What the Bible Says About the End-time

During Adventist history there have been more than
20 attempts to set a date for the Second Coming.

It all started with the anticipation that on October 22 1844 Jesus would return to this earth. Then there was the hope that He’d come about the same time in 1845. Would He come in 1851? 1894? More recent speculation centered on 1917. Then 1928 1938 and 1964.

More recently some of God's people calculated the jubilee years and decided Jesus would return in October of 1987. Other jubilee calculations centered on His coming in 1991. Some suggested that the year would be 1994 or 1996 or 1998. Still others try to work out the time of His coming based on seven cycles of 1 000 years each.

Just what does the Bible say about the end of time and the return of our Lord? Beginning with Genesis Dr. Jon Paulien traces the development of end-time thinking through Abraham and the prophets. He explains what the devout thought about the end during the years between the Old and New Testaments. Then he explores what the New Testament thinkers say about the end--Jesus Paul Peter and John the revelator.

This faith-building exposition of Scripture helps sharpen our view of last-day events but above all it focuses on Jesus Himself who alone adds meaning to the end of time.

Questions Raised and Answered in
What the Bible Says About the End-Time

• What is the meaning of current events? Is the Lord really about to come bringing to an end this world's history?

• What does God wants us to learn when we see such awesome events? How should we respond?

• Were the prophecies in the Bible given to satisfy our curiosity about the future? Or did God have a different purpose in mind?

• Is it possible for Adventists to be so busy sharpening their theology that they forget to live it?

• How can we maintain the balance between 'occupying' and expectation?

• When the world faces the consummate deception at the end is there a simple way by which God's people can tell whose side they are one?

• Is the day of worship really the central issue at the end or are Adventists living in a hermeneutical fantasy land?

• Is it possible that as a people Adventists have been offering 'testing truth' for the world (the first table of the law) for so long that we have overlooked the 'testing truth' for ourselves (the second table of the law)?

Have we crossed that fine line leading to an irrevocable and rapid conclusion of all things in the next year or two?