xxiii | Introduction
who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord
in the air . . .” According to this scenario, true Christians will meet Jesus halfway
between heaven and earth. Strictly speaking, this is not the Second Coming, since
Jesus does not appear on terra firma. For those who have read the Left Behind
series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (or seen the movie), this is the chaotic
situation described in the first volume (or opening scenes).
After Christian believers are raptured, those left behind, including tepid Chris-
tians and nonbelievers, live through a seven-year period of tribulation. Adherents
cite the Gospel of Matthew 24:21 (“For then there will be a great tribulation, such
as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be”)
and Revelation 7:14 (“These are they who have come out of the Great Tribulation”).
The seven-year period comes from Daniel’s “vision of the seventy weeks” found
in the ninth chapter of the Book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible. The tribulation
serves two purposes. First, the tribulation is meant to spur the conversion of the
Jewish people to Christianity and prepare the nation of Israel to greet its Messiah,
and second, it pours out God’s wrath on unbelievers. The wrath of God consists of
three series of judgments, described in the book of Revelation as seven seals, seven
trumpets, and seven bowls (Pentecost 1964).
At the end of the Tribulation, Jesus returns to the earth (the Second Coming) and
sets up his millennial kingdom, where he rules with his saints for 1,000 years (the
millennium). During this period, Satan is confined so that he cannot wreck any more
havoc on the earth. At the end of the millennium, Satan is let loose for a period of time,
and he sets out to deceive the nations of the earth (symbolized by the nations of Gog
and Magog). Satan and his army attack the saints of Jesus in Jerusalem but are ulti-
mately done in by a judgment of fire sent down from heaven. After the defeat of Satan,
the judgment of the Great White Throne takes place. All those who have opposed God
and oppressed Jesus’s believers are cast into a lake of fire. The righteous are granted
residence in the New Jerusalem, where they will dwell with God for eternity.
Despite the sensationalist attempts of many authors, Tim LaHaye and Hal
Lindsey for example, it has proven difficult to construct a consistent apocalyptic
narrative of New Testament eschatology.
Other Apocalyptic Traditions
Other religious traditions, other than Judaism and Christianity, have contributed to
the rich texture of apocalyptic literature. We want to recognize these contributions
and hence have included them in End of Days: An Encyclopedia of the Apocalypse
in World Religions. Persian apocalyptic literature, for instance, predates that of the
Judeo-Christian tradition. Zoroastrianism combines the apocalyptic concepts of a
cosmic dualism with eschatological monotheism. According to the entry written
