The End: The 2 Competing Models

The Bible speaks of the "end times." The fancy word for this is the eschaton. The study of the eschaton is called eschatology.

In the late 1800s, there was a developing eschatology called futurism. This method of understanding scriptures about "the end" developed some widely embraced scenarios for the return of Christ.

1. There will be a global apostasy and revival going on simultaneously.

2. The Jewish temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem.

3. The dead and alive in Christ will fly up to heaven in an event called the "rapture."

4. There will be a man who essentially assumes power as a global monarch, who opposes God and poses as the world's savior.

5. He will institute a financial system in which no one can buy or sell without his mark.

6. There will be a tribulation period of seven years that includes cosmic disturbances.

7. There will be the final war of history that will play out at the place called Har-Meggido in Israel.

8. God will send two prophets at that time to torment the earth.

9. Finally, Christ will appear in the clouds on a white horse with an army of resurrected saints to finish the job on earth.

This is a basic scenario that is argued among futurist believers and is constructed from a literal reading of the biblical text, particularly "apocalyptic" verses sprinkled throughout the Bible, but most evident in Daniel and Revelation.

In more recent times a method of interpretation has been under construction that is called preterism, which means it views the eschaton as a done deal, a past event. This method takes the same collection of scriptures and applies them to the first century world in which Judaism met its symbolic end with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD. At present, this construction looks something like this:

1. The Jewish religion experienced apostasy and the Christian religion surged.

2. The temple destroyed signalled the end of the Jewish age. There will be no new one constructed in the future.

3. The event called "rapture" (from the Greek, harpazo) occurred at that time when there was a spiritual resurrection occurring in the earth through the leavening of Christ. That is still ongoing and ascending.

4. The Antichrist (or "little horn" in Daniel) was fulfilled in Nero and his persecutions.

5. The mark of the beast is the imagery used to describe the Emperor worship of the time.

6. The 3 1/2 years of tribulation occurred at the time of Nero.

7. The war symbolized by Armageddon occurred at the time of Titus sacking Israel.

8. The two witnesses symbolize the two covenants, old and new.

9. Christ's "appearance" is the apocalypse or his revelation in the "saints" or the believing people that would follow in his stead.

The two scenarios are now the primary war that is being waged within the church over the meaning of the eschaton: did it already happen or is it still ahead of us? The resolution of this conflict is important since these ideas, particularly futurism, still influence the world even to the extent of American foreign policy.

The above futurist scenario is what is most suspect. Is it an accurate portrayal of what the Bible says will happen, or is it another imaginary myth that is popularly believed? And popular beliefs don't go away easily.

The real question, for me, is, What will replace it? What does the Bible really say about the future? Does it then give no clue? And are we then to expect there might be no actual physical return of Christ with a physical resurrection?

Does history just play itself out as a script acted by the ascending church until everything ultimately comes under Christ, or do we expect a kind of futurist convulsion in which God says, "Enough is enough," and initiates a quick and final end to things?

I don't see any air-tight conclusions to this conundrum yet. I wonder if there is truth in both scenarios; but the concept of "double-fulfillments" is hard to prove. I do see the possibility that the futurist concepts outlined above could go the way of the hula-hoop. However, the hula hoop is still around, just not as a market phenomenon. Old ideas are like oatmeal, they stick to your ribs.