The study of the last things

1 Cor. 15:24-26
Then the end will come, when he hands
over the kingdom to God the Father after
he has destroyed all dominion, authority
and power. For he must reign until he has
put all his enemies under his feet. The
last enemy to be destroyed is death.
NECESSITY OF APOCALYPTIC
ESCHATOLOGY
7 Reasons why the church needs Apocalyptic
Eschatology according to Richard Hays, author of
“Why do you stand looking up toward heaven?”
The church needs apocalyptic eschatology:
1. To carry Israel’s story forward
2. For interpreting the cross as a saving event for
the world
3. For the gospel’s political critique of pagan culture
4. To resist ecclesial complacency and triumphalism
5. In order to affirm the body
6. To ground its mission
7. To speak with integrity about suffering and death
BIBLICAL ESCHATOLOGY IN
HISTORICAL THOUGHT
1. Consistent Eschatology
Johannes Weiss and Albert Schweitzer

This model regarded Jesus as an apocalyptic seer

who proclaimed the imminent arrival of the kingdom
of God, within a matter of months, which would
bring about a dramatic change in the sociopolitical
affairs of Judea.

The climax of the end would be in the revelation of a

heavenly figure called the Son of Man, not Jesus,
another figure, a semi-divine being who would usher
in God’s kingdom.
2. Realized Eschatology
CH Dodds
He believed that Jesus taught the essential presence
of the kingdom of God. In this case, the kingdom of
God is “the manifest and effective assertion of divine
sovereignty against all the evil of the world,” and
Dodd maintained that “history had become the
vehicle for the eternal” (Dodd, The Parables of the
Kingdom, 35, 115).

Obviously there are texts that emphasize the

presence of the kingdom, such as “the kingdom of
God has come near” (Mark 1:15) and “the kingdom
of God is in your midst” (Luke 17:21).
3. Inaugurated or Proleptic Position
Joachim Jeremias, Oscar Cullman, EG Kummel, GE Ladd, GR
Beasley-MUrray

• This view, with many antecedents in the

church fathers and modern scholarship, sees
the kingdom of God as both a present reality
and a future expectation.
• Jesus was promoting an eschatology in the
process of realizing itself
 Christian eschatology does not speak of the
future as such…. Christian eschatology speaks
of Jesus Christ and his future…. Hence the
question whether all statements about the
future are grounded in the person and history
of Jesus Christ provides it with the touchstone
by which to distinguish the spirit of
eschatology from that of utopia
(Jurgen Moltmann, Theology of Hope, 17).
THE RETURN OF
JESUS CHRIST
 The Gospel of the Coming
Kingdom
The gospel narrates the story of Jesus as the mediator
of God’s kingdom.
The final chapter in redemptive history is the one
associated with the glorious return of Jesus Christ to
establish his kingdom fully and finally. That is why the
Nicene Creed affirms that: “He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will
have no end.” The return of Jesus is not a dispensable
part of the Christian faith; it was embedded into
Christian creeds because it is so intrinsic to what it
means to believe in God and to hope in Jesus.
 There is ample biblical witness to the reality and
nature of Jesus’ return. The Apocalypse of John
culminates in the return of Jesus to bring in a new
heaven and a new earth, which is described as a
wedding banquet .
• Although the gospel proclamation focuses on
Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, it also
includes a future element.
• The gospel announces how the appointed
Judge becomes our appointed Savior.
• The gospel declares a word about a future
judgment (Rom 2:16), and it offers a hope of
sharing in the glory of the Lord Jesus at his
return (2 Thess 2:14).
• The gospel presupposes that all humanity
will face the Lord Jesus at his return and
meet him either as Judge or as Savior.
 Biblical Witness
• “second coming” or “second advent”
In the NT, the second coming is described
with several words and phrases:
(1) Parousia means, literally, “presence
after absence” or “arrival. The parousia is
the royal visitation of Jesus to his people
as their King and Saviour.
 Biblical Witness
(2) Epiphaneia means “manifestation” or
“appearance.” It is used of the incarnation
(2 Tim 1:10) and of Christ’s return (2 Thess
2:8; 1 Tim 6:14; 2 Tim 4:1, 8; Titus 2:13).

