God's Backward Prophetic Picture

Most people are interested in the future. We wonder what tomorrow will bring. We want to know about possible careers, retirement, what the stock market will do and how to plan for things to come. We anticipate the next season of whatever show we have been following after one of those season ending cliff hangers. Most followers of Jesus, are curious as to when He will return. We delve into studies on Revelation, Daniel and Ezekiel hoping to find the key to the day of His return. Some add up Biblical numbers and others try to figure out the number of generations that need to pass before He can return. I have been told that as soon as the Gospel is preached unto the whole world, Jesus will return. With radio and the internet this could happen at any moment. Or not. There is only one way to know for sure if a prophecy is true. That is after it has come to pass. I am not saying we cannot trust God's predictive Word, we can be confident that these things will come to pass. We just seldom can know when until after it is over. Perhaps we have missed the main point of the prophetic words given.

The Hebrew language has no real word for the future. Even where translators have used the English word "future" it is more of an interpretation than a translation. Jeremiah 31:17, "There is hope in your future, says the LORD, that your children shall come back to their own border." The Hebrew word, shuwb, means to return or turn back. There is hope in their return or coming back. This will happen later so there is a future thought that goes with it. However, it is more about things that follow these events than a specific predictive future. The Hebrew idea of the future is what comes after me. What is behind me that I cannot see. In 1 Samuel 24:21 Jonathan asks David to not cut off his, Jonathan's, descendants after him or those coming behind him. His future generations. If we are honest, our view of the fulfilled prophecies of Messiah in the Gospel accounts were seen less as predictive in the actual prophets' writings. At the time of Isaiah the prediction of a maiden or virgin conceiving and bearing a son was about David's continued line. The Isaiah 7 passage becomes or is understood as predictive when it is applied to the advent of God's Son. The angel applies this to Joseph's situation and he now understands that the passage is predictive. The same is true for John 3:14 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." During this time in Exodus no one thought, "Oh, this must be about Messiah's crucifixion." We understand it to be after the fact, after Jesus makes it clear.

We should believe and trust that God's predictions are true.  Daniel believed that the statue revealed to Nebuchadnezzar was about a series of coming kingdoms. We know it is true because they have come to pass. Except for the toes and you can find lots of diverse opinions on that kingdom. However, the truth is that we will not really know for sure what it is until after it has been fulfilled. We know this ten toed kingdom is coming, we just cannot really know when or what until it is over. That does not keep us from spending an inordinate amount of time making conjectures as to what Daniel meant and when this will occur. If we cannot really know the future, meaning the actual time of events, then what is the purpose of our prophetic books? What is the purpose of knowing there are things behind us, or after us if they are in the shadows until they actually happen?

Perhaps the illustration of the row boat will help. I have heard and read this from a variety of sources so I do not know who to credit; however it helps me understand God's revelation of things to come. If you have ever rowed a rowboat you know that your back is toward where you are going. You get an occasional glance to keep on course, but your clearest view is what has already come to pass. Each stroke takes you further into the future and reveals what the future was as you see it become reality. God has directed us to row. To continue moving into the future knowing He has it all under control. Each stroke verifies that the Lord will see us through. Each stroke builds our confidence in the One directing our path, even if we cannot see it. Each time we read a Scripture that has clearly come to pass our faith is strengthened concerning the things yet to come. Our responsibility is to keep on rowing. Not to know the precise times and plans of God.

Acts 1:6-7, "Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority." The followers of Jesus Messiah today are not much different than they were back there outside Jerusalem. We still ask the question, "Is now the time You will establish your kingdom? Is now the time of Your return?" The answer is still the same, "It is not for you to know." However, Acts one does not stop there. Verse 8 gives this instruction, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” We may not be privy to the time of His return but we do know what we are to be doing now. We are to be His witnesses in what we say, what we do, how we live, where ever we go.

Fulfilled prophecy gives us confidence to keep on rowing. God is with us. His promises are true. However, His timing is His alone. Yet, our mission is clear. We are called to make Him known and to make disciples by teaching them all that He has commanded and revealed to us. The future will come no matter what we do or how much time we spend in conjecture trying to guess what we have been told is not ours to know. Or we can be busy doing what we know He has called us to do. Keep rowing and invite as many others as we can to get in the boat.  
 

