What is Biblical Eschatology?

Historically Informed

                Biblical eschatology is always grounded in the actions of God historically in the midst of and on behalf of his people as primarily revealed in his word.  Eschatology remembers and celebrates.  The vocabulary that we adopt and the hopes that we inhabit are informed by a God who cannot lie and has proven faithful to his word – in the story of Israel, in the story of the Christ, and in the ongoing story of the Church – local and universal.  Eschatology devoid of history becomes mere fantasy.  Historical eschatology, on the other hand, engages the human imagination as it is based upon the character and actions of a sovereign and loving Creator God.

Christ Centered

                Biblical eschatology must be centered on the truth that Jesus is Lord.  God has fully revealed His covenant loyalty in the resurrected, incarnate Word.  Biblical eschatology declares that He is risen, He is reigning, and He will return (soon and like a thief in the night) to complete his victory over every kind of evil and Satan himself.  Biblical eschatology cries out maranatha (1 Cor. 16:22) as both salvation and judgment are to be finally brought and completed by Christ.  Our hope is for his kingdom to be fully established.  Our hope anticipates his return.  And our hope remembers his resurrection as we now anticipate our own resurrection.  He is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Cor. 15:20).

Spirit Empowered

                The Spirit’s role in eschatology has long been undervalued.  The Spirit initiated these last days (Acts 2) and is the deposit (ἀρραβών) guaranteeing our inheritance (Eph. 1:13; 2 Cor. 1:22).  The Holy Spirit ministers to us not only through a ministry of regeneration and sanctification (also, it should be pointed out, an eschatological ministry) but also through a ministry of anticipation (Rom. 8:23) and ultimately, resurrection (Rom. 8:11).

Cosmological and Ecclesiastical in Scope

                Eschatology is personal in its effects and responsibilities, but eschatology is never merely individualistic.  Eschatology is corporate.  God called a people to himself in the Old Covenant and has now called to himself a people from every nation, tribe, people, and language (Rev. 7:9).  Biblical eschatology calls us into a corporate hope for the bride, the Church.  Similarly, no discussion of biblical eschatology can be complete without also acknowledging God’s plan to “make all things new” (Rev. 21:5).  Even the cosmos has a stake in eschatology and renewal (Rom. 8:21).

Politically Engaged

                Biblical eschatology declares a new kingdom and a new king.  Biblical eschatology is political but in a way that supersedes and judges the politics of this world (see Rev. 6:15-17).  Biblical eschatology declares the good news that “all authority in heaven and earth” has been given to the crucified and resurrected Christ.  Therefore, biblical eschatology is never nationalistic or racist or classist.  God may use the nations to bring about his judgment, but any human tendency to celebrate Empire should humbly remember the example of Babylon (Jer. 27:6 and then Jer. 50:13).

                Further, Christian eschatology declares a citizenship that is not of this world (Phil. 3:20), but this foreign citizenship should not lead to the easy path of either escapism or collaboration.  All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Christ.  So as Abraham before us, Christian eschatology acknowledges that we are currently living as strangers even as we anticipate the final promises of Christ.

Hope-filled

                Biblical eschatology is filled by hope through and through.  Biblical eschatology recognizes (and is not surprised by) the evil and oppressive forces still at work in this world (Matt. 13:24-30).  But there is also the declaration that the kingdom has been inaugurated and evil is currently under judgment (Rev. 20:2).  We live in hopeful expectation for our full adoption as children of God, fully embodied eternal life in His Glorious Presence, and a final and complete ending to suffering, evil, and oppression (see Rev. 6:10).  Biblical eschatology lives within the tension of the already but not yet, and so it is never naively optimistic nor hopelessly pessimistic.  Further, biblical eschatology resists the tendency towards existentialism – Christian or secular.  This will never be our best life now.  Who hopes for what he already has (Rom. 8:24-25)?

Faith-filled

                Biblical eschatology submits itself in faith to a sovereign God.  Biblical eschatology calls us to perseverance and trust (Heb. 10:35-39).  In these last days, we have been given the task of declaring the kingdom in word and deed.  We have not been given the task of calculating or planning on when the end will come (Acts 1:6-8).  We have also not been given the task of making the kingdom come by our own effort.  This does not mean that eschatology calls us to disengagement from the oppressive forces at work in this world.  Far from it!  Eschatology calls us to engage this world in faith that our deeds are a declaration of what God has, is, and certainly will do.

Love-filled

                Biblical eschatology includes the wrath of God being revealed (Rom. 2:5; Rev. 6:17).  Biblical eschatology provides both words of hope and also severe words of warning.  But biblical eschatology should never be used as a justification for hatred, violence, oppression, or callousness – as it has so often been used.  We may, with the saints in heaven, cry out for God’s vengeance (Rev. 6:10), but we may also long alongside of God for all to repent (2 Peter 3:9).  Eschatology calls us to live lives of bold and sacrificial love “making the most of every opportunity for the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16).  Eschatology requires of us love, compassion, and “one anotherness” as ones who have experienced and anticipate God’s salvation (Matt. 25:31-46).