Somebody once suggested that "the most accurate chart of the meaning of history is the set of tracks made by a drunken fly with feet wet with ink, staggering across a piece of white paper. They lead nowhere and reflect no pattern of meaning." Similarly, Rudolf Bultmann wrote that "the question of meaning in history has become meaningless."
Christians who look to Scripture as their authority profoundly disagree with these gloomy assessments. For the God of the Bible is the God of history. He has entitled himself "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." He chose Israel out of the nations to be his covenant people and took about two thousand years to prepare them for the fulfillment of his promise to Abraham in the coming of their Messiah. Above all, he came to us in Jesus Christ when Augustus was emperor of Rome, and "suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried." Then on the third day he rose again and, having sent his Spirit, has for two further millennia been pushing his church out into the world to take the good news to its furthest extremities. One day (known only to the Father), when the gospel has been preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations" (Mt. 24:13), the end will come. For Christ will return in glory, terminate the historical process and perfect his reign.
From The Gospel and the End of Time
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