Eschatology

Definition and Meaning

Eschatology means "the teaching concerning the last things." It is sometimes divided into individual eschatology, which deals with what happens to a person after death, and cosmic eschatology, which deals with the end of the world as a whole, including the Second Coming, the resurrection, the Last Judgment, and the new heaven and new earth. Modern theology widely holds that the kingdom of God has "already" begun with the coming of Jesus but is "not yet" consummated.

Biblical and Historical Background

The principal texts are generally considered to be Matthew 24, 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17, and the Book of Revelation. Views on the millennium differ according to how the "thousand years" of Revelation 20:1–6 are interpreted.

• Premillennialism holds that Christ will return before the millennium. Dispensationalism, which emerged in the nineteenth century, systematized this view and added the doctrine of the Rapture.
• Postmillennialism holds that Christ will return after an age of peace brought about by the spread of the gospel.
• Amillennialism understands the "thousand years" not as a literal period but as a symbol of the present church age.

Eschatology in the Korean Church

The early Korean church had a strong belief in the Second Coming, and Kil Sun-joo is said to have been renowned for his sermons on the last days. Denominational tendencies are broadly as follows, although views differ even within the same denomination.

• Among conservative Presbyterians, many have held to historic premillennialism, while a considerable number of Reformed theologians favor amillennialism.
• The Holiness Church makes the Second Coming a core doctrine through its "Fourfold Gospel" of regeneration, sanctification, divine healing, and the Second Coming.
• Pentecostal churches, such as the Full Gospel churches, and some Baptists tend to emphasize dispensational premillennialism and the Rapture.
• Progressive theology tends to interpret the end times in relation to present-day justice and social engagement.

In 1992, the Dami Mission predicted that the Rapture would occur on October 28 of that year; when nothing happened, the episode caused a major public uproar. Since then, warnings within the Korean church against "date-setting eschatology," which fixes the date of the Second Coming, have grown stronger. Several denominations have declared certain groups that emphasize the end times to be heretical.