People have wanted to know what the future will bring from the day of our creation. Thus the demand for fortune-tellers, prophets and soothsayers. However, we are so lucky that we have the real crystal ball right within our grasps. Huh? Think about it, it’s the Bible. It tells us what will happen in our lives when we become followers of Christ. It also tells us the ultimate future of our world and what happens to those who choose not to allow God to guide their lives.
The Future for Believers
The coolest part of the Believer’s future is that eternal life is ours. Because we believe Jesus is God’s Son and our Savior, we know when we die, it is not the end of our life. We will be raised from death and live forever with God. Hoot hoot! I can’t wait!
However, we do need to live our lives out here first. As we journey through this life, the Bible does tell us what our future here on earth is, when we rely on Jesus. We know that life won’t always be easy, especially as we tell others about the Good News. The promise though, is that when we listen to Jesus and live our lives as He wants us to, He will give us peace, no matter how difficult life gets. So the Bible tells me I will have peace.
Many times people go to a fortune teller to ask if love is in their future. As Believers, we are told we have been loved since conception. We are loved when we are born up through the day we die. We are wonderfully loved. The best part about God loving us is that His love is unconditional. I can totally be myself in His presence and He loves me anyway, even in my goofiness and awkwardness. This is the best love – I am loved for who I am. That’s it.
The Future of our World
I really like SciFi and enjoy speculation about the future and outer space. But SciFi is just fiction. Through the Bible, we are able to see in the “real crystal ball” what will happen to our earth. Science backs up the Bible here, explaining that our earth will be swallowed up when our sun is developing into a red giant (Frazier, 2019).
Jesus discusses the end of the earth, and His second coming with His disciples in Matthew 24. To sum it up, Jesus says, there will be many false prophets misleading people. He says that there will be wars and nations will rise against nations while the earth itself undergoes eathquakes. There will be famine and an increase in crime. “Most people’s love will grow cold (v. 12b).”
Life on earth will not just grow dark emotionally, but also physically. “…The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken (v. 29).” In other words, “… when the sun expands into a red giant during the throes of death, it will vaporize the Earth (Emspak, para. 2, 2016).” Will this happen in our lifetime? Probably not, but we really don’t know. Even Jesus didn’t know when His Father would send Him back to earth again. “But of that day and hour [Jesus’ return and the destruction of earth, not necessarily simultaneously] no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone (v. 36).”
Since no one knows when the sun will engulf the earth, there is no reason to try to predict the date. Rather, Jesus has given us what to watch for, and to be ready at an instant. For us, it is more likely, we will die before all this happens. However, we still need to be ready because we don’t know the instant of our death.
The Future for Non-Believers
This is the sad part of the future. For the non-Believer, the future is quite bleak. It’s like they have gone to a fortune teller and gotten the death card. Indeed, there is nothing in their future after death except eternal agony. In Revelation, chapter 20, the Bible says, “…if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown in the lake of fire (v. 15).” Earlier in the chapter, in verse 10, the lake of fire is described as a place where these people, along with Satan and his angels “…will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” As a person who has lived in pain everyday for the past 3 years, this is absolutely not a place I want to experience for all eternity. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy!
I once had a girl who I was witnessing to, tell me she didn’t want to go to Heaven because all her friends were going to Hell and they were going to have a big old party when they got there. Truth is, there will be no party, just unbearable pain.
Many non-Believers are living the good life here on earth. So did Solomon, yet he wrote in Ecclesiastics,
I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
and this was the reward for all my toil.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun. –Ecclesiastes 2:10 & 11
Non-Believers who are successful financially in this world, tend to not be so successful in their emotional and spiritual lives. Remember, real peace only comes from God. “The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord blesses His people with peace (Psalm 29:11).” Ultimately, a non-Believer really doesn’t get to experience the peace beyond understanding no matter the situation. This is a hard way to live.
Looking through the real crystal ball – the Bible, gives us a future here on earth and then in Heaven of joy and peace. We know that we will never be alone and that the God of the Universe is guiding us now and in our future. Personally, I would rather follow the words of the God of the Universe rather than a fortune-teller, whose credentials may be dubious at best. I encourage you, and others you come into contact with, to seek your future in the words of the living God. You will not be steered on a wrong path leading to futility.
Resources
Emspak, J. April 13, 2016. What Will Happen to Earth When the Sun Dies. Life’s Little Mysteries. Future US, Inc. https://www.livescience.com/32879-what-happens-to-earth-when-sun-dies.html.
Frazier, S. Sept. 26, 2019. Why the Sun Won’t Become a Black Hole. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2019/why-the-sun-wont-become-a-black-hole
