"Immanuel - God with us."

Eschatology – The Study of Last Things

During the turbulent 1960's and on to the late 1980's there was tremendous interest in eschatology, especially interest in the signs of return of Christ. The reason for this interest was the preaching and writings of those who believed that events of the 1940's through the 1960's were signs of the second coming of Christ.

In the late 1960's I heard a preacher predict that Christ would return no later than 1974.

Another preacher took a scattering of verses from both the Old and New Testaments, mixed in the return of Israel to their homeland in 1948, added the seven countries of the emerging Common Market in Europe, which, he predicted, would grow to a total of ten countries and form the feet ("ten toes" according to the preacher!) of the statue in Nebuchaddnezzar's dream. (Daniel 2:31-45) He threw in the growing "charismatic movement" (tongues and healings), which he claimed was the pouring out of God's Spirit in the last days. Then the preachers wrote a book that sold millions of copies and netted him a lot of money.

Needless to say, he was completely wrong. He was financially secure, but wrong. He is still in the predicting business today and people are still buying it! 

In 1987 another preacher wrote a book in which he predicted Jesus would come back during the three day celebration of the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) in September 1988. He said the probability of his being wrong was a million to one. His book sold 35 million copies.

Well he was wrong, but he quickly got another book out later that year explaining his mistake. He said he forgot there is no year "0", only 1 B.C. and A.D. 1 and that the Lord would come back in 1989. This book sold only a few thousand. Again, another prognosticator got a lot of money, but he was wrong.

In the early 1970's I talked to an 75 year old Christian man, who had seen a lot of life including both the First and Second World Wars, the Great Depression, the return of Israel to its homeland in 1948. I asked him what he thought about all the predictions of the return of Christ. He told me that preachers were making the same predictions he heard in 1917. Kaiser Wilhelm, of Germany, was identified as the antichrist and many were predicting that World War 1 was a definite sign that the end of time was near. They were wrong. So he did not put much stock in the predictions being made in the 1970's.

So far, everyone who predicted that the end of time will be very soon (that is, within a few months to five years) has been wrong. This demonstrates the difficulty of correctly reading and understanding the predictions of the end of time.

People seem to pay no attention to Jesus who said no one, except the Father in Heaven, knows when the end will be. But the predicting business is big business and many people want to believe, so they buy the books, attend the seminars, and give to the churches with the message of the imminent return of Christ.

You will not be getting any predictions from me. I believe that Jesus Christ will come again, maybe while you are reading these words. He said He would come again, and I believe Him. But I have no idea when that will be and Jesus said no one else knows either.

The many theories concerning the return of Christ are confusing because most interpreters take entire passages out of context. Their misinterpretations and presuppositions are so many that it is impossible in this small space to discuss them all. So let me take you to the passage on which many sincere believers focus.

Jesus said, in Matthew 24:37-39: "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man." ("Son of Man" is a title for Jesus.)

The message of those who are predicting that the end of time will come very soon seem to emphasis what appears to be a decline in the religious, ethical and moral conditions of this world (primarily the United States, which is too limited a view) and think the moral climate has not been this bad since the days of Noah, at least 4000 years ago. So, they say, the end must be near. At this point, a good history lesson is in order.

2000 years ago the apostle Paul himself believed the "the time is short". So he advised single Christians not to marry because "this world in its present form is passing away." (I Corinthians 7:29-31).

The Roman Empire from the First to the Fifth Centuries was extremely immoral, anti-Christian and absolutely brutal. One Roman emperor married his sister, made his horse his consul, and dined as he watched his soldiers murder the innocents. For 300 years the Roman government outlawed Christianity and many believers were tortured and murdered by the Romans.

The period of the Dark Ages (500-1500) was a time when the church itself abandoned the words of God and devised all sorts of religious tradition, the effects of which are still with us today. Many sincere believers have abandoned the New Testament Scriptures to this very day.

The Inquisitors of the medieval church, in obedience to Pope of Rome, actually invented machines to torture the reformers and other believers in order to extract confessions of heresy. Then the Inquisitors murdered their victims in unimaginable ways. Even translating the Scriptures into the languages of the common people was a crime the Roman church punished with death.

But note this: Even some of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation were cruel and vicious. No less that John Calvin, in Geneva Switzerland in the mid 1500's, murdered (executed) those who dared disagree with his rule over the city. Calvin decreed no dancing, no plays, no Sunday work, no celebration of Christmas, compulsory attendance church worship, and everyone in bed by 9:00 p.m. Calvin ordered the murder (execution) of over 50 people.

