A Picture of the Future

By Randy Gariss

A sage wryly commented, “All predictions are difficult to make, but especially those about the future.” He is right, of course, but can you imagine the empowerment if we were able to accurately see the future? For example, what if the junior high teen, distraught over his gangly appearance, could only get a glimpse of the composed, mature young adult he would someday be? Wouldn”t that picture diffuse much worthless worry?

Or consider the impact a peek into the future could have on the young couple working through that first rough year of marriage””each of them going through that painful but necessary struggle of learning to be less me and more us. How helpful it would be if they could actually see the photograph of the elderly couple they would become: deeply in love, surrounded by family, and in a house of peace and laughter. Wouldn”t that scene greatly comfort and calm the nervousness of the present?

The Lord”s Supper gives us an image of the future. Matthew 26:26-28 tells how Jesus broke the bread and explained the meaning of the cup. But it is the next verse (v. 29) that captures our attention. “I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father”s kingdom.”

Imagine the scene. Jesus shares this meal with spiritually incomplete and very immature individuals””men who will fail him in many ways. Yet, he reveals a promise in this picture of the future. He points to a day and a place where these men, and all who follow Christ, will sit with him in the eternal kingdom and take of the cup together. There is the image of home contained in this verse . . . an image of a table, of Christ, of our place with him, and of the shared cup.

Look around the room as we take of the Lord”s Supper. We all carry the bumps and bruises and immaturity of this world. Yet, his words echo out “until I drink it anew with you again in my Father”s kingdom.” As you take of the bread and the cup, may the picture of that day comfort and quiet your spirit.

Randy Gariss serves as the director of the Life and Ministry Center at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri.