1. Agenda For 1st Class
• Welcome
• Sharing of Joys and Concerns
• Sharing Our Voices
– Ancient Words
• Video Introduction
• Sharing and Discussion
• Closing Questions
• Adjourn

2. Eschatology Through the Lens of
Current Events

3. Eschatology
Definition of ESCHATOLOGY
1
: a branch of theology concerned with the final events in
the history of the world or of humankind
2
: a belief concerning death, the end of the world, or the
ultimate destiny of humankind; specifically : any of
various Christian doctrines concerning the Second
Coming, the resurrection of the dead, or the Last
Judgment

4. Eschatological Views
• Three Abrahamic Faiths
– Judeo
– Christianity
– Islam
• Each sect has it’s own “End Times” beliefs
– Beliefs are different but similar
– Let’s look at each

5. Judeo
• Eschatology in the Jewish tradition watches for a Savior
to unite the Israelite people. Given the dispersion
throughout history of the Jewish nation and the fact
that Judaism has maintained it’s cultural influence
suggests strength of the Israelite identity.
• The arrival of the Messiah remains a future
(eschatological) event. "Two Jewish apocalypses do
clearly incorporate a temporary, messianic kingdom
into their eschatology" (Helyer, 2004).
• Jewish eschatology becomes entangled with early
Christian tradition as the early church begins to
struggle with their dual identity as Jewish Christians.
» Source: Helyer, L. R. (2004). The necessity, problems and promise of
second temple Judaism for discussions of new testament
eschatology. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. 47 (4). p.
597.

6. Christianity
• The kingdom of God and the eschaton. The
church was born within the context of Jesus the
Messiah promising to return again. In his life and
teachings Jesus inaugurated the kingdom of God.
The church is called to carry forward the
ministries of the kingdom of God initiated by
Jesus. In all of this the church anticipates the final
fulfillment of the kingdom of God, when Jesus
returns. The church is an eschatological
community pressing forward toward the day
when the kingdom of God will be fulfilled on
earth as in heaven. (Shenk, 2009)

7. • Before his crucifixion and resurrection Jesus
prophesied colossal troubles that will sweep the
world before the end. He insisted, however, that
these troubles are a sideshow; the most
important sign that the end is drawing near is the
church carrying forward the witness to the
Gospel to all nations. He said, "This gospel of the
kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a
testimony to all nations, and then the end will
come" (Matt. 24:14). (Shenk, 2009)

8. The Second Coming of Christ
• The apostle John describes the second coming of
the Messiah thus: "Look, he is coming with the
clouds, and every eye will see him, even those
who pierced him" (Rev. 1:7).
• When Jesus returns to earth in triumph, everyone
will see the wounds of his crucifixion. The
fulfillment of the kingdom of God at the second
coming of Jesus is centered in the transforming
power of the redemptive, suffering love revealed
in his crucifixion and resurrection.

9. • In his second coming the Messiah's wrath will
also be revealed. In his wrath the Messiah will
slay the nations with the sword as he
establishes the eternal kingdom. The sword he
uses, however, comes from his mouth. He
overcomes the unjust opponents of the
kingdom of God with the sword of truth. (Rev.
19:11-21)

10. Final Judgment
• The Messiah warned that the final judgment is the
great divide between those who embrace Jesus and
the kingdom of God and those who reject that way.
• The Messiah likens to goats those who do not serve the
poor, oppressed, hungry, thirsty, sick, naked, and
imprisoned. These goats will receive just judgment.
The sheep are those who visit the sick, care for the
naked, comfort the prisoners, and provide food and
water for the hungry and thirsty.
• They will be invited into the eternal kingdom that God
has prepared (Matt. 25:31-46), and they will reign with
the Messiah forever (Rev. 22:5).

11. Islam 101
• The majority of the world’s billion-odd Muslims
are Sunnis. Approximately 10 to 15 percent of all
Muslims follow the Shiite branch or Shia.
• Sunnis form the overwhelming majority in
countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen,
Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey, Algeria, Morocco and
Tunisia. Shiites form the majority only in Iran,
Iraq, Bahrain, and Azerbaijan, but they constitute
sizable minorities in Afghanistan, Kuwait,
Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and
Yemen.

12. Islam 101 Continued
• In 610 A.D., Muhammad ibn Abdallah was a successful 40-year-old Arab
businessman and tradesman. Every year he retired to a cave near Mecca,
in present-day Saudi Arabia, to pray and fast. Beginning that year on his
cave retreats, he had overpowering revelation of the word of God, what
would later come to be known as the Quran (which means recitation).
• By 610, Muhammad was preaching the Quran and directing his earliest
followers to build a community, or ummah, where the practical and the
compassionate (rather than the theological) was to predominate.
• The year 622 marks the founding of Islam as a religion: It was the year of
the hijrah, or migration, by Muhammad and his followers. They founded
the first truly Islamic ummah in Medina.
• By the time of Muhammad's death in 632, Islam had conquered the
Arabian peninsula roughly up to what today would be Saudi Arabia's
borders with Jordan and Iraq.
• Within a century, Islam would spread to western India, the Caucasus,
Turkey, North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. Its furthest advance was to
the heart of present-day France, where the armies of Charles Martel
stopped the conquerors in 732 in the Battles of Tours and Poitiers.

