Following a blog post by Saranayrose last week and Grant's Bible study at church last night, my mind has turned to the Christian belief about the end times.

The bible clearly teaches that at some unknown time Christ will return to judge the world and establish a 1000 year kingdom. At the end of this period of great joy there will be a time of testing and then a final judgement and the Devil and his followers, along with those who reject the rule of Christ will be sent to the "Lake of Fire."

The Bible is very careful to avoid laying out a time scale or a programme of the events of the end times. In fact Jesus said that he himself did not know the hour or the day. For that reason,anybody who claims to know the date of Jesus' return is almost certainly wrong. But this has not stopped people from making predictions.

Much of the Bible's depiction of end-time events is given in symbolic or picture language. This of course causes problems in our culture which tends to want concrete information. Disputes about interpretation of scriptures really come down to how we interpret various passages- are they symbolic or literal?

Through the ages there have been three broad schools of opinion, and they come down to the relationship between the establishment of God's kingdom on earth (the millennium) and the physical return of Jesus. These schools are called amillennialism, premillennialism and postmillennnialism. Within each of the three schools there are many sub-branches and variations.

1. Amillennialism- this term means that the references to Christ's glorious reign on earth are symbolic and refer to the reign of Christ in the hearts of Christians rather than an actual governmental system. This has been the dominant belief of christian leaders through the ages. According to this belief, at some unknown date in the future, God will simply blow the full-time whistle on history without any previous direct intervention. This could happen at any time and we must always be prepared for this day.

2. Premillennialism became popularised in the church during the twentieth century particularly in the evangelical and pentecostal parts of the church. Various schemas were devised in the nineteenth century and the terrible conflicts of the two World Wars and the stand-off of the Cold War seemed to give the model credence. Hal Lindsey, author of "Late Great Planet Earth" and Tim La Haye and Jerry Jenkins authors of the "Left Behind" series also helped the belief gain popularity.

Premillennialists believe that the return of Jesus happens before (pre) the millennium. They try to interpret scriptures about the end times quite literally, but of course this isn't possible to do consistently. The basic premise is that the world will become worse and worse, christians will be persecuted and the Antichrist will rise to leadership. The rapture happens, taking christians out of the world but in the end Christ returns with an army to vanquish the hordes faithful to the Antichrist in a mighty battle at Armageddon.Finally Christ establishes the kingdom with its capital at Jerusalem.

3. Postmillennialism is the belief that the rapture will happen after (post) the millennium. This theology draws on the gospels and the parables about God's Kingdom which seem to indicate that the church will be successful in its commission to preach the gospel to the nations. The Old Testament prophets speak at length of an age of peace and prosperity. So the church eventually brings the whole of the earth to faith in Jesus and presents the world to him, and he then returns to earth with the kingdom already established.

All of these various beliefs come from people trying to work out what the Scriptures say about the end times. The difference between premillennialists and postmillennialists really is whether they believe that the church will be successful in preaching the gospel through the earth.

I find it interesting that for perhaps the first time in history, both the "pres" and the "posts" seem to be right. In the western countries which have been the carriers of the gospel for centuries, there is a massive turning away from God. But in many parts of Asia, Africa and South America people are becoming christians in unprecedented numbers.

What is important is that as Jesus warned us we must be ready. He could return at any time. On that day, you will not be asked about your beliefs about the end times. The only thing that will matter is that you have a relationship with Jesus, that you have given your life to serving him.

Where will you stand on that day?