By: Daniel Merritt, Ph.D. Th.D. | September 2, 2022
That we are living in perilous times no observant person would deny. At no time, perhaps, in human history has humanity demonstrated the absolute failure of man’s nature. Even with man’s self-boasting of his culture refinement, sophistication, and scientific achievements, men have plunged into a cesspool of moral corruption. Man’s belief in the evolutionary progress of humanity, has proven a myth, as men have not grown morally better but have adopted an ethical and moral path that is diametrically opposed to the moral character of a holy God.
As one looks at the history of man, one must confess it is checkered with failure, selfishness, cruelty, and wickedness that some would say is of a demonic nature. It makes one ask the questions, “Is there any purpose in history? Does time just march forward without purpose or meaning? Is history progressing toward a determined destiny or is man destined to live within the chaos without hope of any conclusion to man’s madness?”
The Hope of Eschatology
It seems the confusing and chaotic times in which we live, has resulted in eschatology becoming more of preoccupation among, not just Christians, but even those who don’t embrace the Christian faith. Just what is eschatology? The word “eschatology” arises from the Greek term ἔσχατος (éschatos), meaning “last,” and logy, meaning “the study of.” Eschatology, the study of last things, concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. Without a revelatory eschatology, history has no meaning, because eschatology is the goal of history. That there is an end to history is what gives meaning to history. Eschatology gives the human race hope when it appears there is no hope. Eschatology gives hope to the word justice when it appears evil is winning. Eschatology gives hope to history when history seems to stagger onward like an aimless person with no direction. Eschatology gives us hope amidst the hostage of history.
The Answer to the “Problem of History”
The answer to the “problem of history” can only be found through a revelation from God, who has spoken to man in the inspired Word of God. It is in the Bible we find history is progressing toward a divine purpose, a divine end. It is in the Bible we have revealed to us the mind of God regarding the goal of history and humanity. It is in the Bible we learn of the beginning of history, that God has been and is clearly at work in history, and that the end of history is foretold.
The Bible is like no other book, as the sacred text teaches that transcending this visible world there is an unseen world, a spiritual world, where God dwells from which He speaks. The Bible tells us of “things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not see are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18 KJV). While the visible world is subject to time and is passing away; the invisible world belongs to an eternal order which abides forever. Behind the material world, which nontheistic reasoning contends that is all there is, exists a spiritual world where lies ultimate reality. There is no phenomenon in the visible world which can be adequately explained without the premise that behind it an invisible/spiritual world exists. The fundamental weakness of humanistic philosophy is its lack of recognizing or dismissing the truth of a higher realism that reaches beyond the temporal into the eternal.
Hope of Eschatology – the Old Testament
The first three chapters of the Bible tells us of Creation and the Fall of our first parents. Our first parents, in their original state, had free access to the spiritual world and had open access to God who created the visible world. Because of their deliberate disobedience to God, they were driven from the Garden of Eden. Their free access to the spiritual world, their communion with God, was lost and needed to be restored. From the point of man’s sin, the Bible is the progressive revelation of God’s plan and provision for the sin barrier to be removed and man once again to have free access to communion with the God who created him and to know the reality of the eternal. As well, the Old Testament is a journey of history toward a promised eschaton (the final event in the divine plan; the consummation of history).
Calling Abraham, who was father of the Hebrew people, God promised to work through history in the nation of Israel to bring forth from the kingly line of David a Messiah, a Savior, into the world who would not only be the provision for restoring sinful man to communion with his Creator, through the prophets the Lord proclaimed he would work through history to establish an earthly kingdom where righteousness would be the fundamental feature. The history of Israel proved that sinful, broken human cleverness and ingenuity could not and would not bring in the promised kingdom. The fulfillment must come from outside of man, coming through the initiative of God and God’s Man.
The promised Messianic Kingdom would be where the visible and spiritual would be the order and intertwined. The prophets continually spoke of a coming day when such a kingdom would be established. Daniel clearly spoke of the reality of the coming kingdom: “[T]he God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever” (Dan. 2:44). Daniel further prophesized, “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (Dan. 7:13-14). In the coming kingdom that God will establish, “the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one” (Zech. 14:9). God through a future, godly Davidic king will reign over the whole world forever (Psalm 89).
