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The Doctrine of Last Things
Christ's Parousia or Second Advent (the Eschaton)
At Jesus' Ascension (Acts 1:11), we are told that Christ will return to earth in the same manner as He ascended into heaven.
Elsewhere we learn that He will come:
1. In flaming fire (2 Thess. 1:7,8);
2. In His own heavenly glory (Matt. 25:31);
3. With His saints--those dead and alive (1 Thess. 3:13);
4. As a thief at night (1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 16:15);
5. With a cry of command and the archangel's call (1 Thess. 4:16);
6. In company with the angels (2 Thess. 1:7);
7. Suddenly (Mark 13:36);
8. In the clouds and every eye shall see Him (Rev. 1:7).
The Doctrine of Christ's Imminence
The Apostle Paul argues that the Christian should be motivated in his conduct by the prospect of the Lord Jesus' Second
Coming. John states that this expectation has a unique, sanctifying effect in the believer's life (1 John 2:28-3:3). The
Hope of which John speaks is parallel to Paul's term "Blessed Hope," and "appearing, coming" [Gk. epiphaneia
(Titus 2:13). The early church prayer Maranatha, "Our Lord, come,!" expressed this teaching. Rev. 22:20 states:
"'Yes, I am coming quickly.' Amen. Come Lord Jesus."
Some heterodox scholars have argued that Jesus thought that His Kingdom would be consummated at the height of His earthly
ministry, but the possibility was cut off (to Jesus' chagrin) by His "unexpected" crucifixion. Some have argued
that Rom. 13:1-14 indicates that Paul believed in an imminent return of Christ and taught it as a revealed truth. However,
Romans chapter 11 shows that Paul expected an extended future or a long interval between the first and second coming. See
also the last section of the Didache, also known as The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles.
The So-called Intermediate State of the Dead
Death for the Christian is spoken of as "sleep," so far as the bodily nature is concerned (see 1 Cor. 15:18;
1 Thess 4:14). It is not something to be feared by believers but rather to be welcomed as a promotion to a higher estate.
Paul speaks of it as a gain (Philip. 1:21). John calls it blessed (Rev. 14:13). Believers are at death ushered into Christ's
presence (2 Cor. 5:8; Philip. 1:23) and exist in a state of blissful consciousness (Luke 16:19ff.) The dead experience awareness
(Rev. 6:9-11), i.e. rest and consolation. In joyous fellowship with Him they await the resurrection, when they will live
in their glorious resurrection bodies for all eternity (Rev. 20:4-6). For a fascinating and albeit extra-biblical contemplation
see C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce (from an Anglican's perspective). See also Ray Summers, The Life Beyond and Loraine Boettner,
Immortality. Of course, the Roman Catholic view of Purgatory--a place of intermediate purgation must be rejected--the appeal
is made to 2 Maccabees and an interpretation of Rev. 12:27, "Nothing unclean may enter heaven."
The Doctrine of the Resurrection of Dead Persons
This doctrine is central to Christ's own resurrection three days after His death and burial, i.e. if the dead are not
raised historically and doctrinally, then Christ was not raised (1 Cor. 15:13). The resurrection body has been the subject
of much discussion. Scripture teaches that it is a body analogous in some respects to the earthly body, but with this major
difference: the corruption and mortality attached to the mortal body as a consequence of sin will be removed. It will become
an immortal, incorruptible, perfected body without any limitations imposed by the Fall, and as far superior to the mortal
body as the grown wheat plant is superior to the seed from which it has sprung (1 Cor. 15:35-49).
The Doctrine of Eternal Punishment
Fiery hell or Gehenna of fire (spelled Ge'henna in the Greek) is the Aramaic form of the Hebrew (Ge hinnom), which means
Valley of Hinnom. This term is used for the place of the eternal punishment of the wicked dead. Body and soul are cast into
Gehenna, and unquenchable fire is used as the symbol of this unending torment. In the Old Testament, the Valley [the Sons
of] of Hinnom (Topheth) was the place where, in the idolatrous reigns of Ahaz and Manasseh, helpless infants were immolated
by fire and where the gruesome Ammonite idol Molech was worshiped. Josiah later defiled Topheth and converted it into the
city dump, a deep ravine south of Jerusalem, where a smouldering fire was continually burning. Thus it became a fit symbol
for hell itself. Indeed, the KJV usually translates the word for Gehenna as "hell." And yet this is confusing,
since it translates the Greek Hades (Hebrew Sheol) as "hell" also. The NAS translates it in Matt. 18:9, and also
in 5:22, as fiery hell but renders it simply as hell in Matt. 5:29,30; 10:28; 23:15,33; Mark 9:43,45,47; Luke 12:5; and James
3:6, but always with a footnote indicating that it is the Greek word Gehenna. The NIV translates it as hell.
