It was not that long ago, when I went out to eat at a restaurant, that I found one of the servers was not there.  Not that unusual.  People need time off.  They might also be suffering from a cold or the flu. It’s always good when restaurant servers are looking out for both themselves as well as their customers.  But alas, none of these reasons related to this case.  In this case, the server in question had believed a theory that the world was going to end on that day.  She had, by the reports I heard, been frightened.  I am not sure, but I pictured her cowering under her blanket at home, awaiting the inevitable. I never heard how the matter turned out.  Did 12:01 in the morning strike, and to her amazement, she went to the window to discover the world was going on as before?  Did she show up the next day and announce she was better now?  As curious as I was about the outcome, I still believe that when people make foolish and embarrassing mistakes, one should afford them some dignity to try and recover.

I write these words because, once again, a false rumour had circulated that the rapture would occur on September 23 or 24 of this year.  If you missed it, you also missed an opportunity to again track the gullible and easily misled.  Furthermore, these kinds of predictions now happen with such frequency, one can hardly blame the average person for having lost interest and not take notice.  “Oh, another prediction of the end of the world?”  That is followed by a yawn.  “What’s new?”

When I was a young man, there was a rather persistent belief among not a few evangelicals, who insisted that Israel’s becoming a nation in 1948 triggered the “eschatological calendar”.  The generation that was alive during those events, we were told, would not pass away until the Lord returned.  Initially, it was strongly argued that a biblical generation was 40 years.  And then, years were added to that.

Given this miserable track record of predicting the Lord’s coming, some Christians have lost all interest in the study of eschatology.  “What is the point of it?”, they ask.  “Jesus will come on his own timetable.  Nothing can be solved through endless faulty speculation.”

I am tempted to articulate the difference between responsible and irresponsible eschatology.  For there is a vast difference between using proper methods of Bible study when approaching end times texts, and the kind of speculation that results in looking at contemporary events and seeing them as evidence that we are now in the end times.  But instead of addressing that matter, let me suggest that the outcome of a good eschatology is transformative.  It sets the course of a life.

How so?  I will suggest 4 practical benefits:

1. A good eschatology is a motivator for ethical living. It leads to a life of holiness.  Consider 2 Peter 3:11–12.  “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,  waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!”  Notice that since this world is ending and a new one is coming, eschatology teaches us not to put our hope in this world, but rather in the eternal one to come.  Once having deeply drunk of that mindset, our values, our moral choices, and the affections of our hearts are drawn toward that which is eternal.  We can’t help but live differently.

2. A good eschatology is a motivator towards evangelism and mission. Again, our passage in 2 Peter teaches us that.  If Jesus taught that His gospel would be preached to all nations, and then the end would come, we engage fully in the task of the great commission knowing we are hastening the end.

3. A good eschatology provides courage and hope through life’s trials and sorrows. The key word here is “HOPE”.  Those without hope see the sufferings and setbacks of life as utterly crippling.  It seems to them that their best days are behind them.  A good eschatology focuses our attention on the good news that our best days are ahead.

4. A good eschatology redoubles our love and affection for Jesus our Lord. It is not coincidence that the book of Revelation is filled with hymns of adoration, praise and worship for Jesus.  A good eschatology does not make the end of the world its central focus.  Rather, it is the visible appearance of Jesus.  And this will direct all that our hearts desire.

Unlike the restaurant server who may have hidden under her blanket as she awaited the end of the world, a good eschatology causes us to lift up our heads.  Our redemption draws nigh!