Show You Things To Come
“…and He will show you things to come.” John `6:13 NKJV
The lives of two of our Founding Fathers were tied together in life and death. Most people who study history know of the amazing crisscrossing of their paths, but few know the really amazing evidence of God’s hand on their destinies.
First, let’s review the amazing interweaving of their lives. The two were integral personalities, guiding the nation toward revolution against England. They served together in the Continental Congress and were both assigned to the Committee that was established to write the Declaration of Independence that was eventually penned by Thomas Jefferson. They both spent time in Paris, representing the country and her needs. It was there that John Adams wife, Abigail, gained the same fondness for Jefferson as her husband had. Later in political life, Adams became the President that followed Washington and, as such, was the visible leader of Federalist Party while Jefferson became the leading voice and face of the opposition party, the Republicans. This is where the friendship soured and eventually turned ugly as Jefferson defeated Adams in the next Presidential election, an election filled with rancor and vitriol.
The two men represented opposite beliefs and had a deep seeded distrust and disdain for the other until years later when they began to write letters to one another. It led to a voluminous amount of correspondence between the two men that lasted over a decade and solidified their bonds of trust and friendship once more. Then, in an act that seemed to many to be the hand of God, both men died on the same day, July 4th, 1826. Exactly 50 years to the day from the signing of the Declaration of Independence and birth of the nation both helped to father. Historians document these astonishing facts and marvel at the appropriate coincidence of their joint end. But in the details, we find a Biblical truth that we can hold to as well. They center on another Patriot of that era, Dr. Benjamin Rush. He was a strong man of God who was the founder of our modern Sunday school movement. Dr. Rush believed in God as a reconciler and sent a letter to John Adams in 1808. In that letter, he chronicled to the former President a dream that he had that he believed to be from God. The letter exists today and in his dream, he related that God had shown him that Adams and Jefferson would again become friends and that they would begin a lengthy series of letters solidifying their friendship. He said in his dream that God had also shown him that both men would die on the same day, on the 50th anniversary of the nation’s birth. All came to pass as the Lord had shown him.
John 16:13 tells us that God revealed what was to come to Dr. Rush and that same Holy Spirit will show us the things to come as well if we will listen. We all have goals for the year and our life. Rather than setting arbitrary goals for our future, why not listen and allow the Holy Spirit to “show you things to come.”, and follow his victorious path for our lives?
Todd Hostetler