is disclosed through the pages of Scripture. That plan is about Jesus.
What I hope to share in the pages of this book are the implications of all this for understanding the end times, the mission of God’s people, and why it matters. Why is this important? After all, there is so much speculation about the end times, and much of it has proven to be false over the years, that one may well wonder if it even matters—let alone if anyone could possibly know what the end times hold. Well, it matters alright! It matters greatly. It matters because this plan is one in which God has called us to participate!
Reading This Book
As for the general presentation of this book: I am confident that, for the most part, much of the basic argumentation within each chapter, though perhaps new to many, will appear reasonable and stimulating. Most readers who have not ventured too far into this field of study will agree with the overall conclusions and find them exciting. At times, however, I will take some of these conclusions and draw inferences from them that, though widely acknowledged among the scholarly community, and well within the historical understanding of the church, will prove to be a challenge for many readers.
One of the reasons for this challenge is that much of contemporary Christianity has unknowingly been influenced by Western rationalism and modernism. This influence of Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment thinking is so deeply engrained in our psyche that many of us are unprepared and, perhaps, even unwilling to think differently. I know, for I too thought this way.
Unfortunately, the theological perspectives of twentieth-century popular Christianity have become such dogma that many find it impossible to think any other way. All other boxes are deemed a concession to liberalism, scientism, humanism, and many other -isms. The thought that Jesus, Paul, Moses, et al. did not think within the context of a modernistic worldview is unconscionable. Indeed, I am speaking from my own experience here. I remember distinctly thinking that Jesus must have thought like me because we, in the post-Enlightenment West, have learned how to think and to know in all fields with absolutes. Since this manner of thinking is deemed “correct” in an absolute sense, and since Jesus must have thought “correctly,” then he too must have thought like me. My worldview, in fact, was built on the edifice that this was the proper and only way to think and reason.3
I assure you that the conclusions presented in this work will serve to confirm the core of Christian theology. The primacy of Christ is a conviction that all Christians share. This book will not only affirm the primacy of Christ, but demonstrate that much of Christian theology has not emphasized enough the centrality of Christ’s person and work, especially when it comes to interpreting the Bible. At this point, most readers will not only find themselves in hearty agreement, but will sense a level of enthusiasm as the Scriptures come alive with far more force than previously imagined. The problems for some will arise when I extend these conclusions and the accompanying implications to their natural conclusions. For, the ramifications of a proper christological perspective in Scripture are grand—and at times convicting.
Another reason why some may struggle with the framework presented here is that a number of the conclusions derived at in this book will demand a new way of thinking as we approach the Scriptures. New always presents challenges for us. For, we do not know what to do with new. We are comfortable with the old. Consequently, the easiest thing to do is to reject the new and remain comfortable. Of course, we should immediately remind ourselves that Jesus brought the new wine!4
Thus, many readers may well be challenged in regards to some fundamental conceptions of Jesus, Scripture, the end times, and the mission of the church. Indeed, some of my conclusions may well shake the foundations of things that you have always considered as true. For others, this journey will be as exciting as it was and continues to be for me. For those who are uncertain what to think, I only ask that you join me with an open mind and heart in this endeavor to find truth. For, it is only as we honestly approach the Scriptures, fully willing to allow our conceptions to become subject to him who made all things, that we can even begin to discern truth.
Finally, and equally important, if in the end we disagree on some matters, may we never allow our differences to divide us as brothers and sisters in Christ! We have a gospel to proclaim and lights that must shine. Lord, help us if we ever begin by snuffing out each other’s lamps!
1. Among them were Swihart, Armageddon 198?; and Lindsey, The 1980’s.
2. Isa 55:8.
3. Now, in saying this I am not suggesting that we abandon modernism and jump on the bandwagon of the latest and greatest new thing: postmodernism. In fact, neither modernism nor postmodernism are Christian worldviews. Since this is not a textbook on Christian worldviews I cannot proceed much further here. I simply want readers to be assured that I am advocating neither a wholesale abandoning of modernism nor an embrace of a postmodern worldview.
4. Cf. Matt 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37–39.
2
Introduction to Understanding The New Testament and the End Times
From first to last, and not merely in the epilogue, Christianity is eschatology, is hope, forward looking and forward moving, and therefore also revolutionizing and transforming the present. The eschatological is not one element of Christianity, but it is the medium of Christian faith as such, the key in which everything in it is set, the glow that suffuses everything here in the dawn of an expected new day.5
Introduction
Many Christians surrender even an attempt to wade through the muck and mire of the seemingly endless array of speculative materials regarding the alleged “signs” of the imminent fulfillment of biblical prophecy, including the presence of the “anti-Christ,” the rebuilding of the Jewish temple, the nearness of the rapture, and the time of Jesus’ return. Unfortunately, the church has never ceased to have self-professed prophetic experts who, according to their own insights, have calculated the precise times of these events. Others have more cautiously offered us only a general roadmap of events that would inevitably, according to their insights, end with the return of Christ and the destruction of the planet within a matter of years.
A study of church history reveals that such interpretations of contemporary events and how they have been “foretold” in the Bible runs through the centuries. 6 Our generation has likewise had no shortage of prophetic voices warning us of the impending doom. This has tragically caused great apathy among many regarding biblical eschatology, and especially the younger generation of Christians within our churches. Many of them have no interest in regard to matters that “no one can know.”
But eschatology (the study of the end times) matters. It matters because one cannot understand Scripture apart from eschatology. Eschatology does not merely address the things to come. Instead, it is foundational to the message of the New Testament. Furthermore, a proper grasp of eschatology is vital to our understanding of the call and the mission of the church today. That is, a proper eschatological framework provides a correct understanding of God’s purpose in creation, his call upon Abraham and Israel, the work of Christ, the sending of the Spirit, the continued mission of the church, and ultimately the consummation! Thus, eschatology is not merely about the future. It is inherently historical and missional.
The Bible as Story
