ESCHATOLOGICAL MUSINGS

In the past year or so I've been starting an investigation of sorts into what I believe about eschatology. To give a brief history: my first introduction to eschatology as a new believer was Hal Lindsey. For the next ten years or so of my Christian life I just assumed that what I now know as the dispensational premillennial position was all there was. I even purchased a book from a seminary bookstore debating the pre-, post- and mid-trib positions but never got around to reading it (babies, ya know!). I started out accepting the pre-trib position without question, then a seminary student friend of mine sort of convinced me of the post-trib position. Then my pastor gave a sermon outlining why he believed the mid-trib position. My head was spinning. Other questions started creeping in when I started reading and listening to teachers of the Reformed persuasion. They would throw around words such as "dispensational" and "millennial" and I wouldn't know what they were talking about. So slowly I began an investigation of the history of eschatology in the church. I learned what the four major millennial positions believed at least. But who was correct? Recently, I read Keith Mathison's book Rightly Dividing the People of God. He convincingly argues that we should not divide up the scriptures and Israel and the church. God has one plan for all His people. It just makes sense when you read all of Scripture as telling one story of the redemption of all of God's people. Right now I've been slowly reading through another of Mathison's works, Postmillennialism: An Eschatology of Hope. I'm not ready yet to say I'm totally convinced of this view let alone able to defend it HOWEVER, his book is opening my eyes to Scriptures I'd never considered before in the eschatological debate. I assumed that if only I could figure out Revelation and Daniel and certain NT epistles I'd be set. "No," says Mathison. He reveals that an eschatology of dominion is woven throughout the Bible and is closely tied to the view of the nature of the Kingdom of God and Christ's kingship at this moment. This is really opening my eyes. At the same time, I am reading David Chilton's book Paradise Restored online at freebooks.com. This book is well thought out and easy to understand. When I started this journey, I thought that your view of eschatology was just a side issue and not worthy of debate. Now I'm beginning to see how important it really is to your faith and the way you live. More later...