The Scientist's View⤒🔗

In his famous work Reformed Dogmatics, Dr. Herman Bavinck devotes a fairly large section to the subject of Eschatology or The Doctrine of the Last Things. In one of the chapters in that section, entitled Visions of the End, the author sets forth the various views people hold regarding the end of the world. That the world is indeed coming to an end, Bavinck affirms. "Just as it is appointed for humans to die once," he writes, "so also there must come an end to the history of the world." As far as that goes, both science and religion are in complete agreement. He then lists a number of reasons why according to science, this world is headed for extinction. For example, the rotational speed of the earth is decreasing by at least one second every 600,000 years and although this may seem a rather negligible change, it will eventually, after billions of years, add up to such a reversal in the relation between day and night, that life will come to an end. Also, the rotation of the earth is continually being slowed down by the alternation of high and low tides which decreases the supply of kinetic energy, which in turn causes the earth to move ever closer to the sun until it will be swallowed up by the latter.

The Humanist View←⤒🔗

Despite these pessimistic scenarios predicted by many scientists, there are others who entertain much more optimistic expectations regarding the world's duration. Humanists, encouraged by the evolutionary hypothesis, believe that man will eventually outgrow whatever undesirable and unpleasant traits he inherited from his animal ancestors and create a better world with justice and happiness for all. Following Kant and other ethical philosophers, they envision a future in which the king­dom of God will embrace all humankind so that all will enjoy the blessings of the Enlightenment.

But as Bavinck points out, there is no basis for these optimistic expectations. Even if such a happy world as envisioned by humanists and socialists were to become reality, man would still have to face the reality of death. Even if evolution will culminate in a "golden age," that age will also vanish in time, together with those who enjoyed its benefits. As they face the future, evolution­ists are hard put to "give a reason for the hope that is in them." Looking back on the history of the world and the human race, they have no real and satisfactory answer to such questions as, for what purpose does everything happen or to what end does humanity with all of its struggles, fears, hopes, dreams, achievements in arts and sciences, exist? Bavinck quotes one Otto Rhyn who at the end of his History of Culture predicts that one day all humankind, along with its culture, will disappear without a trace. "One day everything we have accomplished will be nowhere to be found," he says, and the only comfort he is able to cling to is that "it will be a long time before we will get there."

Religion's Alternative View←⤒🔗

Are we forced to choose between the pessimism of science and the (false) optimism of the evolutionists? Bavinck points out that religion has never been comfortable with the notion of endless development or with the idea of a total ruination of the world. The reason why religion rejects these hypotheses is that they are based on the assumption that the cosmos operates on forces contained within it. They do not take into account that there is a divine power that governs the world and that will ultimately, by direct intervention, see to it that the world will fulfil the purpose for which it has been brought into existence. All religions, therefore, not just Christianity, but all religions, have a fundamentally different outlook on the future of the world and humanity. All of them include the notion of a struggle between good and evil and hold out the prospect of the ultimate victory of the former and the destruction of the latter. The virtuous will be rewarded and the wicked punished. The agency that will bring about this welcome denouement of history will come from outside the cosmos. It will involve a supernatural or divine intervention, which, most believe, will be sudden, swift and cataclysmic.

The ancient Persians looked for the appearance of Zarathustra's third son, Saoshyant, who would introduce a thousand-year kingdom of peace and complete his father's redemptive work on earth. Muslims expected the arrival of a Mandi who would take the faithful back to the golden age of the "four righteous Khalifs."

Bavinck, of course, is mostly interested in Jewish eschatological expectations. The future hopes of Israel, he says, were based on the foundation of God's covenant with Abraham and his seed. That covenant is everlasting and remains in force despite Israel's unfaithfulness. Although God warns His people repeatedly that He will visit violators of his covenant with severe punishments, He will temper His judgments with mercy and have compassion on them again. Bavinck writes:

When on account of its sins Israel is scattered among the nations and its land is devastated, in that day the Lord will arouse his people to jealousy by his acceptance of other peoples, bring them to repentance and lead them back to their own country, bless them with innumerable spiritual and material blessings, and bring vengeance on all their enemies (Lev. 26; Deut. 4:23-31; 30:1-10; 32:15-43).

