In the last 15 years a series of popular Christian novels known as the Left Behind books have taken the nation by storm. When the final volume of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins’ novels had been released and the proverbial smoke had cleared, the mark of total books sold approached 70 million. What was it about this series that made it so popular among so many? What is it about the concept of the end times that is so alluring? Regardless of some explanation that contemporary sociology might offer us, Ecclesiastes gives us a clue to the truth when it says that God has set eternity into the heart of every man. There is an innate longing, perhaps even curiosity about future cosmic events and our eternal destiny. For this reason and numerous others, eschatology matters. It impacts the way we walk in this life, and it is specifically essential for cultivating and sustaining one of the oft-neglected needs for Christian sanctification and witness: hope.
Eschatology is a word we need not be daunted by. The term derives from a Greek word (eschatos) which means “last.” More broadly we know it as the theological doctrine concerning last things. Typically when people approach this issue, whether it is a churchman or seminarian, the first inclination is to be dragged into the proverbial debate over millennial views. Other times the discussion is a bit more spiritualized by attempts to pinpoint the return of Christ in relation to the Rapture. While there is value in these questions, there are other issues within the study of eschatology that are far less esoteric, that have implications for Christian living. It is helpful to note that eschatology is often divided into two main categories: Personal and Cosmic. The former tends to deal with issues concerning death and the afterlife. The latter pertains more to the return of Christ and his millennial reign. I would like highlight a few issues that relate to everyday living, which are informed by Christian eschatology, and also are connected to the virtue of hope.
When we take eschatology in the personal sense we inevitably have to consider our own mortality. We will die one day. The biblical teaching on death is surprisingly rich, for it deals with the ephemeral, fleeting nature of our lives throughout the wisdom literature of Scripture. We therefore must live with a sense of profound humility knowing our days are numbered. The last enemy known as death will have what seems to be a temporary victory over us. One of the most immediate concerns our families will have to consider is whether to bury us, or cremate us. In past generations this would have barely been a question on the radar of many. Yet today between 25-35% of Americans choose to have their ashes scattered instead of their bodies covered. Most cite rising costs of burial as the reason for such an arrangement as cremation. Christians often use the terminology of stewardship to justify this choice. Interestingly, regardless of where an individual stands on this matter, the data is clear: the overwhelming number of those choosing cremation claim no religious affiliation.
Where Christian eschatology impacts this life-decision, unlike any other world religion, is the fact that our Scriptures teach the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead for every believer. The Bible actually has a rather high view of the body (often mistaken with the “flesh)”. Yet many contemporary Christians have yielded to some strange platonic view that sees our souls as good and valuable and the body as evil and something to be cast off as soon as possible. Well-known Christian apologist Dr. Norman Geisler told me not long ago that he had completed a manuscript on the subject of cremation, yet had been unable to find a publisher despite his career of distinguished work. He attributes the unwillingness of Christian churches, publishing houses, and para-church groups to address the problems with cremation to the influence of New Age thinking. Regardless of what the underlying issue is, Christians must ask which approach to dealing with their bodies after death best testifies to the conviction that one day their body will be raised.
Another matter that biblical eschatology informs is how we approach creation care. The Bible speaks of a creation entrusted to man as a gift, and it will one day be redeemed. It is to the shame of the church that she has allowed the extreme voices of the environmentalist movement to be the force exerting the most influence on the shape of public policy for caring for the earth. In some cases the creed underlying the environmental lobby has been one that worships the creation rather than the Creator. Yet Christian theology is the system that offers a consistent ethic for creation care. It is because of our love and worship to our Creator that we in turn receive the stewardship of the creation. Christians far too often have considered their work as a means to simply put food on the table, instead of the faithful response to the cultural mandate of Genesis to subdue and have dominion over the earth. Consumption has been embraced instead of production. Thus, our attitude toward the earth has not been one of gratitude but one of presumption. It is assumed that the earth is just a commodity to be tapped into, not a gift to be steward over. But in light of the gift that it is, and the hope that one day we will enjoy a new earth as promised in Scripture, our attitude towards creation ought to be much more deliberate and responsible.
Heaven is often another biblical teaching neglected that has to do with our future as children of God. This rich doctrine is marvelously much deeper than what we have commonly learned as children. Heaven is portrayed as some other-worldly realm where our disembodied souls float carelessly from cloud to cloud. Another distorted and less-comical vision of heaven is a sort of constant worship service in the sky where we will sing for all eternity. Frankly this sort of heaven is appealing to very few. Randy Alcorn speaks of these misconceptions concerning the after-life in his helpful book on heaven. He points to the way bookstores are filled with works on near-death and even after-death experiences. Yet he contends that Christians are in many ways to blame for this silliness. He notes, “We have failed to explore and explain the Bible’s magnificent teachings about Heaven. No wonder a flood of unbiblical thinking has rushed in to fill the vacuum. Because the human heart cries out for answers about the afterlife, our silence on Heaven is particularly striking” (Heaven, xiii). A biblical vision of heaven speaks of a new heavens and a new earth, where a return to Paradise will await believers as they engage in the kinds of tasks God called them to in Genesis 1 and 2. This vision of heaven is not only more biblical, but it is much more appealing than playing harps eternally in the clouds.
The unfortunate confession the evangelical church must make is that we’ve often been more influenced by pithy, ignorant punch-lines than biblical eschatology, and this has resulted in an impoverished capacity for deep reflection on heaven. Comments such as “you can be so heavenly-minded you are no earthly good” have often been used in a pejorative context. Even this same thing has occurred concerning serious reflection on the millennial reign of Christ, as most pastors jokingly purport to hold a “pan-millennial view” of things, “since it will all pan out in the end anyway [insert obnoxious chuckle].” Unknowingly these brothers have neglected to offer the kind of hope that the Bible offers when it speaks of the end.
Have we ever really considered the implications of the fact that most, if not all languages have a future tense? As Kenneth Myers has noted, this at the very least conveys the idea of possibility, potential, something to look forward to. This is really the essence of hope. It is our faith stretched out as it looks into the future with more certainty and confidence than unbelievers have. We know that Christ will deliver us from this presence evil age and the presence of sin in our lives. We know there will be a day of judgment in which God the righteous judge deals with all mankind according to his works and his faith. We know that we will spend eternity having had our tears wiped away, living as our Creator intended for us to live from the beginning. We will do this with people from every tongue, tribe, and nation. In light of these few truths, how beautiful a hope ought we to have?
As Russell Moore has said, “This overarching story – with a beginning, a middle, and an end – makes sense of the smaller stories of each of our individual lives. In Scripture the eschaton is not simply tacked on to the gospel at the end. It is instead the vision toward which all of Scripture is pointing – and the vision that grounds the hope of the gathered church and the individual believer. In the face of death, we see faith, hope, and love. This is what we mean when we speak of Christian eschatology – the study of the last thing or ultimate matters.” (A Theology for the Church, 854).Perhaps instead of sitting around trying to figure out the identity of the antichrist or reading the latest Christian fiction on end times we ought to open the pages of Scripture to Daniel, Matthew, or Revelation. These would be excellent places to begin. Pop-eschatology leaves us shallow and confused. Biblical eschatology leaves us hopeful and encouraged, convinced of the greatness, faithfulness, and goodness of God.
Click here to see Rachel Maddow of MSNBC interview the authors of the Left Behind series.
