"END OF
THE WORLD":
___

Essay by SimShalom:

Religious view of the end of the world.

Since Christianity derived almost all of its teachings on this subject from Judaism , it is worth noting that the Talmud in Tractate Avodah Zarah page 9A ,states that this world as we know it will only exist for 6,000 (six thousand) years:

"...The Tanna debey Eliyahu taught: The world is to exist six thousand years;the first two thousand are to be "void" ( i.e.void of Torah );the next two thousand are the period of the Torah (i.e. from Abraham until the completion of the Mishna - the first part of the Talmud ) ; and the following (last) two thousand are the period of the Messiah (i.e. the Messianic Age could have commenced during this time already); through our ( the Jews' ) sins a number of these (times for Messiah) have already passed (and the Messiah is not yet here)."

The "end of the world" is called the acharit hayamim - "end of days", when tumultuous events will take place in the world overturning the old world order and creating a new order where God is recognized by every single individual as the Supreme Being who rules over everyone and everything in the Universe . One of the sages of the Talmud says that "Let the end of days come, BUT, may I not live to see them", because they will be filled with so much conflict and suffering.

The Jewish calendar - luach - functions completely on the assumption that time begins at the Creation of the world by God in Genesis. Many people mistakenly think that the years of the Torah - Bible are symbolic. According to the ancient Jewish teachings continued by today's Orthodox Jews the years are real and consistent throughout all time with 24 hours per day and 365 days per year with appropriate calibrations done with leap years to account for the difference between the lunar calendar and the solar calendar since Judaism's is based on both. Thus the year 2003 equals 5763 SINCE CREATION on the present Jewish calendar.

The end of the world will see:

1) The ingathering of the scattered Jewish exiles to geographic Israel.

2) The defeat of all of Israel's enemies.

3) The building of the THIRD Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and the resumption of the sacrificial offerings and Temple service.

4) The Revival of the Dead - techiat hameitim ,known as the Resurrection .

5) All this will be overseen at some point by the Jewish Messiah who will become the annointed King of Israel. He will divide the Jews in Israel into their original tribal portions in the land. During this time there will be an attack against Israel by Gog king of Magog (it's not known which nation this will be). There will be a great battle called the War of Gog and Magog in which many will die on both sides, but God will intervene and save the Jews . This is the battle referred to as Armageddon. God having vanquished this final enemy once and for all, all evil will accordingly be banished from human existence. After the year 6,000 the seventh millennium will commence a thousand year era of holiness, tranquility and peaceful spiritual life of Peace on Earth ,called the Olam Haba - the "Future World" where all people will know God directly.

One group of Jews from Hasidic Judaism , the Chabad Lubavitch movement actually believes that the Messiah has quite possibly arrived and begun his mission, and that it is their deceased Rebbe Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson who is actually the Messiah in waiting. The defeat of Iraq by the the United States Army during the Gulf War in 1990 - 1991 , and the fact that Israel was not seriously harmed, was taken as a sign that the Messiah was at hand. This view was rejected by all other groups who still await the traditional "End of Days" as described in the writings of the Prophets of the Tanakh , the classic Jewish Bible .

- posted by Izak @ 7:44 PM