Eschatology Efforts

Many Christians spend a lot of time studying eschatology or end-time teaching, but I suspect that most of this is a waste of time because it does not help them follow Jesus better or hear his Holy Spirit speaking more clearly.

I have studied eschatology because I am a teacher, but I cannot think of one time during the forty years that I have been serving Jesus in which I made a different decision, or better decision, based on eschatology teachings. On the other hand, I can think of many people who made awful decisions because they thought Jesus was coming soon, or were afraid of things they thought might happen.

Instead of worrying about scriptures that are not clear (they will be clear when their fulfilment comes), followers of Jesus should focus instead on obeying the passages that are clear and putting them into practice in their lives. They should concentrate on learning to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and obeying him.

In every season, Christians should focus on building relationships with a few other Christians and learning to serve and support each other. They should try to encourage and challenge each other, while practicing Jesus’ new commandment. It does not matter what kind of church they are in, if you trust them and they are willing to love you. With this kind of relationship, followers of Jesus will be safe, regardless of what happens in the world (and when Jesus returns).

Farewell to Mars (3)

Brian Zahnd gets stirred up about warmongering eschatology.

Isaiah, in his prophetic poems, frames the Messianic hope like this: A Prince of Peace will establish a new kind of government, a government characterized by ever-increasing peace. Weapons of war will be transformed into instruments of agriculture. At last the nations will find their way out of the darkness of endless war into the light of God’s enduring peace. This is Isaiah’s hope. Christians take Isaiah’s hope and make a daring claim: Jesus is that Prince of Peace. Jesus is the one who makes Isaiah’s dreams come true.

From the day of Pentecost to the present, this is what Christians have claimed. But then a doom-obsessed dispensationalist performs an eschatological sleight of hand and takes the hope away from us. On one hand, they admit that Jesus is the Prince of Peace who has come, but on the other hand, they say his peace is not for now … it’s only for when Jesus comes back again. Bait and switch. Yes, swords are to become plowshares … but not today. For now plowshares become swords; in our day, it’s war, war, war!

They abuse Jesus’s prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem in the first century by always applying it to the latest contemporary geopolitical events. They replace the hope of peace with an anticipation of war! They find a way to make war a hopeful sign. Think about that for a moment! And here is the worst irony: It was precisely because Jerusalem failed to recognize Jesus as Isaiah’s Prince of Peace right there and then that they rushed headlong into the war that ended with their own destruction!

End-time prophecy experts keep trying to force the same mistake on us in our day. We should refuse. I am a conscientious objector to the doom-obsessed, hyperviolent, war-must-come, pillage-the-Bible-for-the-worst-we-can-find eschatology of Hal Lindsey and his tribe. We must reject that kind of warmongering misinterpretation of Scripture.Zahnd, Brian (2014-06-01). A Farewell to Mars: An Evangelical Pastor's Journey Toward the Biblical Gospel of Peace (Kindle Locations 1895-1908). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.

I present an eschatology that is more consistent with the gospel of peace in Times and Seasons. I may not have got it totally right, but do not know of anyone else who has even attempted to do this.

Antithesis 14 - Change

Jesus return cannot achieve anything spiritual that would break the forces of evil. Seeing Jesus will not be enough to cause the people of the world to repent and obey him. Many people saw Jesus when he lived on earth, but continued to reject him.

Antithesis 13 - Failure

Most Christians believe that the Holy Spirit is a failure, and that Jesus will have to return to do the job that the Holy Spirit could not get done.

Antithesis 12 - Beast

The Beast of Revelation is not a person. It is a nation that dominates the world, just as Rome, Greece, Persia, Babylon, Egypt and Assyria did in the past. Giving the name “Antichrist” to the Beast of Revelation and Daniel has no basis in the scriptures. Their beasts are nations that dominate huge empires. Renaming the Beast turns a nation into a person, which is misleading and wrong.

Antithesis 11 - Antichrist

The Antichrist is not a future ruler of the world sets himself up to rule the world from a throne in the temple in Jerusalem. The word antichrist is only used four times in the whole Bible, and each time in the letters of John. He writes that many antichrists have already come and explains that the title refers to any person who spreads false belief about Jesus.

Antithesis 10 - Tribulation

The Tribulation is not the next big event. The world still has to go through a Season of Distress, but the "greatest tribulation" occurred, when Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed by the Roman armies in AD 70. Jesus said that the desolation would be unequalled ever (Matt 24:20-22). On the other hand, tribulation is actually a normal part of the Christian life (John 16:33, Acts 14:22).

Antithesis 9 -Seventy Weeks

The last of the Seventy Weeks of Daniel came after the 69th week as would be expected, which means that the prophecy was totally fulfilled between the birth of Jesus and the destruction of Jerusalem. We do not need to insert a huge unbiblical gap to twist this passage into giving Satan authority for a seven-year tribulation (ditto for the Abomination of Desolation).

