AN INDEX TO THE EVOLUTION OF THE ESCHATON

We now sketch the evolution of eschatology and note its major revisions as we give a rapid summary of the many ways the world might have ended throughout history. The following end-time scenarios (or eschatons) are central lines of prophecy. Each line was a possible trajectory for history and had with it, understood or implied conditions for its realization.

Plan "A"

We reserve the term "plan A" for what would have occurred had God’s special covenant people turned to HIM and been steadfast in their faith at any time in the distant past. Keep in mind the most glorious possibilities that began upon their entrance into the promised land till their brightest partial fulfillment of the divine will in the time of Solomon. The SDA.BC (Vol 4, pp. 25-38) presents a good picture of this scenario, as does the book, Christ’s Object Lessons (pp. 284-290).

God, in about 1000BC, made an incredible promise to David: From that time forward, the nation was to enjoy rest from all her enemies, never to be troubled again. A house to the Lord would be built and it and the kingdom and the throne of David were to endure forever (see 2 Sam 7:8-17,25, 1 Chr 17:7-15). These words appear unconditional but, as in all the promises of God, as David clearly understood, covenant conditions apply (1 Ki 2:1-4, 1 Chr 22:6-13). Solomon understood similarly (1 Ki 9:1-9 2 Chr 7:11-22). Also see Ps 89:3,4,22-28 & Ps 132:11-12. While the covenant was being kept, the nation Israel rapidly came to fulfill the ideal plans of God (1 Ki 10, 2 Chr 8-9) and the prayer of David (Ps 72). This came to a halt when Solomon turned from God (1 Ki 11). As time progressed, sin increased, and the possibility of returning to the originally intended fulfillment of plan "A" gradually lessened and gave way to alternative scenarios. With the failure of men to establish the kingdom, we are later told of a great Messiah that would come and fulfill the promise (Isa 9:1-7; 11:1-10, Dan 7:13,14, Lk 1:32,33).

The Day of Yahweh

Amos 5:18 is, chronologically, the first mention of the day of Yahweh in the Bible. "Ah you that eagerly desire the day of Yahweh! For what purpose will the day of Yahweh be to you. It will be darkness and not light."

John Bright comments: "It is clear from Amos’ words that he was not introducing some new concept thitherto unknown to his hearers, but was addressing people in whose minds the expectation of a day of Yahweh was already firmly entrenched. They were looking forward with eager anticipation to a day when God would once again intervene in history, smash the enemies of Israel and bring victory, deliverance, and blessing to His people." "Amos did not in any way dispute the validity of the day of Yahweh. He neither denied that there would be such a day, nor that it would be a day of disaster for the enemies of Yahweh. Rather, he took the popular hope for that day and stood it on its head. He said in effect: There will indeed be a day of Yahweh, but it will be a black day for Israel—for God regards Israel as an enemy and not as His people!" (Covenant and Promise, p. 20).

The day of Yahweh was no longer a day to be hoped for but a day to be feared, as in Isaiah 2:10-22, 13:6-16, chap 24&34 and Jer 4:23-29. It occupied a central position in prophetic eschatology from the eighth century BC onward. We will study its place in a variety of eschatologies.

Isaiah’s Eschatology

Isaiah, a contemporary of Amos, elaborates on the events surrounding the day of Yahweh. The basic outline may be grasped by reading 8:1—9:7 cf. 10:5—11:16. It says that the world was to end just after the destruction of Jerusalem by the then world power — Assyria. The added details are quite exciting: Micah 4:1-7 cf. Isa 2:1-4, 3:13—4:6, 19:18-25, 25:6-12, 27:6,12,13, chap 32, 33:17-24, 35:1-10. Isaiah has a mysteriously distant scenario in his book (Study Isa 13:1—14:23). Except for this, the consummation of history was ever close at hand:

"Is it not yet just a little while before Lebanon will be turned into a fertile field, and the fertile field will be considered as a forest? And on that day the deaf shall hear words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The afflicted also shall increase their gladness in the Lord, and the needy of mankind shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the ruthless will come to an end, and the scorner will be finished, indeed all who are intent on doing evil will be cut off" (29:17-20).

