What is Eschatology About? (Esch 105)

What is eschatology about? What is the center of Biblical eschatology?

"The Revelation of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 1:1).

As Jesus indicates, the book of Revelation is about Jesus Christ. Eschatology is about Jesus Christ. He is the center of everything and all that we do.

An eschatological scheme which focuses on the nation of Israel or current events is off-center. The center of everything is Jesus Christ. Eschatology must be primarily about Jesus Christ and what he has done or will do in the future.

Israel and the Church

One of the major issues that affects eschatology is our view of Israel and the church.

The most popular view in America teaches that God will remove the church from the world and re-establish the nation of Israel on earth. Obviously, this view relies upon making a hard distinction between Israel and the church. However, this distinction is not found in the Bible.

In 2007, we spent eight weeks studying this issue and published the booklet Jesus, Israel, and the Church to set forth the argument that the church is the continuation of what God began with Israel. We are not going to rehash all of this here. If you have never studied this issue, you can find a copy here.

Our working assumption is that Israel was the church and the church is now Israel. There is one people of God throughout history. God made promises to his people before Christ, and God will fulfill these promises to his people.