My Eschatological Puzzle

 

 

 

Whether Idealist, Historicist,

Preterist or Futurist,

I am definitely positive

There is something they all miss.

 

With each of these four

There is an emphasis

And with their intended unique focus

Some information is dissed.

 

A focus on the past

As in the Preterist’s case

May very well overlook the future

In their eager haste.

 

Similarly, the Futurist,

Intent on their peculiar task

Could have inadvertently missed

The prophetic past.

 

Idealist and Historicist

Could be culpable too

Premising their summations

On a partial view.

 

 

Therein is my puzzle

Concerning any eschatology,

And thus, I refuse to be labelled

By any category.

 

I do believe, however,

Most prophecies are past

And I note that this is a position

Most have not grasped.

 

Prophecy fulfilled

Is a vindication of the Word

That God in his infinite knowledge

Has never deferred.

 

Not one has failed,

They all have come true

And the annals of history show

This to me and you.

 

 

Some have been distant

And some near at hand

But that some indication is given

Has always been God’s plan.

 

In Daniel he was told,

Shut up the words, seal the book,

Go now to Daniel 12 verse 4

And have a look.

 

The urgency was not then

But for a while after

And thus, the sealing of the vision

Until the time of the matter.

 

 

But not so in Revelation

In the vision given to John,

This was sent to seven churches,

Yes, to everyone.

 

It was a matter of urgency

Applicable to them

And that’s why with the Futurist

I have a problem.

 

I have a huge problem

With the Preterist as well,

Concerning the current believers,

What hope do they tell?

 

Hyper Preterist teach

Every prophecy is fulfilled,

There remains not a single one

Regarding God’s will.

 

No coming yet to come

And no physical resurrection,

What then, I am forced to ask,

Is my redemption?

 

Regarding life after death,

When does this life truly begin?

And, will there never ever be

Complete riddance of sin? 

 

I am still puzzled

But not unduly disturbed

For there is still much that I glean

From God’s Holy Word.

 

In the 1^st chapter of John

And in the third also,

A wonderful truth has been given

And this truth I know.

 

I am a child of God

Having received Him by faith,

Naught of any good I have done,

Only by God’s grace.

 

But as many as receive Him

Not one of them will perish,

For all will have everlasting life

And this I truly relish.

 

 

 

So though puzzled I may be

Concerning its working out,

That God will bring it all to pass

I have absolutely no doubt.

 

Stewart Russell © March 6, 2025

 

Our Future or Theirs?

 

 

Revelation 1:7

 

Behold, he cometh with clouds;

 and every eye shall see him,

and they also which pierced him:

and all kindreds of the earth

shall wail because of him.

Even so, Amen.

 

In whose future is this?

The popular view says ours,

Thus, let me share with you

My study of several hours.

 

When studying the Scriptures

Audience relevance is vital,

Not everything that is written therein

Is for every people.

 

As I read Revelation 1:7

In conjunction with Matthew 24

I get the clearest of impressions

It’s their future more and more.

 

Whose future you may ask?

The Future of those Jews

The very ones that Jesus was addressing

In that prophetic view.

 

 

John on the Isle of Patmos

Picks up this very intent

That it’s to his brothers in tribulation

That this revelation was sent.

 

These were scheduled events

That must shortly come to pass,

John was certainly clear on this

And the urgency of his task.

 

Not only would they happen shortly

But the time was at hand,

Note the imminence of the prophecy

This was a short-term plan.

 

In their future not ours,

It was to happen in their time

Or why this intense urgency?

It’s time we disabuse our mind.

  

Written to seven churches then

Not to churches in our time

Though these specified characteristics

Are applicable to yours and mine.

 

There is a message there for us

That we should take to heart

But this would be so in every era

Post Pentecost and from the start.

 

The events of that 1^st Century

Affected the entire world,

Not long after Jesus left

Began the chaotic whirl.

 

The Christians were persecuted

Firstly, by the Jews

And the Romans subsequently joined

According to historic reviews.

 

 

In the Olivet discourse

As in the events of the Revelation

Jesus spoke to the horrid times at hand

Also known as the tribulation.

