Does Open Theism make us view eschatology differently?

[JudgeRightly]

It's still a metaphor, even how you are using it. He doesn't hit them on the head with an iron scepter.

You didn't answer the question.

 

[Bladerunner]

Well, that's just the point I'm trying to make. Our interpretation of prophecy is one thing, it's actual fulfillment is quite another and, on top of that, prophecy is not prewritten history.

Take Isaiah 53, for example. We can see in hind sight that it is quite an explicit prophecy about a suffering Messiah but before the fact, it was as hidden from view as it would have been had it not been written at all. Had God's plan of salvation been an prophesied in an overtly explicit manner, Satan would have worked against having it ever happen. As it was, God was wise enough to put it in there sufficient to prove that it was His plan and that the events that unfolded were being orchestrated by Him but He did so in a way that kept His enemies in the dark as to His real intentions. I see no reason to expect that end time prophesied will not be fulfilled in a similar manner.

Although, having said that, God knows His enemies better than they know themselves. It isn't out of the question that He makes it so that the antichrist does what is prophesied because there's just no other reasonable course for him to take as though God has put a hook in his jaw (See Ezekiel 38). God manipulates nations in this way throughout the Old Testament and it isn't difficult for God to know what whole populations of people will do in response to particular circumstances which He is very capable of setting up.

question Clete: God partially blinded Israel on the very first day Jesus rode into Jerusalem. Today they still deny Jesus as their Messiah and we are told that 2/3 of their population (future) will die because of it (indirectly). My question is: Could not God partially blind Satan? After all he is a created being! For we are told what exactly will happen during the 'day of the Lord' and where/what the anti-christ (man of sin and the Son-of Perdition (Satan himself) will be doing during this time. thanks for your time

 

[Bladerunner]

Do you think murder will be punishable by death penalty?

We are told those who do not accept Jesus during this period (100yrs) they will be thrown into the Lake of fire and Brimstone. While the threat of death is certainly a deterrent, the though of eternity in the lake of fire would bring on much worse thoughts and fears.