Because the people believed in Hezekiah’s claim that God would save the city, God did so and destroyed the Assyrian army (Isa 36—37, Jer 26:18,19, cf. 2 Chr 29—32, 2 Ki 18—19). This cancelled previous revelations and a new line of prophecy begins: Read Isaiah 40:3-11, 41:17-20, 42:1-13 45:14-17,25, 49:6-13,22-26, 51:3-11, 52:1-3,13—53:12, 54:3,13-17, 55:5, 56:1, 59:19-21, chap 60, 65:17-25. These promises are a divine summons that could have hastened an immediate fulfillment. The advent of a glorious future would have come just as soon as the people responded to the calling of the Holy Spirit; just as quickly as they had heard the invitation of God! Alternative scenarios were given to illustrate what would occur if the people rejected the divine summons. There is one of particular importance. Let me paraphrase it.

"When the Messiah comes for the redemption of His people and to execute vengeance on her enemies, He finds Himself all alone, without help. Seeing that His people have rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit, and being astonished that there was no one to uphold with salvation, He turns Himself to become their enemy and also fights against them (cf. Isa 63:1-6,10).

Here, on the day of vengeance, in the year for ransoming His own, (always taken together, Isa 34:8, 35:4-7, 61:2, 63:4), all nations and all peoples are trampled down in anger; Their life-blood covers the earth. Recall Isaiah 34. It is a remarkably similar description.

Jeremiah’s Eschatology

Wickedness reached a new high in Jeremiah’s time, so he and other contemporary prophets warned that God would soon execute the terms of His covenant and punish the nation for her sins (Hab 1, Jer 4:5-8,14-18, 5:1-19, 6:1-26, Ezk 6—8). These were not spiritless predictions. The people had a chance to repent and thus avert an otherwise certain catastrophe (Jer 7:1-7, 17:19-27, 26:1-13,19). Jer 25:1-14 records the lengthy struggle. Judgment eventually came. Mingled with their predictions of impending destruction is an excellent example of the divine summons: the heavenly calling to work with God and to establish the Messianic kingdom immediately after the Babylonian captivity:

Jeremiah 3:12-18, 23:1-8, 24:6,7, 29:10-14, 30:1—31:14, 31:23-25, 31:31-37, 32:37-42, 33:6-9, 33:14-18.

"God purposed, after seventy years of exile, to restore His people to the Land of Promise, to renew His covenant, and to carry out His original plan for them. All that had been promised might yet come to pass if they learned the lesson that bitter experience was designed to teach" (Raymond Cottrell).

"This promise of blessing should have met fulfillment in large measure during the centuries following the return of the Israelites from the lands of their captivity" (Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 703).

It is not as though the word of God has failed. Jeremiah repeatedly taught that the outcome of future events is not fixed but depends on the response to the promises and threatenings of God (Jer 12:15-17, 18:7-10).

"At the end of the years of humiliating exile, God graciously gave to His people Israel, through Zechariah, the assurance: ‘I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain.’ And of His people He said, ‘Behold, ... I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness’ (Zech 8:3,7,8).

"These promises were conditional on obedience. The sins that had characterized the Israelites prior to the captivity, were not to be repeated...Rich were the rewards, both temporal and spiritual, promised those who should put into practice these principles of righteousness: Zech 7:9,10; 8:12,13,16.

"...Under the leadership of Zerubbabel, of Ezra, and of Nehemiah they [the returned exiles] repeatedly covenanted to keep all the commandments and ordinances of Jehovah. The seasons of prosperity that followed gave ample evidence of God’s willingness to accept and forgive, and yet with fatal shortsightedness they turned again and again from their glorious destiny and selfishly appropriated to themselves that which would have brought healing and spiritual life to countless multitudes. This failure to fulfill the divine purpose was very apparent in Malachi’s day" (Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, pp. 704-705).

We now study what would have happened had God’s people been faithful.

THE FINAL END-TIME BATTLE

Ezekiel’s Version:

Read chapters 38 and 39.

Notice that there are (mingled together) two recountings of the fate of Gog’s hordes (39:3,4,17-20 cf. 38:18-23, 39:8-16). According to the most up-to-date prophecy [the book of Revelation], this battle is long delayed and occurs after a distant millennium. It is against the New Jerusalem and all the nations are now being assembled (Rev 16:13,14). This modified eschaton has the same variations. One version in Rev 19:11-21, another in Rev 20:7-9. It contains three conflicting accounts of death for the wicked: Rev 19:17,18,21 & Rev 20:9 & Rev 20:11-15. This is a literary device. The different descriptions, each given in terms of exact details, clarify in picture form the certain fate of the wicked. The particular method of execution, however, is God’s option.

