The greatest interest regarding prophecy normally revolves around the pivotal question, When will Christ return? From the apostles till now, people have too often settled for "the when" of prophetic understanding rather than centering on the real question of why our Heavenly Father grants a view of the future.
At the moment of His ascension to heaven, Jesus offered a twofold answer to His followers of all times. When asked whether He would set up His Kingdom at that time, He said, "It is not for you to know times or season which the Father has put in His own authority" (Acts 1:7). But then in the following verse, He says there is something you can do: "Be witnesses to Me" (verse 8)! Yes, Christ gave a very direct answer! And yet many sincere people ignore that plain declaration.
What are we planting?
But what about being "witnesses to Me"? Isn't that enough? Instead of mortgaging our life's energies to something God says clearly remains in His domain, what about doing something in the here and now? Long ago, someone asked Martin Luther what he would do if he knew the world would end tomorrow. He simply replied, "I would plant a tree today." And that was nearly 500 years ago! I would strongly suggest we are much closer to the second coming than when this famous German uttered his reply. But the question remains, what will we do and what are we planting?
How can a Christian responsibly approach the subject of prophecy? Just like all items that are precious and valuable, prophecy needs to be handled with care, as understanding is transmitted from one individual to another. In dealing "head on" with this subject, it's actually not enough to just deal with the head—we need to deal with the "heart." That's right—our hearts!