In Rev. 20, John speaks of Satan as bound for a thousand years (v.2), and then released from his prison (v. 7), and then
thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone (v. 10), created for the devil and his angels; the reprobate who have rejected
Christ will suffer the same destruction "apart from the presence of the Lord" (Matt. 25:41; 2 Thess. 1:8,9). Some
challenge the scriptural teaching of the eternal punishment of the wicked dead. They teach either a universalism in which
all people are ultimately saved, or as the annihilationsists contend, the wicked dead cease to exist in any form whatever.
But the doctrine of eternal punishment is well established in Scripture: 1. eternal fire (Matt.25:41; 2. unquenchable fire
(Mark 9:48); 3. the lake that burns with fire and brimstone (Rev. 21:8); 4. the fact that the same terms are used in the Greek
both for the eternal existence and sovereignty of God as are used for endless death or separation from God--in each case the
phrase is eis tous aionas ton aionon, "unto the ages of age" (Rev. 1:18; 11:15; 14:11; 20:10).
Eternal punishment/damnation, everlasting torment, ["lake of fire and brimstone," Rev. 20:10] is the unavoidable
consequence of unforgiven sin (Rom. 6:16,21,23; 8:13). It differs from the mere physical death that all people, saints and
sinners alike, must endure. It assumes its final and most terrible form at the Last Judgment (Matt. 25:31-46). [Some believe
that the last judgment will take place at the end of a 1000 year period when the resurrected wicked dead shall be judged at
the great white throne of Jesus Christ (Rev. 20:11.12); these proponents represent the Premillennial view. Others interpret
the millennium of Rev. 20 spiritually, i.e. representative of the reign of Christ in His Session--between His First and Second
Advents. See below for more detail on the several millennial views.] Some see in this passage a reference to three books,
the Book of Life, and two other books, which are thought to be the book of memory and the book of works. The absence of the
names of the wicked dead from the Book of Life is reason for the sentence that is pronounced on them. They are cast into
the Lake of Fire. There is no appeal from His sentence. The fact that the works of the wicked are judged, indicates that
there are degrees of punishment for these malefactors (Luke 12:47,48). Eternal punishment is variously described as disgrace
and everlasting contempt (Dan. 12:2), destruction (Rom. 9:22), second death (Rev. 2:11), the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:10),
and the wrath of God (Romans 1:18; John 8:36b). It is characterized by unending torment (Rev. 20:10; 21:8). Christ Himself
says of hell that it is a place where their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched (Mark 9:48, quoted in Isaiah
66:24). God alone can inflict this eternal death (Matt. 10:28 and James 4:12), and Christ alone is the way of escape (John
3:16, 36a; 8:51; and Acts 4:12); but the redeemed will participate in the judgment of wicked angels and men (e.g., Mal. 4:1-3;
1 Cor. 6:2-3). One of the best treatments of the doctrine may be found in W.G.T. Shedd's The Doctrine of Endless Punishment.