One prominent feature of the messages delivered by the prophets is the notion of judgment. All the prophets speak of a fearful Day of Judgment and pun­ishment to come. But the people often misinterpreted this yom YHWH. They took for granted that they, the people of the covenant, had nothing to fear from the coming judgment day. They ignored what the prophets had clearly stated, namely that the day of the Lord would be a Day of Judgment for Israel as well as the other nations. Because of their sins, especially the sin of idolatry, they would be exiled and their land devastat­ed. The Lord did promise, however, that this exile would be temporary. Upon their repentance, a repentance produced by God's Spirit (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:25-28), they would be allowed to return to their land and a time of great prosperity in the restored king­dom of God would ensue.

The Jews' Tragic Misunderstanding←⤒🔗

Again, the Jews largely misunderstood this promise. When they returned to their land, they did so fully resolved never to commit idolatry again. With great zeal they devoted themselves to studying and observing the law, while separating themselves from any sinful alliances with their pagan neighbours (Neh. 8-10). While their zeal was commendable, the problem was that it increasingly turned into self-righteousness and pride.

This passion for strict observance of the Torah reached its climax during the period of the Maccabees, when many Jews gladly suffered torture and martyrdom rather than betray their devotion to God and the law (2 Macc. 5-7). However, in spite of Israel's devotion to the law of God, the kingdom of God did not come. Instead, another kingdom appeared on the stage of history, namely that of the Seleucids. Their king, Antiochus Epiphanes, annexed the nation of Israel and tried to turn the Jews away from their fanatical devotion to the law and to force them to adopt a Greek world and life view. Terrible persecutions took place during this period and even though it was followed by a century of Jewish independence, the increasing worldliness and Greek-loving ways of the Hasmonaean rulers was a clear indication to the faithful that the kingdom of God had not arrived yet. When general Pompey occupied Palestine in 63 B.C., all hopes for Jewish sovereignty were crushed under the iron foot of Rome.

Throughout this period, known as the intertestamentary period, God remained silent. He sent no prophet to explain why the kingdom had not come as promised earlier. During that long silent period there was no one authorized to say "thus saith the Lord" and to interpret to the perplexed people of God the riddle of the suffering of the righteous.

Apocalyptic Writings←⤒🔗

It is out of this perplexity on the part of faithful, frustrated Jews that a whole new body of literature arose: the apocalyptic writings. The word "apocalyptic" means "revelation" or "unveiling" and is derived from the New Testament book of that name (Rev. 1:1). This type of writing was produced between 200 B.C. and A.D. 100. We know the names of several apocalyptic writers, e.g., II Baruch, II Enoch, IV Ezra, and the Assumption of Moses. Some would include the books of Daniel and Revelation in this category, but although one finds apocalyptic language in these books, their content is markedly different from that found in non-Biblical apocalyptic writings.

Among the characteristic features of apocalyptic writings are the following:

Apocalyptic is patterned after the book of Daniel, but unlike Daniel which is inspired and canonical, apocalyptic is not inspired and therefore not part of Holy Scripture.

Apocalyptic is generally pseudepigraphic which means written by unknown authors who assume the name of some well-known Bible figure like Enoch and Ezra. Apocalyptic authors are mystics who have visions and dreams or use them as literary devices.

Apocalypse features much weird and gorgeous symbolism such as bizarre animals, demons, and angels and reports many heavenly conversations. Apocalypse is dualistic in that it emphasizes the struggle between the forces of light and darkness and the differentiation between this world and the world to come.

Apocalyptic is preoccupied with the coming day of judgment, when God will punish the enemies of His people and vindicate the righteous. It expects no improvement in this age, but looks for the cataclysmic in breaking of God's kingdom in the age to come. It generally takes a pessimistic view of history.

Apocalyptic has a world-flight mentality. Many apocalyptists withdrew from the world and as the faithful remnant awaited the manifestation of the day of wrath and deliverance (Qumran community, the Essenes).

There is an important difference between prophetic and apocalyptic writing. For the prophets, the central content of revelation was the will of God and the chief means of revelation was the word of God. Although they occasionally received revelations through dreams and visions, these were not their main "stock in trade." "Thus saith the Lord" was the burden of all their messages.

