The Start of a Look at the End (Selected Scriptures)

People want to know the future and are quite creative in how they attempt to do that, reading tea-leaves and palms, examining stars and crystals, and studying playing cards and weather patterns. And this desire to peek beyond the horizon of tomorrow isn’t unique to our times. God warned about these methods at Mount Sinai (Lev 19:31), Saul dabbled in the practice during his downward spiral from Israel’s throne (1 Sam 28:6–7), and Paul encountered the lucrative practice of fortune-telling in Philippi (Acts 16:16).  People have always wanted to know the future and, while there are clearly many sources to which many clamour for such information, Christians have the privilege of going to the One who is already there, he “who is and who was and who is to come, the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last” (Rev 1:8; 22:13). But, before starting a journey into such an exploration, some preparations need to be made.