Our view of eschatology, the study of end times, impacts how we respong to the world. It affects how we live. Unbiblical beliefs will cause us to act in unbiblical ways. Unfortunately, there are a multitude of conflicting views about the end times.

Everything that we do. Your view of the future is going to determine how you will live in the present and if there is a shift in an eschatological position, it’s going to affect every other doctrine that you have. And because a lot of people have grown up with a particular eschatological position, mostly dispensational, pre millennialism and that’s all that they’ve known, it has had a huge effect on our society.

It has removed much of the impact Christianity should have had on American culture. They’ve never heard anything. Anything else would be suspicious to them. To look at any other views regarding eschatology is truly frightening to them. Frightening because they think it invalidates the word of God because of the way it’s been taught, even though the position that they’ve been taught has only been around since the 19th century. On the other hand, they see the implications of the worldview and the implication of that worldview is if they are wrong, that this isn’t the final generation.

If we aren’t living on the edge of history, it changes everything about the way they see the world. And they are actually frightened by it. They remind me of men who have been incarcerated for many years.

Doing prison minsitry over the years, I have spoke with many inmates. I particularly remember one conversation with a man that had been locked up for twenty years and was about to be released. He was frightened. Afraid he would end up back in prison.

For 20 years, he had been told where to sleep, what job to have, when to get up, when to go to bed, what he could eat. His entire life was controlled for him. All his needs, food, clothing and shelter, were provided for him. Now, he would have to make his own decisions and provide for his own needs. It was frightening to him.

Now, how does this relate to people who are locked into this eschatological position that says we’re living on the cusp of some grand eschatological event? Their hope is that they’re going to be raptured out of this world, that they’re not going to have to live in the world. They’re not going to have to go into the world and make changes to the world. They’re not going to have to make decisions about how to educate their children. They’re not going to have to worry about politics. They don’t have to worry about the arts and journalism and medicine and technology and all that. God is going to take them out of this world. See, technology to them is, is fearful. It’s microchips implanted in you.

Politics is bad because the antichrist is going to co-op the world. All of the things that can be a blessing to us in this world, people are afraid of. If they change their end times view, they’re going to have to be responsible because now they’re going to be stuck in this world. Not only are they going to have to be stuck in this world, but their children will be stuck in this world and their grandchildren are going to be stuck in this world. So it lays a huge responsibility of them.

When you get your eschatology right, you have to make changes. You have live your life. You work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Begin to apply the Bible to every area of life yourself and self, government, family, government, church, government, civil government, business.

Start a business, the become an expert in a particular field. Use your income and knowledge to influence society. Get your children to understand these principles as well. We lost this world, one decision at a time. We take this world back, one decision at a time. We must take the proclamation of the Gospel and the living out of the Gospel in this world and apply God’s word to every facet of life. If Christians would do that, not have the fear factor, but actually believe that we can re-enter the world and begin to transform that world, we will see that transformation take place in our day, and if not in our day, certainly in the day of our children and grandchildren.

When we stop waiting for God to rescue us from this world, and start working for the advancement of the kingdom, we than have true hope. The Kingdom of Heaven is not some future hope. Jesus took his place at the right hand of God when he ascended to heaven.

Peter said of Jesus in 1 Peter 3:22 “Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.” Christ is ruling now.

The question is, are we willing to rule with him? Are we willing to work with Jesus Christ to fulfill what the Bible says? Numbers 14:21 says “But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” Are we part of that?

Scripture teaches the success of the great commission in this age of the church.

Isaiah 2:2 “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and nall the nations shall flow to it.“

This makes it very clear that the Gospel is going to impact the world. Not after a rapture and tribulation of seven years, but in “the latter days.” Before the return of the Lord. The church, the believers, are to take the Gospel of the Kingdom, the Gospel of Jesus Christ out to all the world. We are not to accept failure, anticipating that the whole world will become wicked under some antichrist figure. We are to “fill the world with Christ’s doctrine.”

Acts 5:28 “Did not we strictly command you that you should not teach in this name? and, behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine.”

Jesus taught that the Gospel would fill the world. He did not teach the Gospel would fail and a few would be saved by a rapture. He taught that the Kingdom of God would grow from a few, (the 120 in the upper room), to conquer the world. Not that all would be saved, but that the influence of the Gospel would flood the world.

Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” Matthew 13:31-33

How does this affect your Christian life?

1. Personal. Your view of the end times will affect your worldview and how you view your role as a disciple of Jesus Christ. If you view the world as under the control of the devil and only get worse, then you will do little to change it. Indeed many Christians are looking forward to the coming of an antichrist figure to plunge the world into darkness, in the hope they will be taken out of the world and spared the grief. If you look at the Gospel filling the world, of nations being transformed and drawn unto Christ, then you will be motivated to be active in that change.
   Even in tribulation and persecution, you will see the sovreign hand of God. You will trust his rule is bringing his purpose to fruitition.
   We read in the 1800’s, the Millerites, believing in an imminent rapture sold all they owned, only to be left broke and still in this world.
   Even today, many Christians fail to plan for the future, believing in the rapture that they are sure will happen at any moment. In fact, believing 1988 to be the year Christ would return resulted in many Christians spending foolishly and and hurting themselves financially.
   The Bible teaches a victorious church. When you see this, then your view of how to live life changes dramatically. The faith that what we do can and will make a difference in the world motivates us to witness, disciple and build. Rather than looking at the current culture as wicked and without hope, we see it as wicked and we bring hope.
   We can influence men. We can be the leaven that leavens the world, filling it with the doctrine of Christ.
2. Family. If, like most dispensationalist and premillenialists, you belive this is the last generation, then there is no future that a family should plan for. Many Christians have abstained from having children because of this view. But if you see the church victorious, then raising up children to be active in God’s Kingdom is part of your Christian walk. To have children and grandchildren be part of God’s glorious kingdom is exciting. The family is a big part of God’s kingdom.
   We will raise our children to be productive and to develop skills to change the world. We will build in them the desire to influence the world for Christ. Rather than having them despair that their life will have no impact, that all the do will result in naught, because they will be taken out of the world, we build in them the hope that they can have a true and lasting impact on their world. This hope will cause them to excel and prosper, even in the worst of troubles.
3. Church. How we see the end times will influence how we see evangelism. Although many dispensationalists are active in preaching the gospel, we see a lack of discipleship in the churches. When the church sees itself as integral to God’s plan to fill the world with his word and his rule, then discipleship becomes very important. Mature, trained Christians are needed to minister to the growing body of believers. Missionaries and evangelists are needed to take the word of God to the outermost reaches of the world. Christians have a purpose in influencing their communities. The good works and moral values are part of the light we bring to the world.
   Rather than the narrow view of the salvation of individuals, which is of great importance, the church also needs to have a vision of impacting their communities and society. We are no just light to our neighbor, we are the light of the world. Christianity is meant to shine through all society.
   If the Christians are going to be taken our of the world and the world left to the designs of Satan, then there is no need to build hospitals and clinics. There is no need for programs to help the sinner overcome sin. In years past, churches built grand buildings, designed to last for hundreds of years, now they build cheap aluminum buildings that will not stand. I am not necessarily in favor of ornate buildings, but we should aproach what we do for the Lord with the faith that God’s work will continue into the following generations.

“The Christian hope of triumph in history causes the Christian, whether in his personal life, or in the sphere of family, church, or state, to be ‘forward looking and forward moving, and therefore revolutionizing and transforming the present.'” Jurgen Moltmann, Theology of Hope (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1965), 15-16.