Typically, eschatology is taught as the doctrine of end times, encompassing final things such as death, judgment, and humanity’s ultimate destiny. I had an unease with this subject and avoided it for a long time. In hindsight, I can think of reasons I did not care enough about it. First, I always had a visceral rejection of the idea of some Christians predicting when the world would end. It seems to me that even with a perfect understanding of everything the Bible says on the eschaton, we still would not be able to map out the future with precision. One reason is that if humans can figure out such things, so would devils and angels. But the Bible seems to suggest that God has not revealed such things to humans. It seems like the end will be just like the first advent:
1 Peter 1:10-12 ESV
[10] Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, [11] inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. [12] It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
Prophets before Jesus had much information about the gospel of Jesus. Isaiah wrote in fascinating detail about the suffering servant of the Lord who would rise after dying. Jeremiah, just after the last king of Judah was exiled to Babylon, spoke in cosmic terms that Yahweh would not fail to have an eternal king on David’s throne. Paul tells us that the gospel of Jesus was first preached to Abraham some two thousand years before the incarnation. Yet, all of these people could not figure out the “person or time” (1 Peter 1:11). I think this is instructive for the eschaton as well. I do not think we have all the data to map out a precise picture of the end. In any case, none of us has a perfect understanding of what the Bible says. We have enough data to live as we ought to.
As it turns out, almost in a roundabout manner, over 2,000 years of Christian theology may slowly be coming to this conclusion. Let me briefly explain what I mean. Much of Christian eschatology centers on the book of Revelation, a deeply fascinating and rich book that has tormented many believers over many generations. Revelation 20 uniquely introduces an idea that has generated considerable discussion: the millennium. At the surface level of reading, the text seems to say that Jesus will reign for 1000 years:
Revelation 20:2-3, 6 ESV
[2] And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, [3] and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
[6] Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
Jesus would usher in the millennium at his Second Coming. This period will be peaceful because the Devil will be incarcerated, effectively preventing him from causing chaos under the reign of Jesus. This reading all seems straightforward. In fact, this was how the early Church read the account for the first 300 years. Then the African Church Father, Saint Augustine of Hippo, poured cold water on it with a reasonable observation. His reasoning went somewhat like the following:
The world is currently a messy and often dangerous place. According to John the Revelator, the messy state of the world is influenced by the Devil. At some point in the future, Jesus appears and begins to rule righteously, righting all that is wrong in our world for 1,000 years. This is a very long time, but still finite. After this time is complete, the Devil will be released to wreak havoc on Christ’s government again. This does not seem to make much sense. Why not just wait for the Devil to complete his ruination and then clean up once and for all?
Even though he himself had read Revelation like everyone else before him, Augustine slowly began to entertain questions. What sealed the deal was his observation that John had not structured Revelation linearly as everyone assumed. The account John gives in Revelation is not a linear progression from A to Z. In fact, the battle described in Revelation 20:7-10 is the same one mentioned in 19:11-21 and also referenced in 16:14-16. In other words, John employs recapitulation in his writing. Revelation 20 is not a “final” battle distinct from the earlier references. Augustine also had other theological and pastoral reasons to reject the standard reading of his day. Ultimately, he concluded that the 1,000-year reign is symbolic, not literal. Furthermore, Augustine maintained that the 1000-year reign had already begun, identifying it with the age of the church.
And thus was born the various eschatological systems. The school of thought that holds that Jesus’s Second Coming will usher in the millennial reign is called premillennialism, and it has variants, as well. The new position Augustine defended is called amillennialism, and it too comes in different shapes and sizes. There is also another view, for completeness, I suppose, that posits Christ will return after the millennium and equates the millennium with a future golden age of gospel preaching and success. This is called postmillennialism. There is a lot to unpack within each school of thought, but that will have to wait for another day.
So, why am I writing about eschatology now? A simple realization from another area of learning alerted me to something critical. I have often written about the Hebraic division of time into two: the present age and the age to come. In Old Testament times, the age to come was a future concept to the people. But with the first advent, the “age to come” began. The resurrection of Jesus split the “age to come” itself into two. There is a now aspect and a not yet piece. These two “divisions” should not be understood as implying that the times do not mix. On the contrary, the opposite is the case. Indeed, according to Paul, we can be sure of the not-yet reality based on what we have in the now. The latter guarantees the former. So, Biblical eschatology is not merely about “end times” as though the end times were disconnected from the “now times.” A properly conceived Christian eschatology would focus on both the now and the not-yet.
