WHY THERE’S SO MUCH DEBATE OVER THE END TIMES
THERE’S CLEARLY SOMETHING about the topic of the end of days that captivates the imagination and unites the masses, forcing every individual to consider not only his or her own impending fate but also the potential finality of the world as we know it.
Whether the plot centers on a zombie apocalypse or some twist on the Christian Rapture theory, the end times is a subject that has proven time and again to have deep interest with diverse audiences.
But as the masses consume books and films about these dynamics, there’s a real-world battle unfolding among Bible experts, pastors, and theologians over eschatology—the study of the final events in the history of the world as recounted in the Judeo-Christian scriptures.
Hardly a discussion about fictional paradigms such as zombies, the ideas and theories surrounding the end times have been around for centuries, with believers looking to prophecies surrounding Jesus’s first coming in the Old Testament to assist them in processing what they believe will unfold before, during, and after His second coming.
Before we dive deep into the mix, it’s essential to understand that the eschatological debate is one that has led to some fierce divisions among theologians, individual believers, and denominations, as experts construct and advance various end-times scenarios, wrangling over the prophetic timelines and events.
These ideological battles are plentiful. Consider that those who believe in a pre-Tribulation Rapture—the idea that Christians will be taken up to be with the Lord and thus spared from a horrific Tribulation period on the earth—obviously think that their critics in the post-Trib, mid-Trib, and partial-Trib realms are theoretically off base and vice versa.
Other points of contention are the literal or figurative nature of the Antichrist, Christ’s millennial kingdom, and whether or not a major end-of-days battle led by an individual named Gog from the land of Magog will literally unfold in the future. (Don’t worry if you’re unsure of what all of these elements mean; I’ll be diving into each in detail throughout this book.)
The important takeaway at this point is that there are numerous arguments that unfold in the realm of biblical prophecy. While some of these discussions are relatively benign, others can have profound implications on how Christians view the modern world.
Bridging the eschatological divide is tough, and it is difficult to understand, on the surface, why so many Christians of goodwill and sound theology end up walking away with stunningly diverse opinions about what’s being explicitly said, expressed, or implied in biblical texts.
Bible scholar Dr. Michael Heiser offered a pointed response when I asked him why there are such divisions when it comes to the end times: “There’s ambiguity in scripture.”1
Prophecy expert and author Joel Rosenberg, who is no stranger to the debate, agreed that the seemingly boundless splits over the end times are both difficult and, to an extent, understandable, as “there’s a degree of mystery involved.”2
The choice of language, structure, and the information that is left out of the biblical narrative quite naturally leads to some gaps and, thus, a number of important questions, from which eschatological experts arrive at very different conclusions as they seek to fill the voids.
“[The Old Testament Prophet] Daniel was told that he was not allowed to explain certain things, and there are elements in Daniel and Ezekiel and Revelation that are described with much symbolism,” Rosenberg said. “So exactly discerning what those symbols mean can sometimes be challenging.”3
With those complexities in mind, Rosenberg conceded that good people can—and often do—disagree when it comes to interpretations of end-times scriptures.
But a lack of clarity and the dominance of symbolism aren’t the only reasons for the diverse pool of thoughts and ideas about the end times. People many times fall into one of two camps.
Some struggle, for a variety of reasons, to hold to the belief that the end—and Christ’s return—will one day come, while, on the flip side, others see a sign at every corner that Jesus’s second coming is impending. One camp has essentially become theologically lazy, while the other is overshooting when assessing signs of the end.
“Many people actually anticipate the Lord’s return at any moment, and with each new cataclysmic event, they think that the end of the age is upon us,” Christian author and radio host Dr. Michael Brown told me. “But many others are skeptical simply because Jesus hasn’t returned yet, so why should He come today?”4
He continued, “People tend to go one extreme or the other: Jesus is coming any second, meaning that we can hardly plan or think ahead in long-term ways, or Jesus won’t come for many more generations, and so we become complacent and lackadaisical.”5
An even more pervasive and related paradigm, Brown said, is rooted in how consumed people have become with “the things of this world”: many are so enthralled that he believes they have simply “lost sight of eternity.”6
“Why long for the world to come when we’re so cozy now?” he rhetorically asked. “And so we think less about the return of Jesus.”7
Rosenberg said this eschatological contention has created a great division within the Christian church—a travesty, considering his belief that this is the polar opposite of the intended purpose of prophecy to unite believers with information about what’s to come during the end days.
