I have watched many movies in my day. Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, directs some of my favorite movies. Most are not gruesome, but they bring you to the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen next. M. Night Shyamalan is another director who I like for many of the same reasons.
Occasionally, I have watched movies like these with others seeing them for the first time. Of course, part of the enjoyment of watching these movies with first-timers is the ability to experience the movie anew through their reactions vicariously. Unfortunately, this just doesn't work with certain people. About two-thirds of the way through the movie they begin pestering you with questions about "How does it end?" If the questioning persists, I usually relent and tell them, "Okay. Here is how it ends. The credits roll, and then we go get something to eat." (More than once, that response has led to my physical abuse and objects being hurled in my direction.)
In times of great distress or confusion, we want to know how "the story ends." It is one thing to experience the anxiety created by a masterful movie maker. When confronted with losing a loved one, a decaying culture, and especially our own deaths, it is quite another. Should we despair, or are there firm reasons for hope?
Eschatology studies the end times or the "last things." It assumes that history is moving toward the accomplishment of some great purpose. The Greeks called this telos. If we can understand the telos of existence and how it comes together at the end, then our anxiety in the present will be less.
I have written in various posts that Scripture can be viewed as an unfolding story. Theologian N. T. Wright popularized the idea of Scripture as a five-act play. God has told us the story, but we are still living in the play's fifth act (See How Can The Bible Be Authoritative?) Brian McLaren's popular book The Story We Find Ourselves In builds on this idea by viewing Scripture as a six-act play. Others have offered similar adaptations, but they all include the idea of living in an unfinished story, the end of which has been revealed to us by the author. In the meantime, we are invited to participate in the story's unfolding until the author brings it to its inevitable end.
Certain knowledge of the story's end has major ramifications for the present. The present is the only concrete thing for the person without certain knowledge of the ending. Our circumstances in the present must be maximized and protected as we plan for a potentially threatening future. However, if we trust in the revealed ending given in Scripture, everything is stood on its head. The future is the only certain thing, and the present is viewed as a temporary state. This gives us tremendous freedom and hope. I believe this is a primary reason God gives us insight into how the story ends.
Yet another critical reason is that God tells us how the story ends. It isn't just for our peace of mind. God gives us the end of the story so we may be united with Him in mission in this time between the New Testament and the end. Here is where a great danger enters the picture. If we misunderstand the telos God has in mind and we have misread the ending of the story, then we may find ourselves in the role of the religious leaders in New Testament Israel, looking for the wrong ending and tragically working cross purposes with God. It will affect everything we do, from how we see justice, evangelism, mission, and structure for mission. I believe that both Conservative and Liberal theology has missed the mark in understanding the telos and ending of the story. In so doing, we have unwittingly damaged the witness of the Church in our day.
I by no means consider myself an expert on eschatology. I am doing a lot of reading and reflecting on the topic but already coming to some conclusions. What I want to do now is share with you some of my initial thoughts on how errant eschatology has influenced the Church and how returning to biblical eschatology could transform all we do.
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