Future Things Eschatology

                  In Daniel 2:44 those kings [מֶלֶךְ] seems to refer to the preceding four kingdoms [מַלְכוּ] of 2:38-43. Daniel uses kingdom and king somewhat interchangeably in that king can by metonymy stand for the realm he rules, even though over a period of time there may be several kings in one kingdom. In 2:39 the writer says, “And after you, Nebuchadnezzar, will arise another kingdom inferior to you.” A similar shift of terms comes in 2:44, “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom . . . it will break all these kingdoms in pieces and consume (them).” Later in 7:17 the four beasts from the sea (7:3; earth, 7:17) are said to represent four kings, whereas 7:23 says that “the fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom that will be different from all the kingdoms.”

Introduction

                  Regarding end times, we can learn a lesson from Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ day. They had so exactly worked out their understanding of Messianic prophecy that they did not recognize the Messiah when he came. We will not be that wrong this time. We will recognize him, because his return will not be a local, private entrance into the human sphere (Matthew 24:23-27). Nevertheless, we need to hold tentatively to our expectations about the timing of that event, about its relationship to other future events, and about the very nature of some related events.

 I. An Unnecessary Concept

            On the assumption, for the moment, that eternal opportunity for salvation through Christ could not be disproved, we should consider several matters.

 I.   Biblical References to Resurrection

            A. Old Testament

We do not know fully what aspects of earthly humanity carry forward into the intermediate and eternal states, so we are left to speculate about what nature we will have then and what punitive experiences we can experience there. The following inferences combine what revelation does say about permanent features of human nature and about being “lost” after death—about what hell could be like.

            Views of the human condition during the intermediate state differ as to whether it is a conscious existence. Conscious existence means that between death and the general resurrection, we experience the rewards and punishments later to be publicly declared at the great white throne judgment. Unconsciousness during that time has two possibilities: “soul sleeping” or non-existence. The second option means that when we die, we cease to exist objectively until God “recreates” us out of his memory, an event simultaneous with, or the same as, resurrection. For all practical purposes, soul sleeping amounts to the same thing though, strictly speaking, we do objectively exist. The following considerations go into evaluating the concept of “soul sleeping.”

            Two related questions may be asked regarding Matthew’s account of the Olivet Discourse. (1) Who or what is the “abomination of desolation” in 24:14? (2) If some events are still future, where is the dividing line between the ones now fulfilled and the ones still to come? All three synoptists record this sermon: Matthew 24-25; Mark 13; and Luke 21.

 I. The beginning time for the seventy “weeks/hebdomads” is best placed at the first year