With the apocalyptists, the centre of interest has shifted. The living word of the Lord has given way to revelations and visions. God no longer speaks by His Spirit to the prophet. The seer learns the solution to the problem of evil and the coming of God's kingdom through dreams, visions or through heavenly journeys with angelic guides. By these means the apocalyptist discovers the secrets of the hidden world, the reason for the suffering of the righteous and when and how the kingdom will come.

The visions described in the apocalypses are for the most part not real visions at all, but literary fictions. Of course, these visionaries believed that they, like the prophets before them, had a real message from God to the people. But there was a real difference. The prophets, out of genuine experience, confronted the people with the will of God and urged them to heed that will. The apocalyptists, disillusioned over what they felt were unfulfilled promises of the prophets and the evils of their own times, used vision as a literary device to raise expectations of an imminent deliverance.

I mention all this to lay the groundwork for my contention that much of today's end-time speculation on the part of many prophecy teachers shows striking similarities with the methods employed by the apocalyptists. Like their ancient predecessors, modern apocalyptists also are a frustrated, pessimistic lot who no longer expect anything positive to happen in history. They rule out the possibility that God's kingdom will come in a gradual way, permeating the world like leaven in a batch of dough. The kingdom will break in suddenly, immanently and cataclysmically amid the crashing of thunder and lightning, worldwide earthquakes, tidal waves and whatever other phenomena are mentioned in the book of Revelation, which along with Daniel, is their main source of information.

What modern apocalyptists also have in common with their ancient counterparts is that the times are ripe for their type of message. History shows that end-time speculation and dooms-day predictions always find a receptive audience in times of turmoil and change. As Norman Cohn has noted: "Obsession with the end of the world tends to increase not when times are merely bad, but when they are unprecedentedly bad, when people are being uprooted and their traditional ways of life are being destroyed." Another scholar observes: "Apocalyptic fear nearly always arises in times of suppression, chaos, fear, or disadvantage."

One thousand years ago, in the 990's before the last millennium, the Christians of Europe's Dark Ages believed the end of the world was at hand. The early Christians believed the millennium would rescue them from Roman persecutions. During the Middle Ages bands of peasants led by charismatic preachers expected the millennium at any moment. The bond we share today with the people of past millennium eras is the sense of living in a time of enormous change. The last time the United States experienced such a deeply religious period was during the nineteenth century, when the country's economy changed from agriculture to industry. That century witnessed the creation of several major made-in-America religions: Mormons, Adventists, Jehovah Witnesses and Christian Scientists.

When people are buffeted about by change, the need for spiritual belief intensifies. Most seek reassurance in one of two ways: either through inner-directed, "trust the feeling inside " movements (New Age) or through outer directed, "this is the way it is" authoritarian religions. Both are flourishing today.

Prophets or Profits?←⤒🔗

One other reason, however, why apocalyptic end-time preaching is so popular is that it is a very lucrative business. Prophecy sells. Of this fact there is little doubt. In May 1997, the number one best-selling Christian nonfiction book was Day of Deception by John Hagee, the Pentecostal preacher who earlier wrote the New York Times best-seller Beginning of the End, another dooms­day tome.

Hal Lindsey, author of the all-time favourite The Late Great Planet Earth, has recently written another bestseller, Apocalypse Code, in an apparent attempt to cap­italize on the public's obsession with coded messages allegedly hidden in Scripture. He has even found spare time to write his own end-time novel, Blood Moon. It sets Armageddon in the near future and is based on prophetic scenarios he has been preaching for twenty-five years. One ad for it reads: "It's the 21^st century, and the tribulation has begun. Fasten your seatbelts ... you're in for the apocalyptic ride of your life!"

Obviously, the amount of cash that can be generated by doomsday related books is phenomenal. But written words are not the only provisions that doomsday peddlers offer to the information-starved public. They also sell videotapes that tantalize the visual senses with images of nuclear explosions, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and the horrors of war. To these pictures are invariably added a script complete with Bible "proof texts" and interviews with prophecy "experts," all of whom agree that the end is very near.

It would not be fair to paint all apocalyptic preachers with the same brush, insinuating that everyone does it for money. But there is no doubt that for many profit is, if not the main motive, one very important incentive. Witness the luxurious life-style many of these people display.

Even that would not matter too much if the messages presented by these prophetic teachers were true to Scripture. But are they?