a Exploring New Testament Eschatology	3Back to Home

4 Navigation --------------- Homepage St. Matthew St. Matthew 2 St. Mark St. Luke St. Luke 2 St. John St. John 2 Acts of Apostles Acts of Apostles 2 --------------- The Letters --- Romans --- 1. Corinthias --- 2. Corinthias --- Galatians --- Ephesians --- Philippians --- Colossians --- 1. Thessalonians --- 2. Thessalonians --- 1. Timothy --- 2. Timothy --- Titus --- Philemon --- Hebrews --- James --- 1. Peter --- 2. Peter --- 1. John --- 2. John --- 3. John --- Jude --------------- The Apocalypse

Let us look at the New Testament terms that describe the "end." Our job is to see the realities to which the eschatological terms point, rather than stopping with the terms themselves. The Second Coming of Christ What is significant about the claim that Christ will "come again"? Just as the Creation stories say, "In the beginning God," so statements about the Second Coming affirm, "In the end Christ." History is encompassed before and after by God. God is the sovereign Lord of history. History, in other words, moves toward Christ, rather than away from Christ. It is in terms of him that our history is to be understood. The first coming of Christ is our present clue to what life is all about. The claim that he will "come again" promises that what we now know of him in part will be clarified in full. The Antichrist Certain New Testament books, Revelation in particular, speak of the Antichrist, the embodiment of all that is evil. The Antichrist is revealed at the "end," along with the true Christ. The figure of the Antichrist stands for the fact that evil will continue up to the very end. Before dismissing this as a fantastic bit of imagery, ask yourself if this is not an accurate description of our situation. The world does not, in fact, get "better and better." Each new historical advance brings a new peril. The greater the advance, the greater the peril. Today we stand on the brink of world community, but we also stand on the brink of world destruction. The things that make world community possible are the things that threaten world community. The airplane makes us all neighbors but it also makes it easier for us to kill our neighbors. Worldwide communication binds us closer together, but as a propaganda medium it can drive us apart. Atomic power can make poverty unnecessary, but it can also make us extinct. It is this kind of thing that the symbol of Antichrist makes, plain. Evil persists, right up to the end. The Last Judgment The notion of a time of taking stock, of a judgment, means that what happens in human life has lasting consequences. Right and wrong are significant and do make a difference, and some kind of accounting will be made concerning them. It is easy to get into trouble here. Some people think of the Last Judgment as similar to getting final report cards: Some people flunk . . . and go to hell. Some get C+ . . . and barely squeak into heaven. A few get summa cure laude . . . and become saints. This suggests (wrongly) that our relationship to God is based strictly on merit. A moment's thought will make it clear that on the basis of rewards-and-punishments nobody could claim the divine favor. ("If thou, O Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?") Salvation, or eternal life, is a gift -not something earned. "By grace ye are saved," is the indisputable keynote in this regard. The symbol of the Last Judgment stands beside that keynote as a reminder that we are responsible before God for what we do with our lives. Perhaps the fairest (and most terrifying) thing to say would be that we shall be seen by God as we truly are, with all our pretensions stripped away. This is a grim prospect at best. Peter got an inkling of it during the trial of Jesus. After his denial he saw Jesus once. Jesus looked at him -- and Peter couldn't return the look. He was judged, seen as he truly was, and a terrible experience it was. But there was an ultimate redemption even for Peter, as Jesus (after the resurrection) forgave him and restored him to fellowship. "But what about the Hottentots?" What, indeed, about those who are not saved? Or is everybody saved? There is certainly no "party line" answer here that satisfies all Christians. If the love of God is supreme, it is hard to believe that God would "give up" on a person who had refused to love him in return, but would keep trying, beyond this life, to win that person back to him. On the other hand, to say too easily that "everybody gets saved" is to suggest that moral distinctions really don't matter -- that Hitler is as close to God as Albert Schweitzer. We must allow people the moral right to say no to God on and on, if they choose. God cannot "force" people to love him or it is not true love, and part of the significance of human freedom is that it gives us this awful privilege of refusing love. We are dependent, no matter how good or bad we are, upon the mercy and love of God. We must not build fences around that love, or claim to know precisely how far it reaches out. Our job is to commit our lives to God, and spread his love to others, rather than passing judgment on the completeness or incompleteness of somebody else's commitment. God conquers death God gives us the power to conquer The Only Real "Answer" A Question You Can't Avoid Some Current Answers -- a Dime a Dozen The First Part of the Biblical Answer What Is the "Image of God"? Some Consequences The Second Part of the Biblical Answer What Sin Is Supplying Some Documentation What Sin Is Not Getting Straightened Out How Can I Be Changed? The Third Part of the Biblical Answer The First Step After the First Step The Heart of the Matter Not Once and for All Some Hints for Growing -- Tried and Tested A Final Warning Why Isn't "Individual Religion" Enough? The Case Against the Church -a Bagful of Objections When Did the Church Get Started? Just What Is a "Covenant"? The "New Covenant" Becomes a Possibility Those Words of Jesus to Peter Those "Upsetters of the World" A Rebuttal of the Case Against the Church Why the Church? Last Judgment? Second Coming? What Do They Mean? The Inescapability of Eschatology The Point of Biblical Eschatology: History Is Going Somewhere The Dangers of Literalism Exploring New Testament Eschatology The Kingdom of God A Few Bits of Help The Gift of God Schatology and "What I Do Today" What Happens When I Die? Sheol -- Where God Is Not Present The Community of the Resurrection Paul's Attempt to Describe the Christian Fact A "Spiritual Body" The Facts of the Case I Try to Live a Good Life. Why Isn't That Enough? The "Micah" Variation The "Worship and Action" Variation The "Therefore" Variation The Biblical faith that God is the Creator