last things
last. Christians are urged to wait for his return (parousia) when the forces
of evil dominating the world will be annihilated, the dead resurrected,
and the entire creation judged and renewed. Therefore, the return of
Christ brings not only the end of the world, but it also ushers in a new
earth and a new heaven (2 Pet. 3.13). This kind of scenario suggests that
the return (parousia) happens both in time and to time in the sense that it
terminates the process of historical time while also transforming it.
The imminent return of the Messiah to the Christian community
becomes a problem when the return is delayed, which facilitates a rein-
terpretation of the original Hebrew messianic eschatology. The Christian
apostle Paul, for instance, changes his views of the end time from an
earlier expectation of the impending arrival of Christ during Paul’s own
lifetime (1Thess. 4.14–17) to the possibility that he might not live to see
the return of Christ (Phil. 1.19–25). Paul’s writings reflect a tension
between what has already happened and what is to come in the future (1
Cor. 15.24–28; 1 Thess. 4.13–17). The Gospel of Matthew (24.4–25)
modifies the eschatological message in order to differentiate between the
kingdom of the Son of Man (a present, morally mixed form of the church)
and the kingdom of the Father that will purge all evil elements. The
Gospel of Luke (21.9) and Acts (2.33; 3.20–21) alleviates the sense of
urgency about the end of time by depicting Christ as already ruling at the
right hand of God, whereas the Gospel of John shifts emphasis from a
future fulfillment to the present availability of the age to come, emphasiz-
ing the eschatological time as a now moment.
During the formative period of Islam, the anticipation of the end time
is a central part of Muhammad’s message that contains information about
the signs of the final hour: disruption of the natural order, a reverse pro-
cess of creation, heaven would be destroyed, stars would fall and be extin-
guished, the sun and the moon would be covered resulting in no light on
earth, the earth would shake, split apart, and be ground to dust, and the
seas would become mixed creating a primordial chaos. In addition to these
natural catastrophes, moral disasters would ensue with piety giving way
to pride, truth giving way to lies, and public sex and licentious practices
such as music, wine, drinking, adultery, and homosexuality would occur.
Then, according to the Qur’an (27.82), the beast of the earth will arrive,
who is identified as a false messiah and described as blind in one eye,
reddish in color, and with the word unbeliever (kafir) written on his fore-
head. This false messiah possesses two primary functions: to lead Muslims
away from the path of God and to establish a kingdom with himself as the
ruler. Thereafter, two powerful giants named Gog (Yajūj) and Magog
(Majūj) will appear (18.92; 21.96), and Christ appears once more on earth
to purify the world. This entire scenario begins with Israfil blowing his