What Does the Future Hold? Exploring Various Views on the End Times

by C. Marvin Pate

It's the end of the world as we know it," proclaims the popular song. And sometimes the daily news appears to confirm that forecast. The signs of the times hailing Christ's return seem to be all around. Or so it appears. But, is it really the end of the world? Christians through the ages have held to a variety of understandings of the millennium--the belief that a 1,000-year period of utopia will one day come. In this book, prophecy expert and biblical scholar Marvin Pate helpfully highlights the three major views of when Christ will return--premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism--as well as a fourth skeptical interpretation, expertly analyzing them all. This timely treatment provides a reader-friendly, accessible overview of the ongoing debate over end-times viewpoints.

Genres: Theology

150 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

C. Marvin Pate (PhD, Marquette University) is professor of biblical studies at Ouachita Baptist University. He is the author and editor of numerous works, including Four Views on the Book of Revelation; The Writings of John: A Survey of the Gospel, Epistles, and Apocalypse; Romans (Teach the Text Commentary Series); and From Plato to Jesus.

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A THEOLOGIAN SUMMARIZES THE VARIOUS ESCHATOLOGICAL VIEWS

C. Marvin Pate is chair of Christian theology at Ouachita Baptist University, and has written a number of books, such as 'Doomsday Delusions: What's Wrong With Predictions About the End of the World'?

Here are some quotations from this 2010 book:

"So the unavoidable conclusion here is that, if 1 Thessalonians 5; 2 Thessalonians 2; and the Olivet Discourse describe the Parousia (which all interpreters believe they do), and if 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (the rapture) matches the previous texts on the second coming, then the 'two' events are the same." (Pg. 47)

"The weakness of the midtribulation view is the questionable restriction of God's wrath to the last half of the end-time tribulation, as well as the absence of direct biblical evidence for the rapture occurring in the middle of this period." (Pg. 50)

"The cosmic disturbances in the heavens (Mt. 24:29) were comets that occurred for all to see at that time, including a comet that hovered over Jerusalem like a sword during the Roman siege of the city." (Pg. 64)

[Jacob Aitken · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a *very* basic primer on eschatology. Pate, however, does manage to add some insights that aren't covered in Erickson and Grenz. He surveys all of the millennial options, noting where they agree on hermeneutics and noting difficulties in all of the options. He eventually sides with premillennialism, noting that the premillennial reading of chapters 19-20 makes the most sense of the lexigraphy and grammar, and I think he is right.

He made the strongest critique of postmillennialism. However, he seems to think that all postmillennialists are partial-preterists, yet this is not true. I suppose it doesn't matter, since non-preterist postmillennialism is actually the weakest of all eschatological positions. He forces postmillennialist to logically accept the claims of preterism and takes the argument to full-preterism. There is no reason why a postmillennialist should stop the partial-preterist wagon at Revelation 18 and not say that Rev. 19 also applies to the destruction of Jerusalem. If, however, he does, the following absurdities arise:

1. The second coming actually happened in A.D. 70 and your position is now heretical.

2. If (1) we are no longer in Revelation 20, but actually chapters 21-22 (since 19-20 is the 2nd Coming/Millennium, which happened at the fall of Jerusalem). If that is the case, we are currently in the eternal state.

His take on amillennialism is actually the weakest in the book. Beside the critique based on Revelation 20, he doesn't offer one.

Pate ends his book with an analysis of the Jesus seminar and current gnosticisms in the American academy.

This book is fair, but suffers from a number of problems: the analysis isn't always thorough and Pate writes in an annoying populist manner.

[Jimmy Reagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this recently as a refresher before I taught a class on prophecy. It is the perfect overview volume no matter your perspective. He is careful in his explanations. His own eclectic view means he is in no one’s camp, but he really helps you understand the various viewpoints. I highly recommend this volume.