The Hope of the Believer . . .

The Hope of the Believer...No. 10  

ON NOT KNOWING THE FUTURE  

God holds the key of all unknown, and I am glad. — Christian motto

It is a motto to be remembered and implemented. One of our temptations is to want to know the future, especially in times of crisis. The millions spent every year on seances, mediums, fortune tellers, and horoscopes witness to our curiosity about tomorrow. We are slow to learn what one brilliant thinker, James Montgomery (d. 1854) resolved long ago:

Tomorrow—oh, 'twill never be, If we should live a thousand years! Our time is all today, today.

It is just as well. It is in fact the mercy of God that we are spared knowledge of the future. We all soon learn that life can be brutal: the death of a mate, the loss of a child, a dreaded disease, the betrayal of a friend. But life would be more than brutal, it would be unbearable, if we knew these things in advance. Even the good things that come our way would lose some of their glimmer if we had prescience of them. Part of what makes life sweet is to be surprised by joy.

The classic example of one who to his own hurt had to know the future is King Saul. The Philistian army had found the one place where it could cross the plains of Judea all the way to the Jordan river without encountering mountains and thus use their dreaded chariots of war. When Saul realized that the huge enemy army could cut his country in two and hand him a devastating defeat, he was beside himself in an effort to find out from God what he should do. In those days God sometimes spoke directly to the king in a dream, sometimes it was through the priests in the rolling of dice called Urim and Thummim, and most often through a chosen prophet. Because of his own arrogance in wanting to be an absolute monarch and because he had disobeyed God, King Saul could not communicate with God in any of these ways. He had insisted on being on his own, but now that he was in serious trouble he had to have help. He was very human, even like us, wasn't he?

It was all right for Saul to seek help, but he went too far. He sought to invade the realm of the dead and to trifle with the unknown. He sought out a medium or a witch, a profession that he as king had tried to eliminate from the land of Israel, this being one instance in which he obeyed God. But now that he was desperate the king had to talk with the deceased prophet Samuel, so he promised the witch protection if she would bring up Samuel. The witch of Endor thus becomes one of the Bible's most eerie characters. Even though Saul had disguised himself, the witch somehow recognized him as the king once she had brought up Samuel from the dead. When Samuel appeared on her crystal ball, it frightened her and caused the king to prostrate himself.

It is not clear whether this story, which is recorded in 1 Sam. 28, intends to tell us that it is possible to communicate with the dead, as Saul did with Samuel, or whether sorcery is here pictured as a fake as witnessed by the witch's surprise at her success. The latter may be the case since the witch is put aside in the seance, once Samuel appears, and does not serve as the medium as the prophet and king proceed to talk directly to each other.

It is clear that Saul believed it possible to communicate with the dead, but he knew full well that it was against God's will. Hardly anything is more clearly condemned all through Scripture than communicating or trying to communicate with familiar spirits. And yet how presumptuous mankind has been in this regard all through history, even in the most enlightened nations! It must be due to man's fascination with black magic. (His excuse for playing with fire? It is just for kicks!) Man wants to be God, including having a knowledge of the future.

There are grim aspects to this story. Samuel appears as an old man wearing a robe (the way he was when he died?). He complains to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?," as if he had no control in the matter.

I can only conclude that this was more God's doing than the witch's, and that God was allowing the wayward king to have his way by allowing him to see what was in store for him in the immediate future.

It was a tragic experience for the king. Samuel reminded him of his disobedience to God and for this reason his kingdom would be torn from him and given to David, the very one Saul most feared and hated. Moreover the Philistines would defeat him in battle and he would soon be a dead man —"tomorrow you will be with me," as Samuel put it. By this time Saul, the great king, was prostrate full length on the ground, filled with fear. It is a sad story.

The story teaches us that it is just as well not to try to read the future or to second guess the God of heaven. It is better that we not know the future but that we take the days one at a time and live each one within the will of God, the best we can determine that will. And leave the future in God's hands. James Russell Lowell said it well in The Present Crisis.

Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne  
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.

Are We To Know The Time of Christ's Return?

Recently I asked two of my friends, both learned men in the Scriptures, if they thought human history might continue for a long time yet, even another 10,000 to 20,000 years. Both of them conceded that it might be that we are but in the early stages of human history and that the era in which we now live might one day be ancient history. They see nothing in Scripture that necessitates our concluding that the end of time is imminent.

One of them noted that such a long view of history is consistent with the mercy and forbearance of God. God is so longsuffering and so eager to give sinful humanity every opportunity to turn to him that he is reluctant to bring things to an end. That at least is consistent with his nature.

I have other friends who are confident that the consummation of all things is at hand and that Jesus is coming soon. They do not of course claim to know the exact time and they do not set dates, but they believe there are signs that reveal the season of Jesus' coming, and those signs reveal that we are in the season, and so our Lord's coming is imminent. Such ones would be surprised, I suppose, if history went on for another century or two, or even another 50 years, much less another 20,000 years.

This view has its problems. The signs they point to seem to have been present for a long time, and for this reason there have been those all through the centuries that have insisted that the world was living at the brink of endtime. While the "Soon" coming of the Lord is Biblical (such as "Surely I am coming quickly" in the next-to-the-last verse of the Bible), we have no way of knowing how soon is soon. Those who first read those words from the mouth of Jesus back in the first century would probably have been surprised to be told that two thousand years would pass without his coming.

Those who are most insistent on the imminent coming of Christ are criticized for having an inadequate concern for the amelioration of social evils. If indeed one believes that Jesus' coming is at hand, he or she would not likely be interested in long range plans for human betterment. Efforts toward justice in Nicaragua and democracy in East Germany don't matter all that much if the end is only around the corner. If Jesus is coming soon why worry with rebuilding the nation's school systems? The urgent message thus becomes one of repentance rather than the improvement of society. They are also accused of having a pessimistic view of history and human progress. Things are not getting better but worse. There is little hope in their message and they are purveyors of bad news instead of good news.

But those who have a sense of urgency about the imminent coming of Christ nevertheless make a vital contribution to the church by not letting us forget that the second coming of Christ is a crucial part of Biblical teaching — and we are inclined to neglect it if not ignore it! Whether our Lord comes sooner or later (as we count time) is not as important as the truth that he is indeed coming. This is not only a fact of the gospel but it is our "blessed hope" according to Tit. 2:13.

But is it important that we know the time or even the season of our Lord's coming? It is a surprising fact that even Jesus himself did not know the time of his coming again: "But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Mk.13:32). It is best that we not know, for we can then be busy doing what faithful followers of Christ should be doing: redeeming the world and preparing for his coming. This is the best way for us to be "watching," which is a frequent admonition in Scripture, such as "Watch, therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming" (Mt. 24:42).

We watch, not so much by studying the calendar and looking for signs, but by being busy in things that really matter. Since life is so short we can look at this in two ways. We will be busy watching and preparing, if not for his coming to us, then for our going to him. If he comes while we are still in this world, that will be glorious. If he tarries for a very long time yet, that doesn't really matter all that much, for in that case we will be going to him, which will be equally glorious. And we must not overlook the possibility that God yet has a great deal planned for this world that will carry the human race far into the future. In that event we will be witnessing it all from another world as a part of God's family made perfect in heaven.

Either way we win. The victory is ours. But God's ways and God's thoughts are far beyond our tracing out. — the Editor