Note: I have asked Brandon Barker, Groups and Connections Pastor at our Dallas Northway campus, to write a blog as I have been out of the office for the past 3 weeks. He writes on eschatology and his thoughts remind me of the words of my professor at DTS who said, “Eschatology is about hope. Eschatology is about Christ.” Amen.

“When we think about the last things we must never allow our minds to be diverted from this principle, that the last things, like the first things, are the things of Jesus Christ.”

—Sinclair Ferguson, “The Last Things,” Ligonier Leadership Conference

Eschatology is the study of the end times, also known as the “Doctrine of the Last Things.” It asks the question, “what are the end times going to be like and how do we know?” When I was in my second semester of at Dallas Theological Seminary my professor explained the different interpretations of the millennium, or 1000 years, referenced in Revelation 20. He explained that some believe Christ will return before the millennium (premillennial), some believe He will return after (postmillennial), and some believe there is no future earthly millennium (Revelation 20 is a reference to Christ’s reign in heaven right now). When class ended a classmate said, “I don’t think this matters, I’m a pan-millennialist, it will all pan out in the end.” Aside from the fact that this was an attempt at seminary humor that made us all uncomfortable as we debated giving it the polite laugh or just walking away, there was something that resonated with me. My hope in the next few paragraphs is not to formulate a millennial position statement for The Village Church or even reveal my own, but to answer the question “should this statement have resonated deep within me the way it did?” To answer this question I want to briefly look at two governing passages of Scripture—Matthew 24 and Revelation 19-22. We will take them in that order and then talk about their value in our lives both today and eternally.

Matthew 24 opens in verse 3 with the disciples coming to Jesus on the Mount of Olives asking “what will be the sign of your coming and the close of the age.” The disciples are asking something very specific, “What will be the sign?”  Jesus response is an interesting one that has caused many over the years to look to current wars and natural disasters as evidence that we are approaching Christ’s return. Jesus tells His disciples that there will be wars, famines, earthquakes, apostasy, false prophets, and a great tribulation but He never says these are a sign. Rather He responds with “see that no one leads you astray,” standard misdirection from Jesus who never gave straight answers. He is saying you are going to experience these and when you do, hold fast and do not lose heart. Yet He does not refer to these events as the answer to their question. Then in verse 14 He says that before the end is to come the gospel is going out into all nations. However, neither is this referred to as a sign by Jesus. The answer to the disciples question is found in verse 30 when Jesus says, “Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man…and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Jesus answer is that “the sign” is Himself. When you see the Son of Man you see the sign. Then the chapter closes with a call to be ready, for His return will come as the flood of Noah’s day—without warning. Jesus response should shed some light on our question of the validity of being a pan-millennialist. While it’s true Jesus does say in effect that I am going to return and when I do I will cause all things to “pan out,” He does not respond to His disciples by saying, “Don’t worry about it I will take care of it.” He goes to great length to walk them through what they, and those that would follow, will experience before pointing them to “the sign” of Himself. That effort Jesus took was so that the church would not lose heart but endure to the end, for it is in enduring to the end that one is saved. Matthew 24:13, “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” More about why Jesus might have said this in a minute.

Revelation 19-22 depicts the return of Christ, the millennial kingdom, and our eternal home in the New Heavens and New Earth. Whether or not you believe these are future sequential events or a current heavenly reigning is of no consequence to our current conversation. What is of consequence is whether or not you believe the study of those matters is of value to you. If you do not believe so and see this as irrelevant to the Christian life, let me ask you a question. Why then would the same Spirit who inspired Paul to write “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” inspire such detail about these events if the details are not profitable for the church? Is it not arrogant for someone to say that what the Spirit went into such detail revealing is irrelevant? Am I not saying that I can determine what revelation I need and what I don’t?

Could it be that in the study of the details, more than what position you take, we grow in our agreement with John when He says, “Come, Lord Jesus?” Could it be that Jesus is our hope and that in the study of the details our hope in Him is enflamed? Could it be that Jesus said “see that no one leads you astray” because He knows that man is prone to fear, and fear is what war, false prophets, and earthquakes bring, but His return is meant to provide hope in the secured future of the elect? Could it be that study, hope, and sanctification are cyclical and as one grows the others follow? Could it be that in this study we behold His glory more, and in beholding His glory we are “transformed…from one degree of glory to another?”