You Cannot Go Back

It is January second. For whatever reason the start of a new year gives one pause for reflection. It seems a bit strange that the turning of a calendar page is a call for a holiday celebration. I believe that, in a very real way, every day is the beginning of a new year. Each day should be treasured, for we do not know how many are allotted to us. This past year was a mix of unusual extremes. It gave me days of wonder, joy and grace that brought my spirit into God's very presence. And there were days that were so painful that they, likewise, brought me into God's presence; for there was nowhere else to go. I am only into day two of this new year and already my heart is both content with my Maker and deeply grieved for circumstances surrounding some who I deeply care for. It seems the darkness never gives up and never really goes away. However, I am to live in the light as He is in the light.

The memories of this past year are vividly etched upon my mind. It would offer some consolation to make the determination to sort of live there. To allow the pains and the joys to of the past to hold my attention and simply make that my dwelling place. Reflection may invite you to avoid the present and what is to come by living or reliving what has already come to pass. However, God does not intend for us to live that way. The memories of the past are to be instructional, not vocational. We are to live in expectation of what is yet to come. We cannot go back. However, we can live in expectation of what the Lord has before us. To be those who live in expectation of the Lord's return.

Memories are remarkable things. Some are to be treasured as gifts from God. However, not all of our memories are gifts. The difficult thing with being mortal with memories is the way the past can hold you back from living in the expectation of what God has for you today and beyond. Dwelling on past failures and losses has the ability to crush our vision for the future. Living in the memories of past victories can keep us from dealing with or being sensitive to the needs and challenges of today. We can live in a state of unreality where the present is shrouded in a vague mist, keeping us from the clarity of what God has called us to now. The truth is we cannot go back. We cannot relive any of the things that brought victory or defeat. Hopefully we can learn from these events for the present and future are connected to what has been. We just should not live there.

Philippians 3:13-14 holds the Apostle Paul's counsel for the new year, "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." I do recognize that I have not apprehended or attained all that is for me. However, forgetting what is behind, is not an easy task. I am reminded of my shortcomings and failures far more frequently than seems reasonable. Things that stem back to my childhood and teen years on up to recent weeks remind me of what I have not attained. Accomplishments can also be debilitating when I think of what has been done at the expense of what is yet to be.

I have known many whose lives are not life but a catalogue of regrets and disappointments. Some that are their own and some that they have gleaned from spoken words and the actions of other people. They have no room to forget, for the wounds and hurt caused is relived in an unending loop of life-sucking rehearsals of whatever the event might have been. Betrayal or having been betrayed. Feeling diminished or having spoken demeaning words that cannot be retrieved. Life is filled with a cacophony of diverse emotions realized through the acquisition of real or imagined events. The question is what will we do with them. We cannot go back to change them. The pages are already written and the scene of life's drama has already been performed. What remains is the present and the future.

I find solace in the truth that the Apostle Paul had yet to master his own advice. He knew of his failures and opposition to Messiah. He knew of betrayal and disappointment. He knew of the persecution for things he believed. He knew of the victories of new believers gathered in new assemblies across the Middle East and on into Rome. He saw the changed lives and the unique fellowship of Jews and Gentiles worshiping together in the name of Messiah Jesus. But, he also knew what it was to feel abandoned and the desire for the simple comfort of a cloak (2 Timothy 4:13). It is not always easy to forget what was and press on to what can be. Life moves inevitably forward filled with memories of what was and conjectures as to what could have been. Still, no matter how much we might wish it to be true, we cannot go back.

With Paul, I must press on. The Greek word translated "forgetting" holds the idea of "no longer caring for". The past is not in my care. The things to care for are now and yet to come. The Master told us in Matthew 6:34, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." I believe He also meant we cannot go back and live in the past either. 

I have no doubt but that the months to come will hold a plethora of things to touch my life. Things to lift my spirit and others to burden my soul. Memories that I will want to treasure and wounds I will want to bury. My opportunity is to leave the past behind and to live in expectation of what the Lord has now before me. To live in the expectation of His return. To press on toward that goal and upward call of Christ Jesus. Do you want to join me in the journey?