“Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen . . . Shew the things that are to come hereafter” (Isaiah 41: 22, 23 KJV).
Everyone has a future and almost everyone is at least a little interested in it.
The future is that which is beyond the present. We go into the future by continuing to live through the present. If we stay with the present we will be present in the future. It’s a natural transition. The future is where we’re going and the present carries us there.
The prophets of the Old Testament foretold, or told the future before it happened, and what they foretold happened because the future was revealed to them by God. Prophesies about nations and individuals were foretold and were fulfilled. That is because the past, present, and future has been decreed by God and will be carried out as He decreed it.
There are future events that were revealed to the New Testament writers that have yet to be fulfilled, but will be fulfilled. The study of these events is called Eschatology, or the study of last things.
We can know what the future holds by studying God’s Word. We can tell forth what the future holds and what people can expect, what they will experience in the future, and what they should be preparing for.
In the very near future will be the Rapture of the church (1 Thess. 4: 13-17). After the Rapture, the whole world enters the Tribulation period of seven years (Rev.6-19). Three and a half of those years are called the Great Tribulation in which God pours out His judgment on the world and its ruler the Anti-Christ. At the end of the Great Tribulation Jesus Christ returns and delivers Israel from her enemies, judges the nations of the world, cast the beast and the false prophet into the lake of fire, and sets up His millennial kingdom. During this time Satan is bound in the bottomless pit. At the end of Jesus Christ’ millennial reign, Satan is loosed and gathers those who reject Christ from the face of the earth in a revolution against Him, which Jesus destroys with fire from heaven. After this there is the Great White Throne Judgment where all the wicked lost are judged and cast into the lake of fire for all eternity (Rev. 6-20). At this point everyone enters the eternal state (Rev. 21-22).
Most people are concerned about their immediate future and make plans and preparations to shape it to their own liking. The future they’re manipulating and shaping pertains to their temporal existence which may end tomorrow. The future they should be concerned about pertains to their eternal existence which may begin tomorrow.
We all have a future in either Heaven or Hell that is determined by whether we accept or reject what Jesus Christ did for us at Calvary where He died for our sins to save us.
Tomorrow
We think about tomorrow.
How it’s waiting just beyond,
‘Tween two intervals of darkness,
With no way to correspond.
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We make a use for tomorrow.
There we put unfinished tasks,
The leftovers from today,
Are stored inside its casks.
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We make plans for many years.
Numerous tomorrows call,
We’ve yet to see the first one,
Much less to see them all.
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Tomorrow’s a speck of time,
We hope we’ll live to see.
But all we have is today,
Tomorrow’s no guarantee.
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When the twilight shadows flee,
And the end of day has come,
Light will come on tomorrow,
Or at least this we assume.
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Tomorrow doesn’t exist;
But as something in our mind.
Tomorrow is now today,
But of tomorrow we are blind.
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Tomorrow’s not a reality.
We can’t trust in what’s not real.
All we have is this moment,
In this moment let’s be real.
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We dream of tomorrow,
And slacken our pace today.
As we count on tomorrow,
We waste today away.
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Tomorrow may be too late,
To right a matter or be kind.
To repent of sins and be saved,
And find that peace of mind.
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Tomorrows are now yesterdays,
That crept through each today.
All our yesterdays are gone,
Recorded for Judgment Day.
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So therefore, close each day,
As though it were your last.
Hope and look for tomorrow,
But today seal up your past.
James H. Cagle ©
