With such huge swings in the stock market every day now, we could all become billionaires in no time at all– if only we were able to look into the future. That would never work, of course, because if we could all look into the future, there would be no such thing as a stock market. By its very nature it has to be unpredictable.
However, some people can sometimes look into the future of a business. There are times when insiders know about a lucrative buy-out coming up, promising huge gains, or, about an approaching bankruptcy, bound to result in huge losses. And sometimes these insiders use that information to make big money on the stock market for themselves and their friends, or to prevent huge losses; all to the disadvantage of the rest of the stockholders. This is illegal, of course, but that does not prevent it from happening.
The Bible comes from God who knows all about the future. So we might say we are able to get some useful ‘insider information’ there, not about something as trivial as wagon loads of money, but about our eternal destiny. And there is nothing against the law about getting and using this insider information.
In Revelation, the last book of the Bible, John describes the vision God gave him of the future. In chapter 21 John wrote:
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
That is a picture of the future home with God we are invited to. And how do we get there? By believing in Jesus, says John 3:16; and John 14 tells us Jesus will come back and take us to be with him in his Father’s home. Now certainly, this kind of ‘insider information’ about the future could make a difference in how we live and what we do and what we believe. That is what Jesus’ whole ministry was all about, and that is what the entire New Testament is about. This brief and uncertain life doesn’t give you much reason for any other long range hope, even if you do very well on your investments. This is the most important information anywhere about the future.
I am not able to predict the future, but I can give you an almost guaranteed way to make money in the stock market. The stock market is unpredictable, but this little method has not failed for over a hundred years. If you invest money in the stock market, and spread it out over a variety of moderate risk companies and leave it there for 25 years, you will almost certainly do very well. That is a reliable piece of information about the future.
But it is not too exciting, is it? Everyone already knows that, and besides, who wants to wait 25 years? The stock market goes up and down, sometimes very quickly, and it would be much more interesting if I could tell you something to make you a lot of money this week.
In the same way, hearing about heaven and Christ’ s return ‘someday,’ as wonderful as that is, can become ‘the same old thing.’ You have heard it all before, and besides, it’s a bit too far off. But if we knew Jesus was coming back this week, even tomorrow, that would make everyone pay much closer attention. Think about it. What might you do if you knew Jesus was coming back tomorrow? (continued…)
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