Maybe some will still not be convinced of eschatology’s value, I’m not sure. What I am sure of is that 2 years ago I walked into my class with Dr. Kreider (who I am extremely grateful to for his insights into Matthew 24 shared above with you) thinking that this topic was mildly irrelevant, and walked out longing with great hope for the return of Jesus in a way that I never had before. I know I walked out with greater zeal for the renown of our King than I walked in with. I know I walked out with greater security and confidence in Jesus supremacy over all things than I walked in with. Those things I am sure of.

May God be gracious enough to His people to prevent a spirit of arrogance from marking The Church or our church. May the Bride of Christ never say these Scriptures matter and these don’t. May the Church be sanctified in study, grateful for the detail, crying out in one accord “Come, Lord Jesus.”

If Josh Patterson’s sermon this past week on 2 Corinthians 5 raised some questions for you, you might check out these new FAQs in our Articles Section of the resource library:

What Happens Between Death and Resurrection?
Are Christians Judged?

Over the years, I have received many e-mail asking about The Village’s understanding of the timing of the rapture.  For those unfamiliar with the various views, I highly recommend the article on eschatology (the study of the end times) available in our resource library as this post assumes at least a basic understanding of eschatological concepts and terms.

As the article states, “The Village does not currently have a formal position on the timing of the rapture.  Therefore, we are not officially pre-trib (meaning the church will be raptured before the final tribulation), mid-trib, pre-wrath, or post-trib.”

In a recent sermon, Matt alluded to a popular evangelical author who writes from a pre-trib position and commented that the Church will not be raptured prior to the tribulation.  Though this is perhaps not the position of all of the elders or pastors of the church, it is the one with which I personally agree.  I would call myself post-trib.  This means that I believe that the church will be raptured when Christ returns which is after the period of great tribulation.

For those wishing to study of the issues of the timing of the rapture, you might consider checking out the Counterpoints Series book, Three Views on the Rapture which allows scholars in three camps (pre, mid, and post) to defend their own view and critique both of the opposing views.  If you would like to study particularly the post-trib position in contrast to the pre-trib theory that has permeated western evangelicalism over the past century, I highly recommend George Eldon Ladd’s The Blessed Hope.  You might also consult chapter 55 of Grudem’s Systematic Theology if you have it.

Rather than going into all of the intricate details of the debate, I want to simply address 1 Thessalonians 4:17 which is often used as the proof text for the pre-trib position and is the text from which we get the word “rapture” (from the Latin term used in the Vulgate to render our being “caught up”).  The question is therefore whether or not 1 Thessalonians 4:17 teaches a secret rapture of the church prior to the time of tribulation as is often taught in churches today.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Proponents of a pre-trib rapture teach that the church meeting the Lord “in the air” is evidence for rapture prior to Christ’s return.

However, it is interesting to note that the Greek word here translated “meet” often has a distinct nuance attached to it.  The word was used to refer to the custom of publicly welcoming a ruler or dignitary upon their arrival in a city.  According to the custom, it was proper to go outside of the city to meet the ruler before he arrives.  Once one met up with the ruler, the one who went out of the city would then turn around and both would enter the city together.

This particular word is used only three times in the New Testament.  In addition to the Thessalonians passage, we see it in Matthew 25:6 and Acts 28:15.  Contextually, both of these other passages contain this customary nuance.  In Matthew, Jesus refers to Jewish tradition which states that when the guests go out to meet the bridegroom they immediately turn around with him and reenter the city with him.  In the Acts passage, the men go out to meet Paul on the outskirts of Rome and then immediately turn around and return to Rome with him.

If this nuance is being reflected in Paul’s use of the word, then he is describing the rapture of the church as the saints going to meet Christ in the air and then immediately returning with Him to earth.  This would not therefore teach a secret rapture, but rather a rapture that occurs at the time of Christ’s ultimate return.

Beyond this lexical issue, we also have the events surrounding the “catching up” of those “who are alive” and “are left.”  The text says that at this time there will be a “cry of command” as the Lord descends from heaven and a voice of an archangel and the sounds of a trumpet will be heard.  In addition, those believers who have died (“the dead in Christ”) will rise from the dead.  All of these events seem really overt and public and thus make it really hard to demonstrate any sort of “secret” rapture as is often taught in evangelical circles.

In the end, I think that the Scriptures explicitly link the rapture of the church with the return of Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2, Matthew 24, e.g.) and thus any attempt to divide what the Scripture has joined seems hermeneutically unwise.  The hope of the Christian is not that that we will be removed from suffering, but that we will one day share in the promise of resurrection, the redemption of our bodies.  The hope of the Church is not a secret rapture, but rather the glorious appearing of our LORD Jesus Christ.  It is this event for which we long in eager anticipation.