13. What Sunnis and Shiites Believe
• The Quran, the Prophet's hadith, or sayings, and the sunna,
or customs, are central to the belief system of both Sunnis
and Shiites.
• So are the five pillars of Islam:
– The recitation of the creed ("There is no God but God, and
Muhammad is his Prophet");
– the salat, or the recitation of prayers five times a day;
– zakat, or the obligatory giving of alms to the poor according to
one's means;
– fasting from sunup to sunset during the month of Ramadan;
– the hajj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca at least once in a Muslim's
lifetime, means permitting.
• Sunnis and Shiites also believe in Islamic law. But its
application varies.

14. Differences
• Sunnis accept that the first four Caliphs, including Ali, were the
rightful followers of Muhammad. However--rather like
Protestantism in Christianity--they don't grant the kind of divinely
inspired status to their clerics that Shiites do with their imams.
Shiites believe imams are descendants of the Prophet.
• Islam has no codified laws per se. It has various schools of law.
While Sunni doctrine is more rigidly aligned in accordance with
those various schools, its hierarchical structure is looser and often
falls under state, rather than clerical, control. The opposite is true in
Shiitism: The doctrine is somewhat more open to interpretation but
the clerical hierarchy is more defined and, as in Iran, the ultimate
authority is the imam, not the state.
• Both Sunnis and Shiites break down into various sects that range
from puritanical (as with Sunni Wahhabism, prevalent in Saudi
Arabia) to somewhat mysterious (as with the Druze of Lebanon,
Syria and Israel, who form an offshoot of Shiitism).

15. Islamic Eschatology
• In order to understand the Islamic Revolution, it is
essential to grasp the historical background for
Mahdism. The Shi'a wing of the Muslim movement
believes that the authentic leader (Imam) of the
Muslim community (the Ummah) must be a
descendent of the Prophet through his daughter,
Fatima, and her husband, Ali.
• The Sunni wing, in contrast, opts for the discernment
of the theological community (the 'ulama) to
determine the leader (the caliph). This tension tested
the early Muslim movement, resulting eventually in
violent conflict.

16. The Madhi
• the Ithna 'ashari believe that Muhammad
prophesied that there would be only twelve
imams. Then the Mahdi (savior) would come. In
A.D. 869 (a.h. 255) the Twelfth Imam,
Muhammad ibn Hasan ibn 'Ali, was born. At the
age of five, however, he disappeared. The Ithna
'ashari believe that this Twelfth Imam is the
Mahdi, whose mission is to extend peace, justice,
and Islam to the ends of the earth before the
final judgment. So for nearly twelve centuries the
Mahdi, who is the vanished Muhammad ibn
Hasan, is present through Occultation.

17. • The Mahdi will occupy the highest position
• The coming of the Mahdi is drawing near. Faithful
Muslims must therefore resist all semblances of the
Antichrist. As Islam presses on toward increasing
perfection, detractors such as the Antichrist might
decide to attack Islam. That would not be a calamity,
because the blood of the martyrs would be a powerful
inducement for the Mahdi to return to save these
faithful believers from destruction. Apocalyptic disaster
would only be preparation for the coming of the
Mahdi.

18. Jesus and the Madhi
• Jesus will come before the Mahdi, preparing
the way for his coming. When the Mahdi
appears, Jesus will defer to his leadership as
they work together to extend universal peace
throughout the world and prepare all
humankind for the last trumpet call and the
hour of the final judgment and the end of the
world. The expected appearance of Jesus with
the Mahdi is explicit.

19. Comparison
• The revenge-minded forces of Antichrist, however, will
form a vast army that will slay Muslims throughout the
earth. This heinous one-eyed monster with "Infidel"
inscribed upon his forehead might appear at any time with
his wily schemes to decimate the Ummah.
• Some scenarios have the Antichrist allied with Gog and
Magog in a vicious global anti-Muslim alliance.
• Astounding natural upheavals will sweep the world; the
sun will rise in the west!
• Faithful Muslims will flee to Jerusalem, which the Muslims
have freed from the Antichrist forces. They will even come
from Mecca and Medina, thereby uniting these three holy
cities as the Muslim faithful worship together in
Jerusalem.(Shenk, 2009)

20. • Then the Mahdi will appear in Jerusalem to lead the
prayers of the besieged Muslim remnant. And Jesus will
return to earth leading a massive army of angelic warriors.
• He will slay the Antichrist and all his vast armies that are
advancing on Jerusalem. As victor he will defer to the
leadership of the Mahdi and pray in the great mosque in
Jerusalem.
• He will break all crosses and kill all pigs, as well as destroy
all synagogues and churches. For fifty years he will reign in
Jerusalem, extending the rule of Islam throughout the
earth. Then Jesus will die and be buried by Muhammad's
grave in Medina, awaiting the final resurrection of the dead

21. Next Week
• Ezekiel 36-39
– The Regathering of
Israel
– The Battle of Gog and
Magog
• Daniel 2, 7
– The four world powers
– Configuration of the
Roman Empire

22. Works Cited
• Helyer, L. R. (2004). The Necessity, Problems and Promise of
Second Temple Judaism for Discussions of New
Testament Eschatology. Journal of the Evangelical
Theological Society, 47(4), 597+. Retrieved February
16, 2011, from Questia database:
http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5037241502
• Shenk, D. W. (2009, July). Muslims and Christians:
Eschatology and Mission. International Bulletin of
Missionary Research, 33, 120+. Retrieved March 1,
2011, from Questia database:
http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5044782424
• Weaver, N. K. (2007). Violence and end-time theologies:
The search for a responsible eschatology. Forum on
Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table.