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Eschatology

Eschatology 101 – Overview

Eschatology is the study of the Last Days, also known as the End Times or Last Days. Eschatology revolves around the Day on which Jesus Christ returns to earth to gather up His people, and each view within the study of Last Days centers upon what is called the Millennium and when Christ’s Second Return, also known as the Day of the Lord, will happen in relation to the Millennium.

The Millennium is solely mentioned in Revelation 20 six (6) times as “a thousand years”. A single reading of the passage seems to provide one meaning, but the issue is not so simple.

The issue of the Millennium has to deal with the nature of the Millennium. In other words, the goal of Eschatology is to figure out the characteristics of the Millennium:

Is the Millennium centered around the nation of Israel?
Is the Millennium “physical” in characteristic?
Is the nature of the Millennium “spiritual” but nonetheless real?
Will the Millennium be characterized by peace and “Christian-ized” living?
Will things grow worse and worse as the Millennium progresses?

These, and other, questions need to be answered, hence the study of Eschatology is vital. Each view of the Millennium (listed below) is simply based upon presuppositions one holds about Scripture, Christ’s Kingdom, and the Promises and People of God. Yet, the discussion of Eschatology is not as easy as one would think.

  • Dispensational Premillennialism
    • Pretribulational
    • Hard distinction between Israel and the Church
    • Strictly literalistic reading of Scripture
    • Physical earthly reign of Christ
    • 1000 literal year millennium
  • Historic Premillennialism
    • Soft distinction between Israel and the Church
    • Semi-literalistic reading of Scripture
    • Physical earthly reign of Christ
    • 1000 literal year millennium
    • Posttribulational
  • Amillennialism
    • Posttribulational
    • PostMillennial
    • Sees Scripture expressing symbols of reality in Scripture
    • Spiritual reign of Christ in believers’ hearts
    • 1000 (indefinite) amount of time for the millennium
    • Allows for the inclusion of ethnic Israelites ala Romans 9-11
  • PostMillennialism
    • Posttribulational
    • 1000 (indefinite) amount of time for the millennium
    • Physical reign of Christ at the end of the millenium
    • Semi-literalistic reading of Scripture

We will continue this discussion in a future article.