 

The disciples were apprehensive

Not for us in our time

But for themselves and others,

Fear and distress racked their mind.

 

Remember this is pre-Pentecost

Jesus is still with them,

However, soon he’ll be going away

Herein lies the problem.

 

 

The temple will be destroyed

Jerusalem will be laid waste,

Nothing like this had they experienced

And it was coming with haste.

  

Like an oncoming storm

With little chance of escape,

The disciples understood its imminence

Let us make no mistake.

 

Do not be deceived

Jesus warned his disciples,

That they bear in mind what he said

Was absolutely vital.

 

It was vital to them

Because it would happen to them,

Not in two thousand years

But imminently back then.

 

In their time I must repeat

Certainly not in ours,

The urgency was as clear as could be

Concerning the oncoming horror.

 

 

Then shall they deliver you up

To be afflicted and killed,

The audience that Jesus addressed

Was standing before him still.

 

Many shall be offended

And shall betray one another,

It was of them that he spoke

Hence why they were bothered.

 

When would these things be?

The disciples had enquired,

And Jesus’ response was

Before that generation had expired.

 

When you shall see these things

Know that it is near,

It was the generation that heard him

 Right then and there. 

 

Matthew 16:28; Luke 9:27

 

There be some standing here,

Which shall not taste of death,

Till they see the son of man

Coming in his kingdom.

 

Matthew 24:15-21

 

When ye therefore shall see

The abomination of desolation,

Spoken of by Daniel the prophet

Stand in the holy place.

 

Let them that be in Judea

Flee to the mountain

And let him that be on the housetop

Not come down for anything.

 

Neither let him that be in the field

Return back for his clothes,

All this would befall Jerusalem

In this time of woes.

 

Then shall be great tribulation-

In that time, not now

But for a reason unknown to me

It will be in our day, somehow.

 

Daniel the prophet

Prophesied of this occasion,

Matthew 24 is Jesus’ confirmation

It will happen to that generation.

 

That generation, not ours

More than two thousand years hence,

Read the Scriptures as they are

And I mean no offense.

 

 

Coming with clouds

According to chapter 1 of Revelation

But this does not speak to the end

As in the final consummation.

 

And even if it did

None knows when that would be,

To say it would be in our time

Would be to say so mistakenly.

 

Their future, not ours

Speaks to the end of that age,

The end of the old Jewish covenant-

This was the transitional stage.

 

It speaks to Jesus’ lament

Over the city of Jerusalem

As he bemoaned their rejection

And their coming desolation.

 

Matthew 23:37-38

 

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

thou that killest the prophets,

and stonest them which are sent onto thee,

how often would I have gathered thy children together,

even as a hen gathereth her chickens under hew wings,

and ye would not!

 

Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

 

Revelation1:7

 

Behold, he cometh with clouds;

 and every eye shall see him,

and they also which pierced him:

and all kindreds of the earth

shall wail because of him.

Even so, Amen.

 

Revelation 22:10

 

 

Daniel 12:4

 

 

Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book:

For the time is at hand.

Very unlike the instructions that Daniel had:

Shut up the words and seal the book was the plan.

 

In their time not ours

Not our future but theirs,

I have given a condensed summary

But I believe the point is clear.

 

Stewart Russell © October 27, 2020

 

Why Is It?

 

Why is it

That Revelation means revealed

Yet we treat to it

As though it is concealed?

 

Why is it

The most difficult book

So much so

That we scarcely want to look?

 

Why is it

That it is left to interpretation

Hence, so many views

But little comprehension?

 

Why is it

That words mean their opposite

And we make sense of this

Each time we visit?

 

 

Why is it

That John was forbidden to seal

Yet most of the book

Cannot be revealed?

 

Why is it

Back then the time was at hand

Yet in our propagation

We teach a different plan?

 

Why is it

That shortly means long

And near means in the far distance

And we don’t see that this is wrong?

 

Why is it

That knowing Greek is vital

In order to understand

An English Bible?

 

Just asking…Stewart Russell © May 2020