Moving forward in time, let me share this quote from "A History of the Christian Church" by Lars P. Qualben, page 440. Qualben is describing conditions in America just after the Revolutionary War in the late 1700's. "Infidelity and atheism became fashionable, especially among the American students and educated. Princeton had only two students who professed to be Christians in 1782. Bowdoin had one. The Yale College church had but five such in 1783. William and Mary College was hotbed of infidelity and skepticism. Among the middle and lower classes of the people an appalling religious and moral indifference prevailed. Atheistic literature circulated freely."

These conditions of 200 years ago sound a lot like conditions today.

Then there was the Civil War; slavery; the Wild West; the "Gay Nineties"; the "Roaring Twenties"; the "Holocaust" where at least 14 million people (that's right, beside the 6 million Jews, 8 million others) were murdered by the Nazis; the cannibalism of the Japanese in World War 2; the 30 million people murdered in the USSR by Stalin; the 40 million murdered in China by Mao Tse Zedong; "Free Love" and the culture of drug abuse in the 1960's; 2 million murdered in Cambodia in the 1970's; 1 million murdered in Rwanda; AIDS; the greed and lust and selfish pride which marks the 1990's to this present day.

We don't like to think about these things. But the moral and ethical conditions of this world have been a lot worse in the past than they are right now. Believe me, we have not reached the depths of depravity that many believe will be the sign of the end of time.
Perhaps the most quoted passage concerning the end of time is Matthew 24 (above) when, just the Monday before His crucifixion on Friday, Jesus answered the questions the Twelve disciples asked as they climbed the Mt. of Olives.

Notice I said "questions", plural. Jesus answered three questions, not just one about the Second Coming. The questions are: 1) When will the Temple be destroyed? 2) What will be the sign of your second coming? 3) What will be the sign of the end of this age?

Then beginning in Matthew 24:4 Jesus answered all three questions. And the difficulty every student of Scripture faces is to decide what parts of Jesus' answers apply to which question. And those who mix in passages from the Old Testament and other passages from the New Testament, which may or may not be relevant, make the confusion even worse.

One of the elements added to the versions of eschatology provided by many today is the "antichrist". The antichrist, according to many, is supposed to be a person who will be a world leader who opposes Christianity and who will actually make war on believers. One person I read said the antichrist was going to be the King of Spain who would become the leader of the United States of Europe. (Back to the "ten toes" of Daniel's statue!) Others say, "No, the antichrist is a name given to the leaders of the apostate church" (in other words, those who hold the office of Pope in the Catholic Church).

The problem all those who attempt to identify the "antichrist" have is this: without fail, they never quote the only verses in which the word "antichrist" is actually used in the Bible. I find this amazing. If they even read those verses that use the word "antichrist", they would have to abandon their speculations.

Here is one of four places (all in First and Second John) where the Bible uses the word "antichrist". "This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world." (1 John 4:2-3) (Underline and bold mine)

Enough said.

I'm afraid I have not given you much information about when Jesus is coming again. The reason is, I don't know. But one thing I do know, no one else knows when the Second Coming of Christ will be either. I'm just willing to admit it.

It appears to me that most of the preaching and teaching and writing about the Second Coming today is designed to either scare people into the Kingdom of God with thoughts that the end is near, or to take a lot of money out of the pockets of believers who buy the books and tapes and CD's and pay for "prophetic" seminars.

Think of the good that could be done with the millions of dollars given foolishly to the merchants of eschatology. If this money was donated to preaching of the gospel and to providing the basic necessities of life to the suffering millions people who go to bed thirsty, hungry and sick every night, a lot of people would come to know Christ as Savior and much pain and suffering could be eliminated.

I want to go back to Matthew 24 and quote the verse immediately before the passage cited above. Verse 36 says, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." Mark 13:32-33 adds these words. "Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come." That's enough for me. Jesus could come back before you read the rest of this chapter.

In Matthew 25:1-13 Jesus told a parable in which He emphasized the point that because no one knows when He will return, we must be ready. Jesus said, "Keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour." (Matthew 25:13)

Whenever I talk with someone about the Second Coming of Christ, who believes that there are signs of the end yet to be fulfilled, I always ask one question. "Do you believe Jesus could come back right now?" And without fail the answer is, "Yes." And they don't like my response to that answer, but here it is. "If you believe Jesus can come back right now, then all your interpretations of current events and predictions of the Second Coming are meaningless."

I close this discussion of eschatology with the prayer of John when Jesus told him, "Yes, I am coming soon." John replied, "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." (Revelation 22:20)