What does the Bible say about eschatology?

• Daniel 7, judgment for the holy ones
• Daniel 9:20–27, eschatological visions 
• Matthew 24:1–14, the end will come, and this is good news
• Matthew 24:15–28, false messiahs and prophets will come
• Matthew 24:29–51, no one knows the day or hour
• Matthew 25:31–46, all the nations will be gathered around when the Son of Man comes
• Mark 13, God will gather the elect from the ends of the earth
• 1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11, the Lord will descend with the sound of God's trumpet
• Revelation 1, John testifies to eschatological visions 
• Revelation 4–7, the throne room of God
• Revelation 8–11, seven angels before God
• Revelation 12–16, let anyone calculate the exact time with wisdom
• Revelation 17–19, another angel
• Revelation 20–22, a new heaven and a new earth

Sermon ideas about eschatology

Apocalypse 

What new perspectives can we share in sermons on eschatology? Frequently, apocalypse is used as a synonym for prophecy. However, they are distinct literary forms rooted in the ancient Near East. The difference between the two can be summarized by repurposing a quotation from author and humorist Finley Peter Dunne. Prophecy is intended to "afflict the comfortable"; apocalypse is intended to "comfort the afflicted." Prophecy calls out sin, cries out for repentance, and longs for the restoration of right relationship with God. Apocalypse raises up the pain and suffering of powerless and marginalized people and craftily subverts the oppressors with a statement of God's ultimate and eternal reign. When we write sermons on apocalyptic texts, we would do well to calibrate our preaching toward the texts' original comforting intent. 

In the future? 

People often read apocalyptic texts as future history: this is what will happen someday. However, apocalypse is most often concerned with the pressing present moment of its recipients and their very real suffering. It is a forth-telling rather than a foretelling, and sermons on eschatology can make this clear. 

What does 'the end' mean? 

New Testament texts such as Mark 13 and Matthew 24 show a strong concern with the end of the world. In our culture, this concern is sometimes manifested by people wearing signs or reading books proclaiming that the end of the world is near. The Greek word for "end" is telos, the root for the English word teleology—the study of the purpose of things. Rather than thinking of The End as two words at the conclusion of the history of the world, we might rather think in terms of the goal or the purpose of the world. 

Rethinking rapture 

A sermon on eschatology can explore the strange scene, not duplicated elsewhere in the New Testament, found in 1 Thessalonians 4. Its most logical scriptural connection is the Old Testament practice of citizens flooding out of the city gates to meet a warrior or army returning from battle, escorting them back into the city in an ancient version of a hero's welcome or a ticker-tape parade. This image flips popular conceptions of the rapture on their head: We are not raptured, teleported away from the world; rather, we are enraptured of the King who is coming to rule among us. 

Empire and kingdom 

Since apocalyptic literature is most often written to afflicted and marginalized people, it is also designed to slip by the censors, as it were. The images of terrifying creatures, the scenes of a world other than our own, read as nonsense to those in power. To those who are oppressed, the images are an inside joke, subverting the empire and proclaiming the kingdom. 

Does it even matter? 

What is at stake in the study of eschatology? Much more than listeners to sermons on eschatology may think: 

• The character of God—Is God biding time before setting the world on fire? Or is God waiting and working toward the establishment of Christ's kingdom on earth?  
• The creation—Is it all destined for extinction while we "fly away, O glory"? Or is Christ's kingdom going to be established on earth? The answers to these questions affect whether or how we care for the planet.
• Citizenship and power—Does God have anything to say about the violence of corrupt, exploitative nations and entities? Is God on the side of those with power or those without it? Where will we stand as a result of where we understand God to be standing?  
• Vocation—Are only souls going to make it to eternal life, in which case any activity but evangelism is a waste? Or do all things that reflect God's beauty, justice, and compassion last into Christ's kingdom? Do we really believe what we sing at Christmastime: "He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found"?