This week we are going to continue with our subject of Biblical Eschatology. Eschatology is understood in the biblical sense as pertaining to the Messiah and the Redemption of Man and creation. History is seen as a 7000 year period, 6000 years of man's history from creation to the 2nd coming of the Messiah followed by a 1000 year Messianic reign of Messiah (Psalm 90.4, 2 Pet 3.8). The creation week is a blueprint of this 7000 year plan of God. Six days (6000 years) man works and then he rests during the Lord's Day, or Sabbath of God (1000 years). The weekly Sabbath (on the seventh day) is a rehearsal for the coming Messianic Kingdom. Eschatology and the 7000 year plan of God is seen from 6 reference points. First in the historical sense and that is where you see the Lord working in history as you read the Scriptures, on a literal level. Second, some Scriptures refer to the Messiah's 1st coming. Third, some Scriptures refer to His second coming. Fourth, other verses refer to the Birth pains of the Messiah or the Tribulation period. Fifth you read other verses and they refer to the Messianic Kingdom and lastly the Olam Haba or the World to Come, which refers to life on earth after the 7000 years have been completed. At this point in man's history, creation was less than 6000 years ago and we know this because the Messianic Kingdom has not arrived yet. Eschatology is studied from the context of the Biblical Festivals found in Lev 23 and the Temple services. You will soon come to realize that all of the Tanach, or Old Testament, teaches the Messiah and his coming. In Jewish thought, the world will endure for six thousand years: two thousand in the age of desolation (tohu), then two thousand in the age of instruction followed by two thousand in days of Messiah. This was believed well before the coming of Yeshua and that is exactly how it has played out. That is why Jewish calendars number the years from creation, not how they are known on other calendars. The current year is 5771 but we are closer to the year 6000 than people realize. In the book "Seder Olam Rabbah" it says that in counting the years that they did not count the years of the Persian kings not mentioned in Scripture, which was approximately 210-250 years. So that means we are closer to the coming of Messiah in the Rapture than the current year on the Jewish calendar reflects. What that means is when Rosh Ha Shanah comes beginning the year 6001 from creation, the Lord will descend from Heaven and resurrect those who have died in Him and those alive at the time will be changed and meet Him in the air in what is commonly known as the rapture, or the Natzal, if you are familiar with Jewish thought. Now, there are some concepts to know if you are going to understand Eschatology. First, history is unfulfilled prophecy and prophecy is unfulfilled history (Eccl 1.9, 3.15) Second, there is a saying "Here now, but not yet" and that comes from Num 25.17. Third, prophecy is not limited in time, some can have numerous fulfillment's. Lastly, you do not look at a prophecy on one level, but four. They are the Peshat, Remez, Drash and Sowd level. When there seems to be a contradiction, it is not seen as that because prophecies are looked at on these different levels Let me illustrate this for you. Say you are in a mall and you are on the ground floor. You look up and there are four stories. All of the action is going on at the same time. If you look at the second level you see a woman with a baby. You see something else on the third floor, and yet something else on the fourth. They all are happening at the same time but it depends on what level you are looking at. It's the same with prophecy. You may look at the literal event in Scripture like the birth of Isaiah's son in Ch 8-9 but at another level you see the Messiah. Yeshua was called the "son of Joseph" on the literal level but at a deeper level that is a Messianic title going back to Joseph, the son of Jacob. When you see the crucifixion on a tree, with thorns and a garden you are on a literal level, but on a deeper level you see the Garden of Eden and on and on it goes throughout Scripture. You must get to know these other levels, the 7000 year plan of God, the festivals and the Temple and Bible prophecy will mean much more and knowing the Word will keep you out of a lot of false interpretations. I can't tell you how many times it kept me from being disturbed by so called "prophecy experts" over the last 20 years. All I have to do is check into their understanding of the festivals, the Temple and its services, the 7000 year plan of God and other things to find out if they have anything valid to say. In most cases, they haven't got a clue so I try to rightly divide what they say with the Word of Truth. There is so much more to this subject and I have not even scratched the surface but hopefully this gives you a starting point in going deeper into this subject and answers your question.