(3) Apokalypsis is translatable as

“revelation” and “revealing” and signifies
the divine disclosure of Jesus on the last day
(1 Cor 1:7; 2 Thess 1:7; 1 Pet 1:7, 13; 4:13)
 Biblical Witness
(4) Finally, he hemera tou kuriou is “the
day of the Lord.” This phrase is taken up
from the OT (e.g., Amos 5:18, 20; Obad
15; Zeph 1:7, 14; Zech 12:4) and is linked
to Christ’s advent in several passages,
principally in the context of judgment (1
Cor 1:8; 5:5; 2 Cor 1:14; Phil 1:6, 10; 2:16;
1 Thess 5:2; 2 Thess 2:2)
Old Testament
• The book of Daniel looks ahead to the
universal and everlasting dominion of
God that encompasses the entire earth
(Dan 2:44; 6:26; 7:27), and other
passages foresee a specially designated
Ruler to reign over it (Gen 49:10; Ps
110:1–2; Isa 9:7).
• Refer to Daniel 7, 9, 12
New Testament
• Verses related to the parousia of the
Son of Man
(Matt 10:23; 16:27–28 [Mark 9:1/Luke
9:26]; Matt 24/Mark 13/Luke 21 [Luke
12:40; 17:22]; Matt 25:31; Luke 18:8;
Matt 26:64/Mark 14:62/Luke 21:27.
 “IN A NUTSHELL: THE RETURN OF
JESUS”
• As Millard Erickson writes: “Jesus’ return will be
personal and bodily, and thus perceivable and
unmistakable” (Acts 1:11).29
• His return will be accompanied with angels (1 Thess
3:13; Jude 14; cf. Zech 14:5).
• Reference to a trumpet at his return is symbolic for the
royal nature of the event (Isa 27:13; Joel 2:1; Zeph
1:14–16; Matt 24:31; 1 Cor 15:52; 1 Thess 4:16; Rev
11:15). The trumpets mark the arrival of the day of the
Lord and are a rallying sound for the gathering of
God’s people.
“IN A NUTSHELL: THE RETURN OF JESUS”
• Around the time of Jesus’ return “all Israel” will be
saved, meaning a large segment of ethnic or empirical
Israel (Rom 11:26).
• Jesus’ return will involve a resurrection of believers (1
Cor 15:20–23, 52; Phil 3:21; 1 Thess 4:14–17; Rev
20:4).
• At his return Jesus will judge and subjugate all of his
enemies (1 Cor 15:24–28; Rev 19:11–21).”
• Question: Why shouldn’t Christians
call the end of the world as the end
of the world, but instead call it the
end of a world?
 WAITING FOR JESUS’ RETURN
Salvation is past, present and … future. The
kingdom is now and … not yet.

Thus, the gospel of the kingdom orientates us

toward the future day when Christ fulfils the
work he began in his earthly life. That is why
believers are constantly exhorted to “wait for”
the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will
bring hope, glory, light, mercy, praise,
salvation, redemption, rescue, and
righteousness to believers in their fullest
sense (1 Cor 1:7; 4:5; Phil 3:20; 1 Thess 1:10;
Titus 2:13; Heb 9:28; “Jas 5:8; Jude 21; Rev
6:11).
Wedding Supper of the Lamb(Rev. 19:9)
Implications of the Second Coming:

1. EVANGELIZE
2. ENDURE
3. ENCOURAGE
Implications of the Second Coming:
1. EVANGELIZE
In view of the imminence of Jesus’
coming, believers are to set themselves
to the task of announcing the good
news that the Lord Jesus has died and
risen and will come again as judge. In
Jesus’ name, the church is to preach the
forgiveness of sins, and to declare that
the sufferings and injustices of this age
are set to end.
 “this gospel of the kingdom will be
preached in the whole world as a
testimony to all nations, and then the
end will come”
(Matthew 24:14)
Implications of the Second Coming:

