What Is Eschatology?

Eschatology is from two words, "eschatos" meaning last or final and "logos," meaning word or study. It is the study of last or final things. In the following, eschatology is used as the broad term to define the second coming and its related events.

The Soon But "Never Occurring" Second Coming of Christ?

The Rapture is one of the events which is supposedly in our imminent future. What if it is not? What if there is no such thing, --for us? This is not to alarm you, but asking you to read far enough down this page to possibly learn something you may not have known beforehand.

Are you curious why there have been so many incorrect dates set for the second coming of Christ? Most who prophesy of this event almost always indicate that it is soon to happen. The book known as the Bible says that it is, that the end of all things is at hand. (1 Peter 4:7; James 5:7,8).

On the other hand, the same book says it is not. Is that partly why there is so much confusion on this topic? How can an event be about to happen soon, but not happen for 2000 years? That is a conclusion many have reached by reading popular eschatology novels clouded in story form.

It is not a contradiction if we understand the historical time frame in which the words were uttered and their intended fulfillment. What's the problem? It is simply that many forget that when reading about the event in the Bible, they lose sight of the fact that it was written to a contemporary audience who lived generations in our past.

Many mistakenly take what was soon to them and make it soon to us. Or they suppose that what they believe was soon to them aborted and did not happen and conclude the early writers were. What's the result? "Rapturemania," doomsayers, and egg on the face of otherwise intelligent men.

Would you be willing to hear a different approach that might be more sensible? Warning! Reading for yourself could be hazardous to your preachers' opinions or current viewpoint. Are you willing to take the risk?

Could New Testament Writers Have Meant Exactly What They Said?

While it is not uncommon for people to consider the writers of the New Testament as liars or mistaken (even attributing fabrications to Jesus himself), there are some of us who believe that they were dead on target. They said the second coming was soon in their day. It was. It did happen just as and when they said it would, --within their very own generation and lifetime. (Matthew 24:30, 34)

Date-Setters Are Pointing in the Wrong Direction

Date-setters are not missing the mark because they are date setters, they are date-setters because they are missing the mark. They are pointing in the wrong direction, the future versus the past.

Every statement in the New Testament which speaks of the end-time, last days or second coming of Christ speaks of an imminent future in the lifetime of first century believers.

We err in overlooking this simple fact and apply language meant for them to us. The net result, end-time embarrassment.