Seventh-day Adventist eschatology

The Seventh-day Adventist Church holds a unique system of eschatological (or end-times) beliefs. Adventist eschatology, which is based on a historicist interpretation of prophecy, is characterised principally by the premillennial Second Coming of Christ. Traditionally, the church has taught that the Second Coming will be preceded by a global crisis with the Sabbath as a central issue. At Jesus' return, the righteous will be taken to heaven for one thousand years. After the millennium the unsaved cease to exist as they will be punished by annihilation while the saved will live on a recreated Earth for eternity.

The foremost sources are the biblical books of Daniel and Revelation. Jesus' statements in Matthew 24 for instance, as well as multiple other Bible verses are also used. The classic Adventist commentary on the end-times was Uriah Smith's Daniel and the Revelation. The writings of Ellen G. White have also been highly influential, particularly the last part of her book The Great Controversy. "Prophecy seminars", developed since the mid-20th century, have been a key popular source.

The eschatological teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist Church are summarized in the final five of the denomination's 28 fundamental beliefs:

According to a 1985 survey, 29% of North American Adventist lecturers nominated eschatology as the area of greatest contribution by Adventists to then-current theology. This ranked second only to wholism.

Seventh-day Adventism derives its eschatological teachings in large part from its interpretation of the apocalyptic Bible books of Daniel and Revelation, as well as Jesus' end-times sermon found in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. Mainstream Adventism interprets biblical prophecies using the historicist method, which utilises the day-year principle; some of the prophecies of Revelation are yet to be fulfilled.

A 2004 official statement remarks: Adventists' "sense of identity and calling grows from an understanding of Bible prophecies, especially those concerning the time immediately preceding the return of Jesus."

Adventists believe the Christian church is the historical continuation of the Old Testament Israel as God's people, centered around Jesus, and that Old Testament end-time prophecies about Israel will be fulfilled more broadly. (This stands in contrast to dispensationalism, a popular conservative Christian view, which sees a prominent place for the nation of Israel in the end-times). Adventist hermeneutics categorically rejects preterism, futurism and idealism as proper hermeneutical systems of interpretation of Bible prophecy.

The writings of Ellen G. White have been highly influential in the formation of Seventh-day Adventist eschatology, particularly the final chapters of her book The Great Controversy.