The Importance of Eschatology

Eschatology (the biblical study of the end times) is important because it presents God's plan to redeem His creation.  I like the way Matthew Hartke put it in his blog about "Why eschatology is important for every believer in every generation"

Eschatology is important for every believer primarily because hope is important for every believer. The coming end is not all a matter of “times and dates” (as Paul assures us in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11). For the Christian, the eschatological is the glorious inbreaking of the kingdom of God into this present world of brokenness, the sovereign day when He will make all things right, wipe away every tear, establish everlasting righteousness, and, ultimately, come to dwell with humanity forever on the earth.

The end times, rather than being relegated to the last chapter in our systematic theology books, should be seen as the comprehensive horizon of all our theology. Why is this? Because our God is a God of the future, a God of covenant promise. He is, as Paul said, a “God of hope” (Rom 15:13). He is always before us, calling us forward on this exodus, motivating by the revelation of a promise land, a “city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:10).

Thus eschatology is very important to how we exercise hope in this fallen world.  To put this another way, bad eschatology or a poor understanding of the future things creates false hope.