Antithesis 8 - Binding Satan

The Binding of Satan is not a future event, because he was destroyed by the cross. The reason Satan still seems to be so active is that the church has failed to realise the full extent of what Christ has achieved. The church has the police power to enforce Jesus judicial victory over Satan, so he will continue to act up until the church forces him to recognise the sentence that was passed against him. He will not be bound in some future event, but when the church begins using the authority that Jesus has given us.

Antithesis 7 - No Millenium

The Millennium is not a future event. This number 1000 is used to indicate that God’s people are to reign throughout the present age, from Pentecost to the Parousia. The use of such a large number also indicates that this age will go on for a long time.

Antithesis 6 - Return to Rescue

The doctrine that Jesus will return to establish the Kingdom is Satan’s best lie. He has used this lie to cripple the church, by fooling us into believing that the church will not come during this season. He has fooled us into believing that we can sit back and wait, because Jesus will come and so it for us. Unfortunately, that is a false hope.

Antithesis 5 - Rapture Rescue

Looking for a Rapture has made Christians escapist.

Antithesis 4 - Last Days

The Last Days are finished. Most Christian find this hard to accept, because they confuse the last days (plural) of the Jewish nation with the last day (singular) when Jesus will return. The last days refer to the period of time between the ministry of Jesus and the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

The claim that we are in the last days is really quite arrogant, when coming from a church that is so flabby. Those who think that the modern church is going to complete everything that God has planned for the church in this age have a fairly truncated understanding of what he plans to do.

Antithesis 3 - Revelation

The Book of Revelation is not a description of the lead up to the second coming. It describes the removal of the last two obstacles to the Kingdom: the calling of the Jews and the collapse of human government.

Antithesis 2 - Earthquakes and Wars

Jesus Big Prophecy does not give signs of the second coming. Earthquakes and wars are not a sign of the second coming. Matt 24:1-35, Mark 13:1-31, Luke 21:5-36 describe events leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem. These events have already taken place. Jesus was answering the disciples question about when the temple would be smashed. When Jesus goes onto the second question about signs of his parousia, he states clearly that there will be no signs.

Antithesis 1

Jesus will not return as soon as Christians expect. The stream of teaching that spreads this view has been wrong over and over again for more than 200 years. The almost universal belief that second coming is close at hand makes Christians pessimistic about the Kingdom of God.

Those who predict the second coming have a strong track record of being wrong. Christians in nearly every age have believed that they were living in the last days and that the second coming was near (eg Martin Luther). Subsequent history has always proved them wrong. Even in our own time, the end-time prophets have constantly postponed their timetables. I can remember when Jesus was expected to come in 1988, a generation after the establishment of Israel. That prediction seems foolish now, as do many of their Y2K prognostications.

Five Questions

Who is best equipped to bring in the Kingdom of God?

a. Jesus
b. The Holy Spirit

How long will the Kingdom of God last?

a. Thousand Years
b. Thousand Generations

What is Israel’s role in the Kingdom?

a. The centre from which Jesus rules the Kingdom
b. An obstacle to the Kingdom until the Holy Spirit opens their eyes.

Jesus report card?

a. Jesus must return and finish a half done job.
b. Jesus has finished his work

How will the world come to salvation?

a. Seeing Jesus when he returns
b. The Holy Spirit drawing people to Jesus.

The answer to all questions is b.

Thesis 25 - Last One

When Jesus returns at the consumption of all things, he will receive the kingdom that has been prepared for him by his church and the Holy Spirit(1 Cor 15:25). He will hand it over to Father, who will be all in all (1 Cor 15:24).

Thesis 24

God is not stingy. He will not be satisfied with getting a couple of billion people into heaven. It would be an insult to his grace. God’s mercy and the enormous sacrifice of Jesus deserve a hundred billion people in heaven.

To get hundreds of billions of people into the kingdom, life on earth will have to go on for a good many more generations yet. God promised at least five times that he is faithful to a thousand generation (Deut 7:9, 1 Chron 16:15, Ps 105:8). Some numbers in scriptures are used figuratively, but if any number deserves to be taken literally, surely it is this one. For God is to keep this promise covenant, a thousand generations of people would have to live on earth subsequent to his promise.

A new generation is born on earth about every twenty years, so we have had about 500 generations since the time of Abraham. This means that we could have another 500 generations on earth, or 10,000 years, to fulfil God’s promise. That would be just about right to get the full number of people that God wants into the kingdom.

Thesis 23

The kingdom of God is a voluntary kingdom that is totally different from the kingdoms of the world. Coercion and force have no place in it (Matt 26:53). Jesus established the Kingdom by submitting to the political powers and freely dying on the cross, a totally different way of doing kingdom. His Kingdom will not be established by military power and political coercion, but by suffering and service. everyone who wants to be part of it should understand this truth.

Jesus rules in a totally different way from other kings. No threats! No shouting! No Fear! No detailed regulations! No coercion! No force! No security services seeking out opposition! No torture for opponents of the Kingdom. Jesus whispers in our ears through the voice of the Spirit. He does not force us to do things that we hate to do, so obeying his voice is freedom and joy. Jesus Kingdom comes when most people in earth obey that voice, because they love Jesus.