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If Christianity be not altogether thoroughgoing eschatology, there remains in it no relationship whatever with Christ (Karl Barth, Epistle to the Romans, 6th ed., 314).
Prophecies with comprehensive future reference will have manifold fulfillment (Robert Duncan Culver, Systematic Theology, 1012).
It is not surprising therefore that chiliasm (belief in the thousand-year reign) was widely spread, if not universal, in the first three centuries (Robert Duncan Culver, Systematic Theology, 1139).
It is a day [“the day of the Lord”] in which God interposes decisively to plead His own cause; all the enemies of His Kingdom, within and without, are destroyed; and after that destruction the Kingdom is established in peace and perpetuity (James Denny, Studies in Theology, 230).
There is every reason to believe that the predictions concerning the second advent of Christ, and the events which are to attend and follow it, will disappoint the expectations of commentators, as the expectations of the Jews were disappointed in the manner in which the prophecies concerning the first advent were accomplished (C. Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, 844).
Two things are remarkable about the prophecies of Scripture, which have already been accomplished. The one is that the fulfillment has, in many cases, been very different from that which a literal interpretation led men to anticipate. The other is, that in some cases they have been fulfilled even to the most minute details. These facts should render us modest in our interpretation of those predictions which remain to be accomplished; satisfied that what we know not now we shall know hereafter (C. Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, 850-1).
The Christian belief in the last judgment, like every other doctrine of the Christian faith is founded solely upon revelation. Jesus Christ is the revelation of the Holy God, of the God who wills His purposes unconditionally, and hence, with the ultimate realization of His will, terminates the state of affairs in which obedience and opposition to Him mingle confusedly (Brunner, Eternal Hope, 175).
In Jesus Christ, the Revealer and Mediator of reconciliation, the initiating word of creation and the promising word of consummation are heard, harmonized in a unity (Brunner, Eternal Hope, 190).
Consummation is the perfect present of God (Brunner, Eternal Hope, 204).
The hope which springs from faith is so much a part of the life of faith that one must say: the future, for which it hopes, is the present in which the believer lives (Brunner, Eternal Hope, 30)
Hell is a condition of loss. It’s not a place. “Hell” and “Heaven” are both experienced as the presence of God: the merciful experience joy, the merciless sorrow (Frank Schaeffer, Patience with God, 223).
The idea that the present age will gradually develop into the age of the kingdom of glory is also anti-Scriptural. The Word of God teaches very plainly that the end of this world shall be the scene of tremendous catastrophes (Herman Hoeksema, Reformed Dogmatics, 817).
In the description of the great day, contained in the book of Revelation, it is said, that the Judge will be seated on a great white throne, and that the books will be opened; and that another book will be opened, which is the book of life: and the dead will be judged out of the things which are written according to their works. The representation is doubtless figurative, but we may learn from it that the decisions will be made in perfect justice; and that the acquittal of the righteous will be an act of grace (J. L. Dagg, Manual of Theology, 355-6).
The judgment of God is represented to us in the Bible, even by Jesus Himself, and by Him with particular force and vividness, under the figure of a court of judgment and an actual visible separation. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. The figurative character of this expression is obvious; nothing further is needed but that the divine light should pierce man’s being so that what is hidden—like the internal parts of the body under X-rays—becomes visible. This again is a metaphor implying the full disclosure of what has hitherto been concealed. “It come to light”—that is the essence of judgment. It is revealed—not for God: for how could anything have ever been concealed from Him?—but for ourselves. We shall stand naked and exposed, according to the truth of our being, with no concealing raiment. No dossier, no protocol will be needed. It does no harm if we visualize judgment as an action, but this figurative conception is not essential: the sole decisive thing is the fact of manifestation (Brunner, Eternal Hope, 176-7).
Obviously, if the eschatological ideas are so deeply pervasive of the New Testament, there can be no adequate interpretation that fails to take due note of them. But how can we make sense of such ideas today? We cannot take them as they stand, for they are tied up with a mythological mentality that we do not and indeed cannot share (John Macquarrie, Principles of Christian Theology, 314).
Heaven is not a reward that gets added on to the life of faith, hope, and love, but it is simply the end of that life, that is to say, the working out of the life that is oriented by these principles . . . Heaven is neither mythological nor ego-centric, but is simply the goal of human existence (John Macquarrie, Principles of Christian Theology, 326-7).
The full vision of the divine glory is reserved for the Age to come, yet even in this present life the saints enjoy the sure pledge and firstfruits of the coming harvest (Bishop Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Way, rev. ed., 106).
