Eschatology FAQ
by Justin Moser

An Introduction to Eschatology

Published on www.preteristsite.com with permission from Justin Moser. Original text: http://www.john15.net/pd4x.php?r=eschatology.

Of all the issues of doctrine in Christianity, probably one of the least understood, by both Christians and nonchristians, are what are labeled End Times prophecies. And because of the ignorance on this subject, many people become polarized towards one of three extreme positions: (1) that the world is ending tomorrow, and all sorts of crazy conspiracies are happening around us involving black helicopters and microchips embedded in our wrists; (2) that we should just not care, because there is too much madness surrounding this subject, and no one really knows what is going on, so just why worry so much about the future? Or, (3) in the case skeptics and doubting Christians, Jesus said to his disciples that his return was soon, and since 2000 plus years later doesn't quite qualify as being "soon," Jesus must have been mistaken. But if he was mistaken, how can we trust that he isn't mistaken about being the Christ, let alone God?

Now, I'm still new to the subject in general. For the longest time I've avoided coming to a conclusion on the subject of Biblical prophecy. I've only recently settled into a position, but I've decided to cover this subject despite these facts. Why? Because I see the insanity occurring as described above, and I can't stand by without doing something in hopes that, for at least a few I may influence, I can bring a sense of reason and hope. There is a lot of ignorance out there which can be given over to understanding even by what little wisdom I can provide. As well, there are views that are more moderate and reasonable than the above 3.

Thus, provided below are questions that commonly come up when discussing this subject of "end times" prophecy in the Bible, along with common answers.

So what does "eschatology" mean, anyways?

Eschatology is the field of theological study regarding the so called "end times" or apocalyptical prophecies. Common subjects that are covered are the Tribulation, Rapture, Millennium, the Second Coming of Christ, and the Resurrection.

Hmm okay... So what to all those big words mean?

Well, "apocalyptical" and "apocalypse" are somewhat ambiguous. In some sense they describe a time of great destruction, it could describe a time in between two ages where things drastically change, or it could simply mean a revelation of the future.

A "tribulation" is a time of trial or affliction; so The Tribulation is a time of trial and affliction on a massive scale.

"The Rapture" is a name used to denote a time when all living Christians will be whisked away to be with Jesus. A common passage used to support the Rapture doctrine is 1 Thessalonians 4:17: Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

"The Millennium" is a time described in the Book of Revelation as a thousand year period where, "the Kingdom of God is to flourish and prosper,"¹ and Satan will be bound so he cannot cause trouble.

"The Second Coming" is the specific point in time when Christ comes back.

Finally "The Resurrection" is the orthodox Christian doctrine that in the future, all the dead, both saved and condemned, will be raised in physical bodies. Many Christians believe in a toally spiritual afterlife, but this is actually a modern phenomenon, and it is the result of a general ignorance of what the Bible says.

Why should we care about eschatology?

Well, I can't give an objective answer. My opinion is that we Christians should be interested in eschatology primarily because the Bible is interested in eschatology. Jesus made a prediction of the future reported in 3 separate Gospel accounts (Matthew, Luke, and Mark). The Last book in the Bible is entirely devoted to one long revelation. And in several cases, we are told to take heed and listen to the propheCies.

There is an exception to this, but eschatology generally isn't essential to salvation. Nonbelievers may be better off avoiding eschatology unless you are interested in Christianity, and prophecy issues in the Bible are a significant road block to you putting faith in Christ. Also, newer Christians may be better off waiting to study eschatology until they have more Biblical knowledge. (Some individuals emphasize a strong Old Testament knowledgebase before jumping into this subject.)

What is the Olivet Discourse?

After leaving the Jewish Temple, Jesus and his disciples went to the Mount of Olives. Earlier as they were leaving, Jesus prophesied that the Temple would be utterly destroyed. When the disciples finally get the nerve to ask when this will occur, Jesus goes on a lengthy explanation of what will happen. This is called the Olivet Discourse, and is recorded in Mark 13, Matthew 24, and Luke 21.

The Discourse is particularly controversial because on one hand, it seems to describe what happened to the Temple in AD 70 (the Temple, as well as all of Jerusalem, was utterly destroyed), and Jesus says this generation (which he is speaking to) will not die off before it happens; but on the other hand it sounds like it is describing a tribulation that couldn't have happened yet.

What is the Book of Revelations?

It's called the Book of Revelation (singular, not plural). It is all just one big revelation, written down by John the Apostle. The first 3 chapters are addressed to each of 7 real churches that existed in the first century, but after that it transitions into what must take place after these things (Rev. 4:1). At that point the language gets pretty surreal, so there are probably as many interpretations as there are Christians. Nevertheless, it is important that we try to understand because it describes a time that eventually leads up to the Final Resurrection.

What are the seventy "weeks" in Daniel?

This might require more background than I intend to give here. Daniel is a an Old Testament prophet who gave several prophecies, which includes the infamous seventy weeks (Dan. 9:24-27). What is unusual is that someone figured out that if you take each week to represent 7 years, and you start counting years from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, Jesus started his ministry at the beginning of the 69th week (the prophecy mentions that this is when the Messiah was to come). Because of an apparent fulfillment of the 69 weeks prophecy here, many skeptics and nonchristian Jews have argued strongly against this interpretation. Examination of the critiques of the Christian interpretation of Daniel 9 is out of the scope of this document; what we are interested in here are the last 2 verses, 26-27.

"Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate." Daniel 9:26-27.

The eschatological debate, here, covers whether the events "last week" are still in the future, how we are to interpret this section, exactly, and who the "Prince who is to come" was/will be.

If there are so many interpretations, how can we know which one is true?

That is the million dollar question! I believe that the best possible interpretation is an interpretation that best takes into account the context of the given eschatological passage, seeks to understand the culture within which the prophecy was given, makes sense, takes scripture literally when it should be or not when it shouldn't, and understands the background of the Old Testament (believe it or not, a lot of eschatological passages in the New Testament are heavily embedded with imagery from the Old Testament). Ultimately, we must recognize that in some cases we may not find a certain answer, and in others we may even have to just say we don't have any possible answers. However, this does not detract from our responsibility to seek the best interpretation wherever possible.

What are some of the eschatological positions out there?

There are a few that I know of offhand. The ones I list here seem to be the most popular.

Dispensationalism is the name of the most popular view of eschatology in mainstream American Christianity. If you are familiar with the Left Behind series of books, you may have already been acquainted with a popular form of Dispensationalism. Technically, however, Dispensationalism is a broader theological position than just eschatology, as it covers topics in other forms of theology. The Dispensational view of eschatology is unique compared to other views, so it is often dealt with in its own category.

The basic gist of Dispensationalism is that over various lengths of time, God has had "His people," by which they were characterized by the unique duties or responsibilities which God "dispensed" to them.² A "dispensation" is often associated with a certain time. For instance, the time from when the OT Law was established to the time of Christ is often called the Dispensation of Law, while we Christians are in the Dispensation of Grace. The number of dispensations seems to very depending on which variation of Dispensationalism an individual subscribes to, but 7 or 8 total dispensations are common numbers. I've seen one presentation which had as many as 12 dispensations. Though they have been accused of denying salvation by grace before the "Church Age," most dispensationalists simply consider the required response to grace to be different. There are a few heretical extremists, but most dipsensationalists are orthodox in theology.

In terms of eschatology, dispensationalists interpret most of NT prophecy as being future, seeing it within the dispensational framework. Usually, Revelation is interpreted as describing the last dispensations and events that mark the transition between them.

Futurism is a generic term to denote any eschatological position which holds that the majority of eschatological prophecy is to still be fulfilled in the future. Dispensationalism is futuristic for example, though not all futurists are dispensationalists.

Historicism describes a view of eschatology which considers much of eschatological prophecy as describing events that are unfolding over all of the history of the last couple of millennia. For instance, they consider the Roman Catholic Papacy to be the "Antichrist," or the Beast in Revelation. "To put it another way, Historicism is the method of interpreting Biblical prophecy by comparing history to the prophecy in question. Historicists believe that prophecy is history pre-written."³

Preterism (also known as Partial Preterism or Orthodox Preterism) teaches many prophesies otherwise considered to be talking about "the end of the world" were actually fulfilled sometime in the past. This can include some of the Olivet Discourse or all of it, The Seventy Weeks, the Book of Revelation up to a point (usually up to the beginning of the "Millenium," Rev. 20:2), and other key passages. Now, obviously the end of the world didn't happen in the past (since, umm, we are here right now). Rather, Preterists interpret such passages to be fulfilled in the events leading up to and including the destruction of the Jewish Temple and Jerusalem in AD 70. This event essentially marks the end of the age of the Old Testament sacrificial system. Preterists believe that the Second Coming of Christ and the Resurrection are still yet to occur.

Pantelism (also known as Full Preterism, Hyper-Preterism, NeoHymenæanism, and unfortunately also just Preterism) holds that all Bible prophecy has been fulfilled in the past. In some ways, Pantelism is similar to Preterism, which leads to a lot of confusion-- this isn't helped at all by the fact that some Pantelists openly call themselves Preterists. However, Pantelists are considered heretical because they deny the future bodily Resurrection: a doctrine which is held universally by all orthodox Christian churches.

What are the different views on the Millennium?

There are three views which are most popular, premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism. None of these views are unique to one eschatological view above, as far as I'm aware (e.g. you can be a Postillennialist and either a Dispensationalist or a Preterist).

Premillennialism teaches that the Millennium is a literal thousand years, and the Second Coming will occur before it.

Postmillennialism holds that Second Coming will occur after the Millennium.

Amillennialism doesn't consider the Millennium to be a literal one thousand years. Usually, amillennialists believe the millennium symbolic of the time we currently live in.

Justin Moser - Last Update: 12/2/04

Notes and Citations:

1. Harvey, Van A. "Millennialism." A Handbook of Theological Terms. 150. Touchstone, New York, 1997.

2. ibid. "Dispensationalism." 71.

3. Haynes, J. L. "What is Futurism? What is Historicism?" Historicism.com. Nov. 16, 2004. <>

Eschatology FAQ by Justin Moser