Some object to eternal retribution, holding to another gospel that idealizes the fallen cosmos and especially minimizes
the divine retribution toward fallen human beings. William Blaikie addressed this fallacious view:
[In 1 Samuel 15, we see God commanding King Saul and Israel to carry our His justice by the destruction of every man,
woman, child, beast of the Amalekites.] Throughout the whole of this chapter, God appears in that more stern and rigorous
aspect of His character which is not agreeable to the natural heart of man. Judgment, we are told, is His strange work; it
is not what He delights in; but it is a work which He cannot fall to perform when the necessity for it arises. There is a
gospel which is often preached in our day that divests God wholly of the rigid, judicial character; it clothes Him with no
attributes but those of kindness and love; it presents Him in a countenance ever smiling, never stern. It maintains that the
great work of Christ in the world was to reveal this paternal aspect of God's character, to convince men of His fatherly feelings
towards them, and to divest their minds of all those conceptions of indignation and wrath with which our minds are apt to
clothe Him, and which the theologies of men are so ready to foster. But this is a gospel that says, "Peace, peace! When
there is no peace." The Gospel of Jesus Christ does indeed reveal, and reveal very beautifully, the paternal character
of God; but it reveals at the same time that judicial character which insists on the execution of His law. That God will execute
wrath on the impenitent and unbelieving is just as much a feature of the Gospel as that He will bestow all the blessings of
salvation and eternal life on them that believe. What the Gospel reveals respecting the sterner, the judicial, aspect of God's
character is that there is no bitterness in His anger against sinners; there is nothing in God's breast of that irritation
and impatience which men are so apt to show when their fellow-men have offended them; God's anger is just. The calm, settled
opposition of His nature to sin is the feeling that dictates the sentence "The soul that sins, it shall die." The
Gospel is indeed a glorious manifestation of the love and grace of God for sinners, but it is not an indiscriminate assurance
of grace for all sinners; it is an offer of grace to all who believe on God's Son, but it is an essential article of the Gospel
that without faith in Christ the saving love and grace of God cannot be known. Instead of reducing the character of God to
mere good-nature, the Gospel brings His righteousness more prominently forward than ever; instead of smoothing the doom of
the impenitent, it deepens their guilt, and it magnifies their condemnation. Yes, my friends, and it is most wholesome for
us all to look at times steadily in the face this solemn attribute of God, as the Avenger of the impenitent. It shows us that
sin is not a thing to be trifled with. It shows us that God's will is not a thing to be despised. There are just two alternatives
for you, O sinner, who are not making God's will the rule of your life. Repent, believe, and be forgiven; continue to sin,
and be lost for ever (The First Book of Samuel, Vol. 1, pp. 242-23).
The Doctrine of Heaven
Heaven, Greek, ouranos, the abode of God is extended as reward to the righteous in Christ. The term Paradise (Greek,
paradeisos) comes from the Persian language as a loan word, and occurs two other times in the NT (2 Cor. 12:4; Rev. 2:7).
The original meaning was enclosed park or a pleasure ground, but it came to be used in the LXX as term for the Garden of Eden,
and in the Inter-testamental Period for a super terrestrial place of blessedness. As it is used in Luke 23:43, it can mean
only heaven or the presence of God. John focuses his theology on the dimension of eternal life with Christ (John 3:16; 17:2).
The everlasting afterlife of heavenly bliss cannot be based on present experiences but entirely on special revelation; the
Bible attests to heavenly visions (e.g., Isaiah 6; 2 Cor. 12:1-10; and John's Apocalypse, especially 19:11-22:15).
The Apostasy
"Let no one deceive you in any way; for [that day of Christ's coming, Parousia, see v.1, will not arrive] unless
there comes the apostasy first of all..." (2 Thess. 2:3). Jesus clearly predicted this while he was on earth (Matt. 24:10-13).
The wicked and cruel Antiochus Epiphanes' reign (ruled 175-164 B.C.) prefigures apostasy on this order (See 1 Maccabees 1:11,15,43;
2:15). The coming apostasy will be a falling away from and an open rebellion against God, who climaxed his love by sending
His only-begotten Son. This apostasy involves only the non-elect (John 6:39,40; 10:28). Defection from the faith of the
fathers is in mind here, a faith to which many children will adhere in merely a formal way. This large-scale falling away
will occur among those who have been reached by the gospel (see Matt. 24:10-13; 1 Peter 4:17 & Ezek. 9:6). William Hendriksen
observed: "The use of the term apostasy here in 2 Thess. 2:3 without an accompanying adjective points to the fact that,
by and large, the visible Church will forsake the true faith (William Hendriksen, Exposition of I and II Thessalonians, New
Testament Commentary, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1955, 167-70).
During this time of great apostasy, God will withhold his restraining influences against sin as a part of his judgment
on the world for rejecting outright his Son. The opposition of Satan during this period in the eschaton is referred to as
antichrist (1 John 2:18-22; 4:3; 2 John 7). John noted that this influence was already in the world during the apostolic
period. Two marks characterized this rebellion: one who claimed to be a messiah or one who opposed Jesus the Messiah. B.