We’ll spend a great deal of time in this book exploring differences of opinion, but let’s pause for a moment to note the one element that most orthodox Christians embrace: the second coming of Jesus. It is from that point, though, that Rosenberg said that “things break down quickly into different camps.”8
It’s no secret that Christian denominations hold divergent and competing norms when it comes to what exactly they teach and preach about the Rapture, the Second Coming, and other eschatological events, leading to a smorgasbord of ideas under the Christian umbrella.
“The Rapture, for example, is not something that the Catholic Church really teaches,” Rosenberg said, explaining that this is generally the case among mainline denominations as well.9
With ambiguity abounding, end-times author Ron Rhodes believes that these differences all boil down to the way in which Christians approach “interpretive methodology.”10 On the most basic level there are Bible scholars who interpret end-times scriptures literally—and to the contrary there are those who see much of eschatological scripture through allegory and symbolism.
Rhodes said that it is interesting to see such a profound divide considering that many Christians on opposing sides of the interpretive spectrum do agree on so much, including the nature of Jesus, the Trinity, and other related doctrines.
While these theological opponents might use similar hermeneutical, or interpretive, principles, the resulting end-times theologies end up quite different, with Rhodes maintaining that he believes some who mainly see symbolism in end-times prophecy mistakenly assume that nothing can then be taken literally.
It’s this mind-set that he patently rejects.
“Just because there are symbols in Revelation, does that mean that every single prophecy must be interpreted allegorically?” he asked. “I don’t think so.”11
Rhodes cited the example of the millennial kingdom that is described in Revelation 20 to highlight the sort of split that develops from differences in interpretive methodology.
“If you believe in a literal approach to interpreting Bible prophecy, then you will hold to a literal millennial kingdom as described in Revelation 20, which is a thousand-year period over which Christ will rule,” he explained. “If, however, you take an allegorical approach to interpreting prophecy, then you’ll end up believing that that thousand-year period is not a literal time period.”12 In this latter case Rhodes said that adherents would view the thousand-year period as referring to either amillennialism—the rejection of a literal, ten-century-period reign of Jesus—or postmillennialism—the belief that Christ will only return after a period of Christian dominance during which the world converts; this latter period might not necessarily span one thousand literal years.
Rhodes agrees that Revelation and Daniel most certainly include some symbolism, but argues that “propositional statements of prophecy” can also be found. He embarked on a discussion of Ezekiel 36 through 39—which I will expand on in later chapters—to make his point.
“In Ezekiel 36 and 37 there’s no symbolism. It just comes right out and says that Israel is going to become a nation again,” Rhodes said. “And gathered from many nations around the world, many Jews will be streaming back to the Holy Land.”13
Furthermore, speaking to what many Bible scholars believe to be an Old Testament prophetic proclamation that extends into the modern era, Rhodes cited Ezekiel 38 and 39 as stating that a coalition made up of Iran, Libya, and other nations around the Black and Caspian Seas will one day join Russia in rising against Israel.
Others, though, look at these same paradigms and come away with vastly different interpretations, which I will also present in detail.
If one holds to the view that the Bible’s presentation of prophecy is somewhat ambiguous, one wonders why this would be the case. Weighing in on this very subject, Heiser told me that he doesn’t simply believe that biblical prophecy is mysterious by chance, but that it is “deliberately cryptic” in the way that it presents details and information about what’s to come.14
Heiser explained that prophecies surrounding Jesus in the Old Testament were not as clear before His first coming as they were later on when the details could be analyzed to realize that Christ was the promised Messiah.
“It was deliberately cryptic the first time around,” he said of Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. “And it’s going to be deliberately cryptic the second time around.”15
One of the central debates about the end times centers on the notion that some eschatological theories depend on an intermixing of Old and New Testament verses, leading critics to accuse those who embark on this quest of improperly cobbling together the texts.
