by: David Pawson (excerpted from When Jesus Returns)

Our attitude to the future is ambiguous, a mixture of fear and fascination. We want to know what is going to happen to us and the rest of the human race — and we don’t want to know! Were it possible, which one of us would wish to learn the date of our death or the end of the world?

We are the first generation to live with the possibility that these two dates might coincide. In one survey half the teenagers believed their death and the death of our planet would be simultaneous. Whether through nuclear holocaust (a diminishing fear) or environmental pollution (a growing fear), the days of life on earth seem to be numbered.
Again, our reaction is inconsistent, even contradictory. On the one hand, many try to forget the future and squeeze as much purpose and pleasure out of the present as possible. ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’ (this is actually in the Bible! Isa 22:13, quoted in I Cor 15:32). ‘Existentialism’ is the name for this philosophy of life and it is widespread.

On the other hand, there is more interest in the future and efforts to change it than ever before, an enthusiasm that hovers on the border of panic. Attitudes cover a wide spectrum from elated optimism to depressed pessimism, sometimes swinging wildly from one extreme to the other, from faith to fatalism.
Broadly speaking, there are three ways in which we can pierce the veil that hides the future from us.

First, the superstitious method. Divination is an ancient practice, but still very much alive. Clairvoyants and mediums, crystal balls and Ouija boards, tarot cards and tea-leaves — there are many forms. Six out of ten men and seven out of ten women read their horoscopes every day; no popular newspaper or magazine would dare to neglect the stars.

Yet it has been estimated that none of these channels has ever been more than 5% accurate, which means that they are at least 95% mistaken.. Only those willing or wanting to be deceived forget the errors and focus on the few fulfillments.

Second, the scientific method. Deduction from observation is the basic tool of modern science. To calculate present trends and project them is the concern of ‘futurology’, as the technique is now named. Professorial chairs in the subject are being established in universities, particularly those majoring in technology. Industrial, commercial and political spheres have their ‘think-tanks’. More than one computer program has calculated the likely date of the end of the world as 2040 (by taking into account population growth, food and energy resources, environmental decay, etc.).

Average accuracy of published results has so far been around 25% or, to put it negatively, up to 75% wrong. The short-term forecasts, as one would expect, are much more reliable than the long-term ones.

Third, the scriptural method. Declaration about future events is a major feature of the Bible. It claims to contain the words of God (‘Thus says the Lord’ occurs 3808 times!), the only person who is in a position to ‘make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come’ (Isa 46:10). Over a quarter of all the verses in the Bible contain a prediction about the future. Altogether 737 separate forecasts are made, from some only mentioned once to others hundreds of times.

Of these, 594 (over 80%) have already come true. Since those that have not are all concerned with the end of the world, which obviously has not happened yet, the Bible has actually achieved 100% accuracy. All that could have taken place already has done so, which should be ample grounds for confidence that the rest will also be fulfilled. (These statistics, with a detailed analysis of every prediction, may be found in the Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy by J. Barton Payne, Hodder and Stoughton, 1973.)
How astonishing then that people would rather consult satanic rigmarole or human reason than divine revelation. Part of the blame must lie at the door of the church, which has neither been clear nor confident enough in sharing her knowledge, the result of allowing scientific skepticism about the supernatural to undermine the authority of scripture.

The Bible reveals its secrets to those who read it with reverence and obedience, in a humble and teachable spirit. It yields more to simple intelligence than sophisticated intellectualism. It is written for ordinary people in ordinary language (New Testament Greek is taken from the streets, not the classics). It is meant to be taken at face value and taken seriously. When it is a clear picture of the future emerges.

Many things are predicted — personal and political, social and environmental, moral and meteorological. But one event stands out above them all: the return to this world of a person who lived here two thousand years ago, a carpenter from the village of Nazareth. Were he simply a human being, this would seem unbelievable. If he was what he claimed to be, divine as well as human, the one and only God-man, his return becomes credible and congruous. Rejected by an unbelieving world, it is only right that he should be publicly vindicated.

This event is more frequently predicted than any other and dominates the biblical preview. The question: ‘What is the world coming to?’ is changed into: ‘Who is the world coming to?’ or, better still: ‘Who is coming to the world?’

History will be brought to a conclusion. And by a human being. Not by pressing the button of a nuclear attack on earth but by breaking the seals of a scroll in heaven on which is already written the countdown of world events (Rev 5:1; 6:1). At the climax of the crisis, Jesus himself will reappear on the world stage to take personal control of the grand finale.

Such is the heart of the Christian hope for the future. Jesus is the only hope, the only person with sufficient ability and authority, character and compassion, to right the wrongs of this sick, sad and sinful world. On his first visit to our planet he demonstrated that he could do it; on his second he has promised that he will do it.
In theory, the Church of Jesus Christ gives his return a central place. The most regularly repeated creeds, the Apostles’ and the Nicene, include it as a fundamental part of the faith. Bread and wine are regularly taken as a reminder of his former presence and current absence ‘until he comes’ (I Cor 11:26). The liturgical calendar includes Advent in December, the first part of which anticipates his return.

In practice, however, neglect of this vital truth is spreading. Even during Advent, any thought about his second coming is quickly forgotten in the celebration of his first, in the festivities of Christmas. Some have become so confused or impatient with the doctrinal differences over it that they have taken refuge in agnosticism on the subject. More have conformed to the world’s obsession with the present by concentrating on the application of Christian insights and efforts to the personal and political needs of the day.

Now abideth faith, hope and love; but the weakest of these is hope!

That is a tragedy in a world of widespread depression and despair. The Bible describes unbelievers as ‘without hope and without God in the world’ (Eph 2:12). In such darkness, Christians should be shining beacons of hope. After all, they are the only ones who know how it will all end. They know that it will all end well, that good will triumph over evil, that their Lord will defeat the devil, that the kingdom of God will come on earth as it is in heaven.

This hope is ‘an anchor for the soul, firm and secure’ (Heb 6:19). The raging storm of world events will get worse rather than better, until every part of the globe is affected. May the reading of this book help you to get your anchor down now!