B. Warfield observed that John "transposes Antichrist from the future to the present. he expands him from an individual
into a multitude. He reduces him from a person to a heresy" (Selected Shorter Writings, vol. 1, p. 358).
Representative Millennial Views--three general views:
When the Westminister Assembly met during the era of Oliver Cromwell, some of England's best theologians displayed much
caution when they spoke on this subject. They realized that they were dealing with unfulfilled prophecy and that in the present
economy of God they all, like us, "see through a glass darkly" (1 Cor. 13:12). Each of the competing schemes
embraces the following points:
1) The millennium, or thousand-years reign of Christ on earth;
2) Christ's Second Advent;
3) The destruction of Satan's kingdom among men;
4) The resurrection of the righteous and the wicked; and
5) The general judgment and final consummation.
Note, for example, the very general terms used in The Baptist Faith and Message (2000) to relate the tenets of orthodox
eschatology:
God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus
Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in
righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected
and glorified bodies will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord (X. Last Things, p. 15).
No mention is made of millennial views.
(1) The postmillennialist holds that the millennium is a period of world history in which the reign of Christ has been
established through His church, which is destined to conquer the world with the gospel, and at the end of this golden age
Christ will personally return to earth and inaugurate a new heaven and a new earth. Postmillennialism does not enjoy the
favor it once did in Augustine's time and in the optimistic period of 1880-1910, for subsequent global conflicts have dimmed
the optimism, especially since World War I. (Theonomists [see theonomy movement] are resurgent postmillennialists.) R. L.
Dabney related the classical tenets: 1) The hope of a literal Second Advent (Acts 1:11; 3:20,21; Heb. 9:28; 1 Thess. 4:15,16;
Philip. 3:20-21; Col. 3:4; Matt. 24:64), before which the following must occur;
2) The development and secular over throw of Antichrist (2 Thess. 2:3-9; Dan. 7:24-26; Rev. 17,18)[which Dabney, et al.,
believed was the Papacy!];
3) The proclamation of the Gospel to all nations, and the general triumph of Christianity over all false religions, in
all nations (Ps. 72:8-11; Isa. 2:2-4; Dan. 2:44,45; 7:14; Matt. 28:19-20; Rom. 11:12,15,25; Mark 13:10; Matt. 24:14);
4) The general and national return of the Jews to the Christian Church (Rom. 11:25-26);
5) And then a partial relapse from this state of high prosperity, into unbelief and sin (Rev. 20:7-8);
6) During this partial decline; at a time unexpected to formal Christians and the profane, and not to be expressly foreknown
by any true saint on earth, the Second Advent of Christ will take place, in the manner described in 1 Thess. 4:13-18;
7) It will be immediately followed by the resurrection of all the dead, the redeemed dead taking the precedence;
8) Then the generation of men living at the time will be changed (without dying) into their mortal bodies;
9) The world will undergo its great change by fire (2 Peter 3:7,10);
10) The general judgment will be held (Rev. 20:11-13);
11) And last, the saved and the lost will severally depart to their final abodes, the former to be forever with the Lord,
the latter with Satan and his angels (Rev. 20:10,14-15; 21:1-8) [R. L. Dabney, Syllabus and Notes of the Course of Systematic
and Polemic Theology: Taught in Union Theological Seminary, Virginia, 5th edition, Richmond, Va.: Presbyterian Committee of
Publication, 1871, p. 838].
(2) The amillennialist denies that there will ever be a literal earth-rule of a thousand years, either before or after
Christ's return. Curtis Vaughn asserts: "Simply stated, when Christ returns, the 'jig is up'." By some the thousand
years are taken to be simply symbolic of eternity (although Rev. 20:5 poses a serious problem for this view), and the only
reign spoken of in this passage is an eternal heavenly reign. Christ's return to earth will simply usher in a "new heaven
and a new earth," and his only eschatological rule will be celestial, not in this world but in a newly constituted creation.
By others, the one thousand years of Christ's reign are taken to be a period between the First and Second Comings of Christ.
As for amillennialism, it divests Rev. 20:2,7 of literal significance with regard to the present world order and also the
numerous Old Testament passages that speak of the ultimate regathering of national Israel to Palestine and a time of peace
and prosperity for that nation. Old Testament passages referring to Israel are usually spiritualized.
