Larry Stamm Ministries Monthly Minute
Future Evangelism
If given the option to know what your future holds, would you do it? Would it surprise you that most people wouldn't want to know?
In a recent survey published in the journal Psychological Review, the American Psychological Association drew data from two nationally representative studies involving 2,000 adults in Germany and Spain, and found that 85-90% of people would not want to know about negative events in the future, and 40-70% felt the same about future positive events.
In fact, only 1% of survey recipients consistently wanted to know about the future, according to the study.
The lead study author said in a news release, "Not wanting to know appears counterintuitive and may raise eyebrows, but deliberate ignorance, as we've shown here, doesn't just exist; it is a widespread state of mind.”
No doubt, there are limitations to this kind of study, for the future can mean different things. There are circumstantial future of events in one’s life of which no one can be sure. But there is also an ultimate future - the future that lies beyond the grave. Undoubtedly, due to the powerful statistics regarding death, the afterlife is perhaps the one people most want to avoid facing.
Yet, we as God’s people, can not only face but embrace our ultimate future with hope and joy because of the person and work of Jesus. Additionally, the Bible - THE book of the future - gives us confidence that we can entrust our destiny wholly to the Alpha and Omega, the One who has promised us eternal life!
Messianic prophecy provides dynamic testimony supporting the veracity of God’s Word and future hope found in Jesus. If we study just seven specific prophecies that were fulfilled in the Person of Jesus Christ, we’ll be amazed! Impossible on a human level - yet with God all things are possible!
The odds of Jesus fulfilling only 7 prophecies, according to conservative estimates, are staggering:
- Jesus would be a descendant of David: 1 in 10,000
- Jesus would be born in Bethlehem: 1 in 100,000
- Jesus would be a miracle worker: 1 in 100,000
- Jesus would present Himself as King riding on a donkey: 1 in 1,000,000
- Jesus would be betrayed by a friend for 30 pieces of silver: 1 in 1,000,000
- Jesus would be crucified: 1 in 1,000,000
- Jesus would first present Himself as King 173,880 days from the decree of Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem: 1 in 1,000,000
Total probability (without God) of all of these prophecies being fulfilled is 10 to the thirty-eighth power, which in numeral terms is 1 in a 100 billion, billion, billion, billion!
While we understand unbelievers may want to avoid discussing an uncertain future, messianic prophecy is certainly a powerful tool to have in our evangelistic toolbox. For future evangelism is good news about the future. And not only good news, but the best news about an ultimate future in Christ. May we share with others this singular hope in the One Who holds the future in His hands! Amen!
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. - Jesus (John 11:25-26)
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