The Last Day
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. Proverbs 27:1
I have a calendar full of things I plan to do tomorrow, the next day, and the next. I don’t think Proverbs 27 is saying not to plan. Other proverbs talk about planning wisely. I add things to my calendar in pencil because I know there will be changes. The word “boast” in Proverbs 27 implies “overconfidence or presumption.”
Jesus told a parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is wh
at I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.'” But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:16-21).
In Revelation, the last book of the Bible, John recorded a vision he received of the last day on earth: “There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place” (Revelation 6:12-14).
Someday the people on earth will experience “the last day.” Think back just a few days. Would you have expected the things you’re reading about in today’s headlines? Wars, rumors of wars. We don’t know what a day may bring. But, like other prophecies in the Bible, we know the things John saw will happen. There will be a last day. Maybe not in our lifetime. But it might!
Are you prepared for what that day will bring? Have you received the salvation that comes from God to those who have faith in Jesus Christ?
Dig Deeper
Read Luke 16:19-31. In this glimpse of the afterlife, what is the reaction of the rich man while seeing Lazarus in another place? What is Abraham’s sad response?
Read Revelation 6:1-17. What will happen someday in heaven?
Read Revelation 7:9-10. What happens in another place?
If you are unsure whether you will be prepared for the “last day,” please see “How Can I Know God?”
Nancy J. Baker