(3) The premillennialist (derived from the Latin) or chiliast (derived from the Greek & used only in Rev. 20) looks
for the return of Christ to earth at the beginning of a literal, thousand-year reign on the earth, when "the earth will
be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" and all the nations of mankind will be completely subservient
to the Lord Jesus. At the end of this period Satan will be released again in order to stir up the secretly rebellious portion
of mankind to a final open revolt against God (Rev. 20:7-9). After a second "Armageddon," the new heavens and the
new earth will be ushered in. Millenarians appeared during the 2nd century A.D.; among the writers were: the author of the
Epistle of Barnabas, Papias, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus. The Didache or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (ca. A.D. 100)
offers a fascinatingly succinct statement of premillennial theology, supposedly handed down by the apostles:
Be watchful for your life; let your lamps not be quenched and your loins not undergirded, but be ye ready; for ye know
not the hour in which our Lord cometh. And ye shall gather yourselves together frequently, seeking what is fitting for your
souls; for the whole time of your faith shall not profit you, if ye be not perfected at the last season. For in the last
days the false prophets and corrupters shall be multiplied, and the sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love shall be turned
into hate. For as lawlessness increases they shall hate one another and shall persecute and betray. And then the world deceiver
shall appear as a son of God; and shall work signs and wonders, and the earth shall be delivered into his hands; and he shall
do unholy things, which have never been since the world began. Then all created mankind shall come to the fire of testing,
and many shall be offended and perish; but they that endure in their faith shall be saved by the Curse Himself. And then
shall the signs of the truth appear; first a sign of a rift in the heaven, then a sign of a voice of a trumpet, and thirdly
a resurrection of the dead; yet not of all, but as it was said: The Lord shall come and all His saints with Him. Then shall
the world see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven (Lightfoot and Harmer, The Apostolic Fathers, 1891 ed., p.235).
Some chiliasts were treated as heretics, such as the Montanists (ca. 200), who believed that the heavenly Jerusalem would
soon be manifested in Phrygia and that their leader, Montanus, was the Paraclete promised in the Gospel of John. At the same
time, more orthodox teachers continued to share a similar hope; Hippolytus tells of bishops in Syria and Pontus who led their
flocks out into the desert to await Christ's coming (cp. Matt. 24:26). For a clear presentation of this system, see Donald
Grey Barnhouse, Teaching the Word of Truth, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1940, pp. 90-97. Dispensational premillennialists adapted
and enlarged this system, beginning with J. N. Darby, et al., 19th-century Plymouth Brethren in England; the movement was
popularized by C. I. Scofield, et al., in this country. C. H. Spurgeon reacted in his Commenting and Commentaries: "Darbyism
we can do without!"
Concluding observations regarding the various millennial views:
These seemingly chronological issues should not be used as litmus tests of fellowship. The issues at stake are not ones
that should divide Christians, since all three groups bow to the authority of Scripture, nor does a saving faith make mandatory
the adoption of one view as against the others. It should perhaps be added that there is still another school of thought
that does not regard any of these general views seriously, but looks upon Revelation as portraying an enduring spiritual struggle
between the forces of good and evil in which the heavenly kingdom of God will finally triumph. To these interpreters none
of the historical or geographical details have anything more than symbolic significance. The basic test of orthodoxy regarding
last things should be centered on the following cardinal tenets:
1) The imminent, literal, bodily return of Christ;
2) The final judgement of Satan, his fallen angels, and the reprobate of mankind in the eternal lake of fire;
3) The glorification and eternal life of God's beloved own (Christ's bride/church) in heaven (a new heaven and earth,
the old passing away); and
4) Emphasis on the purifying aspect of this doctrine among the elect (1 John 2:28-3:3) and the warning of unbelievers
that they must come to God in Christ for salvation or perish in eternal damnation (2 Thess. 1:5-10).
The Bible opens with man and woman in the garden of Eden experiencing happiness and contentment. It ends with men and
women in the New Jerusalem, the bride of Christ coming down from heaven, where God's beloved own are once again happy and
contented in God's presence without contamination by sin (Rev. 21:1-5). The final aspect of this new beginning is Christ's
submission, "when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father . . . and when all things are subjected to Him, then
the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all" (1 Cor.
15:24,28). The Bible begins and ends on the high note of Theocentricity.
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