END TIMES DEFINITION & TERMINOLOGY
The end times refers to the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Definition of the end times.
The end times or apocalypse or eschatology refers to the study of Christianity’s teachings about the events leading up to the second coming or return of Jesus Christ,
when God will judge everyone and will bring an end to the world as we know it. Authentic Christians will rule and have a loving eternal relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in the new heaven and new earth. God will banish from God’s presence in hell for eternity, those who do not repent of their sinful lifestyle without God and accept God’s gracious free offer of an eternal relationship with God through Jesus as their spiritual Savior/Forgiver, and Lord/Leader. (Romans 8:18-23; Ephesians 1:9-10; Hebrews 12:2; Revelation 20:1-15, 21:1-27). The book of Revelation has a lot to say about the end times.
Two common errors when studying the end times.
There are two common and opposite errors when studying the end times and Revelation. The first error is to obsess, speculate, and endlessly debate about the end times and the various interpretation views of the end times. The second error is to ignore the end times, because it is difficult to fully understand the end times due to the highly symbolic prophetic Scripture language in the book of Revelation and other books of the Bible. Instead, Christians should study and seek to understand what the Scriptures have to say about the end times, keeping in mind that Jesus is the central focus of the end times. As Jesus responded to the religious teachers who questioned his messianic credentials, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me” (John 5:39 NIV). The resurrected Jesus appeared to two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus and he began “with Moses and all the Prophets” and showed them how he was the central subject of “all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27 NIV). Timothy Paul Jones, Rose Guide to End-Times Prophecy (Peabody, MS: Rose Publishing, 2011), 3-5.
End times terminology.
When studying the end times, it is helpful to understand the following most common end times terminology.
Church age. The “church age” is the time period beginning with the establishment of the Christian church in about AD 30 (Acts 2:42-47) until Jesus Christ returns to earth to take Christians with him to the place he prepared in Father God’s house (heaven), as Jesus promised (John 14:1-4).
Day of the Lord. The “day of the Lord” is any time when God clearly and decisively demonstrates his reign over the earth by vindicating people who are faithful to God or by purifying people for God’s glory. It is not one particular day, but any time when God acts convincingly to demonstrate God’s sovereignty. Each “day of the Lord” throughout history is a type or an illustration that points to “the last day,” which is the final day of the Lord when God establishes his reign once and for all. The characteristics of the “day of the Lord” include: judgement (Isaiah 13:6-9; Jeremiah 46:10; Amos 5:18, 20; Zephaniah 1:7, 14; 1 Corinthians 5:5); salvation (Joel 2:30-32; Acts 2:20-21); cataclysmic wonders (Jeremiah 46:10; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-10); day of rescue (Joel 2:32); and final victory (Zephaniah 1:14-18; 2 Peter 3:13). Jones, Rose Guide to End-Times Prophecy, 129.
First coming of Jesus Christ. The “first coming of Jesus Christ” is his life and ministry on earth as fully God and fully Man from about 3 BC-AD 30.
Millennium. The “millennium” is described in Revelation chapter 20 and describes Jesus Christ’s return and reign on the earth for a thousand years, or some other time period if you construe “thousand years” figuratively. But Jesus will reign over the new heaven and new earth for eternity, not just during the millennium. The millennium has been subject to debate throughout church history.
Revelation 20 reveals that when Jesus Christ returns to the earth, he will reign and judge for a millennium (either a literal or figurative thousand-year period) with resurrected Christian martyred saints that would not worship Satan’s beast or its image, and did not receive its mark on their foreheads and hands. Angels from heaven will bind Satan and lock and seal him in Abyss for a thousand years to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore. Thereafter, Satan will be set free for a short time and he will deceive the nations of the four corners of the earth and gather them to battle Jesus and God’s people. Then a fire from heaven will come down and devour the nations and Jesus will judge and defeat Satan and banish him and his beast and false prophet to “the lake of burning sulfur” (hell) where “they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:1-10 summary and NIV as quoted). The millennium will be like a preview of the new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21:1-27). But children will still be born during the millennium, and many of those children will still reject God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Even the improved living conditions of the millennium with no Satan, and Jesus as the ultimate perfect ruler, is not enough to overcome human sin and rebellion against God.
After the millennium, the dead will be resurrected and stand before Jesus on the “great white throne.” Jesus will judge them according to what they did. Those who rejected God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit and whose names are “not found written in the book of life” will be “thrown into the lake of fire” (hell) (Revelation 20:11-15 NIV).
Christian theologians differ over whether the millennium should be understood as a literal thousand-year reign, and when it should take place in relation to second coming of Christ. Christians generally believe in in one of the three views of the millennium: postmillennial (Jesus returns after the millennium), premillennial (Jesus returns before the millennium), or amillennial (Jesus presently reigns over the world and with Christians).
Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2004), 138-143.
Rapture. The “rapture” is an event described in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, when Jesus returns for his people and raptures or carries them away to heaven. “For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (ESV).
Some Christians (dispensational premillennialists) believe that the rapture and the second coming of Jesus are two separate events. They believe the rapture will occur before the great tribulation. The second coming of Jesus will occur after the tribulation. “Other Christians (historical premillennialists, amillennialists, and “postmillennialists”)” believe that the second coming of Jesus and the alleged rapture event are the same event.”
Second coming of Jesus Christ. The “second coming of Jesus Christ” is the return of Jesus to earth to rule as the King of kings.
Tribulation. The “tribulation” or “great tribulation” is the time when disasters occur on earth and Christians suffer intense persecution for 7 years, or during God’s complete timing, or throughout church history.