Hope of Eschatology – the New Testament
In the New Testament we discover that God’s progressive revelation of a Messiah, culminated in Jesus Christ. In the NT it is revealed our Creator God, our Intelligent Designer, the Moral Lawgiver, the Divine Reason, the Logos (John 1:1-3), became a man and dwelt among us (John 1:14). Christ came preaching the Kingdom of God is at hand, that which is eternal was breaking into time (Matt. 3:2). The NT is clear that the kingdom the prophets in the OT foretold was to come, has arrived in Jesus who through his sacrifice has provided for humanity access to the presence of the Father (Heb. 4:16). The NT sees the Christ event under more than one aspect, it is not only a past and present reality whereby the sin barrier has been removed giving man access to the Father, it is also eschatological, as we await the fullness of the kingdom’s actualization. Jesus, who came preaching the kingdom was at hand, in Him is found the promised kingdom. In Jesus, “the eschatos Adam” (the Greek word for “last” is “eschatos”) (Romans 5:12-21; I Cor. 15:45-47), the eschaton has arrived. Christ is the eschatos Man. Yes, we live in that mysterious time period between the now and the fulness of the yet to be, but the NT proclaims in the Christ event God has achieved his goal for human history. From heaven’s perspective, the end of the human history has already taken place in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. It is on this basis that the New Testament confidently expects the consummation, the final state of the end of the world – to take place in the imminent Second Coming of Christ. In Christ the last days have arrived (Heb. 1:2). In the Gospel message is found both redemption and judgment (depending on one’s response to Christ), and each time the Gospel is preached both are present in its proclamation. While from heaven’s perspective the end of human history has been foreshadowed in the Christ event, the hope of the Christian is that soon the end will be consummated in righteous judgment and the triumphant manifestation of the Messianic Kingdom where Christ will rule and reign (Rev. 20). Since in Jesus the eschaton has already taken place, awaiting to be fully actualized, then it behooves us to be urgent about proclaiming the Gospel.
Conclusion
As Christians, our hope is not in the evolutionary process of history’s “badness” being eliminated (though we are to be salt and light in an evil world), our hope is not in the political powers of man (though we should seek to elect godly leaders), but our hope is in the Christ event when that day unfolds whereby is actualized all that the Messiah accomplished and the ravages of sin is removed (Rom. 8:23-25). The Christian hope lies in the “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13) when the eternal kingdom will come in visible manifestation on the stage of human history and the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. We look for the day when that Holy City, the New Jerusalem, will come down out of heaven from God, and they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it (Rev. 21:26).
Christian friend, cling to the hope amidst the chaos of the hour that our eschatological hope gives meaning to history, that God is in control and that eschatological day is the goal of history. Our hope lies in the realization that there is an end to history when in that day his kingdom will be established forever. So, let us be about the Master’s business, as well all-the-while listening for the “eschatos (last) trump” (I Cor 15:52) of the Lord when history will be rolled up like a scroll and Jesus Christ will reign forever and ever!!! “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev 22:20).
About the Author
Dr. Merritt is no stranger to Bellator Christi. He has been featured as a guest contributor on the website for many articles, including one of his biggest hits, “Voltaire’s Prediction: Truth or Myth,” before joining Bellator Christi as a regular contributor. Dr. Merritt received both a Ph.D. and a Th.D. and has studied theology, philosophy, and biblical studies at North-Western Theological Seminary, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Campbell University. Dr. Merritt has published such books as Writings on the Ground and Dealing Effectively with Church Conflict. Merritt serves as the Director of Missions for the Surry Baptist Association after serving numerous churches in northwestern North Carolina. He also teaches and directs the Seminary Extension of the Southern Baptist Convention in the Mount Airy, NC area. In his spare time, Merritt serves as a track coach, training the next generation of runners.
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