Now study Zechariah’s account of the End-time battle; chapters 12-14.

Exercise:

Study the earlier accounts of the eschatological gathering of nations (Isa 29:1-8, 66:14b-24, Joel 3:1-2, 9-21, Obad 15,16, Zeph 1:7-18 cf. 3:8). Formulate the general theory and explain its dynamics; Notice the relation to the Day of Yahweh, and memorize the historically conditioned variables.

Ezekiel’s eschatology is much the same as Jeremiah’s (Ezk 11:17-21, 28:25,26, 34:23-30, 36:24-36, 37:21-28, 43:5-7). Zechariah’s is similar and its many details hint of an interesting conjecture (Zech 2, 8:20-23, 9:9-17): The longer time lasts, the more ineffective plan "A" becomes. The longer the delay, the less is its impact on the world. While plan A was always conceivable, its realization became less and less possible. It could have been realized in the first century (EGW, The Desire of Ages, p. 577) but now, in the final scenario, after the long drawn out history of sin and rebellion, its fulfillment at the end of the age is hardly recognizable (Rev 21:24-27). It is more like a flashback to the way its fulfillment was originally envisioned (Isa 60—61:9, Chap 62, 52:1, 49:6,22,23). The principle operating in the book of Revelation, it seems, is that all prophecy, in essence, reaches complete fulfillment. This may be seen in Isaiah’s vision of the great end-time banquet: Isaiah 25:6-12 was to occur on the earth in the ancient historical setting of Isaiah’s time. It will still take place at the end of the age according to the prophetic word but its fulfillment will now take place in heaven (Rev 19:7-10).

Daniel’s Eschatology

Daniel introduces an eschatology unlike any other in the OT. There is no gathering of nations against Jerusalem for battle, no great and terrible day of the Lord. Instead, the notion of an antiChrist is introduced. One such antiChrist not only brings tribulation on Jerusalem, but on the entire world as well. Daniel, we will find, foretells of an antiChrist coming at the end of both Greek and Roman domination.

"In the Hebrew Bible the book of Daniel has been assigned to the third division of the Hebrew canon, ‘the Writings,’ rather than to the second, in which the prophetic books occur. This appears to have been the common practice in Judaism long before the supposed Council of Jamnia, and seems to have been based upon the conviction that Daniel could not be regarded as a prophet in the same sense as Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel. The Talmud indicates clearly that Daniel was never placed among such prophets (Baba Bathra 15a)." — R.K. Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament, p. 1106.

We suppose therefore that Daniel, from the beginning, was understood to be a sacred book, but that his prophecies were so out of harmony with previous revelations that they were not considered as factual but were viewed only as wisdom literature for a long time. No doubt the most distasteful and contrasting feature of this vision is that of its central message—a long delay before the coming Messianic kingdom where the nation Israel would be trampled by other empires until then, with history culminating in terrible persecution.

From the lesson of God’s chastisement with the Babylonian captivity, which by the words of the prophet Jeremiah was to be for 70 years, and in accordance with the covenant, if the Jews would still be unrepentant at the end of that time, God would then punish them 7 times more for their sins (Lev 26:18,21,24,28). The 7 times 70 years of Daniel 9:24 is therefore, by itself, a message that explains the vision. God has presented before the exiles in Babylon what events might transpire if they continued to transgress His commandments. This vision then is a warning, an illustration of the out-working of continued disobedience. [Note: Nearly all agree that multiples of seven years are being referred to in Da 9:24-27, a week representing seven years. Actually, this Hebrew word for week is better translated seven as in the NIV].

The book of Daniel is to be understood in its contrast to the then accepted prophetic view of the future. And the expectation of that time was that the Messianic kingdom would be established shortly after the Babylonian captivity. Certainly such a scenario would have been realized if the people had faith in the promises of God. But disbelief nullifies God’s promises (James 1:7). So God now warns of the outcome of continued rebellion—repeated punishment and delay of the kingdom. That our guess is correct, as we will shortly prove, demonstrates the usefulness of trying to understand the dynamics of prophecy and the uniqueness of each prophetic message in relation to its transition in the evolution of Biblical eschatology.

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