by Dean Davis
in ePub & .pdf formats
Posted with the pernission.of the author.
This book is in fulfillment of a promise.
Back in 2014 I published The High King of Heaven: Discovering the Master Keys to the Great End Time Debate (HKOH). I meant it to be a short but comprehensive discussion of biblical eschatology: of the eras and events associated with “the last days” and the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation.
Well, my short discussion came in at 721 pages! On the one hand, that didn’t bother me too much, for I felt the book made a significant contribution to the scholarly debate on this subject. But on the other hand, it bothered me a great deal, for as it grew I increasingly realized that I was leaving thousands of God’s busy children with a more modest appetite for eschatology in the dust. So in the preface to the HKOH I promised to write an abridged version—a shorter book that would give my readers the gist of the longer volume.
This is that book. Nevertheless, as you can see, it’s still no cakewalk. That’s because my goal here is the same as it was for the HKOH: to introduce you to every aspect of the Great End Time Debate, and to help you discern the winner once and for all.
It’s an ambitious goal. As the Contents page reveals, it involves defining the debate, isolating the four underlying issues that keep it going, discovering the biblical method for resolving those issues, applying that method to the issues themselves, and then deciding which of the competing schools of biblical eschatology is actually telling us the truth.
Yes, the journey ahead will be challenging, but also of deep interest and great importance. That’s because our destination is one of the highest peaks in all Scripture: the mountaintop where the High King himself grants his people a clear vision of their one true Blessed Hope.
We cannot do without it. In all likelihood we are living in the last of the last days. The Church’s long journey through the howling wilderness of the fallen world system is coming to an end. The armies of light and darkness are gathering for the Last Battle. Therefore, the Israel of God must be fully equipped: ready to fight the good fight, complete the Great Commission, and pass over into the Beautiful Land.
Brothers and sisters, as ever, our much-needed provision is in the hand of the High King of Heaven. And so, with love and longing, he cries out to us all: “Come up here! I want to prepare you for the last leg of your journey. You’re almost home!”
Shall we head out?
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Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I: Introducing the Great End Time Debate
1. What is Biblical Eschatology?
2. Issues in the Great End Time Debate
3. Options in the Great End Time Debate
4. The Key to the Great End Time Debate
Part II: Understanding the Kingdom of God
5. The Old Testament on the Promise of the Kingdom
6. The New Testament on the Coming of the Kingdom
Part III: Understanding Old Testament Kingdom Prophecy
7. New Testament Principles for Interpreting Old Testament Kingdom Prophecy
8. Old Testament Kingdom Prophecies Considered: Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel
9. Old Testament Kingdom Prophecies Considered: Daniel, Zechariah
Part IV: Understanding the Millennium
10. The Revelation: Introduction and Overview
11. Revelation 20: The Meaning of the Millennium
Part V: Understanding the Consummation
12. The Purpose, Structure, and Unity of the Consummation
13. Crucial New Testament Texts Dealing with the Consummation
14. The Consummation: A Biblical Scenario
Part VI: Resolving the Great End Time Debate
15. Options in Biblical Eschatology: an Amillennial Critique
16. Amillennialism: An Eschatology for These Last Days
Appendices
I: Old Testament Kingdom Prophecies Listed
II: New Testament Texts Touching on the Parousia/Consummation
III: Biblical Prophecies of the Last Battle
IV: The Creeds of Christendom on the Consummation
Endnotes
Select Bibliography