Unraveling the End A Biblical Synthesis of Competing Views

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Unraveling the EndA Biblical Synthesis of
Competing Views
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• Few doctrines unite and separate Christians as
  much as eschatology...
• ...One of the most divisive elements in recent
  Christian history.
• Christianity Today February 6,
  1987 p-1-I

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The Gloria Patri

• Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to
  the Holy Ghost.
• As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall
  be.
• World without end, Amen.

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Foundational Beliefs

• Inspiration, Inerrancy Infallibility
• Trinity
• Deity of Christ
• Test everything, hold on to the good
• 1 Thess. 521
• More noble character
• Acts 1711

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2 Guidelines

• Sola Scriptura

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MPC Core Values

• TRUTHThe Bible is our ultimate guide
  and authority, the standard by which we live. Our
  world is filled with competing ideas and values,
  voices everywhere demanding attention and
  allegiance. Sometimes, it's easy to become
  confused. Are there absolutes? Is anything
  absolutely right-or absolutely wrong? How can I
  sort things out and make sense out of all the
  confusion? We believe the Bible is God's written
  word. It helps us understand our world and
  ourselves. From beginning to end, it reveals the
  heart of God and His way of life. The Bible
  introduces us to Jesus Christ, God's Living Word.
  The Bible explains God's love and His desire to
  be in a life-giving relationship with us.

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2 Guidelines

• Sola Scriptura
• In Love

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Overview 13-Week Series

• Lay out the divisive area of eschatology.
• Explore 7 reasons why your view (or non-view) is
  so vital.
• Contrast the essence of the end-time fiasco vs.
  divine perfection.
• Present the four major views and their big
  problems.
• Begin the unraveling process.
• Offer a solution of synthesis.

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What is eschatology?

• Technical A subset/branch of Theology
• Gr. Theos (God) Latin suffix- logy the
  study of God and his relations with man and
  the universe.
• Eschatology Gr. Eschatos (last)
  logy the study of last things.
• Practical
• Eschatology the study of the
  completion of Gods plan of redemption
  (salvation).

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Four Chief Moments (Events)

1. The Return (Second Coming) of Christ
2. The Judgment
3. The Resurrection of the Dead
4. The Consummation or end of the world
5. The Afterlife

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7 Reasons Why Your E/T View (or Non View) Is So
Vital
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7 Reasons Why Your E/T View (or Non View) Is So
Vital

1. How much of the Bible is involved?

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7 Reasons Why Your E/T View (or Non View) Is So
Vital

• How much of the Bible is involved?
• It has been argued that no less than two
• thirds of the content of the New Testament
• is concerned directly or indirectly with
  eschatology.
• R.C. Sproul, A Journey Back in Time,
  Tabletalk, January 1999, 5.

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7 Reasons Why Your E/T View (or Non View) Is So
Vital

• How much of the Bible is involved?
• an eschatological dimension to every aspect of
  Christian faith and reflection . . . . because it
  touches so many of the central themes of faith.
• Brian E. Daley, The Hope of the Early Church
  (Cambridge, MA. Cambridge University Press,
  1991), 2.

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7 Reasons Why Your E/T View (or Non View) Is So
Vital

• How much of the Bible is involved?
• How much salvation do we currently have?

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7 Reasons Why Your E/T View (or Non View) Is So
Vital

• How much of the Bible is involved?
• How much salvation do we currently have?
• How much of the kingdom do we currently have?

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• One dare not think he or she can properly
  interpret the Gospels without a clear
  understanding of the concept of the kingdom of
  God in the ministry of Jesus . . . . however
  the major hermeneutical difficulty. . . lies with
  understanding the kingdom of God.
• Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to
  Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand
  Rapids, MI. Zondervan, 1981), 131, 113.

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Supportive Quotes

• "the great omission . . . why . . . today's
  church is so weak"
• Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, 40f.
• "reductionism of the gospel"
• Darrell Guder, The Continuing Conversion of
  the Church, xiiif.  
• the gospel we proclaim has been shrunk
• Robert Lynn, Far as the curse is found in
  Breakpoint Worldview magazine, Oct. 06, 14.
• we have settled for a little gospel, a
  miniaturized version that cannot address the
  robust problems of our world
• Scot McKnight, The 8 Marks of a Robust
  Gospel in Christianity Today magazine, March
  2008, 36.

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7 Reasons Why Your E/T View (or Non View) Is So
Vital

• How much of the Bible is involved?
• How much salvation do we currently have?
• How much of the kingdom do we currently have?
• What do you do with the modern-day nation of
  Israel?

