The Future: An Introduction

What does the Bible say about the future?

Having seen how so much of prophecy has already been fulfilled when the Lord Jesus came we shall now look at what the Bible says about the future. We will look at this is three parts:

• The future for the Lord Jesus Christ
• The future for Israel
• The future for the Church/Assembly

For many Jews the idea that the Messiah would suffer and die on a cross is not acceptable. Hence, much of the prophecy we have already looked at would be disregarded or applied to Israel’s own suffering through which they have passed. The prophecy about the future glory of their Messiah and the glorification of Israel is what they are focussing on and it was for this reason that the Pharisees couldn’t see how Jesus was their Messiah. The disciples had the same problem as they asked whether the Lord was going to set up His kingdom after the resurrection. They couldn’t understand why the Lord, in His life of service with great acts of power, wasn’t going to make Himself king of Israel. The mother of the sons of Zebedee (i.e. James and John) even asked the Lord if her two sons could sit at His right and left hand in the kingdom. They hadn’t realised that the Lord had to die and be raised again to remove the sins of the world before any blessing could come. Let’s look at the glory that awaits the Lord’s return and the restoration of Israel, then we will see how we fit into it.