World history is usually taught as the history of civilizations. The significant facts are generally the ones that have had a bearing on the development of those civilizations. Some people argue that human affairs are, like the rest of nature, essentially cyclical in character, moving endlessly through the cycle of birth, growth, maturity, decay, and death in a series that does not have a beginning or any significant end.1
The circular dial of a watch can be deceptive; as the hands revolve around and around, they can give the illusion that time recurs in a cycle. But this is not reality. The fact is that human life runs in a line, not in a renewing circle. Time, according to the Bible, is a one-way street.
Human history is not an unending series of repeated cycles. It had a definite beginning. It faces a glorious future. Human history has a point, a goal. Normally you cannot be sure what the point of a story is until you have reached the end. There can always be surprises at the end, and in the best stories there are. How then can we, who are still in this cosmic story, know the point? In our case, we know because God has, through His prophets, revealed it to us.
We are talking, of course, about divine revelation. Our Lord knows the future, knows all the possible choices humans can and will freely make, and He has told us how it will turn out in the end, whatever choices we make in between.
How is this revelation explained in the New Testament? 2 Pet. 1:21.
Unless we distrust the Word of God and what it says about itself, we can know that the Lord knows the end and has revealed it to us. He’s not only the God of the past and the present, He’s the Lord of the future, as well. Thus, we can trust that the future will unfold as He has said it would.
How easy is it to predict the future? How often have you gotten it wrong? The good news is that God does know the future, does know all that will happen. How can you draw comfort for yourself from the realization that a God of love knows about all that comes our way?