What Does Your Future Hold?
As we enter a new year, we often review our past as we contemplate the future. We may consider changes that need to be made or desire to alter our actions of the past so that we don’t suffer the same consequences that our prior choices brought. We may question our previous decisions looking for opportunities to correct situations if possible. At the start of a new year, we likely make plans to do all we can to make this year better, more productive, more healthy, or more profitable than the previous one (Resolutions).
Of course, none of us can know exactly what our future may hold, or if we even have much of a future here on this earth. Some relationships may be severed due to death. Situations may change due to any number of factors. All we can do is make plans based on that which exists in the present moment. However to do this, we must know what exists and what is most important.
Many believe that family is of utmost importance. Family is important, but family (as we know it here) exists only in this life. Earthly, physical family is a product of marriage. In the Matthew chapter 22 account as Jesus was being tempted by the Sadducees, He exposed the fallacy of this sect of the Jews. They didn’t believe in the resurrection, angels, nor spirit. In Matthew 22:29, they were told of their error in not knowing the scriptures. In verse 30 we read, For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.
Also, the material things of this life, while important, are not to be our highest priority. While these may have a definite impact on us and how we live our lives, they don’t determine our future. In the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 6:25, Jesus said, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Therefore, the future with which we should be most concerned, is that which is beyond this life.
The great question of one’s future beyond this life has been asked in many different ways and by many different people. Sadly, many have tried to answer the question without taking the time to consult God’s Word. Many have sought answer to the question by consulting various so-called scholars and philosophers of the world. The information these will impart is nothing more than man’s wisdom. The direction to which their advice will send one is that of eternal destruction. This is also true of man-made religious advice regarding present and future. In Matthew 15:9, Jesus taught that in this life, following man and man’s doctrine is what produces vain worship. Man-made doctrines cannot be pleasing to God because they condemn the souls that follow them. For these, future is eternal condemnation in Hell.
This is not a future any soul wants. A vivid picture of a tormented soul as they depart this life is painted in Luke 16 as the fates of the rich man and Lazarus are revealed. Verses 19-22 introduce these men and tell some of the events of their lives while on the earth. Like all of mankind, the lives of these men came to an end and they died. These verses also indicate that while each individual may not have had total control over their status in this life, they had full choice as to their eternal future. Verses 23-24 of the same book and chapter tell us the former rich man was now “tormented in this flame.” Of course, he didn’t choose to go to torment. He simply failed to adhere to the Law of God. According to verse 28, he also did not want any of his five brethren to go there either.
We are not told a great deal about the beggar Lazarus, but we do know that he was taken by the angels to Abraham’s bosom (Paradise) after his time on earth was completed. This indicates that he was faithful to God under the Law of Moses. Otherwise, he too would have gone to torment as did the rich man. This proves that each can make a choice about their future. Of course, each is required to be obedient under the Law of God that is applicable while they live on earth if they expect eternal rest. The Law of Moses was applicable to all the Jews that lived from the time the Law was given until that Law was “nailed to the cross”. (Colossians 2:14)
Now, after the death of Christ on Calvary’s cross where He made that great Sacrifice, and purchased the church, and since the establishment of the church on Pentecost, A.D. 33, all nations are under God’s New Testament Law. The soul that fails to yield themselves to God according to Romans 6:16 will suffer the same fate as the rich man. There, the Spirit had Paul write these words, Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?Does this not adequately prove that each has choice in regard to their own eternal future?
What does your future hold? I cannot answer that for you, and you cannot answer that for me. This is because under every Law of God, everyone has to determine their own eternity. Perhaps, if we consider the Words of Joshua, one of God’s faithful O.T. servants, we’ll make the right choice. It is recorded in Joshua 24:15, he told Israel, . . . choose you this day whom ye will serve . . . but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Make your choice now. Choose your future before your refusal to serve God assigns an eternal future for you. Then, it will be everlastingly too late.
Dennis Strickland – Mooresville church of Christ
