Revelation for the Rest of Us: A Prophetic Call to Follow Jesus as a Dissident Disciple

by Scot McKnight

Christian eschatology is the alternative to Babylon’s eschatology. Christian eschatology formulates hope in the midst of lament, petition in the face of the dragon, and it knows from the incarnation of Christ that God is with us all the way to the hideousness of crucifixion. Christian eschatology enables us to grow through resilience and allegiant witness into the shape of the Lord who is the Lamb. Christian eschatology, contrary to Christian nationalism, progressivism, and pessimism, assumes evil, does not explain it away, and knows what lies beyond and in front of us. Christian eschatology turns us away from both progressivism and pessimism, not by denying progress or working to improve life, and not by pretending harsh realities don’t exist, but by trusting the God of promise who broke the power of death in the resurrection of the Lamb and who also promises that someday new Jerusalem will descend, and justice will finally arrive on the earth.