Introduction
Man’s future involves both
time and eternity. Time in total embraces past, present and future.
Man knows something of the past and the present, but even his
knowledge of the past is limited and defective. In himself he knows
absolutely nothing whatever of the future, whether in time or
eternity. God alone knows the future, some of which He has been
pleased to make known in the Bible. Man in his present state cannot
comprehend the concept of eternity and can only think of it in terms
of time—that is, as never ending. God knows this and in the few
passages in the Scriptures where eternity is spoken of, it is always
expressed using the language of time. For example, we read of the “day of eternity” (2 Pet. 3: 18, my emphasis). However, the
Scriptures say very little about eternity but a great deal about the
future in time. About two thirds of the Bible is prophecy, directly
or indirectly, in which God tells man what is going to happen in the
future—largely in time, not eternity, and mainly on the earth, and
not in heaven.
So far as man is concerned, the Bible speaks of
just two ages. The first is called “this age” (Matt. 12: 32; 1 Cor.
2: 8; Eph. 1: 21; see also Luke 20: 34; 1 Cor. 2: 6; where the word
world should be
age) or “the present age”
(1 Tim. 6: 17; 2 Tim. 4: 10). The second is called “the coming
[one]” (Matt. 12: 32), “the coming age” (Mark 10: 30) or the age “to
come” (Eph. 1: 21). Put another way, in contrast to “this world”
(Luke 16: 8 etc.) we have “the habitable world which is to come”
(Heb. 2: 5). The latter will last one thousand years (see Rev. 20:
4–6) and is the great subject of the future in the Scriptures.
The Future for the Unbeliever
Apart from two awful exceptions (see Rev. 19:
20), the history of every unbeliever will end in a single
event—death. Accordingly, the Bible states “it is the portion of men
once to die” (Heb. 9: 27)—a statement that none question. While the
atheist may claim ‘when you are dead you are done with’, that is not
the end, for the unbeliever has a future. The same Scripture goes on
to say, “and after this judgment” (Heb. 9: 27). The whole future of
the unbeliever is encased in that single word
judgment (there is no
definite article in the Greek making judgment characteristic of his
future rather than just limiting it to a single event). At death the
spirit is separated from the body (see James 2: 26; also Judg. 15:
19; 1 Sam. 30: 12) and a person enters the “unclothed” (2 Cor. 5: 4)
state described in the OT as Sheol and in the NT as Hades. However,
that is not the end, for “an hour is coming in which all who are in
the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall go forth; those that have
practised good, to resurrection of life, and those that have done
evil, to resurrection of judgment” (John 5: 28, 29). The end of
unbelieving man is judgment and the terrifying detail is graphically
given in Rev. 20: 11–15. His ultimate destination is a confined
place described as the lake of fire (see Rev. 19: 20; 20: 10, 14,
15) or hell (see Mark 9: 45 etc.). The word
hell in the Greek is
geenna
and is taken from the Hebrew for ‘the valley of
Hinnom’ near Jerusalem, where a continual fire was kept burning
(serving as an apt figure for hell). The Lord Himself spoke of “the
judgement of hell” and “the fire unquenchable” (Matt. 23: 33; Mark
9: 43). Hell was never prepared for man (see Matt. 25: 41) but the
unbeliever will spend eternity there. He will know nothing of “the
habitable world which is to come” (Heb. 2: 5) for we read “the rest
of the dead did not live till the thousand years had been completed”
(Rev. 20: 5). By contrast, all believers, irrespective of the
dispensation in which they lived, will be raised in “the first
resurrection” (Rev. 20: 6) to have a part in the world to come.
The Future for the Believer
Unlike the unbeliever, the
pathway here on earth of the believer will be terminated by one of
two future events: either his death or the return of Christ. In the
words of Scripture: when he has “fallen asleep through Jesus” (1
Thess. 4: 14; see also John 11: 13; Acts 7: 60; 13: 36 etc.) or “the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him”
(2 Thess. 2: 1). The view of the future that many Christians have is
just limited to heaven and eternity. While a place (hell) is
presented in Scripture as the final location for the unbeliever, a
place (heaven) is
never presented as the
ultimate destination for the believer. Scripture always speaks of a
believer going to a person not a place. Yes, the Lord is in heaven
and we will be with Him there, but heaven is not the hope of the
believer. The hope of the believer is Christ
(see 1 Tim. 1: 1)—“our gathering together
to him” (2 Thess. 2: 1, my
emphasis). If I just think of going to heaven, then those thoughts
are selfish. I am thinking of myself and
my future rather than
the One who died in order that that future could be secured.
