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The significance of Biblical eschatology can be seen by comparing it with its chief rival in the New Testament period. This was a belief that history did not move forward, but moved in a circle. As the Greeks looked at nature they saw endless repetition. Flowers bloom in the spring (tra la), live in the summer, die in the fall disappear in the winter, bloom in the spring (tra la), live in the summer, die in the fall, disappear in the winter, bloom in the spring (tra la), live in the summer. . . . Always the same pattern. There seemed to be nothing new.
They applied the same pattern to their own existence. And it meant that there was no forward direction. History never got anyplace; it had no final purpose or meaning: it was simply the same monotonous round over and over again. Right now, I am writing a chapter on eschatology, on a hot afternoon, in a stuffy office. When history has gone full cycle, I shall again find myself writing the same chapter, on a hot afternoon, in a stuffy office, and later on I shall again find myself writing the same chapter, on a hot afternoon, in a stuffy office, on and on, over and over, time after time, never escaping from the pattern, with no more end in sight than this sentence has seemed to have until right now.
In contrast to that dreary picture, Biblical eschatology affirms that history is a series of unique events, which are significant because they point toward a time of fulfillment, which will be brought about by God. History is going somewhere, not just "round and round." It is the arena where God is active. Since God's activity is not limited just to history, this means that our history will have final significance because it is related to all of God's activity, both here and beyond. Our job in the rest of this chapter will be to "spell this out."
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