matthew 24 and in Revelation. I’ll describe the event and then determine if it has already occurred. The full-preterists teach that the Antichrist, the mark of the beast, the two prophets, the abomination that causes desolation, the tribulation, the second coming of Christ, and the millennium already took place in Jerusalem when the temple was destroyed in 70 AD. The futurists, on the other hand, teach that these events are still to come.

I want to avoid using outside sources to try to prove one point or another. I’d like the reader to look at the Bible’s descriptions of these events to determine whether or not they are symbolic or literal, and if they have already taken place. I will briefly outline the historical events cited by the preterists to argue that the prophecies have already been fulfilled.

One of the main arguments used by the preterists is that the book of Revelation was written before the events of 70 AD. Many scholars think that the book was written around 90 AD. If this is the case, the preterists’ argument will fall. I honestly don’t have the knowledge to judge such things, so I’ll stick to what the Bible teaches about the specific events. I would like to note, however, that if all the prophecies did happen in 70 AD, I personally would have expected the Apostle John to write another book before his death about all that had been fulfilled. It would be a great mystery to me if all those things took place during the lifetime of the apostles, and the Bible did not clearly teach us about them.

One of the main challenges we face when reading about this subject is distinguishing between what events should be expected physically and what events are symbolic of spiritual truths. Both sides argue that they take the Bible literally. They both agree that all language