The Future for the Believer
after Death
While the vast majority of
saints will have to go through the article of death, that event
should
never be the hope of the
believer. Death is not presented in Scripture as something
to look forward to—indeed, quite the reverse. The believer may have
to “walk through the valley of the shadow of death” but he has the
assurance that the Lord is with him (see Ps. 23: 4). He may have to
endure excruciating pain in his body, but however extreme his
sufferings, they can never match those of the One who has died for
him. God will never put His children into circumstances in which He
is not able to sustain them through the priestly service of the One
who has passed through them all without failing. And if we have to
experience something of “the fellowship of his sufferings” (Phil. 3:
10), we can cast all our “care upon him, for he cares about you” (1
Pet. 5: 7). Death may be a welcome release from the believer’s
sufferings but it should never be the object before him. Stephen
when dying, prayed “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7: 59). The
Lord should always be the One who is before us, not ourselves and
our circumstances (words easy to write and the Lord may well test
the writer to see if he himself is in the gain of them). The apostle
Paul lived under the shadow of death, but his one wish was that “as
always, now also Christ shall be magnified in my body whether by
life or by death” (Phil. 1: 20). His great object was the Person.
Paul’s desire was not for death but for “departure and being with
Christ” (v23). It is not departure to heaven but “departure and
being
with Christ” (my
emphasis). The word departure
embraces both ways that a believer may exit this scene: either
having “fallen
asleep in Christ” (1
Cor. 15: 18, my emphasis) or at the Lord’s “assembling shout, shall
be caught up … to meet the Lord in [the] air and thus ... always be
with [the] Lord” (1
Thess. 4: 16, 17, my emphasis). Either way he will be “with
Christ—“very much better” (Phil. 1: 23).
The Future for the Believer at
the Lord’s Coming
The second coming of Christ
is presented in the Bible far more in connection with His reign in
the millennium on the earth than with coming to take the saints to
heaven.
If I am only waiting for Christ’s return
to take me to heaven then my love to Him is faulty. Yes, He will
firstly come
for His saints (see 1
Thess. 4: 15, 17) but He will then come
with them (see 1
Thess. 3: 13, my emphasis). If I love the Lord, then I will want to
be with the Lord in the latter as well.
Furthermore, at His return “we shall be
always with [the] Lord” (1 Thess. 4: 17, my emphasis). When the
Lord comes again for those who are His, “God will bring
with him those who have
fallen asleep through Jesus” (v14) that they may be united with
their raised glorified bodies and along with those living, “be
caught up together with them in [the] clouds to meet [the] Lord in
the air” (v17). The truth is that “if we have died together
with [him] we shall also
live together” (2 Tim.
2: 11, my emphasis). The Biblical order is suffering, then glory. So
that “if indeed we suffer with [him], that we may also be glorified
with [him]” (Rom. 8: 17,
my emphasis). Hence, “when the Christ is manifested who [is] our
life, then shall ye also be manifested
with him in glory”
(Col. 3: 4, my emphasis). Thus “whether we may be watching or sleep,
we may live together
with him” (1 Thess. 5:
10, my emphasis). Believers “shall reign
with him a thousand
years” (Rev. 20: 6, my emphasis). To the dying thief the Lord
promised “To–day shalt thou be
with me in paradise”
(Luke 23: 43, my emphasis). Those words
with me in connection
with the Lord are repeated several times in the last book of
Scripture (see Rev. 3: 4, 20, 21). In the Lord’s prayer He prayed
“Father, [as to] those whom thou hast given me, I desire that where
I am they also may be with me, that they may
behold my glory which thou hast given me” (John 17: 24, my
emphasis).
Yes, Christ is in heaven and He will return to
take me there initially, but my hope is the Person and not the
place. The present service of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ
(see John 16: 14)—that is to make Christ great in my soul. If heaven
is the hope of my soul, it is really selfishness at root. Yes, the
Lord Jesus Himself speaks of the place but notice how it is
described: “In my Father’s house there are many abodes; were it not
so, I had told you: for I go to prepare you a place; and if I go and
shall prepare you a place, I am coming again and shall receive you
to myself, that where I am ye also may be” (John 14: 2, 3). The
place is not described as heaven, although it is heaven. It is
the Father’s house—the One
to whom it belongs is the leading thought. Angels belong to heaven
but they are not spoken of in relation to the Father’s house. Many
seem to think of the Lord is there at the present time putting
things in order for our entrance in the future. This is not the
sense of the words “I go to prepare you a place” at all.
