I shared last time how biblical End Times is about chronology – what will happen in our future, and quite possibly our near future. Yet eschatology is also about teleology – about God’s purposes in our world and our cosmos. And this is why it is an exciting and important area of Christian study. Great films take great directors. It is often only the private interviews that reveal the purpose and creative intention behind the epic movie we have just watched – the mind that crafted the plot and brought all the strands and scenes to a satisfying ending.

The Christian worldview is opposite to the prevailing cultural narrative. Rather than humanity hopelessly drifting in a chaotic and ever expanding universe, God has a purposeful future to write into our world. It is not novel, rather it has been part of the church’s credal declarations about Jesus Christ for centuries – he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom shall have no end.

What excites us about God’s loving purposes for our future that are revealed in scripture? (Because, yes they are most loving). Regarding the church, God is determined to have a bride that is prepared for his Son, as it says in the climactic end of Revelation. God’s work in and through the global church is the most creative force in the world, as he gathers more and more people who love him and live for his kingdom. As the apostle Paul says, there is soon going to be a great revealing of the children of God before the whole cosmos.

Regarding the wider created order, God is planning a wonderful liberation for our fallen world. The frustration, the tendency to decay, the wilful forces of evil, will all one day be powerful dealt with, and renewal will come to the cosmos like the glory of a morning sun melting the night’s frost. Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor mind conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.

Regarding his own saving purposes, God will bring his Son back as rightful king to rule over a perfect kingdom on earth. Jesus is gloriously depicted in scriptural prophecy as bridegroom, king and judge. When he returns all wrongs will be righted, loving justice will be dispensed, and the one who overcame sin and death will be the only one worthy to reign over and renew planet earth.

There is a divine end game plan at work behind the scenes of what we are living through. The Lord has a masterful plan in place. Our world’s future is not chaotic but held in the purposeful and gracious hands of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – who alone can bring in the wonders of the age to come.

Thanks for reading, William