An Interesting Question
Monday, December 3, 2007 at 11:25AM 
David Neal asks an interesting and important question:
"When are reformed writers going to start writing books in language that the average person can understand. They are plenty of good books out there on eschatology but I can't give many to may friends because they are over their heads. It seems to me if the message is going to get out, it is going to have to be understood. I am speaking for myself also. It seems to me we should be trying to reach the masses."
David, as someone who has written extensively on this subject, let me address some of the reasons why books on eschatology tend to be difficult. Then, I'd like some feedback from regular readers of this blog on a couple of things (see below).
First, most of us who write on eschatology do so because there are already many books written on the subject expressing nutty or erroneous ideas which demand a response. Most writers take the sensationalist approach and attempt to tie current events directly to the Bible. These books tend to be the easiest to understand because they appeal to recent headlines. But such writers mistakenly come to the Bible looking for evidence that the latest headline can be explained by Scripture. They tend to avoid the hard work of comparing Scripture with Scripture and then developing a comprehensive picture what Scripture itself says about the course of history in light of God's gracious promises.
Other writers begin with a number of faulty presuppositions which color everything they say or do when they write about end times (i.e., dispensationalists). My published writings are addressed to those Christians who have already read much of this stuff and who want to consider other (and I would argue, more biblical) options. This means that I am writing books for people who already know the lingo and who already have some basic understanding of the issues.
Second, not everything in the Bible is easy to understand. On the one hand, biblical eschatology is as simple as "Jesus Christ is coming again to judge the world, raise the dead and make all things new." We could stop right there. But you know that Scripture itself doesn't stop at this simple confession. Jesus speaks of the future in difficult ways (especially in the Olivet Discourse). Paul speaks of the future (especially in his two letters to the church of Thessalonica). Peter speaks of the end of the world in the third chapter of his second letter. And then there is the Book of Revelation. This is not an easy book to understand. The structure of the book is complicated--it is an epistle, it contains prophecies and it utilizes a difficult literary genre, apocalyptic. This means the subject of eschatology as presented in the Bible itself is difficult and requires careful thought and biblical exegesis.
Third, there are some basic resources on this topic which you might consider. You can start with the helpful charters prepared by Mark Vander Pol (Click here: Riddleblog - Eschatology Charts). There are introductory articles by others (Click here: Riddleblog - Links to Helpful Books, Essays, and Charts, as well as stuff I have written (Click here: Riddleblog - Theological Essays -- scroll down to the essay, "What's A Thousand Years Among Friends." You can also read my sermons on Revelation (Click here: Riddleblog - Sermons on the Book of Revelation (pdf)
Fourth, I would simply ask you, "do you have a hobby, or any other special interests?" "Do you have a specialized vocabulary at work?" If you can say "yes" to any of these, I would challenge you to realize something already obvious--virtually all aspects of life require that we learn technical terms or a specialized vocabulary. Why shouldn't Christians be willing to learn the language of the Bible and theological discourse? If you have watched enough baseball to understand the "infield fly rule," or enough football to understand the "fair-catch signal" on a punt, then you've invested enough time and energy on these things as it would take to master the biblical and theological terms required to understand most books on eschatology, including mine.
Fifth, it is my experience that Reformed amillennialism is much simpler (conceptually) than is dispensationalism. Part of the problem is that Reformed Christians speak about things (especially eschatology) in ways quite different from most evangelicals. I found Reformed amillennialism tough at first because I was raised a disepnsationalist and it just sounded "different." In a sense, I had to unlearn the eschatology of my youth, and then learn a whole new Christ-centered hermeneutic and a new approach to reading Scripture. And yes, this is a lot of work! And it took some time and effort. But it was well worth it when huge portions of the Bible suddenly came alive for me.
Now, for those who regular readers, is there be any genuine interest in (or is there a real need for) a series on this blog entitled something like "Amillennialism 101" in which I would explain the basic terms and set out the primary biblical evidence for Reformed Amillennialism?
This would be done in a very simple and non-polemical format. If there is a need for this, I'd be willing to tackle it. But don't just say "yes" unless there is truly a need. What things should be included? What format would be the most useful? Mr. Neal makes an important point in this regard and there may be some good ways to address it.
Let me know what you think in the comments section.
Reader Comments (37)
Yes, a vote for Amil 101 series.
I would find it useful as one who has benefited greatly from your book and who pastors a large number of people fresh from dispensationalism (though they wouldn't know to call it that).
A second reason I would like the series is I find that I am more frequently bumping up against reconstructionist post-mils on-line. I would like to engage them but don't really have the time to do the job right...it would be great to have a series (or specific post in a series) to to which I can point them.
Thank you for your ministry.
Amill 101 would be great but I would think it would have to spend some time dealing with dispensational arguments as well.
Fun and humour (without dumming-down) can go a long way in connecting other minds, too.