But Heiser pointed back to Christ’s first coming, likening Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah to a mosaic of sorts that can now be put together to achieve the full picture. It’s a portrait and a complete narrative that wasn’t fully evident until Jesus came to encompass all of the prophesied characteristics. Heiser sees the same sort of dynamic when it comes to the Bible’s outlining of the end times, claiming that it will likely “only be comprehensible after the fact.”16
“All of the elements that we’re familiar with as Christians as far as the role of the Messiah—what He would do, what He would say, where He would go, where He’d be from—all this stuff is just scattered across the Old Testament,” Heiser said. “It’s never put together. It’s fragmented, and it’s deliberate.”17
Had the entire narrative surrounding Christ been explicit, he said that the “powers of darkness” could have simply read the Scriptures and concluded, “Oh boy, better not kill [Jesus].”18
Instead, the Scriptures left enough mystery so that these powers still facilitated the salvation plan without even realizing it. “When you read the Gospels, demons and other entities, they know that Jesus is there, and they know who He is. They’re the only ones, surprisingly enough, in the Gospels that actually address Jesus as the Son of the Most High,” he said. “They know who He is, but they don’t know what the plan is.”19
Heiser continued, “The logical thing is, ‘OK, the Messiah’s here, the Son of God, so He wouldn’t be here unless this was a time when God is going to kick-start the kingdom of God, and that means we’re in trouble. What do you think we should do? Let’s kill Him. Let’s get rid of Him.’”20
This was quite obviously the move that needed to happen, though, to facilitate God’s plan, which makes exploring prophecies surrounding Christ that much more pertinent when seeking to understand end-times predictions.
“On what basis are we supposed to conclude that it’ll be clearer upfront the second time around, as opposed to the first?” Heiser asked. With these ambiguities in mind, he said that he finds it “amusing” when Bible experts and believers speak as though they have definitively solved these riddles.21
Prophecy expert and author Jeff Kinley—who is among those who take a more literal approach to Scripture—more plainly laid out one of the most pressing challenges that he believes exists when it comes to understanding prophecy: biblical illiteracy.
“Most [Christians] are afraid of touching prophecy, because they think it’s only reserved for PhDs or what I call ‘PNTs’ (prophecy nerd types),” he said. “Like it’s written in HTML code or encrypted in hieroglyphics.”22
What’s written in Revelation, he said, can seem “far off, even farfetched, sci-fi, or irrelevant to our lives today,” but he said that he’s spent time trying to encourage believers to look past assumptions to see the importance of end-times scriptures.23
Another major challenge when it comes to diving into prophecy is “those who scoff at what the Bible says about the end times,” according to Kinley, though he said that these critics generally regard other elements of Christianity in the same manner.24
The author pointed to 2 Peter 3:1–9 to note that Peter predicted this very scoffing about the end of days, with the apostle explaining in verses 3 through 9 why believers can take refuge in their faith to know that God will act in His own timing:
Know this first, that there shall come scoffers in the last days who walk after their own lusts, and say, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were since the beginning of the creation.” For they willingly ignore that, by the word of God the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed standing out of the water and in the water, by which the world that then existed was flooded with water and perished. But by the same word, the heavens and the earth that now exist are being reserved for fire, kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
But, beloved, do not be ignorant of this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness. But He is patient with us, because He does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance.
With Peter’s words in mind, Kinley argues that mockery of prophecy has had an impact on “weak and biblically uninformed believers,” calling for “sound, solid, balanced teaching” on the subject.25
As you’ll see throughout this book, though, it’s not just attacks coming from nonbelievers who push back at various interpretations of end-times scriptures. Other Christians too have taken aim at literal approaches to eschatology, believing that their fellow Bible scholars and pastors have crossed the line by seeing everything through too rigid and futuristic of a lens.
Some have fervently spoken out against the Rapture, among other end-times interpretations, while others have rejected the idea that there are still-unfulfilled end-times verses in the Old Testament, believing that what’s presented in Ezekiel, among other texts, has already come to fruition.
The debate over the end times runs the gamut. On rare occasions there have also been instances in which faith leaders have named proposed dates for specific end-times events, including Jesus’s anticipated second coming—proclamations that have never come to fruition and that nearly every individual interviewed for this book blasted as inappropriate.
