Revelation Six - When The Four Horsemen Ride
Last week, I published my latest guide: Bad Eschatology Every mainline eschatology got a heavy dose of criticism, including the one that I call home. But, all of that begs the question: What is good eschatology? The short answer is that it isn't a position. It's not a doctrine. It's a process. Wait. What? A Process? Yes. A process. It's a way of looking at the prophecies of the Last Days, and then putting those pieces together in an orderly fashion that gives understanding about God's plans. And then, having the humility to admit that we probably got it wrong. ———————————— Keep this ministry alive with a donation. Subscribe for free to Revelation Six and receive my articles in your inbox: And, read my two books: I created five Android Apps that will help you read through the Bible in a Year. You can find them here: https://revelationsix.com/android-apps/ If you miss my rantings about geopolitics, idiocy, resource collapse and incompetent globalism, follow me on Twitter. ———————————— What Is Good Eschatology?First, let's make sure that we all understand what we're talking about: Eschatology is the study of prophecies that describe events of the Last Days. What are the Last Days? That's a harder question to answer, since we don't exactly know when the Last Days begin. Not every prophecy that is yet to be fulfilled is a 'Last Days' prophecy. Some prophecies are about what comes AFTER the Last Days. Then there are verses proclaim that the Last Days began two thousand years ago, while others seem to speak of a more narrow moment in time that we have not arrived at. For instance, here are two searches that give us verses about the Last Days: Last Days Latter Days The vast majority of End Times prophecies will not use the words 'Last Days' or 'Latter Days', but the ones that do seem to offer different definitions about when the Last Days begin/began. That's right, Acts 2:17 and Hebrews 1:2 seem to claim that the Last Days began two thousand years ago. Yet, 2 Timothy 3 and 2 Peter 3 would seem to indicate that they believed that the Last Days had not come yet. And, the Hebrew Scriptures? Every verse mentioning the Last Days or Latter Days (the phrases are the same in Hebrew) speak of events that have not happened yet. NOTE: Why I say 'Hebrew Scriptures' instead of 'Old Testament'. First of all, every reference to scripture in the New Testament is about the Hebrew Scriptures, which should tell you that they are completely relevant today. Second, calling them the Old Testament makes them sound as if they aren't important anymore, when in fact, they are vital for proving that Jesus is Messiah and for helping us understand the events of the Last Days. So, let's not belittle the Hebrew Scriptures by calling them 'Old'. Deliberately ConfusingSo, the Last Days is a very slippery term. And, we should not get confused when the Last Days are describe one way, in one passage, and another way in a different passage. God did this on purpose, so that those who rebel against His words would fail to understand. Isaiah 28 makes this clear:
The First RuleThis gives us our first rule about good eschatology: Submitting to the words of God. And, those words are deliberately spread throughout the Bible in such a way that they would be rejected by those who rebel, and accepted by those who submit. This is vitally important to understand, as well as an explanation for why there are so much false doctrine out there. So, in our submission to God, let's make one thing absolutely clear. If the Bible says that a certain thing is true, you had better believe that it is or suffer the consequences of rebellion. As the prophet Samuel said,
The opposite of submission is rebellion, and we have been rebels for far too long. It's time to end the revolution and follow what God actually says, instead of what we want Him to say. When Proverbs 30 speaks of the words of God, the writer says this:
The words of God aren't just a source of knowledge and wisdom, they are also a boundary. If you cross over the boundary laid out by the Scriptures, you are in serious danger. And, there are far, far too many pastors who make unBiblical claims as if they were speaking the words of God. Do. Not. Do. That. Principle 1So, think of this as the most important rule of eschatology and even theology:
Every mainline eschatology violates that rule. Every. One.
In fact, they ALL reject the Redemption of Israel as God describes it. And, they need to repent of that, or suffer the consequences. Principle 2What are the other principles that govern the process of understanding the Last Days?
Let's take the Millennium as an example. Here is where most people will see it:
In the rest of the chapter, we clearly see that the context of Christ's rule is a physical location on Earth. He isn't ruling from heaven. He's ruling from Jerusalem. Where else do we see the same event? Zechariah 14 describes the Battle of Armageddon, where He returns to Jerusalem - landing upon the Mount of Olives, as was prophesied in Acts 1:11. The Mount of Olives splits in half, and the Lord goes and fights the armies that assembled against Him. Here are a couple key verses in Zechariah 14:
This shows that there are survivors who go into the Millennium. It shows that God rules on Earth during the Millennium. And, the following verse shows that this is not the 'New Heaven and New Earth' from Revelation 21:
This shows that during the Millennium, there is a capacity for sin. For disobedience. How could there be ANY capacity for sin and disobedience during the New Heaven and the New Earth? ANSWER: Sin and disobedience is impossible during the New Heaven and the New Earth. Therefore, the match between Revelation 20 and Zechariah 14 is perfect. They are both talking about the same thing. The Millennium. The only thing that Zechariah doesn't mention is the length of time and the final revolt led by Satan at the end of the Millennium. However, these aren't the only verses that describe the Millennium.
Again, it describes those who die, and those who sin. That cannot be the New Heavens and New Earth of Revelation 21. But, wait... I didn't tell you everything. Just before those verses, God says this:
OOPS. There appears to be a conflict. How do we resolve this? That's where Principle 3 comes in, which we will get to next time. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. ———————————— My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. |
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