Studentenalmanak 1960 - pagina 217

urged. Moreover, the secularization of modern life and thought

wiUy nilly makes its impact upon us. And, finally, the extreme

and even fanatical character of much futurist eschatology, with

its tendency toward world-flight, understandably has often led,

by way of reaction, to an estrangement on the part of otherwise

orthodox Christians from eschatological doctrines and hopes.

In this situation one may hope for progress toward clarity only

if the specific and essential meaning of Biblical eschatology is

firmly grasped. At this point, it must be acknowledged, one labors

somewhat disadvantageously if one relies simply on the traditional

formulation. Eschatology, we usually declare, is the doctrine of

„the last things." And as treating of such events as the parousia

of Christ, its precursors including the coming of Antichrist, the

resurrection of the dead and the final judgment, eschatology is

indeed properly enough so defined. Nevertheless, the designation,

„the last things", and summaries of what things are comprehended

thereunder, may suggest that these happenings are quite discrete,

with little or no organic connection and with little or nothing that

forms a center for the entire complex of events. As a matter of fact,

however, within the Biblical perspective these events are not viewed

as being isolated from one another. This wül be evident especially

if they are recognized as aspects of the consummation of the kingdom

of God. The very idea of the kingdom, or rule, of God, as that is

expressive of the manifestation and actualization of the divine

supremacy in the world, is because of its very nature wholly

embracive of the fulfillment of the divine plan. Thus various

eschatological events may readily be subordinated to and integrated

with the coming of the kingdom of God.

Even a cursory survey of New Testament teaching concerning

the coming of the kingdom will confirm the impression, which

has evidently been that of humble readers of the Bible through

the centuries, that the Christian hope is one which accepts in full

earnestness the expectation of the future final manifestation of the

sovereign rule of God. Thus our Lord teaches that the blessed

of the Father will be invited, at the coming of the Son of Man in

glory, to inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation

of the world (Mt. 25:31—34). And the apostie Paul generally

speaks of the kingdom of God as a future reality (cf. e.g. I Cor. 6 : 9 ;

1 5 : 5 0 ; Gal. 5 : 2 1 ; Eph. 5:5).

The same accent upon the future comes to expression in the use

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