2. ENDURE
• Parable of the sower (Luke 8:15).
• Paul’s exhortation to churches: to “endure”
their trials because they had assurance that
their God would vindicate them from
accusation and take them into his presence.
• To show “patient endurance,” and they do
so knowing that they have the Spirit, which
is a deposit “guaranteeing what is to come”
(2 Cor 1:6–22).
2. ENDURE
• “Therefore, among God’s churches we
boast about your perseverance and faith
in all the persecutions and trials you are
enduring. All this is evidence that God’s
judgment is right, and as a result you will
be counted worthy of the kingdom of God,
for which you are suffering” (2 Thess 1:4–
5).
• Endurance under intense duress—from
religious, social, and political pressures—is
paramount in Revelation (Rev 1:9). Twice
the Seer repeats the exhortation: “This
calls for patient endurance and
faithfulness on the part of God’s people”
(13:10; 14:12).
2. ENDURE
• hypomone - passively, a patient
fortitude, and actively, a
determined will for perseverance. In
addition, to be “steadfast” is both
God’s demand (Isa 26:3) and a gift
from God (1 Pet 5:10).
Implications of the Second Coming:
3. ENCOURAGE
• “Therefore encourage one another with these
words” (1 Thess 4:18).
• “And let us consider how we may spur one
another on toward love and good deeds, not
giving up meeting together, as some are in the
habit of doing, but encouraging one another—
and all the more as you see the Day
approaching” (Heb 10:24–25).
• Perhaps a fitting note to end on is some pastoral
words from 2 Clement 12.1:
“Let us expect, therefore, hour by hour, the
kingdom of God in love and righteousness, since
we know not the day of the appearing of God.”
• We are not to set a date for the parousia
since nobody knows when Jesus is returning.
Instead, we wait with evangelistic energy,
endurance, and encouragement.
• We are called to imitate the one whom we
anticipate, and we are to remain ever
watchful for the dawn that will one day
break upon us.
• Our deepest longings should be for intimate
and instant communion with the Triune God
for all eternity.
 Revelations 20:4-8
(The millennial reign of Christ on earth)
I saw thrones on which were seated those who
had been given authority to judge. And I saw the
souls of those who had been beheaded because of
their testimony about Jesus and because of the
word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or
its image and had not received its mark on their
foreheads or their hands. They came to life and
reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of
the dead did not come to life until the thousand
years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.
 Revelations 20:4-8
(The millennial reign of Christ on earth)
The second death has no power over them, but
they will be priests of God and of Christ and will
reign with him for a thousand years.
When the thousand years are over, Satan will be
released from his prison and will go out to deceive
the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog
and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In
number they are like the sand on the seashore.
The debate centres on these issues:
• (1) Should the thousand years be taken
literally or metaphorically?
• (2) What does the millennium actually
signify?
The options are postmillennialism,
amillennialism, and premillennialism.
 Postmillenial
• “post” - “after.”
• On this view, Christ will return after the millennium.
• Postmillennialists advocate that the kingdom of God
is presently being extended in the world through the
proclamation of the gospel and in the saving work of
the Holy Spirit. The world will eventually be
Christianised and experience a period of
unprecedented peace and righteousness called the
millennium. After that, Christ will return with the
general resurrection, final judgment, and
introduction of heaven and hell.
 Amillenial
• a in amillennial designates “no millennium.”
• It regards the millennium as a present reality with a
future consummation.
• On this view the church age is the millennium
because this is where and when Christ reigns over his
people as their Lord. Unlike the postmillennial
position, the millennium here is not a golden age that
transpires as the church age gets progressively better.
Instead, the church age is identical to the millennium
itself, and there is a period of persecution at the end
of the church age, usually called the tribulation;
thereafter Christ returns to bring in the eternal state
of a new heaven and a new earth.
 Premillenial
• Premillennialism proposes that Christ returns
before (pre) the millennium.
• 2 Varieties of premillennialism:
a) Dispensational premillennialism is typified by
a sharp Israel and church contrast and the
advocacy of a pretribulation rapture.
b) Historical or classical premillennialism holds
to continuity between Israel and the church
and believes in a posttribulation return of
Christ.
 THE TRIBULATION: THE RAGE OF
SATAN AGAINST THE CHURCH
• A shared tenet of Jewish and Christian
eschatologies is that before the final
consummation, things on earth will get
progressively worse rather than better for
the people of God, in a period known as
the “birth pangs of the Messiah”.
• This time of “tribulation” (thlipsis) is
characterized chiefly by persecution of the
faithful and apostasy by the faithless.
 Pretribulationism
Among the presuppositions of the
pretribulation (henceforth “pretrib”) position is
that Daniel 9:24–27 (esp. v. 27) provides a
future forecast of an unprecedented seven-year
tribulation that will precede the kingdom and
that the judgments that make up Revelation 6–
18 are future and chronological as opposed to
symbolic for what happens in church history.
 Pretribulationism
The idea behind the pretrib view is that Christ will
come at the beginning of the great tribulation and
remove the church from the world. It is a secret
coming, not all the way to earth, just far enough to
rapture the church up into the air to meet the Lord
(1 Thess 4:17). Then, after the tribulation, Christ
will come again, this time the whole way to earth
with the church and establish a millennial kingdom.
On top of that there will be three resurrections.
The first will be a resurrection of the departed
saints at the rapture before the tribulation, the
second at the end of the tribulation for believers
who died during the tribulation, and the third of
unbelievers at the end of the millennium for a final
judgment.
 Postribulationism
• The posttribulation view (henceforth
“posttrib”) is that the church will undergo the
great tribulation and afterward be resurrected
at the parousia.
• Most postrib advocates include Daniel 9:24-27
and Matthew 24/Mark 13 as supportive of
their view.
 Postribulationism
• The gist of the posttrib position is that the
church will go through a period of trial before
the second coming, which also precedes the
millennial reign of Christ on earth. There is a
resurrection concurrent with Jesus’ return and
another resurrection of the rest of humanity at
the end of the millennium. During the
tribulation, the unbelieving world experiences
God’s wrath in the form of natural and
supernatural disasters, while believers
experience the wrath of Satan, the Antichrist,
and the wicked against God’s people
 THE FINAL JUDGEMENT
• Jesus Christ is appointed as both Savior and Judge
(John 5:27; Acts 10:42; 17:31; Rom 2:16; 2 Tim 4:1).
• The gospel announces salvation and declares
judgment as it specifically warns of the grave
consequences for rejecting the gospel, much like
someone refusing the desperate plea to board a
lifeboat from a sinking ship (Rom 2:16; 10:16–21; 2
Thess 1:8; 1 Pet 4:17).
• The Apostles’ Creed summaries a New Testament
theme with its brief affirmation that Jesus “will
come again to judge the living and the dead.” The
whole world, the righteous and the unrighteous,
will stand before the judgment seat of Christ (Rom
14:10; 2 Cor 5:10).
 A. JUDGEMENT AS FACING GOD
WITHOUT THE CROSS
• The final judgment is an extension of the
judgment of God executed at the cross. It was
on the cross that God meted out his wrath,
displeasure, grief, and pain at the morass of
human evil.
• At the cross, Christ is judged in the place of
humanity. As Paul says, “God made him who
had no sin to be sin for us” (2 Cor 5:21)
• Yet those who bind themselves to Christ
in faith have no fear of the final
judgment.
• “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my
word and believes him who sent me has
eternal life and will not be judged but
has crossed over from death to life”
(John 5:24
 B. JUDGEMENT AND THE JUDGED
Who will be judged?

