By David ReayTuesday 26 May 2020LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes
“Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah,’ or ‘There he is,’ don’t believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones. Watch out! I have warned you about this ahead of time! (NLT)
Back in 1958, the head of IBM stated to the press that he felt there was a worldwide market for about five computers. Back in 1929, the head of stockbroking firm J. P. Morgan told reporters that the future looked brilliant. One month later came the Wall Street crash. Even a bishop can get it wrong. Bishop Milton Wright, father of Orville and Wilbur Wright, told his hearers that it is only given to God and angels to fly. Shortly after, his sons proved him wrong.
Let’s face it, when suggesting what the future may hold, we may well get it wrong. We can make educated guesses, we may speculate, but confidently predicting the future is fraught with risks. The future does not yet exist. Many of us look back on our lives and shake our heads in wonderment at how things have happened in our lives. Who could have predicted all that!?
Over centuries, religiously inclined people have predicted the precise time and date and place of Jesus’ return to wind up this phase of human history. They have all been wrong, and few have bothered to explain or excuse themselves afterwards. Jesus’ emphasis is on being ready all the time rather than trying to calculate the time. No one has secret knowledge, there are no “experts” on the second coming.
None of us knows the future. We can only trust in the one who does know it.
Blessings
David