In fact, Ed Hindson, an evangelist and a dean at Liberty University, credited date setting for, at least in part, helping to fuel both debate and skepticism over Bible prophecy, saying that those partaking have “over speculated” and “over sensationalized” and, in turn, have profoundly harmed the discussion.26
“[When] these things do not come true, that creates a push back,” Hindson said. “Anytime there’s an excessive amount of speculation that turns out to be false, there tends to be a reaction about the whole idea of trying to understand what the Bible projects about the future.”27
And while most Christians do not engage in date setting, Kinley added that there are some who are guilty of sensationalism and over-speculation, agreeing that this has posed some real challenges to the discussion over prophecy.
“Where I really have a problem is when authors [and] speakers capitalize on people’s fears regarding the end times, even manipulating their thoughts and emotions by going way beyond what Scripture actually says,” Kinley said.28
He said that there’s nothing wrong with “informed speculation,” but that good writers are well aware that words can be powerful—and that it is dangerous to use them to lead people to the wrong conclusions about Scripture.
“Crafting communication in a way that leads someone to fear or unbiblical speculation is a form of abuse and literary irresponsibility in my mind,” he said.29
When Kinley composes his books and writings on the end times, he said that his goal is to balance a respect for the Bible and the reader with the tough task of delving into incredibly complex subject matter.
“My objective is to maintain a high sense of integrity when dealing with a volatile subject like prophecy,” Kinley said, explaining that he allows the Bible to be his guide as he ensures that his tone is aligned with what the text proclaims. “Where I believe Scripture is clear and authoritative, I want to be equally clear and confident,” he said. “But when I cross over into the ‘not yet known,’ I strive to provide biblically informed answers without necessarily having to be definitive.”30
Left Behind coauthor Tim LaHaye, who, like many others interviewed for this book, embraces a premillennial, pre-Tribulation Rapture worldview, said that he believes that confusion surrounding the end times is rooted in the notion that many people simply “don’t know anything about Bible prophecy.”31
“Their pastor doesn’t teach it, or he teaches the wrong view of interpretation of prophecy and takes it spiritually or allegorically or some other way . . . instead of taking it literally,” he said. “They can sit for fifty years or a lifetime under the preaching of somebody who doesn’t take prophecy literally and they’ll never understand it.” LaHaye concluded, “It’s one of the sad features of our times.”32
It is clear that there are a plethora of reasons why there is so much debate over the end times, with rhetoric and discussion sometimes getting heated, particularly when it comes to the Rapture and the idea that there are Old Testament verses that directly applied to the creation of modern-day Israel in 1948, as well as other still-unfulfilled events.
Pastor Greg Laurie, founder of the Harvest Crusades and pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, is careful to note that, though he doesn’t understand why some theologians reject the notion that there are still unfulfilled prophecies in the Old Testament, he sees some important points of unity.
“I don’t know why people hold that view, but I certainly understand that you can hold that view and clearly obviously be a Christian,” Laurie, who has been teaching and studying prophecy for four decades, told me.33
He described the belief that some Old Testament prophecies have yet to come—a paradigm that he embraces—as a “nonessential” when it comes to salvation, though he said that one’s view on the end times will most certainly impact how he or she sees a variety of issues in life. Consider, for instance, that one’s belief about whether modern-day Israel is the result of prophecy or the consequence of a mere political whim would likely impact how the country is viewed in both a theological and a political sense.
“By nonessential, I mean your views on eschatology do not determine if you will get into heaven or not,” he said. “That’s based on your belief in Christ and turning from your sins and following Him, so these are nonessential, but they are important.” In the end, he said that the main focus for all Christians should be “that Christ is coming and could come at any time.”34
He also warned of the danger of Christians swinging “too far in either direction” when it comes to either ignoring prophecy entirely or, on the flip side, focusing too heavily on it. The former can lead people to miss the blessings that can come from studying Revelation, Laurie said.
“There’s a blessing when we understand it,” he said of prophecy, later adding, “There is a spiritually purifying effect on the Christian when they study and understand Bible prophecy.”35
Mirroring what others said of the subject, Laurie added that too heavy of a focus could lead people to overemphasize eschatology, which runs the risk of becoming spiritually unhealthy if taken to the level of “date setting or something that even appears to be date setting.”36
Regardless of uncertainties and where people land in the eschatological debate, though, Rhodes encouraged believers to educate themselves on matters surrounding the end times and to try come down on one side or the other.
Next, we’ll look at the Rapture—perhaps the most contested and debated feature of eschatology.