A very useful point of the book could be "why it matters to care about eschatology" ... which could make it a pre-evangelistic tool, also.
So many possibilities, there.
Hmmm....
Now I am somewhat simple minded, but I could never understand why anyone trying to expound on scripture would communicate it in such a way that often comes across as more complex. I thought the idea was to make it clearer, if possible.
So I say, yes, became all things to all people.
Ummm, this isn't like one of those "seeker sensitive" surveys, is it? - just kidding.
I enjoyed reading your essay "What's a Thousand Years among Friends". I'm don't hold to any particular millennial view, but your essay intrigued me and seemed to make sense. I even used it in a Bible as Lit. class at my college. This is an easy to understand exposition of your views.
"As John went through his morning ritual of making coffee and planning ways to enforce the Mosaic Law, he reflected on how the world had gotten gradually better. It was almost like heaven on earth."
Even as I eagerly await Kim's next and comprehensive work on eschatology, I'm convinced that his book "Amillennialism" is the best book on the millennial issue in particular, and that Hoekema's and Venema's works on eschatology are the best books on Bible prophecy in general.
Yet I agree with those who wish for something simpler for those who would find "Amillennialism" too tough to read. Maybe something at the level of Sam Waldron's "The End Times Made Simple." (Hey, there's tons of books from the pretrib/premil view; why not at least two simple books from the amil view?)
I grew up as a Revised Dispy (Walvoord, Pentecost, Ryrie), switched to a Progressive Dispy view (Blaising, Bock, Saucy) in the late 1980s, switched from pretrib to posttrib at about the same time, switched to an "already/not yet" view of the kingdom similar to Ladd in the 1990s, and then switched from the premil to the amil view just two years ago. (Not the older amil view that "spiritualizes" prophecy by dumping it almost completely into the present age, but the Vos/Hoekema/Venema/Riddlebarger amil view that places the emphasis of the culmination of prophecy in the new heavens and earth.)
I realize that any subject can be intricate, even detailed. Yet the key points re: what the Bible says about the future are really not that difficult.
About half a year ago, I sat down at my computer and typed up the following, hoping to communicate what I see as the gist of what's in store, prophetically. I offer it not because it's anything very great; just to illustrate that the essential biblical truth concerning the future is really pretty straightforward...
10 FUTURE REALITIES
I realize good people disagree about things to come (eschatology, by the way, is the study of last things), especially about matters of the relative timing of various events, such as the rapture and the millennium (!), and how Jews and Gentiles figure into God's promise/fulfillment plan for the ages (!).
Yes indeed. These things can cause quite the arguments! And pretty big and even heated ones at that!
But what drives me bonkers (mega bonkers) is the "pop prophecy" of so many popular teachers who engage in endless and mindless speculation. Yes, that kind of stuff really drives me nuts. Absolutely nuts!
Here's what I think is wrong, followed by what I consider to be a needed corrective:
A. What's wrong: There's a wrong fascination, and the eschatological ship is badly adrift...
1) With date setting of any sort. Good grief; can't anyone remember Mt. 24:36ff any more? Jesus told His disciples that no one knows the day or hour of His return. Yet the "pop" prophecy folks can't seem to resist the temptation to predict the time when Jesus will come again! How many more 1988s and 1994s and 2000s or 2011s (or is that 2012s?) do we need? (Answer: NONE!)
2) With being absorbed by questions such as "Who is the antichrist?" and trying to answer such questions through current events and newspaper headlines. (Yes, I'm talking about the endless stream of pin-the-tail-on-the-antichrist "gurus" - all of whom have had it wrong to date!) Remember Deut. 29:29. There really are "secret things" ... and they belong to the Lord our God. So let's leave the guesswork behind. God will let us know what we need to know ... when we need to know it.
3) With being preoccupied with the tribulation and the mark of the beast and just about every other grotesque thing one can imagine, etc. As in having a morbid interest in all that's sinful, wicked, etc. Remember Phil. 4:8. Aren't there better things to occupy our attention? Such as Jesus Himself? Such as the glory of the eternity God has planned for us?
B. What's needed in order to correct course for the eschatological ship: A renewed and proper focus...
1) The Lord will return! Acts 1:9-11; II Pet. 3:3-13; I Thes. 4:16. Jesus is coming again. No doubt about it. He is our hope. He, nothing more, nothing less, is our hope. Isn't He what the future is all about? So why settle for anything less?
2) The dead will be raised! I Thes. 4:16; I Cor. 15:20-28,35-58; Phil. 3:20,21; cf. also Rom. 8:29; I Jn. 3:2. We will be transformed into the very image of Christ, in body and in spirit. Isn't that exciting?
3) The living will be raptured! I Thes. 4:17; II Thes. 2:1; I Cor. 15:51,52. The living will be caught up and gathered to Jesus. This will be to honor Christ, and to escape His outpoured wrath on the world. What a trip!
