Eschatology
From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science
Eschatology (Greek εσχατος or eschatos the last and λογος or logos a word) is the study of the last things that the Bible predicts will happen to the world and mankind.
Contents |
Does the world have an end?
Jesus Christ made repeated reference to a sorting-out of saved and lost people at "the end of the world." Moreover, most of the prophets whose writings survive today made some reference to prophecies that would not be fulfilled within the time frame of the Bible--including many that, many commentators suggest, remain unfulfilled to this day.
Different schools of thought
Eschatology is one of the most difficult and vexing questions for Christians today. At least three different disputes have surfaced over the centuries since the last words of the Bible were written. They concern:
- The laws, or economy, under which we live--and particularly the covenants that God made with various people. Does one covenant supersede another? Or does God have but one covenant, originally with national Israel but now with believers in Christ only?
- A thousand years of apparent perfect peace. Revelation 20:1-3 Will Jesus Christ return to earth, as He promised He would, before this millennium, or after it--or is the "thousand years of peace" metaphorical only?
- Certain prophecies that the author of Revelation and other prophets (including Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah, and Malachi) wrote down, that did not come to pass within the time frame of the Bible. Were they in fact fulfilled before the Bible was fully assembled? Or do these prophecies remain to be fulfilled, perhaps in our time, perhaps in a time even further in the future?
Relevancy
A full discourse on the various schools of eschatological thought is beyond the scope of this project. CreationWiki is about beginnings; this subject is about an ending. Nevertheless, at least two major Biblical figures, namely Moses and Elijah, are held by many to have a further role to play in human history--and the Bible remembers at least one secular leader--Nebuchadnezzar II--who had the privilege, or the burden, of receiving a vision of a future far beyond his time.
See Also
| |||||||||||||||||
