The Heaven And Hell Investigation: Where, When, And How Series

We move on to our next question of how...how will God bring all of these things to pass....what will it be like? Again, we stay here in First Thessalonians 4...we’ll reread verse 16 and go on to verse 18.

One of the hottest topics for discussion in Christianity today is how will this ushering in of the kingdom...the return of Christ...how will it take place? This is an area of much disagreement among Christians of all denominations and even amongst those of the same denomination.

The theological term for a person’s view on the events of the return of Christ is eschatology. This word has absolutely no bearing on our discussion today...but it might be the question on Final Jeopardy one day and you might win a lot of money one of these days. So...what is your particular eschatology? What have you been taught...what is it you believe? I can tell you what the traditional view of the Christian Church and the Churches of Christ has been. It is called an amillenial view of the return of Christ.

Now, all of these "major" beliefs are tied to the 1,000-year binding of Satan that is recorded in Revelation chapter 20. Now amillenial literally means "against" or "not believing" in the millennium. The Reader’s Digest version of this view is that this 1,000 year binding of Satan is a metaphor...there will be no Earthly kingdom of Christ...instead he will simply appear...judge those on the Earth and those who are resurrected...and the Earth will be consumed by fire. That is amilleniumism in a nutshell.

The second predominant eschatological view out there is called premilleniumism. If you want an entertaining but lengthy lesson on this theory then the Left Behind fiction series is a great thing to read. There are about 15 books in the series but they are an awesome read. The quick version of this view is that there will be a Rapture of the church...Christ will take all the believers away from the Earth and leave the unbelievers behind. There are several scriptures used to back this belief...one being Jesus’ discourse in Matthew 24. So, the church will be raptured...and those who are left behind will undergo seven years of tribulation...it will bring the rise of the Antichrist...the mark of the beast....and it will conclude with a great battle called Armageddon...with Christ and the armies of Heaven emerging victorious and Christ establishing a 1,000 year kingdom on Earth with Satan being bound during that millennium...after that will be the final judgment and the beginning of an eternity in Heaven or in Hell.

So, Mike, you might ask, which is correct? And my answer to that is I don’t know....there is backing for each view in scripture...it all depends on the way you interpret scripture and your view of prophecy in the Bible...especially the book of Revelation. Some see Revelation as being futuristic prophecy that is still to be fulfilled and others see it as being already fulfilled. Each belief can be defended.

My personal belief is in the amillenial explanation. I base this on two things: First the book of Revelation was written to the seven churches of Asia. John writes in chapter 1:4 of that book that he is addressing this book to them...that leads me to believe that this was a prophecy for them. Now, those who hold a premillenial view would say that this was just "cluing" them in on the end of time much like it is cluing us in...and I concede that point. Like I said, you can defend either belief.