His going there is the
preparation for His presence makes the place what it is. It
is not ‘I am coming again and shall receive you there’. No, it is
“receive you to
myself” (my emphasis). The reason? “That where I am ye also may
be”. True love cannot bear separation. The great object on His part
is to have us with Him. Love is always reciprocal. Hence the great
object of our hearts should be
to be with Him—wherever He is.
The Future lies in the Past
God is never thwarted in anything that He has
determined. His ways may change but His purpose never: “Remember the
former things of old; for I [am] God, and there is none else; [I am]
God, and there is none like me; declaring the end from the
beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,
saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Is.
46: 9, 10). The key to the future often lies in the past. Man was
created and placed on the earth and given authority over the lower
creation. He was told to have dominion over it and to subdue it. He
was created in the image of God, that is, he was to represent God in
this scene (see Gen. 1: 26–28). He was also told that “of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in
the day that thou eatest of it, thou shalt certainly die” (Gen. 2:
17). But man failed and disobeyed God. So, we read “by one man sin
entered into the world, and by sin death; and thus death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5: 12). Yet Adam lived for
930 years (see Gen. 5: 5). How was this? We must remember that
Biblical prophecy often has a double fulfilment: an initial
fulfilment shortly after it was uttered and a distant future one.
The seeds of death were sown in Adam the moment he sinned. However,
Peter reminds us, “that one day with [the] Lord is as a thousand
years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Pet. 3: 8). The oldest
person recorded in the Bible was Methushelah who lived 969 years. No
man ever has ever had the full ‘day’ of 1000 years. After 930 years,
Adam died (see Gen. 5: 5). But Adam was “[the] figure of him to
come” (Rom. 5: 14). Hence there will be a man who will have the full
day of 1000 years—the millennium. Creation itself is awaiting the
day when “the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard
shall lie down with the kid” (Is. 11: 6, 7). As the whole creation
is awaiting that day, so should every believer (see Rom. 8: 18–30).
That day is reserved for God’s Man, the Lord Jesus Christ (see Rev.
20: 4–6).
The Future for God’s Man
The prophet Daniel says “I
saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of
heaven [one] like a son of man, and he came up even to the Ancient
of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given
him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations,
and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting
dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom [that] which
shall not be destroyed” (Dan. 7: 13, 14). This is the Man “who is
image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation” (Col. 1: 15)
that will have dominion over the whole earth and subdue it. At
present, in anticipation of
that day God has “wrought in the Christ
[in] raising him from among [the] dead, and he set him down at his
right hand in the heavenlies, above every principality, and
authority, and power, and dominion, and every name named, not only
in this age, but also in that to come; and has put all things under
his feet, and gave him [to be] head over all things to the assembly,
which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:
20–23). Again, God has determined “for [the] administration of the
fulness of times; to head up all things in the Christ, the things in
the heavens and the things upon the earth; in him, in whom we have
also obtained an inheritance” (Eph. 1: 10, 11). Yet again, we read
“that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly and
earthly and infernal [beings], and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ [is] Lord to God [the] Father’s glory” (Phil. 2: 10, 11). Christ is the Man that will have
the full day.
The Future—“that day”
We read of “that day” again
and again in the prophecies of the OT concerning the world to come:
“And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness
of men shall be brought low; and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in
that day ... And in
that day there shall
be a root of Jesse, standing as a banner of the peoples: the nations
shall seek it; and his resting-place shall be glory ... And his feet
shall stand in
that day upon the
mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem toward the east, and the
mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east
and toward the west,—a very great valley; and half of the mountain
shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south ...
And Jehovah shall be king over all the earth: in
that day shall there
be one Jehovah, and his name one” (Is 2: 17; 11: 10; Zech 14: 4, 9,
my emphasis). Whose day is it?
Let the NT
answer: “who shall also confirm you to [the] end, unimpeachable in
the day of our Lord Jesus Christ
... to deliver him, [I say], [being] such, to Satan for destruction
of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in
the day of the Lord Jesus ... even as also ye have
recognised us in part, that we are your boast, even as
ye [are] ours in
the day of the Lord Jesus
... having confidence of this very thing, that he who has begun in
you a good work will complete it unto
Jesus Christ’s day ...
that ye may judge of and approve the things that are more excellent,
in order that ye may be pure and without offence for
Christ’s day ...
holding forth [the] word of life, so as to be a boast for me
in Christ’s day, that
I have not run in vain nor laboured in vain” (1 Cor. 1: 8; 5: 5; 2
Cor. 1: 14; Phil. 1: 6, 10; 2: 16, my emphasis).