4) The saints will be reunited! I Thes. 4:17; cf. I Thes. 3:13; 4:14; cf. also Phil. 1:21,23; II Cor. 5:6,8. Pay attention to the word "with" in these verses. Those who have died in Christ are already with Him. And a day is coming when all believers will be with Christ and with one another forever. This will be the reunion to end all reunions! The greatest family reunion of all time!
5) The just will be rewarded! II Cor. 5:10; I Cor. 3:10-15; 9:24-27. We will stand before Christ and give an account of our lives! What a challenge to make every deed, word and thought count. What a challenge to do whatever we do in the energy of the Spirit and for the glory of God. The knowledge of Jesus' sure return should shape us up.
6) The unjust will be recompensed! Rev. 20:11-15; II Thes. 1:5-10. Cf. also Rom. 2:1-5 and the need for repentance before it's too late! God is patient now (cf. II Pet. 3:8,9), but the day of judgment is coming (cf. Acts 17:31). Now is the time to trust in Christ for salvation.
7) The enemies will be routed! Rev. 19:17-21; 20:7-10. All of God's enemies --the devil, the beast from the sea, and the beast from the earth-- will be utterly destroyed.
8) The cosmos will be renovated! II Pet. 3:3-13; Rev. 21:1-22:5. Our ultimate home is the new heavens and earth, Paradise regained! And so we look for the regeneration (Mt. 19:28), restoration (Acts 3:21), redemption (Rom. 8:19-22), reconciliation (Col. 1:20) and renewal (II Pet. 3; Rev. 21/22) of all things in heaven and on earth ... when all things in heaven and on earth will be summed up in Christ (Eph. 1:10).
9) The King will reign! II Sam. 7:12,13; Psa. 89:3,4; Isa. 9:6,7; Lk. 1:32,33; Rev. 22:5. Yes, Jesus - the King of kings and Lord of lords --once He returns and establishes his kingdom upon the earth-- will reign forever and ever and ever and ever! And then God's will shall finally be done on earth even as it is in heaven (Mt. 6:10)!
10) The wise will be ready! Mt. 25:1-13; II Pet. 3:11,12. True believers live now in light of Jesus' return. Our hope of everlasting glory should affect the way we live our lives in the here and now. This hope should affect us intellectually, emotionally and volitionally. We should be alert, anxious and active ... as in watching, waiting and working!
And on all these things we can and should focus ... regardless of matters of timing, etc., etc., etc.
This is why I love listening to people of sanity speak about the future. It's not the doom and gloom and utterly foolish speculations of the "pop" prophets. It's not the incessant stream of junk that comes from so-called Christian TV and radio. It's the gospel! It's Bible-based! It's God-glorifying! It's Christ-centered and Christ-focused and Christ-honoring! Why should we settle for anything less? Let's look to and rejoice in Christ! He's coming quickly! Even so, come Lord Jesus!
To the above words penned last spring, I would add this: As one looks at the various events that are yet to transpire, one passage after another indicates a very simple chronology. The dead will be raised, the world will be judged, etc., etc., etc. ... when Jesus returns. No sooner, and no later. It's just not that complicated! (The burden of proof rests on the dispys who multiply distinctions!)
While this is true...I don't recall Mathison emphasizing eschatology drives theology.
This particular point makes Kim's work stand alone and might hopefully aleviate the current fragmentation.
I know...pigs might learn to fly, too.
Thanks for your work.
BTW: I'm looking in to WSC, but the cost of living seems too high. Any thoughts on how a family man from Alabama can make it through seminary in California?
While recognizing that a thoroughgoing study of biblical eschatology entails a mountain of details related to the exegesis of various passages and the hammering out of a theology based on such passages, I maintain that the following steps greatly simplify one's study of what the Bible says concerning the future:
1) Refuse to engage in mindless speculation.
2) Focus on the event of events: the certain return of Christ.
3) See how all the other great expectations regarding the future are tied, chronologically, to Christ's return.
It's not that there's no sequence, but that passage after passage pretty easily demonstrates that the resurrection, the final judgment, the dawn of the new heavens and earth (etc., etc., etc.) simply coincide with one mega event: the return of Christ.
We just don't see gaps of seven years or 1000 years or 1007 years, etc. The great eschatological events are essentially simultaneous, and will occur on the day of days known as the day of the Lord: the day of our Lord's return.
In this respect, then, the truth about the future is really pretty simple. As Kim repeatedly says, when Jesus comes again He will raise the dead, judge the world, and make all things new!
The challenge is to get people to investigate what the Word of God really says, and to stop filtering everything through the lens of some dispensational chart!
Quinn,
Contact the Seminary. They're always placing students in low cost housing, and lots of loans and such are available. Nobody here at WSCAL has much money, but we manage. It's not all THAT bad. And besides, look at the education we're getting.
Echo