Don’t miss the artwork from some of our church children found at the bottom of this post.
From the Greek eskatos/ἔσχατος, eschatology is the doctrine of “last things” or better stated, “the final redemptive work of the Last One.” This area of systematic theology or doctrine summarizes the work of Christ necessary to complete the plan of salvation – – it is what Jesus is doing as he brings salvation history to a conclusion.
Eschatology is an essential area of study for families and local churches. The study of Jesus’s return is how we share the vision with one another of where we are headed. The more we picture the return of Jesus – – the more unity, peace, and joy we will share as families and local churches.
Here are 9 blessings you can expect from studying eschatology.
- A fuller view of Jesus’ majestic beauty and power. Christians are familiar with images of Jesus in his first advent. Our churches and Christian literature often feature pictures of Jesus welcoming children (Mark 10:14). And Jesus did welcome children. But Christ’s tenderness is only one aspect of he majestic beauty. When our Savior returns, he will not come as a suffering servant but as a conquering King. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess. The more we meditate on the return of our King as a conquering warrior, the more our confidence and hope in him will grow. One of our church children (Noah G.) drew the picture to the right. It is his way of remembering that when Jesus returns, he will come as a conquering king
- Comfort for Hurting People. The promise of our Lord’s return and the resurrection is our foundational source of comfort amid loss of life and suffering (1 Thess 4:13-18). Though the pain of this life can seem unbearable, Scripture promises that our wounds will be healed. We will spend eternity with those who know Jesus where there will be no more death, mourning, crying or pain (Revelation 21:3-5). Jesus will return soon.
- A Greater Missions Focus. Jesus emphasized that it is not for us to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. Rather than getting distracted by setting dates, we are to go into all the world and make disciples. Indeed, missions paves the way for Christ to return (Matthew 24:14). So we should be creative, work hard, be shrewd, and aggressive in multiplying that which is entrusted to us as we go into all the world to make disciples (Matt 25:21, Luke 16:8-9).
- Kingdom Shaped Prayer. Our Lord taught us to pray “thy Kingdom come” and the cries of the those who were slain for Christ cry, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge your blood on those who dwell on the earth (Revelation 6:10)?” Studying the return of Christ will help us pray these and other prayers with greater depth and conviction.
- Anticipation of the Resurrection. When we study eschatology, we will make a greater distinction between the intermediate state (believers who die are consciously with Christ now) and life together after the resurrection. This, in turn, gives us greater excitement about the hope of the resurrection.
- Greater Enjoyment of Creation. Those who study eschatology will quickly see that Christians see too much discontinuity between this earth and where believers spend eternity. The Bible is clear that believers will spend eternity on earth, radically purified from the effects of original sin.
- Alertness in the Pursuit of Holiness. Peter wrote, given that all these things are thus to be dissolved we should pursue holiness and godliness (Matthew 24:42-43, 2 Peter 3:11-13). Likewise, regarding our hope in seeing Christ, John added, “Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure (1 John 3:3).” Likewise, the the author of Hebrews expected that an awareness of the return in Christ would motivate people to be more faithful in church attendance (Hebrews 10:25).”
- An Awareness That We are in a Great Cosmic Battle. We struggle not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of darkness (Ephesians 6:10-17) Never the less, given that this war is unseen, we are often lulled into spiritual complacency. Like David in 2 Samuel 11, we presume that we are safe because someone else is fighting the Ammonites when Satan prowls about in our back yards. Studying passages like Revelation 12 reminds us of the nature of the conflict.
- A Better Sense of the Scale of Time. As we watch the seconds tick by in this life, we begin to lose sight of the brevity of our days (Psalm 144:3-4, James 4:13-17, 2 Peter 3:8-9). But when we study eschatology, we remember that a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day (2 Peter 3). As a result, we better number our days (Psalm 90:12).
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Below is artwork about the return of Jesus from some of our church children.
By way of explanation, we tell our church children that when we get to the heavenly city are going to meet at the 5th Tree on the right side of the river facing the throne. You will notice that some of our children illustrated this point by including people around the appropriate tree.