In harmony with the OT prophets Paul often just
speaks of “that day”: “when he shall have come to be glorified in
his saints, and wondered at in all that have believed, (for our
testimony to you has been believed,) in
that day ... For which
cause also I suffer these things; but I am not ashamed; for I know
whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep for
that day the deposit I
have entrusted to him ... the Lord grant to him to find mercy from
[the] Lord in
that day—and how much
service he rendered in Ephesus
thou knowest best ... Henceforth the
crown of righteousness is laid up for me, which the Lord, the
righteous Judge, will render to me in
that day; but not only
to me, but also to all who love his appearing” (2 Thess. 1: 10; 2
Tim. 1: 12, 18; 4: 8, my emphasis).
The Future—“the last day”
When the Lord Jesus was on
earth, He told the Jews “Your father Abraham exulted in that he
should see
my day, and he saw and
rejoiced” (John 8: 56, my emphasis). Abraham, the man of faith, sets
the example for us all. Do we exult and rejoice in the anticipation
of our Saviour having
His day? This was not
the day when He was on earth in the midst of Israel or the day of
His sufferings. It was the future day of His glory, what He Himself
called “the
last day” (see John 6: 39, 40, 44, 54; 11: 24; 12: 48, my
emphasis). The Lord Jesus
must have the last
day. It is an absolute moral necessity. He has suffered here in this
world, and on this earth. Therefore, God is going to see to it that
it will be here in this very scene that He will be glorified. Glory
is the display of moral excellence. As another has said ‘There are
many prophecies about the coming glory without any reference to the
suffering, but there is never a prophecy of the sufferings without a
reference in the immediate context to the glory.’ The Lord Himself
asked “Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to
enter into his glory?” (Luke 24: 26). The sufferings precede the
glory, but the glory
always follows (see
Heb. 2: 9, 10; 1 Pet. 1: 11; 4: 13; 5: 1, 10).
We should remember that in God’s
reckoning, the suffering of Christ took place on the day before
yesterday—(see 2 Pet. 3: 8).
What is called
“that day” in both the OT and the NT is spoken of by the Lord as the
“last day”. It is the final period in time—there is nothing to
succeed it. Time and again in the OT you read of the Sabbath, the
seventh day, and therefore the last day of the week. Israel was told
that “the seventh day is the sabbath of Jehovah thy God: thou shalt
not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy bondman,
nor thy handmaid, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within
thy gates” (Ex. 20: 10). It was to be a day of rest for all—for man
and beast alike. Paul, in writing to the believing remnant in that
nation, reminds them: “There remains then a sabbatism to the people
of God” (Heb. 4: 9). This was based on the fact that God “rested on
the seventh day from all his work which he had made” (Gen. 2: 2).
The Sabbath being the last day of the week essentially looked on to
“the last day” (John 6: 39 etc.).
Finally, the Lord
identified two things with the “last day”: resurrection and eternal
life (see John 6: 39, 40, 44, 54). Christ will raise all the saints
for “the last day” irrespective of the day in which their lot was
cast. As thus raised they will enjoy eternal life. Adam brought in
death; the last Adam (see 1 Cor. 15: 45) will bring in life—eternal
life. The “last day” is the proper setting for eternal life, not
eternity. Why? Because death will not be eradicated in the “last
day” but will be the exception rather than the rule for those who
will be born during the millennium (see Is. 65: 20). It is in a
scene where death still exists that eternal life has its true force.
Death is the last enemy that to be annulled (see 1 Cor. 15: 26) and
that does not take place until the millennium has ended and the
unbelieving dead are raised.
This is the glorious future for the earth, for
all creation and for the all the saints of God. What a future to
look forward to!
Conclusion
I have sought somewhat
briefly to outline the future in time as Scripture presents it. Much
more could be said. For example, I have not mentioned anything of
the prominent place that Israel will occupy in the world to come
when their Messiah at last takes the Kingdom in power and reigns.
What I have stressed throughout is that the future hope of the
believer lies in a person, not a place. It now just leaves me to ask
you, my reader, if you are assured of
your future as knowing that Person, the Lord Jesus Christ?