1. The unbelievers.
The secret “things of every human heart will
be exposed for all to see (Luke 8:17; Rom
2:16; 1 Cor 4:5).
 B. JUDGEMENT AND THE JUDGED
Who will be judged?

2. The believers
“For we will all stand before God’s judgment
seat” (Rom 14:10);
“For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us
may receive what is due us for the things
done while in the body, whether “good or
bad” (2 Cor 5:10)
 B. JUDGEMENT AND THE JUDGED
Who will be judged?

3. The angels
According to Peter, “God did not spare
angels when they sinned, but sent them to
hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be
held for judgment” (2 Pet 2:4).
 C. JUDGEMENT AS VICTORY OF
CHRIST
• Judgment is more than a distribution of
rewards and punishments.
• Judgment is the vindication of Christ “and
his people”
• judgment against the wicked is solace for
God’s people who go through tribulation,
or even through the tribulation, since they
will see God’s justice visibly executed in
their favor.
 D. JUDGEMENT AS RETRIBUTION
AND RESTORATION
• A common theme in recent theological work is
to stress God’s justice as restorative rather than
retributive.
• We do not have to choose between retributive
and restorative schemes of divine justice. The
righteousness that brings judgment also fills
the universe with God’s shalom. For “the fruit
of that righteousness will be peace; its effect
will be quietness and confidence forever” (Isa
32:17; cf. Ps 85:10; Isa 9:7; Heb 12:11).
 D. JUDGEMENT AS RETRIBUTION
AND RESTORATION
• There can be no reconciliation without
recompense; otherwise the disorder,
destruction, and decay of evil prevent
peace from lasting. The incarnation and the
cross achieve both: juridical judgment and
relational peace are wrought in the
atonement.
 E. JUDGEMENT AS THE TRIUMPH
OF GRACE
• Scripture is clear that in the end, light
triumphs over darkness, good over evil,
and holiness over corruption. What will
abide forever is not God’s wrath, but his
mercy: “You do not stay angry forever but
delight to show mercy” (Mic 7:18). God’s
mercies “never fail” because they are
rooted in his steadfast love (Lam 3:22)
 E. JUDGEMENT AS THE TRIUMPH
OF GRACE
• James the Just writes: “Mercy triumphs
over judgment” because “the Lord is full of
compassion and mercy” (Jas 2:13; 5:11).
When God’s judgment falls on rebellious
humanity, it reveals that at his essence God
is love rather than wrath. God will be all in
all, and all things will be united to him.
 F. JUDGEMENT AND THE GLORY
OF GOD
• God’s purpose is to glorify himself in his
rescuing love for others.
• God’s plan to achieve that purpose is to
unite creation to himself through the
Logos. The unity of that plan is the
covenant of grace, and the substance of
the covenant is worked out in the unfolding
narrative of redemptive history.
 G. JUDGEMENT AND THE GLORY
OF GOD
• “God wins” is the theme of Revelation. It is
not just that God wins, but we win with
him.
• God’s victory at the cross is put into effect
at the final judgment, and God’s people
reign with the Lord forever. Once the
wrongs have been righted, once sin is dealt
with, and once death dies, then comes the
new creation.