Eschatology

By James M. Rochford

Eschatology is the study of the “last things.” Because this is still in the future, Christians debate these topics vigorously. We hold to a premillennial view that is largely dispensational in its interpretation.

Articles on Eschatology

Abrahamic & Davidic Covenants Both the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants were unconditional and eternal contracts. This means that they are still in effect for today. Thus this subject is incredibly important when understanding our interpretation of eschatology.

Millennial Views At the heart of eschatology is our view of the millennium. Will literally Jesus reign on Earth for a thousand years, or is Jesus spiritually reigning from heaven or in the hearts of believers? Should we expect human history to get better with time, or worse? Does the millennium refer to a literal 1,000 year reign, or is this symbolic for the church age? Many questions confront the interpreter.

The Pretribulational Rapture In the end, it is relatively unimportant when the rapture will happen; it is more important that it will happen. However, from the evidence, it seems that the Bible teaches a pre-tribulation rapture.

A Critique of Preterism The preterite in English is the past tense. Therefore, Preterism is a view of the end of history that holds that these events have already occurred in the past.

Revelation

Bible Difficulties for Revelation This covers many of the difficult passages throughout the book of Revelation from a premillennial viewpoint.

Date of Revelation We date the book of Revelation some time during the reign of Emperor Domitian (AD 81-96). There are several reasons for this dating.

Different Schools of Interpreting Revelation There are four major schools of interpretation for the book of Revelation: (1) Futurist, (2) Historicist, (3) Preterist, and (4) Idealist.

Why did God make eschatology so confusing? Many people complain, “If God wanted to communicate about the end of human history, why didn’t he just give a clear, concise, and detailed account? Why do we have to appeal to hundreds of passages—scattered throughout the Bible?”

Doesn’t a futurist interpretation deny first-century readers any understanding or application? If John was writing a book about the end of human history, wouldn’t this neglect the needs of his original audience? Moreover, why would John write a book that could only be understood by a future generation—perhaps 2,000 years in the future—rather than a first-century audience?

Daniel

Daniel and the End of Human History In order to understand Daniel’s prophecy about the major empires of world history, we must compare Daniel’s prediction in chapters 2, 7, and 8. Daniel gives us three pictures of these world empires—all of which correlate with one another.