Return to: Future
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If Christianity be not altogether thoroughgoing eschatology, there remains in it no relationship whatever with Christ (Karl Barth, Epistle to the Romans, 6th ed., 314).
Prophecies with comprehensive future reference will have manifold fulfillment (Robert Duncan Culver, Systematic Theology, 1012).
It is not surprising therefore that chiliasm (belief in the thousand-year reign) was widely spread, if not universal, in the first three centuries (Robert Duncan Culver, Systematic Theology, 1139).
It is a day [“the day of the Lord”] in which God interposes decisively to plead His own cause; all the enemies of His Kingdom, within and without, are destroyed; and after that destruction the Kingdom is established in peace and perpetuity (James Denny, Studies in Theology, 230).
There is every reason to believe that the predictions concerning the second advent of Christ, and the events which are to attend and follow it, will disappoint the expectations of commentators, as the expectations of the Jews were disappointed in the manner in which the prophecies concerning the first advent were accomplished (C. Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, 844).
Two things are remarkable about the prophecies of Scripture, which have already been accomplished. The one is that the fulfillment has, in many cases, been very different from that which a literal interpretation led men to anticipate. The other is, that in some cases they have been fulfilled even to the most minute details. These facts should render us modest in our interpretation of those predictions which remain to be accomplished; satisfied that what we know not now we shall know hereafter (C. Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, 850-1).
The Christian belief in the last judgment, like every other doctrine of the Christian faith is founded solely upon revelation. Jesus Christ is the revelation of the Holy God, of the God who wills His purposes unconditionally, and hence, with the ultimate realization of His will, terminates the state of affairs in which obedience and opposition to Him mingle confusedly (Brunner, Eternal Hope, 175).
In Jesus Christ, the Revealer and Mediator of reconciliation, the initiating word of creation and the promising word of consummation are heard, harmonized in a unity (Brunner, Eternal Hope, 190).
Consummation is the perfect present of God (Brunner, Eternal Hope, 204).
The hope which springs from faith is so much a part of the life of faith that one must say: the future, for which it hopes, is the present in which the believer lives (Brunner, Eternal Hope, 30)
Hell is a condition of loss. It’s not a place. “Hell” and “Heaven” are both experienced as the presence of God: the merciful experience joy, the merciless sorrow (Frank Schaeffer, Patience with God, 223).
The idea that the present age will gradually develop into the age of the kingdom of glory is also anti-Scriptural. The Word of God teaches very plainly that the end of this world shall be the scene of tremendous catastrophes (Herman Hoeksema, Reformed Dogmatics, 817).
In the description of the great day, contained in the book of Revelation, it is said, that the Judge will be seated on a great white throne, and that the books will be opened; and that another book will be opened, which is the book of life: and the dead will be judged out of the things which are written according to their works. The representation is doubtless figurative, but we may learn from it that the decisions will be made in perfect justice; and that the acquittal of the righteous will be an act of grace (J. L. Dagg, Manual of Theology, 355-6).
The judgment of God is represented to us in the Bible, even by Jesus Himself, and by Him with particular force and vividness, under the figure of a court of judgment and an actual visible separation. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. The figurative character of this expression is obvious; nothing further is needed but that the divine light should pierce man’s being so that what is hidden—like the internal parts of the body under X-rays—becomes visible. This again is a metaphor implying the full disclosure of what has hitherto been concealed. “It come to light”—that is the essence of judgment. It is revealed—not for God: for how could anything have ever been concealed from Him?—but for ourselves. We shall stand naked and exposed, according to the truth of our being, with no concealing raiment. No dossier, no protocol will be needed. It does no harm if we visualize judgment as an action, but this figurative conception is not essential: the sole decisive thing is the fact of manifestation (Brunner, Eternal Hope, 176-7).
Obviously, if the eschatological ideas are so deeply pervasive of the New Testament, there can be no adequate interpretation that fails to take due note of them. But how can we make sense of such ideas today? We cannot take them as they stand, for they are tied up with a mythological mentality that we do not and indeed cannot share (John Macquarrie, Principles of Christian Theology, 314).
Heaven is not a reward that gets added on to the life of faith, hope, and love, but it is simply the end of that life, that is to say, the working out of the life that is oriented by these principles . . . Heaven is neither mythological nor ego-centric, but is simply the goal of human existence (John Macquarrie, Principles of Christian Theology, 326-7).
The full vision of the divine glory is reserved for the Age to come, yet even in this present life the saints enjoy the sure pledge and firstfruits of the coming harvest (Bishop Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Way, rev. ed., 106).
Return to: Future
For overview of THEOLOGY, see: Site Map - Theology