What is your view of eschatology?"
This question must have been sparked by my sermons on the second coming of Christl. By the way, in case you didn’t recognize that word “eschatology,” it means the study of last things, including the return of Christ, final judgment, resurrection of the body, heaven and hell, and so on.
Let it be said that no matter what he or she says, NO ONE has all these matters figured out perfectly. The Bible simply does not tell us everything we’d like to know about the future. Nevertheless, the careful student can, by comparing Scripture with Scripture, consulting good books and commentaries, and relying on the help of the Holy Spirit, draw sensible conclusions about eschatology. A few years ago I did a pretty thorough study of the Book of Revelation, and found it to be encouraging, stimulating, and exciting, not the puzzling book I had always thought it to be.
It is helpful to categorize the different eschatological views as follows:
Premillennialists believe that when Jesus Christ returns (and following the Great Tribulation), He will set up a visible, earthly kingdom that will last for 1,000 years, and that He Himself will reign from a throne in Jerusalem over an earth composed of Christians and non-Christians. After that millennium will come the final judgment and eternal state. (There are variations of this view depending on whether or not one is of a dispensational persuasion.)
Amillennialists do not look for an earthly millennium. Instead, they hold that Christ is reigning now, at the right hand of God. Good and evil will continue pretty much as they are now until Christ returns, at which time there will be a general resurrection of all the dead, followed by the final judgment.
Postmillennialists also do not expect an earthly millennial reign of Christ here on the earth. Like amillennialists, they believe Christ is reigning now in heaven, in fulfillment of promises in Scripture about the resurrection and about the kingdom of God; and that when Christ returns there will be a general resurrection of the dead and a final judgment. But unlike amillennialists, postmillennialists believe that the rule of Christ will broaden and expand throughout the earth over time, until “the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth” (Numbers 14:21). Some think this will result in a “golden age” lasting approximately 1,000 years, while other postmillennialists see the entire span of time between the resurrection and return of Christ as the millennium.
All three of these camps consist of people solidly committed to the Bible and the gospel of Christ. They agree on the essentials of the faith. Matters of eschatology, while important, are not among the essentials that determine whether or not a person is going to heaven.
If you want to put me into one of the above three categories, peg me as a postmillennialist. From my study of Scripture and of what other “post-mils” have said (Jonathan Edwards and R. C. Sproul among them), I have been persuaded that the resurrection and ascension of Christ, as well as the power of the gospel, guarantee the gradual decrease of the kingdom of Satan and the increase of the kingdom of God. I realize that we are living in dark times here in America. But the Bible says that Christ “must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25). I believe that a good case can be built for Biblical optimism about the future of the world. The promise God made to Abraham to bless all the nations through him is still in effect, and all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Christ for the discipleship of all the nations.
I also believe that much if not most of the Book of Revelation concerns events that took place in the first century A.D. But that’s another subject altogether!