Eschatology

Brief overview, starting with passages of the bible, and ending with a dozen resources for further study


First a basic philosophy and history lesson.
>Jesus came to be the saviour of man, and indeed he was
>The jews rejected Him, rather wanting a physical ruler on the Earth instead of a spiritual King of Heaven.
>The second Temple was destroyed as a direct result of their rejection (Luke 21, Mark 13)
>Christianity started with faithful jews who believed and became Christians.  The rest vehemently rejected Jesus and Christians, to the point of curses and death (Literally just read the gospels and Acts, along with Titus, Galatians, etc)
>Rev 2:9, 3:9  Jeremiah 8:17, Matthew 3:7, Matthew 12:34, Matthew 23:33, Luke 3:7
>Clearly God is aware of the animosity of these people, and gave us ample warnings
>Acts 4:12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."  Salvation is of CHRIST ALONE.
>Dispensationlism has 2 core doctrines-  1, Jews will be saved apart from Christ because of their blood (contradicting Matthew 27:25, which if anything, would make them cursed for their blood) and 2, The church will fail to convert the world, and only the smallest remnant gets saved.  (Addressed largely below)


# He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

# He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”
-Matthew 13:31-33

Here Jesus is saying the Kingdom of heaven will grow to be the biggest plant in the garden, and then again, he immediately follows up by saying it is like leaven and it will spread until the flour (the world) was "ALL leavened."
*Not to be confused with universalism.  It is not that all are saved, but that the entire world is Christianized and ruled by Christendom.


# And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
-Matthew 28:18-20

Many things are being said here.  The most clear is the great commission.  The church is commanded to go and spread the gospel, to grow the Kingdom of heaven.  God makes it grow, but he uses us to do it.  He commands us to make disciples of "ALL nations" and he is with us, therefore failure is not an option.  The church does not fail, the Kingdom of God does not fail, it grows until it reaches its full extent.  Many OT passages point to this

See Psalms 2, 72, 110  https://biblehub.com/esv/psalms/2.htm
These are all about Jesus ruling the Earth, as he has been ever since he ascended.  He is sitting on the Throne, right now. See also Isaiah 2.

#"The Lord swore to David an oath from which he will not turn back,"
-Psalm 132:11

#"His dominion is an everlasting dominion[...] and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed"
-Daniel 7:14


There is already a lot here, I may come back and edit to add to it, but for now it is a good start.  A crash course of sorts.  I will continue by listing many resources for those who have ears to hear... learning starts with humility.  We must accept that we are capable of being wrong in order to learn.  The love of truth must be the most important thing to us, and since Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life" I do not think loving truth could possible be a bad thing.  Everything must be studied exegetically, but many who think they do this, are using a lens that culture gave them their entire lives and thus they are blind to its existence.  (See the 3rd video link below)


Videos:

A relatively longer set, but extremely accessible.  Well spoken, and clearly explained.  This pastor has friends who are Calvary Chapel, as he mentions in one of these sermons.  8 sermons, easy listening:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_9qlOmzFeL6hfQ0vTiM2t4krlaUllJ_E


This list contains many sermons by a pastor who spent decades preaching Dispensationalism, but felt it on his heart to look deeper, and realized it was in error.  First two in the list are a great overview of eschatology for beginners, and only 2 hours to watch/listen to:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa8kQ5K23-dCjajo5RwEBEbRs9utA4s9Z


Single sermon about how having a particular lens affects everything you read in the bible and prevents exegetic study:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc7MxwkeHbQ


Websites:

This website is full of information (and answers to objections, questions) and is run by one of the best exegetical teachers I have ever read.  His books are excellent too, see Gentry in the book list below
https://postmillennialworldview.com/2024/02/02/israel-and-gods-people-1/

Sermons about the Kingdom and Eschatology:
https://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?sourceOnly=true&currSection=sermonssource&keyword=chalcedon&subsetcat=series&subsetitem=Kingdom%2C+Church%2C+Eschatology


Books:

Thy Kingdom Come: Studies in Daniel and Revelation
by Rushdoony, Rousas John

He Shall Have Dominion: A Postmillennial Eschatology
by Gentry, Kenneth L. Jr.

The Israel of God in Prophecy: Principles of Prophetic Interpretation
by Larondelle, Hans K.

An Eschatology of Victory
by Kik, J. Marcellus

Dispensationalism, Rightly Dividing the People of God?  | ***Heavily recommended for church leadership***
by Mathison, Keith A

Perilous Times: A Study in Eschatological Evil
by Gentry, Kenneth L. Jr.

Postmillennialsm Made Easy
by Gentry, Kenneth L. Jr.

The Book of Revelation Made Easy: You Can Understand Bible Prophecy
by Gentry, Kenneth L. Jr.

Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation
by Gentry, Kenneth L. Jr.

Jesus Victorious Kingdom
by Otis, John M.
https://gnbscourses.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Jesus-Victorious-Kingdom-booklet-original.pdf

On The Jews and Their Lies
by Martin Luther  (This book is extremely relevant to eschatology, as he explains a lot of it and how/why dispensationalism became popular 300 years after his death)