Eschaton

The Greek word eschaton means "last" or "final"—the end point, the ultimate conclusion. In New Testament usage, it doesn't just mark chronological termination but qualitative finality: the last thing that encompasses and judges all previous things. When Peter quotes Joel on Pentecost—"in the last days (eschatais hēmerais) I will pour out my Spirit" (Acts 2:17)—he's announcing that the final age has already begun. The eschaton isn't merely future; it's invading the present.

This creates the strange temporal location of Christian existence. Paul writes that "the ends (ta telē) of the ages have come upon us" (1 Corinthians 10:11). John declares "it is the last hour (eschatē hōra)" (1 John 2:18). Believers live in the overlap of two ages—the old order dying, the new creation dawning. We're simultaneously in history and beyond it, experiencing firstfruits of the final harvest while still waiting for its fullness.

Jesus himself embodies this paradox. John calls him "the first and the last (ho prōtos kai ho eschatos)" (Revelation 1:17, 22:13), applying divine titles from Isaiah to the crucified carpenter. Christ is both origin and destination, Alpha and Omega. In him, the eschaton has already arrived even as we await its complete manifestation. His resurrection is the future invading the present—death's ultimate defeat already accomplished, yet death still stalking creation until the final day.

The eschaton inverts human hierarchies. Jesus taught that "many who are first will be last (eschatoi), and the last first (prōtoi)" (Mark 10:31). The final judgment reveals true value, exposing what the world honored as worthless and elevating what the world despised. Paul identifies "the last (eschatos) enemy to be destroyed" as death itself (1 Corinthians 15:26)—the final, most formidable foe requiring Christ's total cosmic victory.

This eschatological living produces urgency without anxiety. Because "the appointed time has grown very short" (1 Corinthians 7:29), Paul tells believers to hold earthly commitments lightly. Yet the same urgency fuels mission: "this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world...and then the end (telos) will come" (Matthew 24:14).

Here's what psychology confirms: people who believe they're living in the "last days" behave dramatically differently—sometimes withdrawing from society, sometimes engaging it more intensely. The early church chose engagement: they built hospitals, cared for plague victims, and established enduring institutions precisely because they believed the end was near. True eschatological faith doesn't produce escapism but investment—you live for eternity by living fully now, as if each day were simultaneously the last and the first of forever.