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7 Reasons Why Your E/T View (or Non View) Is So
Vital

1. Its the focal point of the liberal-skeptic
   attack on the Bible and Deity of Christ.

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• In seminary I was exposed daily to critical
  theories espoused by my professors regarding the
  Scriptures. What stands out in my memory of
  those days is the heavy emphasis on biblical
  texts regarding the return of Christ, which were
  constantly cited as examples of errors in the New
  Testament and proof that the text had been edited
  to accommodate the crisis in the early church
  caused by the so-called parousia-delay of Jesus.
  . . .
• It is my fear that evangelicals today tend to
  underplay the significance of the problems . . .
  . .
• R.C. Sproul, The Last Days According to Jesus
  
• (Grand Rapids Baker Books, 1998), 14-15, 17.

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• the phenomenon of disconfirmed expectation . .
  . .
• not particular to Marxian thought or limited
  to modern political structures . . . .
• back much further in time and thought to the
  early centuries of Christianity when various
  Christian communities struggled to come to terms
  with the failure of the parousia . . . .
• gave rise to the need for interpretation of the
  traditions so as to justify them in light of what
  had not happened.
• Robert P. Carroll, When Prophecies Failed
  (New York A Crossroads Book, 1979), 2.

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• it was the definite conviction not only of
  Paul, but of all Christians of that time, that
  they themselves would experience the return of
  the Lord. . . .
• around the middle of the second century . . .
  the Shepherd of Hermas thinks he has found a
  solution . . . the Parousiathe Lords returnhas
  been postponed for the sake of Christians
  themselves . . . .
• At first, people looked at it as only a brief
  postponement, as the Shephard of Hermas clearly
  expresses. . . . But soon . . . it was conceived
  of as a longer and longer period, until
  finallythis is todays situation . . . .
• Kurt Aland, A History of Christianity
  (Philadelphia Fortress Press, 1980), 87,
• 91-92.

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• by-product of failed eschatological hope a
  way of coping intellectually with the
  non-fulfillment of first-century apocalyptic
  fantasies.
• the fulfillment of their early hopes was surely
  delayed, it required a reorientation of
  the time-line of its eschatological hope.
• Brian E. Daley, The Hope of the Early Church
  (Cambridge, MA. Cambridge University Press,
  1991), 3.

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• When the consummation was postponed, this
  necessitated the reinterpretation of biblical
  passages that had carried eschatological
  connotation . . . toward a more complex
  description of the life of faith . . . in the
  development of Christian eschatology.
• Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition A
  History of Development of Doctrine (Chicago
  The University of Chicago Press, 1971), Vol.
  1, The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition,
  123-124.

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• I am concerned with Christ as He appears in the
  Gospels . . . there one does find some things
  that do not seem to be very wise. . . . For one
  thing, He certainly thought that His second
  coming would occur in clouds of glory before the
  death of all the people who were living at the
  time. There are a great many texts that prove
  that. . . . He believed that His coming would
  happen during the lifetime of many then living.
  That was the belief of his earlier followers, and
  it was the basis of a good deal of his moral
  teaching.
• Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not A Christian
  (New York A Touchtone Book by Simon
  Schuster, 1957), 16.

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• The whole history of Christianity down to the
  present day . . . is based on the delay of the
  Parousia, the nonoccurrence of the Parousia, the
  abandonment of eschatology, the process and
  completion of the de-eschatologizing of
  religion which has been connected therewith.
• Albert Schweiterzer, The Quest of the
  Historical Jesus (New York The Macmillan
  Company, eighth printing, 1973), 360.

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7 Reasons Why Your E/T View (or Non View) Is So
Vital

1. Its the focal point of the liberal-skeptic
   attack on the Bible and Deity of Christ.
2. It makes a difference in your worldview.

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• If we think we are facing an irresistible
  cosmic force of evil, it will invariably lead to
  giving in and giving up - usually with very
  little resistance. If you can convince yourself
  that you are helpless, you can then stop
  struggling and just "let it happen." That will
  seem a great relief - for a while...But then you
  will have to deal with the consequences. And for
  normal human beings those are very severe.
• Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy (San
  Francisco, CA. HarperSanFranciso, 1997), 343.

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7 Reasons Why Your E/T View (or Non View) Is So
Vital

1. Its the focal point of the liberal-skeptic
   attack on the Bible and Deity of Christ.
2. It makes a difference in your worldview.
3. It makes a difference in your life and family.

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SUMMARY 7 Reasons Why Vital

1. How much of the Bible is involved?
2. How much salvation do we currently have?
3. How much of the kingdom do we currently have?
4. What do you do with the modern-day nation of
   Israel?
5. Its the focal point of the liberal-skeptic
   attack on the Bible and Deity of Christ.
6. It makes a difference in your worldview
7. It makes a difference in your life and family

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• Unraveling the EndA Biblical Synthesis of
  Competing Views

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